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AN INTRODUCTION TO DIFFERENTIATED LEARNING TOOLS
Participants in flexible learning programs have limitations on the nature of the time they can spend on learning. Typically they are employed fully or partially, pursuing higher studies or have other social and familial responsibilities. Availability of time is a great constraint to these students.
To aid the participants, we have developed four unique learning tools as below:
- Bullet Notes : Helps in introducing the important concepts in each unit
of curriculum, equip the student during preparation of examinations and
- Case Studies : Illustrate the concepts through real life experiences
- Workbook : Helps absorption of learning through questions based on real life nuggets
- PEP Notes :Sharing notes of practices and experiences in the Industry will help the student to rightly perceive and get inspired to learn concepts at the cutting edge application level.placementinterviews
| Why are these needed? | · Adults learn differently from B. School or college going |
| students who spend long hours at campus. | |
| · Enhancing analytical skills through application related learning | |
| kits trigger experiential learning | |
| · Availability of time is a challenge. | |
| · Career success increasingly depends on continuous learning | |
| and success |
What· makes it relevant?
·
How· is it useful?
·
·
Where· does this lead to?
- Easier to move ahead in the learning process.
- Will facilitate the student to complete the program earlier than otherwise.Helpsstay motivated and connected.
When· is it useful?
·
Case Studies:
Business Communication and
Soft Skills
- The ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education (IFHE), Hyderabad, May, 2015. All rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a spread sheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise – without prior permission in writing from The ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education (IFHE), Hyderabad.
Ref. No. BC&SS, CS-IFHE – 052015
For any clarification regarding this book, the students may please write to The ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education (IFHE), Hyderabad giving the above reference number of this book specifying chapter and page number.
While every possible care has been taken in type-setting and printing this book, The ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education (IFHE), Hyderabad welcomes suggestions from students for improvement in future editions.
ii
CONTENTS
iii
Introduction to the Case Study
Participants in ICFAI University Programs are eager to apply theory into practice. They realize that application orientation can enhance their learning and subsequent usage of management precepts and practices. Picking out the principle behind real world events is critical to this learning.
To fulfil this objective the institution has introduced the Case Study methodology as a learning tool. A one page case is developed for learning a concept/topic from an illustration of a real world occurrence. The case illustrates a situation pertinent to an individual/a company/an industry or an economy in relation to a concept or issue covered in the curriculum. The illustration is specific to the point being discussed.
The case depicts the knowledge which can be applied as illustrated in the practice of the real world. These experiences can be distilled to look at a core principle at play by the participant. While there could be multiple principles at play, the illustration of each case helps in its better understanding of the concept at a very fundamental level.
The learning outcomes expected are:
- Real world is illustrated and connected back to one concept/topic for better theoretical understanding.
- Application based approach, which significantly enhances absorption and retention.
- Exposure to specific business situations and developments improves perspective.
It may be used for Assessment.
iv
| 1 | Open Communication Culture at Avery Dennison | ||
Avery Dennison, a Fortune 500 company based in Glendale, California began its operations in 1935. The
company, a global leader in labelling and packaging materials and solutions registered sales worth $6.3 billion in 2014. The company‘s applications and solutions form an integral part of products in everyindustry. The company‘s 30000 employees were based in 50 countries.
Heather Rim, Vice-President and Kristin Wong, Senior Specialist, Global Corporate Communications
initiated an innovative program for ideas to originate internally. Rim and her Internal Communication (IC) team had introduced a ‗Peer Ambassador‘ program to improve employee engagement wherein opportunities
were provided to employees to participate more during town hall meetings and convey ideas to their peer
ambassadors. An overwhelming response was observed with 85% of the employees speaking regularly to their ambassadors. The IC team then brought forth ‗The Beat: A Reverse Ambassador Program‘ to exploit
power of the ambassadors (The Beats). The Beats would converge once in a month to take part in the
‗Mission‘ and give feedback of one of the business units or functions to the Clients. The Clients would work on the feedback of the Beats, conduct polls one or two times (‗Quick Takes‘) of 60 seconds to further
develop the initiative.
Rim and Wong worked hard to ensure the Beat Members were involved in suggesting strategic initiatives.
The Clients were asked to fill a ‗Project Request Form‘ and work on the ‗Mission‘ which would impact Avery Dennison‘s goals and objectives. Wong sent out Missions on the 15th of every month and Members
were given 48 hours to 2-weeks to think of new initiatives and convey to their peer ambassadors. The peer
ambassadors submitted the new proposals to the Clients who worked on it and regularly updated their decisions in the ‗Feedback Blog Post‘. In this way, the Beat Members knew how their ideas were adding value to the organization. In Rim‘s words it ―is about shaping the future of the company, challenging conventional wisdom,. And delivering business value.‖
The IC team took care to ensure that the program was not forced on the employees and innovative value
propositions were appreciated. The Beat helped in global networking among its employees, to assess new initiatives and had the prospect to ‗Be Heard‘. The employee needed to invest only two hours per month and
the leaders would convert unique ideas into strategies, identify drawbacks and encourage employee engagement. The IC team was extremely successful in its first three Missions: Validating the goals of Avery Dennison Foundation, Sourcing content for Avery Dennison Employer brand, and Obtaining feedback on key Financial Objectives.
The IC team also wanted the Beat to cover every employee. They teamed up with the HR department and maintained a record of which business, function and location each Beat member belongs to. This also aided the Clients to focus on the opinions of a specific segment of the employee base. The Beat was run digitally through intranet and only 1/3rd of the employees were covered. It consulted the other 2/3rd of the employees who were unwired like factory workers through live offline meetings. The Beat had covered employees from the level of Administrative Assistants to Vice-presidents.
The Senior Leadership had appreciated the program and started a video blog to develop the relationship between the outspoken employees and the management. The Beat had proved in more ways like the management decisions were supported and accepted by the employees since they were involved in the idea-generation, easier to course-correct if any pitfalls by the collaboration of influential leaders and highly energetic participants. The initial cost of the program was $10000 which went in developing the web page in the intranet and a video. The IC team spent 20% of their team to the program. The result was that 100% felt that their voices were being heard and the Beat had created an open-communication platform and culture at Avery Dennison office.
‘Effective communication’ within an organization helps in fulfilling the organizational needs, improvesemployee engagement and contributes significantly to organization and the employee growth. Avery Dennison has initiated the Beat program which has evolved further to meet the organization needs and provide the best creative solutions.
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Discussion Questions
- Why should companies adopt an internal communication program?
(Hints: effective interaction among employees – employee engagement – management practices)
- How did the Beat program improve employee engagement at Avery Dennison?
(Hints: value propositions – communication culture and gap between leaders and employees)
Course Reference: Concept- The importance of communication /Unit 1-Fundamentals of Communication/Subject-Business Communication and Soft Skills
Sources:
- Heather Rim and Kristin Wong, “Connecting employees to leaders through brand ambassadors at Avery
Dennison”, www.melcrum.com, Nov/Dec 2012
- “The Big picture”, www.averydennison.com
- Kristin Wong, www.linkedin.com
Other Keywords: Business Communication, External and Internal Communication, Marketing Communication, OB
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| 2 | IPad2 launch by Steve Jobs | ||
Apple Inc, an American multinational located in Cupertino, California was involved in designing, developing and marketing consumer electronics and computer software like iPhone, iPad, iCloud, and iTunes. The company disclosed record quarterly revenue of $74.6 million for its fiscal 2015 first quarter on December 27, 2014. As per Forbes list of most valuable brands, Apple stood first. Apple with 80000 employees was the first US Company to be valued at $700 billion in 2014
Apple recorded a sale of 15 million iPads in 9 months with a staggering 90% market share in 2010. Meanwhile Steve Jobs took an indefinite medical leave in January 2011, after a relapse of cancer, which was first diagnosed in 2004. It was a pleasant surprise when Steve Jobs rose on the stage to launch the second generation of iPad: iPad2 in March 2011. The presence of a frail and thin Steve Jobs during the launch
instantly enhanced the stock price by 1%, i.e., by $3. He was given a standing ovation by the executives and industry‘s prominent persons at the Yerba Buena Centre in San Francisco.
Steve Jobs, one of the greatest management gurus, was very well known for his exemplary presentation skills, audience connect and the passion with which he launched Apple‘s products. But body language
experts observed that Steve Jobs was not his usual self during the launch of iPad2. Though the passion was very much visible, his facial expressions showed the pain he was facing. Observations of Steve Jobs body language during iPad2 launch:
- During his 9-minute presentation, 17 times Steve Jobs held his hands at the back – which indicated that he was hiding something.
- Hands in ball formation – denoted that he was still interested in developing new gadgets and was unable to control his creativity impulses.
- Frequently looking down and a serious facial expression – traditionally unobserved in his earlier presentations, indicated the effort being made to speak and enthuse the public and trying to withhold his discomfort and loss of energy.
Usually Steve Jobs used expansive hand gestures like outstretched hands, emblems and illustrators. His minimal upper body gestures and hands tied at the back, stressful facial expressions and deep sad eyes signaled that Jobs was trying to conceal his disease, felt uneasy and apprehensive. Steve Jobs expired on October 5, 2011, barely six months after the launch of iPad2.
‘Nonverbal communication’ primarily conveys emotions and attitudes. They can contradict, substitute,emphasize or regulate verbal messages. In this case, we observe that Steve Jobs, who is renowned for his presentation skills, depicting his infrequent gestures during the launch of iPad2.
Discussion Questions
- What are the characteristics of nonverbal communication?
(Hints: communicate emotions – attitudes – continuous – ambiguous – regulate – reliable)
- Explain the change in kinesics in Steve Jobs during the launch of iPad2.
(Hints: hand movements – facial expressions – posture – gestures – regulators – illustrators – eyes)
Course Reference: Concept- Kinesics /Unit 2-Nonverbal Communication/Subject-Business Communication and SoftSkills
Sources:
- Carol Kinsey Goman, “The Gesture that gave away Steve Jobs”, www.forbes.com, March 2011
- Cory Bortnicker, “What Steve Jobs‟ body language means for Apple Stock”, www.minyanville.com, March 2011
- Penny Goldsbrough, “The Baseline in Body Language”, www.goldsbrough.biz, March 2011
- Charles Arthur, “iPad2 announcement: Steve Jobs launches updated tablet”, www.theguardian.com, March2011
- “Apple Info „, www.apple.com
- “Apple Market Cap, www.forbes.com, April 2014
- http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/mar/02/ipad-apple
Other Keywords: Nonverbal communication, kinesics, Marketing Communication, HRM
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| 3 | Social Relationship Management through Listening | ||
Oracle, an integrated and fully optimized hardware and software solutions company had more than 4 lakh customers, which included 100 of the Fortune 100, and had its presence in more than 145 countries globally. The company with 120000 employees declared revenue of US$38.3 billion in FY 2014. Oracle, dedicated to innovation by simplifying IT, provided reliable and secure hardware and software products and applications that helped to manage complex business processes through high performance at a low cost.
―Social marketing is rapidly evolving into a sophisticated set of capabilities that enable real-time awareness
and responsiveness. Oracle SRM, which already lets companies listen to social buzz in a dozen languages, will support even more languages and social platforms…‖—John Foley, Director, Strategic
Communications, Oracle.
Companies try to maintain strong customer relationships and design innovative marketing campaigns. However, constant change in market trends and technology requires real-time marketing strategies and real-time listening to customer feedback. Social Relationship Management helps to engage, respond, handle queries and disseminate marketing messages to customers through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social platforms. Oracle has introduced the Oracle Social Marketing and Social Engagement and Monitoring Products for companies to employ modern marketing techniques like cross-channel marketing automation, content management, social engagement and analytics. It is observed that 90% of the customers discontinue
communication with the company because of irrelevant information and messages. Hence companies prefer Oracle‘s Products for ―Social-listening.‖
Social listening provides seamless user-experience to customers as companies respond in real-time by
providing customized solutions, delivering information, developing the right content and promotions in the existing customer‘s channel. Oracle SRM is a cloud-based platform that helps companies listen to social
buzz in 19 localized languages and advanced listening in 31 languages. It is evolving aggressively to
introduce more languages and many more social platforms. For example, Oracle is already tapping data from
China‘s Sina Weibo and Baido and Latin America‘s Reclameaqui and Vostu networks. In other words, this application helps to reach, listen, learn and engage customers irrespective of which channel they are into. This application acts like a collaborative and connection strategy between people, processes and technology.
At any point in time, millions of messages keep flying across various social channels. Oracle SRM listens to about 700 million messages every day at a high speed from paid, owned and earned media content from social media platforms, blogs, message boards, video messages, chat rooms, consumer review sites, etc.
Oracle‘s ―Latent Semantic Analysis‖, a high technology tool then converts it into meaningful information which provides insights to companies to take suitable action. Thus Oracle‘s SRM is the only solution for
industries to listen, publish, engage and create content through analytics and a single user interface.
‘Listening’ can improve work quality and boost productivity. In this case, Oracle‟s products helps a company tosucceed globally by listening, engaging, learning customer expectations, developing better products through valuable social insights, and designing innovative marketing campaigns irrespective of location and language barriers.
Discussion Questions
- Mention the different approaches to listening and how listening can improve customer engagement. (Hints: discriminative- comprehensive – active – critical – better relationship with customers)
- How has Oracle used Listening as a tool for Social Relationship Management in ‗Social Marketing‘ and ‗Social Engagement & Monitoring‘?
(Hints: social listening – converting noisy data into meaningful messages – modern marketing
techniques)
Course Reference: Concept- Approaches to Listening/Unit3-Listening/Subject-Business Communication and Soft Skills Sources:
- John Foley, “How Social „Listening‟ enables real–time marketing”, www.forbes.com, May 2014
- “Oracle Social Cloud – Social Relationship Management”,www.oracle.com
- “Five Ideas: Social Strategies”, www.oracle.com
- “Welcome to Oracle”, www.oracle.com
Other Keywords: Listening, Marketing
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| 4 | Alan Mulally – One Ford | ||
Ford Motor Company, based in Dearborn, Michigan, were manufacturers and distributors of automobiles in over six continents, with 63 plants worldwide, known for brands like Ford and Lincoln and 167,000 employees reported a pre-tax profit of $6.3 million for 2014.
Ford was undergoing the biggest loss of $12.7 billion in its 103-year history in 2006, loss of 25% in market share since 1990, huge labor costs at $76/hour, and was on the brink of bankruptcy when Alan Mulally was named the President and CEO. Ford rebounded to growth with increased profits and stock prices since 2009 under his transformational leadership and adoption of a new organization culture.
Alan Mulally, in 2006, as soon he became the CEO, borrowed $23 billion instead of declaring bankruptcy. This wise decision helped Ford, because during the 2008 economic recession, other companies like General
Motors and Chrysler found it difficult to raise money. Alan could develop new products that customers wanted, by leveraging Ford‘s automotive expertise and assets. Electric cars like Transit Connect Van, was
rolled out in 2010, Focus in 2011 and Energi (C-MAX MPV) in 2012. Ford shifted its focus from trucks to cars with Tauras Sedan and Fusion.
Alan Mulally viewed the conflict brewing within the company and identified the challenges of diversity and
high employee turnover. He discussed the conflict openly and worked on developing the interpersonal relationships among employees through ‗One Ford‘:
- ‗One Ford‘ strategy integrated the entire organization from product quality, fuel efficiency,manufacturing plants, corporate culture and balance sheet – called ‗sponsor spine‘.
- Converted Ford to a ‗Mobility company‘ by taking control of the entire global operations and working on one agenda – ‗The cars and trucks are two different visually but can be built on the same assembly line‘. This led to manufacturing of 10 Ford different models but having 80% common parts leading to huge economies of scale. Ford also reduced from 97 automotive products to 20 thus improving excellence in manufacturing, product development and customer service.
- In ‗Traffic Light Meetings‘, he shared his ideas, goals and reports every Thursday morning.
Employees were given specific direction and responsibility through color-coded cards and to update progress. The cards contained expected behaviors on one side and the company‘s business plan on the other. Red card indicated a problem, yellow meant caution and green signified good progress. Alan wanted complete transparency and team collaboration. Interpersonal relationships developed due to freedom of two-way communication, assertion and fewer conflicts.
- Alan was very supportive of his employees that resulted in renewed confidence, enthusiasm and loyalty. He negotiated with the United Auto Workers on $55/hours; wages down by $20/hour.
- Business Plan Review Meetings were held every week to understand the external environment, opportunities or risks, with global leadership team, business leaders, and functional leaders either connected in person or remotely. A few such meetings led to MyFordTouch Entertainment panel being introduced in Ford cars which was later copied by other automobile manufacturers.
Alan Mulally led One Ford to One team through strategic vision, improved financial health, workforce competitiveness, new product development and sustained the momentum.
‘Interpersonal Skills’ emphasizes to be open and empathetic to build positive relations in an organization, deal with criticism and conflict. In this case, we observe that Alan Mulally could grasp „Complexity‟ by framing difficult
concepts easily, analyze data to gain new insights, and build teams that can innovate to transform driver experience, and realign the product portfolio for the 21st century.
Discussion Questions
- What are the different approaches to handle conflict in an organization?
(Hints: avoiding – accommodating – competing – collaborating – compromising)
- ‗Alan Mulally steered the company to the path of growth through positive relationships.‘ Explain
(Hints: employee inclusion – open communication culture – empathy – team collaboration)
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Course Reference: Concept- Building Positive Relationships/Unit 4-Interpersonal Skills /Subject-BusinessCommunication and Soft Skills
Sources:
- Larah Miller Caldicott, “Why Ford‟s Alan Mulally is an innovation CEO for the record books”, www.forbes.com, June 2014
- Rik Kirkland, “Leading in the 21st Century: An interview with Ford‟s Alan Mulally,” www. mckinsey.com,
November 2013
- Theo Legget, “How Ford‟s Alan Mulally turned around its fortunes,” www.bbc.com, June 2014
- “The role of leadership and how it can impact organizational performance, based on Alan Mulally, CEO, Ford
Motor Company”, http://jananomba.blogspot.in, August 2011
- “Our Company”, http://corporate.ford.com/company.html
Other Keywords: Communication, HR, Operations
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| 5 | Twitter acquires ZipDial | ||
Twitter Inc. acquired ZipDial on January 20, 2015. Twitter, incorporated in 2007, an online social networking service where users could send and read 140 character messages called ‗tweets‘ had 3600
employees globally, 50% of them being engineers. Twitter had 288 million active monthly users with 500 million tweets being sent every day. 80% of those were mobile users and 77% users outside of US. Tweets could be sent in 35+ languages.
Zipdial, a mobile marketing company began its operations in 2010 at Bengaluru, was founded by Valerie
Wagoner, Amiya Pathak and Sanjay Swamy. It specialized in connecting people who do not own a smartphone to the internet. It designed products using the behavior of ‗missed calls‘ for brand engagement.
The company had achieved one billion connections with brands across 60 million users in South Asia, South East Asia and Africa. Their 50 employees became a part of Twitter R & D team after the acquisition. It had around 500 clients like Airtel, MakemyTrip, Ola cabs, Mattel, etc.
The negotiation deal was estimated to be between 30 – 40 million dollars. Twitter‘s VP of Products
Christian Oestlien and Market Director, India & South Asia, Rishi Jaitly along with Zip Dial‘s Valorie Wagoner, CEO through their blogs informed on how the companies could complement each other in making the negotiation a win-win.
| # | ZipDial | |||||||||
| Accessibility of Twitter and content to more | Easy to engage the mobile user with the brand | |||||||||
| people who become smartphone users, mostly in | through SMS, voice messages, missed calls, | |||||||||
| Brazil, India and Indonesia. Reducing the cost of | and apps. Useful to people who do not have | |||||||||
| 1 | data for subscribers. Exclusive Twitter experience | data connection or intermittently use data | ||||||||
| to both mobile users and Indian publishers jointly | through wifi networks. Bridges the gap | |||||||||
| with ZipDial. | between online and offline mobile users. | |||||||||
| Tested the success of campaigns with ZipDial | Indians use only 60MB of data/month against | |||||||||
| which include Indian elections @BJP4India and | 1.38GB/month in US with no difference in | |||||||||
| @INCIndia, | Bollywood | Film promotions, | speeds between 2G and 3G. It also means one | |||||||
| 2 | @MTV India‘s #RockTheVote ―Dial the | billion or 25% of population do not have | ||||||||
| Hashtag‘ | @iamsrk, | @SrBachchan, | access to the internet and 68% only use feature | |||||||
| @SuperstarRajani, @SriSri and improve twitter | phones, may be tapped to use ZipDial Services. | |||||||||
| experience. | ||||||||||
| Twitter has 33 million users in India, Increase | The founders to continue to evolve the ZipDial | |||||||||
| investment as it is an emerging economy. Utillize | products; work on specific integration and | |||||||||
| the ZipDial engineering office. Later drive user | product roadmaps.With Twitter, develop | |||||||||
| 3 | acquisition in India and other emerging | tailor-madesolutionsandutilizethe | ||||||||
| economies where ZipDial has already made a | opportunities mostly in the emerging markets | |||||||||
| presence, decrease expenditure on advertisement | and global level. | |||||||||
| for clients. | ||||||||||
| 4 | Twitter can work out on a strategy of Zipdial‘s | existing 500 clients to build more advertisements, | ||||||||
| focus on advertisers and generate revenue from like-for-like advertisers. | ||||||||||
The global companies were on the lookout for new opportunities in the Government‘s Digital India programs. They were interested in companies that were incubated in India, providing India-centric innovative solutions; but were relevant to the whole world.
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‘Negotiation’ plays a vital role in business and must result in providing solutions to the parties involved. It is a delicate process and requires a lot of thinking and analysis to adopt the best approach and gain a win-win. In this case, Twitter is utillizing ZipDial to make content accessible to offline customers and reach developing markets which have low internet penetration.
Discussion Questions
- What are the different approaches to negotiations?
(Hints: bargaining orientation – loses –lose – compromise – win-win)
- ‗Negotiations will come into effect only when both partices consider solid facts and human dimension‘. Explain this statement taking into account the above case of Twitter acquiring ZipDial.
(Hints: complementing each other in specific areas and expertise – explore new opportunities)
Course Reference: Concept- Approaches to negotiations/Unit 5 – Negotiations /Subject-Business Communication andSoft Skills
Sources:
- Deepthi Choudhary, “Twitter acquires Indian mobile marketing firm ZipDial‖, http://www.forbesindia.com,
January 2015
- Valorie Wagoner,‖ZipDial is joining Twitter‖, www.zipdial.com, January 2015
- Yogendra Kalavapalli, ―Twitter to buy ZipDial in first Indian start–up acquisition‖, www. livemint.com, January
2015
- Saptarishi Dutta, ―Twitter just bought a Bangalore start-up to reach every Indian without smartphone,www.qz.com, January 2015
Other Keywords: Negotiations, HRM, Online Marketing
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| 6 | Interviewing at McKinsey |
McKinsey, a global firm comprising of 17000 consultants employed ‗research and information‘ professionals across 60 countries. The company followed a consistent approach in recruiting and developing people, irrespective of their origin, to provide the client the right team with the right experience and expertise. The company invested in enormous resources to identify the right people, develop their skills and train them to take leadership roles.
McKinsey was known to conduct the toughest interview process with a difficulty level of 3.9 out of 5. The company conducts structured interviews to identify the skills and experience of the candidate for the most suitable· career.
Experience interview: Discover skills to survive in McKinsey through questions on
- accomplishments and challenges and key actions taken to handle crisis
Case interview: Assess problem-solving skills through a real McKinsey business problem in alimited time. This helps the company to understand how the candidate:
O structures the tough, ambiguous business problem O decides on the issues that need focus
O deals with facts and data and their implications O formulates recommendations and conclusions
- O articulates his thoughts in a speedy discussionProblem-solvingtest:Verifyanalyticalskillsofthe candidate through 26 questions based on
McKinsey clients and require no business knowledge.
The candidates should be relaxed but not anxious, take time to answer questions, clarify if in doubt. The interviewers can be asked questions about the company, work culture, people and values. Sample cases and problem-solving tests are available on their websites.
62% of the candidates felt that they had a positive experience while 13% reported negative. The candidates
felt it was worthwhile to attend the stressful interview, since employee satisfaction is 4.1/5 at McKinsey. According to Sumantha Zupan, a spokesperson of Glassdoor (a career website), ―This denotes the fact that the company has a clear correlation on the candidate‘s fitness for the job, what can be expected from him, his interests being leveraged for both the candidate‘s and company‘s growth.‖
McDonald, author of ‗The firm‘, a book on McKinsey wrote that McKinsey finds it easier to identify the potential and mold a young mind than an old one. The company has perfected the art of personnel management; hiring youngsters from top-tier B-Schools (like Harvard and Yale), after a rigourous selection process, at a trifle, providing atrocious reviews that make them perfect to handle secure data and take
business decisions. The candidates, now called consultants, are given wide exposure and access to a wide network of clients and alumni, once the company realizes the candidates‘ potential and possible options and
interests.
‘Interviewing’ requires planning like purpose, structure, physical setting, knowledge of the candidate,possible interview rounds and questions. In this case, McKinsey has created a high business standard in hiring culture by demonstrating that by hiring and training cost-effective capable youth into consultants who outperform expensive experienced candidates.
Discussion Questions
- What are differences between a structured, planned interview and an unstructured, random interview process?
(Hints: large pool of candidates – specific parameters – factual info – candidate‘s views – opinions on issues)
- The job interview process tends to be nerve-racking and frustrating at McKinsey. Explain
(Hints: structured – experience – analytical – articulation – time management – problem-solving)
Course Reference: Concept-Planning an interview/Unit 6-Interviewing /Subject-Business Communication and SoftSkills
Sources:
- Jacquelyn Smith, “The companies that give the toughest job interviews”, www.forbes.com, July 2012
- Max Nisen, “How McKinsey turned the MBA into an elite degree”, www.businessinsider.in, September 2013
- “About Us – Who we are”, www.mckinsey.com
- “Careers – Interview Process”, www.mckinsey.com
- “Careers – Interview prep”, www.mckinsey.com
Other Keywords: Interviewing, HRM, T&D
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| 7 | Kite Ventures, a company with no meetings | ||
Kite Ventures, a venture capital firm was founded in 2008 by Mr. Edward Shenderovich, in Moscow, Russia. The company specialized in making investments in start-up companies in the field of technology and internet like Delivery Hero, Tradeshift, Auctionata, Fyber and Made.com in Europe and Plated and Merchantry in New York.
The uniqueness of the company was because: it was an investment company with no ‗committed capital‘ and a dozen investment partners, who worked on a deal-to-deal basis and profit-sharing agreement. The partners did not pay management fees on the investment capital, the company did not charge management fees and the company was frugally managed with minimum number of employees and without an expensive office or private jets. However, the company made $2.5 billion worth of investments in the companies mentioned above (as of December 2014), had a strong investment base and a good growth curve; obtained support from the investors and entrepreneurs (who were backed by the company and then later turned investors). The company was expecting the coming five years (2015 – 2020) to be more productive than the previous five years (2008 – 2014).
Mr. Edward Shenderovich, co-founder and MD, sixth among the top ten Russian venture capitalists, states that the company had been highly productive due to:
- „No–meeting‟ culture:
The company could not build a ‗meeting‘ culture though, the founders tried to bring in weekly meetings; by sending invites to the participants a week in advance. It just became a routine and participants started giving excuses from attending the meetings. The founders also found that the meeting time was spent with presentation of reports and was hardly productive. Kite Ventures consisted of a small team and hence communication could happen in real-time. The highly motivated team of employees had an intense drive to perform. Hence the ‗no–meeting‘ culture actually made the company more efficient.
- „Transparency‟ in operations:
Kite Ventures aligned interests on returns by delivering products; treating investors and entrepreneurs as partners in decision-making process; by maintaining transparency and thus became successful. It empowered the investors and small teams of employees to focus on tasks and not
‗manage‘ them the customary way. The company followed Peter Drucker‘s principle, ―Management is doing things right; leadership is doing right things,‖ in not managing people or asking reports, but on driving employees to do work and obtain results.
- Better relationship with stakeholders:
The company did not believe in the traditional ‗limited–partner‘ and ‗general partner‘ relationships with its stakeholders; but a more open communication culture in real-time. Entrepreneurs, employees and investors belonged to the same team, and their main aim was to build companies and help promising people to grow in their jobs.
‘Effective meetings’ improves communication between the group members in an organization. In recenttimes, meetings are considered to be time wasters with nothing fruitful being achieved. Kite Ventures is one such company which drifted towards a meeting-free world and successful in achieving better results from all its stakeholders.
Discussion Questions
- What are the steps to have effective meetings?
(Hints: planning – why -what type – who – where – when – notice-agenda-minutes – follow-up)
- How did Kite Ventures remain productive even without conducting meetings?
(Hints: relationship with stakeholders – open communication in real time – empowering to
perform)
Course Reference: Concept- Effective Meetings /Unit 7-Group Communication/Subject-Business Communication andSoft Skills
Sources:
- Edward Shenderovich, “Managing a 250000000 company without meetings”, www.knote.com, December 2014
- Marie Ashley Kummerlowe, “Forbes identifies Russia‟s top 10 venture capitalists”, www.ewdn.com, October
2013
- Edward Shenderovich, www.crunchbase.com
- Kite Ventures, www.kiteventures.com
Other Keywords: Business Communication, External and Internal Communication, Group communication
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| 8 | Transformation of Bill Gates’ communication skills | ||
Bill Gates, Co -founder of Microsoft, was known as a philanthropist, investor, computer programmer and an inventor. The American business magnate was consistently considered in the Forbes list of the world‘s
wealthiest people. He stepped down as Chairman of Microsoft in February 2014 and took a new role as a Technology Advisor to support the newly appointed CEO Satya Nadella.
People observed a radical transformation in the presentation skills of Bill Gates after he stepped down from the post of CEO. Bill Gates had become a persuasive speaker who could handle complex subjects in a clear and concise way. A lot of change was observed from 2006 when he left his day-to-day functions at Microsoft to concentrate more on the Bill & Melinda Gates Charity Foundation. He wanted to connect to the common people by simplifying subjects like poverty, healthcare and childhood mortality by communicating in a comprehensible way. He also wanted to grab the attention and persuade the stakeholders to take action or donate part of their wealth for the greater good.
An effective communication strategy that Bill Gates employed for communicating through the Foundation was the rule of 3:
- Writing skills – focus on the issues of poverty, foreign aid and philanthropy – Title: „3 myths that
block the progress for the poor‟: poor countries are doomed to stay poor, foreign aid is a big waste, saving lives lead to overpopulation. Impact was the letter garnered millions of views on TV and social media. In a 2-minute video on the website, Bill Gates described ‗How the world has
- improved since 1960‘ using simple circular drawings to illustrate complex issues.
Speaking skills – don‘t overload the listeners with too much information – 3 ideas are enough to
- support an argument, to remember, and feel overwhelmed.
Presentation skills – use live props to make the talk memorable, photographs on slides and contextfrom statistics – for a concrete, unexpected, humorous, interesting, engaging, passionate and concise (20 minutes) message.
O He used a jar of live mosquitoes to drive home the point on ‗Mosquitoes, Malaria, and
Education‘. In another talk on energy crisis, Bill Gates brought fireflies as examples to
demonstrate the gimmicks that people offered as solutions.
- For a presentation on global warming, entitled ‗Innovating to zero‘, his slides contained the right balance of words and pictures –for example he had used real photographs of poor children from an African village.
- For a talk on percentage of kids completing high school in US, he linked the actual context to the statistics.
Bill Gates developed the art of delivering memorable and engaging speeches in a limited time frame uniquely and not by selling ideas through facts and figures. He built anticipation among the audience, made it easy for everyone to see, explained the relevance, brought the attention of the audience to the real issues, and used live demonstrations to drive home the point in an easy way. Bill Gates proved that a mediocre presenter was now evolved into a persuasive presenter.
‘Speeches’ are given either to inform, persuade or to entertain in both public and privatecommunication. A specific speech concentrates on one central idea, is clear and concise and obtains the desired action from the audience. Bill Gates knew that to inform, inspire and educate he should address the complex problems in a simple, visual and compelling way.
Discussion Questions
- What are the requirements that a specific speech should meet?
(Hints: central idea – clear and concise – desire action from the audience)
- How did Bill Gates radically transform as a persuasive communicator for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation?
(Hints: focus on issues – direct connect with audience – 3 ideas principle – live props – slide management)
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Course Reference: Concept- Speech purposes, Specific /Unit 8 –Making Presentations – Getting Started/Subject-Business Communication and Soft Skills
Sources:
- Carmine Gallo, “How Bill Gates transformed his public speaking and communication skills, www.forbes.com,
July 2014
- Andrew Dlugan, “How to choose and use speech props: A speaker‟s guide”, sixminutes.dlugan.com, August 2013
- “Is Bill Gates a great speaker”, www.confidentvoice.com, September 2014
Other Keywords: Business Communication, Public Speaking, Presentation Skills
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| 9 | Guy Kawasaki’s 10/20/30 rule for presentation | ||
Guy Kawasaki, an author, speaker, investor and business mogul, became the chief evangelist of a Sydney-
based company called Canva, an online graphic designs service company in 2014. He had also worked with Apple and Google. He has authored more than 10 books, out of which ‗The Art of the Start‘ and ‗Enchantment – The art of changing hearts, minds, and actions‘ were quite popular.
Guy Kawasaki, a sought-after speaker, brought a combination of experience, great content and a fabulous engaging style through his ‗zen approach‘ in presentations. The ‗Kawasaki rule of ten‘, a trademark to his speeches and the ‗10/20/30 rule‘ for PowerPoint presentations became a kind of standard. According to him,
| this rule worked for any presentation; for raising capital, making a sale or forming a partnership. | |
| · | 10 slides: A normal human being cannot understand more than 10 concepts in a presentation. For |
| example; a venture capitalist pitch contained topics like problem, your solution, business model, | |
| technology, marketing, competition, team, projections and milestones, status and timeline and call | |
| · | for action. |
| 20 minutes: The explanation for the 10 slides was completed in 20 minutes. He stressed each idea | |
| on the slide as required. Guy remained the focus, not the slides – which only complemented his | |
| speech and aided in audience retention of the key points. He captivated the audience through his | |
| · | charishma and sheer knowledge on the topic. He used the remaining time for discussion. |
| 30-point font size: His slide contained only one concept and visuals. He argued that if more text is | |
| put on the slide, the audience figures out the content and the speaker loses synchronization with the | |
| audience. He also said if content is used more on the slides, the presenter is either unaware of the | |
| content or they think more content convinces the audience; which is untrue. |
The structure Guy Kawasaki followed not only enchanted his audience but gave something meaningful to
| them. | Apart from following the 10/20/30 rule he: | |
| · | Customized the introduction (when he had to give a talk to LG people, he had used the picture of | |
| · | his LG washing machine and his sons in the introduction slide). | |
| Personalized his talk by beginning with a genuine Duchenne smile (created a spark of confidence | ||
| · | and joy). | |
| Dressed in formal attire (built a good first impression). | ||
| · | Told a story and brought relevance to his products (emotionally engaged his audience on how these | |
| · | products and services enable the world to be a better place) | |
| Explained the salient points through context (instead of mentioning the gigabytes for storage, he |
linked with the number of songs/documents/photos that can be stored).
Well-known presenters like Steve Jobs, Warren Buffet, Howard Schultz, and Chris Anderson always took care to speak with enthusiasm, passion and interest; structure their presentation logically to make it appropriate, memorable and influential but not to distract or confuse or lose rapport with the audience.
‘Organizing a presentation’ allows the speaker to combine his ideas to suit the audience and achievesthe purpose of speech. Visual ideas complement the speech and the right medium should be selected based on the size of the audience. As per Guy Kawasaki, the influence of a presentation is 7% words, vocal input 38% and visuals 55%.
Discussion Questions
- Visual aids increase the audience‘s ability to absorb and remember information. Justify
(Hints: grasp data and complex info – road map to audience – right medium – variety – save time)
- Explain how you would employ Guy Kawasaki‘s 10/20/30 rule of presentation on a topic chosen by you.
(Hints: 10 slides information – 20 minutes speech preparation – 30-point font size and visuals) Course Reference: Concept- Visual Aids /Unit 9 –Organizing and Presenting the Speech/Subject-BusinessCommunication and Soft Skills
Sources:
- Guy Kawasaki, “The 10/20/30 rule of PowerPoint”, www.guykawasaki.com, December 2005
- “Guy Kawasaki – Presenter extraordinaire”, presentationzen.blogs.com, September 2005
- Claudio Sennhauser,“Guy Kawasaki explains How to enchant an audience”, sennhauser.com, April 2011
- “Power point with no „power‟ and little point”, www.businesstrainingdirect.co.uk
Other Keywords: Business Communication, Public Speaking, Presentation Skills
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| 10 | P&G’s CEOs’ letters to the employees | ||
Procter & Gamble, an 1837 company with headquarters in Ohio, Cincinnati, recorded $83.1 billion in sales in 2014 and announced removing of 100 of its brands to concentrate on the remaining 80 brands that brought
95% of the company‘s profits.
Bob McDonald, the earlier CEO dissatisfied the investors and analysts due to declining profits. He was asked by the investors to cut overhead expenditure and improve manufacturing productivity which resulted in a $10 million cost-cutting campaign and elimination of 6250 office jobs. His over-aggressive plan tightened the operations in emerging markets and concentrated on those 40 products that brought majority of profits. The result was low sales in the first three quarters of 2013. Bill Ackman an activist investor with
$1.8 million stake in P&G, started to urge the company that Bob McDonald had been given a few quarters to prove himself and a quarter of the CEO‘s time was wasted in serving various corporate boards. His argument
was to re-assign A G Lafley the post of CEO because during his reign as CEO from 2000 – 09, he was
instrumental in building the beauty business, acquiring Gillette for $53 billion in 2005, launching successful products like Swiffer and Febreze and expanding business in emerging markets. Bill Ackman‘s campaign
was successful and the Board appointed A.G Lafley as the new CEO replacing Bob McDonald in May 2013.
The contents of Bob McDonald‟s parting letter to his staff after having served P&G for 33 years by addressing them as „P&G friends‟ included:
- His retirement from P&G which was a difficult decision but taken for the best interests of the
- Company.
His thankful gesture to A.G Lafley, with whom he had collectively worked to strengthen the
- company and its business.
He, facing distractiondue to high focus and attention from the management and investors; wanted a
- dynamic change.
Thanked the staff for all the accomplishments during the previous four years in expanding business in new geographies, categories, and launching innovations which brought an excess of 40% in sales
- and 45% in volume.
The confidence he had in his staff and his availability if required in the future.
- G Lafley after being appointed the new CEO of P&G in May 2013 also wrote a letter to the ‗P&Gers‘ –
The contents were
- He was looking forward to work with them again in what the company does best – to win
- customers.
Thanked Bob McDonald for his 33 years of service to the company, his leadership, his passion for
- doing what he thought was right in improving the lives of customers all over the world.
Thanked the staff for their work in winning customers and assured them on future growth strategies to speedily strengthen the core market, maintain strong momentum, develop a strong innovation
- pipeline, save on costs and drive results.
He insisted that every P & Ger was an owner and a leader; with innovation as their lifeblood; who worked as one team with one dream of collaborating internally and competing externally; which
- built brands that improved consumer lives.
He requested the cooperation from the P & Gers for the days ahead.
P&G‘s management believed that A.G Lesley would further improve the company‘s performance by implementing productivity plans and facilitating further succession processes.
Businesses need to communicate with their customers, suppliers and business partners to conductbusiness; more often in the written form like letters. The writer should have a good knowledge of the subject, clear purpose, and target audience. A G Lesley, the new CEO wanted to convey in his letter on his plans to streamline the organization into a much simpler, less complex company of leading brands which could be better operated and managed.
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Discussion Questions
- What are the steps that a writer should follow before drafting business letters?
(Hints: understand the target audience – organize the type of message – ‗You‘ attitude – deductive pattern)
- Read Bob McDonald‘s and A G Lafley‘s letter points and compare on how they have organized the message.
(Hints: central idea and minor ideas – sequencing – interpretation – reception and action)
Course Reference: Concept-Business Letters/Unit 10–Letter Writing: Writing about the Routine and the Pleasant /Subject-Business Communication and Soft Skills
Sources:
i. Jeremy Bogalsky, “Congrats, Bill Ackman: Bob McDonald out of P&G, A.G.Lafley returning as CEO,” www.forbes.com, May 2013
- Jim Edwards, “P&G CEO Bob McDonald Steps Down After Pressure From Bill–Ackman, Activist Investor”, www.businessinsider.in, May 2013 for full text of the letters
- Ellen Byron and Joann.S. Lublin, Embattled P & G Chief replaced by old boss. www.wsj.com, May 2013
- P&G india, www.pg.com
Other Keywords: Written Communication, Business letters
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| 11 | Flipkart’s apology letter to customers | ||
Flip kart, a leading e-commerce website, launched in 2007, headquartered in Bangalore, started by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal sold 20000 products in 70+ categories in 2014. With 20000 employees, 26 million registered users and 8 million daily page visitors, the company with 13 state-of-the-art warehouses, and technology that enabled 5 million shipments per month became the first billion dollar company in e-commerce valued at $12 billion.
On 6th October 2014 after the ‗The Big Billion Day Sale‘, Flip kart claimed it created a history in e-commerce by selling products worth Rs. 650 crore on a single day. Though the sale led to the company‘s
cash registers ringing, it was a PR nightmare for the website as its servers crashed due to the pressure of heavy customer traffic followed by random errors. The company‘s hard-won reputation on good customer service suffered as the customers faced technical problems in placing orders on the company‘s website.
Angry reactions and disappointment on pricing and availability of products, time taken to complete orders after adding items on the cart were written on social media pages. The apology letter by the founders is discussed below:
- The text of apology began with ‗Dear Customer‘, saying that the Big Billion Day was conducted to be a pleasant day for both; the company and the customers but turned out to be unpleasant. The
- company could not live-up to its promises and was truly apologetic.
The second para consists of the preparation and pain-staking efforts made by the employees of Flipkart over several months to work beyond their capabilities and systems to fulfil the dreams of
- millions of customers to offer the best deals, offers and discounts.
The third para highlights the unprecedented interest of the customers for which the company was
| ineffectively prepared as they did not expect the event to happen in such a large scale. The | |
| company failed to cater to the customer‘s requirements as it could not source enough products and | |
| inform the deals in advance. The servers crashed and impacted the customers‘ shopping | |
| · | experience. |
| The fourth para points out that 1.5 million people shopped on that day; and the company felt | |
| astounded by the customer‘s faith but was unhappy to cater to the expectations of a few millions of | |
| · | customers. |
| The fifth para informs the priority of the company since its inception was to delight and win the | |
| trust of each and every customer but failed the trust on the Big Billion Day. They conveyed that the | |
| company learnt valuable lessons and would work doubly hard to address all the issues that occurred | |
| · | during the sale. |
| In the next four paras, the letter focused on the major issues faced by the customers and the | |
| company‘s promise to address each one of them, which were: | |
| O Price changes – Undiscounted rates were observed for a few hours which made the | |
| customers lose trust. | |
| O Out-of-stock issues – Some products ran out-of-stock in a few seconds of the sale going | |
| live. Though the company had made arrangements for a few lakh units for various | |
| products – the demand was much higher than the supply. | |
| O Cancellations – Large number of people buying specific products simultaneously which | |
| led to over-booking. | |
| O Website issues – Unavailability and errors on the website. The company had installed | |
| 5000 servers and had prepared for 20 times the traffic growth; the volume of the traffic | |
| · | was on a much higher scale. |
| The closing para emphasizes that Flipkart‘s achievements were only due to the customer‘s faith and | |
| trust and would work incessantly to provide the best possible customer experience. The letter | |
| closes with their failure to match up to their promises on the Big Billion Day and apologies to each | |
| and every customer. |
Flipkart, considered the destiny child of India‘s e-commerce industry attempted to create frenzy to attractnew customers and make the existing customers buy more; but poor strategic and operational incompetence left the company red-faced and got battered in social networks, which prompted the company to issue an open letter immediately on the next day.
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A business may lead to unpleasant situations, wherein a skilful manager should handle well in communicating through diplomacy and tact without evoking negative feelings but leading to theircooperation. In the case mentioned above, flip kart‟s letter emphasizes the need to maintain a positive tone, by presenting facts and reasons with realistic explanations.
Discussion Questions
- What steps should a manager take while conveying unpleasant news?
(Hints: empathy – sequence of ideas – style of approach – buffer – inductive approach – persuade)
- Flipkart‘s letter follows the inductive approach in conveying the inconvenience caused to the customers. Explain.
(Hints: positive tone – buffer statement – facts, reasons – realistic explanations – persuasion)
Course Reference: Concept-Writing for the Reader/Unit 11–Writing about the Unpleasant /Subject-BusinessCommunication and Soft Skills
Sources:
i. RanjitBehera, “Does Flipkart‟s Big Billion Day Sale disaster mark the biggest tipping point in Indian e–commerce?” www.linkedin.com, October 2014
- Anupam Saxena, “Flipkart apologizes to customers for mega sale glitches”, timesofindia.indiatimes.com, October
2014 for full text of letter
- Ravijot Singh, “Open letter to the Flipkart Bansals, missionsharingknowledge.com, October 2014
- Ashish Magotra, “ Flipkart‟s heart–felt apology is too little too late”, tech.firstpost.com, October 2014
Other Keywords: Written Communication, Business letters
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| 12 | Satya Nadella’s email to Microsoft employees | ||
Satya Nadella was appointed as the third CEO of Microsoft in February 2014. On 8th October 2014, Satya Nadella wrote an email to Microsoft employees (with the subject line: Empowering others) about his imminent participation at the annual Grace Hopper Conference with hundreds of Microsoft employees and 8000 female engineers to learn, to listen and to inspire talented female engineers to continue to pursue their
careers in technology and try to make valuable connections with potential candidates for Microsoft. He also informed about the interview that he would face with Marie Klawe, a member of Microsoft‘s Board of
Directors and President of Harvey Mudd College on the discussion of women in technology.
During the interview, Marie Klawe posed a question to Satya Nadella on what would be his advice to women who were interested in career advancement but were uncomfortable in asking promotions or pay
raises. Nadella answered that his thoughts on the matter were based on a discussion he had with former Microsoft executive, Mike Maples that all HR systems were ―long-term efficient and short-term inefficient‖.
It was unnecessary to ask for the raise as the system took care of it and that women should embrace their superpowers and expect a raise from good karma. A person who turned out to be trustworthy and efficient in the long-term would definitely be given additional responsibility. Klawe disagreed and replied that she always felt discomfort while asking things for herself, but was much better in rewarding people who worked for her. She continued saying that he should do some homework on what a reasonable salary was if offered a job and sit down with a trusted person and practice negotiating the salary he felt he deserved. This was received with much applause from the audience.
Nadella‘s swift answer to Marie Klawe‘s question triggered a lot of storm in Twitter. Lauren Schaefer, an
IBM software engineer who was at the Hopper conference tweeted that there were a lot of murmurs in the crowd about Satya Nadella‘s statement –―If you don‘t ask for a raise, then you would get a fair pay.‖ Many
people cited the study by the American Association of University Women about how women earn 78% of what equally qualified men are paid for. Anonymous employees of Microsoft reiterated that a senior software development male engineer earned $137000 per year as compared to $129000 earned by a woman in the same position at Microsoft.
Nadella immediately wrote in Twitter that he was inarticulate while answering the question and the industry
should try to minimize the gender gap with no bias. He then wrote in the Microsoft website that his answer to Marie Klawe‘s question was completely wrong and he wholeheartedly supported programs at Microsoft
and the industry that brought more women into technology and closed the pay gap. He further elaborated
that he believed that men and women should get equal pay for equal work and if they feel deserved for a raise, then they should follow Marie Klawe‘s advice and just ask for the raise. Satya Nadella closed the letter
by writing that he learned a valuable lesson at the Conference and was ready to answer any questions during their monthly Q&A session with the Microsoft employees.
Marie Klawe, who later attended an interview with E-Commerce Times told that Nadella was concerned
about improving women in tech careers as evidenced with his answers for the remaining interview questions but failed only on that question. It also proved Satya Nadella‘s good intentions through his apology
statements made after their speech.
Persuasive writing is used to gain support of colleagues favorably without using force. Persuasive letters adopt an inductive approach and follow the AIDA model. In the case of Satya Nadella‟s letter, it was
shorter, written inductively with the aim to convince and get a favorable response from his employees.
Discussion Questions
- What is the basis of writing persuasive messages?
(Hints: organizing the message –AIDA model – convince the readers with evidence)
- Discuss how Satya Nadella responded persuasively after he realized that he was wrong while answering an interview?
(Hints: purpose of writing – target audience – what results was expected – convince the readers)
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Course Reference: Concept-The Basis of Persuasive Sales Messages/Unit 12–Writing to persuade/Subject-BusinessCommunication and Soft Skills
Sources:
- Amit Chowdary, “Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella apologizes for comments on women‟s pay”, www.forbes.com,
October 2014
- Chitra Nayak, “Don‟t ask for a raise, trust karma”, www.linkedin.com, October, 2014
- Microsoft News Center, “Satya Nadella email to employees: Re: Grace Hopper Conference”, news.microsoft.com,
October 2014 for full text of the letters
- Gregg Keizer, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella backs off „karma‟ advice to women about pay”, www.computerworld.com, October 2014
- Mike Snider and Elizabeth Weise, “Clamor continues over Microsoft CEO‟s women‟s pay comments, www.usatoday.com, October 2014
Other Keywords: Written Communication, Business letters, Persuasive Communication
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| 13 | McKinsey’s expectation of a résumé | ||
McKinsey, became a successful global firm, because of its reputation, people, 17000 consultants and 50% of MBA professionals. Talented freshers who possessed problem-solving skills, intellectual curiosity, business knowledge and experience in a sector or a function were preferred for the positions of Associates, Generalists or Practice Consultants in the fields of consulting, research & analytics, digital & data services and internal services where their leadership skills and capabilities gets polished. Every year, the company reviewed thousands of résumés from the top MBA colleges to maintainsufficient numbers in the company.
An objective and consistent, highly qualitative process was followed for the résumé reviews from time to time ·which included the following steps:
Step1: Résumés‘ got dropped – during the ‗fall‘ season (June to August) for full-time hires. It was
- observed that more than 50% of the class of top business schools in USA dropped résumés.
Step 2: Résumés‘ reached Reviewers – the résumés‘ were assigned in batches; usually to a pair of
- consultants who scored the résumés‘ individually and then compared results and calibrated.
Step3: Résumés‘ read and scored – résumés‘ were scored based on a standardized framework on ascale of 0 – 4. A rubric was used that clearly defined objective criteria and examples to provide a
- score on each dimension. (For example: the score for leadership experience could be 3)
Step 4: Résumé scores compared – Every reviewer compared scores with hispartner to confirm that
they were well – calibrated. For any deviation, the rubric was again used as a guide and
- recalibration done.
Step 5: Résumé review meeting held – The scores were submitted to the recruiting team to stackthem from the highest to the lowest score. A review meeting via a conference call was made to shortlist candidates to be invited for the interview. Candidates with highest scores were ‗clear passes‘ for whom the interview invitation was sent and candidates with lowest scores were ‗clear
turndowns‘ for whom the interview invitation was not considered. 80/20 rule was applied in most of the cases to discuss candidates who stood in the middle of the stack.
A candidate was expected to have knowledge of how scores were awarded if he drops his résumé ta McKinsey:·
Listing down his significant achievements; For example: President of a consulting club, owner of a start-up company, a summer internship at a brand-name firm, inventor of a new technology, or PhD
- in a new emerging field.
Not using the words ‗structure‘, ‗credibility‘, or ‗credentials‘ – reviewers‘ attention was received when written about a real-life problem faced and the ‗structured‘ approach taken or best practices adopted to solve it; a ‗credible‘ internship at a Fortune 500 company or having participated in a non-profit volunteer program; ‗credentials‘ like MBA degree from Harvard, a Fulbright scholarship
- winner, Olympic medal, merit awards and industry accolades were given points.
Highlighting adaptability and eagerness to work cross culturally, language skills and international
- experience
Structuring the entire résumé in black and white and restricting it to one page withcontext and
- impact with not too many bold, italics fonts or confusing formatting techniques. Emphasizing his knowledge in specialization subjects and the general subjects.
A‟ résumé’is a summary of one‟s academic profile, work history that also reflects one‟s personality andcreates the first impression about the person. In the above case since résumé screening was usually qualitative and was prone to subjectivity, McKinsey trained consultants to review résumés by applying objective criteria, standardized scales, and scoring rubrics and thus minimize subjectivity.
Discussion Questions
- What care should be taken while planning and structuring a résumé?
(Hints: Concise; easy to read; error free; formatting; visually appealing; chronological /functional/ skills based)
- In McKinsey, the résumé review is done based on therésumé‘s content? What does the résumé content consist of? (Hints: Heading–Career goals and objectives–Education–Work Experience–Achievements- Honours)
Course Reference: Concept- Content of the résumé /Unit 13– Communication for Employment – Résumé /Subject-Business Communication and Soft Skills
Sources:
- Working with McKinsey, workingwithmckinsey.blogspot.in, March 2013
- “Careers MBA”, www.mckinsey.com
Other Keywords: Résumé, Written communication
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| 14 | An application letter to an investment banking company | ||
Moneywise, an investment banking company evolved the entire spectrum in the global banking and financial services; introduced the concept of relationship banking and was known for doing business in a highly efficient way. It turned out to be an industry leader with assets of worth more than $2 billion, 40000 employees, 45 offices worldwide and was one of the most admired companies in the world for some years.
The company‘s commitment to the employees‘ success and growth was based on development,accomplishment, association, obligation and conviction; they preferred employees who can design their
career by taking new opportunities, utilizing their potential, accepting challenges, innovating, showing dedication and trustworthiness. Every year, the end of January was the deadline for candidates to ‗drop‘
their applications for both internship and full-time opportunities.
George, an American University student forwarded a cover letter to this investment bank which got noticed by a dozen other investment banking companies. George was a triple major in Economics, Mathematics and Computer Science which looked impressive but had applied with a terrible six- paragraph long application letter. It contained sentences like:
- ―Once I realized I could achieve a perfect GPA while holding a part-time job at the university, Idecided to redouble my effort by placing out of two classes, taking two honors classes, and holding
two part-time jobs. That semester I achieved a 3.93, and in the same time I managed to bench double my bodyweight and do 35 pull-ups.‖ – lacked focus, conciseness, displayed a casual
- approach and an arrogant tone.
―In fact, one of the supporting reasons I chose Investment Banking over any other division was thatI know it is difficult. I hope to augment my character by diligently working for the professionals at another company, and I feel I have much to offer in return.‖ –stated another company, indicated cut
- and paste option, more of „I‟ attitude and not on what he can contribute to the firm.
―In fact, my most recent employer has found me so useful that he promoted me to a Research
Assistant and an official CTED intern. This role is usually reserved for Masters Students, but my
employer gave the title to me so that he could give me more work.‖ – commented on another · employer, awkward phrasing, unprofessional letter writing, careless and sloppy.
―Please realize that I am not a braggart or conceited, I just want to outline my usefulness. Egos canbe a huge liability, and I try not to have one.‖ – bad closing where the candidate tried to justify
himself.
George‘s application was rejected by Moneywise and also did not disclose the reasons for the rejection.
An ‘application letter’ must arouse the employer‟s interest in the résumé and improve the chances of being called for a personal interview. An application letter should be written from a reader‟s point of view by following the „YOU‟ attitude and convincing the reader on being fit for the job. In this case, Moneywise required an application letter to contain the candidates‟ interested business area and
reasons for choosing, right contact details, clarity and conciseness, the qualities that distinguish from others, indication of teamwork, interpersonal skills, drive and creativity, no copy and paste and the motivation for applying for the post.
Discussion Questions
- What are the qualities of a well-written Application letter?
(Hints: The ‗You‘ attitude – length – addressed to person and not to title – knowledge of employer and job needs)
- What things should the candidate mention while writing an application letter for Moneywise?
(Hints: interested business area and why – correct contact details – clear and concise – exceptional
qualities – soft skills – motivation for applying for the company)
Course Reference: Concept- Qualities of well-written application letters /Unit 14–Writing for employment – Application Letter/Subject-Business Communication and Soft Skills
Other Keywords: Written Communication, Cover letters, HRM
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| 15 | Jeff Bezos unique method to obtain business discipline | ||
Amazon Inc, an American e-commerce company, founded in 1994, headquartered in Seattle, USA became the largest internet based retailer across 15 countries in 2014. It was started as a bookstore and later diversified into music, video games, software, apparel, electronics, furniture, food, toys and jewellery. The company, a major cloud-service provider manufactured Kindle e-book readers, Fire tablets, TV and phone.
The company‘s revenue stood at US$88.98 billion in 2014.
Jeff Bezos, founder, CEO and Chairman of Amazon ranked 17th in the Forbes Billionaires list – 2014, known for his attention to details took an old approach to manage his company – ‗write it down‘. In
executive meetings at Amazon, even before any discussion or conversation began, everyone had to read 6-page printed memos in complete silence for 30 minutes. Jeff Bezos believed that reading together in the meeting helped in gaining undivided attention to each of the issues that required innovative thinking. The
preparation of the memo started with the author who was forced to think hard on what to write in the memo. In the words of the CEO, ―There is no way to write a six-page narratively structured memo and not have clear thinking.‖
The ·narrative memo consisted of at least 4 elements:
· the context or question
· approaches to answer the question (by whom, which method, and their conclusions)
· the attempt of answering the question different or same from previous approaches
The author was thus forced to think of tough questions, devise the memo to get clear and persuasive answers that would be interpreted through the structure and logic in the entire process. The end result expected would be the resolution of conflicts, happy endings for the company through innovative solutions and satisfied customers.
Andy Grove, CEO of Intel also approved of this management approach followed at Amazon, as he felt that the author was compelled to write precisely and thus effectively communicated which would not have been possible if he had verbally communicated. He considered the process of writing as a medium of business discipline than just a way used to communicate information. His ultimate conviction was – writing the report was important, reading it often was not.
Imposing employees ‗to write down‘ by these two CEOs turned self-discipline and personal reflection as adistributive process. Reflection led to feedback which was rather scarce in the workplace but became an integral component to improve quality and action. Reports that encouraged in bringing reflection helped each individual autonomously to gain expertise in his job, share, collaborate and lead at work.
A memo is a written message to provide personnel in an organization with a quick and effective way of communicating with each other. A persuasive memo has to be worded carefully to obtain desired action. Memos can be written through both deductive and inductive approach depending on the purpose. In the case mentioned above, Jeff Bezos has outlined 4 elements that brought focus and direction, and in narratively writing a memo which normally consisted of 6 pages.
Discussion Questions
- How should a persuasive memo be written?
(Hints: inductive approach – positive tone and language – clear and logical – tact – well worded)
- What were the fundamentals of effective memos being followed at Amazon?
(Hints: formally written – well organized – clear – persuasive)
Course Reference: Concept- Persuasive Memos /Unit 15– Writing effective memos/Subject-Business Communicationand Soft Skills
Sources:
- Walter Chen, “Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos‟s peculiar management tool for business discipline, www.linkedin.com,
July 2014
- Adam Lashinsky, “Amazon‟s Jeff Bezos: The ultimate disrupter”, www. Fortune.com, November 2012
- http://www.amazon.com/
Other Keywords: Written Communication
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| 16 | An open letter by Starbucks CEO | ||
Starbucks Coffee Company, an American global coffee company, with more than 21000 stores across 66 countries, started its operation in 1971 at Seattle‘s Pike Place Market. Starbucks product range included
more than 30 blends and single-premium coffees, hand crafted beverages like Frappuccino coffee, merchandize like mugs and accessories, fresh foods like sandwiches and salads, and various consumer products of coffee and tea under the branded names VIA, Teavanna, Tazo Starbucks Doubleshot and many more. The company maintained highest standards of quality as it employed ethical standards while sourcing coffee from farms in Latin America, Africa and Asia that brought out the rich flavor and balance of the beans through their signature Starbucks Roast.
Howard D Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks, normally considered as a progress agent faced pressure when gun
control advocates chose Starbucks as a meeting spot for pro-gun rallies on August 9th, 2013 which was known as ―Starbucks Appreciation Day‖. Gun activists, en-masse stormed the Starbucks nationwide stores
in US with their weapons, posted hundreds of photos on social media accompanied by captions of thanking the coffee chain to have supported the Second Amendment. This led to customers‘ expressing their ire on the company‘s Facebook wall. To control the damage in reputation, the billionaire Head, Mr. Schultz, who did
not want these events to re-occur, wrote an open letter to Americans on September 17, 2013 asking
customers not to bring firearms to the stores, even in those states where they were legally permissible. By writing this letter, he risked incurring the anger of a larger segment of the US population. The letter‘s
structural and content details are:
·
| · | The letter began with the day and date – Tuesday, September 17, 2013 |
| Salutation – Dear American Friends, | |
| · | Content contained in the 8 paragraphs – |
- Informed that Starbucks was being dragged in the debate and requested the customers not to bring firearms into the stores or outdoor seating areas.
- Explained the vision of the company and insisted that the values of the company was on building community and not on dividing people; and the store was meant to provide a safe and comfortable respite to the customers, away from the concerns of daily life.
- Expressed that the company had listened to the customers, partners, and community leaders on the complicate issue of ―open carry‖ of guns.
- Confirmed that Starbucks allowed guns to be carried only in those states where it was permissible and that approach was taken only to avoid discomfort to the customers by being sent away. He stressed that the gun policy should be addressed by the Government and law-enforcement agencies and not the company.
- Reiterated that Starbucks was being used by pro-gun activists as a political stage which portrayed Starbucks as a champion of ―open carry‖ while in reality it was not.
- Underlined the 6th paragraph, requested the customers to no longer bring guns to the stores and only law-enforcement personnel would be treated exceptional.
- Clarified two points – the letter was a request not a ‗ban‘ and that they could not satisfy everyone. He re-emphasized that Starbucks was a place to relax and enjoy and the presence of guns was creating tension among the customers.
- Stated that he was proud of his country and its culture of open debate where mutual respect and being responsible was encouraged among citizens and neighbours.
- Complimentary Closing – Sincerely, Howard Schultz
The ‘structure of a letter’ creates a first impression on the reader. Good quality paper, personalization, proper content placement and punctuation make the letter look professional. In this case, StarBucks CEO follows the block format, closed punctuation, and the standard letter parts like date, heading, salutation, body, complimentary close, signature block and reference initials.
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Discussion Questions
- What do you mean by punctuation styles and letter formats?
(Hints: open, closed and mixed – block – modified block – simplified block)
- What are the standard letter parts observed in Starbucks CEO‘s open letter?
(Hints: date – heading – salutation – body – complimentary close – signature block – reference
initials)
Course Reference: Concept- Standard Letter Parts/Unit 16– Structure and Layout of letters/Subject-BusinessCommunication and Soft Skills
Sources:
i. Clare O‟Connor, “Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz tells customers to leave guns at home.” www.forbes.com,
September 2013
- Joe Weisenthal, “Read the full letter from the CEO of Starbucks asking customers to stop bringing guns into stores, “www.businessinsider.in, September 2013
- Howard Shultz, “An open letter from Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks company”, www.starbucks.com/blog/,
September 2013 for full text of the letter
- Starbucks Company Profile, globalassets.starbucks.com, January 2015
Other Keywords: Written Communication
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| 17 | How stress is affecting America | ||
National Public Radio and Harvard School of Public Health sponsored by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation conducted a survey on ―The Burden of Stress in America‖ and the report was released on July 4, 2014. The
survey was conducted to examine how stress affects personal and professional lives, the perceived effects of stress and its causes, and stress management techniques.
The methodology employed to conduct the survey was:
· The research team consisted of 5 professionals from Harvard School of Public Health, 3
- professionals from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and 2 from National Public Radio.
Interviews were conducted by telephone (both landline and mobile) by SSRS of Media (PA)
- between March 5th and April 8, 2014 among a sample size of 2505 respondents of age 18 and older.
- The interviews were conducted in English and Spanish.
The margin of error was +/ – 2.4% points at 95% confidence level. 633 revealed that they experienced a lot of stress during the past one month where the margin of error was +/- 4.6% points
- at 95% confidence level.
Sample data was weighted by household size, cell phone/landline use and demographics (gender, age, race/ ethnicity, education, marital status and census region) to compensate for unresponse bias. Random digit dialing, replicate subsamples, and systematic respondent selection within households were used to ensure that the sample was representative.
The key findings were tabled as below:
- Target audience felt high levels of stress in the one month prior to the survey had considerable impact on their lives:
O 49%, reported of the respondents reported that they experienced major stress, of which 45% said the stress was caused by health problems, 54% on many overall responsibilities, 53% due to financial problems, 38% because of their own health problems and 37% due to health problems of family members.
O 63% felt bad effects on emotional well-being which was the most common health problem, 56% had sleep disorders, 50% had difficulty in thinking, concentrating and making decisions, 53% experienced chronic health issues and stress aggravated those symptoms
and 52% found it harder to manage their illness.
- 45% of them indicated that they found it harder to get along with family members while 44% told that stress prevented them to spend their time with family.
| O 41% said stress made them avoid taking additional responsibilities that could have | |
| · | advanced their career. |
| Stress management efforts taken by those who experienced high levels of stress in the past one | |
| month: |
- 9 out of 10 (94%) respondents said they spent most of their time outdoors, 93% on hobbies, 71% spent more valuable time with their family and friends, 57% said they managed stress through meditation and 55% ate healthy food. Only 49% followed stress management techniques recommended by experts; exercising and 46% reduced stress
levels by getting a full night‘s sleep.
Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, RWJF president and CEO said that recognition of stress, its causes and effects could help to create healthier environments at homes, workplaces and communities and build a culture of health in America.
The ‘text of a report’ consists of the introduction, body which consists of sections that present, analyze and interpret findings, recommendations and conclusions, and bibliography. In the above case, the report concentrated more on the problem at hand, conduction of survey, methodology adopted and survey findings .
Discussion Questions
- What are the basic elements of a report?
(Hints: a letter of transmittal – title page and title fly – abstract/ executive summary – table of contents – list of illustrations – glossary – list of symbols – appendix)
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- What does a report containing a survey or research concentrate on?
(Hints: objectives/ problem – scope – methodology – survey – limitations – key findings – presentation through data analysis and interpretation – recommendations – conclusions)
Course Reference: Concept- The Text of a Report/Unit 17– Framework of a Report/Subject-Business Communicationand Soft Skills
Sources:
- NPR/ Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/ Harvard School of Public Health, “The Burden of Stress in America”,
www.rwjf.org , July 2014 for full text of the survey report
ii. “NPR/RWJF?HSPH finds health most common major stressful event in Americans‟lives last year”, www.hsph.harvard.edu, July 2014
Other Keywords: Written Communication, Report Writing
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| 18 | Survey Report – ‘Global leadership Forecast – 2014/15’ | ||
Development Dimensions International (DDI), was one of the top innovative talent management
consultancies, with objectives to transform the way the companies, hire, promote and develop their leaders and workforce. DDI‘s ‗Center for Analytics and Behavioural Research‘ (CABER) in collaboration with The
Conference Board, a global, independent business membership and research association worked across three
main areas of Corporate Leadership, Economy and Business Environment and Human Capital, released the „Global Leadership Forecast – 2014/15‟ in December 2014.
The report included survey responses from 13,214 leaders, 1528 global HR executives, and 2031 participating organizations. The leader demographics consisted of 4 leader levels, both gender, 48 countries, 32 major industries, and multinationals vs local corporations. The report also provided the insights for
| Indian leaders which consisted of 836 leaders and 244 HR executives based on gender, generation and leader | |
| levels. The report was divided into: | |
| · | Table of Contents – the chapters and sub topics along with page numbers. |
| · | Introduction and Problem Discussion: Present state of the leaders and whether they are able |
| to deliver: | |
| O Brought forth the top 4 leadership challenges and explained how leadership skills was | |
| critical in developing the human capital apart from retaining, improving performance | |
| management processes and accountability, leading change and managing complexity. | |
| ‗Working with the VUCA Vortex‘ mentioned that leaders lacked competencies to handle | |
| challenges like Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. | |
| O Discussed on why the leadership development efforts failed, how millennial are moving up | |
| the career ladder fast, the presence of high quality leaders in India with many more ready | |
| to handle leadership roles, retail and energy sectors required good quality leaders and | |
| critical leadership skills like risk taking, networking and generating new ideas were being | |
| · | ignored. |
| Discussion on how the HR had evolved during recent times: | |
| O The evolution of HR from a partner to an anticipator, how the HR can use big data to | |
| provide big value and leader-focused talent-development programs helped in balancing | |
| · | both global and local corporations. |
| Suggestions on how leaders can improve: | |
| O Leaders learnt from on-the job: learning from others: formal learning with Indian leaders | |
| having the ratio of 54:26:20. Three skills that leaders developed as they grew were | |
| building consensus and commitment, communicating and interacting, and developing | |
| networks and partnerships. The report emphasized that 72% of Indian organizations had | |
| · | programs that identified and developed high potential leaders. |
| Reasons for companies facing difficulties in enchasing leadership competencies | |
| O The leaders‘ time management in managing (33% in India) than interacting and those | |
| companies where leaders spent more time in interaction benefitted more. Leaders who | |
| viewed on-the-job learning more like formal learning and formal learning like on-the-job | |
| brought more leadership outcomes and value to business. The report mentioned that | |
| companies who had women in 30 – 40% leadership roles benefitted and thus gender | |
| · | diversity was also important. |
| Recommendations on the talent management practices that companies should employ | |
| O Developing leaders internally provided leadership strength to the company along with | |
| three times improvement in financial performance. The report conveyed that reviewing | |
| leadership development plans and facilitating smooth transitions among leadership roles | |
| · | benefitted the companies in a huge manner. |
| Conclusion | |
| O Organizations with highly developed leadership programs had 7.4 times quality leaders | |
| · | who were engaged. |
| Appendix |
O Demographics considered for the survey.
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‘Reports’ are business tools that assist managerial decision making and problem solving. Writing areport includes four steps which are defining the problem or purpose, identifying and organizing the issues for investigation, conducting research, analyzing and interpreting data, drawing conclusions and developing recommendations. In the case mentioned above, the report is a long formal analytical external report with the structure following the four steps in writing a report.
Discussion Questions
- What is the difference between an informational and analytical report?
(Hints: objective information – annual/personnel – attempts to solve problems – feasibility/consumer behaviour)
- Discuss how the four steps in writing the report has been used in the case mentioned above. (Hints: defining the purpose – identifying the issues – conducting research – analyzing and
interpreting data – recommendations – conclusions)
Course Reference: Concept- Four steps in writing the report/Unit 18– Writing the Report/Subject-BusinessCommunication and Soft Skills
Sources:
- “CEOs‟ Top Challenge, Leaders aren‟t ready”, www.ddiworld.com, December 2014 for full text of the report
- “Global Leadership forecast”, www.ddiworld.com/glf2014
Other Keywords: Written Communication, HRM
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| 19 | Visually impressive Shopify’s annual report | ||
Shopify, a Canadian ecommerce company, headquartered in Ottawa, began its online store in 2006 for snowboarding equipment. Later the company developed computer software for online stores and retail point-
of-sale systems. The company had 150,000 active stores with sales turnover of $7 billion in 2014. The company‘s CEO Tobias Lutke won ‗The Globe and Mail‘ CEO of the year award in 2014.
A company‘s annual report is used to highlight the milestones achieved during the previous financial year and the projections for the coming year. Usually an annual report is a huge document with a lot of tables and figures. But now-a-days with more emphasis on creative presentations, annual reports are being
uniquely designed using the right format to engage the stakeholders and win loyal customers. Shopify is one such company which has presented its annual report in an interactive way. Shopify‘s application of visual
| aids in presenting the annual report for 2013 is discussed below: | |
| · | The heading of the annual report – 2013 Year in Review |
| · | Brief letter by the CEO highlighting the – |
| O Achievements – over 80,000 of the world‘s best online stores which sold a huge number of | |
| products and generated record-breaking revenue. | |
| O USP – became easier to create an online world, focused on including a physical store, and | |
| launched Shopify payments, Shopify POS and Shopify mobile; distinct requirements to | |
| run an ecommerce business in one amazing product where merchants sold their products | |
| · | online, in-store and on the go. |
| Accomplishments – interactive with info-graphics, pictures, charts, geometrical figures throughout |
the document
- Sold $1.7 million worth of products in 121 countries worldwide having 81939 stores covering 62% of world domination
- 22.7 million Orders placed, 15 million published products, 14.9 million customer accounts with at least 1 adult in every 9 adults in US having shopped from a Shopify store.
- Brands added to Shopify store like The Chive, Black Milk Clothing, and Herschel
- 436, 494 million queries through Shopify reports, 4.7 million page views of their Ecommerce university.
- Increase in the number of the experts‘ team to 620 people who received a 90.6% average smiley rating and earning $18 million in contracts.
- 22083 phone support hours, 3.6 times more than in 2012.
- 449000 support tickets, 90.6% satisfaction rating and 10,859 forum topics
- 271 new apps – 528 in total
- 84 new themes designed for the Theme Store, $2.14 billion paid to designers of these themes
- Month-wise accomplishments listed in their blog posts
The annual report is so impressive that it compels a customer to shop – which he can actually do!
‘Visual aids’ clarify and simplify data and also is used to summarize, reinforce, attract, impress andunify the content of a report. The most common visual aids are charts, tables, flowcharts and images. In the case mentioned above, the entire report has minimalist format with a lot of easily comprehendible data, key information being presented interactively by a combination of readable graphs, pictures, animations, images, in a chronological pattern that keeps the audience engaged.
Discussion Questions
- When are visual aids used in a presentation?
(Hints: strengthen the text – clarifying/simplifying – engage readers – reinforce/unify the content)
- What are the multimedia applications used to present the annual report in the above case?
(Hints: charts – pictures – still/ moving images – animation – info graphics)
Course Reference: Concept- Selecting a suitable visual aid /Unit 19– Managing data and using graphics/Subject-Business Communication and Soft Skills
Sources:
- Ross Crooks, “5 brands that nailed their annual reports”, www.forbes.com, September 2014
- Shopify 2013 year in review, www.shopify.com
- The first shopify store was our own, www.shopify.com
Other Keywords: Written Communication/ Report writing
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| 20 | Good Grammar skills lead to good income | ||
Grammarly Inc,, a company whose main functions included proofreading, plagiarism checks and verification of the writer‘s adherence to 250 grammar rules, conducted a research study on 100 LinkedIn profiles of
native English speakers in the consumer packaged goods industry who had not worked for more than three employers in their 10-year work history, found that only half of them were promoted to the director level. The main reason why the other half could not move up their career ladder was that they made 2.5 times more grammatical mistakes. It was also observed that professionals with 6 – 9 promotions made 45% fewer grammatical mistakes as compared to those who had 1 – 4 promotions.
Kyle Wiens, CEO of iFixit, wrote in 2013 that he recruited candidates with good grammar skills as they led to positive workplace traits. According to Brad Hoover, the CEO of Grammarly Inc., the positive traits
included attention to detail (credibility, professionalism and accuracy), critical thinking (analyzing complex problems) and intellectual aptitude (like difference between its and it‘s/ there and their). For Chris
Aisenbrey, director of global university relations at Whirlpool Corp, it was highly challenging to find MBA candidates with good writing skills. He found application letters were collections of incoherent thoughts,
with both typo and grammar errors. The informal tone of the application letters made them look like that the candidates‘ were writing to a friend rather than a recruiter. However, there were no spelling errors seen
because of the availability of spell-check in almost all software programs.
The ten most common grammatical mistakes observed and the correct usage with the help of examples was provided:
| Who, which and that | There, their, and they’re |
| Jairam was the one who wrote a good essay. | There are many issues that need immediate |
| Brendon McCullum was the captain of the New Zealand team | attention. |
| that moved to the World Cup 2015 finals. | It was their mistake, let them solve it themselves. |
| This is the book which I choose to buy now. | They‘re always complaining. |
| Loose vs lose | Anyone and any one |
| The bolts on the tyres became loose and caused the accident. | Please use any one of those tools to repair it. |
| I somehow lose my files stored on the desktop. | Did anyone complete the project due next week? |
| Your and you’re | Affect and effect |
| Your presentation was appreciated by the authorities. | Swine flu has affected nearly 2000 people in |
| You‘re going to work on the automation project. | India. |
| The effect of the new law banning drunken | |
| driving is welcome. | |
| Its and it’s | Lay and lie |
| The bird built its nest on the tree in our garden. | The children will lay their toys on the floor and |
| It‟s a great app that helps us to purchase books online. | play. |
| Let‘s lie down for two hours. We have to drive | |
| another 200Km. | |
| Then and then | Who’s and whose |
| I didn‘t take a loan then. | Who‟s nominated to be the project coordinator? |
| The cost of petrol was cheaper than Rs. 75 a liter. | Whose assignments are these? |
‘Writing skills’ are important for managers to communicate both internally and externally in anorganization. Effective writing skills include sentence structure, paragraphs, compositions, punctuation and grammar skills. Effective grammar skills in writing persuasive emails, memos, letters, sales pitches and business proposals help an employee to create an impact and grow in an organization.
Discussion Questions
- What do you mean by punctuations? Name a few and explain their usage.
(Hints: extract meaning – apostrophe – comma – full stop – semicolon/colon)
- How do good grammar skills help a professional lead to good income as per the above case?
(Hints: write effectively – communicate – complex issues in a easy way – attention to detail – critical thinking – intellectual aptitude)
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Course Reference: Concept- Sentence Structure/Unit 20 – Review of writing skills/Subject-Business Communication andSoft Skills
Sources:
- Cheryl Conner, “Report: How grammar influences your income”, www.forbes.com, March 2013
- Ronald, J. Aslop, “MBA Recruiters‟ No. 1 pet peeve: poor writing and speaking skills, www.wsj.com, January
2006
- “Study of LinkedIn profiles shows those with fewer grammar mistakes get promoted more often”, www.transcriptionoutsourcing.net, May 2013
Other Keywords: Written Communication
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| 21 | management |
Alan Mulally, ex CEO of Ford, envisioned Ford as a ―Mobility company‖ and not merely a car company.
Mr. Alan R. Mulally served as the Chief Executive Officer and President of Ford Motor Co. from September 1, 2006 to July 1, 2014. During his tenure, mulally, mortgaged all of Ford‘s assets to avoid bankruptcy and transformed a languishing Ford to one of the world‘s most competitive automakers once again. He masterminded and implemented the ―One Ford‖ plan where all the components necessary for enterprise wide
innovation effort were integrated and all of his employees were brought together as a global team to work on the same agenda.ONE FORD model thrived on collaboration and efficiency.
Mulally emphasized working together. He showed that each person and each constituency had a vested interest in the success of Ford. He energized his workforce and obtained sustained results. He inspired and enriched his team and stakeholders to come together for something greater than them. .He defined the blueprint of success and supported and drove the agenda with a continuous communication network which bound his teams together and renewed and supported their commitments. He instilled total teamwork, insisted on rigorous reliance of facts, supported honest communication and forged a shared direction towards reaching the goals.
- He implemented leadership meetings called ―business plan review‖ every Thursday of the week to establish peer accountability system where each leadership team presented a concise color coded update of their accomplishment of key company goals.
- All of his team members had a stake in the outcome of Ford‘s operations including decision-making process by being involved and accountable and so problems were discussed clearly and the whole team were enlisted to help find solutions.
- He established an environment of ―working together‖ behaviours through One Ford plan, that enabled effective collaborative decision-making.
It took tremendous adjustments, work and attention to create and sustain the alignment of Ford into one global team to ensure Ford‘s values were put to work through the culture he instilled. He ensured a
consistency in the purpose of Ford across his people thereby nurturing a cooperative environment that enabled employees to collaboratively address problems at the earliest.
‘Effective managers’ exhibit qualities that build personal relationships among employees; motivatingthem to achieve individual and group goals. Alan Mulally demonstrated these characteristics at Ford.
Discussion questions
- Why is emotional intelligence at the workplace gaining importance in management? (Hints: emotions of self-employees-managing-recruitment)
- What was the biggest impact made by Alan Mulally among his people to turn around Ford?
(Hints: employee emotion- involvement- participation- common agenda-support in work)
Course reference– Concept- Characteristics of effective managers/Unit 21-Managerial effectiveness-a conceptualframework/Subject-Business communication and soft skills
Sources
- Tony Rutigliano, “ How to replicate Alan Mulally‟s corporate alignment success”,May 2014, www.executive.net
- Sarah Miller Caldicott, “Why Ford‟s Alan Mulally is an innovation CEO for the record books”,June 2014, www.forbes.com
- Chip Conley, “The top 10 emotionally intelligent fortune 500 CEO‟s,” 03/08/2011, www.huffingtonpost.com/
Other keywords: Effective management, Emotional quotient of corporate leaders, People management
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| 22 | Well at Dell- Stress management practices adopted in Dell | ||
Michel Dell started a new computer business in 1984 as PC‘s Limited and completed his IPO in 1988 raising $30 million. Recording global sales of $ 56.9 billion, Dell again became a private company in October 2013 which merged itself with Silver Lake Partners. Dell valued its employees as their most crucial assets and believed that their performance was dependent on them being healthy. Dell launched a comprehensive health and wellness initiative, Well at Dell, to support the health and wellbeing of its team members. The program focussed on holistic stress management and health improvement among its workforce to enhance
their productivity through a single portal. Dell encouraged healthy food choice in their cafeterias globally. It launched an initiative ―connected workforce‖, encouraging working remotely to save commute time and
increase flexibility. Dell promoted the practice of corporate yoga in their campus locations to combat stress related health issues among its employees.
Dell also paid attention to creating a physical environment in its campus locations that are stress busters. Some of the stress management techniques adopted by Dell are-
- Carefully chosen wall colours with bright lighting
- Special events like food festivals at their cafeterias
- Sufficient number of bunks in resting areas to take short rests and television sets in corridors
- Quarterly tours, gaming stations, sports like table tennis, cricket etc were maintained
- Mentoring the new recruits and helping them settle down
- Best performers were rewarded along with a party
Well at Dell, fostered a healthy work environment, providing support to participants to access the right health care resources at the right time, thereby ensuring team members health and productivity. Dell team members and their families were encouraged to participate in periodic wellness challenges where Dell
leaders and champions shared their success stories. The program was designed to build camaraderie and enhance motivation supporting Dell team‘s health and wellbeing. Being an integral component of Dell‘s overall healthcare strategy and important component of Dell‘s business strategy, Well at Dell supported
company growth and feasibility.
The initiative helped the team to devote time to health and family thereby creating better balance.
‘Work–life balance’ is crucial in determining the growth of a company and the productivity of itsemployees, the benefits being enjoyed by both, employer and the employee. By creating a healthy work environment at Dell, employees were able to manage stress.
Discussion questions:
- What are the benefits and ways to achieve work-life balance in organizations?
(Hints: vacations-wellness programs-flexi timings-physical environment-relationships)
- What are the key initiatives adopted by Dell to maintain work-life balance among its employees to maintain productivity?
(Hints: yoga-flexi timing-wellness challenge-cafeteria-spouse support)
Course reference-Concept-work-life balance/Unit 22-Stress Management/ subject- Business communication and softskills
Sources
- Prof.Jayanta Banerjee, “Managing stress at work”, www.indianmba.com
- V Siva Subramanian, Dr.Rajandran K.V.R,” Significance of Stress Free Environment for Sustaining
- Business in India”, Volume-3, Issue-11, Nov Special Issue –2014 • ISSN No 2277 – 8160,www.globaljournals.com
- Tre‟McAlister,”Creating a Culture of Health through Well at Dell”, A Work & Life Integration Case Study forthe Society of Women Engineers (SWE), www.societyofwomenengineers.swe.org
Other Keywords: Stress Management, HRM
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| 23 | Steve Job’s time management as a leader at Apple | ||
Steve Jobs, Apple co-founder and a tech visionary, implemented revolutionary management philosophy.
Under his demanding leadership, Apple pioneered and churned out stream of breakthrough products that made it the most innovative company in the world. He had the vision of ―a computer for the rest of us‖ that sparked the PC revolution and launched Apple as the world‘s best and innovative brand.
Steve Jobs ensured that Apple invested the time of its top talent strategically, which in turn accelerated the speed of innovations at Apple. He micro managed his day by delegating work and also being closely involved in scrutinizing their work to the perfection, producing dramatic flawless results. He commanded attention to detail to ensure superior performance. Steve communicated with his employees with subject line STEVE REQUEST to solicit immediate attention. Steve Jobs was intensely focused to take risky leaps as a tech innovator and leader. He had an effective modus operandi and challenged his teams with deadlines, he envisioned and delivered breakthrough products in a rapid fire way. Some of the effective time management practices he imposed are-
- Meetings were as short as possible with focus, reviewing every single product under development
- and ensured everybody stayed on the same page.
- Avoided unnecessary board meetings and emphasized only on short in-depth review meetings.HeensuredthatatApple,employeesdidn‘tstrayawayfromAppleandlimitedtheirextra-
- curricular activities.
Allocated time considerably at Apple‘s industrial design‘s lab to understand specifically where the product designs were heading, where his company was spending its energy and how things were
- connecting.
Delegated traditional duties of CEO to second in command and eventual successors of his executive
- team and he focused at what he was best at –creating products, recruiting etc.
Product was developed immediately after an idea that got conceptualized which is why he sought
- innovative products even before customers realized they needed it.
Prudent in avoiding impositions on his time and made it a culture among his team members to manage time effectively by removing all the unnecessary, extraneous and value less activity and stressed on ―focus‖.
He emphasized on a sense of urgency that pushed Apple towards success though his management style and leadership ways were considered eccentric and being brutally demanding and created a compelling vision of what might be.
‘Effective Time management’ plays a vital role in the productivity of an organization by identifying thepriorities and time wasters.
Discussion questions:
- How is time management important in determining the productivity of an organization? (Hints: priorities-time wasters-goals-action plans)
- One of the key attributes of Steve jobs as leader of successful Apple is time management. Explain.
(Hints: focus-avoid time wasters-time in lab-short meetings)
Course Reference: Concept-importance of time management/Unit23-Time management/subject-Businesscommunication and soft skills
Sources
i. Ben Gran, “ management lessons from Steve Jobs and Apple, www.kabbage.com
- Michael C Mankins, “ Your scarcest resource”, May 2014, www.hbr.org
- Fortune editors,” How Steve Jobs get things done”, January 2011, www.fortune.com
Other Keywords: Soft Skills, Time Management, HRM
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| 24 | Apple’s Innovations- reason for its success and growth | ||
Apple Inc., based in Cupertino, California, maintained its Number 1 position as the world‘s most innovative company for past several years .It had a unique capability of being innovative in designing and developing
its own operating systems, hardware, application software etc in an integrated fashion. The company saw itself as a new-ideas laboratory that churned out the most innovative tech products. Apple‘s commitment
towards innovation was part of a culture among their teams and was not process driven. It built very
effective innovation systems by harnessing the creativity amongst their teams, stimulating new ideas, streamlining processes thereby launching many successful new innovations. Apple, didn‘t conduct market
research nor followed their competitors but solely focused on technology push approach combined with intuition and perfectionism.
In 2015, Apple launched its most innovative, futuristic, forward thinking iPhone 6 and 6 plus, with fingerprint sensor Touch ID combining clever technology with simplicity and ease of use, that propelled its sales to over $ 10 billion worldwide. They refocused on their Mac products and targeted customers with an improved Mac offering. Apple focused on developing what mattered the most rather than wasting efforts and capabilities on matters that were less critical. Apple harnessed on the following strategies to be a leading
innovator every time and differentiating itself clearly from peers-
·
· Focused on innovating products that are needed by customers
· Intuitive user interfaces
· Used their external and internal resources of knowledge base
· Allocated dedicated budget for venturing and testing concepts.
· Sleek product design
Adhered to the belief to ignore what the market says it wants today.
Apple sustained as an innovator with consistently increasing R&D budgets and launched new products and upgrades in rapid-fire manner. It adopted an ―integrator‖ approach wherein they brought together and
integrated different parts of an ecosystem with meticulous attention to detail. They refined customer capabilities in a very approachable offering with immense appeal leading to a unique reputation in the consumer electronic industry and a loyal customer base.
‘Innovations’ are creative ideas put to practice. Apple consistently used innovation to launch newcategories of products consistently.
Discussion questions:
- Why do organizations need to be innovative?
(Hints: creative ideas-revolutionary-capture market-leader)
- How has Apple consistently retained its position as a leader in Tech products?
(Hints: innovative products- resource management-customer needs-ventures)
Course Reference: Concept- Innovations/Unit 24- creativity Management/subject-Business communications and softskills
Sources:
- Leaders, print edition, “lessons from Apple”, June 2007, www.economist.com
- Samantha Nielson,”why innovation could be the key to Apple‟s growth”, January 2014, www.marketrealist.com
- Elizabeth Anderson, “World‟s 50 most innovative companies”, October 2014, www.telegraph.co.uk
Other Keywords: Marketing, Marketing communication, Business Communication
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| 25 | Emotional Intelligence leading to performance at Amadori | ||
Amadori, an industry benchmark and innovative agro-food sector Italian company, founded forty years ago, had a turnover of 1.4 billion Euros in 2014. The Amadori group with 6 hatcheries, 4 feed facilities, 6 food-processing facilities, 16 branch offices, and 3 primary platforms handling 300,000 crates per day, catered to 20000 customers per day with 500 products and 1700 items to the Italian market. Amadori supplied poultry to McDonalds in several countries that required constant innovation due to intense pressure.
An analysis in 2007 revealed that a strategic priority was required in the human development and management. According to the then HR Director Paolo Pampanini, the company wanted to develop their personnel and integrate business areas through better internal communication, information sharing and thus support management growth. After the performance appraisals in 2008, The HR team decided on including
real-time practical training and deduced that success could be obtained with the integration of emotional intelligence into leadership culture. Their two main goals were to apply the company‘s competencies and
develop employees through feedback and individual development plans.
In 2009, Amadori partnered with Six Seconds, a global network supporting people to create positive change
and teach the skills of Emotional Intelligence, to develop people-leadership skills through emotional intelligence training. Their purpose was to inculcate new ‗emotional intelligence skills‘ to their leaders and
managers for the expected changes in the future. In 2011, employee engagement was measured in all Amadori‘s plants with OVS (Organization Vital Signs – trust, motivation, change, teamwork, and
execution), a statistically reliable research process to determine areas assisting and interfering with growth
and bottom-line success. Normed scores were generated for each factor on a scale from 50 -150 with 100 as a mean. ‗Engagement Index‘ another OVS benchmark measured on a scale of 0 – 100%, with 50% being
the mean score; which was the ratio of the number of employees actively engaged vs neutral vs disengaged (not committed). The performance evaluation based on how those competencies led to results was also calculated.
38 managers, 120 intermediate managers, sales managers and high-potential employees underwent the customized Six Seconds EQ Management Certification through a ‗Change MAP process‘ in three phases;
engage (readiness), activate (capability building) and reflect (solidifying learning) with six days of classroom training, individual coaching, assessment through SEI (Six Seconds Emotional Intelligence) and SEI 360 degree, distance learning and outdoor training.
Emotional intelligence training affected individual performance, employee engagement and organizational performance by 47%. Plants with more emotional intelligent managers had higher employee engagement; higher employee engagement led to improved performance which proved that emotional intelligence and organizational engagement were key drivers of performance. A drastic 63% reduction of personnel turnover in their sales force was also observed – the key drivers being motivation, retention and productivity.
In Pampanini‘s words; managerial competencies in the middle management witnessed a high improvement. The training affected the corporate culture and management approach towards change and complexity; and in driving managers to employ leadership skills and best personnel development practices in the long run.
‘Emotional Intelligence’ is the capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others, formotivating the self and for managing emotions in internal, external relationships and in the workplace.
From the above case, we can observe a correlation between emotional intelligence and business performance – a strong link between “hard outcomes of results to the soft skills of EI”.
Discussion Questions
- What is meant by Emotional Intelligence? What are the characteristics of people with high EQ?
(Hints: recognizing feelings and emotions of self and social – committed – gregarious – balanced – engaged)
- How does Emotional Intelligence help an employee achieve success at the workplace?
(Hints: personal and social competence –team building – leadership skills – career development)
Course Reference: Concept- Application of EI at the workplace/Unit25–Emotional Intelligence in Management /Subject-Business Communication and Soft Skills
Sources:
- Lorenzo Fariselli, Joshua Freedman, Massimiliano Ghini, Fabio Barnabè and Erika Paci, “Linking bottom line performance to emotional intelligence and organizational climate,” www. 6seconds.org, April 2013
- Amadori Company, en.amadori.it
Other Keywords: Emotional Intelligence, internal communication
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| 26 | Mary Barra’s recovery of GM | ||
General Motors, with prominent car and truck brands like Chevrolet, Cadillac and Isuzu, and a presence in
six continents with 2-lakh employees in 396 facilities appointed Mary Barra as their new CEO in January 2014. In April, 2014 she was summoned by the ‗Congress – US House committee On Energy and
Commerce on oversight and investigations‘ to explain the 21 deaths caused due to faulty ignition switches of Chevrolet Cobalt model. This led to a recall of over 30 million cars but did not deter the confidence and poise of the new CEO. Instead she conveyed that GM was looking for a 10% operating margin in North America and would restore profits in Europe by 2016. In September, 2014 she conveyed that GM was trying hard to gain customer trust and the 2017 Cadillac would be a driverless car.
GM was mired with bureaucratic issues and the problem of faulty ignition switches in the Chevrolet Cobalt model for over 10 years with no action being taken. Mary Barra, who became the first woman CEO of a major giant automaker, started feeling the bruises rippling in the company within months of joining. Her working style was very different from the others. She fired 15 employees, some of them being senior legal advisors and disciplined 5 engineers who were involved in the design and procurement of those switches which made GM to spend $1.7 billion on repairing those faulty switches, $35 million fine to settle a US-safety investigation, recall of 30 million vehicles since 2005, thereby losing on customer trust. Her first tough reaction to a 10-year long problem led to an effective change and increase in her reputation.
GM‘s organization culture consisted of GM nod (during meetings, the employees nodded that action had to be taken), GM salute (employees indicated that responsibility was not theirs but someone else‘s) and believed in ‗silos‘ style of functioning especially in the engineering operations department that failed to
communicate the safety concerns to their senior executives. Though the problem of the switches was known as early as 2001, the managers did not redesign the switches to save on the cost which signified their incompetence, neglect , lack of responsibility and low employee engagement.
Ms.Mary Barra, who took responsibility and felt sad for the lost lives due to GM‘s missteps, created a new operational risk-management committee, with clear lines for reporting, to monitor how the manufacturing department handled potential risks. She tried to address the communication problems by reorganizing the engineering operations by appointing a global safety chief, Mr.Jeff Boyer, with immediate access to her and
the legal department, 35-product-safety investigators to identify and solve product-related issues, ‗Speak-up for safety program‘ to report safety issues quickly, and Global Product Integrity organization to enhance
safety standards. Compensation expert Kenneth Fienberg was appointed to give advice and suggest measures to compensate accident victims.
Ms. Barra, then attempted to refocus the customer on the new releases of their brands by quelling the fears of the previous models and reassuring the company‘s efforts in making the safety processes world class. Through all these measures, GM‘s auto sales increased by 13% in May 2014 over its previous year with
share prices improving by 3.7%; much higher than its competitor, The Ford Company. She outlined her business practices by saying, ―Our job is not just to fix the problem. Our job must be to set a new industry standard for safety, quality, and excellence.‖
‘Interpersonal competencies’ essential for managers are self-awareness, control, motivation,
acknowledging interests of subordinates and communication skills.. In this case, we observe that Ms. Mary Barra took the Chevrolet Cobalt issue as an advantage and treated it as a catalyst to change GM‟s
organizational culture to be direct, responsible and transparent.
Discussion Questions
- What are the steps to develop interpersonal skills?
(Hints: assertiveness – accepts responsibility – manage conflicts)
- ‗Managers need to understand others‘ behavior and develop skills to drive results,‘ Justify from the case.
(Hints: employee engagement – open communication culture – accountability – competency)
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Course Reference: Concept- Developing Interpersonal Skills/Unit26 -Interpersonal Skills /Subject-BusinessCommunication and Soft Skills
Sources:
- Sarah Miller Caldicott, “Crash Test: Can CEO Mary Barra repair GM‟s defective corporate culture,” www.forbes.com, June 2014
- Geoff Calvin, “Mary Barra‟s (unexpected) opportunity”, www.fortune.com, September 2014
- Jeff Bennett and Joann S. Lublin, “GM recall probe to blame cultural failings – Auto maker‟s investigation to highlight poor communications, but clear top bosses”, www.wsj.com, June 2014
- “Forbes – The world‟s most powerful people – #62: Mary Barra”, www.forbes.com
- About GM: Our Company, www.gm.com
Other Keywords: Communication, Interpersonal competencies
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| 27 | Leadership development at Goodyear | ||
The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, started in 1898 by Frank Seiberling, were named after Charles Goodyear, the inventor of vulcanized rubber. Goodyear was one of the largest tyre companies, with 67000 employees and manufacturing units in 52 facilities spread over 22 countries. The company had two innovation centres at Ohio and Luxembourg that develop state-of-the-art products and services that set standards for the industry in technology and performance. Goodyear manufactured tyres for automobiles, trucks, SUVs, airplanes, farm equipment and earthmover machinery.
In 2007, Goodyear restructured its business from volume-supplier-model to focus on being a premier tire
manufacturing unit to cater to the target market segments. The company realized that new leadership profiles need to be developed to adapt to this change of focus. Gary Vander Lind, VP of HR of Goodyear‘s North
American division hired Amy Alexy as the Director of Learning and Development in 2011. The management at Goodyear decided that instead of hiring external persons in leadership roles, it was better to
train and develop internal employees. A training-need analysis was done through a survey of 1800 emerging leaders who manage the company‘s North American division. The leaders were asked to rate their skills which formed the basis of selecting the training topics. Goodyear‘s Great Leader Academy was formed to develop leaders at all management levels. ‗The Senior Leadership Development Program‘ was introduced
with the curriculum design and program implementation being provided by Harvard Business Publishing.
The program highlights are:
- To equip the organization with teams who develop strategies for a fluctuating market.
- To create a leadership development strategy for two sets of employees: High potentials who can accelerate business transformation and bridge the gap with the senior management and emerging leaders and line-level managers who can encourage learning among all levels in the organization.
- To develop 10 competencies of its executive team and 5 leadership traits; financial acumen, accountability, strategic planning, change leadership, visionary, continuous process improvement, talent management, team collaboration and relationship building, decision-making and challenging the status-quo.
- In 2012, the one-year program began with 50 participants with 70-20-10 model of learning delivery. 70% on-the job, 20% through informal conversations and 10% through formal learning platforms.
- Virtual lessons, readings from thinkers on select modules, webinars, and case studies were used for training by Harvard Business School Faculty covering topics like financial analysis, drivers of profitability and value, and evaluating opportunities.
- For informal learning, the participants were allowed to choose the areas they wanted to focus and develop, identify internal and external sources that could help them learn something new. After identifying their learning partners, the plan and the frequency was decided. In the first year 41% had one learning partner, 19% had two and 40% had three or more.
- For on-the-job training, two methods were taken; action learning projects and leadership career path management. It was developed by Goodyear‘s executive team on real business decisions and the duration was 9-months.
Results of the ‗The Senior Leadership Development Program‘:
- 850 participants – 50% have received new assignments or increased responsibilities, 28% moved laterally and 22% received promotions.
- Transparency in learning, individual development plan – all users can access the curriculum – 50% are active users.
- Profitability of the company increasing from 2012 onwards, $691 million operating income from NA division in 2013.
- Effective communication, openness, collaborative culture and learning culture in the organization.
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‘Leadership skills’ like long term vision, persuasion, and change management and crisis managementskills are those that differentiate a successful organisation from others. In this case, Goodyear did an assessment of already existing leadership skills and prepared a leadership program to enhance those skills in accordance to its new business focus.
Discussion Questions
- How is a leadership development plan done in organizations?
(Hints: leadership audit – plan – dedication – evaluation – perform)
- ―Goodyear develops its leaders by becoming a learning organization‖. Justify
(Hints: Leadership Development Programs – theoretical and practical training – learning and
collaborative culture)
Course Reference: Concept- Leadership skills/Unit 27-Leadership and Change Management Skills/Subject-Business Communication and Soft Skills
Sources:
i. Ladan Nikravan, “Where the Rubber Meets the Road: Goodyear‟s Quest to Build Leaders”,
www.clomedia.com, June 2014
- Frank Kalman, “Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.: Optimas Gold Winner for Training”, www.workforce.com, December 2013
- “Goodyear develops its leaders by becoming a learning organization”, www.harvardbusiness.org
- “Goodyear to announce fourth quarter 2014 financial results”, www.goodyear.com, February 2015
Other Keywords: Leadership, HR
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| 28 | An American guest in China for a business dinner | ||
According to the 2015 AmCham Shanghai China Business Survey, nearly one-third of American companies considered China as their number one country for investments because of profitability, growth in revenue, positive cash flows and a stable market share. The priority ranged from producing goods in China for the Chinese market to manufacturing and production in China for the US market. New opportunities in untapped international markets were captured who appreciated culture and multilingualism. A common shared language reduced the language barriers in bilateral trade between 75% – 170%.
The major difference observed between American and Chinese culture was the attitudinal difference in
individualism versus collectivism. The Chinese culture, for centuries, believed in the collective good over individual ambitions. Chinese valued maintenance of harmony and the ‗face‘ (Mian zi). Jonathan Story,
Emeritus Professor of INSEAD and author of the book, ‗China Uncovered: What you need to know to do business in China‘, described ‗face‘ as a ―mix of public perception, social role and self-esteem that has the potential to either destroy or help build human relationships.‖ For conveying the right message in the
complex business landscape of China, awareness of the cultural norms and actions was a necessity.
Carson Tavenner, a member of the National Committee of US-China relationships and Executive Director of Tai Initiative, a non-profit corporation which encourages the development of trusting communication between USA and China in building sub-national relationships offered some insight on the importance of food in the Chinese business culture.
- Dining together developed trust and respect among the Chinese business people. Building loyalty, trust and value among the Chinese business partners did not materialize if dining was treated just as a waste of time or a formality or not indicating that the food was enjoyable.
- Importance was given to rank and status of individuals even during dining. The Chinese hosts sat farthest from the door during the dining and it was important for an American to pay attention to these minute details. The esteemed American guest sat right to the host. The staff anointed for payment of the bill sat closest to the door.
- The American served the tastiest dish to another honourable person (who sat near the host) and displayed his graciousness and thoughtfulness.
- Americans leave a clean plate after the meal indicating satisfaction, but in China; a clean plate shows that the guest is still hungry and the hosts did not provide him enough food. The American in China left a small portion of the meal on the plate indicating the generosity of the Chinese host and that he could not eat all the meal served to him.
- One American guest sang a folk song and another recited a portion of the poetry with a small explanation as a cultural exchange gift to the Chinese host which made him immensely pleased about the guest‘s genuine nature.
Cross-cultural awareness has proved to be complex, as a small oversight in keeping a clean plate to a small amount of food on the plate might create offences to the host and end up in a hostile relationship. As communication advanced in reducing business frontiers, it became important for multinational companies to consider cultural fluency and linguistic diversity in networking in sub-national communities and developing character-based leadership behaviors and skills.
‘Cultural fluency’ is based on the ability to identify, understand, and apply cultural variables thatinfluence the communicative behavior of members of different cultures. Companies looking for international expansion should consider the ROI, study the demographics, recruit multilingual employees, and work on getting multilingual in creation of website, company documents and social media.
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Discussion Questions
- What do you understand by cultural fluency?
(Hints: bringing together of people from different cultures – conduction of business – transfer of technology)
- ‗Chinese give importance to face‘ – Does this also imply in India? Describe.(Hints: name – fame – prestige – social status – respect – self-esteem)
Course Reference: Concept- Cultural fluency/Unit 28 –Multi-cultural Communication Skills/Subject-BusinessCommunication and Soft Skills
Sources:
- Eryn Paul, “Food, the secret of Chinese business Culture”, www.knote.com, January 2015
- “China uncovered: What you need to know to do business in China”, storybookreview.wordpress.co, October
2012
- “Building a bilingual organization”, taiinitiative.org, May 2014
- Amcham Shanghai 2015 China Business Report, www.amcham-shanghai.org
Other Keywords: Business Communication, Cross-cultural communication
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