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Business Management Essays

Multicultural Diversity

Effects of Multicultural Diversity Organizational Processes

Managing a multinational corporation requires one to understand different cultures that comprise the subordinate staff. This is because different cultural backgrounds promote different social communication skills that define personal relationship amongst members of a certain workgroup. Thus, Members in a heterogeneous group consisting of employees sourced from different cultural backgrounds have the ability to generate diverse ideas that can help streamline organizational strategies. This benefits the organization by improving and enhancing communication links within organizations. Information is thus shared freely amongst the subordinate staff of the organization. Predominantly male or female oriented workgroups suffer from intra-gender conflicts as competition for supremacy in the group disrupts communications within the entire organization. This because power and role struggles dominates relationships between employees as they seek favors from their senior managers hoping to be rewarded with promotions or pay rises. This presents barriers to effective communication hindering the flow of the necessary organization processes pivotal to the business as a separate entity.

According to Hofstede, a manager in charge of such an organization should strive to understand how the subordinates relate to each other culturally before grouping them together to perform a certain task. In addition, it is important for a manager to understand how cultural beliefs affect employee’s judgment towards organizational issues to align the organization goals focused on meeting their personal needs. Thus, the paper will focus on how multicultural diversity affects organizational processes in a Multinational Corporation such as Euro Disney Land.

Multicultural diversity is appreciating and accepting the existence of multiple cultures as related to the demographic make-up of a certain group of individuals. It affects relationships within a group depending on the level of acceptance of different cultures comprising the group. In an organization, it describes the demographic make-up at the organizational level aimed at harnessing benefits of different cultures both from major and minority identity groups. Proponents for embracing multicultural diversity in an organization suggest that increasing the number of minority groups improves cohesion within the organization’s management structure. For example, increasing the number of women in an organization to match the number of the male counterparts, improves contact between them. This in turn it reduces the overlap between sex roles and work roles that hinder proper information flow within the organization’s structure. The overall organizational effectiveness is enhanced by increasing the role of traditionally underrepresented groups within an organization. Multicultural diversity influences both positively and negatively the overall organizational effectiveness of a multinational corporation.

Effects of Group Composition

Demographic diversity increases the pool of human resources that can assist an organization to achieve its set organizational goals and objectives. These may include styles, perspectives, insights related to solving complex organizations needs or problems. For centuries, women and people of color have suffered immense discrimination both at social gatherings and at work places (House, Hanges, Ruiz-Quintanilla, Dorfman, & Javidan, 2010). The cultural perspectives and styles of these marginalized groups are valuable assets that managers of organizations can exploit to improve the overall organization effectiveness other than relying solely on the role played by the majority groups.

In essence, multicultural diversity in managerial ranks of an organization serves the needs of an organization better as compared to reliance on dominant cultures only. Proponents for multicultural diversity further argue that cultural values dominant among black people such as forthrightness, assertiveness, verbal inventiveness, and good will can be beneficial in stimulating organizational interactions among the subordinate (Moon, March 1997). This is a positive representation of how odd deficiencies in a race can contribute to the overall integration of organizational values along ethnic lines. It is important to remember how each race contributes positively towards organizational effectiveness to meet the needs of each employee successfully. It is important for a manager to understand how cultural beliefs affect employee’s judgment towards organizational issues to align the organization goals focused on meeting their personal needs.

Employees feel confident and secure in their jobs whenever they see efforts being made to allow cultural integration within the organization. For example, being a manager of an organization located in the Middle East requires one to embrace the Muslim culture such allowing women to wear veils in the office. This may seem odd in western countries but in culturally controlled civilization such as the Middle East, they demand respect for their culture. Therefore, the manager has no option but to be flexible enough to meet employee’s personal satisfaction in their work. Members in a heterogeneous group consisting of employees sourced from different cultural backgrounds have the ability to generate diverse ideas that can help streamline organizational strategies (Cox, 1994). This in turn provides an opportunity for the manager to improve on the quality of decisions made by incorporating ideas sourced from different employees. In a study carried out at Apple.inc on May 3, 2008, mixed-sex groups performed better in organization processes than single-sex groups. This was an indication of how useful multicultural diversity is towards mobilizing human resources to achieve set organizational goals.

Diversity and Workgroup Functioning

Even though increasing the number of traditionally underrepresented groups yield more success to the organization, it does require power relations balance between the dominant and subdominant groups in the company. On gender representation, empirical values favor men more than women skewing the trend towards male dominated leadership. Some cultures prohibit women from desiring to compete equally to men for leadership but should rather concentrate on family matters (Kundu, July – December 2001). This favors men over women increasing the gender disparity in Multinational Corporation to less than 30% of the total number of employees. Allowing employees to express their individual perspectives at the place of work may fetch in both rewards and disaster for the organization. First, benefits because the organization has a large pool of human resources committed to meet the set organizational goals and objectives. On the contrary, they may express their newfound freedom to indulge even in matters not concerning them.

Diversity Perspective

Integration and Learning

In a heterogeneous group, decision-making takes long as everyone’s opinion must be put into account complicating the organizational process that is simple when attempted by a homogeneous group. Thus, the manager should play the role of integrating cultural diversity in a workgroup to ensure all the functions of the organization are in harmony with the subordinate’s views (Cox, 1994). Training programs offer employees a chance to understand the role they play in an organization minimizing conflicts commonly associated with managing a heterogeneous group.

Access and Legitimacy

Unlocking the potential of a business or an organization requires communicating the organizational goals to all the members of the subordinate. Therefore, managing an international corporation requires giving every subordinate access to the information more so that relating to their field of operation (Cox, 1994). To control information shared within an organizational process; employees can be issued with different access codes limiting the information they retrieve.

Diversity Climate Factors

In a group, personal affiliations with people of different cultures affect the overall organizational behavior in a multinational corporation. Therefore, a manager in charge of such an organization should strive to understand how the subordinates relate to each other culturally before grouping them together to perform a certain task. This because employees define their values and principles based on their group affiliations. Most employees feel confident to work when coupled with subordinates they share a cultural background with since personal affiliations boost their self-esteem. Being a member of a certain tribe or race attracts several stereotypes that may irritate the subject of ridicule. For instance, a Black American would feel uncomfortable working with a white colleague because of the dark past between the two races (Kundu, July – December 2001). Muslims are falsely mistaken to be terrorists just because of their choice of religion. Other races seem to view them with suspicion thus weakening trust among subordinates. This eventually affects the overall performance of the group and may stall organizational processes due to differences in personal beliefs and affiliation.

Therefore, to rally such a group requires first understanding their personal relations in order maximize their output by utilizing their individual relationships. Personal affiliations are a key source of motivation that is cost-free to the organization. In this, the manager needs only to group the subordinates according to their personal affiliations to trigger personal motivation amongst the employees as they seek to impress their colleagues.

According to a research carried out by Ijzendoorn, a Dutch researcher in 2005 revealed that some persons affiliated to certain cultural groups suffer discrimination and prejudice for simply being members of the minority group. Authoritarian personalities present in dominant races seem less tolerant towards subordinates who are members of underrepresented minority groups (Guidroz, Kotrba, & Denison, 2009). This causes tension between how the two groups relate towards the chain of authority in an organization. For instance, the three major sources of prejudice namely communication proficiency, physical attractiveness, and legal issues such immigration affect relations among individuals in a multicultural group created to achieve a certain objective.

Irrespective of an employee’s educational status and academic achievements, physical attractiveness rooted in their DNA plays a major role when a manager is choosing the subordinates to work with. In addition, their communication attitude attributed to their upbringing and cultural backgrounds determines how an employee responds to others working in the same unit or group (Rao, 2006). In the current business world, English language is a prerequisite for every employee seeking to work for a multinational corporation. Thus, if someone is not proficient enough in the language they are viewed as not intelligent enough.

Stereotyping

In an organization, the root cause of power struggles is because of stereotyping among the subordinates. For example, hiring a woman as the senior manager in organization causes a status of rebellion among male compatriots. This role-playing struggle affects the flow of information throughout the organization’s management structure. Those against the proposed power-sharing status in the organization present hurdles aimed at discouraging all her managerial efforts and strategies.

Stereotypes that exist within a working organization may affect the establishment of productive relationships across the subordinate staff as people relate to different cultural identities differently. If the divide is too wide between the two groups involved in the power struggle, the manager should intervene to arrest the situation before it evolves into a managerial crisis that may halt vital organizational process (Appelbaum, 2002). Personal relationships among employees working for an international corporation determine the level of trust bonding them together to achieve the set goals and objectives efficiently.

Informal Integration

In an organization, informal groups define themselves along factors such as common language, ethnocentrism, and social similarities among the subordinates. These social networks play a very vital role in enabling efficient communications within an international corporation. Differences in races and cultural backgrounds determine the dominant social networking skills possessed by different employees (Ely & Thomas, June, 2001). Therefore, the senior manager of a Multinational Corporation should be accommodative enough to understand how well to communicate to each group of employees formed along certain social networking skills. People prefer to associate themselves more with those who share a common cultural background, as they feel closer to them due the common features they share culturally.

Multicultural Diversity and Management

The basic attitudes and values shared by individuals of a certain cultural group affect their response to managerial attitudes and ideologies. Moreover, since culture affects how people think and act, it can affect positively or negatively government-business relations (Lott, 2010). In some cultures or societies, a few top managers are charged with the responsibility of making important decisions related to the organizations they lead in complete disregard of the opinions expressed by the subordinate.

In a country such as Japan, employees relate more close to an organization’s management as compared to their American counterparts who do not care about the welfare of the organization they are working as long as they get their pay. This shows that if one has to manage an organization that is based in these two countries, they must be ready to vary their managerial strategies to suit the two situations (Lott, 2010). In communist and socialist economies, cooperation is encouraged among people while in Capitalist economies competition is seen as the only way to achieve success. Therefore, the type of eco-cultural ideologies embraced by a society determines the type of organizational strategies used to implement the company’s missions on a foreign territory.

Diversity Management

According to Hofstede, being the senior major of a multinational corporation requires understanding the different cultural divides that exist in a common work group. This is because an international corporation does business in different countries sourcing their human resource from the native population. This brings in the factor of cultural disparities as people relate differently to foreign authority. In some case, an international corporation doing business in a foreign territory may be seen as an extension of neo-colonialism especially in communist and nationalist societies. This presents barriers to effective communication hindering the flow of the necessary organization processes pivotal to the business as a separate entity (Bhattacharyya, 2010). A variety of opinions generated by cultural differences assist to improve the quality of decisions made as well as the emergence of unique behavioral styles of leadership. For decades, gender disparity affects the communication behaviors exhibited by individuals within a workgroup as they relate uniquely to each other based on their different cultural affiliation. Thus, it is crucial for a manager to create and develop workgroups that reflect gender balance based on cultural motivation to self-motivate the subordinates to remain loyal to their duties and responsibilities.

Predominantly male or female oriented workgroups suffer from intra-gender conflicts as competition for supremacy in the group disrupts communications within the entire organization. In male dominated, money and power are the main causes of conflict as each member of the group wants to be regarded as the most influential due to the great power and respect they command in the entire organization. Chauvinistic male senior managers tend to prey on women for sexual favors in exchange for work-related appointments that promise money and power to women victims (Kochan, Bezrukova, Ely, & Jackson, November, 2002). This stems from the way culture has conditioned men that a woman is barely a sexual object that can be bought at a cost. Due to the harsh economic conditions being experienced worldwide, women tend to give in to these temptations to gain financially even though they have to compromise their morals upheld by their cultures.

Influence on Group process and Group Outcomes

Positive communications links bonding the members of a workgroup together help to reduce conflicts as well as improve cooperation among the group members. Efficient problem-solving strategies coupled with concise communications links improve the overall performance of the workgroup. For a group of subordinates to achieve success in completing a task delegated to them by the senior manager, they must be willing to communicate ideas, collaborate as well as compromise their views and opinions to increase the overall performance of the group (Guidroz, Kotrba, & Denison, 2009). Therefore, the senior manager should give the group the freedom to be creative by allowing them to utilize their cultural affiliations to improve their daily outcome delivery frequency. Thus, effective communication skills sourced from employees sharing different cultural backgrounds reduce the degree of organization conflicts as well as establish positive influence on the overall workgroup outcomes.

Cultural and Gender Diversity and Group Outcomes

Multicultural diversity increases a groups critical thinking base as personal relations amongst the members of the group generate alternative viewpoints to an issue requiring consultations before a decision is made about the overall group process. This redefines the clarity of decisions of individual workgroups in an organization improving the overall organizational outcomes. If cultural diversities within an organization promote negative effects such as racism, tribalism, gender disparity and discrimination, then the ripple effect will cause a negative process outcome affecting other group processes such as communication (Bhattacharyya, 2010). Thus, the manager of such an organization should try to attain equitable balance between the effects of culture and gender diversity in order to focus the energy and resources of the entire workgroup towards achieving set goals and objectives. It is hard but with proper training and experience one can absorb cultural differences prominent in a group and promote unity and accountability within the organization.

Even though gender equity promotes balance and cohesion within a workgroup, empirical figures fail to support this phenomenon in a normal working place as men usually outweigh the number of female colleagues by far. This is because most cultures do not allow women to pursue their careers reducing their chances of entering the corporate level of business management (Ely & Thomas, October 2000). For instance, in countries such as Germany, France, UK, U.S, and Eastern European countries, good governance and leadership is viewed as the central keys pillars that support democracy and fairness within an organization. In an organization, the founders tend to determine the behavior of their subordinate leaders by ensuring they use management selection criterions that favor members of a certain culture as their preferred employees. Furthermore, the societal and cultural norms endorsed by the founders of an organization induce global leadership practices desired by the owners. In turn, the subordinate managers have the responsibility to enforce the norms throughout the organization.

Once the founders of the organization establish the initial organizational culture, subsequent leaders and their subordinates have a responsibility of upholding the practices irrespective of their cultural backgrounds. However, as the leadership of the organization is handed down to different generational leaders, dominant organizational cultures are usually altered to favor the dominant races or genders within the organization. This is usually unfair to the minority-underrepresented groups, as they have to tone down their cultural beliefs to accommodate the overall organizational cultural norms dominant in each workgroup they join (Moon, March 1997). Organizational contingencies force managers of international organization to adopt new leadership attributes aimed at fostering the desired communication behavior within the organization.

A Case Study on How Multicultural Diversity Affects International Corporations

Euro Disney Cultural Problems in France

According to Hofstede’s cultural dimension on power distance index, Euro Disney Park under the management of Ron miller failed to understand the acceptance levels of power and authority among the French population that they expected to be their customers. Since France has a high Power Distance Index of 69 out of 100 on Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, it therefore means that the French population is more assertive to infringement on their individual privacy by the government or any powerful institution such as Euro Disney S.C.A (Keegan & Green, 2002). It was a failure by the management of Euro Disney to start requiring French citizens working for them and those visiting the park to speak in English at all meetings inside the park.

Trompenaars’ Research on Organizational Culture

According to Hofstede’s cultural dimension on Uncertainty Avoidance Index, France has a high score of 86/100. This means that the French population was not tolerant to trends of uncertainty and ambiguity that Euro Disney management were trying to introduce to the rigid French culture. Euro Disney management disregard for the French culture was the beginning of the company’s problems in its operations in France. In addition, they required all the employees working for them to maintain a strict Disney’s appearance code for members of staff. This appearance code for members of staff required every one working at Euro Disney to use no make-up, facial hair, tattoos nor any type of jewelry while working for the company.

Trompenaars’ research on organizational culture helps to explain the cultural differences between the United States and France by highlighting how the management of Euro Disney developed a pattern of assumptions that eventually led to its slow growth in Paris France. The Managers at Euro Disney made so many assumptions about how they expected the French population to accept their American culture. What they failed to understand is that the French citizens loved their personal space and individual rights protected by the French law and any attempt to infringe on was met with numerous lawsuits that destabilized the operations of the company (Keegan & Green, 2002). The most appropriate way that the company would have to gain popularity between the French population, would have been to embrace the French language and culture as proposed to them by the French government. This would have attracted even those natives of France who did not speak English fluently as they would be allowed to converse in French whist in the park.

Mistakes That the Company Made In Managing Euro Disneyland

The three major mistakes that the company made in managing Euro Disneyland are as follows. The first major mistake that the company made when they set ground in France was requiring English to be spoken at all meetings inside the park. Many throughout France criticized this ignorant stand on language (Goodman, 1999). One very vocal journalist wrote in a French paper Le Figaro that he wished with all his heart that the rebels would set Euro Disneyland on fire for the lack of respect for the indigenous French culture. Many protesters viewed this restriction on language use in the park as new age colonialism. It was not fair for the managing director of Euro Disneyland to restrict speaking in French in the park since it is the national language of France and his target market is the French population (Ely & Thomas, June, 2001). Some people refused to visit the park not because they were not interested but it was because they considered language restrictions in the park as a form of cultural imperialism that the Americans were trying to introduce to France.

Therefore, the company failed to attract the population it was targeting to capitalize on leading to the company making huge losses within its first year in operation. The second mistake that the company made was imposing dressing code regulations to all its employees. This regulation required all the employees of the company to limit their use of make-up, facial hair, tattoos and jewelry. The company did not take a proper dress code survey before they imposed this regulation (Keegan & Green, 2002). This is because if they did they would have learnt of the rich fashion culture that blooms in France and by imposing this regulation; they were insulting the fashion culture in France as a national heritage. The third major mistake that the company made in its operations in France was that they created small pathways like those in their main branch in California.

Conclusion

In summary, multicultural diversity affects the overall organizational culture that is dominant within workgroups comprising the organizational process. In addition, gender equity a key component of cultural relativity at work reduces conflicts within an organization improving the effectiveness of each organization process. In addition, personal affiliations with people of different cultures affect both positively and negatively the overall organizational behavior in a multinational corporation. Therefore, a manager in charge of such an organization should strive to understand how the subordinates relate to each other culturally before grouping them together to perform a certain task. Lastly, members in a heterogeneous group consisting of employees sourced from different cultural backgrounds have the ability to generate diverse ideas that can help streamline organizational strategies. This in turn provides an opportunity for the manager to improve on the quality of decisions made by incorporating ideas sourced from different employees.

References

Appelbaum, M. P. (2002). Multicultural and diversity education: a reference handbook. Honolulu: ABC-CLIO.

Bhattacharyya. (2010). Cross-Cultural Management: Text And Cases. New York: PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd.

Cox, T. (1994). Cultural diversity in organizations: theory, research, & practice. Manhattan: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Ely, J. R., & Thomas, A. D. (June, 2001). Cultural Diversity at Work: The Effects of Diversity Perspectives on Work Group Processes and Outcomes. Administrative Science Quarterly , 46 (3), 229-273.

Ely, J. R., & Thomas, A. D. (October 2000). Cultural Diversity At Work: The Moderating Effects Of Work Group Perspectives On Diversity. Simmons School of Management , 44 (2), 1-54.

Guidroz, M. A., Kotrba, M. L., & Denison, R. D. (2009). Workplace Diversity: Is National or Organizational Culture Predominant? Organizational Behavior Journal , 2 (2), 25-45.

House, J. R., Hanges, J. P., Ruiz-Quintanilla, A. S., Dorfman, W. P., & Javidan, M. (2010). Cultural Influences On Leadership And Organizations:Project Globe. Australian Management Journal , 4 (1), 1-93.

Keegan, J. W., & Green, C. M. (2002). Global marketing management. London: Prentice Hall.

Kochan, T., Bezrukova, K., Ely, R., & Jackson, S. (November, 2002). The Effects of Diversity on Business Performance: Report of the Diversity Research Network. Cambridge Business Journal , 4 (2), 1-37.

Kundu, C. S. (July – December 2001). Managing Cross-Cultural Diversity A Challenge For Present And Future Organizations. Delhi Business Review , 2 (2), 1-8.

Lott, E. B. (2010). Multiculturalism and diversity: a social psychological perspective. London: John Wiley and Sons.

Moon, M. M. (March 1997). Understanding The Impact Of Cultural Diversity On Organizations. Harvard Business Journal , 97 (3), 1-37.

Rao, P. C. (2006). Marketing and multicultural diversity. Colorado: Ashgate Publishing.

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Health and Safety

A work environment that has a poor health management system has a tendency to encounter consequences for the individual, association and the group on the loose. In a health care system, impacts of ailment and harm have been secured and they extend from little problems to big outcomes. The impacts incorporate suffering; sickness, harm, pain and demise; mental damage; money related issues; low spirit; lessened productivity; poor profit; group expenses; and poor corporate image. Most associations are confronted with the test of guaranteeing that their representatives lead a strong and anxiety free way of life. Specialists ought not get sick or harmed, and on the off chance that it happens, associations ought to put set up procurement that aid them to come back to wellness.

Survey of policies and strategies

For the health and security enactment to be powerful, there must be successful routes through which the strategies, frameworks, techniques are actualized. First and foremost, the approaches should by ready to follow the structures and courses of action of the social insurance organization. Agreeability can be attained through an arrangement of the accompanying steps:

Care planning

There are a few means through which an association can execute its safety approaches. Care planning guarantees that there is a successful procedure put set up to actualize the security arrangements. An association can meet this necessity through augmenting the well being of workers, helping by improving security, and actualizing the standards of great practice and security.

Difficulties

Effective correspondence of health and safety in the work environment is generally confronted with a wide mixture of problems and difficulties. In any case, there are different components that ought to be considered to guarantee that the whole process is successful. These prerequisites incorporate risk profit investigation, individual hazard and danger to different people, ramifications of asset utilization, and diverse needs of stakeholders, either outer or internal.

Own practice

When it comes to conveying and executing health and security methods, systems have a tendency to fluctuate starting with one association then onto the next. Own practice and methodology can be arranged into individual needs, obligations, changes in practice, professionalism and relations in the middle of workers and the customers or patients. There are different approaches, techniques and frameworks that can be used to guarantee that the association comprehends and imparts health and security in the working environment. These frameworks can be ordered in four different gatherings.

Health and Safety Act 1974

The Health and Safety Act 1974 (additionally alluded to as HSWA, the HSW Act, the 1974 Act or HASAWA) is the essential bit of enactment covering word related health and safety in Great Britain. It is an Act to make further procurement for securing the health, security and welfare of people at work, for ensuring others against dangers to health or wellbeing regarding the activities of people at work, for controlling the keeping and utilize and keeping the unlawful obtaining, ownership and utilization of risky substances, and for controlling certain emanations into the environment; to make further procurement concerning the business medicinal warning administration; to revise the law identifying with building regulations, and the Building (Scotland) Act 1959; and for joined purposes.

Execution of health and safety legislation

Risks

All ideas of health, danger and security ought to be unmistakably enunciated. The dangers can be classified into the accompanying gatherings: zero risks, least risk, property dangers, individual dangers; mischance anticipation, danger restriction, emergency treatment; security versus health, insurance from loss; and practices, substances and equipment premises.

Legislative prerequisites

The association recognizes the laws passed concerning health and security and methods for actualizing them. There are Health and Safety at Work Acts and also codes of practice and related regulations. Others incorporate Food Acts and those particular to health and social care, for example, Mental Health Acts.

Communication

Great communication skills are key for you as a director to pass on data, to give training and feedback, to increase understanding, to rectify mistakes or perilous conduct, and to organize with different divisions, ventures and gatherings. Communication can be written, verbal, visual, or through non-verbal communication, by exhibiting, or essentially by showing others how it’s done. Perceive diverse learning styles and pick your specialized tool in like manner (Duggan, 1998).

Used for strategies, guidelines, SOPs etc. Simple to convey and this can be posted with reader, but needs writing proficiency and is hard to keep up and overhaul.

Verbal: Used for one-on-one, group gatherings, telephone and so forth. This style is common, simple to do, and gives an individual touch. This methodology can prompt perplexity and inconsistencies.

Visual: This style generally uses pictures/design/features in training. This style requires significant investment to plan.

Demonstration: This style ranges for certain learning. This style can overcome challenges, yet is lengthy, obliges a skilled mentor, and can be troublesome in loud situations. Perceive that everybody learns in an unexpected way. In this manner, powerful correspondence frequently obliges a combination of distinctive styles. At last, you should dependably check laborers’ acceptable comprehension of the thought or idea you were attempting to convey.

Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals Regulations) 1996

The Regulations spread different method for conveying health and safety data. These incorporate the utilization of illuminated signs, hand and acoustic signs, e.g. fire alerts, talked correspondence and the stamping of channel work containing unsafe substances. These are notwithstanding conventional signboards, for example, denial and cautioning signs (Reason, 2001). Fire security signs, i.e. signs for flame passageways and fire-fighting equipment are additionally secured. They oblige employers to give particular security signs at whatever point there is a hazard that has not been dodged or controlled by different means, e.g. designing controls and safe frameworks of work. Where a security sign would not assist to decrease that hazard, or where the danger is not critical, there is no compelling reason to give a sign. The regulations, where important, oblige the utilization of street movement signs inside working environments to manage street activity furthermore oblige businesses to keep up the health signs which are given by them, clarify new signs to their workers and let them know what they have to do when they see a security sign. The Regulations apply to all spots and exercises where individuals are utilized, however prohibit signs and names utilized within association with the supply of substances, items and gear or the vehicle of perilous merchandise.

Responsibility

A responsibility or commitment to attractively perform or complete an assignment (allocated by somebody, or made by one guarantee or circumstances) that one must satisfy, and which has an ensuing failure for risk.

Employer

As an employer, it is your obligation to keep up a protected and healthy work environment. A security and health administration framework, or health system, can help you center your deliberations at enhancing your work environment.

Manager

Don’t imagine it any other way, overseeing corporate risk is a key issue for all executives and senior administrators to address. There is much to say in regards to this subject and the accompanying is simply a synopsis of a percentage of the fundamental focuses included.

It may well be worth recalling that the compelling administration of health and dangers increases the value of the business by expanding the prosperity and benefit of representatives consequently serving to avoid ailment and harm. This perpetually has long haul and positive impact on turnover and benefit. What’s more specialist contribution in wellbeing & security underpins a positive wellbeing and health society (Sackett, 1979).

Directors Responsibilities

The rule sets out four center obligations regarding executives in their health and security administration part: strategy and arranging; convey; screen; and surveys. This can also be followed in the case study. Under each of these headings, the rule sets out a discourse of every obligation; an arrangement of inquiries to be utilized by chiefs as an apparatus to figure out if the association’s practices are proper; and a rundown of chief activities. The activities for chiefs are isolated into two classifications – benchmark activities and prescribed practice. The rule additionally sets out obligations of directors. The following is a review of the general obligations regarding directors as set out in the rule.

Approach and planning

To focus the board’s sanction and structure for heading health and security.
To focus abnormal state health and security procedure and arrangement, including giving an announcement of vision, convictions and strategy showing the board’s dedication to, and convictions about the administration of health and well being.
To consider administration responsible for executing procedure.
To point out focuses on that will empower them to track the association’s execution in executing board procedure and arrangement.
To deal with the health and security execution of the CEO, including determining desires and giving criticism.

Convey

To set out a reasonable desire for the association to have a fit-for-reason health and security administration framework.

To practice due persistence to guarantee that the framework is fit-for-reason for existing, being adequately actualized, consistently evaluated and constantly made strides. To be sufficiently educated about the nonexclusive prerequisites for a present day, ‘best practice’ health and security administration framework and about their association and its risks to know whether its framework is fit-for-reason, and being viably actualized. To guarantee sufficient assets are accessible for the improvement, usage and support of the framework (Lewis, 1997).

Screen

To screen the health and security execution of the association.
To layout clear desires on what ought to be accounted to leave and in what timelines.
To audit reports to figure out if intercession is obliged to accomplish, or support hierarchical enhancements.
To make them acquainted with procedures, for example, review, hazard appraisal, occurrence examination, sufficient to empower them to legitimately assess the data before them.
To look for autonomous master exhortation when needed to increase the obliged level of confirmation.

Survey

To guarantee the board leads an occasional (e.g. yearly) formal audit of health and security to focus the viability of the framework and whether any progressions are needed. To guarantee the board considers whether an outside survey is needed for a free presumption.

Role of Health and Safety Commission and HSE

The Health and Safety Commission (HSC) and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) are the two agencies responsible for health and safety in Great Britain. The merger is a sensible proposal however the move could prompt a tremendous loss of accomplished HSE staff that are unwilling to migrate. The first authoritative system administering work environment health and security is proportionate however bosses can be over-careful in their elucidation of its procurements, expanding the agreeability trouble on themselves. Over-fanatical wellbeing and security “specialists” help this issue and the report requires an arrangement of accreditation of advisors and guides.

Different conclusions and suggestions include

HSE plans to meet a 60:40 proportion of proactive and sensitive work, yet organizations are just prone to have a HSE investigation recently once like clockwork and mischance examinations are, no doubt scaled back. Current levels of fines for health and security offenses are excessively low and don’t give a sufficient hindrance to guarantee obligation holders conform to their commitments. There is increment in the quantity of fatalities in the development business, the seaward oil industry’s disappointment to reach its significant danger sub targets, and wellbeing and dangers to vagrant specialists are key territories of sympathy toward HSE. HSE is attempting to adapt to its word related health transmit. It confesses to basing its word related health plan on a fragmented information source and is neglecting to reach its word related sick health targets. HSE needs to focus on its center transmit and measures to broaden its obligations into different zones puts an intemperate strain on its assets and dangers occupying its centering.

All associations utilizing five or more individuals must have a composed Health and Safety Policy explanation (Sackett, 1979). The approach ought to cover all parts of the association and be significant to all workers. A Health and Safety Policy shows how genuinely an association takes its wellbeing and security obligations. A decent strategy will demonstrate how the association ensures the individuals who could be influenced by its exercises. The arrangement ought to be of a suitable length and significance to the exercises and size of the association. Legitimate obligations and commitments around Health and Safety Policies

Act 1974 The Act says that you must set up your announcement and bring it to the consideration of all workers. The approach ought to be checked on and modified as regularly as essential. Legitimately, the approach just obliges you to address the wellbeing and security matters identifying with workers, however in numerous associations, it is a decent thought to have an arrangement that considers the security of other people who may be influenced by your exercises, i.e. volunteers, builders and the overall population. With or without a composed approach, all superintendents have an obligation of forethought to secure their representatives and others from mischief emerging from work exercises.

Medical Service

Environmental Health is the estimation, assessment and control of components inside our surroundings that have an impact on the health and prosperity of people in general. Word related Health is that part of Environmental Health, which frets about the association between the working environment and the soundness of the specialist. The Common Law’s commitment of Duty of Care is pertinent to everybody to guarantee that the conclusion of one’s activities or communications does not influence others adversely. Individuals have the right to expect and guarantee that there is a satisfactory level of control over those natural elements that influence their state of well being. Parts of a group ought to have the right to drink safe water, to inhale safe air, to consume safe nourishment, to live in sheltered asylum, to have a safe work environment in which to win a wage, and a safe group in which to live. Statutory Authorities have a legitimate and tying obligation to control those components representing an unsuitable danger to the group.

Hospitals are vast, authoritatively intricate, framework driven foundations utilizing expansive quantities of specialists from diverse expert streams. They are likewise conceivably unsafe working environments and open their laborers to an extensive variety of physical, synthetic, organic, ergonomically and mental perils (Smith, 1985). Clinics likewise assume an essential part in group assurance through more extensive Public Health issues including damage and disease avoidance, health reconnaissance and illness notice, and debacle administration. Furthermore, well beyond their center business of intense human services for inpatients, clinics are likewise concerned for the security and insurance of those inpatients regarding nonsocial disease control, clearing arrangements for inner crises, and sustenance planning and taking care of by the clinic kitchen. At last, healing facilities are likewise concerned with environment assurance through their waste administration procedure, and specifically, the accumulation and transfer of tainted waste.

Risk Assessment

Risk Assessment is the place the seriousness of the Hazard and its potential conclusions are considered in conjunction with different variables including the level of presentation and the quantities of persons uncovered and the danger of that peril being figured it out. There are various diverse formula used to ascertain the general danger from fundamental figuring utilizing high, medium and low classifications to convoluted calculations to figure dangers at Nuclear force stations and other high hazard work areas.

As a feature of dealing with the well being and security of your business you must control the dangers in your work environment. To do this you have to contemplate what may cause damage to individuals and choose whether you are making sensible moves to keep that mischief. In the event that you have less than five workers you don’t need to record anything. A danger appraisal is not about making immense measures of paperwork, but instead about distinguishing sensible measures to control the dangers in your working environment. You are most likely officially making moves to secure your workers, however your danger evaluation will help you choose whether you have secured everything you need to. Contemplate how mischances and sick health could happen and focus on true dangers – those that are no doubt and which will result in the most damage. For a few dangers, different regulations oblige specific control measures. Your appraisal can help you distinguish where you have to take a gander at specific dangers and these specific control measures in more detail. These control measures don’t need to be evaluated independently however can be considered as a major aspect of, or an augmentation of, your general danger appraisal.

Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992

You have to follow the risk evaluation prerequisites set out in the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and the prerequisite in the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 (as changed) (MHOR) to do a danger appraisal on manual taking care of assignments.

The MHOR Regulations

The business’ obligation is to stay away from Manual handling the extent that sensibly practicable if there is a plausibility of damage. If this isn’t possible then they must lessen the danger of harm the extent that sensibly practicable. In the event that a worker is whining of inconvenience, any progressions to work to stay away from or decrease manual taking care of must be checked to check they are having a positive impact. Then again, in the event that they are not meeting expectations acceptably, choices must be considered.

The regulations set out a progression of measures to diminish the dangers of manual handling:

evade unsafe manual taking care of operations so far as sensibly practicable; survey any unsafe manual taking care of operations that can’t be kept away from; or diminish the danger of damage so far as sensibly practicable.

Workers have general health and security obligations to: take after suitable frameworks of work set down for their security make fitting utilization of supplies accommodated their security co-work with their superintendent on health and security matters educate the boss in the event that they distinguish unsafe taking care of exercises fare thee well to guarantee that their exercises don’t put others at danger

Ethical Dilemma

A moral situation is a complex circumstance that frequently includes an obvious mental clash between good objectives, in which to comply with one would bring about transgressing an alternate. Great talks on morals are regularly determined by circumstances that test our capacities to focus the correct thing to do, do successful moral activity, or lay out a powerful system for evading moral deterrents later on. Given that conceivable outcomes for moral clash exist in many fields, this area gives connections to destinations particularly equipped towards furnishing you with materials significant to your field.at first look, this moral quandary is decently clear: It is an ill-use of your manager to lead private concern on organization time. Be that as it may there are shades of light black here. Suppose it is possible that your companion calls to let you know that your kids are sick. Is it accurate to say that it is OK for you to calendar a medical checkup? A decent dependable guideline is for a worker to check with his supervisor or human assets chiefs to clear up what include as a significant offense the organization (Horne, 1997).

Non compliance

Non-compliance is a significant, extravagant, immovable issue in healthcare which can prompt wretchedness and mischief. I have contended that the hypotheses of the reasons for human slip in associations could give an influential explanatory model of resistance. On the off chance that my contention is underpinned by experimental examination, then it would prompt distinctive methodologies to diminishing rebelliousness improvement of hypothesis.

References

Meichenbaum D, Turk DC. Facilitating treatment adherence: a practitioner’s handbook. New York: Plenum Press, 1987.

Sackett DL, Snow JC. The magnitude of compliance and non-compliance. In: Haynes RB, Taylor WD, Sackett DL, eds. Compliance in health care. Baltimore, London: The John Hopkins University Press,1979: 11–22.

Smith M. The cost of non-compliance and the capacity of improved compliance to reduce health care expenditures. In: Improving medication compliance. Proceedings of a Symposium held in Washington DC, November 1984. Reston, Virginia: National Pharmaceutical Council, 1985: 35–44.

Department of Health and Human Services. Prescription drug products: patient pack insert requirements. Fed Register 1980; 45:60754–817.

Lewis A. Non-compliance: a $100bn problem. Remington Report1997;5:14–5.

American Society of Hospital Pharmacists. ASHP guidelines on preventing medication errors in hospitals. Am J Hosp Pharm1993;50:305–14.

Haynes RB. Introduction. In: Haynes RB, Taylor WD, Sackett DL, eds. Compliance in health care. Baltimore, London: The John Hopkins University Press, 1979.

Gordis L. Methodologic issues in the measurement of patient compliance. In: Sackett DL, Haynes RB, eds. Compliance with therapeutic regimens. Baltimore, London: The John Hopkins University Press, 1976:51–66.

Stimson GV. Obeying doctor’s orders: a view from the other side. SocSci Med 1974;8:97–104.

Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain / Merck Sharpe and Dohme. From compliance to concordance. Achieving shared goals in medicine taking. 1997

Haynes RB. Strategies for improving compliance: a methodological analysis and review. In: Sackett DL, Haynes RB, eds. Compliance with therapeutic regimens. Baltimore, London: The John Hopkins University Press, 1976: 51–66.

Horne R, Weinman J. Predicting treatment adherence: an overview of theoretical models. In: Myers LB, Midence K, eds. Adherence to treatment in medical conditions. Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers,1998: 25–50.

Haynes RB, Montague P, Oliver T, et al. Interventions for helping patients to follow prescriptions for medication (Cochrane Review). In: The Cochrane Library. Issue 4. Oxford: Update Publications, 2001.

Reason JT. Human error. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,1990.

Reason JT. Understanding adverse events: the human factor. In: Vincent C, ed. Clinical risk management. Enhancing patient safety. London: BMJ Books, 2001: 9–30

Horne R. Representations of medication and treatment: advances in theory and measurement. In: Petrie KJ, Weinman JA, eds. Perceptions of health and illness. Current research and applications. Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1997: 161.

Barry CA, Stevenson FA, Britten N, et al. Giving voice to the lifeworld. More humane, more effective medical care? A qualitative study of doctor-patient communication in general practice. Soc Sci Med2001;53:487–505.

Department of Health. Pharmacy in the future: implementing the NHS plan. London: Department of Health, 2000.

Duggan C, Feldman R, Hough J, et al. Reducing adverse prescribing discrepancies following hospital discharge. Int J Pharmacy Practice1998; 6:77–82.

Health and Safety Executive. The costs of accidents at work. HS(G)96. London: Health and Safety Executive, 1997.

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Organizational Behavior

Analyzing Organizational Behavior

Understanding individual behavior is challenging. This makes analyzing organizational behavior complicated because large organizations have many people working individually and collectively to achieve organizational goals. Organizations are naturally complex to analyze because they comprise of different individuals and groups. Models provide the best solution to analyzing organizations. They are roadmaps to organizational behavior with regard to identifying critical factors and their relationships. It is why this research paper will utilize Nadler and Tushman’s Model to analyze an organization. This research paper contains an analysis of Walmart using Nadler and Tushman’s congruence model to identify key components, desired outputs, and issues that need addressing in the organization’s strategy.

Walmart is the largest retail store in the world operating over 11,000 retail units and employing over 2.2 million associates (Walmart, 2014). Its large nature makes it complex to manage. This is because the management has to understand the behavioral patterns of millions of people and multiple groups, including relationships that exist among them. Walmart is among the leading global companies generating high revenues consistently over the years as evident from their second and first ranking in the Fortune Global 500 list in 2012 and 2014 respectively (Walmart, 2014). The organization has achieved remarkable success in the last decade largely due to successful implementation of organizational strategy. Walmart’s success generally results from the management understanding the complex organizational behavior patterns and implementing strategies to control critical components of the organization according to Nadler and Tushman’s model. Below is a detailed analysis of Walmart’s strategy based on key components of environment, strategy, tasks, formal system, and key individuals (Walmart).

Nadler and Tushman’s Congruence Model

Analyzing Walmart using Nadler and Tushman’s Congruence Model requires categorizing organizational strategy into inputs, transformation process, and outputs. The model describes interdependence as the most critical property of organizational functioning and the same case applies to Walmart. The founder, Sam Walton, laid the foundation of Walmart based on the congruence of critical inputs, transformation processes, and major outputs when he opened the first Walmart store in 1962 (Walmart, 2014). He managed to balance the three critical components enabling his store to perform within its potential. The effectiveness of the Congruence Model of organizational behavior was evident five years after Walton opened the first Walmart store, because the business had expanded to twenty-four stores. This eventually led to official incorporation of the current Walmart Stores, Inc in 1969. Understanding Walmart’s success based on Nadler and Tushman’s Model requires further breakdown of the inputs, transformation process, and outputs as provided below.

One of the key inputs Walmart deals with on a daily basis is the environment. The retail industry is unforgiving with regard to demands by the environment and possible constraints on organizational functioning. Walmart and other retail organizations must contend with an ever-changing environment where the market demand for goods and services is high. They also face the challenge of balancing quantity and quality, which directly affects organizational functioning. Nadler and Tushman’s Congruency Model identifies environment as the first key input and consider it key to organizational functioning. Based on the Congruency Model, the key components of environment in the case of Walmart include their customers, suppliers, investors, government, and regulatory bodies, competitors, community, and global responsibilities among other groups (David Nadler and Michael Tushman).

The market is the most important key component of Walmart’s environment because their primary goal is to provide goods and services to clients in their retail stores. The entire company revolves around the customer as evident from Sam Walton’s mission to save people money so they can live better (Walmart, 2014). Suppliers are another key component of Walmart’s environment for they enable the organization to serve their customers. Walmart has thousands of suppliers globally who they enlist through application based on fulfillment of requirement standards. Walmart needs many suppliers because of the global demand for their products in local and global retail stores. Inevitably, they also put constraints on Walmart’s organizational action (Walmart).

Competition is another category of key environment components Walmart deals with. The organization may be large but it still faces stiff competition from other retail companies, such as Argos. Competition is normal especially in the highly competitive retail industry and it directly affects Walmart’s organizational action and marketing strategies. Increased competition over the years is also responsible for decisions and norms implemented by Walmart to gain competitive advantage over rivals. Investors are an equally important key environmental component considering they provide the necessary resources for Walmart. Resources are a key input in Nadler and Tushman’s Congruency Model thus making investors integral to Walmart’s organizational action. Satisfying investors is equally as important as satisfying customers. They affect Walmart directly through financial input, thus satisfy the critical feature for analysis in the Congruency Model (David Nadler and Michael Tushman).

Government and regulatory bodies are important environment components that put constraints on Walmart’s organizational action. This comes from the nature of the retail industry where safety and quality of products sold in retail stores is critical. Walmart is also a global company operating in 27 countries. This means the company has to deal with different government policies and regulations, which complicates managing organization behavior. It also operates in a modern world where organizations must fulfill their global responsibilities with regard to environmental protection and preservation. Such issues place a greater demand on Walmart and put constraints on their actions.

Generally, the inputs discussed in this paper exist outside Walmart but affect it directly. They are critical features for analyzing the organization and determining the demands and constraints environment has on Walmart. They also influence the strategy Walmart adopts and implements to overcome its constraints. Strategy is an input but it is different from others for it acts as a transition to the transformative process. The Nadler and Tushman’s Model considers strategy the most important component in organizations for it determines organizational output. Analysis of Walmart shows it has adopted key strategies to deal with key environmental components it faces as follows (David Nadler and Michael Tushman).

The first strategy in the Nadler and Tushman’s Model is defining the core mission of the organization. Walmart’s core mission is to save people money and improve their lives as is defined in their mission statement “We save people money so they can live better” (Walmart, 2014). It is the same mission Sam Walton had when opening the first Walmart store in 1962 and is still their mission up to the present day. This strategy ensures the organization reaches and positively influences a greater market than their competition. Walmart aims to achieve it through innovative thinking and leading through service to ensure they achieve their outputs (Walmart).

Walmart employs the vision of strategic globalization to enable their customers save money and enhance their lives worldwide. Competing at a global level is also a smart business strategy in terms of overcoming the constraints of competition and enhancing business growth. The company aims to become the largest global retailer by focusing on strategies and actions that increase future business success. Supporting strategies it adopts in a bid to achieve their mission include additional global expansion to access a wider market and promoting ownership of ethical culture among stakeholders through diversification programs. Walmart employs its strategies based on three core values of respect for individuals, striving for excellence and serving one’s customers (Walmart).

Generally, Walmart’s strategies focus on continuous learning and improvement as evident in their core statement “High Expectations Are Key To Everything” (H.E.A.T.K.T.E.) (Walmart, 2014). Nadler and Tushma’s Congruency Model defines strategies as determinants of tasks and the same applies to Walmart. Tasks are part of the transformation process. Walmart gears theirs towards helping customers, employees and stakeholders make right decisions in a bid to improve the reputation of the organization and ultimately gain a competitive edge in the global market (Walmart).

One of the tasks at Walmart is implementing a servant leadership policy that requires managers to be part of the team. The organization also gives its employees access to leadership at every management level, which ensures effective communication within the organization. Walmart employs employee-customer policies. They include the sundown rule of answering customer and employee queries within 24 hours and the 10-feet rule that requires employees to greet customers within ten feet of them (Walmart, 2014). Walmart is keen on interdependence and creating synergy among employees as evident in their servant leadership policy. Continuousness and reward are also crucial factors in the task component of the Congruency Model as reflected in Walmart, where employees are associates in profit sharing. Tasks at Walmart are collective and individual- based to ensure successful implementation of organizational strategies mostly through informal organization, such as their unwritten rule culture.

Any transformation process requires a formal system and individuals to perform tasks (Nadler and Tushman, 41). Walmart is no exception as it has a formal leadership structure with key individuals holding key positions. The Board of Directors is the top Leadership body at Walmart with Rob Walton playing the chairperson role (Walmart, 2014). The company has a hierarchical leadership structure starting with the president (Mike Duke) all the way to store managers at the bottom. Rob Walton adopts a servitude style of leadership that involves making decisions based on input and feedback of customers as opposed to employees or stakeholders. This leadership style creates a work environment oriented towards servitude as leaders lead by example. Such leadership transformed Walmart from a large retailer to a global business force (Davide Ravasi and Majken Schultz).

The transformation process at Walmart aims at achieving their desired output of saving their customers money and enable them live better lives. This output has mutual benefits for customers and Walmart in terms of getting value for their money, while simultaneously building Walmart’s reputation as a global force. The output at the organizational level is global expansion by reaching a wider market to guarantee sustainability. Walmart aims to achieve this goal despite the constraints of environment and other input factors, such as resources and unpredictability of the global economy. The desired output at group level is receiving quality service at cheaper cost for customers, discovering and enhancing work skills for employees, and sharing profits through return on investment for investors and stakeholders globally (Walmart).

Walmarts achieves its desired outputs judging by current and past statistics. It is the top ranked retail company globally. This is evidence of the organization achieving its desired output of global dominance over competitors. Walmart is also achieving desired outcomes at group level considering it made approximately $473 billion in sales in 2014 (Walmart, 2014). This means that management, stakeholders, employees and other groups within the organization achieved their goal of successfully implementing organizational strategies. Walmart also achieves individual level outputs with regard to employee satisfaction through promotions and bonuses. Organizational growth also means that investors gain leverage and returns while higher sales make resource utilization more efficient. Overall, Walmart has achieved and surpassed its desired outcomes (Walmart).

Nadler and Tushman’s Congruency Model describes strategy as the response to organizational inputs and constraints. The analysis of Walmart shows its strategy is in line with their environmental inputs. This is because the transformation process aligns with Walmart’s strategy of positively influencing a greater market than their competition by providing easy access to affordable goods and services. The transformation process also aligns well with the globalization strategy and striving for excellence in serving customers. For instance, the key tasks at Walmart focus on synergy, and implementing and promoting an ethical culture in the organization. Embracing culture and diversity is one of the major forces behind growth of the informal organization at Walmart. Team synergy grows because managers and employees at Walmart interact and strive for excellence in continuous improvement and learning. The interaction between key tasks and informal organization thus helps in producing desired output (Davide Ravasi and Majken Schultz).

The formal organization, chaired by Rob Walton, is largely responsible for the interaction between transformation processes. Rob transformed Walmart from a regional retailer to a global organization through his servitude leadership style. He combines this style with a visionary leadership style, initially adopted by his late father Sam Walton. The interaction between Rob’s servitude and visionary style aligns Walmart’s strategy with its transformative process perfectly and vice versa. Rob uses his visionary style to manage resources effectively by cutting labor and supply costs. He then uses the informal organization of shared responsibilities to implement organizational strategy efficiently by involving employees in decision-making. The interactions between the transformation processes at Walmart thus originate from its formal leadership. This is because it enforces the key tasks of service to customers, respect for individuals and striving for excellence that nurtured the existing informal organization responsible for producing outputs (Davide Ravasi and Majken Schultz).

Evaluating the outputs at organizational, group and individual levels reveals there might be issues that Walmart needs to address. The main concern regards individual outputs considering employees contribute the largest yet organization and group outputs are higher. This is normally the case in most organizations where the organizations and stakeholders benefit the most while employees receive meager or no share of profits in some cases. Walmart promises outputs for individuals, such as job satisfaction, favorable working conditions, and profit shares yet there are many complaints from disgruntled employees. The legitimacy of many individual complaints is difficult to verify but Walmart should address multiple complaints of understaffing and poor working conditions in some stores. The fact that Walmart employs over 2.2 million associates globally is a possible source of issues regarding employee satisfaction and rewarding mechanism. Walmart has a solid organizational framework. This is why it should address emerging issues on individual outputs to ensure collective growth and development at organizational, group and individual level.
There is overwhelming information on how Walmart works but there is little data on how it deals with competitors. It would be important for this analysis to learn the relationships between Walmart and other competitors in the market but unfortunately, no available resources provide credible information for this analysis. It requires one to get the information from Walmart, which is logistically improbable. However, critical information for this analysis was available from various electronic resources and was utilized in the research.

Overall, analyzing Walmart using Nadler and Tushman’s Congruence Model shows its former and current leaders adopted effective strategy to configure existing resources to overcome the constraints of key environment components. A combination of effective leadership and informal organization culture based on servitude and continuous improvement turned a regional company into the biggest global retail company. Walmart’s success results from Sam and Rob Walton, understanding key components of the environment and aligning them with visionary strategy. The interaction of their leadership styles, specific tasks, and a revolutionary informal organization that ultimately led Walmart to achieve it outputs at organizational, group and individual level, thus giving rise to the empire it is now.

References

David,Nadler and Michael, Tushman. Frameworks for Organizational Behavior. A model for diagnosing organizational behavior: Applying congruence perspective. Managing Organizations: Readings and Cases, pp. 3-48.

Davide, Ravasi and Majken, Schultz. Responding to Organizational Identity Threats: Exploring the Role of Organizational Culture, Academy of Management Journal, Vol 49 (3), pp. 433-458.

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Socio-Technical System

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Conceptualising the Organisation as a Socio-Technical System

What Is A Socio-Technical System?

Before discussing advantages and disadvantages of applying socio-technical approach in companies, it is necessary to define it in a few words. Socio-technical system is a system which has both a material technology and a social organization (Buchanan & Huczynski, 2010). The former consist of the equipment and methods of operations used to transform raw materials into products or services; the latter includes the work structure that relates people to the technology and to each other. (Cummings, 1978) These definitions are pretty scarce and do not give us much information about the concept itself, but they are something to begin with. All other, more specific, aspects of socio-technical systems will be presented further in this essay.

Historical Background of the Idea of the Socio-Technical Systems

This concept was developed by Eric Trist and Kenneth Bamforth in mid-twentieth century. Why not earlier? Because at the beginning of the twentieth century there was no need for that kind of approach to organizational design. Ford’s assembly line and Taylor’s scientific management triggered off a chain of changes, some of which are still present in today’s business world.

Unfortunately, they did not bring only new formula for gaining much bigger profit, but also a lot of problems and undesirable side effects. Meaningless simple tasks were not much of an inspiration for workers. Strict rules, clearly defined roles and relationships inside organization killed every spur of joy and enthusiasm in employees. On the other side, technology developed at a great speed and it was not possible any more to operate in relaxed, cosy atmosphere where everyone worked as a big happy family.

Companies expanded, they needed more complex organization, but bureaucracy just did not seem as the right answer to every problem. Socio-technical design offered new solutions. This concept was not developed only to assure that employees earn their living in a more pleasant environment, but also because researchers, such as Elton Mayo, discovered human factor and became aware of its importance in the race for profit. (Ropohl, 1999) Has the socio-technical system managed to fulfil both its purposes or failed to do it?

The Advantages of Socio-Technical Systems

This brief historical introduction implies that just the inventing of the socio-technical system was a radical and constructive move. The social aspect of this system brought many positive changes. Work is now based on collaboration of employees, not on fulfilling segmented assignments.

The feeling of joint effort in achieving goals creates more pleasant working environment. Employees find themselves doing meaningful work in an interaction with their colleagues. As the impact of formalization and standardization has been reduced, it is expected from workers to show greater knowledge and deeper understanding of what they are doing.

This leads to greater number of opportunities for enhancing skills and professional improvement. Of course, it is not something that each employee sees as an advantage. Trist himself (1981) wrote about his observations that there are individual differences in motivation pattern.

Some people need strict orders and defined place in company’s hierarchy or otherwise they will feel insecure and frustrated. The socio-technical design managed to overcome this problem, as members of each group occupy certain positions and have tasks to complete, but have greater freedom to do so and also have better insight in their own contribution.

Not just that there is an increase in the degree of satisfaction among employees, but also in the amount of productivity. These groups mentioned above are one of the most famous ‘products’ of socio-technical theory. They are called autonomous groups. They have not be widely accepted and applied, but they have proved to be efficient. One of the most famous cases – The Mannley Innovation is an explicit example that socio-technical systems functions well in reality, not just in theory.

Another plus for the socio-technical system is that the number of managers who occupy higher positions in hierarchy can be reduced, as focus of the control is partially in the groups themselves. This means that less money is needed for highly-educated managers whose skills must be well paid.

Also, leaders of the groups are in better position to detect problems during production process, as they have the technical knowledge that most external controllers do not have. This means that less money and time will be spent on dealing with the unexpected situations.

In my opinion, the greatest value of this system lies in the fact that it is concerned both with those who gain profit and those who create it. It is designed to meet the social and psychological needs of employees in order to increase the profitability of the work and make it all compatible with the technology in use.

Ideas of socio-technical design are not applicable only in the mining industry, oil refineries, but also in completely different segments of industry, such as textile (Trist, 1981) and even in hospitals. This can be considered as a great advantage, as this approach is broad enough to offer a suitable framework for organizing a whole range of different types of organizations.

The Disadvantages of Socio-Technical Systems

The broad framework of socio-technical system can also have a negative side. Some authors, such as Dillon (2000), claim that this system is not good enough for implementation in companies whose area of work is technology and that applying it can even cause a communication breakdown!

This sounds as a paradox, but Dillon gives a quite reasonable explanation: technology companies are changing fast, becoming more and more customer-oriented and need a usable system, so in order to achieve that they need defined sequence of steps in solving specific problems they face.

Socio-technical system cannot offer something like that. In its strongest spot lies its greatest weakness – the freedom of choice and responsibility. Not all the organizations can rely on the sound mind and decisions of their employees, sometimes the consequences are too serious and no risk is allowed.

Apart from not being applicable to all kinds of organization, there are some other negative sides of socio-technical system. One of them is the fact that it is far from being easy to create autonomous groups which will fulfil their purpose. Some of their characteristics previously mentioned as advantages can be perceived in a different way.

Task differentiation lies in the core of the autonomous groups. It refers to the extent to which the group’s task is itself autonomous forming a self-completing whole. The more autonomous the group’s task, the more differentiated its task boundary from other organizational units (Cummings, 1978). It is easy to define, but hard to accomplish. For some managers it is a great source of trouble to form groups which characteristics distinguish them from others, but not too much, as they are still part of a wider context.

If there is no balanced differentiation, socio-technical system can be not just ineffective, but also damaging for the organization. The problem lies in the fact that there are no strict rules how to form autonomous groups, because it is up to members to build their structure and up to managers to find them place in the organization. If there are no clear boundaries and connections with others groups, its members will not experience the benefit of meaningful work, as they will not be able to perceive the whole picture of the process, which is the purpose of this system.

Another problem also stems from the concept of autonomous group: task control, as defined by Cummings (1981), refers to the extent to which employees can regulate their behaviour to convert raw materials into finished products. Simply, this means that group members choose on their own work methods and sequence of work activities.

If the groups consist of specialists, this is an excellent method for dealing with the unexpected and stressful situations, because there is no need for permission for changing the working routine when the time is of great importance. But on the other hand, too much freedom cannot be given to all groups and reasons can be different. Managers may believe that the staff is qualified enough to take that responsibility, but then in the in the end it can turn out that they were wrong.

Socio-Technical System Differentiation

Same as with the task differentiation – it is quite challenging to find the balance between too much and too little freedom. Both ends of that continuum lead to inefficiency. Also, managers who control these groups have to be aware of the fact that too much interference is not desirable. They have to keep the distance and be more of guides than controllers in a usual sense. If the manager’s impact is too strong on the group then we can no more talk about the group’s autonomy.

The last, but not least important disadvantage of this system that will be mentioned here is the lack of individuality. Almost every individual strives to develop to their fullest potentials and there is less possibility for something like that when one operates as a team member. On the one hand, teamwork contributes to the high spirit of employees, but on the other it can cause a decrease in motivation of individual members.

Some of them can even feel frustrated because they cannot show their potentials. This could be a problem especially with above-average talented people who would be more helpful if they acted on their own. Also, when socio-technical system is implemented, the hierarchy is flatter, which implies that there are fewer opportunities for climbing the career ladder and it is widely known that this serves as the motivation for many of us.

Conclusion

Before giving the final thought on this subject I would like to present the summarized table from Trist’s work that shows what socio-technical system brought with it:

Old Paradigm	New Paradigm
Man as the extension of the machine	Man as complementary to the machine
Tall organization chart, autocratic style	Flat organization chart, participative style
Competition, gamesmanship	Collaboration, collegiality
Organization’s purposes only	Members’ and society’s purposes also
Alienation	Commitment
Low risk-taking	Innovation

(Trist, 1981, Table 2-3)

This table shows that socio-technical system is more human-oriented than others. As I advocate the humanistic approach to management and organizing, I believe that it is much better than bureaucratic or scientific approach. People are not machines and although they are able to adapt to new situations, their power to do so has a limit. Once that limit is reached, consequences can be catastrophic.

Even from the profit-makers’ point of view it is not desirable to have demotivated employees who would have ran as far as they could from their work place just if they could. Socio-technical system balances needs and strivings of both. It is true that it takes a lot of effort to build this system successfully.

It largely depends on effective communication channels, qualified staff and appropriate use of technology in each sector. But before completely rejecting this organizational design one should take into consideration the fact that the socio-technical system frees the organization from restraints of bureaucracy to the content of both employees and managers. Whatever approach you decide to pursue, there will be difficulties.

Socio-technical system has changed since it was developed. Of course, it is still far from perfect, but its adaptability allows managers to customize it for their company’s needs and take the best from it. As Charles Caleb Colton said: Where we cannot invent, we might at least improve.

References

Buchanan, D. A., & Huczynski, A. (2010). Organizational Behaviour, Harlow. Financial Times Prentice Hall.

Ropohl, G. (1999). Philosophy of socio-technical systems. Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology, 4(3), 186-194.

Trist, E. (1981). The evolution of socio-technical systems. Occasional paper, 2, 1981.

Dillon, A. (2000). Group dynamics meet cognition: combining socio-technical concepts and usability engineering in the design of information systems. In The New SocioTech (pp. 119-125). Springer London.

Cummings, T. G. (1978). Self-regulating work groups: A socio-technical synthesis. Academy of management Review, 3(3), 625-634.

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Toyota Strategic Analysis

Toyota is a multinational automobile organization that has its headquarters in Japan. The success of the organization has been its ability to develop lean production and manufacturing philosophy that focuses on creating organizational and workforce capabilities. The success of Toyota is because of its core philosophy which is to focus on enhancing its competitive advantage. The organization has sought to focus on continuous innovation and creativity as strategic tools that help in accomplishing the key targets. Toyota has the expertise, capabilities, and capital to dominate the global automotive industry. The efficient distribution and production network of the organization has been responsible for achieving critical targets. Moreover, the organization has sought to focus on achieving dynamic capabilities that can be employed for attaining strategic competitive advantage. The development of a comprehensive strategy has been considered to be important for the success of global firms like Toyota. The firms must be able to apply the business strategies that can lead to long term success and innovation within short time period. The competitive position of Toyota is that it has been facing threats in the current environment. The company needs to develop effective and appropriate strategies that can be used to counter such problems. Moreover, the organization needs to focus on achieving its critical objectives by using innovation and creativity at multiple levels.

Comparative Analysis of Toyota’s Competitive Position

Porter’s Five Forces

Toyota operates in a highly competitive market that is characterized by the presence of organizations that are striving to dominate it through their strategic positioning and marketing strategies. The threat of new entrants in the industry is still low because of the huge capital that is needed to compete with leading companies like Toyota. Porter’s five forces analysis for Toyota is discussed as follows:

Threat of New Entrants

New entrants might be able to bring innovative products and ideas but the major companies are able to dominate the market through their capital and market control (Bennett, 2003: p. 44). Theoretical framework argues that companies that are dominant in any market are able to achieve success because of their brand image and reputation. The automobile industry is characterized by the success of companies that are able to focus on design and engineering quality. Large companies are able to attain economies of scale that helps to ensure their domination in an efficient and effective manner.

Bargaining Power of Suppliers

The power of suppliers in the automobile industry is weak because of the huge presence of suppliers. Toyota retains control over the behaviors of suppliers that are keen to do business with it because it represents a huge portion of profitability for the suppliers (Chris, 2005: p. 92).The procurement of raw materials is easy given the fact that outsourcing has now become a major trend because of the advent of globalization. Automobile companies like Toyota are now able to establish offshore manufacturing plants in countries that have low labor costs.

Bargaining Power of Buyers

The power of buyers in the automobile industry is large because individuals are continuing to focus on cars that meet their needs and requirements. Toyota has a strong and loyal customer base because its products are known for versatility, robustness, quality, power, endurance, and fuel efficiency. Toyota offers products for different customer segments based on their lifestyle and incomes. This helps to increase the power of buyers that have high levels of choice with respect to the purchase of automobiles (Chris, 2005: p. 92). In addition, they are able to focus on achieving critical success through the use of integrated and innovative strategies.

Threat of Substitute Products

The threat of substitutes in the automobile industry is relatively small because bicycles, motorcycles, trains, and buses have limited efficacy in meeting the needs of the customer segments. The convenience offered by automobiles cannot be replicated by other substitutes which mean that Toyota has been able to focus on achieving its critical goals within a short time period.

Competitive Rivalry

Competitive rivalry in the industry is very strong as Toyota has to face competitors from the United States like General Motors and Ford. It has to compete with Japanese manufacturers like Honda in different markets. The state of the automobile industry is very huge which means that customers are loyal to their brands (Chris, 2005: p. 92). Pricing and other factors need to be taken into account as competitors can change the dynamics of the market in an efficient manner.

Bowman’s Strategy Clock

Toyota’s competitive advantage has been because of the fact that it has been using a flexible production and management strategy. It uses capital equipment that is managed through the use of well-trained and well-qualified workers in order to achieve critical success. The presence of a talented workforce helps to achieve the goals of the organization because there is an emphasis on employee empowerment and engagement (Graham, 2005: p. 85).The organization strives to create a collaborative environment that focuses on attaining the critical goals within a short time period. Work teams are divided on the basis of operational, administrative, and strategic entrepreneurial actions that leads to long term success. Another competitive advantage for Toyota is that it has a 360 tier supplier network that is integrated with accurate scheduling and coordination. The firm is able to achieve success so that it can be used to create a flexible, lean, and agile supply chain management system. The goal of the strategic alliances is to ensure that the supply chain partners can be reliable and flexible in meeting the needs of the organization. Toyota’s competitive advantage is based on its equity ownership and technical exchange that helps to create reliable supply chain partners (McDonalds, 2002: p. 52).A symbiotic relationship between Toyota and its suppliers is based on knowledge sharing and developing strategic partnerships for long term growth and development.

Porter’s Generic Strategies

Empirical studies argue that corporate innovation is based on ensuring the economic growth of organizations. Innovation is a broad concept that goes beyond the notion of simply creating new products and services. On the contrary, it is concerned with the development of processes, systems, ideas, and competencies that can be used to resolve problems in the work environment while enhancing the strategic competitive advantage of the organization (Jobber, 2001: p. 56).

New production methods and functions have been identified as a core competitive advantage for Toyota which has been able to focus on achieving its critical goals through the use of long term approaches. Toyota’s manufacturing philosophy has been based on innovation which seeks to focus on flexible batch production. Just-in-time inventory system is utilized together with the goal of removing waste. The use of an integrated strategy has been considered to be an important step towards achieving efficiency and effectiveness (Jobber, 2001: p. 56).Moreover, the empowerment of front line workers ensures that assembly line problems can be analyzed in an efficient manner. Toyota’s efficiency has been based on creating centralized design and decision making that has helped to achieve the critical goals. The application of smart and innovative strategies has been Toyota’s competitive advantage.

Toyota’s Competitive Position

Core Competencies

Toyota’s core competency has been its ability to develop automobiles that have superior quality. The competitive prices of the company’s products mean that it has loyal customer base. The core competency has been because of its innovative production methods and processes. Toyota has created strategic management and philosophy as the core element of its growth strategy. Moreover, the company has sought to create a collaborative structure for success that is based on implementing cost leadership strategy (McDonald, 2002: p. 83).The Toyota Production System (TPS) has been considered to be instrumental in enhancing the innovative practices like Six Sigma and Just in Time in the production facilities of the organization.

Toyota’s Market Share

Toyota has a strong market position in different markets as evident in the fact that it has 45% share in Japan while 12% share in the North American market. Strong market position has resulted in the organization striving to expand into international markets. A strong product portfolio helps the organization to achieve competitive advantage. Research and development has been identified as being critical for success of organizations. R&D helps to enhance the product quality and functionality. Toyota’s strategic drive has been to offer safe and efficient products with an emphasis on environmental compatibility. Strong emphasis on R&D ensures that Toyota is able to become a technological leader in the automobile industry. Another critical success factor for Toyota has been its ability to have a massive distribution and production network that enables it to produce 7,400,781 vehicles in the year 2011 (Andrews et al, 2011: p. 1064). The geographically dispersed production base shields the company from global business risks while an extensive distribution network helps to enhance the global reach of the organization.

Product Diversification

Toyota’s strategic competitive advantage has been reduced because of high number of product recalls in recent years. For example, the company had to recall some vehicles that had problems with their hybrid systems in the year 2011. Some 180,000 vehicles were recalled in Japan after complains of oil leakage and abnormal noise (Kakuro, 2004: p. 3691).There have been some problems with the safety mechanisms of the company that has created negative reputation for the organization. Another critical weakness is that there have been declining sales in some geographical areas due to stiff competition. North America and Middle East were the regions that have seen a decline in demand for the products of the company. Another significant weakness for Toyota has been the fact that it has poor allocation of resources when compared with its competitors. Honda and Nissan have been able to have higher return on equity (ROE) as compared with the company that has resulted in weaknesses for the company.

Toyota group has faced a severe negative feedback on their quality and safety matter. This has led to a shrinking of loyal customer base while creating declining revenues and profits. It is essential for the Toyota management to amend their existing strategies and introduce a new method of production setup (Amasaka, 2004: p. 10).This can be done by enhancing leadership capabilities that focus on retaining customer loyalty and satisfaction. Toyota’s management needs to implement transformational changes into the situations. They have introduced the Toyota Production System (TPS) which can be used for identifying the quality of the product and mainly to eliminate the waste.

Re-engineering of the finished products has created robust and durable products. This leadership style has captured back the customers’ loyalty towards the product. Hiroshi Okuda has used the power to make necessary changes during the time of crisis in business. The workers were forced to accept certain changes in the company. Here Toyota group has efficiently utilized the situational leadership style (Amasaka, 2004: p.10). Okuda states that changes are threatening, but at certain situations there is no alternative but to accept change in order to maintain the competitive edge of the organization. Political power will be used in any organization when there are different opinions during tough situations. Toyoda has used such power when the U.S government has blamed the Toyota Company for the bad quality in production. There occurred a lot of accidents due to brake complaints. This has forced Toyoda to accept certain changes in the organization, and which was also neglected by some of the executives. But Toyota has pushed too hard, violates too many interests for achieving the success. Toyota will be able to focus on the recent growth of the global automotive industry that is recovering from the global economic downturn. The profitability of the global automotive industry has been $1,600 billion in the year 2013. This means that there is enough demand for the company which can fulfill the increased customer demand.

A strategic partnership with BMW will bring benefits for the company as it can achieve joint ventures. The collaboration on sports vehicles and power train electrification are projects that can increase the capabilities of Toyota. Strategic marketing and development of organizations is based on their ability to have clear and precise goals for success (Amasaka, 2004: p. 10).Companies must be able to conduct a complete analysis of the external and internal environments in order to succeed in an efficient manner. Moreover, the goal should be to create a collaborative environment through the use of cost leadership and product differentiation strategies that are successful elements of surviving in a highly competitive market.

Toyota’s Globalization Strategy

Global environmental factors play a critical role in the development of marketing strategies. These factors help the organization to develop a robust and reliable response to business problems. Toyota’s marketing department needs to take into account the various global environmental factors in order to make smart business decisions. Globalization has created opportunities and challenges for large organizations. An effective marketing campaign should seek to conduct extensive research and analysis of the external environment. Some global environmental factors like technology have revolutionized business processes. The Internet has become a powerful medium for conducting business transactions. Customers can purchase goods using online portals at any time (Aaker, 2008: p. 92).Toyota has sought to use this medium by devising efficient and effective internet ads. Websites can have content in native languages for specific countries. This approach helps to improve the revenues and sales of the organization. Similarly other technological advances like communications enable the rapid coordination between the head office and branches. RFID is a powerful and versatile technology that allows the organization to keep track of its inventory. Similarly there are other factors like corporate governance and responsibility. Multinational organizations have come under the limelight due to a series of high profile corporate scandals.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Toyota has sought to focus on corporate social responsibility as a means of creating positive image and reputation. Marketers need to demonstrate that the organization is offering safe and secure products and services (Rothaermel, 2012: p. 82).An advertising campaign must also focus on the corporate social responsibility of the organization. Organizations like Toyota need to take into account the economic fluctuations in the global market. Marketers must be able to devise cost effective strategies that can enable them to survive in times of economic recession. This means lowering operational and administrative costs. Marketing procedures should seek to evaluate cost effective products for new target segments. Marketers must be able to identity and recognize new business opportunities and threats. The global nature of business has created diverse source of suppliers and distributors for organizations.

Competitors seek to purchase goods that are produced at low costs. Marketers must evaluate the cost effective way of obtaining raw materials and finished products. This can be achieved only through a logical and practical manner. It requires the pursuit of dynamic and prudent business strategies (Rothaermel, 2012: p. 81).The organization must be able to achieve excellence and quality. Toyota uses strategies to become acquainted with the political regulations in the global market. Government regulation for instance has become a standard practice following the sharp economic recession. This means that marketers will need to revise and restructure their business strategies in coordination with global fluctuations.

Strong and Robust Marketing Strategy

Toyota’s management knows that targeting international consumers requires the presence of customized and specified marketing strategies. Marketers need to conduct an extensive analysis of local requirements and preferences. An effective strategy for a specific consumer segment might not work for another segment. Diversification, innovation, and creativity are the key to success when operating in a global environment. Toyota has sought to have flexible, reliable, and agile business structures. Marketing activities must develop unique conceptual frameworks that can be utilized for efficiency and effectiveness. Global environmental factors have become crucial for marketing processes and strategies. This is due to the global nature of corporate business in the twenty first century. Factors like technology, corporate governance, local preferences and industry trends need to be taken into account by marketing departments. Robust and logical strategies help to ensure optimum results.

The organization must conduct an extensive appraisal of new business markets (Rothaermel, 2012: p. 80).Appropriate strategies should be devised in order to achieve excellence and quality. Cost effective solutions need to be devised by marketers in order to maximize investments. These various factors need to be analyzed and assessed in a smart manner. The organization should be able to conduct an extensive audit and appraisal of the global market. Appropriate strategies should be in place in order to achieve superior results. Contingency plans should be in place in order to response to problems in marketing strategies and plans. A comprehensive approach towards marketing in the global environment will produce positive outcomes for the business organization (Rothaermel, 2012: p. 80).

Leadership and Management Styles

Toyota’s work culture emphasizes on efficiency but the management has awareness that this is insufficient to meet the needs of global workforce. The company perceived employees as knowledge workers that can apply their wisdom for the benefit of the work environment. There is heavy investment with respect to people and organizational capabilities. The work environment focuses on taking ideas from individuals so that success can be attained within a short time period. The senior executives of the company remain Japanese men that have played a crucial role in the development and evolution of the company. The concept of workplace diversity is still foreign in the environment as expatriate managers are also hired from Japan. The concept of Japanese management philosophy is that managers have the expertise and work ethic to drive success in an efficient manner (Hines, 2011: p. 34). However, this can be problematic as globalization encourages workplace diversity.

The concept of diversity is that individuals with different knowledge and expertise will be able to enhance the overall competitive advantage of the organization (Hines, 2011: p. 34). The hierarchy remains strong in the company culture as managers and top executives rise above the ranks in a slow manner. This means that there is an element of considering managers to be individuals that must be obeyed and respected in accordance with Eastern cultural notions about business.

Organizational Structure

Toyota’s organizational structure does have hierarchies but it does have concept of employee empowerment and engagement. The workforce is given freedom to successfully resolve complex business situations. Moreover, the organization strives to create a collaborative environment in which the workforce can perform at optimum levels. The goal of the management is to create a collaborative environment that can nurture and grow the competencies of the workforce. Safe and healthy environment has been identified as being vital for the success of Toyota as it leads to long term efficiency and effectiveness (Humphrey, 2011: p. 94).The workforce is encouraged to work as teams so that they can support each other and divide the work activities. The goal is to enhance the capabilities of individuals and organizations while striving to gain respect among the different members.

The duties must be performed in an efficient manner so that long term efficiency can be attained. Team work is based on creating cohesive and disciplined workforce. The goal of the organization has been to focus on achieving the critical targets through the use of innovation and creativity. The company places an emphasis on customer opinions as being vital because the information obtained can be employed to create superior and safe products (Schmitt, 2011: p. 74).

Global Business Strategies

Toyota uses different marketing strategies when it strives to expand into different markets. Diversified business strategies have been identified as playing a critical role in the success of business organizations. This is because of the fact that organizations strive to create integrated and coordinated approaches for success (Johnson, 2008: p. 62).The organization strives to create integrated and innovative approaches that can be employed for long term success. For instance, Toyota’s expansion in North America was to adopt a sequential strategy when it sought to introduce environment friendly automobiles in the market. Successful global marketing strategies occur when companies are able to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the external and internal environments. The goal of organizations must be to create an integrated strategy that will be able to achieve strategic focus. This helps the organization to successfully develop an integrated strategy in which the organization is able to focus on long term goals. The organization must be able to complete a comprehensive analysis of the internal and external environment.

Each market in the global industry works in different ways (Johnson, 2008: p. 61). The company must have knowledge regarding the dynamics of the market by studying the political, social, economic, and legislative variables. Toyota’s global business strategy has been based on steady expansion. The company for instance has training centers that helps in the training of the local workforce. The core concepts of lean production are introduced so that the workforce can implement quality and reduce wastage. Such a strategy helps in the development of the organization as it leads to long term efficiency and effectiveness. Toyota ensures that it is able to apply its global strategy at all its production facilities. The standardization approach is beneficial because Toyota is able to implement consistency and reliability in the multiple business units. This approach is also beneficial since it facilitates the process of enhancing the core competencies of the organization (Johnson, 2008: p. 66).

However, globalization can have disadvantages for Toyota because each market operates in a different way. This can create problems for the organization in terms of adapting to the risk and disruptions that are present in the local markets. Localization is also beneficial because the workforce in each country has different attitudes and notions. The workforce must be able to create an integrated strategy that will help it to achieve the critical goals within a short time period.

Critical Evaluations and Analysis: Toyota’s Improvement Strategy

Hiroshi Okuda, CEO of Toyota, has taken drastic measures in recent years to ensure the profitability of the organization. He has focused on transformational changes which can assist in winning back the loyalty of customers. There has been a focus on action centered leadership as a means of ensuring high levels of efficiency and effectiveness. Furthermore, annual growth plans have been created and forwarded to supervisors. An integrated approach towards meeting objectives and devising strategies has been implemented within the organization. Managing resistance to change can occur through the adoption of innovative and creative approaches. The leaders should have a complete knowledge about the apprehensions and concerns about the employees (Johnson et al, 2006: p. 71).They need to address employees’ needs by opening communication channels. Employee suggestions or opinions should be welcomed because it can be a fantastic way to address concerns in a smart manner.

Realistic expectations should come from the leadership. This can be addressed by analyzing employee reactions and interpretations with respect to the change process. Obtaining feedback from the workforce is critical for success in the environment. Identifying areas of change is essential for critical success in the environment. Empirical studies demonstrate that the need for change should be explained to the workforce. This helps the workforce in understanding the corporate objectives behind the change process (Prahalad & Hamel, 2005: p. 93).Information should be disclosed rather than hiding it because workers will feel a sense of responsibility as they will be able to align their personal goals with the organizational targets. Consulting and negotiating with the employees can also lead to positive outcomes for the organization. It helps to develop a sense of security and trust which can lead to effectiveness in the short term and long term. Toyota’s outdated management philosophy and corporate culture need radical changes. This can be achieved by taking employees into confidence. A gradual process for change can lead to superior outcomes. It is through the use of integrated approaches that the organization can attain success in a competitive environment.

Healthy organizational cultures are characterized by the presence of accountability and transparency. The management seeks to ensure that personal responsibility is embedded inside the minds of the workforce. This helps to create positive relationships and minimizes the chances of denials and conflicts. Furthermore, the organizational culture should promote change by ensuring that risk-taking is rewarded within the limits created by the management (Prahalad & Hamel, 2005: p. 83). Employees work at optimum levels if they are delegated work duties and have the freedom to implement new ideas within the limits created by the firm. Empirical studies have found evidence that an organizational culture should facilitate the process of change through the constant search for excellence. Superior quality of work by the employees can pay off dividends at the organizational level while mediocrity tends to inhibit the change process. Healthy organizational cultures should also focus on learning from mistakes by transforming negative outcomes into positive expectations. The change process is often retarded when employees engage in turf wars and promote negative thinking.

Creating a congenial environment is possible if the organizational culture is able to enhance the strength by creating cohesive and talented employees into work teams. This helps in distributing work activities and creating mutual respect among the workforce (Prahalad & Hamel, 2005: p. 88).Toyota needs to restructure its organizational culture so that it can be healthy and vibrant. Fostering the workforce through constant support and encouragement helps to create a productive workforce (Prahalad & Hamel, 2005: p. 93). Toyota’s managers should encourage employees to act on what they know to try to make the company better, even if their knowledge is imperfect or incomplete. Making mistakes and encountering obstacles should become acceptable factors in Toyota’s culture. For example, starting in 2002, Toyota’s operation in Thailand produced the International Multipurpose Vehicle (IMV), which used a single platform for a sports utility vehicle, minivan or truck. The plan to sell the IMV in 140 markets hit a snag: Meeting each nation’s governmental regulations and driving challenges (from sandstorms to floods) bogged down the IMV team and made delay seem inevitable. Rather than avoiding accountability or blaming someone else, Toyota’s executive vice president, Akio Toyoda, took responsibility. He allowed the IMV team to continue working without pressure. Toyoda said that even if the effort failed, it offered an opportunity for a great deal of learning. Toyota’s management allows failure because it wants people to experiment boldly. If leaders punish failure, people won’t take the risks that could move them to new levels of performance. Toyota’s leaders encourage employees to experiment and to learn from their mistakes. When staff members want to communicate “the essential information needed to solve a problem,” they use the “A3 reporting process,” named after the 11-by-17-inch sheet of paper on which they must clearly condense their information. Managers picked the A3 size because it was the biggest sheet that fit the fax machines available at the time.

The process of change is facilitated through many variables like organizational power, politics, and leadership. The leadership in essence should sponsor elements of the change management process through active participation and communication with employees. This should be supplemented by a desire to transform managerial behaviors by creating new business models. The appropriate organizational politics also impacts the process of change. This is because the goal of the leadership should be to ensure that the change process can be managed in a sound and viable manner (Prahalad & Hamel, 2005: p. 93). Proper evaluation systems can be used in order to achieve high levels of efficiency and effectiveness. Taking proper feedback can be a smart strategy to achieve success in order to produce superior outcomes. For being a global competitor, change is very much essential to any organization. Toyota needs to realize the fact that they will not survive in the competitive market with old techniques and strategies. Thus they need to freeze the old strategies by learning from the past experiences and by foreseeing the future through appropriate changes (Prahalad & Hamel, 2005: p. 93).

Conclusion

Diversification, innovation, and creativity are the key to success when operating in a global environment. Toyota has sought to have flexible, reliable, and agile business structures. Marketing activities must develop unique conceptual frameworks that can be utilized for efficiency and effectiveness. Global environmental factors have become crucial for marketing processes and strategies. This is due to the global nature of corporate business in the twenty first century. Factors like technology, corporate governance, local preferences and industry trends need to be taken into account by marketing departments. Robust and logical strategies help to ensure optimum results. The organization must conduct an extensive appraisal of new business markets. Toyota’s core competency has been its ability to develop automobiles that have superior quality. The competitive prices of the company’s products mean that it has loyal customer base. The core competency has been because of its innovative production methods and processes. Toyota has created strategic management and philosophy as the core element of its growth strategy. Moreover, the company has sought to create a collaborative structure for success that is based on implementing cost leadership strategy. The Toyota Production System (TPS) has been considered to be instrumental in enhancing the innovative practices like Six Sigma and Just in Time in the production facilities of the organization. Toyota has a strong market position in different markets as evident in the fact that it has 45% share in Japan while 12% share in the North American market. Strong market position has resulted in the organization striving to expand into international markets.

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