The General Principles of Operation Management Essay

The General Principles of Operation Management - Essay Example Being selected by a lot of market research and surveys as the car of the year for a number of years it shows that, Toyota has an unbeaten record worldwide. Due to the good quality Toyota's worldwide fame and success kept going, back in 1995, Toyota was the top car in the Middle East. Moreover, TMC has manufactured extremely high-quality cars that do not make much noise or do they do produce unpleasant fumes, Toyota uses more than 40 emission-control systems, it also uses dozens of technologies that have improved passenger-car safety. 2) The second performance objective is speed, this objective highlights the fact that by doing things on reasonably fast speed, the company can minimize the time between the order and the availability of the product same goes for a service this tends to give the customer a speed advantage over other companies. The TMC's techniques are highly focused operations that lessen complexity by using easy as well as small machines, which are robust and supple. This is done by rearranging the layout along with the flow in order to improve simplicity improves the speed of production. Statistics of the late 1980 show how 27 years back the output per worker was a lot more than US or European plants. 3) The third performance objective is dependent... 3) The third performance objective is dependability, this objective highlights the fact that the organization has performed complete its production in the time period which it has promised the customer (David 2006). In order to get a better understanding of this objective a good example to quote here would be that TMC includes 'Just-in-time' (JIT) production system along with workers who are multi-skilled that work as a team, They use 'kanban control' which has permitted them to deliver products as they have promised. Improving efficiency as well as quality is the first and foremost concern of not only the managers and technical experts but also of each and every employee. So, it can be said that TMC is a good example of the third objective. 4) The fourth objective is 'flexibility', this objective involves the responding to a vibrant environment of the organization that brings change in their products and services it also changes the manner in which they do business. An organization has got to learn to love a change in order to develop flexible as well as responsive organizations to manage with a good dynamic business environment. (Peters, T. 1998) Again to demonstrate the importance of these objectives the example of TMC will be used. The TMC plant is always adopting new and innovative manufacturing resources, in order to launch new models at a fast pace. Due to this Toyota was able to attain an extremely high level of flexibility, producing fairly small batches of diverse models with slight or no loss at all of productivity or quality. TMC during the years has provided an array of options from which customers can select from.

Medieval Castles Essay -- essays research papers fc

Medieval Castles and their Interior   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Although it is thought that medieval times were barbaric they too enjoyed many comforts we still do today. There is much more to the castle then its’ size or the stone arches inside which are still used in many homes today. Castles today are still flocked to by millions of people every year. Sometimes you even see copies of castles right here in the U.S.A but they are not quite the same. Although they were originally built to protect the King, Castles became more and more popular among other nobles as well. Each family castle had their own special design and touch but most castles of medieval times had a lot of the same basic elements in their interior.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Within the shell keep and behind the great walls of these castles there was always one basic element: the great hall. It was often on the ground floor but sometimes it was raised to the second floor for extra security. â€Å"The great hall was a large one-room structure with a lofty ceiling†(Giess 58). This was where all the people of the castles slept (excluding the lord and the Lady). There was of course a great big curtain put up so the ladies would be separate from the men. It wasn’t until the end of the century when separate rooms were invented. The great hall was usually located in the very center of the castle and walls built out of stone surrounded the whole room. The entrance was in a sidewall near the lower end of the hall. An outside staircase would be built if the hall were on the second floor. The family would usually have its feasts in this room (Gies 60). For even more security they would have guards stand outside the great hall on all sides of the room so guests would feel safe when they were feasting (Nardo 57). Early halls were aisled like a church, with rows of wooden posts or stone pillars supporting the timber roof. Windows were equipped with wooden shutters secured by an iron bar but they were rarely glazed. It wasn’t until the13th century a king or a great baron might have white or greenish glass in the windows. Then later in the14th century that glazed windows were in every castle (Gies59).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the castle, the first floor or ground floor (it was sometimes called) was the actual earth itself. ... ...d. All that remains now are ruins that dot the countryside every where throughout England.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Even though the castle has disappeared it has not been completely forgotten. Today many decorators and homeowners borrow and try to recreate the barbaric look. A lot of people find in quite romantic. People are reminded of royalty and all the important people during this period like King Arthur and Robin Hood. In conclusion, the Medieval Castle’s interior decoration began to have importance and much of its’ innovations are still used today.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   WORKS CITED Nardo, Don. The Medieval Castle. California: Lucent Books, 1997. Singman, Jeffery L. Medieval Europe. Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1999. Gies, Frances, et. al. Life in a Medieval Castle. New York: Thomas Crowell Company,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1974. â€Å"Interior Design.† World Book Encyclopedia. 1995. ed. Medieval Castles. 12 Dec 2001. http://www.castles-of-britain.com

Change Management

Nowadays we observe an acceleration of change in the value systems worldwide, an adoption of new attitudes, new goals, and aspects leading to rapid change of the society. To survive and develop, an organization must first know how to anticipate and capitalize on the opportunities and to attenuate or eliminate the vulnerabilities. Second, the organization must demonstrate the ability to effectively manage the change process, from detailed investigation of its past and present. Bold, 2011) This report assumes that any organization wishing to adapt their external environment and especially to the progress, must accept the change and respond to them in a quick and responsible way. And to help X Factor organization manages change as it seeks to become more sustainable through resource efficiency, and as it takes corporate responsibility for the effects of the human resources. The objective of this report is to explain the concept and steps to support and help X Factor during their change process of restructuring workplace due to a sustainable workplace.For the start we are going to take a look at our organization and a small introduction of their business and their goals. 2. Background X Factor is one of the biggest international automakers in the world, which has 300,734 employees worldwide. The company was founded in 1980 as a family company to create automobiles. They received Quality Control Award in 2000 in the US branch. After that they started to expand their business to Europe, and started with Germany. After while they established they branches in 10 countries, Germany, I-J, Denmark, Netherlands, France, Italy, Switzerland, Japan, China and Argentina.With growing the business and also with growing markets, managers start to think about the ways to add value to their business. They realized to remain competitive they should be take more attention to the environmental issues. They understood this fact which in addition to ecological aspects of energy and how it can damage the environment and our earth, using energy in fact is really costly, because it is an expensive resource and it is one the highest operational expenditures.Therefore energy consumption has become a major issue for most of the industrial sectors and hence, they are looking for efficient energy consumption methodologies. In other words, reducing energy consumption makes perfect business sense; it saves money, enhances corporate petition and helps every one lead the fight against climate change. (Carbonates, 2011) In one of their branch which is located in Switzerland, in Zurich that is Just commercial and marketing department, they decided to apply sustainability in to their workplace.Their workplace consists of 3 floors in one building, with 120 fulfillment employees and 20 part times. Their objectives for this decision are to act in a way to benefit both their business and also society. Before we go for the change process we will analyze their objectives in their busi ness, because any change in company is objected to reach the objective and the alee of the core business, so it is really important before any change processes to specify the objectives, goals and main value of the business.What we can see in the mission statement of X Factor is as following: â€Å"X Factor will lead the way to the future of mobility, enriching lives around the world with the safest and most responsible ways of moving people. Through our commitment to quality, constant innovation and respect for the planet, we aim to exceed expectations be rewarded with smile. We will meet our challenging goals by engaging the talent and passion of people, who believe there is always a better way. Retail Industry, 2009) So we can see that responsibility to planet is one of their objectives in the business, which here regarding to the change process there are indenting to claim this goal in this branch. In following chapters we will see why and how they will apply this goal to their business. 3. Approach The approach which used in this report to apply the change process and getting the best out of it, started by analyzing the company.After a short introduction about the organization itself, we explained the current situation in the company which related to environmental issues to know the culture of this organization. After defining the challenges, opportunities and objectives of the change, we analyzed the best leadership style which could be used (actually used) in the organization by project leaders and also defined the type of change which realized by leaders. Then we did a stakeholder analysis in order to identify who will benefit and challenge in this process.After stakeholder analysis we started with one of the changes model, to apply the process of change in the company. At the end we will analyze the outcomes and results of the change. 2 4. Situation Analysis After lots of discussion and researches on change processes, managers decide for he first ste p try to understand the changing behavior in their groups and organization that require an understanding of how these communities act to work, an identification of barriers and facilitators for change and what influences their behavior in general. 4. Current Situation After a wide analysis with experts in environmental issues, following results were found due to their current behavior in environmental issues: Most of the employees are working in offices which consist of 2 or 3 person, and there are some private offices as well in all three levels. All the Coos have their private offices which are rarely used. There are 5 meeting rooms in whole building which are most of the time empty, because due to their global business most of the important meetings are taking place in other countries, and these meeting rooms will Just usable for domestic issues.After considering the expenses of the company they found out that travel expenses are too high due to taking part in meetings and small discussions. The usage of papers and copy machines are too high. In general usages of energy in the company are also too high, which is almost 1. 5 times more than usual. (This includes water, electricity, heating, light†¦ 4. 2 Organization Culture The culture which exists in the organization is the hierarchical culture, a highly structured and formal place to work with high control.Rules and procedures govern behavior. Leaders strive to be good coordinators and organizers who are efficiency- minded. Maintaining a smooth-running organization is most critical. Stability, performance, and efficient operations are the long-term goals. Success means dependable delivery, smooth scheduling, and low cost. Management wants security and predictability. (Tarp, 2009) Looking to this culture, leaders should try to have a Truckee plan and strategy to implement change.Despite of high hierarchical culture, higher managers willing to have all employees involve to the change process. 3 4. 3 Rea sons for change Sustainability has three aspects in a company, Environmental, Social and Economical. Environmental sustainability is about maintaining the integrity of life support systems. This aspect incorporates the important notions of biodiversity and ecosystem services. As our energy and natural resource demands grow, impacts to ecosystems are systems proportionally growing and causing more damage to the health of our planet and inning communities.Social sustainability is about equity within and between generations and within and between ethnic and social groups. It is inclusive of people's mental and physical well wellbeing and the cohesion of their communities based on a fair distribution of natural resources. Economic sustainability means using resources to provide necessary and desirable products and services for the present generation without compromising the ability of present future generations to do the same.Sustainability presents opportunities for efficiency that can improve business per performance and competitiveness, while reducing operating while costs. Sustainability, 2012) We can also wee three aspects of sustainability in figure 4. 3. 1 : Figure 4. 3. 1: Aspects of Sustainability Source: http://www. Porous-sigma. Com/archives/1082 sigma. Com/archives/1082 4 Energy is one of the highest operation expenditures in an organization, so if the organization wants to stay competitive should care about sustainability and energy efficiency. 4. Benefits/Opportunities Sustainability and being sustainable has lots of benefits for the organization, which we can categorize them in three parts. We can measure the benefits of sustainability on Profit, Planet and People. (Stringer, 2009) Profit: Sustainability can save Organizations Money and Resources, Increases operational efficiency and reduced operating costs, Organizations that embrace sustainability are likely to have an advantage in recruiting and retaining young people w ho value the environment a nd w hose Job preferences may increasingly reflect these attitudes.Given the high concern many organizations have about attracting, retaining and motivating workers, the sustainability advantage could be significant, Increases profit and customer loyalty, Adopting Sustainability Enhances reputation and brand image, Creates new business opportunities, Increases productivity and morale, Preferential government and regulatory treatment, Innovation in market through cooperation with local communities.Planet Significant saving in carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions, Reducing energy consumption, Saving planet for future. People Productivity and Increased morale for employees, Positive and healthy work environment, Benefit from a sustainable environment, Increased employee satisfaction Loyalty and engagement to company with sustainable policies. 5 4. 5 Challenges/Barriers One of the biggest challenges and barriers in this change process are employees, ND involving them in the cha nge process.Involving employees are really important in this change process because of the following reasons: The employees are the ones that will be seeing to it that all the day-to-day tasks at the workplace reflect the principles on sustainability. Without their support, the project will surely fail. Involvement is not Just a means. It is also a core value of the sustainability concept that people have the right to have influence on their own working lives. It is therefore in everyone's interest that the employees are involved in he discussion, the planning and the implementation of the workplace initiatives to promote sustainability. FCC, 2004) Here we are going to discuss about some of the reasons which we might face with employees during the change process to a sustainable workplace in the organization: Knowledge and behavior gap This can be due to users' lack of knowledge about general environmental impacts of consumption. And it will also happen because of the lack of commun ication. As we know one the important steps for a successful leader is to communicate with employees, and convince them about the benefits of change transition. Change Management Week 3 Assignment Introduction Briefly explain the change management initiative. Change management initiative is a logical method of an organization transformation process—based on qualitative and quantitative information—from key stakeholders perspective. When an organization is experiencing a change process, it goes through several phases: acceptance, acclimation and commitment. From this change process, Palmer, Dunford and Akins discuss in Managing Organization Change the six different images of managing change. These images of change are director, navigator, caretaker, coach, interpreter, and nurturer.Briefly explain the importance of the Images concepts and application to the change management initiative. Change manager as director is based upon achievable outcomes from a manager’s perspective. These images provide managers with the freedom to audible and make the appropriate adjustments to strategic initiatives in order to fulfill a goal and gain results. C hange manager as navigator is when external forces set the narrative for change and the manager has to maneuver through obstacles and improvise when necessary to achieve positive outcomes.Change manager as caretaker is when both external and internal forces limit a manager’s ability to produce results from known or creative efforts. A caretaker results are normally stagnant and becomes only a manager of bureaucratic ideas. Change manager as coach is when a manager orchestrates and instructs an organization strategic agenda on how to execute and produce results. Change manager as interpreter is when a manager effectively communicates key stakeholders agenda within an organization. Change manager as nurturer is when an organization is affected by external forces that severely control the outcome of a manager.Therefore, a manager comforts and supports an organization by reinforcing a positive attitude, supportive to others, and providing hope. Application Analysis Provide a hist ory of information from your organization or case study that supports the change management initiative. Provide a review of the change management process related to your chosen topic. When my company was going through financial woes due to the U. S. economic downturn in 2009, the CEO and VP of Operations introduced Lean methodology to the company.The Lean concept was based on continuous improvements for every department and emphasized on producing efficiency and cost reductions. The managers managed the change by coaching and nurturing the strategic change initiative. Each company site had a project manager that was trained in Lean and Six Sigma. In turn, every project manager coached Lean throughout the organization and appointed Lean champions (project Lean coordinators) from every department to execute the strategic agenda. After providing this review of the change, based on how the change was managed, how would you assess the people/person who managed this change?What Image woul d you use to describe the change manager(s) style and why? The Lean strategy produced a high production of results and a culture of continuous improvement throughout the organization. Even though the strategy was successful, my company still reduced its workforce by 20%. During this time, the project manager as coach also became the project manager as nurturer. It was extremely difficult to produce results when many employees’ morale was down. Project managers were very influential in encouraging employees to stay focused and weather the economic storm.This approach made most employees hopeful and positive, which produced positive results. Lessons Learned Briefly explain what you have learned by applying the concept to the strategic change initiative. The concept of strategic change initiative focuses on cross-functional support, effective communication, and a consensus approach to produce positive organizational results. Based on what you learned, explain in some detail how a practicing manager could use this knowledge to better manage change. Change is inevitable for all companies.A practicing manager could use these six change images technique to fully optimize opportunities. The manager will be able to produce positive outcomes by being an effective leader through adversity. Identify any mistakes that were made in using the change concept and how you would fix the situation. There were some goals that were not achievable due to the reduction in force and environment. The situation could have been fixed by simply doing an employee assessment and modifying the strategic initiative to reflect the actual number of workers. This would have made the goals more achievable. Change Management Nowadays we observe an acceleration of change in the value systems worldwide, an adoption of new attitudes, new goals, and aspects leading to rapid change of the society. To survive and develop, an organization must first know how to anticipate and capitalize on the opportunities and to attenuate or eliminate the vulnerabilities. Second, the organization must demonstrate the ability to effectively manage the change process, from detailed investigation of its past and present. Bold, 2011) This report assumes that any organization wishing to adapt their external environment and especially to the progress, must accept the change and respond to them in a quick and responsible way. And to help X Factor organization manages change as it seeks to become more sustainable through resource efficiency, and as it takes corporate responsibility for the effects of the human resources. The objective of this report is to explain the concept and steps to support and help X Factor during their change process of restructuring workplace due to a sustainable workplace.For the start we are going to take a look at our organization and a small introduction of their business and their goals. 2. Background X Factor is one of the biggest international automakers in the world, which has 300,734 employees worldwide. The company was founded in 1980 as a family company to create automobiles. They received Quality Control Award in 2000 in the US branch. After that they started to expand their business to Europe, and started with Germany. After while they established they branches in 10 countries, Germany, I-J, Denmark, Netherlands, France, Italy, Switzerland, Japan, China and Argentina.With growing the business and also with growing markets, managers start to think about the ways to add value to their business. They realized to remain competitive they should be take more attention to the environmental issues. They understood this fact which in addition to ecological aspects of energy and how it can damage the environment and our earth, using energy in fact is really costly, because it is an expensive resource and it is one the highest operational expenditures.Therefore energy consumption has become a major issue for most of the industrial sectors and hence, they are looking for efficient energy consumption methodologies. In other words, reducing energy consumption makes perfect business sense; it saves money, enhances corporate petition and helps every one lead the fight against climate change. (Carbonates, 2011) In one of their branch which is located in Switzerland, in Zurich that is Just commercial and marketing department, they decided to apply sustainability in to their workplace.Their workplace consists of 3 floors in one building, with 120 fulfillment employees and 20 part times. Their objectives for this decision are to act in a way to benefit both their business and also society. Before we go for the change process we will analyze their objectives in their busi ness, because any change in company is objected to reach the objective and the alee of the core business, so it is really important before any change processes to specify the objectives, goals and main value of the business.What we can see in the mission statement of X Factor is as following: â€Å"X Factor will lead the way to the future of mobility, enriching lives around the world with the safest and most responsible ways of moving people. Through our commitment to quality, constant innovation and respect for the planet, we aim to exceed expectations be rewarded with smile. We will meet our challenging goals by engaging the talent and passion of people, who believe there is always a better way. Retail Industry, 2009) So we can see that responsibility to planet is one of their objectives in the business, which here regarding to the change process there are indenting to claim this goal in this branch. In following chapters we will see why and how they will apply this goal to their business. 3. Approach The approach which used in this report to apply the change process and getting the best out of it, started by analyzing the company.After a short introduction about the organization itself, we explained the current situation in the company which related to environmental issues to know the culture of this organization. After defining the challenges, opportunities and objectives of the change, we analyzed the best leadership style which could be used (actually used) in the organization by project leaders and also defined the type of change which realized by leaders. Then we did a stakeholder analysis in order to identify who will benefit and challenge in this process.After stakeholder analysis we started with one of the changes model, to apply the process of change in the company. At the end we will analyze the outcomes and results of the change. 2 4. Situation Analysis After lots of discussion and researches on change processes, managers decide for he first ste p try to understand the changing behavior in their groups and organization that require an understanding of how these communities act to work, an identification of barriers and facilitators for change and what influences their behavior in general. 4. Current Situation After a wide analysis with experts in environmental issues, following results were found due to their current behavior in environmental issues: Most of the employees are working in offices which consist of 2 or 3 person, and there are some private offices as well in all three levels. All the Coos have their private offices which are rarely used. There are 5 meeting rooms in whole building which are most of the time empty, because due to their global business most of the important meetings are taking place in other countries, and these meeting rooms will Just usable for domestic issues.After considering the expenses of the company they found out that travel expenses are too high due to taking part in meetings and small discussions. The usage of papers and copy machines are too high. In general usages of energy in the company are also too high, which is almost 1. 5 times more than usual. (This includes water, electricity, heating, light†¦ 4. 2 Organization Culture The culture which exists in the organization is the hierarchical culture, a highly structured and formal place to work with high control.Rules and procedures govern behavior. Leaders strive to be good coordinators and organizers who are efficiency- minded. Maintaining a smooth-running organization is most critical. Stability, performance, and efficient operations are the long-term goals. Success means dependable delivery, smooth scheduling, and low cost. Management wants security and predictability. (Tarp, 2009) Looking to this culture, leaders should try to have a Truckee plan and strategy to implement change.Despite of high hierarchical culture, higher managers willing to have all employees involve to the change process. 3 4. 3 Rea sons for change Sustainability has three aspects in a company, Environmental, Social and Economical. Environmental sustainability is about maintaining the integrity of life support systems. This aspect incorporates the important notions of biodiversity and ecosystem services. As our energy and natural resource demands grow, impacts to ecosystems are systems proportionally growing and causing more damage to the health of our planet and inning communities.Social sustainability is about equity within and between generations and within and between ethnic and social groups. It is inclusive of people's mental and physical well wellbeing and the cohesion of their communities based on a fair distribution of natural resources. Economic sustainability means using resources to provide necessary and desirable products and services for the present generation without compromising the ability of present future generations to do the same.Sustainability presents opportunities for efficiency that can improve business per performance and competitiveness, while reducing operating while costs. Sustainability, 2012) We can also wee three aspects of sustainability in figure 4. 3. 1 : Figure 4. 3. 1: Aspects of Sustainability Source: http://www. Porous-sigma. Com/archives/1082 sigma. Com/archives/1082 4 Energy is one of the highest operation expenditures in an organization, so if the organization wants to stay competitive should care about sustainability and energy efficiency. 4. Benefits/Opportunities Sustainability and being sustainable has lots of benefits for the organization, which we can categorize them in three parts. We can measure the benefits of sustainability on Profit, Planet and People. (Stringer, 2009) Profit: Sustainability can save Organizations Money and Resources, Increases operational efficiency and reduced operating costs, Organizations that embrace sustainability are likely to have an advantage in recruiting and retaining young people w ho value the environment a nd w hose Job preferences may increasingly reflect these attitudes.Given the high concern many organizations have about attracting, retaining and motivating workers, the sustainability advantage could be significant, Increases profit and customer loyalty, Adopting Sustainability Enhances reputation and brand image, Creates new business opportunities, Increases productivity and morale, Preferential government and regulatory treatment, Innovation in market through cooperation with local communities.Planet Significant saving in carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions, Reducing energy consumption, Saving planet for future. People Productivity and Increased morale for employees, Positive and healthy work environment, Benefit from a sustainable environment, Increased employee satisfaction Loyalty and engagement to company with sustainable policies. 5 4. 5 Challenges/Barriers One of the biggest challenges and barriers in this change process are employees, ND involving them in the cha nge process.Involving employees are really important in this change process because of the following reasons: The employees are the ones that will be seeing to it that all the day-to-day tasks at the workplace reflect the principles on sustainability. Without their support, the project will surely fail. Involvement is not Just a means. It is also a core value of the sustainability concept that people have the right to have influence on their own working lives. It is therefore in everyone's interest that the employees are involved in he discussion, the planning and the implementation of the workplace initiatives to promote sustainability. FCC, 2004) Here we are going to discuss about some of the reasons which we might face with employees during the change process to a sustainable workplace in the organization: Knowledge and behavior gap This can be due to users' lack of knowledge about general environmental impacts of consumption. And it will also happen because of the lack of commun ication. As we know one the important steps for a successful leader is to communicate with employees, and convince them about the benefits of change transition. Change Management Fundamentally change management is commerce with two things, the technique by which change is obtained in any specific company; along with how working class managed to accomplish the desired change. It has been pragmatic that in this globe there are dissimilar kinds of industries, verbal communication and moreover the problems of everybody are diverse from each others however the change management process is almost similar for all (Oliver Recklies).Approach to change management: The reason for the adoption of change management is one with the intention of gaining higher-ranking leadership by individuals concerned in the midst of the expenditure pronouncement, financial support as well as to cover the problems which has been generated for the reason that of change. The change management problem may also be taken as the process which has to describe that how to move from one condition A to a new condition A’.For moving from the position A to A’ there are three types of ob jectives, they are transforming, reduce and apply, the transform is about identifying the differences between the two states, then the reduce goals are about how to eliminate these differences between two states and the apply goal is concerned with making placement of operator that actually effect the elimination of these differences. So it is believed that the process of managing change commences by way of unfreezing then it acquired the anticipated change moreover the process ends with refreezing.It is mostly seen that changes along with the change troubles they in attendance are tribulations of modification so as to they have necessitate of the association no more than that it contrivance by means of an increasingly changing position of conditions, to have better understanding with this approach let us take the example of AT&T and IBM, these organizations are designed by someone else and is being operated by others, it is believe of working class that these organizations has been designed by geniuses and maneuver by idiots consequently for being successfully established they have resolved the predicament of structure at near the beginning stage by the means of the definition, positioning and synchronization of occupation as well as people.Further populace then has to survive by way of this intend, for the reason that the ends comprises previously be conventional, the other people are predominantly apprehensive with means. For this motivation many problem solving efforts establish paying attention on means.So it is understood that approach for managing change take account of appreciative the problem on or after every characteristic furthermore then approaching with the solution in addition to the appropriate submission of revolutionize to arrangement, for this progression the structured approach is taken as the contrivance furthermore it be capable of serving as the successful association group and when it formulate the understanding with the personage revol utionize organization these both paraphernalia make available a framework for supervising (Fred Nickols, 2006).For the change management analytical as well as peoples skills are the basic needs, by analytical skills we mean that one should not make any mistake about, it means that the person whom the managing change task is given they should have better understanding with the situation so they can make right analysis at the right time to give desired results (John Kotter, 1995-2002) and by peoples skills we mean that peoples must have skills to make understanding with the bought up change (Fred Nickols, 2006). Change Management Week 3 Assignment Introduction Briefly explain the change management initiative. Change management initiative is a logical method of an organization transformation process—based on qualitative and quantitative information—from key stakeholders perspective. When an organization is experiencing a change process, it goes through several phases: acceptance, acclimation and commitment. From this change process, Palmer, Dunford and Akins discuss in Managing Organization Change the six different images of managing change. These images of change are director, navigator, caretaker, coach, interpreter, and nurturer.Briefly explain the importance of the Images concepts and application to the change management initiative. Change manager as director is based upon achievable outcomes from a manager’s perspective. These images provide managers with the freedom to audible and make the appropriate adjustments to strategic initiatives in order to fulfill a goal and gain results. C hange manager as navigator is when external forces set the narrative for change and the manager has to maneuver through obstacles and improvise when necessary to achieve positive outcomes.Change manager as caretaker is when both external and internal forces limit a manager’s ability to produce results from known or creative efforts. A caretaker results are normally stagnant and becomes only a manager of bureaucratic ideas. Change manager as coach is when a manager orchestrates and instructs an organization strategic agenda on how to execute and produce results. Change manager as interpreter is when a manager effectively communicates key stakeholders agenda within an organization. Change manager as nurturer is when an organization is affected by external forces that severely control the outcome of a manager.Therefore, a manager comforts and supports an organization by reinforcing a positive attitude, supportive to others, and providing hope. Application Analysis Provide a hist ory of information from your organization or case study that supports the change management initiative. Provide a review of the change management process related to your chosen topic. When my company was going through financial woes due to the U. S. economic downturn in 2009, the CEO and VP of Operations introduced Lean methodology to the company.The Lean concept was based on continuous improvements for every department and emphasized on producing efficiency and cost reductions. The managers managed the change by coaching and nurturing the strategic change initiative. Each company site had a project manager that was trained in Lean and Six Sigma. In turn, every project manager coached Lean throughout the organization and appointed Lean champions (project Lean coordinators) from every department to execute the strategic agenda. After providing this review of the change, based on how the change was managed, how would you assess the people/person who managed this change?What Image woul d you use to describe the change manager(s) style and why? The Lean strategy produced a high production of results and a culture of continuous improvement throughout the organization. Even though the strategy was successful, my company still reduced its workforce by 20%. During this time, the project manager as coach also became the project manager as nurturer. It was extremely difficult to produce results when many employees’ morale was down. Project managers were very influential in encouraging employees to stay focused and weather the economic storm.This approach made most employees hopeful and positive, which produced positive results. Lessons Learned Briefly explain what you have learned by applying the concept to the strategic change initiative. The concept of strategic change initiative focuses on cross-functional support, effective communication, and a consensus approach to produce positive organizational results. Based on what you learned, explain in some detail how a practicing manager could use this knowledge to better manage change. Change is inevitable for all companies.A practicing manager could use these six change images technique to fully optimize opportunities. The manager will be able to produce positive outcomes by being an effective leader through adversity. Identify any mistakes that were made in using the change concept and how you would fix the situation. There were some goals that were not achievable due to the reduction in force and environment. The situation could have been fixed by simply doing an employee assessment and modifying the strategic initiative to reflect the actual number of workers. This would have made the goals more achievable. Change Management Nowadays we observe an acceleration of change in the value systems worldwide, an adoption of new attitudes, new goals, and aspects leading to rapid change of the society. To survive and develop, an organization must first know how to anticipate and capitalize on the opportunities and to attenuate or eliminate the vulnerabilities. Second, the organization must demonstrate the ability to effectively manage the change process, from detailed investigation of its past and present. Bold, 2011) This report assumes that any organization wishing to adapt their external environment and especially to the progress, must accept the change and respond to them in a quick and responsible way. And to help X Factor organization manages change as it seeks to become more sustainable through resource efficiency, and as it takes corporate responsibility for the effects of the human resources. The objective of this report is to explain the concept and steps to support and help X Factor during their change process of restructuring workplace due to a sustainable workplace.For the start we are going to take a look at our organization and a small introduction of their business and their goals. 2. Background X Factor is one of the biggest international automakers in the world, which has 300,734 employees worldwide. The company was founded in 1980 as a family company to create automobiles. They received Quality Control Award in 2000 in the US branch. After that they started to expand their business to Europe, and started with Germany. After while they established they branches in 10 countries, Germany, I-J, Denmark, Netherlands, France, Italy, Switzerland, Japan, China and Argentina.With growing the business and also with growing markets, managers start to think about the ways to add value to their business. They realized to remain competitive they should be take more attention to the environmental issues. They understood this fact which in addition to ecological aspects of energy and how it can damage the environment and our earth, using energy in fact is really costly, because it is an expensive resource and it is one the highest operational expenditures.Therefore energy consumption has become a major issue for most of the industrial sectors and hence, they are looking for efficient energy consumption methodologies. In other words, reducing energy consumption makes perfect business sense; it saves money, enhances corporate petition and helps every one lead the fight against climate change. (Carbonates, 2011) In one of their branch which is located in Switzerland, in Zurich that is Just commercial and marketing department, they decided to apply sustainability in to their workplace.Their workplace consists of 3 floors in one building, with 120 fulfillment employees and 20 part times. Their objectives for this decision are to act in a way to benefit both their business and also society. Before we go for the change process we will analyze their objectives in their busi ness, because any change in company is objected to reach the objective and the alee of the core business, so it is really important before any change processes to specify the objectives, goals and main value of the business.What we can see in the mission statement of X Factor is as following: â€Å"X Factor will lead the way to the future of mobility, enriching lives around the world with the safest and most responsible ways of moving people. Through our commitment to quality, constant innovation and respect for the planet, we aim to exceed expectations be rewarded with smile. We will meet our challenging goals by engaging the talent and passion of people, who believe there is always a better way. Retail Industry, 2009) So we can see that responsibility to planet is one of their objectives in the business, which here regarding to the change process there are indenting to claim this goal in this branch. In following chapters we will see why and how they will apply this goal to their business. 3. Approach The approach which used in this report to apply the change process and getting the best out of it, started by analyzing the company.After a short introduction about the organization itself, we explained the current situation in the company which related to environmental issues to know the culture of this organization. After defining the challenges, opportunities and objectives of the change, we analyzed the best leadership style which could be used (actually used) in the organization by project leaders and also defined the type of change which realized by leaders. Then we did a stakeholder analysis in order to identify who will benefit and challenge in this process.After stakeholder analysis we started with one of the changes model, to apply the process of change in the company. At the end we will analyze the outcomes and results of the change. 2 4. Situation Analysis After lots of discussion and researches on change processes, managers decide for he first ste p try to understand the changing behavior in their groups and organization that require an understanding of how these communities act to work, an identification of barriers and facilitators for change and what influences their behavior in general. 4. Current Situation After a wide analysis with experts in environmental issues, following results were found due to their current behavior in environmental issues: Most of the employees are working in offices which consist of 2 or 3 person, and there are some private offices as well in all three levels. All the Coos have their private offices which are rarely used. There are 5 meeting rooms in whole building which are most of the time empty, because due to their global business most of the important meetings are taking place in other countries, and these meeting rooms will Just usable for domestic issues.After considering the expenses of the company they found out that travel expenses are too high due to taking part in meetings and small discussions. The usage of papers and copy machines are too high. In general usages of energy in the company are also too high, which is almost 1. 5 times more than usual. (This includes water, electricity, heating, light†¦ 4. 2 Organization Culture The culture which exists in the organization is the hierarchical culture, a highly structured and formal place to work with high control.Rules and procedures govern behavior. Leaders strive to be good coordinators and organizers who are efficiency- minded. Maintaining a smooth-running organization is most critical. Stability, performance, and efficient operations are the long-term goals. Success means dependable delivery, smooth scheduling, and low cost. Management wants security and predictability. (Tarp, 2009) Looking to this culture, leaders should try to have a Truckee plan and strategy to implement change.Despite of high hierarchical culture, higher managers willing to have all employees involve to the change process. 3 4. 3 Rea sons for change Sustainability has three aspects in a company, Environmental, Social and Economical. Environmental sustainability is about maintaining the integrity of life support systems. This aspect incorporates the important notions of biodiversity and ecosystem services. As our energy and natural resource demands grow, impacts to ecosystems are systems proportionally growing and causing more damage to the health of our planet and inning communities.Social sustainability is about equity within and between generations and within and between ethnic and social groups. It is inclusive of people's mental and physical well wellbeing and the cohesion of their communities based on a fair distribution of natural resources. Economic sustainability means using resources to provide necessary and desirable products and services for the present generation without compromising the ability of present future generations to do the same.Sustainability presents opportunities for efficiency that can improve business per performance and competitiveness, while reducing operating while costs. Sustainability, 2012) We can also wee three aspects of sustainability in figure 4. 3. 1 : Figure 4. 3. 1: Aspects of Sustainability Source: http://www. Porous-sigma. Com/archives/1082 sigma. Com/archives/1082 4 Energy is one of the highest operation expenditures in an organization, so if the organization wants to stay competitive should care about sustainability and energy efficiency. 4. Benefits/Opportunities Sustainability and being sustainable has lots of benefits for the organization, which we can categorize them in three parts. We can measure the benefits of sustainability on Profit, Planet and People. (Stringer, 2009) Profit: Sustainability can save Organizations Money and Resources, Increases operational efficiency and reduced operating costs, Organizations that embrace sustainability are likely to have an advantage in recruiting and retaining young people w ho value the environment a nd w hose Job preferences may increasingly reflect these attitudes.Given the high concern many organizations have about attracting, retaining and motivating workers, the sustainability advantage could be significant, Increases profit and customer loyalty, Adopting Sustainability Enhances reputation and brand image, Creates new business opportunities, Increases productivity and morale, Preferential government and regulatory treatment, Innovation in market through cooperation with local communities.Planet Significant saving in carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions, Reducing energy consumption, Saving planet for future. People Productivity and Increased morale for employees, Positive and healthy work environment, Benefit from a sustainable environment, Increased employee satisfaction Loyalty and engagement to company with sustainable policies. 5 4. 5 Challenges/Barriers One of the biggest challenges and barriers in this change process are employees, ND involving them in the cha nge process.Involving employees are really important in this change process because of the following reasons: The employees are the ones that will be seeing to it that all the day-to-day tasks at the workplace reflect the principles on sustainability. Without their support, the project will surely fail. Involvement is not Just a means. It is also a core value of the sustainability concept that people have the right to have influence on their own working lives. It is therefore in everyone's interest that the employees are involved in he discussion, the planning and the implementation of the workplace initiatives to promote sustainability. FCC, 2004) Here we are going to discuss about some of the reasons which we might face with employees during the change process to a sustainable workplace in the organization: Knowledge and behavior gap This can be due to users' lack of knowledge about general environmental impacts of consumption. And it will also happen because of the lack of commun ication. As we know one the important steps for a successful leader is to communicate with employees, and convince them about the benefits of change transition.

A World Leader And International Superpower - 1752 Words

As a world leader and international superpower who asserts the need for global relations rooted upon human rights and democracy, the United States of America has yet to confront the quandary of how to come to grips with its own past and its most heinous historical injustice, the American slave trade. Due to the United States government essentially sanctioning slavery, I strongly believe that reparations for each and every African-American in the form of monies, land, and/or resources would be the first step in the healing process of this unprecedented time in American history, but also would serve as a firm reminder to any would be â€Å"oppressor† that there will be serious consequences for that type of behavior because all life, not just†¦show more content†¦In America, other than the unfathomable wealth their free labor produced for other, the importation and consequential enslavement of the Africans would be the dominant factor in the resettlement of the continent s after the catastrophic decline in their native population. The transatlantic slave trade essentially laid the foundation for modernized capitalism as we know it today, creating inconceivable wealth for corporations, business enterprises, and families in America and Europe. The trade assisted to the overall industrialization of Europe and created an inter-connected Atlantic world that was made up of Western Europe, Western Africa, the Caribbean islands, and North/South America. Consequently, the staggering impact on Africa of its participation in the creation of this capitalistically driven modern world was unfavorable to say the least. The continent of Africa loss a tremendous part of its strong, healthy, sturdy population, which played a significant role in the societal and political crippling of its infrastructure that left them vulnerable, in the nineteenth century, to colonial exploitation and domination. According to Melvin Oliver and Thomas Shapiro from the book Black Wealth/White Wealth: A new perspective on racial inequality â€Å"D isparities in wealth between blacks and whites are not the product of haphazard events, inborn traits, isolated incidents or solely contemporary individual