Managing Reorganization

As the newly hired manager of a division that is failing at my company, there are several factors I will focus in on to begin the transition to the turn around. Firstly, I want to focus on the fact that we are losing market shares because our product line is outdated. Next, I want to work to fix the problem we are having with adversarial interdepartmental communication. I would also like to address the ongoing issue that we have been having with receiving corporate funding. It is going to be very important to take each of the issues that we are having and incorporate them into an organizational structure change. After defining how we want to fix the issues we have addressed, I would like to give a more detailed account as to the steps that I believe are best to take in implementing this change. Lastly, I would like to highlight the effect that the external environment will have on the turn-around of the division.

               Richard Brock (n.d.) said “You sell a company twice. First of all, you see them the product, then you sell them the service.” The product line of a company is a huge part of the key to its success. To have a product line that is outdate is simply unacceptable. We need to develop a structure change in our division that will transition us from a functional structure to a project structure. Our new project structure should have an extensive focus on our product line. We need to make sure that we have the most up to date information and that our product reflects the type of workers that we are. Bill Gates (n.d.) once said “its quality! It's creating brand recognition and going after market share!” We need to be innovative and be the industry leader. In becoming the industry leaders, we will no longer be losing market shares and our company will benefit immensely. An organizational change in technology would also help to update our product line by allowing employees to collaborate and communicate much easier. This will lead to employees being able to learn how to be more efficient and effective from each other, as well as allow employees to access complete information faster and make quicker, better informed decisions about their work. 

               Adversarial interdepartmental communication can have extremely detrimental effects on division productivity. Bill Gates (n.d.) once stated that “like a human being, a company has to have an internal communication mechanism, a "nervous system", to coordinate its actions.” If we lack the ability to properly communicate with our co-workers, in theory, our nervous system is unable to function correctly, leading to a company spiraling to its grave. Management can work towards overcoming some of the communication barriers at hand by implementing several valuable techniques. We need to use feedback that our employees have to help pin-point the cause of the problem. We collaborating interdepartmentally, we need to ensure the use of simplified, direct, to the point language. We may need to have some activities that help employees to utilize the positive effects of active listening. Emphasis on constraining emotions and watching for non-verbal cues is also been proven effective in the workplace. It should be communicated to the workforce that we want everyone to communicate fully, openly, and honestly. As a result, fewer rumors will surface and it will cause higher morale in the office. We could also make more online databases available as well as create communities of practice for the divisions to greater expand the opportunities that they have to communicate effectively.

               It has also been made apparent that the competition for corporate resources has become a large issue. But I believe that we need to look at this in a different way. Fairfax Cone (n.d.) stated that “the inventory goes down the elevator every night.” That being said, we have to realize that our people are our most valuable internal resource. As long as we have them, we can do anything. It is important that we utilize each individual employee’s strength and weaknesses and make sure we are placing them in a position where they can be as efficient as possible. We need to make sure that they have the resources to do that as well. We will save a lot of money right of the bat if we utilize, to the best of our ability, what we have right in front of us. By taking these appropriate steps to change the structure, technology, and people, I believe that the solution to our financial problems will slowly solve themselves. In the beginning, we will save ourselves the money, and once we have developed a new product line that upper management can get excited about, the funding should follow.

               We are going to need to monitor the transition very closely for any kind of resistance. The steps that I would suggest to manage the transition would involve reducing the resistance to change as much as possible. Just as Robbins (2009) emphasizes, I would focus on my employees. I’d be sure to educate and communicate the department of the changes we are making and why, encourage participation, and provide a support system for them. Because building trust is a vital element to create a thriving workplace, I would avoid any strategies involving manipulation, co-optation, and coercion because of the damaging effect that it would have with employee relations. I would assess the external environment and integrate it into the turn-around plan by conducting research on changes in consumer demands, laws, technology, and economics and decided on adjustments accordingly.

               Many factors have to be taken into account to successfully turn around a failing business unit. An outdated product line, adversarial communication, and competition are the three main problems that have hindering our department. To fix these problems, I plan to implement a change in structure, technology and people. In managing the transition, I would suggest closely monitoring any resistance to change, and responding immediately to it. The external environment should also be reviewed and incorporated into the overall plan according to any changes.

References

Brook, Richard (2010, Dec). Richard Brock Quotes. Retrieved on January 18, 2011 from http://einstein/quotes/richard_brock/

Cone, Fairfax (n.d.). QFinance. Retrieved on January 18, 2011 from http://www.qfinance.com/finance-and-business-quotes/employees

Gates, Bill. (n.d.). Bill Gates Quotations. Retrieved on January 18, 2011 from http://www.afterquotes.com/great/people/bill-gates/index.htm

Robbins, Stephen P. (2009). Chapter 12: Managing Change and Innovation [Electronic Version]. Management (p.256-278). Pearson Prentice Hall. Retrieved from https://mycampus.aiu-online.com/controls/eBookFileServer.ashx?id=51_119_102_52_71_80_65_104_72_84_52_121_56_57_89_108_77_104_43_114_71_103_69_116_78_120_106_51_54_55_98_112_115_83_83_66_76_68_106_68_113_121_57_82_100_118_66_117_53_65_74_52_80_103_74_105_100_65_67_111_118_99_116_89_116_70_81_113_100_89_51_102_112_86_47_111_116_69_81_108_115_120_43_73_75_119_61_61&File=Robbins_Ch12 256-278&friendlyName=Chapter 12: Managing Change and Innovation

Computer Privacy In The Workplace

Computer privacy in the workplace is a controversial issue for most. Employers can use software that allows them to monitor internet usage. They can track all of the website you visit and keep track of all the emails you write and receive. Many companies use a tracking system that records keystrokes so that they are less likely to miss anything. Other types of employee monitoring include a technique that keeps track of the amount of time spend away from the computer terminal or idling.

          Employers are generally allowed to do all the tracking they please because they own the computers.  Most tracking systems make sure that the person being tracked has no idea that this is going on, unless the employer makes it known. In most states, there are no law in place that require employers to inform you if they do decide to start tracking you.

          Employees have very few rights when it comes to computer privacy in the workplace. Under certain circumstances, employees are offered protection from monitoring. Some union contracts limit the right of the employer to monitor. The United States Constitution provides minimal rights to public sector employees, most importantly the fourth amendment, which protects people against unreasonable search and seizure. (Privacy Rights Clearinghouse)

In 2007, the American Management Association and the e Policy Institute found that two-thirds of employers monitored employee internet usage. It is well known that many companies track content, keystrokes, and time spent at the keyboard.  Over 30% of companies use technology to automatically monitor the emails that are written by employees. Some of the latest software claims that by analyzing each employee’s “digital footprint” they can create an in-depth evaluation of performance and conduct. The software looks for word patterns, changes in the style of language, and communication patterns. However, the AMA does report that "Most respondent firms carry on surveillance practices on an occasional basis in the manner of spot checks rather than constantly or on a regular routine."

Studies conducted by CareerBuilder, an employment website, found that 45% of hiring managers check social media pages when considering prospective employees. (Wortham) They looks for things such as excessive drinking, drug use and bad mouthing of previous employers. The study also found that 35 percent of those mangers decided not to offer a candidate the job because of what they found on their social networking site. Privacy setting are offered by the sites to keep the array of people allowed to view your information limited. Sadly, the confusion over privacy settings leave some users publicly posting information without knowing it.

Companies like Teneros offer services that monitor publicly posted information on a regular basis for companies. (Brustein) They help companies to reveal potentially confidential or embarrassing information before other are able to get a hold of it. Employees’ social media creates a trail that could be subject to use in litigation. In the United States, there are no statutory laws that directly address implications of employers using social network sites as part of their hiring process. (Sinrod)

A prospective employer does not have the right to demand access to a social networking page. Even when it comes to social networking sites, there can be some expectations of privacy. (Sinrod) If an employer violates the terms of service of a social networking site, it could be said that they were committing a privacy violation. This mean that companies should never “hack” their way onto people social networking sites or pretend to be someone they are not to gain access to someone’s page. This is misrepresentation and violates the terms of service for the sites.

Common sense would save many people a lot of trouble when it comes to internet monitoring. When it comes down to it, if you are doing what you are supposed to be doing when you are at work, you shouldn’t have a problem. Most employers let you know what they expect from you and what they feel is acceptable when it comes to surfing the web.

Tthe government agency I work for tells you right up front that everything you do is kept on record, down to how many minutes you’ve spent of each website. Legal has informed us that surfing is acceptable during breaks and lunch (around an hour each day.) However, there are limitations as to the type of surfing you are doing. Most sites that the Agency wants us to stay away from are blocked. Interestingly, we are allowed to use facebook. The Defense Logistics Agency even created their own network that employees can join. At the end of the day, what it comes down to is that you should never put anything on the internet that you don’t want everyone to see. You must be internet smart and market yourself wisely.

Bibliography

Brustein, Jashua. New York Times. 26 March 2010. 10 December 2010 <http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/26/keeping-a-closer-eye-on-workers-social-networking/>.

Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. Workplace Privacy and Employee Monitoring. Spetember 2010. 7 December 2010 <http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs7-work.htm#3a>.

Sinrod, Eric. Prospective Employees Inadvertently Open Their Kimonos to Employers On Social Networking Sites. 11 November 2008. 2 December 2010 <http://articles.technology.findlaw.com/2008/Nov/04/11218.html>.

Wortham, Jenna. New York Times. 20 August 2009. 8 December 2010 <http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/20/more-employers-use-social-networks-to-check-out-applicants/>.

E-Business Security

All business owners should be aware of the risks associated with conducting business on the internet. Ventures like this can pose serious security risks if they are not gone about in the correct manner. A responsible business owner needs to take the necessary precautions when they decide that they want to conduct an e-business. Taking the time to protect your business from hackers will maximize the potential for success.

          “The term hacker was originally used to refer to a self-taught computer expert who is highly skilled with technology, programming, and hardware” (Jenkins, 2000). Hackers target small businesses because they lack the resources that large corporations possess to provide security. A malicious code can destroy all of a company’s code generators and programs. They have caused companies to lose millions of dollars as well as industry position. To avoid malicious codes debilitating your online company, anti-virus and anti-spyware programs should be used and updated regularly and have the most recent patches. A firewall is also a good tool to utilize when trying to protect your online business from these types of threats.

          Data breaches are a common problem seen by online companies that fail to secure their wireless internet networks properly. It can lead to your customer’s financial information falling into the hands of someone who intends to misuse the information. If you intend on using a wireless network for you business you have to ensure that proper security steps are taken. The default password should be changed to something lengthy and preferably containing both large and small letters as well as numbers and characters. You should also make sure that you encrypt your wireless router with Wi-Fi protected access or WPA.  If you aren’t using a wireless router, you should still secure communications that go on over a network. This should be done with the use of internet protocol security or IPSec.

          Another important internet security issue that stems from network use is an always-on connection. Most internet businesses rely on a high bandwidth connection like DSL or a cable modem. An always-on network connection leaves you vulnerable to attacks 24/7. Static IP addresses are also maintained when using an always-on connection. The presents a problem because “once a potential hacker has found the computer, he or she will be able to return to it as long as it is using the same IP address, placing it at greater risk of malicious intrusion” (Jenkins, 2000).

          E-businesses constantly exchange data. It is important to be aware of who you are exchanging data with. Connecting to systems that are owned as well as controlled by others can pose serious security issues. Because of this, it is important that the security mechanisms chosen are “standards based, flexible, and interoperable, to ensure that they work with others’ systems. They must support browsers, and work in multi-tier architectures with one or more middle tiers such as web servers and application servers” (White, 2002, p. 4).

          It is also important to encrypt the information that you keep on your personal computer. You must be prepared for the possibility that your computer could fall into the wrong hands. If it did, you would want to ensure that whoever has the computer won’t be able to view any of the sensitive information being kept on it. To protect your business from the possibility of a computer being stolen, use encryption programs that make information unreadable without an encryption key or password. “An additional strategy is to utilize Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and/or S-HTTP, which work great to secure e-business transactions and other communications between browsers and Web sites” (B., 2010).

When it comes to email, security should be a number one priority. All emails should use file encryption so that communications remain between the customer and the business. Employees should also be made aware of spear phishing scams. They could receive emails that appear to come from a legitimate place like an IT department and be asked to relay sensitive passwords via email. Employees should always be made “aware of what a spear phishing attack is and to be on the lookout for anything in their in-box that looks suspicious (Teixeira, 2007).

I have no doubt that an acceptable level of security can be reached when conducting business over the internet; however, it is a business owner’s responsibility to take the proper steps to ensure the highest security level possible.  Security of an e-business is a multifaceted challenge requiring appropriate policies and practices. When you have successfully deployed an internet business, you will have developed a well established risk management procedure to deter disintermediation of data access.  Providing security for your internet business shouldn’t be hard. There are numerous program providers in the network security field to help you. Failing to take it into account at all would be a fatal error on a business owner’s part.

References

B., D. (2010, May 28). Exploring the Security Concerns for an Online e-Business. Retrieved from http://www.brighthub.com/computing/enterprise-security/articles/72582.aspx.

Teixeira, R. (2007, June 4). Top Five Small Business Internet Security Threats. Retrieved from http://smallbiztrends.com/2007/06/top-five-small-business-internet-security-threats.html.

White, O. (2002, January). Managing E-Business Security Challenges. Retrieved from http://www.cgisecurity.com/database/oracle/pdf/9iR2hisec.PDF.

Expanding Business into China... Good or Bad?

China is the third largest country in the world (Underwood, 2002). Mandarin is the predominant dialect spoken by its people. The government encourages its citizens to be atheist however, freedom of religion given. They have a population of over 1.2 billion people. China is thought to have the most powerful of all communist governments that exist.

The People’s Republic of China was established in 1949 by the Communist Party of China after the Third Revolutionary Civil War. Their government includes and executive, legislative, and judicial branch and the positions and powers of the President and Vice President are established in the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China.  This Constitution, which was adopted by the country in 1982, is their source of law.

            China’s population increases at a respectable rate of 1.3% per year. The rate of growth is unsurpassed by any emerging country in the world. In 2008, the real growth rate of China’s GDP reported at 9.8% (Travel Document Systems, Inc.). These economic factors have lead to a rapid surge in energy demand. By 2003, China had become the second-largest worldwide consumer of oil (Travel Documents Systems, Inc.).

As the third-largest producer of energy in the world, with expected electricity consumption growth of over 4% through 2030, there is a vast potential market for any energy sector company (Travel Documents Systems, Inc.). 20% of China’s generated electricity is foreign supplied. It is expected that 15,000 megawatts of generating capacity will be added per year (Travel Documents Systems, Inc.). If that’s not convincing enough, 70% of China’s energy consumption comes from coal (Travel Documents Systems, Inc.).  They are also the largest producer and consumer of coal.

            Thomas A. Edison founded General Electric Company in 1878.  They are extremely innovative as well as environmentally conscious. General Electric would benefit immensely from the potential market in China. They offer services pertaining to numerous aspects of the energy sector including electricity, oil, gas and coal. With the rising demand for electricity, light bulb sales will be steadily increasing. GE extracts oil from tar sands and provides customers with “clean, economical, coal-to-power solutions” (General Electric Company, 2011).  They also dabble in hydropower, water control, gasification, rail, nuclear energy, and solar energy, all of which China has a potential market for.

            “The leadership of the (Communist Party of China) is stressed and solidified” (Underwood, 2002) in the Preamble of the Constitution of the People’s Republic. The countries case law differs from our own primarily because there is a lack of strict precedential concept. The previous verdict of one court holds no weight in another court room. In regards to administrative law, citizens have the right to challenge administrative actions however; court review is not permitted in affairs pertaining to national defense or foreign affairs by the state.

            The involvement of government in China’s economy is a lot greater than what we are used to in the United States. Interactions between Chinese officials and those doing business in China are inevitable. “Each significant economic sector (is) supervised and controlled by one or more of these organizations, which included the People's Bank of China, State Planning Commission, State Economic Commission, State Machine-Building Industry Commission, and the ministries of agriculture, animal husbandry, and fishery; coal industry; commerce; communications; finance; light industry; metallurgical industry; petroleum industry; railways; textile industry; and water resources and electric power” (U.S. Library of Congress, n.d.).

The economic activities sheer volume is the only thing that limits the extent of government control. Fortunately, this is leading towards a shift to more indirect guidance from government as well as more of a dynamic economy. Such factors also mean that further consideration of taking advantage of the potential in China’s energy market would be ideal. Such emerging markets could be instrumental to the continued success of companies such as General Electric.

           

               

Work Cited

General Electric Company. (2011). Imagination at work. Retrieved from http://www.ge.com/products_services/energy.html.

Travel Document Systems, Inc. (n.d.) Economy. Retrieved from http://www.traveldocs.com/cn/economy.htm.

U.S. Library of Congress. (n.d.). Roles of the Government and the Party. Retrieved from http://countrystudies.us/china/93.htm.