Kerzner office Equipment Research

Running Head: KERZNER OFFICE EQUIPMENT RESEARCH

Kerzner Office Equipment Research

By

Learning Team-A

Strategic Implementation and Alignment MBA/590

University of Phoenix

Introduction- Meena Sundararaman

Key Course Concepts

The two concepts identified with the La-Z-Boy and the Mattson Corporation benchmarking are creating an effective shared vision and the two stages of the Team Development model, forming and storming.

The two concepts identified with the companies I chose are: Leading by Example and Recruiting Members. A highly visible, interactive management style is not only essential to building and sustaining cooperative relationships, it also allows project managers to utilize their most powerful leadership tool – their own behavior (Gray & Larson, 2006). Both Baptist Health and ACUITY demonstrate Leading by Example as well as Recruiting Members to look for individuals with the necessary experience and knowledge/technical skills critical for project completion (Gray & Larson, 2006).

Management by wandering around (MBWA) is crucial factor in building social network. The Hewlett Packard CEO, Mark Hurd, encourages their manager to spend more time in face-to-face interaction with employees. The face-to-face interaction makes the manager to be able to stay in touch with employees and motivates them to build a cooperative relationship. (Gray & Larson, 2005. ch.10, p.321)The reason for increase in employee morale at Hewlett Packard is mainly due to the managers close interaction with the employees. The MBWA establish a clear communication flow throughout the organizational structure. The Southwest Airlines is well-known for its relationship with employees. The role of an effective project manager is to build a cooperative relationship with different groups of people. The Southwest airlines employee policies reflect the personal related-currencies method where they offer benefits and positive working environment. The personal-related currency deals with individual needs and an overriding sense of self-esteem. (Gray & Larson, 2005. ch.10, p.319)

Compare and Contrast

In the Mattson Corporation benchmarked research, three different teams were set up to come up with the ultimate cookie. One of the teams was called the Dream team, because it consisted of 15 highly skilled individuals from across the country. Everyone believed that the Dream team would create the ultimate cookie, however, during the forming stage, this team did not cover all the basis to being an efficient team. The Dream team ended up getting stuck in the storming stage. In this stage, “there is conflict over who will control the group and how decisions will be made,” (Gray & Larson, 2005). Amber Briggs did not cover the basis during her forming stage and this will cause much internal conflict if she does not properly fixed the problem soon.

La-Z-Boy of Utah initiated a big change in the company by deciding to become more environmentally friendly. The management team understood that they would need the support of all the employees if this new initiative was to flourish. As stated by the effective vision model, “there appear to be four essential qualities of an effective vision” (Gray & Larson, 2005), proper communication, realistic goals, management needs to believe in the vision and this vision needs to be an inspiration for others. The team decided to train all the company’s employees regarding this new program. This training helped set an effective vision to all employees. Briggs needs to follow the example of La-Z-Boy and instill an effective vision to her team.

Both Baptist Health and ACUITY, an insurance underwriting company, are two companies that have overcome poor morale and a high turnover rate only to become leaders in employee and customer satisfaction. Like Kerzer Office Equipment, these companies went through a series of layoffs that in turn resulted in low employee morale. These companies, just like Kerzner, welcomed the idea of employee participation that involved a recruitment process of recruiting members, as well as redesigning operations around the concept of self-managing teams to turn their companies around for the better.

Hewlett