Researching the Case Situation

Researching the case situation

It would be unwise to restrict yourself to the information written in the case unless your instructor says you should. Outside research is encouraged in a case analysis. Outside research should be taken about the environmental setting.

Guide to Case Analysis

Guide to Case Analysis

Begin your analysis by reading the case once for familiarity. An Initial reading should give you the general flavor of the situation and make possible preliminary identification of issues.

On the second reading, attempt to gain full command of the facts. You may wish to make notes about apparent organizational goals, objectives, strategies, policies, symptoms of problems, problems, root causes of problems, unresolved issues and roles of key individuals.

Be alert for issues or problems which are not necessarily made explicit but which nevertheless are lurking beneath the surface. Read between the lines and do not hesitate to do some detective work on your own. For instance, the apparent issue in the case might be whether a product has ample market potential at the current selling price while the root problem is that the method being used to compensate salespeople fails to generate adequate incentive for achieving greater unit volume.

Developing an ability to evaluate companies and size up their situations is the key to case analysis. How do you evaluate a company?.

In general,

1) The financial position of the firm must be scrutinized closely

2) Compare and evaluate the firm's external opportunities and internal resources.

3) Assess the future potentials of the company.

4) Decide how urgent the organization's difficulties are and weigh the probable impacts upon performance and capability

5) Pin-point the key factors which are crucial to success or failure

6) Strive for defensible arguments and positions

7) Do not rely upon just your own opinion, support any judgements or conclusions with evidence.

8) Use available data to make whatever relevant accounting, financial, marketing and operations analysis.

Case Analysis

Case Analysis

A case analysis can be described as a collection of facts, events and judgement relating to situations in which problems exist and solution must be generated for solving problems.

Case Method

Case Method

The teachings of strategy and policy cannot be without case analysis and discussion, it has been inculcated into it for many years. The case method provides a opportunity to move from a narrow, specialized view that emphasizes functional techniques to a broader, less precise analysis of the overall corporation.

Leadership and Managing

Leadership and Managing

it is believed through research and theory that an effective leader designs a system that takes into account the expectancies of subordinates, the variability of motives between individuals and from time to time situational factors, interpersonal relations and types of rewards. Managers when hoping to provide an environment for performance take into account organizational goals and the means of achieving them, ensure that organizational roles are defined and well structured and when the roles are competently and intelligently staffed.

Time Management as a tool for success

Time Management as a tool for success

Desire is the starting point of becoming excellent in time management, you need to have the drive of becoming better than you are already in time management. But even with the desire,people fail to get better at time management because they are not motivated enough to focus at it or overcome procastination. To develop sufficient desire to develop time management skills, one must be intensely motivated by the benefits they hope to enjoy from developing their time management skills.

The real problem is not with time itself, no one can manage time, but all we can do is manage ourselves and how we spend our time. That is where time management comes into play. In the real sense of it, we have no control over time, it keeps marching on but we have control over ourselves. So we can control what we do with our time and ensure that it is productive.

Time can also be defined as a finite resource, it cannot be accumulated or stored. Developing time management is a way of learning self discipline that allows you move from " I don't have enough time for anything, to "I have enough time to do the things that matter the most". This is where success comes in because even if you have all the time in the world and you do not prioritize the things that matter most in achieving success, then time would equally be wasted. So time management skills help guide you through the best possible way in managing your time to be more productive and successful in what you are doing.

CULTIVATED BEHAVIOR OF LEADERS

CULTIVATED BEHAVIOR OF LEADERS

The interpersonal relationships of leaders and followers can be improved considerably as a leader cultivates certain behavior. This behaviors include

a) Awareness: Leaders should have a behavior of general awareness,not only for their jobs, but should also have an awareness of what they can do to be better managers and how to motivate their subordinates. Being aware of the factors that make for leadership effectiveness and of the way in which styles are contingent on a range of situational considerations should help any manager learn to be a more effective leader. Furthermore,as it is true in every area of management,knowing and being knowledgeable are not enough. A manager must also have the ability to apply this knowledge to practice.

b) Empathy: Webster defines empathy as "the imaginative projection of one's own consciousness into another being". Empathy is the ability to place one's self in the position of another,stimulating that person's feelings,prejudices and value.

Managers without empathy dont place themselves in the position of their subordinates, they believe that their subordinates have the same objectives,ambitions, values and biases like them. But it is not likely they would have the subordinates would have the same as the managers because people widely differ in every respect but one, which is that they are all guided less by reason than by emotion and the causes of emotion are deeply personal. So many managers personalize benefits for subordinates, while the managers have the freedom to choose the benefits, subordinates must accept whatever the manager chooses and the problem being that subordinates or followers may value the freedom to choose more than they value any given benefits. Then they are charged with a lack of appreciation.

It is a very difficult thing to place one's self in the position of others,because for example a manager may try to do this with his subordinates but they are severely handicapped because outside of work they know very little about subordinates, their spiritual values,health condition, lifestyle, ambitions, personal relationships,loyalties and so on. Also apart from the problem of managers placing themselves in the position of subordinates, there is a problem of understanding or knowing the reaction subordinates would have to issues. Yet a forthrite and conscentious effort to understand subordinates is much better than none.

c) Objectivity: Being objective means looking at things

in a detached, impartial, fact-based way. Managers should strive to observe and trace the causes of events unemotionally. Even though they depend heavily on subordinates and often become emotional about them. It is important to evaluate from a distance, determine the actual causes of results and take intelligent steps to correct poor ones and encourage good ones.

This contradicts empathy, because empathy requires an attitude opposite to remoteness and unemotional analysis. Over emphasizing empathy may cloud a manager's ability to be objective, so a balance is needed. It may be difficult to achieve but each has its place in effective leadership.

d) Self Knowledge: The injunction to know thyself is used in the context of making people aware of why they behave as they do and also what they do to draw forth certain response, lack of response or even hostility from others. It is impossible to empathize or be objective without self knowledge. Managers should study how they behave and the reactions they receive from subordinates, so that hey can correct those which elicit negative responses. They should cultivate self knowledge and put it to work intelligently by watching for favorable and unfavorable reactions to their behavior and identifying causes.

The Human factor in Enterprise

The Human factor in Enterprise

To achieve enterprise objectives, all organized effort must be put into use. The objective is to produce and make available some kind of goods or services. It is universal and by no means only for profit making purposes, this effort is applicable to businesses,non-profit organizations, hospitals, universities and government. The needs and objectives of the various organizations are always top of the priority,but it should be noted that the individuals working for them would also have their own needs and objectives that are especially important to them. Through leading,managers see they can help team members satisfy their own needs while at the same time they are contributing to the aims of the enterprise. This requires an understanding of the roles assumed by people, their individuality, their dignity and their holistic nature.

It is important to recognize that individuals are much more than a productive factor, they are members of social systems of many organizations, they are consumers of the produced goods and services,and they have an influence over the demand of the products. In these roles, the influence they exercise establishes laws and govern managers, ethics that guide behavior and a tradition of human dignity that is a major characteristic of our society.

It is important to know that not everyone is the same and there is no average person. The trend is for organizations to develop rules, procedures, work schedules, safety standards and many more with the assumption that everyone is alike. I am not saying that this is not necessary to a great extent in organized efforts to instill discipline and work towards a common goal, but the organization should also recognize that people are unique and they have different needs , different attitudes, different ambitions, different desires for responsibility, different skill-set and different potentials.

So unless the complexity and individuality of people are clearly understood, the generalizations about motivation,leadership and communication may be misapplied by managers. This means that principles and concepts although generally true have to be adjusted to fit the specific situation.

The main aim for an enterprise is to do what ever it takes excluding negative and unethical things to achieve the enterprise's objectives,but in so doing the management should never violate the dignity of people.The concept of individual integrity derived from ethical philosophy means that people must be treated with respect,no matter what their position in the organization may be.

Models of People

Models of people

People are complex and when dealing with them, you have to understand their complexities in order to get the most out of them. Managers, whether they consciously know it or not, have in their mind a model of individual and organizational behavior that is based on assumptions about people. These assumptions and their related theories influence managerial behavior.

Edgar H. Schein developed four conceptions about people, The first being the concept of the rational-economic man, he asumed in this instance that people are primarily motivated by economic incentives. He goes on further to say that since these incentives are controlled by the enterprise, this assumption is based on the belief that people are essentially similar to that listed as theory x by Mcgregor.

Schien's second model is the "social man" which is based on the assumption that man is social In nature and there is a need for interaction between man and other people to have a sense of belonging.

The third model of Schein is the self actualizing man and it is based on the assumption that motives fall into five classes in a hierarchy ranging from simple survival needs to the highest needs of self actualization which maximizes one's potential. This model believes that people can be self motivated and can be mature.

The fourth model which Is complex man, presents Schein's own view of people. The underlying assumption he makes are that people are complex and variable and have many motives which combine into a complex motive pattern.

Other models of people include

• Behavioristic: This view believes that people's behaviors are controlled by their environment a strategy to maximize one's potential under this model is changing the environment to get the desired behavior from subordinates.

• Phenomenological: This model assumes that people are unpredictable, unique, subjective and relative but with potential. A manager adopting this model would have to study and understand the complex functioning of the brain of subordinates, because it is there that behavior originates.

• Rational: It is believed in this model that people behave rationally, they collect and evaluate information systematically and make decisions based on an objective analysis of the different alternatives available.People can be interacted with on a rational basis by managers since it is deemed that people are rational, but managers in so Interacting with people, sweeps aside their feelings, their emotions, and the human side of their personalities.

• Emotional: This holds that people are ruled primarily by their emotions, some of which are uncontrollable. Managers in this model have to be patient and tolerant with people and seek to understand the underlying psychological causes of employees' behavior.

• Economic: According to this view, it is believed that people are motivated by economic factors, it is assumed that people act rationally get satisfaction from monetary rewards. Managers with this view would see money as the prime way to elicit contributions from subordinates.

• Self-actualizing: This view contrasts the economic view, it holds that people want to increase their competencies, they want to develop and strive to use their potentials. A manager adhering to this model would want to establish an environment in which people could exercise self-direction and reach their full capabilities.

Maximizing your team

Maximizing your team:

To be a good leader,you must be able to harness the powers of your team members and lead them to achieving their full potentials. Now let's look at what makes a great leadership team.

Each team member has his own unique strengths,but the most cohesive and successful teams possess broader groupings of strengths. As a leader distinct domain of leadership strengths include: Executing, influencing, relationship building and strategic thinking. These categories are general and broad for the type of strengths leaders can possess. They can be used to measure how leaders can contribute positively to the team. Even as it is categorized as leadership strengths, these four categories should be found in a team in order for it to be successful. It is not compulsory it should be found in only one individual,as individuals have distinct strengths and abilities, but the team as a whole should be well represented in these four categories.

Executing: it is the carrying out of plans successfully or making things happen. Leaders with dominant strength here know how to make things happen. Some of the characteristics a leader who is strong in executing should have include: 

1) Should be an high achiever

2) Should be consistent in work and performance

3) Should be deliberative

4) Should be discipline

5) Should have focus

6) Should be responsible

7) Should be restorative

Influencing: Influencing is the ability to persuade people to do your bidings, or to sway the decisions people make to your own way. A leader who leads by influencing help their team reach a more broader audience. People with strength in this domain give a wider exposure to the goods or services of the team, they sell the team's ideas inside and outside the organization and they speak and make sure the group is heard. Some of the characteristics of leaders that have this strength include:

1) Activator

2) Communicator

3) Command

4) Competition

5) individualization

6) Self - Assurance

Relationship Building : Leaders should be possess this strength I order to bring the team together and get them working to the maximum potential. Without this strengths on a team, in many cases, the group is simply a composite of individuals. Leaders with the exceptional strength of relationship building have the unique ability to create groups and organizations that are much greater than the sum of their parts.

the characteristics of leaders that have this strength include:

1) Adaptability

2) Empathy

3) Includer

4) Harmony

5) individualization

6) Positivity

Strategic thinking: Leaders with strategic thinking as their strength look at the big picture, they think about the future, they are constantly absorbing and analyzing information and helping the team make better decisions. Within this domain,a leader strong in strategic thinking might explain how past events influenced present circumstances or navigate the best route for future possibilities. Characteristics of Leaders with this strength include:

a) They are analytical

b) They are futuristic

c) They have intellectual abilities

d) They love to learn

e) They are strategic