Organization

In this age where globalization and empowerment seem to be mantra of all organizations, more and more companies have come to realize the importance of breaking away from the traditional organizational hierarchies. Most people would like to function more effectively in organizations and to contribute to more effective functioning of the organizations themselves. It seems logical that the more we know about organizations and the way they operate, the better should be our chances of coping with them adequately and of achieving our own goals within them and for them.

This process of creating knowledge is what theories of organizational behavior attempt to do (Miner, 2002, p. 4). Established in 1892, General Electric Co. (GE) has emerged to be one of the most successful companies that has already pned in a global scale. Like all organizations, GE has experienced some ups and downs within their organization throughout their history. Despite the squabbles that transpired, GE survived and is presently a diversified industrial corporation. The company primarily develops, manufactures, and markets electric generation, transmission, distribution, control and utilization products.

The company also manufactures products such as major appliances; lighting products; industrial automation products; medical diagnostic imaging systems; bioscience assays and separation technology products; electrical distribution and control equipment; locomotives; power generation and delivery products; nuclear power support services and fuel assemblies; commercial and military aircraft jet engines; chemicals and equipment for treatment of water and process systems; security equipment and systems; and engineered materials, such as plastics.

The company primarily operates in the US, Europe, Pacific basin and other parts of Americas. As its main office is in Fairfield, Connecticut, GE employs about 319,000 employees. Still a profitable company, GE recorded revenues of $163,391 million during the fiscal year that ended December 2006, an increase of 10. 4% over 2005. The operating profit of the company was $43,906 million during fiscal year 2006, an increase of 16. 2% over 2005. The net profit was $20,829 million in fiscal year 2006, an increase of 24. 6% over 2005 (Datamonitor, 9 May 2007). The immense success of GE is recognized worldwide.

Throughout the years, its former chief executive officer Jack Welch had strived to build the multinational company for more than 40 years. In fact, he claimed that he never had a fulltime job anywhere else. During Welch’s career, the public image of a chief executive officer was subject to numerous transformations and reincarnations. Certainly, Welch was an important figure that engineered General Electric to be one of the best American companies ever (Harris and Power, 1986). General Electric’s greatest advantage is that it is a well-known a global brand.

A BusinessWeek-Interbrand ranking of top 100 global brands in 2005 ranked General Electric at fourth position, behind Coca-Cola, Microsoft and IBM. The BusinessWeek-Interbrand combine valued General Electric brand at $46,996 million in 2005. General Electric is known more for its industrial products such as jet engines and gas turbines, but it has a significant presence in consumer businesses such as home appliances and consumer finance. The company sells products such as refrigerators and dishwashers to consumers. In addition, General Electric markets financial products such as credit cards and, mortgages.

A global brand strengthens General Electric’s competitive position in the consumer markets. Fact remains that GE’s secret to success is how their company and leaders stick to their imbibed organizational behavior principles. Organizational behavior principles have helped its managers understand the complexity within organizations and that most organizational problems have several causes. Organizational behavior principles play an essential role in assessing and increasing organizational effectiveness, which is a central responsibility of and focus for all managers (Sims, 2002, p.

2). This is why this paper will explore three of the major organizational behavior principles that GE has incorporated that had spelled their unprecedented successes for the past years. Group Behavior As organizations are composed of people, every organization has a group that is typically management-directed. A group is defined as two or more freely interacting individuals who share collective norms, share collective goals, and have a common identity (Kinicki ; Williams, 2003).

Although organizations typically form groups in order to accomplish work-related tasks, work groups may serve a variety of other purposes for their members, such as affiliation and social support. In GE’s case, it was Jack Welch who established the set of group behaviors that the company espouses to this very day. In 1984, Welch established 150 GE businesses worth more than $5 billion. By 1986, he had axed 130,000 jobs — a quarter of the company’s personnel. But returns for 1985 proved he was on the right track. That year, GE was the fifth-most profitable U. S. company (Slater, 1994).

Tyner (2000) had written that some critics saw beyond GE’s strong performance to evaluate Welch’s career. Tyner cited James J. O’Toole, in his book Leadership A to Z (1999), said that Welch’s leadership missed the mark in one significant area. He said that there should be “a moral component to leadership and that moral component has to do with gratitude” to your subordinates. It should deal with “how they are treated, viewing the organization as something larger than merely a moneymaking machine”. O’Toole (1999) thought that Welch ignored that aspect of when it comes to hi decisions.

However, Tyner evaluated that Welch’s transformation initiatives involved retooling employees’ mind-sets that affected their group behavior: We are trying to get the soul and energy of a start-up into the body of a $60 billion, 114-year-old company,” he said. “We must have every good idea from every man and woman in the organization; we cannot afford management styles that suppress and intimidate (O”Toole, 1999). More importantly, it was Welch who insisted on using Six Sigma approach to their business General Electric’s dedication to Six Sigma has resulted in significant improvements.

In 1995, he launched the Six Sigma program to find defects in GE processes and pare them to as close to zero as possible. Tens of thousands of GE workers were trained in this statistical approach. It saved GE hundreds of millions of dollars and surpassed Welch’s expectations. Jack Welch credited the Six Sigma initiative with raising the company’s operating profit margins. Success stories abound within GE. GE Medical Systems introduced a $1. 25 million diagnostic scanner, a product designed from start to finish using Six Sigma design principles.

The chest scan that took 3 minutes (180 sec. ) now takes only 17 seconds. At GE Plastics, a Six Sigma team improved a process to increase production of plastic by 1. 1 billion pounds. Not only did this add to general increased revenue, but the increased production influenced acquisition of the contract for the coverings of the new Apple product, iMac (Eckes, 2001, p. 6). GE has attributed a host of other benefits to Six Sigma. Inventory turns were at 5. 8 and now are at 9. 2, and getting better. At the core of Six Sigma is improvement in effectiveness and efficiency.

The ratio of plant and equipment expenditures to depreciation is one measure of efficiency. At GE this number dropped to 1. 2 and is anticipated to be below 1 as Six Sigma projects uncover and remove the “hidden factory” of processes that have to rework parts and services. How does an organization achieve Six Sigma methodology? Many of its proponents have made this approach seem more difficult than it needs to be. A common theme that Jack Welch has echoed in his many talks to GE employees is practicing the “rigor and discipline” of Six Sigma (Eckes, 2001, p. 6).

As a leader, Tyner (2000) shared that Welch’s secret was to look at his role as that of a facilitator. He said: “My job is to put the best people on the biggest opportunities and the best allocation of dollars in the right places. That’s about it. Transfer ideas and allocate resources and get out of the way. ” In establishing group behavior within and organization, leaders need to be energetic and to operate on an even keel. Leaders should not crave power as an end in itself but as a means to achieving a vision or desired goals. Leaders have to be very ambitious and have a high need for achievement.

At the same time, they have to be emotionally mature enough to recognize their own strengths and weaknesses and they are oriented toward self-improvement. Leaders also must not be easily discouraged when they make the wrong decisions. They need to stick to a chosen course of action and to push toward goal accomplishment. This why Jack Welch exemplified a good decision maker as he lead his company to its desired status today. Although he axed numerous employees before, his decision was respected and highly regarded by his group because he took that risk. Instead of lowering their morale, GE even performed better as a group.

Communication Based on a synthesis of successful management experiments by General Electric and its partners, a group of consultants and scholars put together a list of the changes firms need to consider if they are to compete globally in rapidly changing technical settings (Ashkenas et al. , 1995). They used the buzz words of GE and labeled their package the “. ” In essence, the challenge to management is to eliminate barriers vertically, horizontally, externally, and geographically that block desired action. Specifically, an overemphasis on vertical relations can block communication up and down the firm.

An overemphasis on functions, product lines, or organizational units blocks effective coordination. Maintaining rigid lines of demarcation between the firm and its partners can isolate it from others. And, of course, natural cultural, national, and geographical borders can limit globally coordinated action. The notion of a boundaryless organization is not to eliminate all boundaries but to make them much more permeable. The concept of “boundarylessness” has been GE’s way of improving their communication as they took in a virtual organization in itself.

According to Welch, a boundaryless company is one in which “We knock down the walls that separate us from each other on the inside and from our key constituents on the outside”, in other words, a company where there are no “turf” issues between people or groups of people (Slater 1994, p. 107). A boundaryless company removes barriers between company functions, removes barriers between organizational levels, removes barriers between company locations, and reaches out to important suppliers and makes them part of a single process (Slater 1994, p.

108). To remove “horizontal boundaries” between different company functions and locations, or “internal barriers,” Welch introduced cross-functional teams, project teams, and partnerships (Tichy 1993, p. 118). To remove “vertical boundaries” between organizational levels, or the “ceilings of a hierarchy”, Welch “delayered” the hierarchy by removing unnecessary levels of management, reduced perks for executives such as preferred parking spaces, and broadened gain-sharing incentive systems to include all employees (Tichy, 1993, p.

118). To remove “external boundaries” between GE and its suppliers, customers, and other external stakeholders, Welch created strategic alliances, measured customer satisfaction, and built teams with GE customers and suppliers (Tichy 1993, p. 118). The concept of a boundaryless GE was far more than merely getting rid of waste, Welch felt that it was the only way for GE to achieve its high productivity goals (Slater 1994, p. 108). Knowing what an organization needs was GE’s goal. The next phase is to begin a process of improvement.

Employees, managers, and executives need to ask how they can improve with others both inside and outside the firm. They need to prioritize before they begin implementation. And once improvements are started, they need to recalibrate to ensure that a new set of boundaries does not emerge. Of course, the notion of a virtual and boundaryless organization is very different from the conditions found in and across most corporations. A movement toward cooperating to compete and removing barriers calls on firms to learn. So we now turn to how firms do this.

Part I

The main forms of business organizations are sole proprietorship, partnership, and corporation.

Sole proprietorship is the simplest way to set and run business, because a sole proprietor is the only responsible person for all company’s debts and obligations. It is known that a creditor who has a claim against a sole proprietor has all rights to receive all his personal and business assets. It is called unlimited liability. The sole proprietor is allowed to run his business under his own name without any other words.

Advantages: all profits are received by sole proprietor, relatively low start-up costs and capital, the greatest freedom from regulation, minimal working capital, tax advantages to owner of the business, owner has the direct control over the decision-making process. Disadvantages: unlimited liability, difficulties in raising capital and lack of continuity in sole proprietorship if the owner is absent for a long time.

Partnership is an agreement when two or more sides (persons) are going to combine their available resources in one business. Partnership agreement has to be signed with the assistance of lawyers, because in case of dissolution or disagreement the business should protect its shareholders or other partners. According to the agreement terms partners has to share in all the profits. There are two forms of partnerships: general partnership (all partners are personally liable for all debts and obligations) and limited partnership (some members are responsible for debts).

Advantages:  easy formation, relatively low start-up costs, additional available resources of investments, possible tax advantages, limited regulation and broader base of management. Disadvantages: divided authority, unlimited liability, lack of continuity, difficulty in raising capital and finding suitable partners, possible conflicts between the partners.

Corporation is known to be a legal entity “that is separate from its owners, the shareholders”. Shareholders are not personally responsible for debts and obligations and acts taken. Corporation can be either private or public. Private corporation can be formed by one or more persons and it is not allowed to share securities to the general public. Public corporation issues securities and shares for public distribution.

Advantages: limited liability, specialized management, continuous existence, separate legal entity, possible tax advantages, easy rising of capital and ownership is transferable. Disadvantages: close regulation, the most expensive form of organization, charter restrictions, double taxation of dividends, conflicts between shareholders and executives, and extensive record keeping.

Part II

My brother and his few buddies are willing to start their own business. It is a matter of fact that there are several forms of business organization they are able to start and it is necessary to take pros and cons of each form very carefully as organizational forms plays crucial role in business development. I won’t recommend my brother to go solo. Instead, I’ll recommend referring to partnership and, in my opinion, it is the most appropriate form when starting new business.

Firstly my brother should fully understand what the partnership is. Actually, as it is mentioned in the first section, partnership is defined as any entity in which two or more partners are liable for profits and loses of the company they have started. Nevertheless, partnership can be general, limited and limited liability partnership.

General partnership suggests that all partners are running their business equally and they are personally liable for losses or debts. In its turn, limited liability partnership suggests that partners are provided with limited responsibility for debts. I’d like to underline that it is rather easy to set partnerships compared with corporations. Partners have to agree they are ready to share decisions and are willing to become equal business owners. When all points are agreed, people involved are automatically considered partners who are ready to share profits, debts and lose.

As there is more than one owner, there will be more money available to help set up the business. New partners can bring in new skills and experience that may help the business to make more profit. You can share out the responsibilities between the partners. This means that no single person is responsible for running all of the business. If the business experiences financial difficulties there will be other people to share the costs with you. This reduces the risk of losing money. Expanding the business can be made easier as new partners can be introduced.

The next benefit my brother should be aware of is the fact that it is possible to keep certain private information from other people. For example, partnership allows not publishing official accounts and, therefore, people remain unaware of your earnings. Choosing general partnership provides also benefits as there is no need to register with the state and to pay high fees; whereas it is obliged if a person wants to set either limited liability company or corporation. I think that general partnership is the most appropriate.

In contrast to regular corporation, there is no need to file separate tax returns for the corporate entity and its owners. A limited partnership can be attractive for a limited partner who can provide funding but not expertise, and does not have the time to devote to being a hands-on part of the business. It is much easier to attract investors as limited partners.

Stone Finch Inc.: Young Division, Old Division

was a company that was created after the merger of Stone Water Products Inc. with Goldfinch Technologies in 2000. Stone Water Products manufactured products for the water/wastewater industry. It had built its reputation on the quality of its products as well as the excellent services that the company’s sales force provided. Goldfinch Technologies on the other hand, was a five-year biochemical firm that provided solutions for the water/wastewater processing market. It was considered a company with high perspectives and could serve as a great opportunity for Stone Water Products to add additional streams of revenue. After the CEO of Stone Finch retired Jim Billings, who was the former leader of Goldfinch Technologies and was running the solutions department of the integrated company, became the new CEO.

Jim Billings as a leader

As a leader Jim Billings had a clear vision and the ability to inspire employees. He was energetic and he was comfortable with taking risks. He believed in the power of innovation and the constant pursuit of new opportunities. Billings had played a key role in the profitable growth and the diversification of the new company but as a new CEO he lacked the ability to “merger” the two departments and built a common culture. He had also a participative leadership style as he was taking his employees’ opinions into account but he could not built a common culture for the defender part and the prospector part of the company. He wanted the company to take innovative steps but the water products division was not fully on board with this idea as its strategy and goal was to produce high quality products and product innovation was not a part of its business model. So Jim Billings was a very good leader for the solution department but as a CEO he had to take the old division’s perspective into account and build a common mission and a common culture; one that would define the company as an Ambidextrous Organization.

The entrepreneurial subsidiary concept appeared in an effort of Jim Billings to build an innovation pipeline for the company. After a meeting with three employees from the solutions department, who had developed a new system for nuclear power plants, Billings decided to create the idea of the “strategic subsidiaries”. According to his plan, promising innovative ideas from Stone Finch’s employees would be the new project of a subsidiary. These employees would also have the right to hire one or three high players outside the company. The subsidiary would be partly financed from Stone Finch but would not operate as a part of the company. After four years, if the subsidiary was successful Billings had the right to include it in the parent company.

The first subsidiary became part of the company and by 2004 Billings had signed 12 contracts for these kinds of organizations. However, Billings’s plan had not the support that he believed as Eli Sanders, the head of the Water Products department, expressed some complaints about the subsidiaries. After this Billings organized an Internet “jam” where employees could express their opinions about the subsidiaries. According to some employees the subsidiaries were very successful but other’s employees morale was not so high. They were disappointed by the attitude of employees working there and they were also disappointed about Billings’s attitude towards the rest of the company. It is clear that Billings’s problem was that he could not manage the existing products and innovation simultaneously. Although it is difficult, companies can develop radical innovations and protect their traditional businesses at the same time. The way to achieve that is by becoming an ambidextrous organization. An ambidextrous organization has separates units that operate with different cultures, structures and processes but is integrated at the senior level. All business units report to the top management team that is tightly integrated and share a common culture that allows innovation and existing excellence as well.

The challenges and the solutions

Billings was devoted to build innovative subsidiaries and attract falcons like himself to run these small companies. As a result of overlooking the other parts of the company the sales were dropping down, client relationships were fading away and valuable employees were leaving the
company. According to some workers there have not been meaningful investments in Stone Water’s production facilities in the past 20 years.

Further the culture of the organization had been torn apart. Officers who were spun-off to run the subsidiaries have developed a different attitude when they merged back. There was no contact between these employees for five years and now they are back much richer and more entitled. The infusion of suddenly rich and intellectually energized people into Solution Division was driving down moral among others. Additionally, the subsidiary people bring in a nonstandard platform that makes problematic for others to collect data on time. Another problem is that Billings put too much faith on the subsidiary people after they merged back and faith was completely misplaced. For example, Betty Suarez, one of the three founders of a subsidiary was named as vice president of Solution Division. She seemed incapable of fulfilling her task properly. So far the subsidiaries have had a dilution effect on the Stone Finch’s shares. Billings had acknowledged that the core solution division had to be strong for the subsidiary organizational structure to work.

In order to find a solution to the above mentioned problems Billings has to focus more on building a resilient strategy for the whole company which can be recognizable in the subsidiaries as well. It is essential to invest more in Stone water’s innovation processes and employees in order to make the company more attractive to the stakeholders and the employees. The innovation can be minor improvement in the existing operations to higher the efficiency or investing in new systems in order to deliver greater value to the clients. As mentioned earlier Stone Water’s has an ambidextrous organizational structure and research has shown that an ambidextrous structure is superior for innovation. It allows cross-fertilization among units while prevents cross-communication. That is why the subsidiaries have developed their own culture and people were not able to mingle after merging back.

The company should not give the subsidiaries immense autonomy and promise rewards and company shares to motivate them. They should not be treated differently that can lead to demoralization of the other employees. Moreover, the founders of the subsidiaries should provide more responsibilities toward the management of Stone water’s. There should be a significant amount of communication between the employees of the company and its subsidiaries. A possibility can be that the people who are assigned to a subsidiary should also fulfill assignments in Stone Water. Additionally, when a founder of a subsidiary deliver a successful project it does not necessarily mean that he can also be as successful operating in a higher position in Stone Waters. Billings should take it into consideration that a more so-called “falcon” does not have to be also a good leader. Read about The Strong Culture Perspective

References

Miles, R.H., & Snow, C.C. (1984). Designing strategic human resource systems, Organizational Dynamics, 13 (1), 36-52.

Birkinshaw, J., & Gibson, C., (2004). Building Ambidexterity into an Organization. MIT Sloan Management Review, 45 (4): 47-55.

O’Reilly, C. A., & Tushman, M. L. (2004). The ambidextrous organization. Harvard Business Review, 82 (4): 74-81.

Question- ” Continuous betterment is better than delayed flawlessness ” A? Mark Twain ( 1835-1910 ) . Analyse this statement critically and strictly with mention to allow literature beginnings.

Introduction

This essay will be looking at the importance of quality and uninterrupted betterment at a glimpse within an educational context. The author ‘s involvement in the subject is simply to research and understand the kernel to which every constitution for whatever intent it was built upon should endeavor in uninterrupted betterment to services rendered to its clients and the community at big while keeping quality services. The focal point is to foreground any defects within the organizational pattern with which quality could still be improved upon for the good of the whole community.

The construction of the essay will take an expressed reading and description of quality and uninterrupted betterment while portraying an interventionist stance at the conclusive statements made at the terminal of the essay.

Literature reappraisal

The construct of Quality

Quality direction is a systematic manner of vouching that organized activities happen the manner they are planned. It is a direction subject concerned with forestalling jobs from happening by making the attitudes and controls that make bar possible & A ; acirc ; By Philip Crosby

Hagiographas in 2008, Winch and Gingell province that during the 1990s it became stylish to speak about “ ?quality in instruction ‘ . Part of the ground for this is a renewed involvement in answerability. Why should the concern for answerability be expressed in footings of quality? One major ground is that concerns about whether or non a peculiar signifier of instruction is worthwhile have been expressed in footings of a paradigm derived from fabricating industry. “ ?Quality ‘ in a commercial context strongly connotes merchandise utility and dependability. “ ?Quality confidence ‘ refers to systems that are robust plenty to guarantee that merchandises that are faulty or undependable merely do non acquire made. The thought, as one quality guru has said, is to “ ?get it right first clip ‘ . Of class, an artifact can be scrapped or reworked if it is faulty, but a service can non. If it is non “ ?right first clip ‘ so it is non right. Some effectual quality confidence systems ought to be peculiarly relevant to serve countries of economic activity.

Whether or non it is in the private or the public sector of the economic system, it is sometimes maintained that instruction has the features of a service industry. In peculiar, if instruction is ill provided so there is no 2nd opportunity for the receiver. A diner at a eating house who has a severely cooked repast will experience dissatisfied but will endure no lasting harm. On the other manus, the student who receives a hapless instruction may non even experience disgruntled but may endure lasting harm in footings of future life chances. It is, so, non surprising to hear that a cardinal characteristic of educational answerability is the proviso of quality confidence systems.

Every facet of leading and direction across all sectors of most administrations require a sustainable attack towards guaranting quality and sustainable steps are being utilized and developed within a planetary context. This includes steps which most leaders would follow towards keeping and prolonging the strategic purposes of any administration with due considerations of internal and external forces which influences the determinations made each twenty-four hours.

An illustration of what entails leading that is sustainable through quality steps can be found in a school direction system. Where the Head instructor aspires to hold really committed pupils who have good classs, a good school construction and a qualitative staff that would assist the school achieve its strategic aims successfully. But during the procedure of strategising for an academic twelvemonth other factors comes into drama i.e. client service, effectual acquisition and deployment of resources, school budget for the academic twelvemonth etc.

There may be a figure of cardinal factors that would assist accomplish such success

• First, a well-devised system of service rating procedure of Search-Feedback-Act that could be put in topographic point affecting all employees, non merely direction or instructors, in developing programs for betterment.
• Second, all employees could be given considerable instruction and preparation to assist them better service quality and would actively and consistently promote creativeness and invention.
• Third, the administration that may travel off from mensurating quality strictly by the figure of ailments it gets from clients and the feelings of the caput of forces section. Alternatively, administrations implement a multi-factor index which includes quantitative points such as the length of clip clients have to pass being tested into the school, and qualitative points such as the friendliness/politeness experienced at response.

The construct of Continuous betterment

Continuous betterment has been successfully used by the Japanese for a figure of old ages, and the Nipponese word kaizen is used to depict it. The thought of kaizen is non to sit back one time betterments have been made to a merchandise, but to be about like bees working off at a hive. Each does a small at a clip, but by adding on an incremental footing they can finally bring forth something that is much larger and better. The issue of quality can be approached in the same manner, so that really minor alterations over clip can ensue in a considerable betterment in public presentation. For illustration, the degrees of fuel efficiency in the mean barroom auto have improved dramatically over recent old ages. This has been made possible due to the cumulative effects of continual minor alterations in auto organic structure form, fuel bringing systems and engine design ( .Porter, K. , Smith, P. , Fagg, F. 2006 ) .

Foskett, N. , Lumby, J. 2003 provinces that the 3rd manner of specifying quality ( in respects to uninterrupted betterment ) is to fit the current province with an imagined hereafter improved province. In other words, persons or groups non needfully take as their comparator an bing criterion or outlook but, instead, work creatively to propose ways to which a current facet of instruction could be improved. This definition is realistically based on working signifier what exist to what could be achieved. It is a universally applicable in theory in that thoughts for betterment will take into history resources and political worlds. However, the accent on uninterrupted betterment is predicated on a grade of liberty and power that may non be in all establishments or civilizations. If authoritiess impose a construction or course of study on schools/colleges, or if the internal direction constructions are hierarchal and commanding, so the freedom of staff, parents and pupils to propose ways frontward is clearly constrained.

This thought of uninterrupted betterment can be linked to Deming ‘s ( 1986 ) thought of Plan, Do, Study and Act, where a job is examined, information is gathered and a program to better it is suggested. The “ ?Do ‘ portion is when the program is tested on a little graduated table, followed by the “ ?Study ‘ phase, where rating of the test takes topographic point to see if any other issues have arisen. The “ ?Act ‘ phase is where the program becomes standard and is carried out continuously. This leads back into the “ ?Plan ‘ phase for farther analysis.

The inquiry so arises of how one assures the quality of instruction.

There are two replies which are non needfully incompatible with each other. The first focuses on procedures, the 2nd on results.

Process-based quality confidence relies on observation of instruction and acquisition and the activities that support it, as the cardinal determiner of whether the instruction being offered is worthwhile. Inspection is the most common signifier of procedure quality confidence. Outcome-based quality confidence relies on the appraisal of the results against certain pre-agreed criterions. Examination and testing are the most common signifiers.

Leadership Approachs

Qualitative leading accomplishments in educational direction revolve around factors described below:

• Identifying the key issues
• Bettering Customer satisfaction and ways of mensurating it
• Customer attention – preparation employees and scene criterions
• Employee engagement in overall ends of the administration.
• Bettering quality “ ” observation and benchmarking
• Contemplation and decision

Quality and organizational culture- Foskett, N. , Lumby, J. ( 2003 ) stated that Quality can besides be comparative to cultural norms. What appears to be choice proviso for pre-school kids in China will look really different to western eyes and frailty versa. They farther noted that steps of Quality by definition are dependent on numeral values in relation to, e.g. , scrutiny passed or scrutinies met, but such values do non needfully capture the assortment of results expected of instruction or the dynamic alterations in outlooks in the experiences of even the scholar, allow alone the all those of an establishment. Quality will therefore stay a fluid and cloudy construct, interpreted diversely in pattern, an orthodox to which many feel indebted to follow. No individual prescription will procure betterment in quality in a context as complex and animated as a school or college. The most that an educationalist can make is to stay cognizant of the impreciseness of the construct and be sensitive to both the educational and micro-political forces which affect its accomplishments, taking with attention from the overplus of taxonomies, doctrines, good pattern and recommended procedure they can offer.

Methodology

Qualitative researched literature reappraisal was adopted which typically includes rationalist, interpretative, constructionist, critical, and participatory paradigms. The research worker ‘s perspective roots from the long documented history of realistic observation in real-world state of affairss. Positions of positivism scope from conservative to progressive-activist, but all involve the belief that world is external to self and can be observed utilizing tools that produce information that can be understood and interpreted by others. The essay is linked historically to societal activism through the thought that societal state of affairss can be studied, critiqued, and later changed. The essay may hold collected informations through observations or assorted signifiers of instruments and frequently derive accounts for their consequences from preexistent theory without concern for whether the survey population understands or agrees with their positions. a literature reappraisal is really much a plural instead than a remarkable one as there are many literatures a research worker must analyze to bring forth a consistent literature reappraisal. For illustration, by making qualitative research, the research worker is fall ining an on-going argument in some form or signifier. The originality of an thought, an attack, or a theoretical reinterpretation adds to bing literature. The aim of this entry is to depict the plurality of literature, to underscore the difference between general and specific literatures, to foreground how to utilize theoretical literature as a tool to increase apprehension of a capable country and prove a research inquiry or hypothesis, and to analyze the methodological analysis and information literatures that form of import parts of the research procedure. ( GIVEN, M. L. 2008 )

Data findings on quality and uninterrupted betterment in educational context.

Wherever an educational operation is based, whether it is public or private, it needs clients, and consumer pick has increased dramatically over the past 20 old ages because of three factors: globalization, engineering and competition.

Technology

Technology provides chances and menaces. The development of computing machine engineering in the signifier of online and blended acquisition, podcasts, webcasts and web logs can and progressively will supply consumers with the option of new self-study methods and the pick to larn with an administration in a foreign state while populating at place or working in the office. At some point interlingual rendition package may even contradict the demand for some people to larn a foreign linguistic communication. These engineerings, nevertheless, besides provide administrations with chances to supply new methods of larning and new agencies of communicating with clients. The rise of online acquisition and blended acquisition programmes, plus the enlargement in province instruction of new engineering [ such as synergistic whiteboards ] means that pupils are progressively more techno-literate. It besides means that as engineering develops and becomes more portion of our mundane lives, pupils by and large expect linguistic communication categories, which in some instances take up a big portion of their disposable income, to be technologically well-equipped. The exponential growing of engineering can non be ignored as the velocity of technological promotion is improbable to decelerate down.

Competition

Competition may come from new administrations come ining the market, as mentioned above, but it may besides look in other signifiers. As other states gain economic power, their linguistic communications become more of import and people begin to analyze them to enable them to come in that economic system. This phenomenon has already been observed ( Graddol, 1997 ) with Spanish, Arabic and Mandarin expected to derive importance over the following decennaries, finally going a serious menace to English as a foreign linguistic communication. As economic systems develop, instruction is going progressively of import as skill becomes indispensable to happening work.

An increasing figure of classs are going available, particularly in the field of computing machines and information engineering, which compete with ELT for clients, peculiarly within the preparation budget of major companies.

Deriving an Edge over Rivals

If an administration has an component of its service which is different or more attractive than its rivals it is said to hold achieved competitory advantage. Deriving competitory advantage requires a transverse functional attack between an facet of selling which gathers informations about client demands and outlooks and the daily operational maps that translate those market needs into operational capablenesss. The functions of selling and pull offing the twenty-four hours to twenty-four hours operation are frequently taken by one individual in little administrations, which can do it easier to interpret client demands into operational world.

In a little private linguistic communication school of 10 instructors, for illustration, the manager may be the focal point for information about the local market, the local economic system, the type of clients the school serves and how they feel about the service. In a school of this size the manager may besides be the individual who decides what classs are offered and whether the market is best served by, for illustration, offering expensive one-to-one ESP tuition for concern professionals or inexpensive general English classs for categories of 20 pupils. A not-for-profit administration may besides see prosecuting a peculiar scheme based on the sort of clients it serves. For illustration, a charitable or province ELT administration may make up one’s mind to supply inexpensive walk-in English categories for deprived female parents to go to as and when they have clip. In this instance, flexibleness is the key to fulfilling the client and deriving competitory advantage.

The three factors of globalization, engineering and competition mean that educational administrations have to pay increased attending to the demands and outlooks of bing and possible clients to retain them and to pull new 1s. By garnering information on clients ‘ demands and through market analysis administrations can develop a service which is different or more attractive than that of rivals. ( Walter. 2001 )

Decision

If stakeholders allow ourselves to acquire caught by the short-run disease of modern direction, non-thinking, market-driven patterns so the thought of sustainable organisation is out of the inquiry. Besides the opportunity of of all time making the degrees desired will be eliminated in all but the shortest of steps.

It is necessary for every leader of the hereafter to cognize plenty about the moral side of concern and how it could be approached with sacrificial purposes through which sharing and upholding several values together among rivals would better upon planetary jobs. Or how the socio-economic net income of the organisation could be able to show or help the concerns required to reflect a longer-term position of the community at big.

I would urge that every leader in every spectrum or field of survey to convey about ways through which the underlining influences surrounding the picks we make in life ( in respects to quality and uninterrupted betterment ) should reflect upon the curative social issues instead than viing. Merely as we know in the history of human dealingss over clip that competition brings about a helter-skelter province while the harmoniousness of shared values and forfeits brings about social coherence and benefits all.

Mentions

Crosby, P. ( 1980 ) Quality is Free. McGraw-Hill.

Deming, W. ( 1986 ) Out of the Crisis. MIT.

Foskett, N. , Lumby, J. ( 2003 ) Leading and pull offing education-International dimensions.London. Paul Chapman Printing

Given, M. L. ( 2008 ) The SAGE Encyclopaedia of Qualitative research methods. California. Sage Publication series

Graddol, D. ( 1997 ) The hereafter of English. London. The British council

Porter, K. , Smith, P. , Fagg, F. ( 2006 ) Leadership and Management for HR Professionals Oxford.Butterworth-Heinemann

Walker, J. ( 2001 ) . Clients ‘ Positions of TESOL “ ” Expectations and Perceptions The International Journal of Educational Management 15/4. MCB University Press hypertext transfer protocol: //www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewPDF.jsp? Filename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Pdf/0600150404.pdf

Walker, J. ( 2007 ) Service Climate in New Zealand Language Centres Journal of EducationalAdministration 2007 Volume: 45 Issue: 3

hypertext transfer protocol: //www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewPDF.jsp? Filename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Pdf/0740450305.pdf

Winch, C. , Gingell, J. ( 2008 ) Doctrine of instruction. Oxon. Routledge publishing houses

Customer relations and customer services are terms often used in business to refer to the relationship between and organization and its customers in terms of ability to attract new customers and retain the existing ones. In most organizations, this is measured by degree to which the organization is able to see the customer as the reason for their existence in the industry. Promptness in handling customers over the counter, communication and providing feedback to customers, solving conflicts of interests,  establishing business partnerships with customers and offering the best possible deals in terms of price and quality are some of the tools used to determine good customer service.

In the online brokerage business, success is highly correlated to the relationship with customers due to the fierce competition prevailing. In this respect, this paper will address customer relations by comparing the customer services in two renowned online brokerage firms in US—Charles Schwab and E*Trade.

Customer Service Analysis at Charles Schwab

Charles Schwab is among the leading brokerage firms in US and has been known over the years since its inception in 1792 for an exceptional customer centric strategy (Hill, Jones, 2008).

The stated customer service policy of this company is to empower its customers by providing them with ethical financial services, tools and information that they need in order to make their free-willed decisions about securities investment. This services the key strength of this company because it does not persuade its customers to make questionable stock trades so as to increase their commissions, but rather it treats its customers as business partners who are supposed to growth and develop at the same pace with the company (Hill, Jones, 2008).

This policy is greatly complimented by the company’s corporate culture which seeks to continually upgrade its financial services in accordance to the current market and technological developments within the industry. This ensures that the right services, tools and information are always provided to the customers (Schwab, 2010). Charles Schwab has a history of being the most rigorous discount brokerage company in innovations, product development and creativity centered towards making its customers more comfortable, satisfied and optimistic about their future with Charles Schwab (Hill, Jones, 2008).

All the years, Charles Schwab has successfully implemented its customer service policy by ensuring that all its activities and operations are customer centric (Brokerage Review, 2010). The company ensures continued incentives to its customers to win loyalty from them—for instance, after the introduction of Telebroker system, Charles Schwab decreased commissions on transactions which completed using this system by 10% as a method of drawing customers towards using it.

Unlike other discount brokerages, its customers are charged extra fee for using the new improved techniques for simplifying online trading every time a new technique is introduced (Hill, Jones, 2008). Further, the company has a savvy investment strategy technology and information systems: It was the first discount brokerage firm to implement online trading. Its IT market lead in helps in winning the confidence and satisfaction of customers thus a competitive advantage.  Schwab has a testimony of new product and service development to improve customer suitability (Schwab, 2010).

Charles Schwab ranks the best discount brokerage firm in customer relations and services (Brokerage Review, 2010). Customer satisfaction is the chief reason behind the success of the company because despite the fact that the company does not operate in full line brokerage business, its current profit margins and customer base is equivalent to that of full brokerage firms in US.

Customer Service Snalysis at ETrade

The customer service policy of ETrade is founded on the company’s principle of succeeding in the delivery of diversified, innovative, integrated and customer focused products and services by maintaining professional ethics  in customer services (E Trade, 2010). During its early years in business, ETrade recorded high performance rates and in the period 2000-2002, its total profitability optimized (it was more productive than Charles Schwab). This was due to the fact that its staff and management were committed towards ensuring that the company’s corporate culture complimented the customer centric objective (Hill, Jones, 2008).

However, at the present, the company’s corporate culture does not reflect the level of customer satisfaction. For instance, since 2008, the company has been struggling to keep its customers who have been shifting to competitors due to poor customer services. As a matter of fact, the number of recorded printed customer complaints since 2008 are approximately 3,000 for each quarter (Hill, Jones, 2008).

This implies that the customer satisfaction rating for ETrade is currently too low that it is gradually losing its market share, against its corporate culture policy which endeavors for perpetual growth and development. Poor customer satisfaction constitutes the major problem behind the declining profitability and market share of E* Trade because most customers are dissatisfied with the long duration it takes for the company to address customer complaints and the frequently at which the website goes down due to too much business (Brokerage Review, 2010; Hill, Jones, 2008). Although the company does not charge any IRA fees, its customers are simply dissatisfied with the company’s inability to consider their satisfaction a first priority (Brokerage Review, 2010).

Recommendations

For Charles Schwab, the company needs to upgrade into full brokerage trading since it has matured in the retail brokerage trading capacity. This is because, research shows that there are many full line investors who would prefer the services at Charles Schwab but since the company only deals with retail brokerage; they are compelled to seek alternatives.

ETrade business needs to reemphasize its traditional customer service practices and policies and focus more on good, fulfilled relationships with the current customer market before considering opening new branches and introducing new methods and techniques for conducting business. This is because even with many branches, customers need to fill their worth in order to remain loyal to the company.

References

1. Brokerage Review (2010). Charles Schwab versus E*Trade review. Retrieved from http://www.brokerage-review.com/compare/etrade-vs-schwab-review.aspx
2. E* Trade (2010) US E*Trade. Retrieved from  https://us.etrade.com/e/t/welcome/welstatic?gxml=brk_insurance.html
3. Hill, C. W. L, Jones, G. R. (2008). Strategic Management: An Integrated Approach, South-Western, Cengage Learning.
4. Schwab (2010).  SCHWAB brokerage. Retrieved from https://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/home/welcomep.html

From a contingency point of view, Kwek is regarded as a task oriented leader. He seems to do well in situations with decent leader-member relationship and strong position power. The leader-member relations in the organization are favorable, as his employees are loyal, dependable and supportive. His positioning power is strong, as he perceives himself to have full power and authority to direct, reward and punish subordinates. He experiences pride and satisfaction in task accomplishment for the organization.

As a task-motivated leader, he is at his best when the group performs successfully in achieving new sales record or outperforming the major competitors. So far, Kwek has always been strongly concerned to completing successfully any task he has undertaken. He runs a “tight ship” with clear orders. As Fiedler (1967) suggests that there are two fundamental leadership styles that are differentially effective in different situations, Kwek will need to develop more as a relationship motivated leader. This will enable him to derive greater satisfaction from better personal relationships with others.

He should show more sensitivity to his subordinates’ feelings and encourage them to participate and offer more ideas. Effective leadership will depend on the characteristics of the situation in terms of the ability of the leader to exercise power and control. The more power he has and the greater his influence and control then the less will be the dependence on the goodwill of others, and the easier his leadership task will be. Therefore, the ease with which he might be able to cope with either of these situations will depend upon whether he finds it easier to use a relationship-motivated or a task-motivated leadership approach.

Leading change in organization Up till now, no real change effort has been instituted because Kwek and his managers take the views that ‘father knows best’ and ‘if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it’. Also, any change is thought to have a negative impact on them since the change could alter the formal, psychological, and social relationship that employees have with the organization. It will require everyone to give up long-standing habits and people will feel that they are forced to change by people and events outside of their control.

The current recession, however, has forced the need for reorganization since profits for 2001 have dropped drastically. There has been a big slump in property sales and this is expected to continue in the near foreseeable future. Also, peripheral businesses such as plastic moldings have folded. There has also been increasing customer dissatisfaction with core products, recurring delay in delivery of projects, and disgruntled minority shareholders who feel that their interests have been ignored.

Kwek will need to establish and communicate a compelling reason to change that shows people how their lives will be better and show a compelling vision for the future of the organization. The change is aimed at achieving clear, tangible, bottom-line results that all can see. The leadership will need to flood the organization with information about the change effort. Kwek will need to appoint a strong and committed top-management guiding coalition that is in full agreement about the need to change and what the change is intended to accomplished.

Kwek could create a coalition to approve change, forming teams to guide it, selecting the right people to fill key positions, making symbolic changes that affect the work, making structural changes to institutionalize change, and monitoring the progress of change to detect problems that require attention. Kwek could create a sense of urgency, preparing people for change, helping them cope with change, keeping them informed, demonstrating continued commitment to the change program, and empowering people to implement change.

He can increase learning and innovation in the organization by encouraging experimentation, reflection, knowledge importation, information sharing, diffusion of knowledge, systems thinking, and improvement of mental models. By doing these, the chances of making the right decision such as the direction of the organization is greater since more information is disseminated, and everyone provides input. There will be greater commitment and greater acceptance of change as integral part of daily work is KWEK’S Leadership Effective?

The leadership of Kwek Leng Beng has so far brought the organization many years of prosperity and growth in the context of modernizing Singapore. Although the Hong Leong Group has done well in the past, there is no guarantee that it will continue to do so in future. In this turbulent, fast changing world in which decisions need to be made throughout an organization and in which the information needed to make those decisions can be rapidly distributed, the principles and consequences of leadership are breaking down.

In this environment, the Industrial Age leadership of “command and control” or “planning, organizing, motivating, and controlling” is becoming out of date. “Control” has given way to “coordinate”, and coordinating implies a respect a respect for underlying beliefs and values in a way that controlling did not. To thrive in the Information Age, Kwek will need to do more. The employees will not only do what they are asked to so, but they will do it willingly and believe in it deeply.

Kwek needs to understand what encourage people to work their hardest and brightest voluntarily and to know that unless they can find ways of organizing to elicit this kind of work, the Group will fall behind its competition-who will understand and find ways to so it. Transformational leadership Kwek would need to develop more as a transformational leader, with a stronger vision that appeal to his employees’ “better nature and move them toward higher and more universal needs and purposes” (Bolman and Deal 1997: 314).

In order words, he needs to be a change agent. Transformational leaders seek to raise the consciousness of followers by appealing to higher ideals and moral values. Transformational leaders make followers more aware of the importance and value of task outcomes, activate their higher-order needs, and induce followers to transcend self-interest for the sake of the organization. Transformational effects are achieved by using four types of leadership behavior: individualized consideration, intellectual stimulation, idealized influence, and inspirational motivation.

As a transformational leader, Kwek could then help team members view their work from more elevated perspectives and develop innovative ways to deal with work-related problems. He should appeal to employees’ ideals and moral values and inspire them to think about problems in new or different ways. He should develop behaviors to influence them through vision, framing and impression management. Vision is his ability to bind people together with an idea. Framing is the process whereby he defines the purpose of his movement in highly meaningful terms.

Impression management is his attempt to control the impressions that others form about him by practicing behaviors that make him more attractive and appealing to others. Other skills for transformational leadership include inspiration, intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration, participative decision making, and elective delegation. Transformational leadership will result in lower turnover rates, higher productivity and higher employee satisfaction. He will then instill feelings of confidence, admiration and commitment in his employees.

He will create a special bond with them, articulate a vision with which the subordinates will identify and for which they are willing to work. Each subordinate is coached, advised and delegated some authority. He will need to stimulate them intellectually, arouse them to develop new ways to think about problems. He will need to use contingent rewards to positively reinforce performances. He will need to find clear and workable ways to overcome obstacles and show concern for the qualities of the services his organization provides to the mass of the people.

People are bonded to their companies by more than paychecks and fear of unemployment. They need to believe in what the company is doing, They will need to have information available to them about how the company is doing. They need to understand the importance of delighting the customer in a world in which alternative sources are proliferating. Kwek needs to understand that unless the employees are delighted, the customers will not be.

Forcing people to go to work, to break a strike, to stay late, to do anything, may be the easiest solution at the moment, but in the long run, this approach creates much more difficulty. Effective leadership is about thinking beyond the immediate to identify other avenues that ultimately impinge on the hearts and heads as well as the bodies of the associates. A big part of effective leadership is the view that the leader takes of the strategic thinking tasks facing him, the work group, and the organization.

The quality of the relationships with others had a major impact on whether others would accept his view of the strategic challenges facing them. The leadership needs to build its influence on a moral foundation and then to communicate clearly and effectively to the employees. The judgement of whether the leadership of Kwek Leng Beng is effective or not is then predicated upon whether he is able to fulfill four key roles, namely, whether he is the direction setter, the change agent, the spokesperson, and the coach.

These roles are articulated as follows: 1. Direction setter- he needs to select and articulate the direction of the organization that will be recognized as representing real progress. The leadership will have to establish a vision so compelling that everyone in the organization will want to help make it happen. This is by means of the organizational charter outlined earlier. 2. Change agent- he needs to catalyze changes in the internal environment; in personnel, resources and facilities to make the vision achievable.

This is done by an overhaul of the organizational designs, system and culture. 3. Spokesperson- he needs to develop his skills as a speaker, listener through courses and seminars. He has to be the major negotiator with other organizations, and the builder of networks of external relationships to provide useful ideas, resources, support, or information for the organization. The leader and his vision must become the medium and the message that expresses what is worthwhile, attractive, and exciting about the future of the organization. 4.

Coach- to be an effective, he must let people know where he stands, what the vision means to him, and what he will do to make it happen. The leader as coach, must also be committed to the success of everyone in the organization, respecting them, building trust, helping them learn and grow, and teaching them how to constantly improve their ability to achieve the vision. It is still too early to tell whether Kwek will be able to develop all these characteristics of effective leadership, but signs are that efforts are being made in the appropriate direction.

References

1. Yukl, G. (1998). Leadership in Organizations. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Shameen, A. (2001). Doebele, J. and Brown, H. The Man with the Golden machine gun. Forbes Magazine July 9, 2001 Schiffman, B. Forbes Faces: M&C’s
2. Kwek Leng Beng. Forbes Magazine December 11, 2000 Forbes World’s Richest People – Kwek Leng Beng. Forbes Magazine November 16, 2000.
3. Shameen, A. A reclusive tycoon fights for the underdogs-including himself. Asiaweek Magazine June 9, 2000

            Every company or organizations has political players, whether they occupy a key position or not. A common employee may have to power of persuasion even though he/she doesn’t have to make important decisions for the company. On the other hand, an individual may be the president of the company, but he/she may lack the ability to influence other people to conform with his/her ideas. We oftentimes relate the concept of political power to the governmental politics and the people that run the country, but politics plays a role also within the business organizational setting.

            Politics is defined as the art or science of government. This definition encompasses all things that need the government of certain individuals skilled at this kind of endeavor. Certainly, good governance is also needed to run a business organization like the one where Roger Allen works for. Otherwise stated, this takes the form of strategic management.

Politics is an art or a science; therefore, there are certain basic rules and techniques one should be skilled at in order to hold control of the government of an organization. In a managerial setting, a manager needs to know the key management theories in order to effectively and efficiently manage the operations and processes of a company. Hence, in this case, Roger Allen should have both the skills of a manager and the brilliance of a politician to get what he wanted.

Within the organization where Roger Allen works, two individuals who directly hold the power to influence the upholding or rejection of Roger Allen’s desire to take part in the international sales of the company are Harry Walden, the current marketing vice-president, and the woman marketing president. However, we can surmise eventually that the one who used political power at its highest potential was Harry Walden. The vice-president used the Machiavellian way of attaining his objective, and that is preventing Roger to leave for the international sales scene by employing a questionable machination. The end justifies the means used. What Harry had done, although unethical, effectively persuaded the selection committee to vote against Roger’s intention. In essence, Harry Walden had the power in this organization at this particular case. He employed the political power of manipulation and scheming. Politics is a double-edged sword; it can be used for a good purpose, or for a bad intention.

To point out, Roger did not play company politics well. He let himself go with the flow. He just let his supervisors do the things necessary in order for his hope of working for the international sales to be put into motion. Roger Allen lacks the power of persuasion, which is a very important tool in organizational politics. At the same time that he intimated his intention to the vice-president and the president, he should have coupled his action by pressing the matter extensively that he can work best if he is allowed to do international sales. The powers of influencing and persuasion are important implements of politics. Without these, politicians would be rendered helpless in advocating there policies. This is true in the case at hand. Roger Allen failed to advocate his plan with the help of other factors.

            In addition, Roger’s trust was mislaid. The fact that Harry Walden influenced the selection committee against Roger Allen, there was manipulation employed. A department, in order to function effectively, must be well founded on trust between the subordinates and the department head. Harry Walden’s acts constituted a breach of trust. It is normal for a subordinate to trust and ask the opinion of the supervisor on matters involving company tasks and functions; hence, this given trust is not a sanction for the supervisor to do whatever, in his opinion, he wants in behalf of the subordinate. Harry should have told Roger what he wants to do in the committee hearing. In the first place, he intimated his support for Roger Allen’s plan. This factor contributed to Roger’s failure to get the international job.

            There are many things that could have been done by Roger Allen in order to get what he wanted. If I am in Roger’s shoes, the first thing that I have to do is to place personally before the selection committee my application to work for the international sales of the organization. I’ll request a personal interview so that I can intimate before the committee all the factors surrounding my plan. In this way, other individual’s plans and motivations could not interfere with my intention.

            I will further state, that being the #1 salesperson, it is in my position to help the company spread out its grasp on the international market. Eventually, if permitted, my efforts would help in the expansion of the company, not just in Europe, but in other areas as well.

            But political strategies would not be fully effective if the ones employed tend to lean on the negative side. Negative strategies tend to produce bad outcomes; therefore, the political strategies that I will use should be limited up to the extent that they will not encroach upon the unethical aspects of corporate strategy and management.