SAS is a company that was founded in 1976 by students at the North Carolina State University. The company makes statistical software that is currently used by most large corporations. It is a privately held company that has been very successful at what it does over the years. The success does not come by surprise as SAS is one of the most admired companies to work for. The company focuses on education, government and large corporations. SAS has been very successful due to its people and their workplace culture. Unlike Nordstrom, SAS values their employees and rewards them for their hard work. Its strategy is similar to that of Southwest but more formal as it is not a service company. Their strategy focuses on the listening to the customer what they want and provide the product and service they need. The main key to their success is this customer-driven development process along with exceptionally high level of service. The company is very unique when it comes to its pricing and selling strategy. They provide the software at free trail and charge for upgrades, updates and support. The initial sales are low but as the time passes by the revenues increase. SAS also has a very high renewal rate for a software company at 98%. Another reason for such success is that the company provides a range of software products that no other competitor does. The company has many competitors but none that offer such product line. SAS invests largely in research and development and have seen large returns on investment. They are able to accomplish this since they are a private company and they don’t have to think about quarterly earnings, shareholders. Their vision is long run growth. Nothing the company does is short-term oriented. The people at SAS are highly valued and carefully selected. Ones at the SAS they enjoy many benefits and perks. The working environment is friendly, motivating and innovational. The company’s goal is to have low turnover and high retention. The SAS emphasizes intrinsic motivation and trust between co-workers as ingredient for success. As the company is in North Carolina it recruits at local colleges and universities people who are willing to stay in the area. Their strong culture organization contributes to their success. The employees are compensated at very competitive rates; they enjoy profit-sharing that is contributed in their retirement accounts at rates very few companies have. In general SAS is very generous to their employees in terms of benefits and compensation. As a result they have a system of happy employees that are motivated not just by the financial gain but also by their overall culture in which they work. It is great company to work for.
Nordstrom is a company that was founded in 1901 as a shoe store. Today it is a leading retailer of fashion and specialty apparel. The company is known for its superior customer service, large selection of merchandise. The company has been very successful and it has catered to upper and upper middle class. The article talks about strategic management at Nordstrom, pay scales of their employees and commission structure as well as their struggles in recent years. I have shopped at Nordstrom as they have sizes that I usually can’t find anywhere else. They have shoe sizes up to 15 in stock at any time. This is the only reason I would go to this store. I am willing to pay that extra dollar to be able to try and buy the shoes size 15 that I can’t buy anywhere else. But the time of Nordstrom reign is coming to an end. With internet shopping taking over, economy in recession and employees that are paid on such commissions scale Nordstrom is losing its competitive advantage that it had some 10 years ago. Their profit margins are huge so are the prices and consumer is willing to spend more time searching and waiting for a cheaper product. I can’t imagine their sales force being happy with that. According to their commissions structure I would think it is very hard to be successful at the job where one may have to compete with many more sales representatives for a lot fewer customers. The scale in which they get paid is unfair as it naturally selects only those that are able to make money on commissions. The system excludes those employees that have fewer sales per hour. Additionally, managers never said to their employees to work overtime but employees did and never got paid for it. The manager’s duty should be to prevent employees to work overtime, they should have been instructed not to work off the clock. This is a labor practice under which any employer should be penalized. Frequent turnover and employees that are under stress can’t really result in a productive and happy system. A company that makes such margins and one that posts so many years of record profits should value their sales force more than they do. Every employee should be paid for hours worked and also they should have incentives such as commission. In Nordstrom’s instance they should be able to still offer aggressive commissions and build sales force that can serve their loyal clientele, as customers are not loyal only to the company but to their sales person as well.
Specialty Medical Chemicals is a company founded in 1962 that specializes in a production of unique chemicals and chemical processes. The company has a new CEO Carl Burke who has been hired 4 months ago. The CEO wants to know his top management team better so he can lead the company in the right direction. He is full of energy and has high expectations of top management. The main goal of SMC CEO is to build new structure in the company, in the way that best fits his top management and also in the way that will allow for more growth and creating more value for the shareholders. To do this, Carl Burke hires an outsider, Laura Wells, psychologist, as an independent contractor. He expresses his concerns to Laura that mainly deal with competency issues of his top management. In order to know how to better manage his company he is quick at putting his top management under tests.
I am very much in favor of these tests, since they allow Carl to know his people and adjust his management style. In order to be productive and efficient the CEO needs to know his employees well. I am not sure why Carl waited so long. This type of assessment should have been done upon arrival as some time is wasted. This is a very good and fast way to get to know your people and find what their strengths and weaknesses are.
The above assessments used by Carl Burke can’t be taken so seriously. As a CEO one must be a good psychologist himself. As a CEO one is trusted to run a corporation and psychological assessments can’t be taken as they are. They should be used as a tool for getting to know your personnel but still the main assessment should be personal contact and work with your top management team. I believe that this assessment brought insecurity to SMC. When employees are exposed to such assessments they are feeling insecure and unmotivated them and creates environment that is not so productive.
Companies have the right to hire whomever they want and can screen applicants in any way they like. They can’t discriminate or should not. The Scotts Company took an approach that I can’t support. How far are we willing to go when it comes to controlling lives of others? What is next? Blood type tests, weight test, cholesterol test, HIV tests. If Scotts is taking this approach I wonder how many new hires are over 50. Hiring an older person can result in larger premiums as these employees are more likely to use their health benefits. In large organizations such as Scotts the risk is spread over and all employees are paying small share of increased cost. It is a shame that such a large company ignores other qualities that their applicant brings. The hiring process should be based on identifying qualities of an applicant and weaknesses such as smoking should be disregarded. Not hiring smokers will not decrease the cost. The cost is increasing due to many other issues not spoken off anywhere in this article. The cost of healthcare increases due to errors like one in Jessica’s Story, due to abuse of Medicaid system by uninsured. Hospitals and physicians pay millions of dollars every year in malpractice and this cost is passed on to a consumer. Also uninsured Americans are visiting emergency rooms since they can’t be denied healthcare at these due to laws. These uncovered expenses at ER are again passed on a consumer.
I think it is hard to compare coaches in sport and managers. It is true that managers should not be screaming and ridiculing employees. It is unethical to do so, creates a lot of distraction, kills motivations and discourages innovation. The working environment is very different and personalities are as well. Most people who have participated in any kind of sport on a semi-professional or professional level can say that coaches are screaming, intimidating, rude but the most important skill required from them is to run a team. Most players are used to this type of treatment. I think that coaches have to be screaming as this type of attitude brings energy in the system. One comparison that makes more sense is between a team captain and a manager. A captain makes all the decisions yet he/she has to be polite, respectful, motivating, passionate much like qualities everyone looks for in their managers.
I am very surprised that hospital errors occur in such complex procedures where even a slight mistake can result in a death. It is unacceptable and really sad what happened to this young girl. It makes me think how many more errors, organ and blood mismatches occur. There is definite need for more comprehensive information technology system that handles organs, tissue, blood types. One would think that Duke University Medical Center was capable of providing the latest in technology to support the quality patient’s demand. Even with such technology in place there is always a human error. Accidents like these should not occur and they are the cause of increasing health care costs. When error is made, lawyers capitalize on these. The cost of procedures goes up, as the cost is passed to consumers. This is one of the reasons why our healthcare bills are growing and our healthcare premiums rising.
After reading the case study about Southwest Airlines that was done by the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, I felt truly inspired and happy. The case examines the great success of Southwest Airlines that was contributed by human capital and corporate culture not found anywhere else. It is great to know that such a company exists, and I am envious of employees at Southwest Airlines. The airline has been a pioneer in the way they manage operations. It is not surprising that they are so successful since their competition is incompetent. In order to succeed one must evolve, and even though United and Continental have tried, they have failed. The reason for Southwest Airlines’ success is overall corporate culture. You cannot change corporate culture overnight without the right people. When Southwest was started some 30 years ago it was on track for success. The vision of CEO Herb Kelleher from the beginning was to make a difference in the airline industry. The vision was carried out every day and the right people were hired and trained. A foundation was built to last and carry the airlines to prosperity. It is not surprising that no other airline can compete with Southwest – the reasons are many. Low cost of airfares, point to point routes, short flying time, customer satisfaction and return policy are just a few reasons for their high competitiveness. In order to impress and keep the customer happy the company needs human capital that is willing to make that extra step. Greeting you with a smile, ensuring your flight is very comfortable and thrill free starts from the top. Happy managers make happy employees. The productivity of Southwest airlines is the evidence that you can be paid less than the competition and yet be more productive and more satisfied with your job. I like the quote by CEO Herb Kelleher, “You don’t have to surrender your individuality to work for Southwest Airlines”. In today’s world many people are judged by how they look and behave, and we are instructed to manage our impressions, but at Southwest this is not the case. The management wants employees to be happy, have fun at work and get the job done. Happy employees do wonders. I have flown on all airlines mentioned in this case and I am very disappointed by United and Continental, more so with United than with any other carrier. There was not a time when I flew with United that I did not experience some kind of issue. Baggage, delay, cancellation, missed connection, mechanical failures, over booking but above all unfriendly customer service representatives with all the above resulted in my total unhappiness with this airline. Whenever I flew with Continental I experienced better service but still not that of Southwest. One morning I was late for my flight and I was at the checkout counter just 10 minutes from the takeoff time when I was magically assisted by a Southwest employee. I did not expect that I would be able to board the plane. The customer service employee radioed the gate, took my bag and said let’s run to the gate. I arrived at the gate, boarded the plane and wondered what would happen with my luggage. A few minutes later I was in my seat when the flight attendant approached me and said, “Sir, I just want to tell you your bag has been checked in “. Instances like this make this airline special and even though they are a low-cost airline I feel like I am flying with the high-cost airline. Their strategy and success are unprecedented and I will continue to be a loyal customer.
Captain Denny Flanagan is a great example to all that work in service industry. Also he is an example to what customer service should be and how just one happy employee creates happy system. When customers are happy everyone is. He goes out of his way to treat each and every customer fairly and make them feel comfortable on they journey. I have flown with United Airlines many times and I have never experienced anything like this. I think this is not representative of this airline. I think that United should set their standards according to this pilot’s vision. Almost every time I have flown with United something went wrong so I would really love to fly on his plane. I think pilots should reassure their passengers that they are in the good hands by having a happy conversation. While in flight it would be great to announce every 10-15 minutes what the flight path is.
This story reminds me of many European small airlines. Since the competition is fierce in Europe, pilots, flight attendants and all staff are trying to go that extra mile and make passengers very happy. If I just had one flight on United that was like the one described I would be much happier with United Airlines than I am now.
Creating productive and happy workplace environment should be the goal of managers as well as employees. When faced with budget cuts, large tasks, stress at work and home, many employees tend to be less productive. That is why work-life balance is needed. Strict schedules, micro managing, stress are all ingredients for failure. In today’s global workplace invention and creativity are necessary in order for any company to sustain competitive advantage. When an employee is stress free and home life does not affect their performance at work, they are productive and create more benefits for the company. Many companies organize picnics, sporting events where employees and managers can engage into casual conversations. I think in order to have such a flexible work environment the company has to carefully screen applicants. Some people are not able to set their own deadlines. This could result in failures and even more micro managing. That is why few employees may spoil good times for many.
I also think that many traditional managers don’t believe that employees would be more productive at their job if they were not micro managed. The research has shown that companies with more flexible scheduling and better compensation create more benefits and are better at what they do. Very good example of this is Google.
Has anyone told you that you can’t do something or that you are not good at it? If they have, what did you do? Carol Dweck has done an extensive research on topics of personality and the role of belief in personality change. It is widely believed that our genes play a major role in our belief and personality but in this article Dweck disputes this hypotheses and explains why this is not accurate. Recent research has shown that personality is a part of genes and environment. The twins may be born with almost identical phenotype but if exposed to different environments may expose different personalities. Personality is formed over time with upbringing, experiences in life, family influence. Dweck suggest that “beliefs are central to the way in which people package their experiences and carry them forward”. This is the reason why everyone should be positively reinforced for their work. Giving praise to an employee results in one trying to do even better job. When person is challenged they will learn by overcoming this challenge. Many people create challenges for themselves but can’t see that this is a product of their belief.
Health Information Technology 