Organization

Introduction

We decided to do our project on Hotel Alimara in Barcelona. We have interviewed the F&B manager and Front Office manager to get some information about operating processes. From Front Office processes we have chosen the check-out and from the F&B we have chosen the order making process.

Objectives

The objective of our work is to analyze and compare functions and operating processes of two departments of a Hotel Alimara in Barcelona. Our main goal is improved to knowledge the functioning of the departments responsible of dividing rooms and F&B, especially on check-out and order making processes . We decided to concentrate on this aspects of operations of that hotel, creating on that the second objective of our project.

Hypothesis

In order to meet our objectives we have proposed several hypotheses. Each objective has its own hypothesis. Therefore they are split once again into the two departments

Front Office hypothesis

If the Front Office department does perform correctly the Check-out process, which will be consequences for their department? If the Front Office department does NOT perform correctly the Check-out process, which will be consequences for their department?

F&B hypothesis

If the Food & Beverage department does perform correctly the order, which will have consequences for their department? If the Food & Beverage department does not perform correctly the order, which will have consequences for their department?

Methodology

For comply with our objectives, we have done an interview with the heads of departments we are analyzing. Based on the information obtained, we performed a detailed study of the processes and operation of those departments.

In addition have made a search to find out how must be do the work in these two departments following the theoretical standards, and thus be able compare the theory with practice in real life. For this search we used different sources of information: books information about the service, books information about the Front office department and other papers on the topics to add to the viability of the research paper. Theoretical framework

We will create this section to explain the choices and possible outcomes of this research in our selected departments. The theoretical framework is a structure that can hold or support a theory of a research study. It introduces a theory and describes the theory un which explains why the research problem under the case exists and how is tried to solved.

Theory and purpose of check-out

Check-out is part of the final stage of the guest cycle. The services and activities of departure stage are primarily furnished by a front office employee. Before leaving the hotel, the guest will generally stop at the front desk to review his or her folio, pay any outstanding account balance, review a receipt of account statement and return the room key.

The check-out process accomplish three important functions:

• Settles guest account balances
• Updates room status information
• Creates guest history records

Most front offices require a guest to specify an eventual method of settlement at registration. This means that the front office will know the guest’s credit card or direct billing information before he or she arrives at the desk to check out. Such notification allows the front office to verify and authorize a credit card account or confirm the direct billing in advance of settlement. Pre-settlement verification activities reduce the guest’s check-out time.

Effective front office operations depend on accurate room status information. When the client checks out and settles his account balances, front agent performs several important tasks. First of all, the agent changes guest’s room status from occupied to on-change on the room status report. That term means that the guest has left the hotel and housekeeping department can clean his room.

The hotel can better understand its clientele and determine guest trends when it maintains a guest history file – a collection of personal and financial data about guests. The front office must create guest history files from expired registration cards or through informatic systems which automatically direct the check-out information into a guest history data base. Guest historic files provide a powerful data base for strategic marketing.

Check-out can be a pleasant experience when the front office is well-prepared and organized. The final phase of guest cycle involves several steps:

• Checking for mail and messages
• Posting outstaning charges
• Verifying account information
• Inquiring about additional recent charges
• Presenting the guest folio
• Verifying the method of payment
• Processing the account payment
• Securing the room key
• Updating the room status

Check out gives the hotel opportunity to make a positive impression on the guest. The guest approaching the front desk should be greeted promptly and courteously. Are different types of check-out.

Late check out occurs when the guest don’t leave the room in the hotel’s posted check out time. Some hotels authorize the front desk to charge the late check-out fees.

Express check-out occurs when the guest wants to leave the hotel before hotel’s posted check-out time. The guest must notify that will do de express check out and also must to notify to the front desk any change in departure plans. The express check-out intended reduce the check-out time in prime check-out period (from 7:30am to 9:30 am) and reduce also front office traffic.

Self check out is processing by accessing self check out terminals in lobby or by using an in-room system. The self check out terminals and in room systems are interfaced with the front office computer and are intended to reduce the check out time and front office traffic.

Theory and purpose of taking order

The order is the documental support which specifies the products that the customer orders and that the person responsible for the service making written. This document have to specify clearly and legibly, all the necessary data.

At time of take note of the order, have to be followed the protocol
standards. These rules say we have to serve in order of age, from high to low, and first ladies and men after. After taking the order, remove the cards and give thanks to the customer. Their role is essential in the presentation of the service for two reasons: first to satisfy the desires of the client and the second because it is a core document in the billing process.

Order itinerary

The order will be made by triplicate.

1. The original and two copies.
2. The original is for the kitchen department, which we provide the product.
3. The first copy is the document that we provide to billing department.
4. the second copy is held by the waiter so that he can know at any time what the client has ordered.

Order Variations

• Suite: That means continuation. It’s the order that you realize when the clients order more products after the first order. Also when more clients are added to a table already begun.
• Retour: That means devolution. It is made to return a product for another one or nothing.

Other types of orders

• Dessert order: It’s done when you have collected the main courses, bread and comboi. Beverage order: Written by the sommelier before the meal.
• Bar order: bar corresponds to the department. we offer snacks or after the coffees.

Order characteristics

On top of the order must be filled with the following data: date, number of guests, table number, name of waiter and room number. Having different types of service, must be included if carte or menu. Products requested will be separate and distinct groups (starters, main courses, desserts) The product is written to the left, and the number of plates will be written to the right.

Practical part of the Case Study

Check-out

In Hotel Alimara there are two types to do the check-out and each has its procedures. The check-out individual, the first type, according to the quality control manual has the following steps.

1. Give a good day to the customer approaches the front desk
2. Ask the client for a key to prevent it from entering the room without our control
3. Ask if he has taken something from the minibar last night
4. Ask if he has the car in the parking
5. Take his booking documents by check payment

In the case of individual check-out there are two three types of settlemen

• Payment by Credit
• Payment by check
• Direct payment

After that the front desk manager can continue with the check-out

• Present the bill and explain it
• Receivable the bill
• While the customer is paying ask if he would like complete a satisfaction survey
• Ask if you need other services such as call taxi or storing luggage
• Say goodbye properly
• Archive documents

In the case of group check-outs the operations are different.

• Make separate customers extra bills
• Check the documentation of the group
• Check if all group customers have already checked-out
• Ask the guide if he need any more service
• Recover keys todoas
• Say goodbye to the guide and the group
•  Close the master bill

In Alimara Hotel they give a client an opportunity to do the late check-out and it also has its procedures. If a customer wants to make late check-out receipt must notify the housekeeper when client output.

• In case the client output is delayed until two hours, is not charged.
• If the client wants to stay hata afternoon we charge 50%.
• If the customer wants to check-out from the 22’30h is charged the full night.

We spoke with receptionists of hotel and we asked “how do they do the check-out” and they give us its own list of steps of this operation.

1. Arrival of the client at the front desk
2. Demonstration of the need to check-out
3. Ask room number or name stayed.
4. Reconfirm the nights stay and reconfirm that he want to check-out
5. Review of the billing of night with the reservation documents (to verify that the charges were successful).
6. Review the charges billed to extras (internet, bar, minibar, massages …)
7. Ask if he has consumed any more extra on the last night (minibar)
8. If there is any extra, upload it and charge it.
9. Ask for what bill data he want (company, nif, etc …)
10. Ask if he want to pay by cash or card.
11. Ask if he has been good during the stay to receive feed back positive or negative

• If the reservation is fully pre-paid and do not need extra billing review, also ask the client about their stay and we would appreciate that you stayed with us.

Order

In Summum, the restaurant of the Alimara Hotel, there are two different possibilities to take order:

First, that the customers order food to takeaway. In this case the waiter will show the customer the 3 offers available, he will point in the commands which the customer decide, and take to the kitchen. Second, could be a ordinary service. When customers are seated at tables, the waiter in charge of the area shows them the cards and order drinks. After having served the drinks, the waiter asks the client if he is ready to order, and begins to take order following the rules of the protocol mentioned above. And take to the kitchen.

Once the order arrives at the kitchen you have two sectors where leave the order. It depends on the order has been made. If it is for takeaway order is left in the “cold zone” where they are responsible for delivering this kind of food. But if it is for the table-service is left in the “hot zone” where they prepare all dishes on the menu.

Final steps in the order

• In the lounge: The last step of the order, in this and in all restaurants, is the bill. We currently use the first copy, to control everything that is consumed during operation on that table or customer.
• In the kitchen: The order that remains in the kitchen is used to keep track of expenses, to control the output of dishes,so to know if they have to change some dish from the menu.

Conclusions

Front Desk Department

• Check-out is a very important and complex process.
• If the check-out is managed properly the customer is happy and satisfied, and there are the possibility of his return. The customer can give good opinion about the hotel.
• In addition the department has no problems with the issue of money, bills, fees, etc.
• If during check-out experience problems, customer can get a little dissatisfied with the service that gives hotel.
• In addition, each error during the check-out process may cause problems for front desk department, such as lack or excess money, customers have gone unpaid, unpleasant incidents, etc.

F&B Department

• The order making process has many steps that have to know to function properly.
• Take order need some rules.
• In the kitchen of the Alimara Hotel have different specialization areas, is necessary to differentiate between takeaway orders and table-service orders, and take it the right place.
• There are different types of orders, each with it’s own function.

One of the first and most important decisions that any business owner will make is what structure or type of business organization to form. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Small Business Administration (SBA) agree that the type of structure will have operational, legal, and tax implications for both the business owner and the business operation. Business owners and consultants recommend that new business owners consult with both an attorney and an accountant before making the final decision as to which business structure to use.

This is a discussion of the five common types of business organizations and the tax implications of each. The general types of business organizations are sole proprietorships, partnerships, corporations (c-corp), Subchapter S-corporations (s-corp), and limited liability companies (LLC). Businesses, like individuals, must pay federal, state, and local income taxes. Additionally businesses are subject to self-employment, payroll, withholding, and unemployment taxes. The type of taxes, tax forms, and reporting requirements vary according to the type of business organization.

How would you define each of the five business organizations? Sole Proprietorship A sole proprietorship is the easiest type of business to organize. If any individual decides to begin operating a business, a sole proprietorship has been formed. Simply put, the individual and the business are one and the same. Most small businesses begin as sole proprietorships with the vision, labor, and investment of the business owner. Many professionals including accountants or attorneys may begin operating as sole proprietors using their personal names, such as B. L. Smith Accounting, as opposed to a trade name, such as BLS Accounting Services.

A sole proprietorship requires no legal forms or registration. Although, many states require that trade names be reserved or registered with the state. Some localities may requiring registration or licensing to conduct certain activities such as plumbing or electrical contractors, or rental property managers. Sole proprietorships cannot be bought or sold. If the owner retires or closes the business, it is simply dissolved upon cessation of business activities. All rights to income and responsibilities for debts belong to the owner, and are considered part or their personal income and debt.

The sole proprietorship pays income taxes as an individual. The owners files IRS for Schedule C or C-EZ to report profit or loss from business activities. The profit is reported on the 1040 series and taxed at the corresponding rate. Also, sole proprietors must pay Self-employment taxes on Schedule SE, which covers social security and medicare taxes. If the sole proprietor has employees, then they will also file Form 940, Federal unemployment taxes (FUTA) and must set up a withholding account for their employees federal, state, and local tax withholdings and payments, and must match social security and medicare taxes.

Partnership A partnership is similar to a sole proprietorship except that two or more individuals own and or operate the business. The partners may, like the proprietor, simply begin operations with a verbal agreement, such as a husband and wife team. However, most partnerships create a legal partnership agreement spelling out the terms of ownership, outlining the duties of each partner, and outlining provisions for sale or transfer of ownership. Partnerships generally operate under a trade name, although the partners names may be used as the trade name, for example, Smith and Smith Accountants.

Partnerships must also comply with state and local laws for registering business activities. Partnership agreements may be filed with the state or locality for legal protection and identification. Additionally, a partnership will file for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) with the IRS to distinguish it from the individual partners. There are three types of partnerships that can be utilized, determined largely by the type and expected duration of business activities.

A general partnership is one in which equal ownership, management, legal, and financial responsibilities are shared between the owners. General partnerships are usually intended to be ongoing business operations. A limited partnership is when one or more owners have unequal ownership, management, legal, or financial responsibilities. Many limited partnerships have a managing partner who is solely responsible for day-to-day operations, and several limited partners who may only have a personal financial investment in the business.

A limited partnership agreement may state that limited partners have limited legal liabilities as investors. Many companies attract private investors with this form of organization, especially companies that do not wish to trade on public stock markets. A joint venture can combine elements of a general and a limited partnership. What is unique about the joint venture is that the business activities are usually for a limited or definite period of operation. Real estate developments and feature film movies are often joint ventures.

A real estate developer may establish separate joint ventures for building a strip mall, an apartment complex, and a single family home site. A movie studio may establish a joint venture for a single movie production. Investors know the duration of their investment and have an expected date to receive the return on their investments. Partnerships must file IRS form 1065, which is a declaration of partnership income, but the business itself pays no taxes. Each partners’ share of income is then reported on Schedule E and transferred to their 1040 series as taxable income.

Partners must also file Schedule SE for self employment taxes. They then pay taxes at the corresponding individual tax rates. Partnerships with employees are subject to the same withholding and social security matching requirements as sole proprietors with employees. Corporation ©-corp) A corporation takes the general partnership concept and turns the business into a legal entity separate from its owners, investors, and managers. A corporation technically has a life of it’s own. A corporation is formed by a statutory agent and group of operating officers.

The owners are called shareholders, and their evidence of ownership is called stock, or common stock. The shareholders vote for a board of directors who oversee the day-to-day operations. In smaller private corporations an individual may be an officer, shareholder, and manager of operations. What is unique about a corporation is that ownership can be transferred by a simple sale of stock either to existing owners or to anyone who is willing to buy at the set price. Corporations can also sell stock on the stock markets.

A corporation must pay taxes on the income it earns since it is a legal entity. The corporation will file IRS form 1120, and pay taxes on the profits that the company earns. Most states and localities also require corporations to file income tax returns. Shareholders are also taxed as individuals on capital gains, if they sell their ownership stocks, and on dividend, which are profits passed on to shareholders. Unlike a proprietorship or partnership, and owner/manager of a corporation will pay taxes twice. Subchapter S Corporation (S-corp)

A subchapter S corporation is no different than a c-corporation in organization or operation. The primary difference, or in some cases advantage, is the income tax status and treatment of the s-corporation. S-corporations generally never sell stock on the public stock markets, and are usually private family owned businesses. S-corps allow owner/managers to avoid paying taxes twice. When the owners pay themselves what is considered reasonable compensation for their job classifications, the corporate income will be reported on for 1120-S, and then passed through to the shareholders on Schedule E.

The owner, like the partner, then reports that share on the 1040 series and pays taxes at the individual rate. Limited Liability Company (LLC) The limited liability company is a combination of a corporation and a limited partnership. A joint venture, when incorporated, becomes a limited liability company. The owners are called members instead of shareholders. Ownership is defined in the LLC charter, not by stock ownership. The members may be only financial investors, only managers, or both. What is unique about the LLC is its ability to choose whether to be taxed as a partnership or as a corporation.

The LLC, may file any of the IRS forms, Schedule C, 1120 series, or 1065 series depending on the number of members. The benefit is that taxes are passed on to the members and taxed at the corresponding individual rate. How would you analyze the tax implications of each organization? All businesses with employees, regardless of type of structure and organization, will pay FUTA, federal unemployment taxes, state unemployment insurance, and workers compensation insurance. Workers compensation may vary from state to state and by job classification.

They must also match their employees social security and medicare taxes, and withhold and deposit the employees federal, state, and local tax liabilities. The most important tax implications for business is level or amount of taxation and complexity of paperwork. The sole proprietorship has the least amount of paperwork required for income tax reporting, and depending on the actual profit may pay at the lowest income tax rate or have no tax liability at all, if the business incurs a loss. Partnerships, corporations, and LLCs will file two tax returns, one for the business and one for the individual.

1120s and 1065s also require additional record keeping and reporting of business assets and liabilities in addition to income and expenses. Finally the traditional C-corp must pays double taxes along with the additional record keeping and filing requirements. Conclusion An individual owner may be overwhelmed by the filing requirements of a corporation. A group of owners may reduce the overall tax burden by filing a partnership or s-corp return and paying at the individuals’ tax rates. Business owners must weigh several factors when deciding what legal form of organization to use.

Tax implications should play a major role in this decision. Tax implications are not only limited to how much tax will be paid, but also include the amount of record keeping required to file certain types of tax returns. References Business Startup Where to Begin & How to Grow. Tax Information. (pp. 23-25). Retrieved August 5, 2008, from http://www. businessfinance. com/books/S tart-A-Business. pdf Business Startup Where to Begin & How to Grow. Types of Business Organizations. (pp. 12-14).

Retrieved August 5, 2008, from http://www.businessfinance. com/books/S tart-A-Business. pdf www. irs. gov. Business Structures. Retrieved August 5, 2008, from http://www. irs. gov/businesses/small/ar ticle/0, id=98359,00. html www. sb a. gov. Choose a Structure, Forms of Ownership. Retrieved August 5, 2008, from http://www. sba. gov/smallbusinessplanne r/start/chooseastructure/START_FORMS_OW NERSHIP. html www. sba. gov. Choose a Sturcture, Basic Structures. Retrieved August 5, 2008, from http://www. sba. gov/smallbusinessplanne r/start/chooseastructure/START_BASIC_ST RUCTURE. html

Google’s Approach to Business Strategy and its Sustainable Competitive Advantage

Google has created the most popular search engine and organized the information in such a manner that it has created a sustainable competitive advantage as is clear from the fact that although the search engine was started in 1997, the company is still having TTS domination in the search engine market with a market share of 67. 5% in Feb.. 2013 as per the data released by commerce, the leading.

Company has created a first mover advantage by aggressively building its search engine by adding to it Google Books, Google Scholar, Google Finance, Google News, Google video, Google Images etc. Which helped the user search with specific keywords. The company has been able to sustain its competitive advantage as is also clear from the fact that General Sentiment, a social analytical company has ranked Google topping the list of brands with a brand value of $756. Million even surpassing Apple’s brand value.

This is a result of its innovative products and heavy expenditure on sales and marketing. Google invested $6. 143 billion in 2012 on sales and marketing which is 12. 2% increase over investment of $4. 589 billion in 2011 on sales and marketing. There was addition of advertising expenses of $288 million in 2012 which is a reflection of how the company invests in brand building of its products. The diversification move undertaken by the company is the result of innovation at Google ND extensive research and development with R&D expenses continuously increasing from $3. Billion in 2010 to $5. 2 billion 2011 and $6. 8 billion 2012. Although there were initial problems with the company as the company experimented through Google Labs and the result was development of Gamma, Google Earth, Google Maps etc. But the company announced in 2011 that the company is going to close down Google Labs as the strategic focus of the company will be different and although Research & Development will be promoted throughout the organization but the company will also grow through acquisitions.

Google labs had its mix of successes and failures but certain products have been very successful such as Gamma and Google Earth. Besides this the company’s successful acquisitions include Picas in 2004, Android in 2005 and youth in 2006. Therefore, taking risk and developing innovative products and acquiring new products through acquisitions thereby diversifying into new businesses may not be much profitable initially but it can be a long-term investment as the competitors such as Microsoft and Yahoo may diversify and get into the core businesses of Google.

Describe Google’s core products and business model-the basis upon which the firm makes money. Analyze the dual strategy that Google employs to execute its business model. Google provides the information to its internet users for free but the revenues are generated by targeting advertisers who are interested in reaching the online users through their advertisements and the company’s Towards is a self-serve auction based advertising program and the advertisements appear near the search results and most of the advertiser pay for it on a cost per click basis. Through its Deceased program, Google advertises through its Google Network members who in return get a share of revenues and the advertisements are featured in the form of videos, text, images and interactive advertisements and the displays may appear on youth, Google Finance and Google network websites. Besides search, Google has developed its Android based mobile phone operating system and developers can create applications for the mobile devices using it.

Google is serving the enterprise market using hosted web-based applications such as Gamma, Google docs, Google Allendale and Google sites. Google has its own web browser Chrome and is working with various Original Equipment Manufacturers (Memos) to install chrome in their computer systems. The company has developed global sales and support infrastructure and a support team that will help Google Network members and advertisers generate maximum value out of its offerings.

The costs of the company can be divided into four broad categories: Data Center operations, Traffic Acquisitions and Sales & Marketing. Google also ventured into hardware by developing Google Nexus 7 tablets and smartness which the company is continuously upgrading. Although Google Search is still the core product of Google with its Gamma chat, Google Talk and its Deceased business, the company has been blamed of polluting its search engine with its own inferior products such as Google Plus and the company is promoting its own other products on Google search. Google is explaining its core product not as Google search but it is actually Google which is larger master. Google adopted the 70-20-10 Strategy which means that 70% engineering resources would be devoted to its core products, 20% to extending the core to the related areas and 10% to fringe areas. Although this strategy has been used but its core product is not Google search, it is broader than that with other businesses being Google Android and Google Nexus.

Though the company has been quite successful in certain applications and its major portion of advertising the Nexus 7 Phone is facing stiff competition from Apple and Samsung and the company only commanded 0. 9% of the market share and although the company is growing strongly with an 8% market share of the total Android tablets (Sherman, 2013: Jan. 28), there is still a strong competition from Apple and Samsung but the development is Just a vertical integration done by the company to reach more users by promotion of its operating system and through its own tablet and smartened.

• Analyze how Google applies the strategy and principle of options valuation to create shareholder value

Google’s Mission Statement is as follows as described in the case: “Our mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. We believe that the most effective, and ultimately the most profitable, way to accomplish our mission is to put the needs of our users first. We have found that offering a high- quality user experience leads to increased traffic and strong word-of-mouth promotion.

Our dedication to putting users first is reflected in three key commitments: “We will do our best to provide the most relevant and useful search results possible, independent of financial incentives. Our search results will be objective and we do not accept payment for search result ranking or inclusion. ” “We will do our best to revive the most relevant and useful advertising. Advertisements should not be an annoying interruption.

If any element on a search result page is influenced by payment to us, we will make it clear to our users. ” “We will never stop working to improve our user experience, our search technology and other important areas of information organization. ” “We believe that our user focus is the foundation of our success to date. We also believe that this focus is critical for the creation of long-term value. We do not intend to compromise our user focus for short-term economic gain. How We Provide Value to Our Users We serve our users by developing products that quickly and easily find, create, organize and share information. We place a premium on products that matter to many people and have the potential to improve their lives. ” Some of the key benefits we offer include: Comprehensiveness and Relevance “Our search technologies sort through a vast and growing amount of information to deliver relevant and useful search results in response to user queries. This is an area of continual development for us.

When we started the company in 1998, our Web index contained approximately 30 million documents. We now index billions of Web pages and strive to provide the most comprehensive search experience possible … ” Although Google has been successful to achieve its mission to the users by providing value to the users by building more than one million servers and satisfying one billion search requests every day with targeted ad words to reach the right user every day but the company is also accused of polluting the search engine with the promotion of its own products thereby restricting the first page access of important and relevant articles. Since the ajar portion of its revenues comes from advertising, its focus on advertising without disturbing users and providing them information in an organized manner is relevant. The company’s core business has evolved from not Just providing information but value addition in different ways.

The company is attempting to create a shareholder value by not only innovating in different ways but also diversifying its businesses so that the company is not shareholders by identifying the lucrative opportunities such as Android operating system in which the company commands a major share of market and as per the ATA provided by International Data Corporation, Android commands a 75% market share of mobile phone operating systems worldwide in the third quarter of 2012. Google attempts to create shareholder value by providing the employees stock options using “Black-Schools-Morton option pricing model to determine the fair value of stock options on the dates of grant wherein restricted stock units are measured on the basis of fair market values on the date of grant and the shares are issued on vesting dates net of minimum tax holding requirements paid by Google on behalf of employees. For the year ending Deck. 1, 2012, Google has recognized stock based compensation expense for its employees at $2649 million and related tax benefits worth $591 million. Analyze how Google is competing. Conduct a high-level financial review. Synthesize how the dual strategy is implemented in the user base, core market (search engine) and movement into adjacent technological areas. Google has commanded a major 67% market share of search market.

The other competitors are far behind Google in the search engine market with Microsoft having only 16% market share which is around one-fourth of Google’s share, followed by Yahoo with 1 1. 6% market share, Ark Network with 2. 6% market share and AOL with 1.7% market share. But apart from Microsoft and Yahoo being the leading competitors, now Amazon and Apple’s Sir search are new competition in the search market for product searches.

The user base of Google is very strong with 1 billion in searches every day and it is difficult to compete with an established brand like Google but the company is proactive in identifying competition and this is the reason that the many decided to enter into the areas where competitors like Microsoft and Yahoo have their core competence as the company entered into the market of operating system with its Android operating system to compete with Microsoft and entered into e-mail market through its Gamma and Google Talk to compete with yahoo.

Since Apple is the new competition, the company has entered into tablet PC and smartened space with its Google Nexus. Since Amazon is the new face of competition, Google has entered into the cloud computing service which has been dominated by Amazon. Therefore, this dual strategy which has worked on 70-20-10 principle now is shifting other areas such as Google Talk, Gamma and others into its core areas of business.

Although Amazon has diversified with Kindle Fire and there applications but since, it is having low margins due to the higher level of capital expenditure and other players have already achieved economies of scale. Google has a higher Inventory turnover ratio of 70:1 as compared to an ideal ratio of 5:1 which shows that Google has been able to create a huge consumer pull with its innovations as compared to Microsoft and Amazon whereas since Yahoo is not diversified and most of business is services, it does not have any physical inventory.

Although yahoo has the highest return on invested capital due to its lower level of capital expenditure, Microsoft has earned a higher 32. % average return on invested capital in last 5 years. Due to its relatively smaller size, Amazon had to take more debt and therefore, its Debt Equity ratio is highest at 0. 38:1 and leverage ratio being 4:1. Google seems to have a good working capital management with working capital per share of as high as $139. 89. Analyze Google’s industry environment using Porter’s Five Forces Model. Consider Grant’s postulation of a sixth force.

• Identify the forces Google leverages to gain competitive advantage and/or alter the industry structure

Google’s Industry Environment

Six Forces Analysis

The five forces that are operating upon any industry which determines the intensity of competition are as follows (Porter, 1998):

1. Intensity of rivalry among competitors
2. Threat of New Entrants
3. Threat of Substitutes
4. Bargaining power of buyers
5. Bargaining power of suppliers

A six force that was added to these 5 forces is complementary products called “Complementary”.

Let us analyze all these forces in context with Google’s competitive environment as follows:

Intensity of Rivalry among the competitors

The industry is highly concentrated with the three players Google, Microsoft and yahoo commanding 95. % market share as per commerce data. Google has already created a competitive advantage by being the first mover in the industry establishing around 1 million servers. The stronger brand preference towards Google with a brand value of $756. Million makes it difficult for other players to compete. Since it is an oligopoly situation, new product innovations are essential for Google to sustain itself.

Threat of new entrants

The new entrants in the search industry is Apple with its Sir search and Amazon and a potential new entrant can be Faceable and these impasses are already established in their areas as Apple is leading smarten, Amazon is a popular trading site and Faceable is the most popular social media. Google has to be concerned about this form of competition as lead to a strong competition for Google in the long run.

Threat of Substitutes

Porter (1998) has described that “the substitutes that deserve the most attention are those which are subjected to trends improving their price performance trade-off with industry product it produced by industries earning high profits. There seem to be no strong substitute to the search engine because Google is available to the consumer for free and the only potential substitute can be the targeted search by the consumers on social networking sites like faceable or in certain published sources such as newspapers and magazines but these cost some money whereas Google is available to users free of cost. For advertisers, the substitute can be the newspapers and magazines or other published sources or social networking sites like faceable because these published and online sources can provide value proposition to advertisers at a lower price.

Bargaining Power of Suppliers

Google has a strong bargaining power due to its deeper pockets as the many is not only a software and services companies, it has gone for an extensive vertical integration developing its own server capabilities and with acquisition of Motorola Mobility, the company has become one of well known company in designing servers and giving competition to companies like Cisco and HP

Bargaining Power of buyers

Google has a commanding market share with fewer substitutes available as the company has created a stronger brand loyalty with nearly 80% of all web searches being done on Google and 98% at mobile device. Therefore, although advertisers can always bargain due to substitutes like faceable more for targeted promotions but if masses have to be reached, advertisers have a relatively poor bargaining position.

Complementary

The complementary are those which have to be used with the core product.

The core product search engine requires not complementary products but with evolution of targeted search Google Images, You Tube, Gamma, Google Drive and Calendar have been used as complementary by Google along with its search engine. This is a result of Google’s envisioning of providing consumers a value proposition. Identify and analyze Google’s key resources and capabilities. Consider their core products and management capabilities.

• How does Google leverage its technical resources to achieve new product development leadership capability?

Google’s Key resources and capabilities include the following: Google has strong cash flows of $16,619 million from its operating activities. Google has a strong brand name with a brand value of $756. 6 million. Google has a strong team of more than 30,000 employees working worldwide. Google has a strong capability with more than 1 million servers available relied.

Google has an excellent innovation driven work culture with its People Operations department replacing the HRS department and its People Innovation Lab conducting experiments to provide the best to its employees and evolve creativity Google has also developed capabilities to make some of its own networking gear. Google leverages its technical resources in such a way that it is able to achieve economies of scale, a proper work culture is created and more authority and responsibility is provided to the team most innovative company in the world.

Articulate one or more strategic issues related to the degree to which Google has aligned its mission and capabilities to its business strategy and its ability to create a sustained competitive advantage. Google’s mission has been to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful and they believe that the most effective, and ultimately the most profitable, way to accomplish mission is to put the needs of the users first.

The major strategic issue which arose was that the company was not earning much profitability by diversifying and therefore whether the company would have gone for diversification to attain a sustained competitive advantage. The company wished to put its users organizing the world’s information and making its universally accessible and useful and this should also make the operations profitable for the company. But the company has been focusing in doing the same thing which is improving user experience. Gamma was a result of satisfying the communication needs of the users.

Google Maps was aimed at making a location traceable across the world. Youth was to satisfy the needs of users to upload and download videos. Similarly various other applications were developed by the company. But the company has also been blamed to pollute the web with the promotion of its own products on the web search engine thereby cluttering it and making it difficult for the users to search the relevant articles, people and products Just to arrive at its own products such as Google plus to find those people and products and due to this reason it may lead to diversion of traffic from Google.

But its business model has been very useful with data center management and having a very strong infrastructure, brand value and work culture will help the company in sustaining its nominative advantage in future also. Describe and evaluate the effectiveness of Google’s corporate strategy-that is, where is Google focusing to sustain its competitive advantage? Google is attracting huge amount of advertising revenues and its corporate strategy is to vertically integrate and diversify into new products and applications which will also help the company in reaching the appropriate market segments and targeted promotions to the users.

The competitive advantage of Google lies in innovation. The theory of sustainable competitive advantage supports that there should be a nominate advantage which will become the core business for the company and there will be supporting advantage that will help a company in sustaining the dominant advantage (Porter, 1998). And Google has exactly done it maintaining its core advantage into Google search and building the related advantages by diversifying into various other applications. The heavy R expenditure done by Google which accounts for around 13% of its revenues is focusing on building Google’s core businesses, the core being advertising revenues and Google search is considered by the company only one media to promote the advertisers products, operations is reflected in the fact that it has not still been able to match the revenues earned by Microsoft and therefore, the company can visualize the difference between company’s actual position and expectations and therefore, the company is going for vertical integration and diversification as is evident.

• Address how functions within the company are organized differently and identify the organizational theory that drives organizational design changes in response to industry changes.

The organization structure used by Google is a Flat Organization structure as any Google (Google’s employee) can directly interact with the top management including founders Eric Schmidt, Larry Page, and Sergey Bring.

Google revised spare time to the engineers that leads to delegation of authority and empowering them as they dream their own ideas in the spare time and the teams are automatically constituted around the best ideas which receive funding on the bases of market based principles and although there were some problems with best of the ideas not attracting management that led to attrition due to which these employees formed separate companies like Twitter. When recession occurred it became a Google’s moment of truth as it was realized that the company’s growth has been slowed down. It became essential for the company to retain key talent. This led to Google’s culture czar who needed to maintain the core values of the company to promote innovation, do good and not evil and maintain certain ethical standards along with ensuring happiness of the employees throughout the company. The company also appointed a Chief Culture Officer which was a special position created to accomplish this purpose.

Stacy Savvies Sullivan took the responsibility of working with employees and finding out ways in which the company can maintain, stimulate and develop the ultra at Google despite keeping the core values established in beginning of having a flat organization, lack of hierarchy and a collaborative environment. To have a creative work culture and to boost employee motivation within the organization, the company appointed social scientists at its People Innovation Lab which experimented on people at Google to find the best ways to keep the motivated, retaining them and training them to live up to the standards. People from diverse cultural backgrounds were appointed and were provided

Lack of focus: Too many people, too many objectives, too many metrics, and too many scorecards When it comes to scorecards, less is more. Too often, beginners start out with too many people, too many objectives, too many metrics, and too many scorecards. When an organization tries to juggle too many things, It Inevitably cannot deliver on all of them. When too many people are involved, the process slows to a crawl. Often these groups wind up with too many objectives because they cannot reach consensus on a few key ones.

This kind of confusion obscures clear lines of accountability and discourages employees. Therefore, err on the side of less at the beginning. Weed out objectives by asking yourself tough questions: can you realistically manage all the objectives on your list? Are they complementary or conflicting? What is the impact of not doing them? Do they really matter? Similarly, less is more when it comes to teams. When starting a BBS process, don’t involve so many people that It becomes unwieldy or political.

Limit it to a few people who know what they’re doing and who have executive support and the authority to make the appropriate changes. They should have a broad understanding of the organization and good people skills so that they can inspire there. Rather than holding big meetings, assign team members to work individually with other players or business units to tackle specific questions and then present their findings to the group. 2. Biting off more than you can chew As we mentioned, organizations often try to do too much too fast?the classic “biting off more than you can chew’ phenomenon.

They get excited about the BBS and become enamored with the idea that it can instantly address all their top priorities across the organization. If they dream too big, they will become frustrated by the reality of putting these things n motion. Instead, they should begin with small-scale projects so that they can learn the ropes and work out the inevitable bugs. For example, an organization might do a one-year pilot with Its leadership team. It’s impossible to know whether you have the right metrics and initiatives until you have lived with them for a while.

The pursuit of perfection?an admirable trait in many respects?can also undermine the value of the BBS. The BBS is an effort in ongoing process improvement, not some elusive end state where everything Is done correctly. In order to make progress, we eave to free ourselves from the onus of trying to be perfect. As Voltaire said, “The perfect Is enemy of the good. ” Better Instead try to embrace the Idea of a “Zen flaw”? the tradition of some craftsmen of putting a deliberate imperfection in their work to free themselves from the burden of perfectionism. . Failing to set clear and realistic milestones Another classic mistake Is falling to establish clear benchmarks of direction and making appropriate progress. Without them, it’s too easy to become bogged down or lost in a new, unfamiliar process. If you’re not sure what’s realistic, look for external benchmarks. How can you improve your standing versus your competitors? How can you increase market share? Compare yourself to the top players in your industry and ask yourself how you might overtake them. 4.

Adopting initiatives without formal methodology for execution The odds of success are greatest when carefully chosen initiatives are matched with carefully planned execution. The gap between strategy and execution remains a formidable barrier for many companies. According to the Harvard Business Review, the average company realizes only 60 percent of the financial performance promised by their strategy. There are many reasons for this, including employees not understanding their roles, lack of clear accountability, and lack of empowerment to make decisions. How to close the execution gap?

In a nutshell, there are three key steps: actions should be tied to specific objectives; they must be funded and given adequate resources, and they must be monitored. Without good execution, even the best strategy remains Just an abstract idea. 5. Failing to integrate the scorecard into daily work The BBS should not be a standalone exercise. This runs contrary to its purpose?and squanders the potential benefits. The BBS must become part and parcel of the routine work of the organization. It should be a centerpiece or hub that brings together many initiatives.

If you treat it as an isolated exercise, you miss the opportunity for cross-fertilization and making other projects more successful. 6. Poor leadership and communication Sometimes BBS initiatives die by neglect because they lack commitment from top leadership. Without a clear mandate from the top, the balanced scorecard is unlikely to deliver its full benefits. Top leadership must empower their strategy teams. Leaders can’t Just delegate the BBS to a low belonging group and forget about it. The organization must see that the top leaders have embraced the initiative and are determined to see it through.

Otherwise, people may dismiss it as Just another halfhearted initiative and cling to old habits. Leaders can show support by attending strategy meetings, being seen alongside the strategy team, and making public statements of support. Another common leadership mistake is failing to effectively communicate the BBS to the organization. If people don’t understand what’s different or important about this initiative, they won’t do the work to carry it out. Organizations should make a habit of communicating the objectives and results to employees on a regular basis.

Some organizations assume that commitment from senior executives automatically meaner that the entire organization is engaged. This does not happen by itself. For example, BBS lingo may sound like empty Jargon to line level employees. Organizations must translate the initiatives into terms employees can understand. Leadership is important, but organizations should avoid making the BBS a top-down exercise. It’s not a matter of issuing edicts and expecting employees to comply. It’s a matter of exercising strong leadership and inspiring the organization to follow. 7.

Business as usual mindset When implementing the BBS for the first time, organizations must change fundamental habits?and this cannot be done with a business as usual achieved without changing the way day-to-day operations are performed. Rather, they require conscious effort because they force us to adopt new habits and new ways of working and thinking. Changing habits is hard?that’s why so many New Year’s resolutions fail. Too often, organizations try to hit new performance targets with the same business as usual attitude. Doing more of the same slightly better will not produce significantly new or better results.

New targets require new initiatives, strong leadership, and relentless execution. 8. Climate of defensiveness and mistrust Too often, BBS and performance management initiatives are portrayed as an Orwellian tool to keep tabs on employees and identify underperformed. Some organizations roll out balanced scorecards and performance management as accountability programs. As a result, employees begin to feel Judged, micromanaged, and anxious. Big Brother is watching. Accountability is important, but it shouldn’t be the overarching message.

Instead, organizations should emphasize that these tools help employees and the entire organization to become more successful. Use these tools to share best practices and celebrate people who do things right. Let’s say your shipping department comes up with a new best practice for dealing with the holiday rush. You can honor the innovators and share their learning’s with the rest of the organization. If you see these tools solely in terms of accountability, you miss the opportunity to inform and inspire your employees. 9. Poor performance data Poor data undermines the entire purpose of the balanced scorecard.

In many respects, Kips can be one of the most difficult aspects of the BBS. In general, Kips are a good indicator of the health of your balanced scorecard infrastructure. If you have problems determining the score of more than one KIP, it might be an indication that your method of selecting them is not up to par. Perhaps they were chosen from a library without much thought about the ground-level realities of what it takes to collect the data to determine their measurement. Organizations spend an immense amount of time putting together their scorecards.

All that work can go to waste if they don’t keep good performance data. 0. Failing to adapt the BBS to the organization The BBS must be adapted to the organization. There is no universal, one-size-fits-all template. The needs of a large international manufacturing company are very different from those of a small local government agency. If your BBS approach is not tailored to your local circumstances, it will become a straitjacket that inhibits the organization. Adapting the BBS to the organization is an ongoing process. It often comes through experience. How do we get there?

As we saw above, it’s a matter of focusing on a handful of key objectives, tarring small, exercising good leadership, and practicing disciplined execution. By carefully monitoring and adapting, organizations can discover a system that works in their particular circumstances. It’s an iterative process of following proven principles, experimentation, and trial and error?yes, we all make mistakes. [Stephanie Busbies is an author and Group Vice President of Solution Marketing, Enterprise Performance Management and Governance Risk and Compliance with SAP. As an XP Strategic Partner, SAP is contributing thought leadership and research

Job Satisfaction in Organizational Psychology Job satisfaction can be known to some people as an important element in their lives. If an individual is unhappy with their occupation it may affect other parts of their life. Job satisfaction can be seen in what one wants in a job as to what one has in their current job. Definition of Job Satisfaction Job satisfaction can be defined as an attitude or feeling one can have toward ones job. Job satisfaction is “the extent to which people like (satisfaction) or dislike (dissatisfaction) in their jobs. Spector 1997) One of the biggest studies in job satisfaction was the Hawthorne studies which were credited to Elton Mayo in the year’s nineteen twenty-four to nineteen fifty-three. Elton Mayo was from Harvard Business School who sought to find the effects of various conditions focusing on workers’ productivity. His study showed that changes in work conditions temporarily increased productivity which is also known as the Hawthorne Effect. Some individuals may form an attitude towards their jobs by taking into account their feelings, beliefs and behavior.

All these different factors can affect ones job satisfaction Example of Organizational Socialization and Job Satisfaction A great example of how organizational socialization goes a long way in ensuring job satisfaction is in the United States military. When a person decides to join any branch of the military there is a process in becoming a soldier. The organizational socialization that the military subjects the future soldiers to may be different than what goes on in the civilian world or any standard organization. Boot camp is the training that all soldiers must partake in and pass in order to become a soldier.

Boot camp is where the United States will teach the individual civilians the behaviors, skills, functions, values, culture, and roles that must be learned before one can be considered a soldier (McKittrick, 1984). Once boot camp has been completed and the soldier has passed both the physical and mental requirements, then this will have a major influence on the performance of the soldier (McKittrick, 1984). Completion of the formal socialization or boot camp will increase productivity, increases self assurance, self worth, self esteem, oyalty, and job satisfaction (McKittrick, 1984). The better and faster that a soldier or any new hire is socialized then in turn will have a trickledown effect and the higher level of organizational socialization will lead to higher levels of job satisfaction. Higher job satisfaction will then lead to higher retention by the company, thus saving the company or in this case the government money by decreasing turnover (McKittrick, 1984). For this reason the government normally offers cash bonuses to soldiers who wish to re-enlist in the military for.

Explain the impact that organizational socialization has on job satisfaction? The impact of organizational socialization has on job satisfaction is factored on job performance. If an individual is not satisfied with the organizations core role, the individual will rebel when not given the proper answers to the demand. Organizations base performance results on individual workload. Workload is commonly known as the work given to an individual at a certain time frame. Workload can also be defined as a stress carrier and if the quantitative workload is not distribute properly.

Organizational socialization is in charge of complying properly with the individuals needs to avoid issues as occupational stress (Jex, 2008). Motivation is the key to understanding and fulfilling the individual’s necessitations. Job satisfaction is impacted personal issues when in time can accumulate and develop stress. The individual’s performance includes well being, motivation, and encouragement. Each organization hires different ethnicities, different cultures, and unique individuals. The organizational socializations goal is to find the key to each individual and promote job satisfaction.

A goal setting atmosphere is preserved to the gravity of job satisfaction. When the individual has no motivation for success and looses interest in the commitment to the organization; results of failure in organization socialization (Jex, 2008). Job satisfaction comes from understanding the importance in commitment of the organization. Organizational socialization impacts the satisfaction and well being of the individual. The impact the individual leaves on the company’s success is the result of the job satisfaction of the organizations member. Commitment is the key of the organization.

Motivation is what drives the individual to keep the company growing. The job satisfaction of the individual is the result of organizational socialization. Relationship between Organizational Commitment and Job Satisfaction The relationship between organizational commitment and job satisfaction is significant. Job satisfaction can be defined as the extent to which people like or dislike their jobs and organization commitment is a psychological state that determines the employees relationship with the organization and can determine how long an employee will stay with an organization.

Researchers have determined there are three types of focuses that determine types of organizational commitment; affective, continuous, and normative. Affective commitment is the employee’s perception of how they feel about their organization and how they identify with their organization. Continuous commitment is the cost that employee feels that will be made is they stay or leave an organization. Normative commitment is the level of commitment an employee feels towards their organization. Job satisfaction is one of the most frequently measured organization variables.

Organizations use these measurements to determine how satisfied their employees are and researchers use this information to determine if the job satisfaction or the lack of job satisfaction is a situational perspective or interactional perspective. Organizational commitment is critical to organizations due to the desire to retain a strong workforce. Organizations want to know why employees stay or leave their organizations so if correction is needed they have some tools to proceed with the correction. High turnover of employees in an organization can determine if an organization is successful or not.

While turnover is related to all three areas of commitment researchers have determined that Affective commitment is one most associated with absenteeism and organizational citizenship (Williams J. 2004). Example on Organizational Commitment to Positively Impact Job Satisfaction At times employees go to work each day knowing they have to complete the daily task of doing so. Some individuals may not like their current job or what occupation they currently hold for one reason or another. At times, it may not be the fact they may not like their job, but the working conditions, policies or even the people they make work with.

Job satisfaction and organizational commitment are two of the most important roles people live with each and every day. Both may and can impact and individual’s relationship whether it may be at work and dealing with family issues and may affect them with work depending the outcome of work situations and/or issues. In order for an employee to be able to be content and provide and excel in excellence in their daily job duties, some employers may suggest incentives. They may provide bonuses or time off for some employees doing well. This may help the employee keep doing better by working hard so they may receive the incentive.

Some employers may offer alternate work schedules. This can help employees complete daily task and balance work with personal life so one may not interfere with the other. “Organizational commitment is a psychological state that (a) characterizes the employee’s relationships with the organization and (b) has implications for the decisions to continue membership in the organizations. ” (Meyer and Allen 1994) This basically states if employees are happy working with the organization they will do well and if the employee is not happy with the organization it can affect the way they perform their daily duties for the organization.

Some employers provided assistance with counseling in case an employee is having trouble or personal issues they may be dealing with that maybe affecting their job duties. This may help the employee resolve or take care of personal issues so they may feel up to par to continue with their work. The way on organization deals with policies and or rules and enforces them may also affect the way there employees are working. Employers may also have frequent meetings or mediation gatherings to ask employees opinions on what may be working or what may need to change to better employee’s production.

They may also provide different types of training to ensure all employees are taught the same and may be on the same page as everyone else and upper management. Job satisfaction is an important factor to think about since work is one of the main functions people all around the world experience each and every day. If one is satisfied performing their job duties each and every day they will work well and even improve some regular job functions.

References Williams J. 2004), Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment, Sloan Work and Family, Research Network, Boston College, ttp://wfnetwork. bc. edu/encyclopedia_entry. php? id=244 Source: Jex, S. M, & Britt, T. W. (2008) Organizational Psychology. A Scientist-Practitioner Approach. Second Edition. Retrieved from uop McKittrick, R. B. (1984). An Analysis of Organizational Socialization in the Marine Corps. Retrieved from http://www. globalsecurity. org/military/library/report/1984/MRB. htm Herzberg, F. (1968). One more time: How do you motivate employees? Harvard Busines

Joshua Harris Althea Johns Organizational Behavior October 21, 2012 Understanding Organizational Citizenship Behaviors Citizenship, most don’t normally associate this term with an organization like a business. Many would think of the word citizenship in terms of the country that you may live in. Some may even think of it more broadly then that. As in we are all citizens of this planet. But what is the opposite? Are there smaller citizenship classifications, and are they as important? Particularly, what about citizenship at your place of employment? What does organizational citizenship behavior mean to a company?

Can it affect things like job satisfaction, efficiency, productivity, and customer satisfaction? Research suggests that there is a “moderately positive correlation” between job function and organizational citizenship behavior. [ (Kinicki) ] This paper will examine real examples of OCB, explain how organizations can influence OCB, and which pitfalls to watch out for. (Kinicki) Organ defined organizational citizenship behaviors as, “Individual behavior that is discretionary, not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system, and that in the aggregate promotes the effective functioning of the organization.

By discretionary, we mean that the behavior is not an enforceable requirement of the role or the job description, that is, the clearly specifiable terms of the person’s employment contract with the organization; the behavior is rather a matter of personal choice, such that its omission is not generally understood as punishable. ” (Organ) Literature in this subject has been almost non-existent prior the early 1980’s, but has increased in popularity ever since. Its these “discretionary” behaviors that according to Brooker, “Our esprit de corps is the core of our success. That’s the most difficult thing for a competitor to imitate.

They can buy all the physical things. The thing you can’t buy is dedication, devotion, and loyalty. ” (Brooker) Its this loyalty that convinced Herb Kelleher, from Booker’s article tiled “Can anyone replace Herb? “ to argue “that employee citizenship is the single biggest reason for the company’s success. ” However this was hard to prove with hard evidence until late 1990’s. (Brooker) In Bolino and Turnley’s 2003 article “Going the Extra Mile: Cultivating and managing Employee Citizenship Behavior” which appeared in Academy of Management Executive, they describe factors that can promote good OCB.

It is the authors’ opinion that the most important being job satisfaction. (Turnley) Bolino & Turnley conclude from their analyst of several studies, that if an employee is happy, they will provide a positive organizational citizenship behavior. The article also covered other factors such as trust, job interest and involvement, organizational support, and Employee Characteristics. It is with these factors that researches use to try to come up with predictors. Perhaps one of the best predictors happens in what Bolino and Turnley calls the “recruitment & selection” process. Turnley)They provide three main ways in which human resource managers can help achieve this. The first is to look for causes that applicants are committed to. For examples, college graduates that have a lot of extra curricular activities or a professional with volunteer services. Another predictor in determining positive OCB would be to provide situational questions to the interviewee. (Turnley)This is one tool that Smucker’s uses to gage their employee’s. The last tool the article provides is personality trait questions.

This is somewhat similar to situational interviews, but they are geared to the person and not a specific situation. The next natural step in influencing organizational citizenship behavior is during training. It is during training that an organization may have the best chance at eliciting citizenship behaviors. However, Bolino & Turnley, describe how this is usually the opposite of what organizations do, due to their emphasis on individual achievements. One way an organization can help influence positive OCB is to sponsor training programs that focus on cooperation and taking initiative.

But probably the best would be to develop a training program that is used to improve relationships among coworkers and/or supervisors and subordinates. Bolino’s article gave an example of this at Southwest Airlines when works were cross-trained on other positions. This allowed employees to gain experience in other area, but also appreciate and help out when they could. Also a study showed that supervisors that have had training in organizational justice principles also benefit from higher levels of OCB. In the last direct way organizations can influence OCB is in compensation.

Bolino’s article concluded that employees are more likely to engage in behaviors that are rewarded. An example of this is Asada, the British subsidiary of Wal-Mart, gives awards to employees who go “above and beyond”. CitiGroup does something similar. It is called “Galaxy of Thanks”. Employees can thank other employees for going above and beyond. If an employee reaches so many, that employee gets special recognition by the company and can win rewards. (Young) Bolino’s article also pointed to group or organizational level compensation fosters positive OCB. But, there can be many pitfalls for compensating for OCB.

Some more informal ways of promoting positive OCB would include developing a culture in the organization that is conducive for positive OCB. Having managers and supervisors living by the same standard and by having an organization act in a deserving way. As you can tell there are many ways that organizations can influence their potential positive organizational citizenship behavior. But, there are some pitfalls to be aware of. While there are potentially several pitfalls, all seem easily manageable. Bolino places pitfalls in three categories: Impression Management, Costs, and Escalating.

Impression Management, is noted in another article by Bolino as, “Several organizational behavior scholars have noted that individuals may engage in organizational citizenship behaviors not because they are concerned about the organization’s welfare but because such activities may cause others (especially their supervisors) to look favorably upon them” (Bolino) The pitfall here comes when rewarding this type of “Impression Management” behavior, which can put a strain on morale. (Turnley)Managers should watch for this type of motivation during citizenship assessments and be sure not to reward this type of behavior.

If this behavior is rewarded the costs could certainly outweigh any potential gains. Another potential downside to positive OCB happens when employees become lax on their main job functions. Many don’t think helping another co-worker could potentially be a downfall, but that is exactly what Sprint, Xerox, and Ford found out in a Wall Street Journal study. Employees would help co-workers with computer issues and it was estimated to have cost the companies upwards of $15,000 per computer. It is thought that hiring more support personal would have been significantly less expensive, and with better quality of support. Bulkeley)The last area of pitfalls is a concept of Escalating Citizenship. You can think of this concept like inflation. Today a dollar will buy you much less than fifty or so years ago and escalating citizenship is something that manager must watch out for. If the bar for above and beyond is constantly moved higher and higher it can be catastrophic for an organization including high levels of job dissatisfaction, high turnover, and high stress. It is the author’s opinion that the evidence is overwhelming that positive organizational behavior can greatly influence or be the “single biggest reason for the company’s success”. Brooker)In this essay we have examined why organizational citizenship is important to an organization. We also took a look at what organizations can do to positively impact OCB. Finally we examined some downsides of OCB and provided some way managers can navigate around them. Organizational citizenship behavior can be a very good thing, when done correctly. Bibliography Bolino. “Citizenship and impression managment: Good soliders or good actors. ” Academy of Managment Review 24. 1 (n. d. ): 82-88. Brooker, K. “Can anyone replace Herb? ” 2000. Fourtune. 19 Oct 2012 <http://money. nn. com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2000/04/17/278112/index. htm>. Bulkeley, W. M. “Study finds hidden costs of computing. ” The Wall Street Journal (1992). Kinicki, Angelo. Managment: a practical introduction 5E. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011. Organ, D. W. Organizatioal citizenship behavior: The good soldier syndrome. Lexington: Lexington Books, n. d. Turnley. “Going The Extra Mile: Cultivating and managing employee citizenship behavior. ” Academy of Managment Executives 17. 3 (2003): 60-71. Young, Joseph P. Interview. Joshua Harris. 19 October 2012.

Brief Introduction

The setting up of operational systems is important part of entrepreneurial venture in which adaptability is crucial to the entrepreneur.  Strategic actions need a lot of organizational review as well as well as accurate understanding of the business environment. This principle would be more effective and objective if applied and guided with technical attributes, principles and knowledge in dealing with situations and forces of the marketplace.

An example of such is the buyout of a corporation by a new merging company, the adaptability stage phases in to the hierarchy of business—its past, present and future conditions—in the realms of inherited success or failure—the new owners and incorporators will make the necessary modification, alteration, product innovations consistent with the market and industry trends.

The discussion on this paper focuses on the case of Able Corporation, which has been sold to the Walden Company. The dilemma of the new owner is attributed by the untimely takeover to the business during an economic recession. Apparently, the current market and industry trend suggests the need of extensive studies—as the leading competitor has a captive market for a copied brand—relevant to the organizational and financial well being of the corporation. Otherwise, the buy out of Able Corporation could be in futility and may resort to summary retrenchment of employees.

The hiring of Able Corporation’s Director of Strategic Planning and Analysis could be beneficial, in which the internal and external challenges may be addressed and resolved towards entrepreneurial gains.

Methodology

Depictive of the mandate and role of the Able Corporation’s Director of Strategic Planning and Analysis, a three-prong approach would relate the environmental analysis within internal and external perspective of the Able Corporation as an organization through: (1) an organizational review using the work of Robert Comerford’s and Dennis Callaghan’s “Strategic Management” principles as guidelines, (2) a competitor research to determine market positioning, and (3) using the available statistical data as bases of study.

Organizational Review

Able Corporation is an old family enterprise being a renowned American manufacturer of portable electric power tools (PEPT).  The buyout of the corporation to Walden International, Inc., would lead to the orientation of being profit-driven on short-term financial gains. Currently, there are obsolete product lines of Able Corporation due non-investments to product development together with inefficient and expensive operations adding to net operating losses in two of the last four years of operations.

The corporation has a wide range of power tools that caters to both consumer and industrial market channels. One of its products, the circular saw, gains a market share of 40% as a consumer product. However, products are non-competitive considering the high production costs as attributed by wage increase in unionized labor and outmoded manufacturing plants. Likewise, the corporation has limited information on the market flow, share, size and forces that could determine product costing and positioning. Moreover, the corporation is unable to analyze market performance relating to competition.

Environmental analysis addressing internal factors

According to the works of Comerford and Callaghan (2005), environmental analysis addresses both internal and external factors. From the point of view of the organizational life of Able Corporation, there are similar factors that should be addressed. First is the organizational aspect that needs an urgent attention by the new management and second is the market and industry environment.

Situational and Risk Management

The application of situational and risk management refers to and ideally applies with the ‘inherited ventures,’ be it transferred, purchased and judicially acquired (by family inheritance or heir) ownership, akin to incorporation of a new managing entity. The classification of an inherited venture in an enterprise conveys the character of the former owner to the marketplace. Thus, the degree and status on the success, failure and liabilities is a succession of the newly established proprietorship.

Based on the situations of the Able Corporation, the Walden Company is alarmed of the intense situation that the obsolete manufacturing equipment, unionized workforce and unstable product marketing could adversely affect its profit-driven financial investments. In this regard, the Walden Company would take its stance to calibrate the aspects of operations, with the intent to promote efficiency amongst the workforce coupled with managing the risk of investments to replace the obsolete manufacturing equipment.

The situational and risk management has been considered by Walden Company in view of the assumptions that Able Corporation has its renowned consumer product (circular saw) that contributes about 40% of sales. Considering the fact that the application of risk management is an immediate action and relief to the situation, it would however retain several seasoned workforce that are considered as an organizational assets.

Applying the situational and risk management is a compelling approach underlying the options and considerations of subjective findings to which attributed by the desire to survive the potential profitability (Comerford and Callaghan, 2005), wherein the Walden Company believes in the potential of Able Corporation.

Retrieval of Operations

The hiring of the Director of Strategic Planning and Analysis relates the retrieval of operations.  It is on this aspect, the Walden Company has able to seek the necessary and vital role of the Director of Strategic Planning and Analysis to determine and identify operating components that would establish organizational capability translated into creating efficient workforce, innovated product lines and market positioning.

Environmental analysis relating external factors

It is being assumed in this paper that Walden Company, through its Director of Strategic Planning and Analysis, considers the importance of environmental analyses relating the external factors that affects the Able Corporation’s business operation. Based on the organizational review, it was found that the Able Corporation has limited information on the market flow, share, size and forces that could determine product costing and positioning. In this case, to familiarize the competitors is an advantage to determine and identify the market flow, share, size and forces.

Market Reconnaissance

The framework of market reconnaissance is a basic approach focusing on the key players of the market and industry. The adverse market situation is a formidable arena that challenges the efficiency and capability of every entrepreneur that measures the degree of success and profitability (Comerford and Callaghan, 2005). Therefore, market reconnaissance is necessary and needed in order to identify the competitors (key players) together with determining the competitiveness.

The Able Corporation, being established in the industry with renowned manufacturing expertise, could identify multinational firms, such as; Bosch (Germany), Black and Decker (United Kingdom), and Makita (Japan) as direct competitors in most of its product lines. These competitors capture both domestic and foreign markets.

According to statistical report, an approximate 3% share to the American domestic market is retained (NAR, 2008). Looking at the forecasted figure, it can be deducted that 97% is the total market share, from which about 30% is absorbed by franchisees and retailers. Thus, about 67% is shared amongst the leading competitors that may be gaining the market share at the assumed equal rate of 22.2%, as the indicator derivative figure of Makita Company (2008).

A quick appraisal on the figure may relate an example, like Makita (being a Japanese conglomerate) invest into export and import, could only gain a gross of 7% over revenue, tariff duties and excise tax expenditures as well as about 2-3 percent cost of hauling and warehousing that could gain a net of 4%. Translating the market share comparative to 3% target of Able Corporation in domestic market would be a substantial gain.

Accounts on Statistical Data

The relationship of acknowledging the information, as political-economic experts follow on the principles of geopolitical or economic intelligence through environmental scanning, statistical data is being considered as the benchmark and metric of analyzing the adverse market environment, performance of the industry and consumer confidence. In this point of view, statistical data measures the response emanating from production and market, distribution of goods, business environment and the policy trends.

Based on the report of the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, it accounted that: (1) economy will avoid recession, (2) business inventory will be drained and there is small increase in production to restock inventory in 2008, (3) business spending remains positive and exports continues to grow, (4) consumer spending will slow down due to loss in housing wealth, and (5) sub-forecast for 2008 is not a recession but a sub GDP par growth rate of 2.2% (Fears, K. and Smith, J., 2008).

This statistical report could be complementing opportunities for Walden Company to plan and venture out developmental investments to strategically phase-in to acquiring materials and equipment while market demand is low and supply is high. Accounting on the statistical data relating to industry performance would provide the guideline to assess the market and industry environment and calibrate Able Corporation’s organizational operation.

Conclusion

The determination and identification of internal and external factors relating to the revitalization of Able Corporation could be more viably undertaken by Walden Company through an extensive conduct of corporate planning that focuses on the initial undertaking of environmental analyses.

One of the advantages of the Able Corporation is its established business within the industry and the marketability of the product lines. However, product innovations would be necessary to enable competitiveness and better product positioning.

The upsurge of American domestic economy is found to be potential despite the eventual recession of the labor market as brought about by the global market trends. This perception is attributed by the household needs to consumer products that is relating to the products of Able Corporation.

What is then relevant to the business orientation of Walden Company, being profit-driven in short financial investments, is its determination to take the risk and survive Able Corporation amidst organizational dilemma. This challenge is then address to the overall organizational structure of Able Corporation where it would converge to the industry and compete for a market share.

References

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Comerford, R.A. and Callaghan, D.W. (2005). “Strategic Management Text and Tools for

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Fears, K. and Smith, J. (2008). “Gross Domestic Products 2007 Q4: 1^st Revision”. US Bureau

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http://www.census.gov/const/www/.

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