Assignment DetailsThis assignment has 4 parts:Thinking about your favorite company, compile a list of at least 3 competitors within the same industry. What organizational changes have the companies m

Assignment Details

This assignment has 4 parts:

1. Thinking about your favorite company, compile a list of at least 3 competitors within the same industry.
2. What organizational changes have the companies made in the last five years? What do you believe prompted those changes?
3. In looking back at the changes the companies made, what do you believe would have happened if the employees would have resisted the change?
4. What steps should a company take to minimize the risk of resistance to change by the employees?

READ AND REPLY TO EACH REPLY BY AGREEING OR DISAGREEING AND WHY?

REPLY 1

1. Thinking about your favorite company, compile a list of at least 3 competitors within the same industry.

My favorite company is “The Hersey Company. This company has been around since 1886 by a great pioneer by the named of Milton S. Hershey who was known for his kind spirit and his genuinely just wanted to find a way to make as many people happy as possible and he did that with the most famous chocolate in the world. By him breaking ground in chocolate business he paved the way for his competitors such as Mars inc, Mondelez international, and nestle. Even though Mr. Hersey made way they found that they will never be as huge as Hersey company. So they need to find other way to made themselves know other than just their chocolate to even be in the same ball park as Hersey.

1. What organizational changes have the companies made in the last five years? What do you believe prompted those changes?

Some of the changes that these company have made is last five years are that they are having to reinvent them self and introduce new candies into the candy world such as gummies, jellies, chew, fruit snacks, and even jelly beans. The reason for this is because even though their candy is amazing in their own way. This is a ear that new thing are coming out every day and they are trying to find ways to stay ahead of the market and being in the demand of the people.

1. In looking back at the changes, the companies made, what do you believe would have happened if the employees would have resisted the change?

I honest think that is the employees resisted the change the company would have went down like a sinking ship and the reason for it is because to be in supply you need the demand and the only way to get that is give great product and something someone will wont over other companies for example jelly beans, first they came out with just plain jelly beans and the someone else came out with different flavors like butter popcorn, and cotton candy which are flavor that kids love, them someone was like hey let go a step more ahead let’s bring a jelly bean taste game with weird taste like dirty socks. Just to be able to play prank on each other which do you think the kids would want to buy.

1. What steps should a company take to minimize the risk of resistance to change by the employees?

 A huge step that company should talk to minimize risk is ask what are some of their ideas make them feel as if they was in the choice and that way they will be excited to help make the changes .

REPLY2

Thinking about your favorite company, compile a list of at least 3 competitors within the same industry.

 My favorite company would have to be Wal-Mart. I will go to that store for any and everything. Three competitors within the same industry are: Kroger, Amazon, CVS Pharmacy.

What organizational changes have the companies made in the last five years? What do you believe prompted those changes?

 Kroger has made a few changes as well. Besides the great 5 for 5 deals and coupons in the mail. They have now upgraded to online coupons as well and site to store grocery shop. The have an app you can shop from home, grocery included and pick up from the store with no hassle of waiting lines and wasting a lot of time. Amazon has many of changes Amazon Prime is an example. You can use this feature to allow you to receive discounts and faster arrival of your products. CVS has many changes I have notice they have phones and new computer screens that allow you to send money to a love one or pay online bills. I think that is convenient for customers who don’t want to go a bigger store like Walmart for instance.  I believe that the feedback from customers was a little help in the changes from each one of the industries. When one company does something that bring more money into the company, most likely the next company will see how it benefits them and do the same to make just as much money. So, feedback from customers and employees will help with the changes in the company.

In looking back at the changes, the companies made, what do you believe would have happened if the employees would have resisted the change?

 If the employees resist the change it could lead to the company not making the change on time or firing a lot of employees, hiring new one, and training them to do the same as the old employees also take times. This may lead to pushing project dates back not a good look for the company. If the managers and supervisors communicate with the employees before, during, and through the change this may be prevented.

What steps should a company take to minimize the risk of resistance to change by the employees?

 Steps you could used to minimize change are understanding, encouraging, listening, engaged, identify, and help. Theses steps can help with the resistance to change with the employees.

DISCUSSION 2

 Assignment Details

This DB has three parts. 

1. A key characteristic of an effective manager is good interpersonal skills.  Among the interpersonal skills that must be built are: motivation, communication, effective confrontation, coaching and development.  Describe the importance of each of these interpersonal skills for a manager.
2. A commonly used acronym for goal setting is SMART.  Goals must be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound.  Describe a professional goal that you have set listing how it fits into the SMART categories.
3. Describe how the decisions managers make differ based on the level of the position such as supervisor, mid-level manager and senior manager.

READ AND REPLY TO EACH REPLY BY AGREEING OR DISAGREEING AND WHY?

REPLY 1

Assignment Details

This DB has three parts. 

1. A key characteristic of an effective manager is good interpersonal skills.  Among the interpersonal skills that must be built are: motivation, communication, effective confrontation, coaching and development.  Describe the importance of each of these interpersonal skills for a manager.
2. A commonly used acronym for goal setting is SMART.  Goals must be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound.  Describe a professional goal that you have set listing how it fits into the SMART categories.
3. Describe how the decisions managers make differ based on the level of the position such as supervisor, mid-level manager and senior manager.

In my opinion there are many reasons why motivation is important in being an effective manager. Being highly motivated will allow the team to meet certain standards and goal for the company. Working with motivated employees can be contagious and lead to an increased productivity and allow the company to excel in many different ways. I personally enjoy working with motivated people it makes me feel good and gives me the urge to be more successful. Communication is another very important factor you have to take under consideration. Effective communication reflects on how well of a manager you are; being able to plan, organize, and control information throughout your employees will make the job easier. This also allows the leadership of and organization or business show their visions and strategy. Good communication also help improve the morale as well as increase commitment. Effective confrontation is not as hard as some people make it out to be. Being able to tackle the issue or problems after the parties have settled down would be your best outcome. Sitting them down to talk about the issue before it escalates have been proven to be very effective. Keep a positive outlook on the situation and make sure to be a good listener and always ask for their opinions. Coaching is a very important management skill that needs to be mastered. In today’s business field managers are encouraged and sometimes expected to develop themselves as leaders and have excellent coaching skills to effectively manage their team.  

A personnel goal that I have set for myself was going back to school and achieving a bachelor’s degree. Using the S.M.A.R.T setting would be making the goal simple and specific. With that being said I choose a degree that I was interested in and applied to a school that fit my needs and wants. Measurable, track my progress in school and stay motivated to finish strong. Achievable, set standards and realistic goals in order to achieve the overall goal of graduating. Relevant, making sure taking on school is the right thing for me to do. The process to further my education is what I want to do and stay focused on the objective. Time bound, setting a target on when I should finish my courses in a timely manner. Keeping a calendar and marking off classes once they are finished will help you track the time of progress.

Supervisors are usually know as the first management level jobs. He/she is usually is responsible for a small group of employees that do the similar job as one another. Supervisors are supposed to have more experience in the job than the other employees. They also handle problem solving, schedules, work assignments, keeping the team motivated, and well trained. Mid-level managers are responsible for managing their supervisors. Making sure they are well informed of the goals that are needed to be met for the company or business. Mid-level managers have almost the same responsibilities as the supervisors but have additional responsibilities for personnel and HR duties. They also tend to have a minimum of 2-6 years of job experience. Senior management duties and responsibilities similar to the other level managers but also oversee administrative and functional direction of group of employees. Senior level tend to have more authority on financial decisions and responsible for group training.

REPLY 2

Managers that have good interpersonal skills, such as motivation, communication, effective confrontation, coaching and development skills are assets to a company.  Motivation can be a difficult for some, due to individual needs of employees, but once a manager understands how to motivate their staff both parties benefit.  Motivation leads to employees being more committed to the company, as well as they experience higher employee satisfaction.  Production and efficiency are increased as a result (Bessell. I., Dicks, B., et al, n.d.).

Managers that have the ability to communicate with their staff are considered more credible.  This allows for relationships to improve between the 2 and creates a more productive team (Heibutzki, R., 2018). Effective confrontation is not an easy skill to master, but higher employee morale and stronger risk management skills are a couple of benefits that managers will experience once they do.  Learning to communicate issues that are perceived as negative in a way that allows both parties to voice their sides makes for stronger workplace structure.  Coaching and development skills are also important skills for managers to have because it helps organizations meet their business goals.  It also helps to build working relationships that enable a company to keep strong team members from moving to a competitor (Weintraub, J. & Hunt, J., 2015).

A professional goal that I have set is gaining additional knowledge on how to be a better supervisor.  This goal can be achieved by attending training classes that are offered by my employer.  Also, weekly meetings with upper management allows for me to run ideas by them as well as they provide an overview of what has been working and what hasn’t.  This is a realistic goal due to the training is offered monthly as well as getting on the job training at the same time.  I can immediately use what is discussed in training with my staff.  This particular goal does need to be meet in the near future in order to keep the individuals that make up the team engaged, and motivated. 

Different levels of management are responsible for varies decisions that are made in an organization.  Senior or upper management are tasked with setting company wide goals and objectives. They are also responsible for setting strategic plans that will be utilized to meet their goals.  Mid-level managers are responsible for decisions that initiate and evaluating the plans that upper management has set.  They are also conveying information between the different levels.  Supervisors or low-level management deal with day-to-day tasks.  These are departmental management that ensures that daily routines are being set to meet company goal and also helps foster work relationships with staff (Johnson, S., 2018).

References:

Bessell, I., Dicks, B., et al. (n.d.). Understanding motivation: an effective tool for managers. University of Florida. Retrieved from http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/hr017

Heibutzki, R. (2018, June 27). Why is effective communication important in management?  Small Business. Chron. Retrieved from https://work.chron.com/effective-communication-important-management-27001.html

Johnson, S. (2018, June 30). Levels of management decision making. Small Business. Chron. Retrieved from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/levels-management-decision-making-58222.html

Weintraub, J. and Hunt, J. (2015, May 29). 4 reasons managers should spend more time on coaching. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved fromhttps://hbr.org/2015/05/4-reasons-managers-should-spend-more-time-on-coaching