During this week, Lincoln Memorial University’s MBA students in MBA 595 will analyze top corporate organizations.
In this blog topic, Group C consisting of Willian Moura, Heidi O’Donnell, Nathan Mize, and Miguel Montoya will evaluate ‘Netflix.’
Group Members:Executive Summary
There certainly has been competition in the movie industry since the year 2000. As a matter of fact, it is what the business world would call high stakes drama.
As technology advanced and electronic devices were produced more economically and efficiently, they became available to mass consumers at a cost that most people could afford. Families across the globe fully indulged in the pleasurable pastime of move watching.
Through the years, as technology advanced, newer, bigger, better, products hit the market. No sooner would one company bring a product to the shelves then another new product would come out, TV screens were made bigger, Blue Ray and HDTV technologies came out, and people the world over were building video libraries.
Barriers to entry were low so new products and new companies were formed overnight, it seemed. As we will see, not everyone would survive in this competitive arena except those few that had a long-range vision and solid strategy.
During this week, Lincoln Memorial University’s MBA students in MBA 595 will analyze top corporate organizations.
In this blog topic, Group A consisting of Michael Berger, Chris Campbell, Zach Corder, and Paul Mundy will evaluate ‘Mystic Monk Coffee.’
Executive Summary
Mystic Monk Coffee is an organization that is owned and operated by Carmelite monks in Clark, Wyoming. It is the vision of Father Prior Daniel Mary to use Mystic Monk Coffee to one day be able to purchase a 500 acre monastery that could accommodate 30 monks, a church, convent for nuns, and a retreat center for visitors. 20112nd newsletter has managed to find a ranch that is listed for $8.9 million, and he hopes this will be the place that the Carmelites can call the new Mount Carmel, which is where the Carmelites first hermitage was established.
The thirteen monks that currently reside in Wyoming each have a particular job, and they are restrained in the time that they can devote to that job, because they lead a life devoted to prayer.
The roaster that they currently have limits roasting coffee beans to about 540 pounds a day, but demand hasn’t exceeded that limit. They currently plan to purchase a new roaster that roast 130-pounds per hour and cost $35,000. The land that they found available to purchase is found on Lake Irma Ranch and has everything that Father Mary has envisioned for the future of the Carmelites.
They are continually working on raising the money they need for the purchase and are asking for donations from those belonging to the Catholic Church. With a little time and some generous donations they may be able to realize their dream in the future.
During this week, Lincoln Memorial University’s MBA students in MBA 595 will analyze top corporate organizations.
In this blog topic, Group D consisting of Maria Paganelli, Angela Sebby, Phillip Singer, and Jessica Vick will evaluate ‘Nintendo.’
Executive Summary
Nintendo Company Ltd. was founded in 1889 in Kyoto, Japan, with playing cards and then expanded in 1969 as an electronic toys company. In 1981, Nintendo introduced the Donkey Kong and became well known in North America, Asia, and Europe.
After the launch of this game, the company became one of the top leaders of the video gaming industry by successfully launching different types of video game consoles and handheld game systems. Most of them were best-selling games which resulted in market success with sales surpassing millions units worldwide.
In 2006, Nintendo’s major introduction was the Wii, with its innovative wireless remote controllers; where players are able to hold the control and use his or her whole body as a controller. By being unique in its industry, it set out to market a game to a wide range of customers and demographics, which also resulted in additional impressive global top-selling sales (Gamble and Thomspon, 2011).
While a leader in gaming, Nintendo also has two strong competitors, Microsoft and Sony, which target a completely different set of demographics and concentrate on high technology graphics and skill levels.
In order to remain a strong contender in the industry, Nintendo has set out to widen its target markets instead of competing on the same level as its competitors.
My brother-in-law, Dr. Giorgos Kokkoris, is a professor at the University of the Aegean, on the island of Lesbos, Greece. Since his specialty is Mathematical Biology and Effects of Invader Species on Ecosystems, we frequently discuss issues related to invader species.
An invader species is one that does not normally belong in a habitat, but has been introduced there, either intentionally or unintentionally. The invader may have beneficial or detrimental impacts to that ecological community and can be either plant or animal.
One such example is kudzu. Kudzu was a plant native to Japan that was brought to the United States to control erosion; it ended up becoming a nuisance plant because it grew too well in the South. Many introductions of invader species are not intentional but still can cause great harm to the environment.
The invader species usually do not have predators and will eventually crowd out the native species, creating a loss of biological diversity in the habitat.
This is a global problem and can happen to any habitat in the world. Frequently when large ocean-going vessels leave a port with their bilge tank full of water from their port, and travel to an area of warmer water and dump their bilge tank water, they introduce invader species that can wreak havoc on the new ecosystem.
The Mediterranean is already having problems from overfishing. Dr. Kokkoris has proposed that certain areas near the coastlines be protected from commercial fishing so the fish population can recover. While this plan will help the fish population recover in a few years, what can we do about the invader species carried in ship bilge water?
Like kudzu, the fish that live in colder areas will thrive in the warmer Mediterranean waters and will either eat or displace the natural fish in the area. The situation presents a double whammy to the fisherman. He will not be able to catch any fish due to overfishing, and also will not have native fish due to invader species taking over their habitat. This is a significant impact on their livelihood.
So what can be done? Some countries are looking at regulations on bilge water, like sterilization of the bilge water before discharge, and other requirements. Sterilization by chlorine could also kill the local biota as it is discharged from the ship. Alternatives to chemical sterilization should be considered and become standard in the shipping industry.
How do such regulations get enforced? In Greece there are also regulations that the small sailboats not dump their wastewater into the sea near swimming areas, but some boaters do it anyway. People report it to the Port Police but there is not much they can do.
They say they have to rely on the boat operators to do the right thing. Many a time on my vacation I had to get out of the water until the waste dissipated. Who is going to police these large ships to see if they are doing the right thing?
Meanwhile, the standard practices of the shipping industry are creating a global issue and damaging the long-term environmental sustainability of the ocean ecosystem. This is not a short-term issue, like wastewater dumping, but can have long-term damage to the ecosystems. Don’t forget to factor in the other manmade pollution that is entering the ports from the land, and its additive detrimental effects to the ecosystem.
The U.S. and Canadian governments are trying to take action by requiring open ocean ballast water exchange (emptying the bilge tanks at sea), around 200 nautical miles off the coast, but what will this exchange do to the ecosystems in small areas of the open ocean? An inspection program and enforcement are also necessary to assure compliance with the requirements. Such measures have to be rigorous to maintain compliance.
As students, what can you do? You can be familiar with the global environmental issues and factor environmental sustainability into all your business decisions.
Please share your comments on this topic.
Elizabeth Phillips has over 30 years of Environmental Management experience. She has worked in private industry as a consultant and government contractor, Tennessee State Government as a regulator and the Department of Energy as a program and project manager. She has a B.S. in Geology from Vanderbilt University and she completed her M.S. in Environmental Engineering. She has participated in the Project Management Certification program and her current responsibilities include management of remediation projects at the Y-12 National Security Complex, and Program Manager for the Environmental Technology Development Program.
Elizabeth’s hobbies include volunteer work in science education, youth soccer, and community service programs. She has received the President’s Volunteer Service Award and the Secretary of Energy Community Service Award. She is the past President of the Oak Ridge Chapter of Women in Nuclear, Vice President for Programs of Federally Employed Women, Federal Women’s Program Manager, Science Club Coordinator for Bearden Elementary School, YWCA Board, AYSO Board, and currently serves as Secretary of the FBI Knoxville Citizen’s Academy Alumni Association. She is married and is a soccer mom to two children.
Any student can tell you I set high expectations for them, regardless of their backgrounds and college classifications. Yet, any time you ask some people to go beyond their comfort zone and stretch themselves a bit mentally, a professor is going to get some backlash.
Nevertheless, I designed a new final project called Real World Application based on one of the top tiered business schools. The objective was to provide students in my Operations Management course some practical applications from the course and assist local organizations with their problems. This is when I fully understood the challenges that many nonprofit organizations faced in this economic climate.
Most students selected private businesses while a few opted for nonprofit organizations. Noriko Chapman, the past guest blogger, got me involved more with her project since she complained she needed to do well in my course. Her project entailed assisting the Tennessee Vocational Rehabilitation Center (TRC’s), located in Maryville, to be more efficient and effective. TRC’s mission is to provide services that help lead individuals who have a physical and/or mental disability to employment and are designed to meet individual needs.
Her employer, DENSO, had been working to assist this nonprofit organization with a contract that allowed disabled workers to earn income. Her research helped TRC become more efficient. Noriko’s final project was the main inspiration for her new book, Second Chance: An In-depth Case Study on Nonprofit Organization’s Resource Allocation and Operational Maximization.
During the economic crisis this year, the organization nearly lost $72K from government funding. It was clear to me that nonprofits needed to get their act together and create more value to the sponsors and customers or face extinction.
With shrinking funds for programs and a more competitive environment, nonprofit organizations will need to rethink their corporate strategies for future success. In 2005, there will be approximately 1.4 million nonprofit organizations registered to the IRS.
The majority of nonprofits depend on volunteers at various levels. In fact, 74% of all public charities and 83% of all foundations are small; they have less than $500,000 in expenses and limited staff.
Nonprofit organizations are different from traditional organizations and require special considerations in their operations. Operations management (OM) has been a vital instrument in the pursuit of greater productivity in the business sector.
OM includes planning, coordinating, and executing all activities that create goods and services. Robert Jacobs, Richard Chase, and Nicholas Aquilano, authors of Operations & Supply Management, suggest that implementing OM assists organizations to be more competitive: “Compared with most of the other ways managers try to stimulate growth – technology investments, acquisitions, and major market campaigns, for example – innovations in operations are relatively reliable and low cost.” Today’s businesses have built elaborate systems for better efficiency and effectiveness. Yet, most nonprofits are forced to rely upon low-end technologies and outdated practices.
Demanding contributors and the public in general are demanding more accountable and efficiency after several high profile scandals. Nonprofit organizations are often influenced by their stakeholders that include clients, board of directors, committees, government officials, community leaders, staff, and volunteers.
However, most nonprofit organizations haven’t completely embraced this rigor due to various reasons (i.e. limited resources and the lack of knowledge). Yet, nonprofit organizations have a greater need for increased effectiveness in their processes during this economic crisis.
Describe your professional experiences with nonprofit sustainability issues.
On 3/11/2011, my younger son, Zane, and I were enjoying a beautiful early spring afternoon in Japan during our spring break. After strolling around the city of Kumamoto, we went back to my sister’s home where we were staying. As soon as my sister heard us come in the front door, she asked if we had heard the news about the earthquake that had just happened in the northern Japan.
“Oh no, a tsunami is taking over the Sendai airport!” she screamed.
My son and I rushed to the TV. We couldn’t believe what we were seeing live. There were people being washed away while still in their houses and cars. Houses and cars were on fire. Fishing villages were completely under water. Feeling helpless, we were afraid and shed many tears as we watched the natural disaster unfold.
How about my friend in Tokyo? Tokyo and Ibaragi, where the Narita International Airport is located, were the major cities directly affected by the earthquake. We saw people evacuating from buildings and rushing to the closest evacuation sites.
Is she safe? Where is she? I dialed her cell phone and home phone numbers, but received “out-of-order” messages. The telecommunication was out. It seemed that the whole nation was paralyzed and devastated. All the planes were rerouted to other airports rather than Narita, Haneda and others in the northern region.
How would our returning flight from Narita to the US in three days take place if the airport was temporarily closed? By watching the sad images on TV, we learned that the infrastructure damage was too severe in the north and east of Japan to recover and resume.
Water and power supplies, roads, and telecommunication were cut off at some point (and are still limited in certain areas). I soon remembered that many electronic components companies who supplied automotive components to our company were located in the area.
Some materials that were ready for departure could not be moved because air or ocean transportation was not operating. With this huge impact, I could only imagine that thousands of business properties and manufacturing sites would most likely be hopelessly damaged.
I wondered, will we soon see the parts supply shortage in the US, too? Manufacturing locations and warehouses wouldn’t be able to function right away. The parts inventory would be exhausted very soon. Will it be in two weeks or three weeks?
For two months after I returned to the US, my work days were consumed by evaluating and trying to restore the global supply chain as quickly as possible. More than 20,000 innocent people’s lives were lost in the Japan earthquake and tsunami. 4000 more people are still missing.
The disaster also tested the vulnerability of the global economy affected by the major disaster and left us with many questions on how we can best prepare for unexpected catastrophes. One isolated country’s disaster can have huge impact on the global economy. Recently, we’ve seen where hurricanes, tornados, floods, wildfires, and ice storms have affected the local or global economy.
How can future managers establish effective risk management to prepare and find the best investment options and alternative ways to maintain operations without interruptions?
Noriko Chapman, who is a native of Japan, is an international traveler and a role model to millions of women looking to overcome extreme obstacles in life. She is a production control supervisor for DENSO Manufacturing (TN). A mother of two, she has over 16 years of experience in the automobile industry and is a cancer survivor. She is also a Lincoln Memorial University MBA student. Noriko led a successful campaign to assist the Tennessee Rehabilitation Center (TRC), which works with disabled adults to secure employment, with securing its government funding of $72 K. Her new book, Second Chance, was inspired by the TRC. For more information, you can visit her on Facebook.com.
Americans are increasingly worried and cynical of today’s leaders. Traditional institutions are losing favor, leaving citizens unable to trust their neighbors, churches, and government.
Additionally, America has a history of unethical behavior by leaders. The private sector has been riddled with tons of examples (i.e. Enron, Exxon, etc.) of unethical behavior on Wall Street. Furthermore, political parties market family values and personal integrity like they are selling used automobiles.
In the quest for power and their own personal ambition, many government officials have been drawn to deadly vices that have led to their personal self-destruction. Graham Tomblin, The Seven Deadly Sins, notes this natural selfish behavior has destroyed families, friendships, happiness, and peace of mind.
These moral break downs can seep into other factions of the political landscape. For example, in 1998, the media reported the sexual exploits of Democratic President Bill Clinton with Monica Lewinsky. However, political scandals are nothing new for the federal government. During the months of May to August of 2007, Republican President Ronald Reagan’s administration was suspected of trading weapons for hostages in the Iran-Contra hearings.
This topic explores the American political environment and how amoral behavior associated with ‘seven-deadly sins’ impact contemporary organizational culture. For this discussion, we evaluate Congressman Mark Foley’s scandal. Foley was a Florida congressman, who was reported to have sent sexually explicit emails to male pages who were high school students.
He abruptly resigned on September 29, 2006, which set-off a political landmine. House Republicans had to do damage control, whileDemocrats went on the attack. Some Democrats claimed that some House leaders knew for months of Foley’s inappropriate behavior. House SpeakerDennis Hastert found himself on the political hot seat. Hastert declared he knew nothing about Foley’s actions, but others disagreed with his proclamation. Hastert continued his claim of innocence as he asked the JusticeDepartment to investigate this matter.
Because of Foley’s resignation, he couldn’t be punished by his peers. Foley also apologized publicly, sought treatment for his alcoholic addicted, and pointed to a childhood abuse experience by a priest as a cause of his problem. Once again, Americans were asked to address another ethical issue among government officials.
In many cases, unethical decisions made by individuals who allow their ethical principles to influence their decision-making, led to laws being broken or the compromise of organizational values. Moral principles, values, or beliefs about what is “right” or “wrong” are known as ethics.
Consequently, individuals who make decisions outside of the organization’s values sustain their moral principles internally. Ethics and organizational culture can impact the success of an organization. In fact, ethical behavior is directly related to culture.
In the long-term, unethical behavior impacts an organizations ability to function effectively. Employees watch what leaders do more than what they say. Therefore, organizations that want to sustain future success must pay attention to their ethical behavior, at all levels.
Describe your professional experiences with ethical behavior by executives as well as others in the organization. Discuss what can be done to instill good ethical behavior throughout the organization
Last night I was reviewing the Design School Boot Camp Bootleg, an interesting document put out by the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford. In the opening of the 36-page PDF is the “Design Mindset” or “D. Mindset” (supposedly because everything looks cooler when you shorten a word to one letter and add a period). As I read them again, I started to wonder if they couldn’t also apply to leaders. The D. Mindsets are as follows, with my leadership commentary below:
Show, don’t tell
We all know how frustrating it is to receive “orders” from a leader who is solely focused don telling, especially if what we need is to see the action, behavior of value from the leader first before engaging in it ourselves.
Create Clarity from Complexity
Much of the role of leadership is sense-making, reducing the complex system they view to a tangible action or behavior that followers need to understand. Leaders make sense.
Be Mindful of Process
While making sense of complexity for followers, leaders also have to juggle their attention on the overall process of their objective. In addition, leaders need to know that their development and the development of their followers is a process.
Collaborate across boundaries
In most organizations, the leaders who get things done are often those who step outside the lines of hierarchy to do so. Collaboration is becoming increasingly more vital…and that doesn’t even consider the effects of globalization.
Take Bias toward actions
In the end, leaders influence others toward action. Leaders who can get to that action the quickest (with sufficient background knowledge) are of distinct advantage.
Get experimental, and experiential
As the literature on innovation grows, our understanding of the need to experiment grows with it. Leaders need to let followers experiment, and experiment themselves. In addition, leaders ought to consider the experience of what it is like to work on their team and build a positive experience.
Focus on human values
I’d love to think this one is obvious, but many “tactical” or “transactional” leaders are focused on accomplishing the objective first and appealing to human values second. While this may work in the short-term, it is not sustainable.
Seven mindsets billed as required for engaging in proper design. Still, I can’t help but wonder if they ought to be re-billed as the “L. Mindsets.
Please provide comments or feedback to our guest blogger.
David Burkus is the editor of LeaderLab, a community of resources dedicated to promoting the practice of leadership theory. He is a consultant, a speaker and an adjunct professor of business at several universities. David focuses on developing leaders putting leadership and organizational theory into practice.
David is a graduate of Oral Roberts University and holds a Master of Arts in Organizational Dynamics from the University of Oklahoma. David is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Strategic Leadership from Regent University. He can be reached at david@davidburkus.com.
As we look at the number of underemployed Gen Yers in our nation, it’s easy to understand how they might be discouraged about their future employment. How do today’s leaders inspire the next generation of employees? I don’t think it will be solved with the status quo.
In fact, employees are looking to follow a special type of leader in the future. In the 21st century, leaders who have the capacity for caring become an inspirational magnet to employees. Most managers don’t care about the personal welfare of their workers.
Furthermore, many managers do not understand how to care and love their employees. I’m not talking about sexual harassment or inappropriate conduct. I’m talking about a leader with a genuine concern about the growth and well being of his or her employees. Therefore, this relationship goes beyond this manager’s own self interest. Contemporary organizations simply do not have sincere affection for their employees.
Unfortunately, some managers view their employees like any other business commodity (like a computer, fax, or cell phone). Jeffrey Pfeffer, author of the Human Equation, notes that today’s conventional wisdom holds that the way to economic success is to cut costs. This simply means cutting people. A company may be concerned on a very superficial level as in “how are you doing today,” but don’t feel a sense of caring for its employees.
If organizations hope to sustain any success in the future with the next generation of employees, managers will need to make a giant paradigm shift. Dr. Bruce Winston, my former dean and a leadership guru, advocates the need for more caring leaders.
Leadership is about giving, not taking. It’s more than just being the boss. John Hoyle, author of Leadership and Futuring, suggests three characteristics of this new leadership model. These characteristics include the following: (a) ability to communicate with followers, especially the organizational vision; (b) a capacity for caring and concern; and (c) a persistent attitude. Many leaders operate under a very authoritarian mode.
Sadly, the lack of concern for people is a growing issue for effective organizations. It also creates an unproductive work environment for employee development. What America needs is more people-focused leaders. If leaders are truly concerned about their employees, then the workforce will be transformed into a 21st century organization, thereby changing the world. However, it must start with a different leadership model.
Describe your professional and personal experiences with this new leadership model (concerned & involved leadership).
Steve Jobs, Apple’s Founder and Legendary Innovator, announced he would resign from his CEO post several weeks ago. Jobs co-founded Apple in 1976. Many people would consider Jobs a visionary leader. Tim Cook, who had been Apple’s chief operating officer, was named acting CEO.
Cook is quite familiar with this position. Since January, Cook has been acting CEO due to Jobs’ medical leave. Jobs’ absence for the company could mean more financial trouble for Apple. To shareholders and investors, it’s déjà all over again. Jobs has been battling a series of illnesses (i.e. battling cancer, a liver transplant, etc.) that have forced him to take medical leave three times in seven years.
A good vision, clearly communicated, can propel an organization into high performance. In fact, a well constructed vision has several advantages, including (a) it captures senior executives own views about the long-term direction of the organization, (b) it reduces the risk of careless decision making by managers at all levels, (c) it builds support from employees at all levels and help convey a shared vision, and (d) it helps an organization prepare for the future.
John Gamble and Arthur Thompson, authors of Essentials of Strategic Management, argue the staying power of a good vision: “An engaging and convincing strategic vision has enormous motivational value – for the same reason that a stone mason is inspired by building a great cathedral for the ages.”
Who will be the next master mason for Apple? Jobs had to come out of retirement in 1997 (a 12 year hiatus) before to rescue the struggling company. With Jobs at the helm, Apple began making its creative presences heard with iPhones, iPads, and iPads.
In fact, what separated Jobs from the rest of the CEO pact was his keen strategic mind and vision. Columnist Margaret Heffernan noted the shear persona of visionary leadership: “It was because, at the beginning of the century, Jobs had put in place a product plan aimed at one great external future event: the moment that broadband penetration in the U.S. exceeded 50%. Once that occurred, digital entertainment became technically and commercially feasible.” Many will predict the demise of Apple once Jobs is finally gone.
Why? Steve Jobs is Apple. Cross Research analyst Shannon Cross observed about Jobs’ impact on Apple, “Steve Jobs put in place at Apple a culture of innovation.” Yet, many organizations will find themselves in a similar situation when their visionary founder is no longer a part of the organization.
How does an organization sustain a solid vision when the founding or inspirational figure is no longer communicating that vision to the organization?
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