Addition To Inspiration And Motivation
It is heartening to note that Prof. Kevin Desouza has made a special blog for students of Change Management class where they record the impact and feelings created on them listening to lectures and reading to lot of research material. It has indeed cut across new dimensions in the approach to the subject by the students as well as made it more participative in nature. I think he has taken the approach of the great teacher whom I was talking about lately in your class namely Dr. S. Radhakrishnan who said “It is the function of a teacher not to give the pupils what they want but to make them want what he gives them.” Kudos to the professor!
Think always ‘ YOU CAN ‘ because you can. Take the example of the ants which are blocked by the wanton boys. Still they find another way to proceed. The overloaded bullock carts struggle to pass over the flyovers but still they make it. The uprooted trees still try to stick on to the earth spread its roots and try to grow. When they are like that why not we always strive.
Business brings about lot of pressure and pressure brings about the best in man. Think of the seed where Mother Earth exerts lot of pressure on it and it takes the pressure for good. Actually the earth exerts a lot of pain on her it does not do a favor to it. But the seed takes it positive and uses the pressure to sprout as a plant. Nothing comes easy in this world work under pressure and you will succeed.
To conclude in the words of the poet H.W.Longfellow on Psalm of Life wherein he says
“lives of all great men remind us
We can make our lives sublime
And departing leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time. “
All the best to everyone of you to achieve and serve mankind.
L.Ramani
Monday, December 3, 2007
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Reflection - Cen (Mia) Zhao
Reflection – Changing in social networking website
I’m interested in the issue mentioned in Max’s reflection: how can organizations centered on offering free services generate revenue? I did a little bit research on social networking website and found related survey shows that 80% of users would like to stop using social networking website even if the company only charged the $2 service fee per month. Meanwhile, the majority of social networking users indicated that they would not choose to use a social networking website with a lot of advertisement. This could be proved by Facebook, which kept growing fast recently. One of main reasons for more and more people to choose Facebook instead of MySpace.Com, the most popular social networking website, is that much less advertisement is involved in Facebook.
However, assuming these two survey results both are correct, how could a social networking company survive in this world? The fact is that advertisement still works. If you have a chance to look at MySpace.Com, you will find the right side of my homepage is covered by all kinds of advertisement. It did make users annoyed at certain degree, but it is the only way for the company to generate revenue. Also, with the growing of Facebook, more and more advertisement became indispensable. Although it has much less advisement than MySpace.Com now, it still keeps growing.
Now, the problem for these companies doing social networking website is not whether to put advertisement on the website, but how to change the way of advertising to let users feel less annoyed. Like what mentioned in Max’s reflection, broadcast of a user’s purchasing activity on an existing news broadcasting feature is the new advertising way provided by Facebook. Another social networking, Tagged, website changed its advertisement according to the personal profile. This is another way to promote the efficiency and effectiveness of the advertisement, which are used by a lot of web companies now. The related advisement does cause less dissatisfaction.
Besides the change of the advertising way, more and more websites become to add a lot of additional functions. However, it is not necessary to satisfy users. A lot of my friends complained about the Facebook’s new functions. They felt Facebook became to lose its simplicity. (One thing I noticed that the top three social network websites all use blue as their major color and blue represents simplicity). There is another social networking website, called “second life.” It provides 3-D virtual community there. However, although the pictures are really nice, it is not very successful to attract users because of the complicated function. Therefore, in order to succeed in doing social networking website, changing towards simplicity is the most important law for these companies to obey.
I’m interested in the issue mentioned in Max’s reflection: how can organizations centered on offering free services generate revenue? I did a little bit research on social networking website and found related survey shows that 80% of users would like to stop using social networking website even if the company only charged the $2 service fee per month. Meanwhile, the majority of social networking users indicated that they would not choose to use a social networking website with a lot of advertisement. This could be proved by Facebook, which kept growing fast recently. One of main reasons for more and more people to choose Facebook instead of MySpace.Com, the most popular social networking website, is that much less advertisement is involved in Facebook.
However, assuming these two survey results both are correct, how could a social networking company survive in this world? The fact is that advertisement still works. If you have a chance to look at MySpace.Com, you will find the right side of my homepage is covered by all kinds of advertisement. It did make users annoyed at certain degree, but it is the only way for the company to generate revenue. Also, with the growing of Facebook, more and more advertisement became indispensable. Although it has much less advisement than MySpace.Com now, it still keeps growing.
Now, the problem for these companies doing social networking website is not whether to put advertisement on the website, but how to change the way of advertising to let users feel less annoyed. Like what mentioned in Max’s reflection, broadcast of a user’s purchasing activity on an existing news broadcasting feature is the new advertising way provided by Facebook. Another social networking, Tagged, website changed its advertisement according to the personal profile. This is another way to promote the efficiency and effectiveness of the advertisement, which are used by a lot of web companies now. The related advisement does cause less dissatisfaction.
Besides the change of the advertising way, more and more websites become to add a lot of additional functions. However, it is not necessary to satisfy users. A lot of my friends complained about the Facebook’s new functions. They felt Facebook became to lose its simplicity. (One thing I noticed that the top three social network websites all use blue as their major color and blue represents simplicity). There is another social networking website, called “second life.” It provides 3-D virtual community there. However, although the pictures are really nice, it is not very successful to attract users because of the complicated function. Therefore, in order to succeed in doing social networking website, changing towards simplicity is the most important law for these companies to obey.
Reflection - Bryce Smart
Reflection #5
Game Theory
Perhaps one of the most enjoyable ways to look at business, Game Theory, “branch of mathematics that examines the smartest choices for people in strategic situations” (Tankersley, 2007), is also one of the most effective. In fact, game theory, as pioneered by John Nash, Nobel Prize for economics winner in 1994 (Patterson & Wal, 2007), has become the foundation for many other economic theories, including mechanism design theory, which won the Nobel Prize for economics in 2007 (The Nobel Foundation, 2007).
I’m not a rat!
In our class discussion, we used the prisoner’s paradox as a classic game theory example. Two partners in crime are separated and told that there are three possible outcomes: 1. if neither says anything, then there will not be enough evidence to convict them. If one speaks out but the other doesn’t, then the one who doesn’t speak will receive a long incarceration. If both of them speak, then both will receive shortened sentences. The dilemma comes from not knowing what action the other partner takes. The “correct” answer for the prisoner would be to cooperate with the police, minimizing the potential damage done to him/her self. By remaining silent, the felon is exposed to a maximized penalty, but has the chance to go free—dependent on the actions of the other criminal. Speaking out minimizes the criminal’s risk, but leaves the same potential for reward (if he/she speaks and the other doesn’t).
Bang!
Another game theory example is the “truel” (a three-way duel). In the truel, three shooters, one very skilled and the others competent, emerge at high noon for the duel (Tankersley, 2007). Who should shoot whom? In this case, the answer is for both of the competent marksmen to shoot the highly skilled dueler. The highly-skilled shooter is extremely likely to kill his/her target with a single shot. The two competent duelers, while likely to hit, are less of a threat, given that the true marksman could kill them both quickly. Furthermore, if one of the competent gunmen is felled first, then the other one will have to face the sharpshooter one-on-one. Therefore, the competent shooters should attack the top gun in tandem, as their combined fire will almost certainly hit their greatest threat. Once the sharpshooter is out of the picture, the remaining gunmen are far more evenly matched and both stand a greater chance of survival.
This “truel” concept is so riveting that game companies have tapped into this example from game theory. An Italian game company, daVinci games, produced an excellently designed adaptation of the shootout game called Bang! (Bang!, 2007) They intensify the issue by introducing up to 8 players, adding roles, teams, and objectives (e.g. the Sherriff and the deputy are on a team to kill all the outlaws) to the mix. The Sherriff is balanced in the game to be the equivalent of the sharpshooter, and everyone but the deputy has to kill him at some point. The true game theory, however, comes with the role of “Renegade”. The renegade is a rogue character unaffiliated with any team. His or her objective is to simply remain the “last man standing”. The key for the renegade is who to kill in what order. Should the renegade kill the band of outlaws first, then he or she would have to face the Sherriff and his deputies on his own. If the renegade kills the Sherriff while any outlaws are still alive, then the band of outlaws fulfills their objective and the game ends—the renegade loses. If the renegade kills some of each, both sides may turn and kill him or her first. Fortunately, the renegade does have one key point in his/her favor: anonymity. All of the roles, except for the Sherriff, are anonymous, so the renegade can create a façade of being from another group before turning on them. What is the best strategy for the renegade? It depends on the number of types of players. In a seven-player game (1 Sherriff, 2 deputies, 1 renegade, and 3 outlaws), the renegade should pretend to be one of the deputies first, killing one outlaw. The renegade can then continue wounding both of the remaining outlaws. The renegade, however, must turn on the deputies quickly, helping the outlaws kill them both. With the Sherriff and one or two outlaws still in the game, the renegade must kill the outlaws, leaving only himself and the Sherriff. While playing the renegade is tricky and difficult in many ways, the game theory also applies to how the other roles react to the renegade. Even if the renegade has turned on them once before, should they attack a common enemy, the other players will still find themselves working alongside the renegade, even when they have figured out who he or she is and knowing that they will be betrayed at some point in the future. This is because the threat they combine against is an emergent “sharpshooter” and must be dealt with. Effectively, the complexity of the game Bang! creates game theory interactions within game theory interactions. It is a strategically taxing and thoroughly enjoyable experience.
Many Games
The examples listed above are very simplified games from several, small facets of game theory. Along with these game archetypes, strategic games follow numerous variants, including two or multi-player, singe transaction games; two or multi-player repeatable; Cooperative and Non-cooperative games; Perfect and Imperfect information games; coalition-based games; and games where the results from one feed into the opening situation of another (Osborne & Rubinstein, 1994).
Applications
Game theory, while fascinating on its own theoretical/entertainment level is only valuable because of its transferability to real-life. For instance, in the 2008 democratic primary elections, the three major contenders: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards, are all engaged in the classic “truel” shootout. With Hillary Clinton leading in the polls, Obama and Edwards have little choice but to both aim their shots at her before turning on each other (Tankersley, 2007).
Additionally, a truel exists between Wal-Mart, Target, and Kmart. Wal-Mart, it seems is the sharpshooter, pushing out anyone who directly challenges them (Kmart, 2007). Target, however, is taking a slightly different approach. Rather than band with Kmart and fire back at Wal-Mart, like the classic example would suggest, Target is trying to allowing Kmart to die, buying time for it to find cover and hone its skills, becoming the sharpshooter in the ensuing duel. If it can manage that, then it is the equivalent of the real sharpshooter standing back and allowing both competent gunmen to kill each other before picking off the survivor. Target is adeptly solidifying its position as “the first upscale discount retailer” (Target, 2007).
At Every Opportunity
Game theory is a highly effective lens through which to view the world strategically and better analyze and predict action. While theoretical studies of game theory are highly valuable in establishing the framework for practice, these foundations are only useful insofar as the actual games are concerned. Finding more of these games to play can be extremely enjoyable, as many board, card, and video games, along with sports like football, basketball, and American football. When you’re next accused of wasting time, you may consider responding that the study of the Nobel Prize-winning economic principles of game theory constitutes a worthwhile endeavor.
Bibliography
Bang! (2007, January). Retrieved December 1, 2007, from daVinci Games: http://www.davincigames.com/page_eng.cfm?sez=01&gioco=bang!
Kmart. (2007, April). Retrieved November 19, 2007, from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kmart#Creation_of_Kmart
Osborne, M. J., & Rubinstein, A. (1994). A Course in Game Theory. Boston, MA: MIT Press.
Patterson, J., & Wal, S. (2007, October 16). Fond Memories of Nobel winners. Knight Ridder Tribune Business News .
Tankersley, J. (2007, November 30). In shootout at candidate corral, who's the target?: Politics ain't beanbags, it's said, but game theory may explain strategies. The Chicago Tribune .
Target. (2007, November 16). Retrieved November 19, 2007, from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Target_Corporation#1902-1962:_Dayton.27s
The Nobel Foundation. (2007, October). Retrieved December 1, 2007, from http://nobelprize.org: http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/lists/2007.html
Game Theory
Perhaps one of the most enjoyable ways to look at business, Game Theory, “branch of mathematics that examines the smartest choices for people in strategic situations” (Tankersley, 2007), is also one of the most effective. In fact, game theory, as pioneered by John Nash, Nobel Prize for economics winner in 1994 (Patterson & Wal, 2007), has become the foundation for many other economic theories, including mechanism design theory, which won the Nobel Prize for economics in 2007 (The Nobel Foundation, 2007).
I’m not a rat!
In our class discussion, we used the prisoner’s paradox as a classic game theory example. Two partners in crime are separated and told that there are three possible outcomes: 1. if neither says anything, then there will not be enough evidence to convict them. If one speaks out but the other doesn’t, then the one who doesn’t speak will receive a long incarceration. If both of them speak, then both will receive shortened sentences. The dilemma comes from not knowing what action the other partner takes. The “correct” answer for the prisoner would be to cooperate with the police, minimizing the potential damage done to him/her self. By remaining silent, the felon is exposed to a maximized penalty, but has the chance to go free—dependent on the actions of the other criminal. Speaking out minimizes the criminal’s risk, but leaves the same potential for reward (if he/she speaks and the other doesn’t).
Bang!
Another game theory example is the “truel” (a three-way duel). In the truel, three shooters, one very skilled and the others competent, emerge at high noon for the duel (Tankersley, 2007). Who should shoot whom? In this case, the answer is for both of the competent marksmen to shoot the highly skilled dueler. The highly-skilled shooter is extremely likely to kill his/her target with a single shot. The two competent duelers, while likely to hit, are less of a threat, given that the true marksman could kill them both quickly. Furthermore, if one of the competent gunmen is felled first, then the other one will have to face the sharpshooter one-on-one. Therefore, the competent shooters should attack the top gun in tandem, as their combined fire will almost certainly hit their greatest threat. Once the sharpshooter is out of the picture, the remaining gunmen are far more evenly matched and both stand a greater chance of survival.
This “truel” concept is so riveting that game companies have tapped into this example from game theory. An Italian game company, daVinci games, produced an excellently designed adaptation of the shootout game called Bang! (Bang!, 2007) They intensify the issue by introducing up to 8 players, adding roles, teams, and objectives (e.g. the Sherriff and the deputy are on a team to kill all the outlaws) to the mix. The Sherriff is balanced in the game to be the equivalent of the sharpshooter, and everyone but the deputy has to kill him at some point. The true game theory, however, comes with the role of “Renegade”. The renegade is a rogue character unaffiliated with any team. His or her objective is to simply remain the “last man standing”. The key for the renegade is who to kill in what order. Should the renegade kill the band of outlaws first, then he or she would have to face the Sherriff and his deputies on his own. If the renegade kills the Sherriff while any outlaws are still alive, then the band of outlaws fulfills their objective and the game ends—the renegade loses. If the renegade kills some of each, both sides may turn and kill him or her first. Fortunately, the renegade does have one key point in his/her favor: anonymity. All of the roles, except for the Sherriff, are anonymous, so the renegade can create a façade of being from another group before turning on them. What is the best strategy for the renegade? It depends on the number of types of players. In a seven-player game (1 Sherriff, 2 deputies, 1 renegade, and 3 outlaws), the renegade should pretend to be one of the deputies first, killing one outlaw. The renegade can then continue wounding both of the remaining outlaws. The renegade, however, must turn on the deputies quickly, helping the outlaws kill them both. With the Sherriff and one or two outlaws still in the game, the renegade must kill the outlaws, leaving only himself and the Sherriff. While playing the renegade is tricky and difficult in many ways, the game theory also applies to how the other roles react to the renegade. Even if the renegade has turned on them once before, should they attack a common enemy, the other players will still find themselves working alongside the renegade, even when they have figured out who he or she is and knowing that they will be betrayed at some point in the future. This is because the threat they combine against is an emergent “sharpshooter” and must be dealt with. Effectively, the complexity of the game Bang! creates game theory interactions within game theory interactions. It is a strategically taxing and thoroughly enjoyable experience.
Many Games
The examples listed above are very simplified games from several, small facets of game theory. Along with these game archetypes, strategic games follow numerous variants, including two or multi-player, singe transaction games; two or multi-player repeatable; Cooperative and Non-cooperative games; Perfect and Imperfect information games; coalition-based games; and games where the results from one feed into the opening situation of another (Osborne & Rubinstein, 1994).
Applications
Game theory, while fascinating on its own theoretical/entertainment level is only valuable because of its transferability to real-life. For instance, in the 2008 democratic primary elections, the three major contenders: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards, are all engaged in the classic “truel” shootout. With Hillary Clinton leading in the polls, Obama and Edwards have little choice but to both aim their shots at her before turning on each other (Tankersley, 2007).
Additionally, a truel exists between Wal-Mart, Target, and Kmart. Wal-Mart, it seems is the sharpshooter, pushing out anyone who directly challenges them (Kmart, 2007). Target, however, is taking a slightly different approach. Rather than band with Kmart and fire back at Wal-Mart, like the classic example would suggest, Target is trying to allowing Kmart to die, buying time for it to find cover and hone its skills, becoming the sharpshooter in the ensuing duel. If it can manage that, then it is the equivalent of the real sharpshooter standing back and allowing both competent gunmen to kill each other before picking off the survivor. Target is adeptly solidifying its position as “the first upscale discount retailer” (Target, 2007).
At Every Opportunity
Game theory is a highly effective lens through which to view the world strategically and better analyze and predict action. While theoretical studies of game theory are highly valuable in establishing the framework for practice, these foundations are only useful insofar as the actual games are concerned. Finding more of these games to play can be extremely enjoyable, as many board, card, and video games, along with sports like football, basketball, and American football. When you’re next accused of wasting time, you may consider responding that the study of the Nobel Prize-winning economic principles of game theory constitutes a worthwhile endeavor.
Bibliography
Bang! (2007, January). Retrieved December 1, 2007, from daVinci Games: http://www.davincigames.com/page_eng.cfm?sez=01&gioco=bang!
Kmart. (2007, April). Retrieved November 19, 2007, from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kmart#Creation_of_Kmart
Osborne, M. J., & Rubinstein, A. (1994). A Course in Game Theory. Boston, MA: MIT Press.
Patterson, J., & Wal, S. (2007, October 16). Fond Memories of Nobel winners. Knight Ridder Tribune Business News .
Tankersley, J. (2007, November 30). In shootout at candidate corral, who's the target?: Politics ain't beanbags, it's said, but game theory may explain strategies. The Chicago Tribune .
Target. (2007, November 16). Retrieved November 19, 2007, from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Target_Corporation#1902-1962:_Dayton.27s
The Nobel Foundation. (2007, October). Retrieved December 1, 2007, from http://nobelprize.org: http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/lists/2007.html
Reflection - Bryce Smart
The dangerous necessity of generalizations
A recent graduate school discussion I participated in highlighted the disadvantages of adhering to stereotypes when interacting with others in an international business setting. Stereotypes may have been a reasonable method of consolidating characteristics and social behaviors into a simplified, memorable system before the movement toward business globalization, but it certainly is not so now. As cultures interact more often and on a wider scale than they ever have in human history, approaching a new interaction armed with stereotypes can be a major liability.
Sure, Sugar, let me get that for you
Before applying to the University of Washington, I took a close look at a University of Arkansas program, so as to be closer to my wife’s family. Having had difficulty finding key information on their web site, I called an advisement office to see what else I could find. One of the office staff answered in a thick Southern drawl. I asked her for the information. When I finished asking, she curtly and bluntly told me that there was no way I could go through that program and that I may as well save myself the effort and quit now. Shocked, I hung up.
As I thought about the call, I recalled something my aunt had told me: “In Arkansas, even in the schools, they think people who talk correctly and use proper grammar are being stuck-up.” On a whim, I decided to test that statement. I picked up the phone and redialed. When the same lady answered the phone, I put on my best Southern accent and re-asked my question, paraphrased so as to include some awkward wording and less-polished tone. When I finished asking my question, the lady replied in a cheery voice “Why sure, sugar, let me get you that information. You’ll need to call…” The difference was remarkable. Clearly, she had some misconceptions about perceived “Yankees”, which apparently applied to me, someone who has never even been to New England or anywhere considered the “North” in the antebellum or post-Civil War era.
I also made my decision not to go to the University of Arkansas. I like to tell myself it’s their loss.
Managing Expectations is not Enough
Because my undergraduate studies were in Communications: Advertising, I have a somewhat different perspective on generalizations. They can be a terrible detriment, as just demonstrated, but they can also be a valuable asset—especially in a globalized economy.
In class one of my professors led a discussion on how making cultural generalizations is a bad thing. In a sense, I consider this double-talk, as he has repeatedly stressed the need for cultural awareness in forging new relationships. Failing to manage cultural differences, despite expectations being well-managed, has cost organizations billions of dollars. One classic example is the Chevy Nova. When the Nova was introduced to South America, it was to signal Chevy’s major shift from an “American” vehicle to an international organization. The factories and dealers in South America were well-organized and were fulfilling the expectations of the corporate headquarters. Everything was accounted for but culture. In Spanish, “No va”, means “doesn’t go”, therefore, the Chevy Nova became the car that doesn’t go. They still saw some sales, but ultimately, their South American operations had to be dramatically reduced, as the environment was unsustainable, given their mistaken entrance.
When A Child’s Hope Foundation, a non-profit international adoption facilitator, sought to expand its adoption facilities into Bulgaria, they looked at the overcrowding in existing orphanages, the low adoption rates, the poor quality of orphanages, and the astronomical unemployment rates. On paper, and based on their success in Haiti, ACHF decided to start looking for land. Before the president of the organization flew over to Bulgaria, he consulted with my wife, a fluent Bulgarian speaker who had lived in the country for 18 months, along with several native Bulgarians living in America. He learned about how deals were made, how he should talk to people, where to start looking for locations, etc. He knew what would be expected of him and what he could expect from others. Everything went very smoothly, each meeting was positive and his itinerary was seamlessly followed. After he returned, he seemed very optimistic about what he had discovered, until he asked the right question: “Why aren’t more orphans being adopted from Bulgaria?” What he had failed to realize was that in Bulgaria, many lower-income parents use orphanages as boarding houses for their children, refusing to relinquish custody, coming to visit periodically and keeping in touch by letter. The only “adoptable” orphans in the country (those without serious diseases or mental disabilities) were not actually adoptable—or orphans. He understood the expectations, but not the culture. Managing expectations only matters when building the relationship doesn’t.
The great value in informed generalizations is relationship-building. To make generalizations work on one’s behalf, that person would have to have a sound grasp on world history, along with some culture-specific information. An ignorant, unobservant stereotype will not help anyone. For instance, were I dealing with a Japanese client, I should not discount the role martial arts plays in Japanese history and culture. Because Shoto-kai karate-do is still taught in most, if not all, Japanese schools, I could safely assume that my colleague has, at some point, learned karate-do. Therefore, when meeting him, I should be careful how my feet are placed. If my feet are parallel, forward-facing, I am in an aggressive fighting stance and may create a situation of conflict. Furthermore, if I am younger than my colleague, I should bow when shaking his hand. The greater the age difference, the more deference I should show. It may be, however, that my colleague never learned martial arts, or has spent enough time dealing with “Westerners” that he is completely used to our informality, but these nuances would either go unnoticed or would show my respect for his background and culture and efforts to be polite—a much more compelling statement than had I simply ignored the culture gap out of fear of embarrassment.
Calculated Risk
Value or vice, people have to generalize. In IMT 530, one of our first exercises involved categorizing items into buckets. The point of the exercise being that human beings have to establish relationships and order so that we can function in a complex, diverse world. Herein lays the necessity of generalizations: because no two cities, or even people, are exactly alike, we have to find relationships between their behaviors in order to establish a sense of the system that influences them. By observing a larger-scale system, trends and patterns can be observed. From these patterns, we can derive knowledge about traits that do, in fact, span the majority of that particular group. In a sense, we’re conducting psychography, rather than demographic classifications.
Generalizations are even more necessary in business than in one’s personal life. How many times does one hear about market share, market segments, target audiences, demographics, psychographics, customers, end users, and competitors? Businesses have to group and categorize broad groups of people simply to survive. Nowhere else is this as prevalent in advertising. When I was observing operations as Publicis, a major international full-service advertising agency, I found that their media buyers relied wholly on psychography, the categorization of people based on common emotional or interest traits and behaviors, to do their jobs. For instance, Publicis media buyers purchased ad space for the Washington State Lottery and Emerald Downs Race Track and Casino on the Country stations and Hard Rock stations. They never ran a single ad on the soft rock, classical or hip hop stations. Why? Because their strategic analysts determined that people who listen to country and hard rock are typically more prone to gambling, whereas people who prefer classical music, soft rock, or jazz have no interest. They furthermore surmised that people who are into hip hop and rap are not likely to go to the same place that country fans would congregate. They felt that horses and slot machines just didn’t appeal the same way to the rap and hip hop crowd.
The more traditional market segmentation approach is to categorize people by their demographics. One of Publicis’ telecom clients uses the following market segmentation: 17-29 = young, single, trendy group; 30+ = solidified, family-oriented, static group with money. I don’t fit into either category. When I asked them about it, the marketing manager simply said that they would have to put me, specifically, into the 30+ category simply because they had to distinguish somehow and that my personal segment would be better, albeit imperfectly, represented in a submarket. It’s not perfect, it’s not even pretty, but it’s working for this company, if their increasing market share, customer satisfaction ratings, and revenue growth are any indication.
Here’s another generalization: Ozzy Osbourne is a favorite of convicted felons. That’s the assumption that a North Dakota Sheriff made, click here. As it turns out, his direct mail campaign (invitations for a pre-concert party and free show tickets sent to 3,000 felons across the region) netted 44 criminals. While that seems small, keep in mind that most direct mail campaigns have an average response rate of 0.90 per 1,000 mailers sent out. The results of this campaign suggest that convicted felons are fifteen times as likely to be active Ozzy Osbourne fans as are law-abiding citizens. Apparently the generalization holds merit. Naturally, the singer/bird-eater has demanded an apology from the Sheriff.
Ultimately, people have to generalize. It’s how we make sense of the world. It’s a coping tool, helping us deal with vast information overload. The key is to generalize in an informed, observant manner.
A recent graduate school discussion I participated in highlighted the disadvantages of adhering to stereotypes when interacting with others in an international business setting. Stereotypes may have been a reasonable method of consolidating characteristics and social behaviors into a simplified, memorable system before the movement toward business globalization, but it certainly is not so now. As cultures interact more often and on a wider scale than they ever have in human history, approaching a new interaction armed with stereotypes can be a major liability.
Sure, Sugar, let me get that for you
Before applying to the University of Washington, I took a close look at a University of Arkansas program, so as to be closer to my wife’s family. Having had difficulty finding key information on their web site, I called an advisement office to see what else I could find. One of the office staff answered in a thick Southern drawl. I asked her for the information. When I finished asking, she curtly and bluntly told me that there was no way I could go through that program and that I may as well save myself the effort and quit now. Shocked, I hung up.
As I thought about the call, I recalled something my aunt had told me: “In Arkansas, even in the schools, they think people who talk correctly and use proper grammar are being stuck-up.” On a whim, I decided to test that statement. I picked up the phone and redialed. When the same lady answered the phone, I put on my best Southern accent and re-asked my question, paraphrased so as to include some awkward wording and less-polished tone. When I finished asking my question, the lady replied in a cheery voice “Why sure, sugar, let me get you that information. You’ll need to call…” The difference was remarkable. Clearly, she had some misconceptions about perceived “Yankees”, which apparently applied to me, someone who has never even been to New England or anywhere considered the “North” in the antebellum or post-Civil War era.
I also made my decision not to go to the University of Arkansas. I like to tell myself it’s their loss.
Managing Expectations is not Enough
Because my undergraduate studies were in Communications: Advertising, I have a somewhat different perspective on generalizations. They can be a terrible detriment, as just demonstrated, but they can also be a valuable asset—especially in a globalized economy.
In class one of my professors led a discussion on how making cultural generalizations is a bad thing. In a sense, I consider this double-talk, as he has repeatedly stressed the need for cultural awareness in forging new relationships. Failing to manage cultural differences, despite expectations being well-managed, has cost organizations billions of dollars. One classic example is the Chevy Nova. When the Nova was introduced to South America, it was to signal Chevy’s major shift from an “American” vehicle to an international organization. The factories and dealers in South America were well-organized and were fulfilling the expectations of the corporate headquarters. Everything was accounted for but culture. In Spanish, “No va”, means “doesn’t go”, therefore, the Chevy Nova became the car that doesn’t go. They still saw some sales, but ultimately, their South American operations had to be dramatically reduced, as the environment was unsustainable, given their mistaken entrance.
When A Child’s Hope Foundation, a non-profit international adoption facilitator, sought to expand its adoption facilities into Bulgaria, they looked at the overcrowding in existing orphanages, the low adoption rates, the poor quality of orphanages, and the astronomical unemployment rates. On paper, and based on their success in Haiti, ACHF decided to start looking for land. Before the president of the organization flew over to Bulgaria, he consulted with my wife, a fluent Bulgarian speaker who had lived in the country for 18 months, along with several native Bulgarians living in America. He learned about how deals were made, how he should talk to people, where to start looking for locations, etc. He knew what would be expected of him and what he could expect from others. Everything went very smoothly, each meeting was positive and his itinerary was seamlessly followed. After he returned, he seemed very optimistic about what he had discovered, until he asked the right question: “Why aren’t more orphans being adopted from Bulgaria?” What he had failed to realize was that in Bulgaria, many lower-income parents use orphanages as boarding houses for their children, refusing to relinquish custody, coming to visit periodically and keeping in touch by letter. The only “adoptable” orphans in the country (those without serious diseases or mental disabilities) were not actually adoptable—or orphans. He understood the expectations, but not the culture. Managing expectations only matters when building the relationship doesn’t.
The great value in informed generalizations is relationship-building. To make generalizations work on one’s behalf, that person would have to have a sound grasp on world history, along with some culture-specific information. An ignorant, unobservant stereotype will not help anyone. For instance, were I dealing with a Japanese client, I should not discount the role martial arts plays in Japanese history and culture. Because Shoto-kai karate-do is still taught in most, if not all, Japanese schools, I could safely assume that my colleague has, at some point, learned karate-do. Therefore, when meeting him, I should be careful how my feet are placed. If my feet are parallel, forward-facing, I am in an aggressive fighting stance and may create a situation of conflict. Furthermore, if I am younger than my colleague, I should bow when shaking his hand. The greater the age difference, the more deference I should show. It may be, however, that my colleague never learned martial arts, or has spent enough time dealing with “Westerners” that he is completely used to our informality, but these nuances would either go unnoticed or would show my respect for his background and culture and efforts to be polite—a much more compelling statement than had I simply ignored the culture gap out of fear of embarrassment.
Calculated Risk
Value or vice, people have to generalize. In IMT 530, one of our first exercises involved categorizing items into buckets. The point of the exercise being that human beings have to establish relationships and order so that we can function in a complex, diverse world. Herein lays the necessity of generalizations: because no two cities, or even people, are exactly alike, we have to find relationships between their behaviors in order to establish a sense of the system that influences them. By observing a larger-scale system, trends and patterns can be observed. From these patterns, we can derive knowledge about traits that do, in fact, span the majority of that particular group. In a sense, we’re conducting psychography, rather than demographic classifications.
Generalizations are even more necessary in business than in one’s personal life. How many times does one hear about market share, market segments, target audiences, demographics, psychographics, customers, end users, and competitors? Businesses have to group and categorize broad groups of people simply to survive. Nowhere else is this as prevalent in advertising. When I was observing operations as Publicis, a major international full-service advertising agency, I found that their media buyers relied wholly on psychography, the categorization of people based on common emotional or interest traits and behaviors, to do their jobs. For instance, Publicis media buyers purchased ad space for the Washington State Lottery and Emerald Downs Race Track and Casino on the Country stations and Hard Rock stations. They never ran a single ad on the soft rock, classical or hip hop stations. Why? Because their strategic analysts determined that people who listen to country and hard rock are typically more prone to gambling, whereas people who prefer classical music, soft rock, or jazz have no interest. They furthermore surmised that people who are into hip hop and rap are not likely to go to the same place that country fans would congregate. They felt that horses and slot machines just didn’t appeal the same way to the rap and hip hop crowd.
The more traditional market segmentation approach is to categorize people by their demographics. One of Publicis’ telecom clients uses the following market segmentation: 17-29 = young, single, trendy group; 30+ = solidified, family-oriented, static group with money. I don’t fit into either category. When I asked them about it, the marketing manager simply said that they would have to put me, specifically, into the 30+ category simply because they had to distinguish somehow and that my personal segment would be better, albeit imperfectly, represented in a submarket. It’s not perfect, it’s not even pretty, but it’s working for this company, if their increasing market share, customer satisfaction ratings, and revenue growth are any indication.
Here’s another generalization: Ozzy Osbourne is a favorite of convicted felons. That’s the assumption that a North Dakota Sheriff made, click here. As it turns out, his direct mail campaign (invitations for a pre-concert party and free show tickets sent to 3,000 felons across the region) netted 44 criminals. While that seems small, keep in mind that most direct mail campaigns have an average response rate of 0.90 per 1,000 mailers sent out. The results of this campaign suggest that convicted felons are fifteen times as likely to be active Ozzy Osbourne fans as are law-abiding citizens. Apparently the generalization holds merit. Naturally, the singer/bird-eater has demanded an apology from the Sheriff.
Ultimately, people have to generalize. It’s how we make sense of the world. It’s a coping tool, helping us deal with vast information overload. The key is to generalize in an informed, observant manner.
Reflection - Evan Luckey
Mr Ramani compared motivation and inspiration by saying that inspiration was primary and motivation was secondary. I took that to mean one must be inspired before they can be motivated. I see inspiration as a deep feeling that causes one to act. The inspiration will fuel motivation. However, is this always the case? Can one be motivated without inspiration? I am sometimes motivated by money or by the sense of accomplishment. Maybe even fear motivates me. These are other feelings, besides, inspiration that can fuel motivation. But I do agree that motivation is secondary. Mr Ramani went on to discuss persons that are inspiring. Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and Abraham Lincoln were 3 people he touched on. Hearing Mr. Ramani speak about these men was indeed inspiring. Ghandi took the unbeaten path. If you want to do something different then think about Ghandi. Abe Lincoln overcame meany failures. Think of Lincoln when have failed. And Nelson Mandella stood up against injustice. I liked how he talked about how Ghandi had the best definition of a customer.
“A customer is the most important man in our premises.
He’s not an interruption in our work.He’s the very purpose of it.You are not serving him. He has given you a opportunity to do”
The goal of Mr. Ramani’s lecture was to reenergize us, motivate us by inspiring us. I must say that on a cold and dreary day at the end of the quarter, it is what we all needed. And he succeeded. Things didn’t seem so stressful anymore. I felt better.Furthermore, Mr. Ramani helped me to understand the benefits of an education in The Classics, which I have ZERO experience in, unlike some of my classmates. The Classics can be inspiring and motivating. That energy definitely rubs off on other people. This also plays into how people, managers, should interact, communicate and treat other employees. Managers can look to The Classics for these skills. After hearing him talk, I was kind of jealous of some of my classmates who have previous education in The Classics. There were some other “quotable quotes” I like from Mr. Ramani:“A genius is 99% percent perspiration and 1% inspiration.” F
rom the Hindu religion:“Positives - That which bestows good to you or others.” “Negatives – That which bestows bad to you or others.”
The 5 C’s of Communication:
Clear
Courteous
Concise
Correct
Comprehensive
I found an awesome link that contains electronic versions of many many Classics. Visit http://www.literature.org/authors/ (The Online Literature Library) to get inspired!
“A customer is the most important man in our premises.
He’s not an interruption in our work.He’s the very purpose of it.You are not serving him. He has given you a opportunity to do”
The goal of Mr. Ramani’s lecture was to reenergize us, motivate us by inspiring us. I must say that on a cold and dreary day at the end of the quarter, it is what we all needed. And he succeeded. Things didn’t seem so stressful anymore. I felt better.Furthermore, Mr. Ramani helped me to understand the benefits of an education in The Classics, which I have ZERO experience in, unlike some of my classmates. The Classics can be inspiring and motivating. That energy definitely rubs off on other people. This also plays into how people, managers, should interact, communicate and treat other employees. Managers can look to The Classics for these skills. After hearing him talk, I was kind of jealous of some of my classmates who have previous education in The Classics. There were some other “quotable quotes” I like from Mr. Ramani:“A genius is 99% percent perspiration and 1% inspiration.” F
rom the Hindu religion:“Positives - That which bestows good to you or others.” “Negatives – That which bestows bad to you or others.”
The 5 C’s of Communication:
Clear
Courteous
Concise
Correct
Comprehensive
I found an awesome link that contains electronic versions of many many Classics. Visit http://www.literature.org/authors/ (The Online Literature Library) to get inspired!
Reflection - Evan Luckey
IMT 581: Change Management has been a different and new course for me. One, I have not taken many management classes and have never heard anything on Change Management. Second, the way the course was taught was different. Mainly, there was a class blog and a lot of communication would go through the blog. All students had to post reflections, a book review and post comments to the blog. It definitely added a unique dynamic to the blog. There were some positives and negatives to the class blog. On the positive side, it was easier to read my classmates thoughts about the topics we were discussing. Also, since the blog is on the world wide web, it’s good exposure for us and the program. However, the setup and architecture of the blog made it hard to navigate my classmate’s thoughts and read comments. Furthermore, having my thoughts open to for ANYONE and EVERYONE to read was a little nerve-racking. It has made it harder to write reflections and post comments. I don’t know who my audience is and that added to the difficulty. What about using a WIKI as a teaching tool!? Will Kevin try this next year?So if I were to implement a class blog, I would make it private. And I would try to organize it differently. Maybe allow for browsing by student, and add comment notification. It was definitely new and interesting. Also, I think our instructor, Kevin, did a good job of listening to our previous criticisms last quarter and changed the format or the course. Overall, the class was more structured. And I think we all enjoyed it better because of that. Also, Kevin implemented more cases, which I feel is a good teaching method for management classes. And instead of paper form cases, we watched video cases. This was definitely more interactive and more fun. They were engaging and provided quick feedback and discussion. I think the videos created more discussion in the class as a whole. Also, this course was challenging. Honestly, it has been pretty tough on me. The theories and models were completely new to me. My paper on Organizational Culture and Change Management has proven to be one of the most difficult and challenging papers I have ever had to write.
Resources on blogs as teaching tools
Minjuan Wang, and Laura Bock, The Use of Blogs in Teaching, Knowledge Management, and Performance Improvement
World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education (ELEARN) 2005Vancouver, Canada October 24, 2005, ELEARN, Volume 2005, Issue 1.http://www.editlib.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Reader.ViewAbstract&paper_id=21689
Anthony Moretti. Using Blogs as a Teaching Device, 2 May 2006http://ajmbroadcasteducator.blogspot.com/2006/05/using-blogs-as-teaching-device.html
Ben Yates. Wikipedia as a teaching tool, 19 Jul 2005 http://wikip.blogspot.com/2005/07/wikipedia-as-teaching-tool-andy-carvin.html
Resources on blogs as teaching tools
Minjuan Wang, and Laura Bock, The Use of Blogs in Teaching, Knowledge Management, and Performance Improvement
World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education (ELEARN) 2005Vancouver, Canada October 24, 2005, ELEARN, Volume 2005, Issue 1.http://www.editlib.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Reader.ViewAbstract&paper_id=21689
Anthony Moretti. Using Blogs as a Teaching Device, 2 May 2006http://ajmbroadcasteducator.blogspot.com/2006/05/using-blogs-as-teaching-device.html
Ben Yates. Wikipedia as a teaching tool, 19 Jul 2005 http://wikip.blogspot.com/2005/07/wikipedia-as-teaching-tool-andy-carvin.html
Reflection - Cen (Mia) Zhao
Reflection--The “right speed” for change
In the book of Facilitating Organizational Change, author mentioned about the “right speed” for change in Chapter three, which impressed me a lot. It mentioned that in high-tech market, system has to change at the same rate as environment. I believe this should not only be applied to the high-tech market, but also in any industry. If system changes slower than the environment for a long time, this system will not survive. However, if system changes faster than the environment, it is hard to say whether it is good or not.
From one perspective, in the some markets such as fashion and media, companies have to change much quicker than the environment. There is no speed limit for these industries. News comes out everyday. Like the movie “Chicago,” people love new stuff everyday.
But from the other perspective, if company change too fast, they will have problems with the industry standard. Think about the web technology. Its standard changes every year. Certainly, if you always use the old standard, there might be a problem for you to experience new functions and fancy effects. However, if you always adopt the new standard, you might face huge risks for these effects. If you have a chance to look at Google’s website, you will be surprised to find that a lot of pages in Google website do not use Cascading Style Sheet (CSS). As we all know, CSS is not a very new conception. It was first published in 1996 and then became popular after 2000. I believe the reason for Google to avoid this relatively new technology is that Google do not want to discriminate users whose browsers might not support CSS. It clearly shows that if company changed too fast, it might be away from the majority, which definitely is not a good choice.
However, let’s think about the successful case of Lentando Wii. Lentando did not use the standard design of game controller while got its great success by introducing the new experience for non-traditional game player. It changed its target market successfully by breaking the industry standards. In this case, it did prove that system could achieve great success if it changes faster than the environment.
Above all, the right changing “speed” is not only related to the changing speed of environment, but also depends on company’s own strategies and target market. If company wants to be creative and to lead the whole industry, it should choose the faster speed while if company hopes to let everyone access the resources, it should keep steady and choose the slower speed compared to the whole industry.
In the book of Facilitating Organizational Change, author mentioned about the “right speed” for change in Chapter three, which impressed me a lot. It mentioned that in high-tech market, system has to change at the same rate as environment. I believe this should not only be applied to the high-tech market, but also in any industry. If system changes slower than the environment for a long time, this system will not survive. However, if system changes faster than the environment, it is hard to say whether it is good or not.
From one perspective, in the some markets such as fashion and media, companies have to change much quicker than the environment. There is no speed limit for these industries. News comes out everyday. Like the movie “Chicago,” people love new stuff everyday.
But from the other perspective, if company change too fast, they will have problems with the industry standard. Think about the web technology. Its standard changes every year. Certainly, if you always use the old standard, there might be a problem for you to experience new functions and fancy effects. However, if you always adopt the new standard, you might face huge risks for these effects. If you have a chance to look at Google’s website, you will be surprised to find that a lot of pages in Google website do not use Cascading Style Sheet (CSS). As we all know, CSS is not a very new conception. It was first published in 1996 and then became popular after 2000. I believe the reason for Google to avoid this relatively new technology is that Google do not want to discriminate users whose browsers might not support CSS. It clearly shows that if company changed too fast, it might be away from the majority, which definitely is not a good choice.
However, let’s think about the successful case of Lentando Wii. Lentando did not use the standard design of game controller while got its great success by introducing the new experience for non-traditional game player. It changed its target market successfully by breaking the industry standards. In this case, it did prove that system could achieve great success if it changes faster than the environment.
Above all, the right changing “speed” is not only related to the changing speed of environment, but also depends on company’s own strategies and target market. If company wants to be creative and to lead the whole industry, it should choose the faster speed while if company hopes to let everyone access the resources, it should keep steady and choose the slower speed compared to the whole industry.
Reflection - Max Eichbaum
I was glad to hear that we could write a reflection on the course itself. This was the first change management course that I have taken and it opened my eyes to a whole different way of thinking.
Change management is an interesting topic for a class. It is one of those topics that is ubiquitous but not at all agreed upon. For that reason, I believe that a successful change management course should present many views of the subject to the students. Also, it is good to have lots of discussion and debates because that is eventually how the concepts that we learn will be applied.
This course in particular was made of many different parts, some of which I believe lent themselves to the topic and some of which could have been better. The in class discussions and debates were fantastic. In particular, the discussions centered on a specific case were very stimulating. I think that this is because management of any kind, especially change management, is not a science. It is way too complicated to ever be handled with the absoluteness of science and there is no way to isolate specific events to test a hypothesis. Instead, it is a debate with good points and bad points, strengths and weaknesses.
The blogging aspect of the course was definitely a step in the right direction, though it did have its failings. One failing was the architecture of the tool itself. There are many different blogging softwares out there that would have handed the issue of overload much more elegantly. For example, Wordpress would have enabled posts to be categorized by keywords and provided a more meaningful navigational structure that the current one. Another failing was that there ended up being too much content on it and not enough of a dialog between users. Though I believe that this was the initial intention, it did not work out this way.
The book review was a good idea but not executed to its full potential, it just died off after they were completed. I hope that these reviews are reused in later classes because they do provide a fairly useful review of the literature in the area.
The research paper was interesting because I liked my topic, but I don't think that it was the most productive way to use time in the class. In relation to the debates and the case studies, I got much less out of the experience. Furthermore, I don't think that really good research can be done in the amount of time that the quarter system provides. In the future, I would consider rethinking that part of the course.
Finally, I think that the two books outlined decent approaches to the subject matter, but I think that there is something to be said for diversity of resources with respect to change management. The reason I say this is because there is little agreement in the subject and individual authors often have limited scopes or perspectives. Therefore, the important thing to take from a course like this is informed perspective and not just from one or two source. I would recommend that in the future, a survey approach be used for the literature. I would recommend the book that I reviewed because it contained many well throughout and supported concepts that often conflicted.
Over all, I would say that I definitely gained a great deal of insight into the complexity of change management. At the very least, I won't be walking into any change efforts blindly.
Change management is an interesting topic for a class. It is one of those topics that is ubiquitous but not at all agreed upon. For that reason, I believe that a successful change management course should present many views of the subject to the students. Also, it is good to have lots of discussion and debates because that is eventually how the concepts that we learn will be applied.
This course in particular was made of many different parts, some of which I believe lent themselves to the topic and some of which could have been better. The in class discussions and debates were fantastic. In particular, the discussions centered on a specific case were very stimulating. I think that this is because management of any kind, especially change management, is not a science. It is way too complicated to ever be handled with the absoluteness of science and there is no way to isolate specific events to test a hypothesis. Instead, it is a debate with good points and bad points, strengths and weaknesses.
The blogging aspect of the course was definitely a step in the right direction, though it did have its failings. One failing was the architecture of the tool itself. There are many different blogging softwares out there that would have handed the issue of overload much more elegantly. For example, Wordpress would have enabled posts to be categorized by keywords and provided a more meaningful navigational structure that the current one. Another failing was that there ended up being too much content on it and not enough of a dialog between users. Though I believe that this was the initial intention, it did not work out this way.
The book review was a good idea but not executed to its full potential, it just died off after they were completed. I hope that these reviews are reused in later classes because they do provide a fairly useful review of the literature in the area.
The research paper was interesting because I liked my topic, but I don't think that it was the most productive way to use time in the class. In relation to the debates and the case studies, I got much less out of the experience. Furthermore, I don't think that really good research can be done in the amount of time that the quarter system provides. In the future, I would consider rethinking that part of the course.
Finally, I think that the two books outlined decent approaches to the subject matter, but I think that there is something to be said for diversity of resources with respect to change management. The reason I say this is because there is little agreement in the subject and individual authors often have limited scopes or perspectives. Therefore, the important thing to take from a course like this is informed perspective and not just from one or two source. I would recommend that in the future, a survey approach be used for the literature. I would recommend the book that I reviewed because it contained many well throughout and supported concepts that often conflicted.
Over all, I would say that I definitely gained a great deal of insight into the complexity of change management. At the very least, I won't be walking into any change efforts blindly.
Reflection - Jun Shao
Use Culture to Differentiate People
We have 24 people in class of diverse backgrounds. Kevin designed a small exercise to show us how assumption, such as culture label, led to wrong images of unfamiliar people. I totally agree that we can not describe others simply based on their culture. However, I believe that culture, to some extent, differentiates us from others.
Three layers of culture
Culture has been described as ordered into three layers.[1] It likes an onion, where one peel has to be taken off in order to see the following layer.
The first outer layer, artifacts and products, is the most explicit of all layers. It includes language and food, architecture and style etc. Those apparent characteristics are easy to understand and distinguish from others. For example, most Indians are vegetarians. However, the world becomes flat and globalization erases differences. My hometown Shanghai is crammed with western style skyscrapers and the local residents there prefer bread rather than rice. Culture labels at this level are not suitable to describe an open culture that is always ready to accept changes. Meanwhile, it works well in a close culture which is not easily influenced by others. As we all know this old saying, do not judge people based on their appearance.
The second inner layer is about norms and values. Norms are the mutual sense what is right and wrong while values represent the definition of what is good and bad. This layer is not so easy to change as the first outer one. We take years of education, living, and working with others in developing them. They are not isolated and often altered by surroundings, such as culture. I believe this layer differentiates one culture from others. For example, Chinese people are always quiet in class, believing that not disturbing professors is the best way to learn while our classmates of the United States always interrupt professors in class and raise their concerns and question at free.
The innermost layer, basic assumptions, represents the core assumptions of what life is, assumptions about how to handle everyday problems that have become self evident. This is the most intrinsic one and thus hard to visualize.
Based on the analysis of these three layers, we might focus on the second inner layer to differentiate unfamiliar people since the first layer is easy to change and the innermost one is hard to measure. In the class exercise, Rachel made a mistake about where Blaine came from. She thought that Blaine was from the West Coast since he was always in casual, which supposed to be the West Coast dressing style. While Blaine used to live in Colorado and changed his clothes habit since he is now living in Seattle. In contrary, my assumption about John turned out to be correct because I knew a little about American’s norms and values and made my assumptions based on them.
Communication with others
Awareness of culture difference benefits communication during change management. Time Concept is what I talked in class. The culture has a significant impact on the concepts of time. Germans are always on time while we have to wait one or two hours for a Latin American. For the latter, it does not mean disrespect. Latin Americans just think that they are still on time even they are already two hours late. To know those differences contributes to eliminating misunderstandings during communication.
Conclusion
As we know, the concept of culture label is always criticized. However, it can be still practical when you choose the right layer of culture to make assumptions. When we meet someone unfamiliar, we will find a culture label is the shortcut to distinguish differences. Also, we have to be cautious since every person is unique and they might share a little common behavioral patterns and personality traits of their culture.
[1] O'Neil, D. (2006). What is Culture? Retrieved Nov. 28, 2007, from http://anthro.palomar.edu/culture/culture_1.htm
We have 24 people in class of diverse backgrounds. Kevin designed a small exercise to show us how assumption, such as culture label, led to wrong images of unfamiliar people. I totally agree that we can not describe others simply based on their culture. However, I believe that culture, to some extent, differentiates us from others.
Three layers of culture
Culture has been described as ordered into three layers.[1] It likes an onion, where one peel has to be taken off in order to see the following layer.
The first outer layer, artifacts and products, is the most explicit of all layers. It includes language and food, architecture and style etc. Those apparent characteristics are easy to understand and distinguish from others. For example, most Indians are vegetarians. However, the world becomes flat and globalization erases differences. My hometown Shanghai is crammed with western style skyscrapers and the local residents there prefer bread rather than rice. Culture labels at this level are not suitable to describe an open culture that is always ready to accept changes. Meanwhile, it works well in a close culture which is not easily influenced by others. As we all know this old saying, do not judge people based on their appearance.
The second inner layer is about norms and values. Norms are the mutual sense what is right and wrong while values represent the definition of what is good and bad. This layer is not so easy to change as the first outer one. We take years of education, living, and working with others in developing them. They are not isolated and often altered by surroundings, such as culture. I believe this layer differentiates one culture from others. For example, Chinese people are always quiet in class, believing that not disturbing professors is the best way to learn while our classmates of the United States always interrupt professors in class and raise their concerns and question at free.
The innermost layer, basic assumptions, represents the core assumptions of what life is, assumptions about how to handle everyday problems that have become self evident. This is the most intrinsic one and thus hard to visualize.
Based on the analysis of these three layers, we might focus on the second inner layer to differentiate unfamiliar people since the first layer is easy to change and the innermost one is hard to measure. In the class exercise, Rachel made a mistake about where Blaine came from. She thought that Blaine was from the West Coast since he was always in casual, which supposed to be the West Coast dressing style. While Blaine used to live in Colorado and changed his clothes habit since he is now living in Seattle. In contrary, my assumption about John turned out to be correct because I knew a little about American’s norms and values and made my assumptions based on them.
Communication with others
Awareness of culture difference benefits communication during change management. Time Concept is what I talked in class. The culture has a significant impact on the concepts of time. Germans are always on time while we have to wait one or two hours for a Latin American. For the latter, it does not mean disrespect. Latin Americans just think that they are still on time even they are already two hours late. To know those differences contributes to eliminating misunderstandings during communication.
Conclusion
As we know, the concept of culture label is always criticized. However, it can be still practical when you choose the right layer of culture to make assumptions. When we meet someone unfamiliar, we will find a culture label is the shortcut to distinguish differences. Also, we have to be cautious since every person is unique and they might share a little common behavioral patterns and personality traits of their culture.
[1] O'Neil, D. (2006). What is Culture? Retrieved Nov. 28, 2007, from http://anthro.palomar.edu/culture/culture_1.htm
Reflection - Jun Shao
Different Approaches in Change Management
An executive MSIM student Jill explored change management in Jazz metaphor and found that both the traditional model of Benny Goodman and the complex adaptive system (CAS) model of Count Basie were successful during changes. Also, she presented a real case of Philips Inc. that the Seattle team has to follow the traditional change process of their German colleagues. In those stories people are not restricted to certain approaches. The approach selection is based on change situations.
Organization Scale
Philips Inc. has 128,000 employees over 100 sites all around the world while some small companies have less than 10 employees. Their change approaches are quite different. Size is the key variable that influences change strategies followed in organizations. The more organizations grow in size, the more they will have to be more controlled and have mechanistic structure in place. Large organizations would also be more formalized in their processes. [1] The reverse was that the smaller the organization, the more it was likely to follow more organic and flexible approaches to change. That is why small organizations are always agile in facing changes while large organizations stick to traditional approaches of change management. In an organization, such as Philips Inc., the small team in Seattle is more adoptive in change process than the one of 100 people in Germany.
Change Diversity
Some changes are easily to be influenced by many factors, for example, the amount of players, the environmental conditions, and competitor’s responses. While others do not have the inertia, political power play or the history of previous relationships that could influence them. The former require power distribution and are always slow in response. While in the latter case, the nature of strategy formulation is more instantaneous and centrally controlled. Globalization exposed organizations in the context of world activities and the number of factors which will influence changes increase tremendously. For example, Airbus draws on a global network of more than 1,500 suppliers in over 30 countries. [2] They have to follow different business models and local policies.
Changes can be expected. The traditional approach is to set goals and then plan to reach them. Nowadays in a fast-paced world, with a great number of change variables, change is not as predictable as it used to be. Instead of defining targets, we are now paying more attention to what underlies changes, such as principles, rules, and processes. Kotter offered us an eight stage change process instead of solution plans in his books.
Conclusion
I have only listed some factors above that we might use to consider approaches during change management. There is no better approach or unsuitable one. Like clothes, we select what fits in certain situations. Even there is a trend of adaptive approaches to adjust to this volatile world. We might still choose approaches case by case.
[1] Robbins, S. P. & Barnwell, N.(2002) Organization theory: Concepts and cases, Pearson Education Australia, French Forest, NSW.
[2] Airbus, an EADS Company . (2007). Airbus - Corporate Information - People and organisation - Company structure. Retrieved Nov. 29, 2007, from http://www.airbus.com/en/corporate/people/company_structure/
An executive MSIM student Jill explored change management in Jazz metaphor and found that both the traditional model of Benny Goodman and the complex adaptive system (CAS) model of Count Basie were successful during changes. Also, she presented a real case of Philips Inc. that the Seattle team has to follow the traditional change process of their German colleagues. In those stories people are not restricted to certain approaches. The approach selection is based on change situations.
Organization Scale
Philips Inc. has 128,000 employees over 100 sites all around the world while some small companies have less than 10 employees. Their change approaches are quite different. Size is the key variable that influences change strategies followed in organizations. The more organizations grow in size, the more they will have to be more controlled and have mechanistic structure in place. Large organizations would also be more formalized in their processes. [1] The reverse was that the smaller the organization, the more it was likely to follow more organic and flexible approaches to change. That is why small organizations are always agile in facing changes while large organizations stick to traditional approaches of change management. In an organization, such as Philips Inc., the small team in Seattle is more adoptive in change process than the one of 100 people in Germany.
Change Diversity
Some changes are easily to be influenced by many factors, for example, the amount of players, the environmental conditions, and competitor’s responses. While others do not have the inertia, political power play or the history of previous relationships that could influence them. The former require power distribution and are always slow in response. While in the latter case, the nature of strategy formulation is more instantaneous and centrally controlled. Globalization exposed organizations in the context of world activities and the number of factors which will influence changes increase tremendously. For example, Airbus draws on a global network of more than 1,500 suppliers in over 30 countries. [2] They have to follow different business models and local policies.
Changes can be expected. The traditional approach is to set goals and then plan to reach them. Nowadays in a fast-paced world, with a great number of change variables, change is not as predictable as it used to be. Instead of defining targets, we are now paying more attention to what underlies changes, such as principles, rules, and processes. Kotter offered us an eight stage change process instead of solution plans in his books.
Conclusion
I have only listed some factors above that we might use to consider approaches during change management. There is no better approach or unsuitable one. Like clothes, we select what fits in certain situations. Even there is a trend of adaptive approaches to adjust to this volatile world. We might still choose approaches case by case.
[1] Robbins, S. P. & Barnwell, N.(2002) Organization theory: Concepts and cases, Pearson Education Australia, French Forest, NSW.
[2] Airbus, an EADS Company . (2007). Airbus - Corporate Information - People and organisation - Company structure. Retrieved Nov. 29, 2007, from http://www.airbus.com/en/corporate/people/company_structure/
Reflection- Sandy Chan
I very much enjoyed Mr. Ramani’s talk in class, it was enlightening and inspirational. His talk was not just about being an entrepreneur; it was the guidelines to success in life. He spoke from his own experience and inspirations from life. Like he said in his talk, some things you can only learn from aging, and years of life. There are different stages of life, and you will know, any only know, when you experience it by yourself. I feel that the same theory can be applied to change management. We learn all these change management models, theories, and cases, but we will have to go through a real change management issue to truly capture the art of it. Personally, I felt difficult to find connection to some of the topics we discussed in class due to the fact that I didn’t have related experience. Fortunately, we have a variety of students in our class to share their amazing experiences.
I liked how Mr. Ramani talked about key characteristics of success and gave examples of famous people from the history. It reminded me of the good old time when I loved (and had time) reading biographies. Although he gave example of one person for each characteristic, I felt that most of them had all of the characteristics that he talked about. For example, Martin Luther King Jr. dared to dream and wasn’t easily defeated at the same time. I totally agree with Mr. Ramani that we can learn from history and learn from reading the classics.
One thing I didn’t agree with Mr. Ramani was his statement “an air conditioner is just an air conditioner.” There wouldn’t be an iPhone if Steve Jobs thought “a telephone is just a device that makes and receives phone calls.” To be an entrepreneur, one must see what others cannot see and dream the dream that others do not dare to. However, no matter what you dream, before you throw in all the money, you should make sure you have the market to support your dream. Like Mr. Ramani said, having a dream is just the start, how to put the dream into practice is what really matters. In the air conditioner case that Mr. Ramani talked about in class, the reason behind the failure of the Japanese brands is because they did not understand the market demands in India. Customers in India didn’t want anything more than a simple air conditioner. LG understood and provided the customers what they wanted. But what about people in Singapore? Would they want just an air conditioner? Or would they want more than that?
Mr. Ramani ended his talk emphasizing the value of time and how we should worship time. There are some things in life that you can never reverse, one is time, and one is your health. We are all given the same 24 hours everyday but how do we utilize our time to make the most out of it is up to ourselves. It’s not just about spending less time on a task but also about how you invest time on yourself. Learning to use time well and wisely is definitely one of the key steps in becoming an entrepreneur.
References:
LG hopes to sell 4 lakh air-conditioners in 2004. Businessline. Chennai: Mar 19, 2004. p. 1
India: Prospects and key factors. Businessline. Chennai: May 23, 1999. p. 1
Hitachi Invests in Amtrex; Sales of Hitachi Brand Room Air Conditioners to Start in India. Business Editors & Computer Writers. Business Wire. New York: Dec 28, 1998. p. 1
I liked how Mr. Ramani talked about key characteristics of success and gave examples of famous people from the history. It reminded me of the good old time when I loved (and had time) reading biographies. Although he gave example of one person for each characteristic, I felt that most of them had all of the characteristics that he talked about. For example, Martin Luther King Jr. dared to dream and wasn’t easily defeated at the same time. I totally agree with Mr. Ramani that we can learn from history and learn from reading the classics.
One thing I didn’t agree with Mr. Ramani was his statement “an air conditioner is just an air conditioner.” There wouldn’t be an iPhone if Steve Jobs thought “a telephone is just a device that makes and receives phone calls.” To be an entrepreneur, one must see what others cannot see and dream the dream that others do not dare to. However, no matter what you dream, before you throw in all the money, you should make sure you have the market to support your dream. Like Mr. Ramani said, having a dream is just the start, how to put the dream into practice is what really matters. In the air conditioner case that Mr. Ramani talked about in class, the reason behind the failure of the Japanese brands is because they did not understand the market demands in India. Customers in India didn’t want anything more than a simple air conditioner. LG understood and provided the customers what they wanted. But what about people in Singapore? Would they want just an air conditioner? Or would they want more than that?
Mr. Ramani ended his talk emphasizing the value of time and how we should worship time. There are some things in life that you can never reverse, one is time, and one is your health. We are all given the same 24 hours everyday but how do we utilize our time to make the most out of it is up to ourselves. It’s not just about spending less time on a task but also about how you invest time on yourself. Learning to use time well and wisely is definitely one of the key steps in becoming an entrepreneur.
References:
LG hopes to sell 4 lakh air-conditioners in 2004. Businessline. Chennai: Mar 19, 2004. p. 1
India: Prospects and key factors. Businessline. Chennai: May 23, 1999. p. 1
Hitachi Invests in Amtrex; Sales of Hitachi Brand Room Air Conditioners to Start in India. Business Editors & Computer Writers. Business Wire. New York: Dec 28, 1998. p. 1
Reflection – Kate Bogh
Avoiding Groupthink
Groupthink: a pattern of thought characterized by self-deception, forced manufacture of consent, and conformity to group values and ethics.
- Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Lately I have been thinking quite a bit about group decision making and how groups go about making decisions. Lots of times, in small groups, it is easier to agree with one another than discuss different options to ensure the best decision is made. Oftentimes, in small groups, where one or two personalities, are stronger than others, there is one prevailing opinion and others are not heard.
As an undergrad, I took a class on small group facilitation and, of course, one of the main topics was groupthink. It is surprising how easy it is for groups to fall into patterns of groupthink. Groupthink hinders the ability of group to make the best decisions possible.
I now have a lot of respect for people whose opinions go against other stated opinions especially if they have a reason behind why they believe their choice is the better one. This is especially important in organizational group work and as most of us will most likely be working in small groups in our jobs, this is an important concept to understand.
Groupthink is most common when group members do not know each other well, are in a hurry to finish a project or are afraid of conflict. Groupthink may also occur if group members do not know each other very or if they know each other too well.
It is difficult to address group think once it is identified. I think this is because, once a group gets used to group think, changing the common pattern takes a conscience effort. There are resources available with suggestions of how to avoid groupthink.
Oftentimes, just learning what groupthink is, will help a group address issues of group think. Being objections and addressing other possibilities, even when they seem a bit outrageous are ways to avoid group think.
Shine Consulting recommends pointing out groupthink if you see it happening. Specify what you see happening and how you believe it is affecting the end decision. Another way to identify groupthink early on is to identify one group member as the ‘devil’s advocate’, someone whose job it is to look for groupthink within the group (Shine).
If the group has a leader, it is important that the leader take account of and allow the expression of differing opinions or ideas (Shine). The leader, if there is one, plays a valuable role and can be an excellent means for the analysis and prevention of groupthink.
Also, groups, especially those making very important decisions, should consider the possibility of hiring a facilitator to assist in the decision making process. In class, while reviewing change management issues, the class has considered the possibility of bringing in facilitators and the valuable roles they can play.
With the increased usage of group work and group decision making processes, knowing how to avoid groupthink as a team member or a leader is a valuable tool. While it can be challenging to bring up concerns of groupthink in a team, it is crucial that teams make good decisions whether they are determining which direction the company is going, prioritizing projects, deciding on additional software features, or how they will spend their time.
Resources:
AllBusiness. “Helping Your Staff Avoid ‘Groupthink’”. URL: http://www.allbusiness.com/human-resources/employee-development-problem-solving/11257-1.html
All Business. “Resolving conflict on the team.” Taken from “Managing Conflict for Dummies”. August 2005. URL: http://www.allbusiness.com/human-resources/workforce-management-conflict-resolution/9890-1.html
Hilleard, Gil. “Beware: Groupthink!” Shine Consulting. December 2004. URL: http://www.shineconsulting.co.uk/extra42.html
MindTools. “Avoiding Groupthink: Avoiding sometimes-fatal flaws in group decision-making”. URL: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_82.htm
Groupthink: a pattern of thought characterized by self-deception, forced manufacture of consent, and conformity to group values and ethics.
- Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Lately I have been thinking quite a bit about group decision making and how groups go about making decisions. Lots of times, in small groups, it is easier to agree with one another than discuss different options to ensure the best decision is made. Oftentimes, in small groups, where one or two personalities, are stronger than others, there is one prevailing opinion and others are not heard.
As an undergrad, I took a class on small group facilitation and, of course, one of the main topics was groupthink. It is surprising how easy it is for groups to fall into patterns of groupthink. Groupthink hinders the ability of group to make the best decisions possible.
I now have a lot of respect for people whose opinions go against other stated opinions especially if they have a reason behind why they believe their choice is the better one. This is especially important in organizational group work and as most of us will most likely be working in small groups in our jobs, this is an important concept to understand.
Groupthink is most common when group members do not know each other well, are in a hurry to finish a project or are afraid of conflict. Groupthink may also occur if group members do not know each other very or if they know each other too well.
It is difficult to address group think once it is identified. I think this is because, once a group gets used to group think, changing the common pattern takes a conscience effort. There are resources available with suggestions of how to avoid groupthink.
Oftentimes, just learning what groupthink is, will help a group address issues of group think. Being objections and addressing other possibilities, even when they seem a bit outrageous are ways to avoid group think.
Shine Consulting recommends pointing out groupthink if you see it happening. Specify what you see happening and how you believe it is affecting the end decision. Another way to identify groupthink early on is to identify one group member as the ‘devil’s advocate’, someone whose job it is to look for groupthink within the group (Shine).
If the group has a leader, it is important that the leader take account of and allow the expression of differing opinions or ideas (Shine). The leader, if there is one, plays a valuable role and can be an excellent means for the analysis and prevention of groupthink.
Also, groups, especially those making very important decisions, should consider the possibility of hiring a facilitator to assist in the decision making process. In class, while reviewing change management issues, the class has considered the possibility of bringing in facilitators and the valuable roles they can play.
With the increased usage of group work and group decision making processes, knowing how to avoid groupthink as a team member or a leader is a valuable tool. While it can be challenging to bring up concerns of groupthink in a team, it is crucial that teams make good decisions whether they are determining which direction the company is going, prioritizing projects, deciding on additional software features, or how they will spend their time.
Resources:
AllBusiness. “Helping Your Staff Avoid ‘Groupthink’”. URL: http://www.allbusiness.com/human-resources/employee-development-problem-solving/11257-1.html
All Business. “Resolving conflict on the team.” Taken from “Managing Conflict for Dummies”. August 2005. URL: http://www.allbusiness.com/human-resources/workforce-management-conflict-resolution/9890-1.html
Hilleard, Gil. “Beware: Groupthink!” Shine Consulting. December 2004. URL: http://www.shineconsulting.co.uk/extra42.html
MindTools. “Avoiding Groupthink: Avoiding sometimes-fatal flaws in group decision-making”. URL: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_82.htm
Reflection - Kate Bogh
To accommodate or overlook: the Y Generation Enters the Workplace – Kate Bogh
With Baby Boomers beginning to leave the workplace and fewer Generation X workers moving up the ranks there is a growing gap of approximately 85 million workers in the American economy (Trunk, 2005). To fill that gap are about 75 million Generation Y workers (Trunk, 2005).This new generation, the Y Generation, is challenging traditional management systems, workplace rules and
The actual definition of the Y Generation (YGen, GenY) remains vague. Some sources identify the GenY age range as anyone born between 1976 and 2000. The AD Age magazine uses children born between 1981 and 1995 (Wikipedia). While the age range is not clearly defined, the generational differences between GenY and GenX are dramatic; especially when it comes to the workplace. These differences are forcing organizations to offer creative changes to the traditional workplace.
GenY comes with a host of new skills, mostly related to technologies that are easy for them to grasp, that are a valuable asset in the workplace. Still, challenges are arising as GenYer’s are challenging turnover rates, stretching the work-life balance and pushing against traditional work environments and philosophies.
Access to Technology
Some name the Y Generation as the Internet or Technology Generation due to their complete comfort working with and utilizing technology (Kruse). Since they were toddlers, the Y Generation was playing with Play stations, the Internet and computer games. Gen Y, when they have a problem, first go to the internet, or online friends before they will turn to professors, the yellow pages, or the people around them. An article by Buckle Up states that, “Around 72 percent [of Gen Y members] check e-mail daily; 85 percent own their own computers.” (Kruse).
With their knowledge of technology, Gen Y has expectations for the technology they use and how well it will work for them. They want Internet access when and where they need it, the ability to personalize and alter web pages for easy viewing of news feeds, articles, weather info and even page themes. They also expect tol be able to communicate with friends and contacts through email, cell phones and instant messaging. Gen Y has become more comfortable working online virtually then working over the phone or face-to-face.
Workplace views
Gen Y also comes with very different views regarding work and the workplace. Their concept of the work-life balance is very different. They are happy to work and make work a significant portion of their life so long as they are doing something they truly enjoy doing. They are very good at multi-tasking; answering the phone, sending an instant message and finishing a work task all at the same time, comes naturally. With this increased efficiency, Gen Y’ers want flexible schedules that allow them to work form where they want, when they want.
They do not have the same concept of organizational loyalty and most Gen Y’ers will not stay in one job for more than 5 years at a time. They also are not afraid to leave work for new opportunities.
Suggestions and Tips for working with GenY employees
With all of the changes Generation Y presents, it is valuable for us to be aware of how to effectively work with and retain Gen Y employees. Here are a few suggestions taken from Hay’s Recruitment (Hays Special Recruitment):
- Gen Y’ers are looking for strong leadership. They need leaders who can advise and mentor them and help them reach their goals. A manager who can listen and offer advice is valuable.
- Having a training or education program that allows employees to enhance skills that will help them in their positions
- “Generation Y are loyal to an employer who is honest and respectful. Support company values, deliver your promises, meet their needs and be considerate of individual skills, goals and expectations.”
Generation Y has a lot to offer organizations. Their technological skills and personal motivation can be invaluable. Understanding what motivates them will help in retention and management of the Y Generation.
References:
Hays Special Recruitment. “Report: Portraying Generation Y”. URL: http://www.hays.com.au/news/ausworkplace/issue4f.aspx
Kruse, Kevin. “Buckle Up: Generation Y Is Here”. March, 2004. URL: http://www.clomedia.com/content/templates/clo_col_elearning.asp?articleid=410
Trunk, Penelope. “What Gen Y Really Wants”. Time, Global Business. July ’05. URL: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1640395,00.html
Wikipedia. “Generation Y”. URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Y
With Baby Boomers beginning to leave the workplace and fewer Generation X workers moving up the ranks there is a growing gap of approximately 85 million workers in the American economy (Trunk, 2005). To fill that gap are about 75 million Generation Y workers (Trunk, 2005).This new generation, the Y Generation, is challenging traditional management systems, workplace rules and
The actual definition of the Y Generation (YGen, GenY) remains vague. Some sources identify the GenY age range as anyone born between 1976 and 2000. The AD Age magazine uses children born between 1981 and 1995 (Wikipedia). While the age range is not clearly defined, the generational differences between GenY and GenX are dramatic; especially when it comes to the workplace. These differences are forcing organizations to offer creative changes to the traditional workplace.
GenY comes with a host of new skills, mostly related to technologies that are easy for them to grasp, that are a valuable asset in the workplace. Still, challenges are arising as GenYer’s are challenging turnover rates, stretching the work-life balance and pushing against traditional work environments and philosophies.
Access to Technology
Some name the Y Generation as the Internet or Technology Generation due to their complete comfort working with and utilizing technology (Kruse). Since they were toddlers, the Y Generation was playing with Play stations, the Internet and computer games. Gen Y, when they have a problem, first go to the internet, or online friends before they will turn to professors, the yellow pages, or the people around them. An article by Buckle Up states that, “Around 72 percent [of Gen Y members] check e-mail daily; 85 percent own their own computers.” (Kruse).
With their knowledge of technology, Gen Y has expectations for the technology they use and how well it will work for them. They want Internet access when and where they need it, the ability to personalize and alter web pages for easy viewing of news feeds, articles, weather info and even page themes. They also expect tol be able to communicate with friends and contacts through email, cell phones and instant messaging. Gen Y has become more comfortable working online virtually then working over the phone or face-to-face.
Workplace views
Gen Y also comes with very different views regarding work and the workplace. Their concept of the work-life balance is very different. They are happy to work and make work a significant portion of their life so long as they are doing something they truly enjoy doing. They are very good at multi-tasking; answering the phone, sending an instant message and finishing a work task all at the same time, comes naturally. With this increased efficiency, Gen Y’ers want flexible schedules that allow them to work form where they want, when they want.
They do not have the same concept of organizational loyalty and most Gen Y’ers will not stay in one job for more than 5 years at a time. They also are not afraid to leave work for new opportunities.
Suggestions and Tips for working with GenY employees
With all of the changes Generation Y presents, it is valuable for us to be aware of how to effectively work with and retain Gen Y employees. Here are a few suggestions taken from Hay’s Recruitment (Hays Special Recruitment):
- Gen Y’ers are looking for strong leadership. They need leaders who can advise and mentor them and help them reach their goals. A manager who can listen and offer advice is valuable.
- Having a training or education program that allows employees to enhance skills that will help them in their positions
- “Generation Y are loyal to an employer who is honest and respectful. Support company values, deliver your promises, meet their needs and be considerate of individual skills, goals and expectations.”
Generation Y has a lot to offer organizations. Their technological skills and personal motivation can be invaluable. Understanding what motivates them will help in retention and management of the Y Generation.
References:
Hays Special Recruitment. “Report: Portraying Generation Y”. URL: http://www.hays.com.au/news/ausworkplace/issue4f.aspx
Kruse, Kevin. “Buckle Up: Generation Y Is Here”. March, 2004. URL: http://www.clomedia.com/content/templates/clo_col_elearning.asp?articleid=410
Trunk, Penelope. “What Gen Y Really Wants”. Time, Global Business. July ’05. URL: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1640395,00.html
Wikipedia. “Generation Y”. URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Y
Reflection - W. Max Eichbaum
“Facebook, which is run by Mark Zuckerberg, 23, who created it while an undergraduate at Harvard, has built a highly successful service that is free to its more than 50 million active members. But now the company is trying to figure out how to translate this popularity into profit. Like so many Internet ventures, it is counting heavily on advertising revenue.” – Louise Story, New York Times
On November 6th of this year Facebook launched Beacon, a new revenue device to help fund the online social networking giant. This feature adds the broadcast of a user’s purchasing activity on an existing news broadcasting feature. Almost immediately, many users united and signed a petition stating that the feature should include an easy to use opt out function. Facebook has since stated that they do not plan to add the ability for users to universally opt out of Beacon. Rather, they stated that the public outcry is a marginal population and that many of their features have been greeted with skepticism only to later be embraced.
While the privacy issue imbedded in this debate is important, it is the child of a greater issue: how can organizations centered on offering free services generate revenue? What is interesting about this question is the sheer number of businesses that seem to warrant it and how incapable they seem to be to answer it.
Del.icio.us is another such business that was faced with this dilemma. Although, they were not as opposed to being acquired by a larger organization as is Facebook. In fact, Mark Evans points out that this might have actually been their business model. This phenomenon seems very paradoxical to me. That a company would forgo a practical business model in favor of gaining sufficient user population to induce acquisition does not make sense in the numbers. Still, the reality is that it is a very common business model, even though the parent organizations seem to be buying nothing more than a user population and any implicit or explicit information about them.
But what if an organization with this problem doesn’t want to get acquired?
“Now it appears that such exuberance has infused the expanding Facebook universe, even though no one has yet proved it is possible to build a profitable business with sustainable revenues on the site. Some developers report earning tens of thousands of dollars in advertising with the applications they have created. Yet their applications are mostly running ads promoting other Facebook applications — a situation that recalls the earliest Gold Rush miners, who earned a living selling shovels to other miners. And developers must cover the cost of hosting the applications on their own Web servers.” – Brad Stone, New York Times
Time still has to tell us if it is possible to turn a free service providing organization into a profitable one. It may turn out that a site can become popular enough to warrant sufficient advertising dollars. On the other hand, information rich systems like Facebook may uncover a more lucrative method for capitalizing on that information. In the mean time, the dollars seem to be enthusiastically searching for an answer.
On November 6th of this year Facebook launched Beacon, a new revenue device to help fund the online social networking giant. This feature adds the broadcast of a user’s purchasing activity on an existing news broadcasting feature. Almost immediately, many users united and signed a petition stating that the feature should include an easy to use opt out function. Facebook has since stated that they do not plan to add the ability for users to universally opt out of Beacon. Rather, they stated that the public outcry is a marginal population and that many of their features have been greeted with skepticism only to later be embraced.
While the privacy issue imbedded in this debate is important, it is the child of a greater issue: how can organizations centered on offering free services generate revenue? What is interesting about this question is the sheer number of businesses that seem to warrant it and how incapable they seem to be to answer it.
Del.icio.us is another such business that was faced with this dilemma. Although, they were not as opposed to being acquired by a larger organization as is Facebook. In fact, Mark Evans points out that this might have actually been their business model. This phenomenon seems very paradoxical to me. That a company would forgo a practical business model in favor of gaining sufficient user population to induce acquisition does not make sense in the numbers. Still, the reality is that it is a very common business model, even though the parent organizations seem to be buying nothing more than a user population and any implicit or explicit information about them.
But what if an organization with this problem doesn’t want to get acquired?
“Now it appears that such exuberance has infused the expanding Facebook universe, even though no one has yet proved it is possible to build a profitable business with sustainable revenues on the site. Some developers report earning tens of thousands of dollars in advertising with the applications they have created. Yet their applications are mostly running ads promoting other Facebook applications — a situation that recalls the earliest Gold Rush miners, who earned a living selling shovels to other miners. And developers must cover the cost of hosting the applications on their own Web servers.” – Brad Stone, New York Times
Time still has to tell us if it is possible to turn a free service providing organization into a profitable one. It may turn out that a site can become popular enough to warrant sufficient advertising dollars. On the other hand, information rich systems like Facebook may uncover a more lucrative method for capitalizing on that information. In the mean time, the dollars seem to be enthusiastically searching for an answer.
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