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Question

Note: Please do not attempt to solve if you cannot fulfill all the requirements of this assignment.

Comprehensive Case Study

Assignment Description:

This assignment introduces a “real-time” aspect in case analysis by requiring that students use a current business situation as the basis for their learning. You will be actively engaged in creating your own case study within the context of your real-world experiences. You will find that problem-based case development heightens the recognition that there are no pre-determined "correct" answers in most authentic business scenarios; however, it heightens the recognition of issues and potential solutions.

Empowering you to create solutions to your own case study not only increases your motivation and engagement in learning but also, for a moment in time, gives you the potential to have an observable and measurable impact on your employer without the associated risks. However, if your business situation experience becomes “reality” revisited for some future employer, then you have, perhaps, a number of potential solutions!

There is no minimum number of pages for this assignment, quality and completeness are metrics that will be used by me in assessing your work.

Course/Problematic Situation Matching

Identify a problematic situation that you have or are currently experiencing at work and recreate the problematic situation with as much detail as you can recall as the first step in your learning experience.

If you find it easier to recreate the details of your problematic situation using the names of real people, events, documents, and companies, please make sure that you change all names, at the appropriate time defined by you, so that anonymity is assured. Anonymity MUST be assured when you finalize your Case Scenario below.

From Problematic Situation to Case Scenario

Identify the major topic(s) of your Operations Management course your problematic situation focuses on in the context for your learning.

Rewrite your problematic situation as a case study by beginning your narration with the major OM areas behind the situation in your case. Once your opening statement of your case scenario is completed, complete your case scenario with the details of your problematic situation created above. Please make sure that all names, events, documents, and companies are hypothetical.

With your case scenario, your goal, now, is to achieve a deeper understanding of the problem(s) raised in your case. To accomplish this, you begin with a problem analysis.

Problem Analysis

Based on the facts presented in your case, create 3-4 questions that you feel need to be asked to help solve the problems generated in your case scenario. These generally are initiated by assumptions you make after reading your case scenario. One suggestion is to have your friends read your case, ask them what they perceive to be the problems/issues, and what questions would they ask that would help towards solving those problems/issues. For example, one question could be, “What conditions must be met to reach an acceptable resolution?”

Finalize and prioritize your questions, which become an essential component of your case scenario.

You are now in a position of building solutions and your reflective learning skills.

Building and Implementing Solutions

Review primary source documents, Internet sites and search results, and content-related periodicals and books to answer your case scenario questions.

As in the business world, your research stops when you have enough information to begin proposing solutions. This may include identifying gaps and addressing missing information or perspectives.

Now, it's time to decide what solution(s) you will propose that addresses your case scenario problems and questions. Please review and evaluate why you chose the solution you did in your case. In essence, explain the reasoning behind your identified problem and solution(s).

Next, although not all-inclusive,

Evaluate which, if any, your proposed solutions might be implemented by your former or current employer to address their problematic situation(s);

Determine how you could have been involved in your solution’s implementation;

Recommend changes in company policies, organization and/or department culture, attitudes, etc.; and

How your employer should address future problematic situations

Other?

Include APA in-text citations in supporting the ideas of others, where appropriate

Reflective Learning

Reflect on what you have learned and how did your case scenario support your learning?

Explanation / Answer

We are in a very competitive economic environment today largely due to the massive impact of communication technology putting the world at our fingertips. In this scenario most of the successful brands and large organizations worldwide are creating fresh milestones in leadership excellence and over the top management, a no bars no boundaries mindset and out of the box thinking has taken business management to an altogether different sphere. Hence, most managements are very much aware of the need to carry the team along with the organization to achieve its core goals of maximization of profits and global growth. They do not want to handle crises within the organization when they have so many to handle externally. Therefore, a leader should have the ability to promote harmony and avert or manage crises effectively internally and externally. I had an opportunity to accomplish this within my project management team in the below example.

Strategic means related to strategy in other words it is the identification of overall aims and the means to be adopted for achieving them. It consists of devising a plan for achievement of specific goals and following through with perfect implementation of the plan together with adequate control measures to ensure the goal is achieved. Actually, what finally matters is always the goal. Strategic leadership and management both emulate these basic features of strategizing within their jobs. So, a strategic leader whether at top, middle or department level needs to absolutely understand and be attuned to the objectives to be achieved, the plan for the same and how they will manage the people and processes to derive optimal results and what control measures they will implement to ensure success. A leader has to motivate his entire team through performance and maintain a human element through inclusion and encouragement for each individual to explore their talents and excel. I have absolute belief that strategy is the most important management tool at the disposal of leaders for successful achievement of goals, and also to exceed expectations. Lack of a well formulated strategy to lead and motivate others towards achievement of goals as a unified team, is sure to lead to failure or average results at best. It is like going on a treasure hunt without a map. I utilized this strategy to the maximum with absolute focus on the goal.

Transactional leadership style which consists of extensive focus on the operations, as the name suggests. These leaders are extensively involved in the supervision, monitoring and control of the performances of individuals, groups and the organization as a whole. The entire planning implementation and management of the organization is based on this style. The goals are identified, the plans are laid out for the strategy to achieve them, the jobs allocated, and all the employees and departments at every level are monitored and controlled, through either reward or punishment towards achievement of the goals. These leaders follow the path goal theory absolutely true fixing a goal planning a path towards the goal and through rigid control measures, control and fix deviations from the path swiftly and efficiently. This kind of leadership style is not suitable for adhocratic or other dynamic structures, as it is not comfortable with making changes and prefers analyzing existing efficiency and implementing measures to enhance output. This type of leadership is more effective in organizations that are not in initial stages of development and requiring constant change and achievement of results within chaos. It is suitable for organizations which have achieved most of them goals and apparently in the stage of sustenance true continuing standardized practices which have been in operation for long periods and generated optimal results. Transactional leaders utilize the carrot and stick approach to optimize performances as well as to extract loyalty. This is the type of leader I was on my first leadership role of project manager. However, on later analysis I realized that it was too autocratic an approach and switched to a mix of transformational along with transactional, halfway through the project.

Transformational leadership is a contrast to transactional leadership, in the sense that, it is highly proactive and focuses on achievement of goals through motivation of the employees and Organization as a whole. This is a dynamic form of leadership and proposed to implement constant changes within the organization, through introduction of new ideas, as well as, dynamic analysis of the goals and the plans set to achieve them, with implementation of changes within them whenever and wherever required. This dynamic approach believes in motivating every individual and group to achieve personal goals through excellence in performance. This is the form of leadership embodies change and encourages individual growth is everything in developing future leaders. The goal of the organization is projected as the goal of every individual as inclusive management is a hallmark of this leadership style. As a result entire organization operates as one and becomes motivated to achieve organizational goals as part of personal goals because an individual grows along with the organization and relationship between the organization and the workers is cooperative and the growth of one simultaneously benefits the other. Such leaders always lead both from the front and from within, meaning they represent all the required leadership qualities, they exemplify leadership by themselves being super achievers and motivate the rest to follow by example. Thus, it promotes an environment of growth and learning within the organization which mimics growth for the organization externally. This leadership is extremely popular presently and works well in organizational structures such as adhocratic and market.

Interpersonal skills are one of the most important life skills that are required for achieving success in both professional and personal life, but a mandatory skill set for effective leadership. A lot of our success depends upon inherent ability to communicate effectively rather than extensively, as this is very essential to solving problems as well as finding solutions to overcome the numerous obstacles that we encounter in our personal and professional lives. Interpersonal skills do not only consist of verbal communication but communication and understanding of every type physical, emotional and mental.

Having excellent verbal communication skills, that is, being able to clearly express verbally our thoughts to ensure that the communication is effective. For this communication to be effective it is important that we have adequate listening skills which becomes input for our verbal output. If we are unable to process the input correctly the output will definitely be imperfect. This also includes all non-verbal communication which is through body language, tone of voice, our facial expressions and our attention.

Empathy is an essential interpersonal skill which enables us to not only interpret and understand communication from others but also analyze the situation perfectly by putting ourselves in another’s place. It is very different from sympathy and denotes superior emotional intelligence the ability to understand and manage not only our own but the others emotions also. This also helps in the resolution of conflicts which may be personal or within the group in a positive manner true empathizing with both sides and assisting them through presenting the issue from the others viewpoint. Another skill set which is very important is the ability to operate within the group as a team true development of adequate analytical skills which may require working together with other group members and being able to view a problem through various angles and promote consensus on the solution. To achieve this we require adequate skills to influence the decision of others through assertiveness, as well as, persuasion. The same skills also serve as a great tool for negotiation when applied as a whole. Therefore, it is clear that, interpersonal skills are a major requirement for achievement of success within an organization, as well as, in every relationship personal or professional. It is an essential part of our personality and it is personally important to have excellent interpersonal skills to ensure we are able to fulfill leadership role and responsibility optimally.

I had the opportunity of leading a team for a data conversion project which had to maintain extreme quality along with very strict deadlines. The project was an exceptionally tough one requiring very strict controls and discipline within the team. Considering that I was managing the team, it was not an easy task but I learnt a lot about interpersonal skills, handling diverse individuals, controlling situations and overcoming numerous obstacles. In short, it may not have been the most pleasant job and experience in my professional life, but it was definitely one which taught me a lot. I was exhilarated at being selected for managing such an important project as it was the perfect opportunity to exhibit my leadership skills along with managerial talent. It extracted the best from me and I somehow rose above all expectations by achieving excellent results on an impossible project. This taught me that expectations are mostly very different from reality, given the fact, that it seemed like a very simple and challenging task but proved to be an obstacle race.

The importance of having a strategic plan in place to achieve targets was realized at this point and I drew up a plan to address all the problems. A flexible plan listing each problem and solution was drawn up with the involvement of few members from each group.

This was by far my most memorable leadership experience as it was a huge learning experience, the absolute toughness of the job honed my leadership skills making me adaptive. as well as, dynamic.

Leadership and strategy in quality management

Leadership is an important element of Total Quality Management and it successful implementation, as is the case with every area of an organization. Without effective leadership total quality management cannot be successful. Total quality management provides all the principles required to be implemented within the framework of an organization to ensure optimal output from every department concerned. However for these principles to be put into action a dynamic and exemplary leadership is mandatory. For effectiveness of quality management a leader requires to create a very positive environment within the organization which facilities and welcomes positive changes. It also requires a leader to understand that inclusive management is a major requirement for achieving quality goals. Any leader to be effective, has to lead by example, by being a proactive rather than a reactive leader and also exhibit his skills and capabilities by ensuring his every action is backed by due diligence and analysis of the market and the sector. It is also required that a leader managing total quality management and its implementation have a perfect strategy in place, in order to ensure, that the aim of the implementation of TQM is clear, as also the means of achieving it. All organizational leaders need to understand requirement for mastering every aspect of the total quality management puzzle to stay on top of the game.

Kotter's dimensions are a comprehensive amalgamation of the qualities and methodologies which contribute to the success of leaders, enabling them to guide organizations through change along with successful execution of their strategies, ensuring exceptional results for the organization.

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