Management Assignment: Managing Business In Global Environment

Question

Task:
Purpose:
This individual management assignment is an opportunity for students to demonstrate their understanding of Organisational Behaviour in a Global context.

Question 2:

1. What are the four critical management skills? How do Candace Stathis and Sue Ryan apply the four critical management skills in their roles at the company?
2. Which of these skills do you think is most important skill for a manager at Camp Bow Wow and why?

Question 3:

1. How would you describe Black Diamond’s ethics in terms of how it treats its employees at the company’s factory partners in Vietnam, China, and Bangladesh?
2. Do you think that it is appropriate for firms like Black Diamond to scrutinize its partner factories like this? Why or why not?

Question 4:

1. Besides the “Shop,” how else does Barcelona try to maximize employee fit?
2. What other suggestions do you have for the company to improve new hires’ fit with the job and organization?

Question 5:

1. Explain goal setting theory of motivation.
2. Describe Brad’s motivation in terms of the goal setting motivation theory?

Question 6:

1. Describe the “norming” stage.
2. How might Nathan Decker lead effectively as the team starts “norming”?

Answer

Answer 2A)
The skills most essential in management are: Communication Skills, Organizational skills, Planning & Strategy skills and People management skills. All the 4 skills mentioned in the management assignment are to be developed in order to excel at business management (Atolagbe & Floyd, 2020). These skills help an individual to not only develop managerial role, but also help them to develop their skills in the process. Irrespective of the industry and the department, these are the most coveted skills which one should possess (Lussier & Hendon, 2019).

Application of the management skills by Candace & Sue Ryan:
Communication Skill- It has been seen that both Candace and Ryan have been following a process wherein they sit down with the team and communicate with them on the process which has to be followed at Camp Bow Wow. They understand that the role of employees is pivotal in giving the experience the company wants to give to its customers. Hence, sitting and talking with them really helps.

Organizational Skills-Organizational skill stems from the bold vision of Sue Ryan, which is to be the best of the best in the entire Camp Bow Wow. With this mission, Sue Ryan has kept a flat hierarchy structure so that everyone feels valued. However, when he gets good employees are like Candace, he promotes them. Thus showing his inept organizational skills.

People management skills- In the entire case there have been no mention of any conflict arising, this implies both Sue and Candace have been working really hard to ensure the positive environment at the Camp Bow Wow.

Planning & Strategy Skills-Planning & Strategy skill can be seen in both Candace & Sue Ryan by their ability to plan and foresee the future. Stressing more on customer service department of the business clearly demonstrates the sharp vision of the manager and owner. In order to ensure that the employees excel at Customer service is by training them properly keeping in view the vision and the direction in which the industry is moving.

Answer2B)
It has been clearly mentioned in the case that the vision of the company or as it has been mentioned by Sue Ryan is to be the best Camp Bow Wow in the entire system. Now, in order to do that he see a visible flaw in the customer service department of the company. He is of the opinion that customers should have a good experience and should also feel that their needs are being taken care of and their dog is in good hands. Hence, in order to do so, customer service has to be excellent, and in order to be great at customer service, communication skill is the most relevant and the key skill to develop in the manager.

Communication is identified as the most important skill, because dogs in some households or in most of the households are either as close as the family members or they are the family members. So, when they leave out their dogs at the camp, they should have the trust that their dogs will be taken good care off. This could be shown by the excellent interpersonal communication skills of the managers at the counter. By listening carefully to the dog owners they can develop the trust and start building a relationship with the owners. At times, talking straight talk with the owner regarding the problem the dog has been facing at the camp could further build upon the trust (Kanki, 2019).

The most important skill for being good at customer service is the ability to comprehend the emotion of the customer and knowing what has to be said in order to give a great customer experience (Ibrahim & Ahamat, 2019). All this stems from great communication skills, as good communication not only helps to build a good relationship with the customers, it also build a long lasting trust on the employees and the business. Thus, keeping in mind the position and vision of the Camp Bow Wow, communication skill is the most needed skill amongst the employees (O’Rourke, 2019).

Answer 3A)
Black diamond is a manufacturer of equipment for climbing, skiing and mountain sports based in Utah, United States. The CEO strong believes Black Diamond is an extension of the ethos, culture and the value of the life defining mountain sports that the company was founded to serve. With operation spread across different part of globe such as Europe, US, Bangladesh, China, Vietnam, it is truly a global company.

Looking at the factory conditions in China, Vietnam and Bangladesh, it can be said with utmost surety and confidence that Black Diamond is an ethical company. Ethics are defined as the moral code or value which the person abides, and the same is translated in to value and culture of the company (Crane, Matten, Glozer & Spence, 2019). The practices like Three meals a day, regular health check- ups, employee empowerment by hearing their voice in decision making, auditors regularly visiting the factory, safety and hygiene standards being met are some of the example of good ethics. Good ethics in the sense that organization before caring about the profits, cares about the Human Resources involved in the process of manufacturing. Black Diamond also provides additional funds to train employee in English language, for everyone to be on the same page. This is something extra ordinary and makes the company a truly global and ethical business organization.

To add, Business ethics refers to implementation of the best business policies and procedures when it comes to controversial subjects such as discrimination, social responsibility, governance and others. Black Diamond by ensuring all the healthy and hygienic conditions in its factories, which are not even operational in United States (Home Country) sets the bar high for demonstration of ethical standards in the positive light and positioning Black Diamond as a True Global and Ethical Company by all standards(Arnold, Beauchamp & Bowie, 2019).

Answer 3B)
The case study here does not provide sufficient information for the readers to decide on appropriateness of Black Diamond to scrutinize the partner factories, primarily due to couple of reasons:

• The terms and condition of the contract entered with Partner factories has not been mentioned in the case.
• There has been no mention of the terms or the deeds of the auditing to be done by Parent Company

However, let us view the situation on the basis of the given facts to answer the question.

Black Diamond is a global business organization, and the value of being a global leader requires to the company to stay true to its core values of business, ethics. Moreover, whenever there is an organization who has manufacturing plant in other countries, they become the ones who are at the receiving end of any kind of criticism if anything goes wrong in the plant, even the employee’s start projecting these factory owners as the culprits. Hence, all he efforts which Black Diamond has been taking are proactive and does no harm to any person involved or any of the stakeholders. It is a fine example of moral and ethical responsibility bourn by Black Diamond with or without any aforementioned contract or an agreement. It might be inappropriate if Black Diamond would be hampering the work going in the factory, wasting plethora hours of the laborers working in these plant thereby worsening the productivity. In such a situation the factory owner might raise issues on the scrutiny done by Black Diamond. In this case however, this is not happening. Hence, it is seen as a case of genuine concern for the condition and the well -being of the labors working in such harsh conditions and contributing to the success of the organization. These kind of efforts are to be seen only in good moral and ethical light, until and unless there is no violation of the contract entered with the Factory partners (Venugopal & Saleeshya, 2019).

Answer 4A)
The one thing which comes striking out in the case study of Barcelona Restaurant Group is the uncanny style of approaching the candidate and their selection process. The core belief that people are inherently cheerful, active, have a smile on their face and display good interpersonal skill is both ambiguous and debatable, as it questions the very belief that are leaders made or born(Gupta, Mittal & Mittal, 2019). However, addressing the question here, the Manager uses a couple of techniques to shortlist the candidate which goes as:

• On the video call, the manager drills them and puts into them the philosophy of the group and what kind of candidates are the right fitment for the job. The interviewing manager does not gives the opportunity for the candidates to speak much, rather he talks more about the vision, philosophy and culture of the group
• The second step, irrespective the manager likes or not likes the candidate is sending them to a shop, and ask them to observe the climate, environment, gaps in the services and other aspect of service oriented culture. The interviewing managers objective here is to judge the candidates on their communication skills, their comprehensive understanding and ability, their writing skills and more so. If he is impressed by their essay, he pushes them to the Third and final round.
• In the third and the final round, which in some way is on the job training. He assess the candidates on how they command themselves and others on the floor, the way they greet customers and if they are able to engage them in a conversation. If everything goes right, the candidate is right on the pretext of being right fitment for the group.

Answer 4B)
Ever since the start, I am yet not fully convinced with the ideology of the company that they need to keep on hiring and firing the below 20% of the employees. This seems to be wrong, as it shows the lack of planning and gaps in hiring the right candidate in the first place. It severely impact the brand value and can also impact customer experience if they everyday see newer faces at the Restaurant. Hence, the following things need to be done in order to assess the candidates:

• Create a job description with the identified sets of skills for the candidates. Share the JD with them and ask them to self -evaluate them on the skills mentioned in the JD (Pahos & Galanaki, 2019).
• Question the candidates on the marks they have given to themselves as per the skills required to do the job. This would help the interviewer know their confidence, ability to strike a communication and how well they can take a control of the situation at hand.
• Keep the candidates on probation for a couple of weeks and under close observation of the restaurant manager. Rather than the manager giving the feedback, it should be the customers giving the feedback on the services of the employed staff. This would engage the customers, additionally it will help in getting an unbiased feedback from the stakeholder group which matter the most (Acikgoz, 2019).
• If a person has a rating which is below 5, he should be fired immediately by clearing his dues. If a person has rating between 5-7, he should be given extra couple of weeks on the floor while still keeping him in position until he crosses or reaches a rating of 8. And lastly the candidates who have scored rating between 8-10 should be immediately hired with no Probation.

With all due respect, the above process of recruitment and selection will definitely not hamper the brand image and would also reduce the employee turnover at the Restaurant.

Answer 5A)
Goal setting theory was first propounded in the early 1960’s by E Locke. The theory states clearly that goal-setting is essential and linked to the performance of the employees in the given task. The theory also states that it is the specific and challenging goals with appropriate and timely feedback which improves the performance of the employees and make them perform better in the given task (Locke & Latham, 2019). There are 5 essential Principles of Goal setting, which one has to consider before deploying the motivation theory given by Locke:

• Clarity- The goals should be clear and well defined. It is better to have SMART goals as they are realistic in nature, time bound and have better sense of clarity for the employees.
• Challenging- As mentioned in the theory, it is the challenging goals which pushes the envelope of performance which leads to intrinsic motivation. Thus, the goals have to be out of comfort zone of the employees and challenging in nature (Locke, 2019).
• Commitment- The goal should demand commitment from the employees both rationally and emotionally.
• Feedback- It is quite critical to the organization to give periodic feedback on the progress of goals. It would be much better if milestones can be created in the way of goal setting as a way to motivate the employees on reaching a particular milestone. This would also help to create an impetus for the road ahead in achievement of their goals (Schunk & Usher, 2019).
• Task Complexity-It has to be ensured that tasks are not so challenging that employees gets a feeling that organization wants to sack him by giving him tasks which are not according to the skill set he possesses

Answer 5B)
Brad Motivation arises from the view point of his vision, understanding of the company, consumer behavior, changing industry dynamics and what it essentially or ideally takes to motivate an individual who is working in the organization. Brad started out from a very small company Flight 001 and in no time, the company became the apple of customer’s eyes. That now they don’t have to worry about check in baggage and the hassles which comes along with it. Hence, Brad is solving a problem here for the consumers.

Now, looking at the business growing, Brad hired employees who feel motivated and he ensures that by setting out clear and challenging goals for them. Another need for motivation stems from the owners being available for the employees at any given point in time. The owners are just a call away from the employees and are always ready to hear out to their concern. The employees are given required number of training hours so that they master all the required skill it is necessary to excel at the job. This kind of employee empowerment came to brad with a vision of expanding the company globally and make it an epitome for its design, place and an impeccable product line. Hence, it can be logically said that motivation in Brad stems from the vision he has seen for his business organization, and in order to achieve the vision, Brad motivates its team, empowers them and makes them accountable for their work (Lee & Bong, 2019).

Answer 6A)
It was the year 1965, when Bruce Tuckman first introduced the world to the 5 stages of team development which goes on as: Forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. The stages start from the time that a group first meets until the time project ends. Norming is the third stage of team development and it is the stage when team members start noticing other team members and appreciate their strengths, it can also be seen as the stage of acknowledgment of team members strengths (Woodcock, 2017).

Norming can also be seen as the stage where team members have graduated from the stage where they get irritated on some quirkiness of the team mates, which would ultimately lead to conflict in the team impacting the overall team productivity. But, in the norming stage the team members learn to oversee the small nuance of their team mates and start respecting them for the strength. This is seen as the stage which paves the way for good team work despite the differences with mutual respect for each other’s work and appreciation and acknowledgement for each other’s strength (Black, Gardner, Pierce & Steers, 2019).

There can be seen a peak in the performance of the team during this stage and everyone working in absolute harmony, but it has also be seen that if conflicts or disagreement arrive in this stage, the chances of falling back to the previous stage are high. However, the best part about the norming stage is that the team is being developed, team mates are starting to notice and identify who are the leaders of the group, the interpersonal communication improves and the respect increases. Hence, one can see a sense of unity and cohesion increasing in this stage and the team set and all ready to progress in the new stage of performing. One important thing which has to be kept in mind here is, to avoid disagreements or conflict or any kind. Any past conflict or disagreement can put the group back to square one with no progress whatsoever (Cardno & Tetzlaff, 2017).

Answer 6B)
Nathan Decker is the Senior Human OD commerce at EVO, he has been assigned with managing the company’s magazine ads, website content and other promotions. In order to assist him in this he has been given a team of three comprising of the designer, photographer & copywriter. Tre- Photographer, explicitly mentions that creativity is a process, and when the group is not together it becomes a real challenge. All the three resources as mentioned have been working in another departments before getting grouped as a team to work in one, with Nathan leading the team. Nathan must do the following as the team starts norming:

• Take the team out for a dinner, and strike informal communication with them. Learn more about them, takes interests in their work, their passions and try to understand the innate desire to work.
• Have frequent team meetings where Nathan stresses about the importance of team work, and what it takes to become a team that delivers results.
• Start a practice where the team mates develop the habit of appreciating each other’s work and look at the person through the lens of his work and professionalism
• Borrow a creative director from another project and bring him into the team as the guide, to guide the team on how to proceed with their creative work and how all three of them can work in unison to achieve single fold objective of EVO, with Nathan still being the leader of the team.
• Lastly, just keeping a culture filled with joyousness, motivation, empowerment, hearing voices of all the team mates, solving conflicts amicably would help Nathan sail through the norming stage and move to the performing stage.
• Nathan has to ensure that he does not necessarily disallows conflict, but he makes sure that if any conflict arises, the team can oversee it and work towards achieving the goal with increased performance(Cardno & Tetzlaff, 2017).

And that is how Nathan can effectively help the team through the norming stage and make a smooth transition in the performing stage.

References
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