The challenger Case study portrays many signficant things about effective strategic leadership in an organisation as well as how ineffective strategic leadrship can be very detrimental to that given organisation. The case study illustrates the importance of implementing an effective strategic leadership within an organisation as it can only bring out the best if executed properly. Through instrumental things such as collabration and corporation existing, establishing ethical practices/moral obligations, being democratic and having the ability to negoitiate well with management as well as staff all prove to be very important in helping an organisation posses an effective startegic leadership. The lack of these major tools between Nasa and Morton Thiokol and within these organisations was a reason for the failure of the mission to launch that would eventually end deadly for the seven astranauts.
Other things to conisder about effective strategic leadership inlcudes the importance of communication and the importance of listening to others, the need for managers to be accessible, and maintaining an agenda that everyone agrees with and supports either at senior management level or from your workers. Communication is very important to any organisation as non communication or the wrong communication can be harmful as it was in the Challenger Case study. The need to listen and not just dicate should also be conisdered highly in attaining effective strategic leadrship. Accessibility of managers is also very important as its a form of communication and its a way to reach out to managers and express any worries, concerns, or vital information that might be needed. Lastly having an agenda that everyone knows and follows is crucial for organisations as conflicting agendas or misintepretation can cause conflict or disrupt progress and the fluid movement of things within an organisation.
The reasons why the mission still proceeded despite warning are down to a list of things. Firstly, the had already been 6 failures in the past to Launch and a few setbacks during the start to lauch the challenger which would tarnish the image of Nasa further more as it was a widely publicised event. Nasa was probably worried about their reputation, image and if the decision was given not to undergo the highly publicised launch at that stage it could be a huge media disaster. Also cost and finance would also be taking into consideration if delayed any more. Another reason was that the engineers at Morton Thiokol didn't provide a solid enough arguement to management and to management at NASA as well as persuade them enough to abort the launch.in addition, the engineers at Morton Thiokol and the managers as well as the mangement at NASA have conflicting views and don't share the same beliefs and attitude which shows a clear lack of communication and understanding. NASA's ambition overclouded their judgement and the priority of civilians saftey first was overlooked and treated secondary from the management at NASA as well as from Joe Kilminster and the 3 managers from Morton Thiokol.
People to blame includes the engineers, the management at Morton Thiokol and NASA who all play an instrumental role each through negelcting and not taking the full responsibilty of ensuring firstly the safety of the seven astranauts before anything. The enginners which includes Roger Boisjoly and his team of engineers could have done alot more to ensure that the rest of the decision makers where aware one hundred percent of the dangers involved with proceeding with the launch. They could have tried harder to persuade them as well as stop them and make them realise the immense danger that was present. Lastly, the Management from Morton Thiokol and management form NASA were very reckless with their decision making and did not conisder saftey as a priority but rather business fisrt.
The are a few things to consider In looking at what the engineers could have done in order to stop the mission. I think first and foremost they could have tried whistleblowing to the media which would have exposed the danger involved with the launch. This might have possibly delayed the launch or completely stop it as well as inform the astranauts, the launch director who was unaware of the dangers mentioned. This in all would have put pressure on the managers at Morton Thiokol and NASA to completely ensure the saftey of the astranauts and would also inform everyone of the danger involved. That final meeting between engineers, management and NASA could have seen more pressure and a powerful, aggressive voice coming from the engineers explaining all the reasons to abort the launch.
In comparing all these case studies together their major things present in all of them. Firstly, the importance of effective communication as well as collabration and corportaion needing to be existent within an organisation as in all four case studies except the Madonna case study we see how the failure to do so has a negative impact. In Order to achieve an effective strategic leadership all three actions have to be carried out and executed from managemnt to staff as well as within management. The Challenger case study differs from the other case studies because it involved the death of people but had underlining issues similar to Carrefour and the NHS Case study that demonstarted a lack of important ingredients needed to bring about progess and success. It also differed as it touched on the issue of ethical practices and moral obligations needing to be taken into consideration from organisations.
Monday, 19 March 2012
Wednesday, 7 March 2012
Madonna Case Study
The Madonna Case study symbolised many signficant as well as instrumental strategies used over a period of time to help sustain her successful career. After carefully reading the case study, a combination of well planned out strategic choices, and a well planned career path allowed Madonna to stay relevent in a fast paced, changing environment filled with high competition from other artists.
How Madonna managed to achieve and still continues to maintain a successful career as well as dominate the music industry is down to a list of stragetic choices. Madonna music career has been able to grow stronger through things such as being able to adapt to a music industry that continues to change with time leading to different trends, tastes and attitudes towards music from consumers. She has allowed herself as an artist to be able to forsee such changes and to react in a way that enables adaptabilty to the music industry as opposed to remaining the same and being complacent. This is very important for companies, managers, people as you have to be able to follow different trends, different tastes and consumer demands in order to stay on top and remain competitive. Madonna is also a very versatile artist which is very good as it allows her to appeal to a wider range audience capitalising on all and she continues to stay relevent within the music industry. As well as sing she has ventured into acting and her music changes and follows current trends from pop to techno to hip hop collabrating with artists such as Justin Timberlake. Staying relevent has proven to be very important as many other artists fail to do so and find themselves forgotten or replaced by new artists.
Madonna is also very Business minded with an entreprenuial attitude and drive that allows her to penetrate the music industry in a very enforing way. Over her career she has done a list of things from collabrating with fashion designers H&M as well as Louis Vuitton and Gap. She has also done ad campaigns for the likes of Pepsi and Max Factor and boasts an impressive CV that has her record company Maveric which demonstrates her entreprenuial attidude that sets her aside from the rest.
Madonna has also collbarated with the right artists which as mentioned before includeds the likes of Justin Timberlake, Missy Elliot with the GAP commercials and a list of other important artists. Her success also comes from being a world wide Brand venturing into different areas that has helped promote her as an influential artist that still continues to dominate the music industry. The ability for forecasting is also an important attribute to add. Being able to understand and give the audience what they want and seek is very significant for any company, manager or person. Madonna all through her music career has also promoted femism for woman with her image portrayed and her conduct and she has been able to appeal to everyone that includes Gays, woman, men, teens, adults which again reveals her versatility and diversity. Being able to appeal to an overall target audience can be very critical as it clearly has been for Madonna.
Other things to mention includes the authenticity of Madonna which people can appreciate, her strong bargaining power in her business deals, remaining marketable which if lost can be the end of an artists career. Her strong loyal customer base has also helped stablise her career and long experience in the music industry also plays a role for equating to the success of madona. All these instrumental strategic choices,directions as well leadership is the reason that Madonna has been able to become a world wide phenomenum.
This case study illustrates how having an effective strategic leadership can equate to success for a company, a manager or in this case for the artist Madonna. Through analysis of the case study we can clearly see that strategic leadership comes from an ingredient of tools that combined will have a positive impact. It also shows us that strategic leardhip to be successful has to be able to adapt to changes within the industry and be able to respond in ways that will continously meet customer demands and expectations as Madonna did and continues to do so. Startegic Leadership should also be able to forsee and forcast all changes within an organisation as well as within the industry that organisation operates within otherwise success is unattainable. The Madonna Case study is a prime example of how strategic leadership is successful implemented through carefully forseeing and forecasting market trends as well as consumer trends which is the reason Madonna is at the position she is today.
The are similarties as well as differences from the Madonna Case study compared to the Carrefour and Gerry Robinson case study. The differences to start of with comes from the fact that both the Carrefour and Gerry Robinson case study were both examples of how strategic leadreship as well strategic choice wasn't correctly being executed and applied as both case studies portrayed companies in a bad position and needing to overcome that. Both companies had to make immediate changes to the organisations in order to overcome turmoil. Whereas the Madonna case study showed a person ( an artist) who was and still is clearly doing the right things in regards to implementing a a successful strategic leadership and taking the right strategic choices in order to captialise on the music industry through a list of important tools. The only simlarities might be that Carrefour and Madonna are strong brands within their industry but the Carrefour and Gerry Robinson case study compared to the Madonna case study are very different as they show mainly a negative side of not implementing a succesful strategic leadrship.
How Madonna managed to achieve and still continues to maintain a successful career as well as dominate the music industry is down to a list of stragetic choices. Madonna music career has been able to grow stronger through things such as being able to adapt to a music industry that continues to change with time leading to different trends, tastes and attitudes towards music from consumers. She has allowed herself as an artist to be able to forsee such changes and to react in a way that enables adaptabilty to the music industry as opposed to remaining the same and being complacent. This is very important for companies, managers, people as you have to be able to follow different trends, different tastes and consumer demands in order to stay on top and remain competitive. Madonna is also a very versatile artist which is very good as it allows her to appeal to a wider range audience capitalising on all and she continues to stay relevent within the music industry. As well as sing she has ventured into acting and her music changes and follows current trends from pop to techno to hip hop collabrating with artists such as Justin Timberlake. Staying relevent has proven to be very important as many other artists fail to do so and find themselves forgotten or replaced by new artists.
Madonna is also very Business minded with an entreprenuial attitude and drive that allows her to penetrate the music industry in a very enforing way. Over her career she has done a list of things from collabrating with fashion designers H&M as well as Louis Vuitton and Gap. She has also done ad campaigns for the likes of Pepsi and Max Factor and boasts an impressive CV that has her record company Maveric which demonstrates her entreprenuial attidude that sets her aside from the rest.
Madonna has also collbarated with the right artists which as mentioned before includeds the likes of Justin Timberlake, Missy Elliot with the GAP commercials and a list of other important artists. Her success also comes from being a world wide Brand venturing into different areas that has helped promote her as an influential artist that still continues to dominate the music industry. The ability for forecasting is also an important attribute to add. Being able to understand and give the audience what they want and seek is very significant for any company, manager or person. Madonna all through her music career has also promoted femism for woman with her image portrayed and her conduct and she has been able to appeal to everyone that includes Gays, woman, men, teens, adults which again reveals her versatility and diversity. Being able to appeal to an overall target audience can be very critical as it clearly has been for Madonna.
Other things to mention includes the authenticity of Madonna which people can appreciate, her strong bargaining power in her business deals, remaining marketable which if lost can be the end of an artists career. Her strong loyal customer base has also helped stablise her career and long experience in the music industry also plays a role for equating to the success of madona. All these instrumental strategic choices,directions as well leadership is the reason that Madonna has been able to become a world wide phenomenum.
This case study illustrates how having an effective strategic leadership can equate to success for a company, a manager or in this case for the artist Madonna. Through analysis of the case study we can clearly see that strategic leadership comes from an ingredient of tools that combined will have a positive impact. It also shows us that strategic leardhip to be successful has to be able to adapt to changes within the industry and be able to respond in ways that will continously meet customer demands and expectations as Madonna did and continues to do so. Startegic Leadership should also be able to forsee and forcast all changes within an organisation as well as within the industry that organisation operates within otherwise success is unattainable. The Madonna Case study is a prime example of how strategic leadership is successful implemented through carefully forseeing and forecasting market trends as well as consumer trends which is the reason Madonna is at the position she is today.
The are similarties as well as differences from the Madonna Case study compared to the Carrefour and Gerry Robinson case study. The differences to start of with comes from the fact that both the Carrefour and Gerry Robinson case study were both examples of how strategic leadreship as well strategic choice wasn't correctly being executed and applied as both case studies portrayed companies in a bad position and needing to overcome that. Both companies had to make immediate changes to the organisations in order to overcome turmoil. Whereas the Madonna case study showed a person ( an artist) who was and still is clearly doing the right things in regards to implementing a a successful strategic leadership and taking the right strategic choices in order to captialise on the music industry through a list of important tools. The only simlarities might be that Carrefour and Madonna are strong brands within their industry but the Carrefour and Gerry Robinson case study compared to the Madonna case study are very different as they show mainly a negative side of not implementing a succesful strategic leadrship.
Wednesday, 22 February 2012
Can Gerry Robinson Fix the NHS
After watching the video on the Gerry Robinson and his attempt to fix the NHS in the hospital their are many relevant themes present throughout the case study relating to an organisation having an effective strategic leadership. The main figures in the case study includes Gerry Robinson whose coming in as the consultant, Brian James (CEO), Karen Norton (General Manager), Jugnu Mahajan (Consultant physician and the rest of the staff. Each of these key figures use and implement a distincive leadership style which impacts the way in which the hospital is run and managed.
At the heart of the case study we can see that the a combination of the correct leadership style is required at the right time and place in order to manage a sucessful organisation. In the case study the lack of an assertive style of a strategic leadership by Brian James as well as other senior members is one of the contributors to the hospital poor performance. Other issues revolving around the lack of assertiveness included the lack of a concrete structure within senior managment, lack of communication as well as a need for collabration and corporation to exist and prevail. Other issues that were evident was the need for a bureaucracy as the was no chain of command present, managegment using the disengaing approach to things leaving problems to resolve themselves and postponing and procrastinating , hospital theatres not being utilised and managed properly which affected the waiting time and a lack of confidence from mangagement in Brian Jmaes (CEO). All these problems affected the way in which the hospital was run and through this we can see that effective strategic leadership means that the right style has to be implemented when needed by organisations with everyone sharing a basis for the same ideas, vision and goals all the way from the top down.
The most memorable examples of effective strategic leadership came from Gerry Robinson and Karen Norton. Robinson at first used the bridging style of leadership to first understand the problem through going thoughout the organisation from staff members to senior management and discussing and finding out the issues present. He then solicited ideas and views giving way to an open communication. He also used the assertive approach when he summoned all the senoir members of management and highlighting all the problems and stating ways in which they need to be tackled and resolved. Karen Norton also through highlighting key issues and proposing solutions used the persuasive and assertive approach as a form of leadership but was ineffective in communicating this to the CEO. Brian James ineffective approach included using disengaging approach bringing up the issue but not doing anything to resolve it, postponing and giving excuses for the reasons why solutions could not be met which also imitated by Mahajan.
I learned that persuation is very important to an organisation and a mixture of persuation and assertiveness is important at the right time and moment in the decision making process. Persuastion through its components of proposing and reasoning allows an understanding for an action being implemented or addressed where assertiveness forces the issue. I also learned that when you propose you most have at least three reasons to help support what you've proposed, making it solid and more understandable. I also learned that Influence over others is something that is acquired over time and developed. Also the ability to influence others means that dynamism is needed to implement different styles and that different styles are dependent on different situations.
This case study was similar to Carrefeour firstly, in regards to both case studies not having strong leaders as both CEO's seemed to be underpeforming and incompetent in executing their jobs well. Also the is a lack of collabration and corporation existent within senior management in both cases. In Carrefeour Case it was between investors and the CEO and here its between senoir managment and Brian James. Differences would be the fact that Lars Olofsson took over an already struggling organisation whereas Brian James didn't. Lastly the management structure that exists in this case study compared to Carrefeour apperas to be completely no existent with no clear basis for any sort of chain of command.
The group work in discussing the main issues as well as devising the different strategic leadership styles used by key figures was again very productive as it allowed me to gain different perspectives from others. It allwoed me to share my ideas as well as gain others and compare and contrast and then share them with the rest of the class. The role play between two members was also quite useful in understanding how the different styles work and knowing what situations they can be used in. The only issue was I felt that my partner didn't have a clear understanding of the meaning of each style and therefore couldn't demonstrate useful and relevant examples.
At the heart of the case study we can see that the a combination of the correct leadership style is required at the right time and place in order to manage a sucessful organisation. In the case study the lack of an assertive style of a strategic leadership by Brian James as well as other senior members is one of the contributors to the hospital poor performance. Other issues revolving around the lack of assertiveness included the lack of a concrete structure within senior managment, lack of communication as well as a need for collabration and corporation to exist and prevail. Other issues that were evident was the need for a bureaucracy as the was no chain of command present, managegment using the disengaing approach to things leaving problems to resolve themselves and postponing and procrastinating , hospital theatres not being utilised and managed properly which affected the waiting time and a lack of confidence from mangagement in Brian Jmaes (CEO). All these problems affected the way in which the hospital was run and through this we can see that effective strategic leadership means that the right style has to be implemented when needed by organisations with everyone sharing a basis for the same ideas, vision and goals all the way from the top down.
The most memorable examples of effective strategic leadership came from Gerry Robinson and Karen Norton. Robinson at first used the bridging style of leadership to first understand the problem through going thoughout the organisation from staff members to senior management and discussing and finding out the issues present. He then solicited ideas and views giving way to an open communication. He also used the assertive approach when he summoned all the senoir members of management and highlighting all the problems and stating ways in which they need to be tackled and resolved. Karen Norton also through highlighting key issues and proposing solutions used the persuasive and assertive approach as a form of leadership but was ineffective in communicating this to the CEO. Brian James ineffective approach included using disengaging approach bringing up the issue but not doing anything to resolve it, postponing and giving excuses for the reasons why solutions could not be met which also imitated by Mahajan.
I learned that persuation is very important to an organisation and a mixture of persuation and assertiveness is important at the right time and moment in the decision making process. Persuastion through its components of proposing and reasoning allows an understanding for an action being implemented or addressed where assertiveness forces the issue. I also learned that when you propose you most have at least three reasons to help support what you've proposed, making it solid and more understandable. I also learned that Influence over others is something that is acquired over time and developed. Also the ability to influence others means that dynamism is needed to implement different styles and that different styles are dependent on different situations.
This case study was similar to Carrefeour firstly, in regards to both case studies not having strong leaders as both CEO's seemed to be underpeforming and incompetent in executing their jobs well. Also the is a lack of collabration and corporation existent within senior management in both cases. In Carrefeour Case it was between investors and the CEO and here its between senoir managment and Brian James. Differences would be the fact that Lars Olofsson took over an already struggling organisation whereas Brian James didn't. Lastly the management structure that exists in this case study compared to Carrefeour apperas to be completely no existent with no clear basis for any sort of chain of command.
The group work in discussing the main issues as well as devising the different strategic leadership styles used by key figures was again very productive as it allowed me to gain different perspectives from others. It allwoed me to share my ideas as well as gain others and compare and contrast and then share them with the rest of the class. The role play between two members was also quite useful in understanding how the different styles work and knowing what situations they can be used in. The only issue was I felt that my partner didn't have a clear understanding of the meaning of each style and therefore couldn't demonstrate useful and relevant examples.
Tuesday, 21 February 2012
Analysis Of The Carrefeour Case Study
After carefully reading the Carrefeour Case study their appeared to be numerous issues that the company was facing which in all affected the productivity and performance. These ongoing problems meant the company needed to react and implement changes immediately in order to overcome the decline of the organisation. In addressing all the problems we first start we the position of the CEO Lars Olofsson.
I personally think that the first step for Carrefeour would be to re-appoint another CEO who can come in and immediately make drastic changes to the organisation which will help bring stability again. They need to bring in a CEO who will be able to respond to market pressures more efficently and abrupt. The new CEO should be able to tackle all the current issues the company faces at the core through implementing a selective and careful strategy dealing with each issue.
I think the company can definitely overcome their current poor performance through focusing on improving the domestic market share, updating their business model to better suit changing organisational environment, adapting and implementing a business model to also suit foreign markets. Other issues that needs to be addressed includes: moving away from a dependence on products in the long term decline, paying better attention to changing markets which can be very critical to any organisation, focusing on changing demographics in terms of customer behavior and trends, focusing on online commerce, focusing on pricing with the opportunity to cut prices and improving coorporation and colabration between investors.
Lars Olson I don't think is a bad CEO but I just think as mentioned in the case study he took over a struggling company and failed to react to all the problems quickly and failed to demonstrate any strong leadership which is very important for any new leader coming in especially for a company struggling. I don't think six months is enough time for him to fix the many issues Carrefeour faces so he needs to be replaced with someone who can. Personally I think out of all those issues mentioned Carrefeour should focus firstly on appointing a new CEO that replaces Olson and then focus improving the domestic market share, changing the pricing and improving the the relationship with investors.
The participation this week in the semiar went really well becuase everyone got to share ideas about the case study and address the main issues and relevent themes present in Strategic Leadership in companies. We were also able to re-address the different models companies use within the organisation and relate that to Carrefeour which was very useful in drawing up a critical analysis.
From this week I want to remember all the the different models we talked about towards the end of the lecture that could be used for Carrefeour. Models which included using the SWOT Analysis, Boston Matrix, Porters 5 Forces and others mentioned as I know these are always important models to know and use.
I personally think that the first step for Carrefeour would be to re-appoint another CEO who can come in and immediately make drastic changes to the organisation which will help bring stability again. They need to bring in a CEO who will be able to respond to market pressures more efficently and abrupt. The new CEO should be able to tackle all the current issues the company faces at the core through implementing a selective and careful strategy dealing with each issue.
I think the company can definitely overcome their current poor performance through focusing on improving the domestic market share, updating their business model to better suit changing organisational environment, adapting and implementing a business model to also suit foreign markets. Other issues that needs to be addressed includes: moving away from a dependence on products in the long term decline, paying better attention to changing markets which can be very critical to any organisation, focusing on changing demographics in terms of customer behavior and trends, focusing on online commerce, focusing on pricing with the opportunity to cut prices and improving coorporation and colabration between investors.
Lars Olson I don't think is a bad CEO but I just think as mentioned in the case study he took over a struggling company and failed to react to all the problems quickly and failed to demonstrate any strong leadership which is very important for any new leader coming in especially for a company struggling. I don't think six months is enough time for him to fix the many issues Carrefeour faces so he needs to be replaced with someone who can. Personally I think out of all those issues mentioned Carrefeour should focus firstly on appointing a new CEO that replaces Olson and then focus improving the domestic market share, changing the pricing and improving the the relationship with investors.
The participation this week in the semiar went really well becuase everyone got to share ideas about the case study and address the main issues and relevent themes present in Strategic Leadership in companies. We were also able to re-address the different models companies use within the organisation and relate that to Carrefeour which was very useful in drawing up a critical analysis.
From this week I want to remember all the the different models we talked about towards the end of the lecture that could be used for Carrefeour. Models which included using the SWOT Analysis, Boston Matrix, Porters 5 Forces and others mentioned as I know these are always important models to know and use.
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