Assignment 10.1
Discuss your answers in a Word document, 500 words minimum; Arial 11; 1.5 Space. (Two pages). Send your paper as an attached document.
1. How do evolutionary change and revolutionary change differ?
2. What is a business process, and why is reengineering a popular instrument of change today?
3. Why is restructuring sometimes necessary for reengineering to take place?
4. What are the main steps in action research?
5. What is organizational development, and what is its goal?
This activity is a part of the Final Project. Please follow the instructions carefully. )
Case for Analysis
Nike Learns How to Change
Nike’s success during the 1990s resulted in overconfidence among its managers and designers. New competitors began to targetspecific market segments. Nike’s designers failed to notice current consumer preferences. As a result, in 2000 Nike’s sales and profits fell sharply.
CEO Phil Knight brought in managers from outside the company to change the way decisions were made. To quickly widen Nike’s product line, Knight took over and purchased small specialized companies.
Traditionally Nike’s designers all grouped together in one large design department. Knight split the design team into different teams; each team would focus on developing unique products to match the needs of customers in its assigned market segment. The aim was to build diversity into Nike’s decision making and create teams of experts who were attuned to changing customer needs in their segments of the sports product market. Nike’s new approach to decision making worked; most of its new shoes are now leaders in their market segments and its sales and profits have soared in the 2010s.
1. How did Nike change the way it made decisions and introduce new products?
2. In what ways could Nike use the change techniques discussed in this chapter to find ways to improve its effectiveness and competitive advantage?
Assignment 11.1
Discuss your answers in a Word document, 400 words minimum; Arial 11; 1.5 Space. (Two pages). Send your paper as an attached document.
1. What is the relationship between quantum and incremental technological change?
2. What is the relationship among creativity, intrapreneurship, and innovation?
3. What is project management? How should managers decide which projects to pursue?
4. What steps would you take to create (a) a structure and (b) a culture congenial to innovation in a high-tech organization?
5. What are information synergies and in what ways can they enhance innovation
(This activity is a part of the Final Project. Please follow the instructions carefully. )
3. Answer the following questions
Case for Analysis
Rising, then Falling Innovation at Dell
Dell’s competence was based on selling PCs direct to customers and cutting out wholesalers and retailers. It found innovative ways to manage its supply chain to minimize the costs of holding inventory, leading to rapid growth. Between the mid-1990s and 2007 Dell was far more profitable than competing PC makers. Dell’s performance started to erode after 2007 because the recession led to a fall in demand from business customers, it lacked adequate competences in research and development needed to compete with HP and Apple, and Apple was gaining market share from Dell through product differentiation. To increase demand for its PCs it was forced to sell through regular bricks-and-mortar retailers, which further lowered its profits. Dell is now struggling to find innovative ways to turn around its performance.
1. What were the keys to Dell’s success as it grew? How did entrepreneurship help the company grow?
2. Why has innovation at Dell been falling in recent years? Search the WWW for information that discusses how Michael Dell is making innovative changes to strategy and structure to turn around his company’s performance.
Discuss your answer in one or two paragraph.
1. Find an example of an organization that has been trying to promote its level of innovation. What kind of innovation is it principally trying to promote? How is it attempting to do so? What has been its success so far?
Assignment 12.1
Discuss your answers in a Word document, 400 words minimum; Arial 11; 1.5 Space. (Two pages). Send your paper as an attached document.
1. Why and under what conditions can conflict be good or bad for an organization? Would you expect a higher level of conflict in a mechanistic or an organic structure? Why?
2. You have been appointed to manage a large R&D laboratory. You find a high level of conflict between scientists in the unit. Why might this conflict be arising? How will you try to resolve it?
3. Why is it important to maintain a balance of power between different groups of organizational stakeholders?
4. What is unobtrusive power? Why is it so important?
5. How can the design of the organization’s structure and culture give some subunits more power?
Instructions:
1. Answer the following:
- Is it ethical for CEOs to be able to appoint the directors who will be evaluating their performance and determining their compensation?
- What kinds of ethical rules should be developed to ensure that abuses of power and political plays such as those that occurred at WorldCom can be prevented in the future?
Jones Gareth. 2013. 7th Ed. Organizational Theory, Design and Change. Prentice Hall. New Jersey