POST 1) Discuss turnaround strategies and when an organization needs to develop one.   Give an example of a company that has recently taken on a turnaround strategy.   Did it work?   Explain.Si

POST 1) 

Discuss turnaround strategies and when an organization needs to develop one.   Give an example of a company that has recently taken on a turnaround strategy.   Did it work?   Explain.

Simply put, a turnaround strategy is a plan to stop a company from continuing to fail, go bankrupt, or be taken over by another company.  It is also known as reconstruction.  The key element that make a turnaround strategy different than a normal strategy, to improve a business, is the speed at which the changes must occur.  The improvements need to be done quickly and must be significant (Johnson, Whittington, Scholes, Angwin, & Regner, 2014). 

One example of a failed turnaround strategy was the movie rental company Blockbuster, who filed for bankruptcy in 2010.  Blockbuster was once a top destination for parents and their children.  That came crashing down when Blockbuster failed to see emerging threats and execute a turnaround strategy fast enough to save their business.  Their failure is linked to a meeting in 2000 between the founder of Netflix, Reed Hastings, and the CEO of Blockbuster, John Antioco (Satell, 2014).  Hastings proposed that Netflix would run Blockbuster’s online business and Blockbuster would put up advertisement for Netflix in their stores.  Hastings was not taken seriously and 18 years later his company is a multi-billion dollar business known world-wide, while the other is a company that younger kids have never heard of.  The main problem was that Antioco was unable to forecast how the online industry would change the game for movie rentals.  Blockbuster made most of their profits based on late fees.  Netflix had a subscription based model so late fees were not an issue.  In 2004 Antioco realized he must make a change regarding late fees and online services, but it was too late.  His turnaround strategy for Blockbuster failed because it was not quick enough to adjust to the changing environment and was not as significant as it could have been. - CURT

POST 2)

For this week’s forum I chose to question number three to describe organizational ambidexterity.  The first thing that comes to mind is the work ambidexter, basically meaning being able to use both hands when writing.  I sometimes call myself ambidextrous being a mother and being able to handle things and do things around the house using either or both hands.  For example, holding a baby like I’m currently doing and typing.  So, when the word organizational comes in I think of the company being able to be flexible and prepared for what is thrown their way. Pros for this would be a company continuing to be successful and able to adapt to change however a con would be the process to continue to have to retrain you management team on what is the mission focus or vision of the company and how to do it.  I guess the lack of consistency would be an overall con.  It’s good to be able to adapt but at the same time at what cost is this effecting, whether it be money issues to readapt or the wellbeing of employees.  An example of a company who has organizational ambidexterity in my opinion would be Walmart.  The company is well known and usually the go to spot for what is needed in the everyday economy.  They became flexible when the Neighborhood Walmart’s began to expand, only selling the grocery side of the house.  Within any regular Walmart they have a variety of services, one hand will be your grocers the other hand will be the bakery then to a different hand is photo but in the end they all funder the same company and goal of customer satisfaction. – Mel

POST 3)

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the ability to manage personal emotions as well as others. It includes self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, and empathy (Bradberry, 2014). As a leader, it is imperative to have emotional intelligence in order to maintain motivation and the ability to influence individuals within the organization. Unlike emotional intelligence, Intellectual Quotient pertains to an individual’s overall intelligence based on academics, experience and knowledge of all thing. Leaders leverage EI to maintain motivation and influence within their staff and organization. 

In my opinion, EI is more important the IQ. Although intelligent leaders are able to identify issues and implement strategies within the organization, they must be able to communicate their efforts and vision. If leadership within an organization cannot provide stability, balance, or motivation then they are ineffective leaders. In my experience, I have witnessed leadership in situations overreact to issues brought up to them. Additionally, some have been overcome and their emotions contribute to their physical actions. By having self-awareness, effective leaders can control and regulate their emotions in order to maintain influence and motivation of personnel around them. Effective leaders need to maintain balance between displaying emotions in any given situation. 

During my last deployment, the commanding officer displayed emotional intelligence towards the staff. He was able to address issues and concerns while guiding the team to ultimately achieve the unit’s objectives. He was effective because he never over reacted to situations, and solicited advice from his senior staff members. By collaborating, and not overtly directing the staff, we were able to demonstrate our ability and achieve the tasks at hand. Looking forward to your feedback. - Ron

POST 4)

Emotional intelligence is the ability of an individual to have control and be aware of their own emotions during situations that human nature would normally cause a person to react in accordance to the situation. The key elements of EI are self-awareness which helps with understanding one’s emotions and not letting their feelings rule them, self-regulation which controls impulses and emotions, motivation which helps being effective in everything that a person does, empathy which helps avoid stereotyping and judging and finally social skills which allows one to focus the shine on others rather than themselves. The difference between EI and IQ is EI derives off a person’s ability to express and control their emotions, while IQ focuses on an individual intelligence or mental challenges. EI is important to successful strategic leadership because it will allow a leader to connect more effectively with the people around them. EI is more important for effective leadership and management because it allows a person to be adaptive towards situations that render grey areas unlike being black or white.

For example, my old store manager had good emotional intelligence with all employees. He gained this ability by simply getting to know his people and daily mention recaps of what he and associates spoke about days prior. In doing so, he was able to build rapports and know the type of person he was dealing with. He could tell when people were upset, sad, or concerned. As situations would occur, he would know how to react and speak to associates while keeping the best interest of the organization a priority and still be empathetic towards the situation. GAGE