Category: Business

Introduction

Al-Capones restaurant came into existence in 1927 under the initiative of Gladys Meyers. The restaurant is located along the shores of Fox River and operates in a big and spacious house. In the course of its operation, Al Capones mission is to achieve sustainable growth by providing its customers with an untouchable dining experience (Al Capones, 2012).

The firms operations are guided by one major objective, which entails offering its customers great and diverse wines, spirits, micro-brews, and foods. Al Capones focuses at maintaining the real taste of food and alcohol beverages that it offered during the 1920s. In addition to positioning itself as a unique drinking point, Al Capones also focuses at offering its customers unique entertainment.

One of the ways through which the firm attains this goal is by entering into contracts with renowned music bands such as Dixieland stars and saxophonists such as Johnny Waters, Franz Jackson, and Glenn Koch. These elements are some of the main areas that have contributed towards the firms survival (Al Capones, 2012).

SWOT analysis

Strengths

Strong brand  Branding is one of the avenues through which organizations can derive their competitive advantage. According to Healey (2008), branding entails a continuous commitment to deliver product meaning and promise to customers.

The restaurant has managed to maintain the quality of products it offered during the 1920s. As a result, it has developed a strong identity within the society in which it operates. People travel for long miles in order to enjoy the tasty spirits, great food, and lively entertainment within the restaurant (Al-Capones, 2012).

Customers who patronize the hotel experience the roaring characteristic of the hotel that persisted during the 1920s and 30s. This element has played a critical role in enhancing a strong attachment with the society. Consequently, the firm has been in a position to nurture a strong level of customer loyalty. According to Healey (2008), customer loyalty is a key ingredient in the survival and success of firms considering the high rate at which the business environment is transforming.

Product diversification- Since its inception, Al Capones has been able to diversify its product offering. The firm has achieved this by adopting a multiproduct strategy. The strategy enables firms to become more diversified hence improving their performance. Effective integration of multiproduct strategy is realizable by integrating the concept of focusing. Consequently, firms management teams have to focus on the most profitable product to integrate in their product offering (McDaniel, Hair, & Lamb, 2008).

Al Capones has integrated multiproduct strategy by incorporating a variety of foods, wines, spirits, microbrews, cigars, and steaks. The quality of products offered by the firm has significantly contributed towards the development of strong brand recognition. One of the ways through which the firm has attained this element is by positioning itself optimally as a unique steakhouse.

The firm offers sizeable meat steaks compared to other steakhouses in Chicago, which greatly appeals customers. Its product diversification strategy has consistently enabled Al Capones achieve effectiveness in satisfying customers needs (Al Capones, 2012).

Effective pricing strategy Organizations can derive their competitive advantage from effective costing. One of the ways through which firms can achieve this aspect is by producing at a lower cost compared to competitors, which provides firms with an opportunity to set the price of their products competitively (Andreasen & Kotler, 2003).

Al Capones is cognizant of the fact that consumers are price conscious. Consequently, the firm has incorporated a pricing strategy that takes into account the consumers purchasing power. One of the ways through which the firm has attained this goal is by integrating a special menu popularly known as recession proof. The special menus are available on Fridays and Sundays. The menus constitute unique foods.

Unique location- The restaurant is uniquely located along the Fox River. Its location provides customers with an opportunity to explore the wilderness for to access the restaurant, customers travel through the wilderness, past gambling dens, and hoodlum haunts, which contribute to a high level of customer satisfaction.

Strong human capital Firms can derive a high competitive advantage by offering effective and efficient customer service. One of the ways through which they can achieve this aspect is by training their employees on how to offer quality and optimal services.

In the course of its operation, Al Capones has managed to develop strong brand recognition by ensuring that customers get excellent services. Upon patronizing the hotel, customers are welcomed by hostesses dressed like flapper. Additionally, serving is splendid laced with customer friendliness, which enables customers to derive a unique experience (Al Capones, 2012).

Weaknesses

Poor accessibility  Sales revenue of restaurants is greatly dependent on the size of traffic. Consequently, it is paramount for hotels and restaurants management teams to ensure that customers can easily access their premises. One of the ways through which this goal is attainable is by ensuring that the restaurants are strategically located (Garvey, Dismore & Dismore, 2011).

Accessing the restaurant is not easy especially for new comers for the restaurant is located in rugged terrain surrounded by hills and forests. The roads leading to the restaurant are poorly lit. Additionally, the address to the restaurant is hard to find. The signs directing customers to the restaurant are fixed on trees along the road.

In most cases, consumers prefer travelling to guesthouses and restaurants that are conveniently located. When selecting their drinking and dining choices, time is one of the major considerations that consumers take into account (Garvey, Dismore & Dismore, 2011). The restaurant does not have a parking lot. Customers are forced to park their cars along the river and trek to the restaurant. This aspect presents a major security threat to customers and their property, hence a major weakness of the Al Capones

Lack of market leadership The firm has not optimally positioned itself in the restaurant industry. Despite the firm being in operation for a long duration, the firm has not managed to position itself as a market leader, which limits the firms ability to deal with changes occurring in the restaurant industry (Boone & Kurtz, 2011).

Low rate of product innovation The firm has not implemented an effective research and development strategy. This aspect has limited the firms ability to improve its products and service offering. The firm continues to operate in its traditional format, which might limit its ability to adjust to changes in consumer tastes and preferences.

Low scale of operation- The firm operates in only one location. Despite the firm being in operation for almost a century, it has not incorporated the concept of market expansion. This aspect has greatly limited its ability to tap the prevailing market opportunities. Its operation in only one location has reduced the firms ability to attain the benefits associated with economies of scale.

Opportunities

Innovation  Al Capone can increase its profitability by undertaking continuous product and service improvement. Over the years, the firm has positioned itself as a renowned entity with regard to the provision of tasty wines, great foods, and lively music. The firms management should focus on how to add value to its product and service offering. This move will allow the restaurant to gain more customers and thus raise its sales revenue.

One of the strategies that the firm should consider in its quest to be innovative is by adding new flavors (Bilton, 2007). Product innovation will significantly enable the firm to deal with alterations in consumer purchasing behaviors. The firm can also engage in new product development. The technological revolution especially with regard to information technology presents Al Capones with a timely chance to grow by exploiting the opportunities that come with the revolution.

This assertion arises from the fact that Al Capones can use emerging technologies to create market awareness in its marketing practices. Social media is one of the technologies that the firm should focus on. In addition, it should improve its marketing practices by integrating different social networking forums such as Facebook, Twitter, Google plus, and blogs (Chaffey, et al., 2003).

New distribution channels  Al Capones can enhance its profitability by establishing new outlets in the US. Currently, the firm operates in only one outlet, which limits a large number of customers from accessing its products. In the process of establishing new outlets, it should identify the most optimal location where the outlets will be situated. It is also important for the firm to focus on maximizing its profitability by venturing in emerging markets.

Change in consumer lifestyle  Currently, consumers are increasing becoming more adventurous, which presents a great opportunity for the firm to increase its profit. Its unique location and the opportunity for customers to experience the wilderness in accessing the hotel present a convenient opportunity to win a large number of customers.

Additionally, the increase in degree of health-consciousness amongst consumers in their consumption pattern presents an opportunity for the firm. Al Capones should exploit the change in customer lifestyle by ensuring that it offers healthy food products. Currently, the society is undergoing significant social transformation. One of the transformations is associated with growth of domestic tourism.

Increase in consumer disposable income  The US has experienced a stable economic growth over the past decade. Despite the adverse effects of the 2008 economic recession, the numerous economic stimulus packages implemented by the US government have significantly contributed to economic restoration.

Consequently, there is a high probability of consumers experiencing an increment in their disposable income. This aspect will translate into an improvement in their purchasing power. The increment in consumers purchasing power might translate into a shift in their purchasing behavior; for example, they may refocus on consuming in luxurious hotels.

Threats

Change in consumer tastes and preferences  The firms profitability may be affected by alterations in consumer tastes and preferences. For example, the high rate at which consumers are becoming health conscious may affect the firm. Findings of previous studies conducted associate eating red meat with increased risk of predisposing people to cancer and heart diseases.

This realization has made most consumers to become very conscious of their eating patterns (Bakalar, 2012). This emerging evidence is a threat to the survival of the firm considering the fact that steak constitutes one of its main dishes.

Economic recession  The firm faces a major threat emanating from changes in the external business environment. One of these threats relates to occurrence of an economic recession. Recession may adversely affect the firm through a reduction in the firms sales revenue. The recent economic recession made most American consumers to focus on purchasing necessities rather than luxuries. In the event of the recession recurring, the firms profitability may be affected adversely.

Increased competition  The US restaurant industry is undergoing significant transformation due to increased competition. Some of the major industry players include Kentucky Fried Chicken, Darden Restaurants, Outback Steakhouse, and Taco Bell. More firms are venturing into the hotel industry in an effort to exploit the emerging opportunities.

Al Capones does not have control over the activities within the industry. For example, the US restaurant industry is experiencing an increment in the number of steakhouses being established (First Research, 2012). As a result, there is a high probability of the firm experiencing a decline in its profitability.

Legal reforms  During the 1920s and 1930s, the restaurant experienced a major threat emanating from the imposition of the prohibition era. The prohibition era was imposed through enactment of the Lever Food and Fuel Control Act.

The legislation aimed at reducing the evils associated with alcohol. The US government imposed legislation that prohibited importation, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages. The legislation had adverse effects on the survival of the firm because customers count not patronize and enjoy at the hotel freely.

The threat posed by legal reforms persists even today. In 2009, the US government proposed to increase alcohol tax. The objective of the tax is to assist in funding the countrys national healthcare reforms. The enactment of the proposal would result in the tax levied on a 750 ml bottle of alcohol increase from $ 0.21 to $ 0.70. This change will translate into an increment in the price of alcoholic drinks, which will affect Al Capones sales revenue adversely.

Conclusion and recommendations

Al Capones has managed to develop a number of internal strengths, which have enhanced its survival. Its ability to offer quality products and adoption of product diversification has enhanced its ability to satisfy its customers. Additionally, the restaurants unique location and its effectiveness in maintaining the quality of products and service offering have contributed towards the development of a strong customer loyalty.

Its effective pricing has enabled the firm to be consistent in attracting and retaining customers. Despite these aspects, the firm experiences a number of weaknesses such as low rate of product innovation, failure to develop market leadership, and poor accessibility. The firm faces a number of opportunities and threats from the external environment, and thus to survive into the future, it is important for the firm to consider the following.

1. The firm should allocate more resources to continued research and development in the quest to remain relevant in the ever-changing market place. This move will effectively improve the firms ability to satisfy its customers. Its innovativeness should also incorporate devising strategies on how to improve its distribution channel.
2. The firm should incessantly carry out market studies in order to monitor and adapt to the prevailing market trends coupled with creating contingency plan to face the future confidently. The market research should focus on customers and competitors.

Reference List

Al Capones. (2012). History of Al Capones hideaway & steakhouse. Web.

Andreasen, A., & Kotler, P. (2003).Strategic marketing for nonprofits organisations. London, UK: Prentice Hall.

Bakalar, N. (2012). Risks: More red meat, more mortality. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/health/research/red-meat-linked-to-cancer-and-heart-disease.html?_r=0

Bilton, C. (2007). Management and creativity: From creative industries to creative management. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.

Boone, P., & Kurtz. D. (2011). Boone and Kurtz contemporary marketing. Mason, MA: Cengage Learning.

Chaffey, D., Mayer, R., Johnston, K., & Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2003). Internet marketing, strategy, implementation and practice. London, UK: Prentice Hall.

First Research. (2012). Restaurant industry profile. Retrieved from http://www.firstresearch.com/Industry-Research/Restaurants.html

Garvey, M., Dismore, H., & Dismore, A. (2011). Running a restaurant for dummies. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Healey, M. (2008). What is branding? (Essential Design Handbooks). Switzerland: RotoVision.

McDaniel, C., Hair, J., & Lamb, C. (2008). Essentials of marketing. New York, NY: Cengage Learning.

Marketing involves ensuring that customers are aware of a companys products or services and also making them to gain inters in their quality and effectiveness while also creating a strong relationship with them. It is a major component of a business because it enables creation of new markets, and it involves communication sales and development of an enterprise. Activities involved in marketing include product pricing branding promotion, distribution, market research, market dominance, management and strategy.

MRF (Madras rubber factory) is a company that specializes in manufacturing tryes and it is located in India. It is a very large and major company in the tyre industry and exports its products to more than 75 countries in the world.

It has six manufacturing units in India and has the largest variety of tyres to include trucks and bus tyres, light tyres for passenger and personal cars, tyres, farm, industrial and sports activities. The company is also involved in various sport activities such as bat and cricket which is a major marketing strategy for the company. MRF also has branded its products boosting over 10 different brands.

A brand is the identity of a product, service or a company; it could be a color, sign, a symbol a name among others, it is also a trademark.

It enables relating the product to the customers, staff, and other stake holders of the company. The brand is used to communicate the uniqueness of the product service or company and hence it is an essential part of advertising. In order to achieve successful marketing through branding one has to make sure that the brand is recognized by customers even in absence of the parent company name.

One also has to understand the needs of the clients so as to satisfy them, and maintain them. Companies should also be informed that branding is not about competition with other companies in the industries but is meant to inform the customer who is offering what. A good brand communicates this, test credibility of the product, creates a relation with the customers, motivates them and wins their loyalty and trust.

MRF company slogan is tires with muscles , and some of the product brands are; Lug 50-FS, MRF Nylogrip Zappea, a high performance tyre for new generation bikes, MRF Racing, MRF ZVTS, a steel-belted premium radial, MRF Super and ,MRF Events.

The company also has brand ambassadors who are mainly involved in sports such as; Sachin Tendulkar and Steve Waugh who are experienced batsmen, their bats have been branded MRF for the many years that they have been in the sports. The company has a program to improve cricket known as the MRF pace foundation that trains young people.

Another marketing strategy is promotion; it involves persuasion and informing a buyer so as to influence their decision to buy. Promotion can be done through the media this are; news papers, TV, radio, mobile phones the internet or advertising agencies. Other forms of advertisements are; product placement, merchandising, shows, sponsorships or public relations.

In promotion people should adopt a promotional plan or a mix that consists of sales, promotion, direct marketing, advertising and publicity. A company can have promotions for different objectives such as retaliating to a competitive move made by other companies, launching a new brand, and also to increase revenues. Promotions can be long term or short term Coca-Cola has had a long term one My coke awards in addition most companies use the word special offers when having promotions.

MRF has not been involved in promotional activities in large scale may be because they have a large and stable customer base hence the huge sales.

However MRF in some occasions gives special offers to their very regular customers and also when launching a new brand for example; the racing tires were offered to top rally motorists when they were launched to market their effectiveness and performance. MRF also does a lot of advertising of their products, there is no single day that there is no an advertisement of their products in one or more media channels.

Statistics have shown that it is the leading company in the industry that advertises a lot in the print media. Because of this strategy the customers are always informed on new products and also reminded of the existing ones including the improvements made.

The tyre industry is relatively composed of about 450 tire manufacturing factories and is the largest consumer of rubber in the world since millions of tires are manufacture each year. India is the producer of tires having a 8.02% annual growth of the industry .However it faces stiff competition from china because it is achieving new markets every day. Truck and bus tryes is the biggest segment of the industry passenger cars tires follow, then motorcycle tires and scooter tires are the least and they are used in the two wheeler industry.

The tyre industry is currently being faced by an increase of costs of the raw materials used; the industry uses a lot of materials and the slightest change in the costs largely affects the revenues not forgetting the huge duty on tyres. The major players in the industry are MRF, Apollo and Ceat tyres. Other companies in the industry are Metro tires Ralson,Michelin group ,JK ltd tyres and Bridgestone among others.

MRF is the leading company in this industry and has the most envied market record in the world. It has the most sales and revenues, a large and stable customer base, most manufacturing plants, brands variety and the most effective advertising strategies. The company is the only supplier of large motor businesses such as General motors, Fiat and Ford and it is the worlds largest exporter of tires.

Previous analysis carried out on tyre brands showed that six of MRFN brands are leading in sales and quality with a market share of 22%.It has recently revived its auto industry and joined in the radial tyre industry hence business for them is expected to shoot even higher. It has been voted three times for the award of customer satisfaction by JD Power ASIA Pacific. The factors considered are durability, traction, appearance and handling.

As said earlier MRF is greatly involved in sports and has a pace foundation that sponsors youngsters into playing cricket an activity that has turned to be a very effective marketing strategy for the company. It is also involved in community based programs to improve the lives of rural folks a step that other companies have not taken seriously.

In conclusion MRF has managed to dominate the tyre industry and if current figures and analysis are to be trusted it will continue being in the same status. Advertising is a major component of doing business and hence every business should have good marketing strategies to ensure that their products are well known and recognized in the market. As note above branding, and promotions are some of the major advertising strategies that successful companies use to achieve customers interest and trust.

Understanding the factors involved in leading a team to achieve agreed objectives

Principles necessary for leading individuals or teams to achieve their objectives

The first basic principle necessary for a team to achieve the common objective is the principle of cooperation. Since employees are grouped in one team, they should be aware of the fact that joint action is necessary for accomplishment of their objective.

Cooperation among the team members fosters mutual understanding and fosters the achievement of the goal. The second principle vital for the success of the enterprise is both the individuals and the teams flexibility. In the modern world that is developing at enormous rates, people and organizations have to demonstrate unprecedented levels of pliancy in order to survive and thrive.

Throughout a project, the goals may shift and therefore new approaches should be adopted easily. The success of the individual and team activities in an ever-changing competitive environment is defined by the change capacity and resilience. In addition, the principle of high performance culture plays a decisive role for achieving the goals defined. Culture appears to be a most significant driver of behavior and action.

Higher levels of employees loyalty, involvement, and positive attitude are stimulated by a well-established performance culture of the organization. Therefore, high performance culture should be the key principle of functioning for the individual, team, and company.

Links between individual, team, and organizational objectives

Ideally, the objectives set by the organization should correlate to the individual accomplishments of the employees. In addition to that, the satisfaction received by each individual member of the group and the satisfaction enjoyed by the team on the whole is the higher once not only the individual or team goals but also the organizational objectives are achieved.

As well as the whole organization, the team must be clearly aware of the objective before them, and each individual within that team should have a stimulus not only for achieving the organizational or team objective but also to demonstrating individual professional growth.

And once those motivated individuals are united into an inspired team, their common efforts should be directed at the greater good of the whole organization. An important motivator to success on all levels can be found in demonstrating the historical connection between the organizational performances and the corresponding activities of the working teams and individuals.

Once a group of individuals combine their unique skills, knowledge, experiences, and expectations for productive teamwork, the objectives of the whole organization are easier to realize provided that adequate management and leadership skills are applied (Harris, 2003, p. 110).

Methods of communicating objectives to the team or individual

Communicating the work objectives is one of the basic preconditions to get the work done. The method chosen for communicating objectives depends on the time and resource availability, as well as on the scale of the objectives set before the employees.

There exists a wide range of methods of communicating objectives, and among them intranet and e-mail messages occupy one of the leading places now that technology achievements have boosted communication opportunities. The advantage of using intranet or e-mail messages is that it is quite time and effort saving, since there is no need to organize a big meeting and to face a possible debate.

However, for the purposes of greater cooperation and understanding when a complex and multifaceted goal is faced, it is advisable to utilize another method of communicating objectives, such as a team briefing or meeting. The latter methods provide much more opportunity for both visual and verbal elaboration of objectives set before the individuals or teams.

In addition, an invaluable opportunity for dialogue and direct discussion emerges once employees gather for a team briefing. By facilitating a two-way feedback, managers ensure that the objective is perceived, comprehended, and understood by the employees. Thus, the interactivity of a team briefing is well worth spending additional time and effort on such a meeting.

Understanding the current competencies of individuals and teams

Methods of conducting individual and team competency reviews

For measuring team competency, a Dyers Team Competencies Scale is applicable. On a scale ranging from 1 to 5, the following factors are considered:

ability to set clear, measurable goals; developing commitment within team members to achieve team goals; making assignments that are clearly understood by all team members;

knowledge of how to develop the skills in team members to accomplish their assignments;

knowledge of how to effectively make decisions;

appropriate participation in, acceptance, and implementation of decisions with commitment;

encouragement of high-performance standards and holding team members accountable; running effective meetings;

building trust among team members; appropriate team leaders management style; fostering open and free communications; managing conflict effectively;

giving and receiving feedback without becoming defensive or combative; collaborating with others;

supportiveness and helpfulness of the team leaders and members toward one another; willingness to take a risk and try out new actions to make the team better; stopping and critiquing how well the team members are working together; necessary team-building skills to identify the team problems and take corrective action (Dyer, 2007, pp. 6571).

In this scale, the twelve team competencies are measured and gaps in any of them becomes obvious once each team member has accessed the performance according to the scale.

A method of assessing individual competency can be found in a Competency Ontology that correlates the employee with such factors as competencies, other employees, jobs, learning objects etc.

Fig. 1. Competency Ontology. Source: Draganidis, Fotis et al. (2006) An ontology based tool for competency management and learning paths. P.4.

Links between current competencies, the team, and organizational objectives

At first sight, the relations between the current competencies of the team and their performance in respect to the organizational objectives should be direct. But in fact, it turns out that this relation is much more complicated and indirect than it might seem.

Logically, since the employees of the company increase their professional skills, the level of their performance should also be expected to grow. Thus, organizations employing professionals with high level of skills are expected to demonstrate outstanding achievements on the organizational level. However, the situation may be quite different from this logical reckoning.

Despite all the deep knowledge, excellent skills, and vide range of abilities possessed by an individual employee, his/her performance may be much lower than expected. The reason for this may be found in a whole range of personal and professional factors, such as personal discomfort, lack of concentration, dissatisfaction with the job or the processes occurring at the organization, disagreement with the objectives of the organization, etc.

These misbalancing factors may result in poorer performance of the individual, and subsequently of the whole team. Therefore, it is not always the case that high competencies of individuals and teams directly advantage organizational objectives.

Activities that support competency development now, and future competency development to achieve organizational objectives

In order to secure productive work among the team members and thus ensure achievement of organizational objectives in the future, it is crucial to develop collaboration within the team. For this purpose, it is vital to establish trustful relations with the employees, asking for their suggestions and opinions and listen to fully understand.

Additionally, discussions of how team meetings and actions relate to the team and organizational objective should be carried out. Interaction with colleagues and sharing the available resources should facilitate the joint work on achieving the objectives.

For realizing the principle of flexibility, it is vital to prepare the individual employees and the team to the possible changes. For this purpose, it is necessary to identify the aspects about the working responsibilities and procedures that are likely to change within the nearest future and decide the ways the working process can be modified to painlessly include the coming changes.

When the change situation comes, an initiative response should be made, and efforts should be undertaken to help the other team members accept and manage the change. In order to be better ready for the coming change, it is advisable to analyze the working environment and single out the issues that demand updating or improving. By starting to make small changes now, it is possible to ensure that the future change is met more efficiently.

Knowing how to develop the competencies of individuals and teams

Development opportunities for individuals and teams

In the modern competitive environment, both individuals and teams should seek every opportunity for development of their competencies in order to be able to withstand the stress of their work and to achieve the objectives of their organizations. One of the perfect opportunities for developing individual and team competencies is taking up special assignments or responsibilities that presuppose active implementation of one or another competence.

For example, assignments should be chosen so that they provide an individual employee or a team of employees with a challenging opportunity to grow. In choosing such assignments, decisions should be based on a careful assessment of the employees readiness to efficiently undertake new responsibilities or changes. The latter should be appropriate to the employees level of development and neither put too much overload on him/her, nor appear too easy for any efficient growth.

Another opportunity for developing individual and team competencies is referring employees to workshops and trainings that presuppose cooperation within cross-function teams. The latter type of cooperation is one of the most difficult to manage and yet one of the most required nowadays. Therefore, it would be the more instructive for the employees to gain the experience of managing cooperation within such a cross-function team.

Methods used to agree on development opportunities

The methods of agreeing on the development opportunities to be undertaken by the team may vary depending on the situation. The simplest way is to simply notify the team of the upcoming developmental event. However, this method would hardly prove successful and bring forward much enthusiasm since it would not demonstrate any personal interest in the success of the undertaking.

A much more efficient way of coming to agreement on the development opportunity is calling a meeting where the presenter should not mention the opportunity directly but should formulate the upcoming event as rather an exciting opportunity for the employees to reveal their skills and talents which have not been utilized before. Such approach would attract the employees much more and would stimulate them to do their best during the development opportunity, thus resulting in achievement of the development aim.

Processes for measuring and reviewing the success of the individual and team development objectives

One of the most efficient processes for measuring and reviewing the success of the development objectives is the analysis of developmental event in form of a round-table discussion.

During this discussion it is significant that constructive feedback from all the participants is provided in an appropriate way, specifically and constructively. Care should be taken that not the people but the ideas are criticized, if necessary. It is highly advisable that positive feedback is given openly and publicly, and improvement feedback is given in private.

Among the criteria that should be measured when reviewing the development objectives are the individual input and contribution during cross-function team projects; supportive behavior provided to others to achieve their individual activities that would benefit the team objective during the project; activities for developing and sharing the knowledge necessary for successful completion of the project.

Reflective statement

Undertaking this assignment has triggered ideas about developing the competencies necessary for efficient work of individuals within teams. A deeper understanding of the processes and actions involved in teamwork has been gained, and a conclusion has been made on the necessity to work on team improvement.

References

Draganidis, Fotis et al. (2006) An ontology based tool for competency management and learning paths. In: 6th International Conference on Knowledge Management I-KNOW 06, Special track on Integrating Working and Learning, 6th September 2006, Graz. Web.

Dyer, William G. et al. (eds) (2007) Team building: proven strategies for improving team performance. San Francisco, John Wiley & Sons.

Harris, Chris. (2003) Building innovative teams: strategies and tools for developing and integrating high performance innovative groups. Hampshire, Palgrave Macmillan.

Introduction

Innovative technology is one of the most highly appreciated and developing industries in the world. Having achieved many goals, it is essential to consider the fact that this industry is too young and it needs a lot of achievement and other specific inventions in the future. Looking at the UAE and the companies located there, it may be said that this country is one of the most occupied by the IT technologically directed organizations.

Basing its business in UAE, many corporations offer outsourcing and IT solutions for the business needs all over the world. Speaking about the demand on such services, it should be remembered that modern world is impossible without innovative technologies, the Internet has occupied all the spheres and industries, therefore, the innovative technologies and the companies which help to cope with the appeared problems are the essential parts of human life.

The Company Overview and the Industry

7Heaven Technology is the company which offers innovative products and services for use as well as outsourcing for the world companies. 7Heaven Technology offers services, products, and delivers outsourcing. Loyaltimate, Pro-Man, and eZ-Mall are the products offered by the company.

The services the company offers are business solutions development, website development and website and SaaS hosting. The outsourcing services offered by the company are book keeping and auditing, hardware, networking and AMC, and IT offshore services. Being the central services of the company, they create deserving competition in the industry.

7Heaven Technology is the corporation which unites many smaller companies which are responsible for its own sphere. It is essential to remember that the innovative technology industry is developing one and there are a lot of companies which serve at the market with the same products and services. To be the best, 7Heaven Technology has to apply to various strategies which are essential for the company and its further leading in the industry.

Many companies have understood that it is cheaper to outsource some particular IT services than to produce them personally. Inventory management system, quick invoice management system, and quick and easy accounting solution are the services 7Heaven Technology offers. The company was launched in 2011 in UAE, and since that time the 7Heaven Technology has become the leader in the service delivery in the Middle Eastern market (7Heaven Technology).

The industry of IT technologies is developing. There are a lot of various companies which offer different services and there are even more those which are ready to consume those services. Speaking about UAE and IT industry, it may be concluded that the sale of IT products have increased in comparison to the previous year (Dubais IT market has grown to AED 113 billion in 2011). Even though many companies still recover from crisis, other corporations refer to outsourcing of the IT technologies as it is cheaper and more profitable.

Key Competitors

Having conducted a thorough research in the industry, it may be concluded that 7Heaven Technology has several rivals, Exceed IT Services and DIC are some of them. Looking at the situation in UAE, it should be mentioned that the impressive expansion in Dubai of the IT industry and the increase of the number of the companies which offer these services are the main characteristics of the region. Data storage and processing are the central competing issues in UAE and companies strive for consumers.

The increase of the competition might create serious problems for the company, however, the specific measures were taken. To remain equally useful companies with particular consumers and profitable income, the Dubai Outsource Zone was established with the purpose to take advantage of the growing potential the segment offers (UAE: Dubai Outsourcing IT Industry).

One of the main strengthens of the company among its competitors is its wide range of services. Turning to 7Heaven Technology, clients are eager to find all the necessary IT services and products which may be necessary. Effective use of business technology is the main criteria of the company advantage.

Company Business Excellence and Quality Management Strategy

Speaking about business excellence of 7Heaven Technology, it is important to define the term. Business excellence is the notion which characterizes various business models and processes which support the company goal to achieve success in performance.

Quality management strategy is a particular strategy aimed at understanding the specifics of the company strategy which presupposes completing excellent business. It is obvious that all these processes are dependant, and if the company fails to deal with one process successfully, it is impossible to wait for the best outcome.

Quality management is based on three specific principles, people, consumer, and process orientation. Quality management is directed at the activities which ensure continuous improvement of the performance of the company and create the conditions needed in order to satisfy the stakeholders in the company by providing excellent performance and results (Pfeifer 41).

Analyzing 7Heaven Technology from the point of view business excellence and quality management, it is important to check how the company deals with its customers, what the processes are and how they are completed. After that the recommendations may be offered in the sphere under discussion.

As it has already been stated the company deals with three directions, services, products and outsourcing. Each of these spheres is interconnected with each other as the outsourcing and services are based on the IT technologies and products offered by the company.

Providing its services, 7Heaven Technology applied to the Loyalty Program to retain existing consumers and to attract new ones. Additionally, this Loyalty Program allows the company to understand the buying behavior of customers and sell the issues which they want to buy.

Additionally, being the part of the quality management, Loyalty Program is aimed at attracting new vendors and promoting their brands (7Heaven Technology). Offering customers Property Management Software Pro-Man, the company tries to assure that the companies work effectively.

7Heavenn Technology offers several packages depending on the customers needs. eZ-Mall is a complete solution for Mall Management Companies to setup and manage their operations based on industry standard processes (7Heaven Technology). To make sure that the company pursues business excellence, it is important to consider its relation to the customers. The mission of the 7Heavenn Technology is to satisfy the needs of clients.

Key Resources and Capabilities

The key resources of the company lie in the innovative technologies and their appropriate use. Applying to the safety of the company, it should be stated that 7Heaven Technology is driven by the creativity o its staff, therefore the employees in the company are highly apprised.

It is also essential to say that the company pursues the goal to complete task with minimal expense. This is one of the leading outsourcing issues which are considered as the most important ones. However, sometimes the problem of quality appears. Therefore, it is essential to remember about the pieces of advice in relation to company quality management and business excellence which are going to be discussed.

Distinctive Competencies and Potential Sources of Sustainable Competitive Advantage

Dwelling upon the advantages of the company, it is important to remember the loyalty program, fast and quality service delivery, immediate and professional feedback. The companys priority before other companies lies in the fusion on the services and products. 7Heavenn Technology does not offer one particular product or services, it offers many services and many products along with outsourcing facilities.

Therefore, turning to the company, a consumer may get the full package of services one needs. The distinctive competencies of the 7Heavenn Technology is its guarantee of the security of customers information. Offering book keeping and auditing the company makes sure that all the data the clients provide the company with are going to be highly secured. So, respect to the customers and the ability to meet their needs along with the specific information security strategies are the main priorities of 7Heavenn Technology.

Recommendations

To achieve the business excellence, the company is to pay attention to its weaknesses and to use its strengths in dealing with them. Having considered the company competitors, resources and strategies used for company management, it is possible to recommend referring to the EFQM Excellence Model.

The main idea of this strategy lies in outsourcing the management practices which are based on eight fundamental concepts. Here is an analysis of these concepts from the point of view of the company strategy and the recommendations to the company further actions. The company should achieve balanced results. Offering services, products and outsourcing facilities, the company should make sure that the demand on these specific issues is balanced. Furthermore, the company should add value to the consumers.

There are many strategies aimed at completing this task. The company should pay more attention at promoting and advertising on order to complete this stage. Furthermore, it is important to remain a leading company with vision, inspiration and integrity. Being an IT corporation which depends on the creativity of human resources, it is essential to be the leader in the industry as the innovations change and the first company which has managed to invent something new gets a prize, more customers.

It may be stated that some of the concepts of the EFQM Excellence Model are met which helps to draw a conclusion that the company is on the correct way, still, it needs some particular changes to be made. 7Heaven Technology is an IT company, therefore, the concept of managing by processes is followed. The company also succeeds through people as human resource is one of the main parameter in successful work of the company.

Nurturing creativity and innovation are the most essential processes in the company management, therefore, these concepts are met. However, the company should encourage employees for more and better work. Creativity is an inevitable aspect of the work, the company must be creative to be able to serve its customers and offer them constantly new services which are going to be useful to them.

The company builds partnerships as it is too difficult to offer outsourcing services individually. The company should be guaranteed by support from other corporations in order to secure itself from customer dissatisfaction and to make sure that it has all the necessary resources for completing the task. 7Heaven Technology is responsible for its sustainable future as it has a desire to develop and increase its consumer base (Hakes 255).

7Heaven Technology company presents its services in IT industry, therefore, fast and quality delivery of the services and immediate reaction if any problem appears is an obligation for the company. The company managers understand that in case all the processes work successfully, the particular needs of the quality management are met as well as requirements of the business excellence.

Conclusion

Therefore, it should be concluded that 7Heavenn Technology is a relatively new company which has managed to gain positive image in the IT industry and the attention of the clients.

However, in the highly competitive environment, it has many rivals and to cope with them the company should change some strategies. Quality management and business excellence models discussed above are the most effective ones as on the one hand, they help organize the work of the company on an appropriate level and on the other hand, it assists the customers and meeting their needs.

The recommendations offered for the further company development are to be followed, otherwise, it is going to be difficult to for 7Heaven Technology to position themselves at the Eastern market and to become serious competitors to the enterprise which have been developing in the industry for many years and who have already got regular customers and who feel secured in the competitive world.

Works Cited

7Heaven Technology. 2012. Web.

Dubais IT market has grown to AED 113 billion in 2011. Dubai Chamber. 2012. Web.

Hakes, Chris. The EFQM Excellence Model to Assess Organizational Performance: A Management Guide. New Jersey: Van Haren Publishing, 2007. Print.

Pfeifer, Tilo. Quality Management. New Jersey: Hanser Verlag, 2002. Print.

UAE: Dubai Outsourcing IT Industry. Global Arab Network, 2011. Web.

An average score of 14 was achieved upon taking the organizational climate questionnaire, implying that the organization is supportive. The organization not only positively rewards employee effort and performance, but is well organized with clearly defined goals and responsibilities, and has clear channels of communication that ensure information is accurate and available to employees.

Additionally, the organization scores highly on innovation, teamwork and involvement. However, it performs just above average on critical variables of leadership, feedback and controls, as well as warmth and support.

To move up the ladder, the organization needs to provide effective transformational leadership that will be responsive to the demands and expectations of workers. Such a leadership approach, it is thought, will act to enhance warmth and support that employees receive from the organization. The second step, therefore, is to ensure leaders institute social support systems and other welfare networks to stimulate warmth and support, which are critical to employee performance and psychological wellbeing.

Third, the management needs to develop strategies and policies that will open the organization to more collaborative efforts and teamwork by employees. Fourth, the management needs to ensure that collaborative and teamwork efforts translate into high performing and innovative employees because collaboration and teamwork are intrinsically associated with performance and innovation.

Lastly, management needs to develop proper feedback procedures to ensure employees are guided effectively and efficiently so as to provide optimal performance. These changes, in my view, should drive the organization forward towards the realization of the enlightened status.

It is possible to effect the changes described above by simply preparing workshops that would address the managers and ensure they understand that it is for the benefit of the entire organization that these changes need to be adopted.

Senior management could also involve change agents to work through the complex aspects of the change process, especially with regard to changing the leadership style. Indeed, change agents could be used to create awareness among managers on the need to adopt a more responsive and transformational leadership style, as well as the need to develop strategies aimed at enhancing collaboration and teamwork.

The consequences of not adopting these changes should also be elaborated to the managers. Lastly, the employees need to be brought onboard in effecting these changes because they form critical component in achieving the organizational outcomes intended by these changes. Stakeholders, including senior management, departmental managers, supervisors and employees, must be made aware of the fact that organizations that are inept to change will definitely perish.

Introduction

The Internet has provided immense success to various business practices. In recent years, the business to customer (B2C) mode of organizations have achieved a high degree of success and expanded the scope of their opportunity through employing online medium for marketing and doing business.

Similarly, the business-to-business (B2B) segment too, slowly has moved towards a less costly and highly successful online mode of business. Especially in area of staffing and employment agency, the online mode of business has become an immense success (e.g. Monster.com). Therefore, the success that general staffing agencies have received by going online can intuitively be transferred to medical staffing business. Medical staffing agencies have traditionally followed brick and mortar form of business.

However, with increasing need to expand, and changing mode of business environment due to technological advancement, the need to enhance the online presence of medical staffing agency is important. This process will help in establishing an online portal that will help in bringing together hospitals and medical institutions with the practitioners. The possibility of online expansion enhances the opportunities that the staffing agency presently has.

An online expansion will allow the company reach a greater number of candidates looking for employment and increase the number of clients. This paper will provide a proposal that shows the strengths and opportunities an online medical staffing agency holds, and the possibilities of growth in this mode of business. The paper is divided into three sections  viability, online business model, and cost structure. The paper through these sections, will demonstrate the advantages of going online and the business model that should be

The Viability

The introduction of an online medical staffing agency will increase the reach of the company in two ways  (1) increase clientele, and (2) increase the number of candidates approaching the company for jobs. The product offered by the company is medical employment agency.

First, few recruitment consultants specialize as medical staffing agency. Further, with increasing demand for medical practitioners and that too from different parts of the world. An online staffing agency provides increased possibilities for gaining access to a large number of untapped talents and a greater reach to medical clients. The main idea is to gather jobs from the employers and post it under one portal.

Any visitors seeking job can look for the desired job using keyword search and may apply through the portal directly to the company. From the company side, the hospitals or medical institutes can buy space from the agency portal and can post their job offerings in the website. For this they have take a paid subscription with the agency. However, the candidates can post their resume and register free.

The model for business followed in this case is similar to that of Monster.com. The employers can screen through the resumes available in the website and contact the candidates directly. Another service that the agency may provide is to act like a consultant for the companies, contact the desired candidates from their database, and ask them to visit for interviews to the companies.

This way, the agency will provide the previous service offerings to the clients as well as be able to collect a larger number of employee databases of medical practitioners.

Market opportunity Analysis

The online business model presents a plethora of opportunity for the medical staffing agency. This section discusses the opportunities that the agency may gain if they go online. First, this section will discuss the market opportunities that are yet to be tapped by the agency:

1. First, identify the clients that the agency is foregoing. Due to the brick and mortar setting of the company, the medical staffing agency can only cater to the hospitals in and around the locality. However, there are a number of smaller hospitals or other hospitals spread across the country that is not tapped. On the other hand, there are many medical practitioners spread all across the country who are not present in the agency database. Therefore, this great opportunity is foregone by the traditional business setting of the agency.
2. Clearly, an online business would give the agency an added edge to the competitor, as it will have a greater reach to the customers  i.e. both the employers and the job seekers.
3. The market for staffing agency is ready for an online service provider. The reason being, there has been generic job portals like the Monster.com who provide employment opportunity on same platform to all job seekers and employers. However, such a platform is missing for medical staffing, but people are aware of the benefits of such a business model and will be ready to accept it due to increased acceptance of the Internet and Internet based businesses.

Online business model

The Model

The web portal will be a medium that would be used by the agency for greater reach. The business model for the online-based business will have four components  values, online offering, system of the resources, and revenue model. The value cluster for the agency has three parts:

1. The target customer segment that comprises of the medical practitioners,
2. The firm will partner with medical service providing institutes like hospitals and clinics, and
3. The agency portal will provide a one-stop place for partners and customers to gain what they want  the former looking for suitable candidates and the latter seeking job.

The egg diagram for the online business is given in figure 1.

Figure 1: Egg diagram for medical staffing agency

The above diagram shows the decision making process and the functions both the employers and job seekers will undergo while identifying the right job or right candidate from the agency. Therefore, the website will provide an extended platform for the agency to cater to the customer needs by giving them an interactive medium to browse through the site and find the candidate of their choice.

Further, the agency will benefit from the database of job seekers who can register and submit their resume into the website. This will help the agency to build a larger and stronger database of employees and in catering to the needs of the clients better. The organization will have a larger number of relevant candidates for a specific position, and can give the clients greater number of relevant choices.

Value Cluster

The target customers will comprise of medical practitioners and the agency will concentrate on varied groups of health care service providers that will be divided into three broad categories  physicians and doctors, nurses and paramedics, and others related to health research, and support offices.

Therefore, the portal would allow the agency to cater to a larger group of candidates than just being restricted to a few group of candidates. Therefore, the values to be provided to the clients as well as candidates did not only limit to a job but could also be extended to resume writing, salary surveys and benchmarking salaries.

Therefore the value offered to the customers could be increased be expanding the brick and mortar business online. Further the revenue model too underwent change with greater value being provided to the clients with greater services. In addition, the company will have category specific dominance in healthcare staffing.

Target Segment

The target segment of the agency is very clear. The target will be restricted to all those professionals who work in the health or health related industry in various functions. Their functionality may differ from being a doctor, a surgeon, a dentist, a psychiatrist or a nurse.

Therefore, the medical agency going online would cater to only hospitals or health industry rather than approaching the whole of the corporate world like other job portals do. The niche strategy of the company is to draw upon the health care industry and specialize in it.

The reason for choosing the health industry is due to the rate of growth of employment in the industry. In the US, the industry employs 77.49 percent of the total employment in the country in 2008 and it is expected to increase by 25.99 percent in 2018 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2009).

Therefore, the market for health care professionals is expected to increase substantially in the US. Therefore online business model provides immense opportunities to cater to a larger market with small amount of resources. In this method, few customer needs are unmet and they are not catered to insufficiently. Therefore the target segments of the medical staffing agency are:

1. Tech-savvy medical practitioners like doctors, nurses, and other technical staff and employers (i.e. hospitals or medical institutes).
2. These belong to high to medium income category.
3. Medium to high level of education.

Revenue Stream

The revenue stream of the market for staffing agency online can be varied. In case of online staffing agencies, the revenue model of brick and mortar setting will be followed but will not be completely imitated. In traditional case, the revenue is collected from clients i.e. companies.

The candidates were contacted and offered jobs free. In case of online staffing agency, the very same business model will be followed. However, in earlier case, revenue was gathered on commission basis wherein the companies paid the agency whenever there was a successful placement.

In the online model, candidates would be asked to register and registration for candidates looking for job would be free. This would help us increase the database of our company stronger. The companies would be allowed to search through our databases on paying a fee. Further, the companies could post their job requirements on the website and the candidates could look through them without any price. Companies are charged a price for the provision of posting their jobs.

This provides additional value to both the client and the candidates, as searching for the right candidate or the right job be not left on the recruitment consultant, rather on themselves. Further, this platform gives a cheaper means to access a large database. Therefore, the company will actually charge companies for giving them access to the database in form of transaction fees.

The company will also sell products to both the clients (i.e. companies) and the candidates. To the clients products like salary surveys can be sold that will have first hand data on the salary given to different medical practitioners and at different levels of their careers.

Further, the company may also contact medical schools and help companies conduct campus recruitment through the website or help fresh candidates look for jobs through the website. To the candidates the products that can be sold are resume writing or giving preference to the candidates who pay a certain fees to the agency. Further, the paid candidates will have the facility of their resume being flashed to the viewers whenever a relevant search is done.

Therefore, search optimization can be charged from both the candidates as well as the companies, wherein the paid subscribers will have greater chance of being shown earlier than those who are non-paid subscribers. Therefore, in case of companies there will be levels of subscription prices, wherein the top payers will get greater coverage and visibility and greater reach.

In case of specialist doctors, the search becomes very niche. The website will have a special section that will have a great number of information regarding the best specialists in different fields of medicine. The companies may search through this specially built database to consult doctors that are difficult to find and may be situated in different parts of the world. Therefore the revenue model will be based on  subscription from clients (i.e. companies), product sale to candidates, and companies.

Social Media Integration

Social media has become an integral part of recruitment. Websites like Facebook and Orkut has opened immense opportunity for socializing through the Internet that provides possibilities for candidates to gather references and be referred to companies.

LinkedIn is a website that is totally dedicated to the concept of enhancing social interaction over the Internet through social networking sites to become a platform for companies and candidates to interact and then get access to the jobs. Out online venture will accommodate this idea and allow candidates to interact or contact the responsible HR person directly through the site and interact with them.

This will help candidates in getting referrals and access that is more direct to the right person in the company to search for jobs. Therefore, the agency will extend the model of social interaction within the website so that the job seekers and employers can interact through the network and find out the right candidature for the job.

This process will save time and resources for both the job seeker and employer. Social media for the agency will act as a vehicle for marketing and reaching the clients and job seekers. Further, it will also become a tool to enhance the service offering provided to the customers. Therefore, a social media interface for the medical practitioners will help the company reach the target job seekers.

Competitor Analysis

The competitor for the company will increase as the agency steps into the online arena, but very few will be direct competitors as the agency caters to niche demand for medical staffing. The competitors for the agency will be of two types  direct and indirect competition. Direct competitors would be other medical staffing agencies who operate to cater through traditional brick and mortar model of business.

These agencies are direct competitors as they target the same segment of the market as we do. Indirect competition would be online recruitment sites like the Monster.com or professional social networking site like LinkedIn.com who target a larger section of the market with no specific target industry. However, they serve as competition as they too cater to medical industry. In terms of online competition, very few agencies cater to the health and medical industry.

One such website is Midas.com who caters to the medical staffing in the UK. In the US, there are agencies that have websites for their agencies but they do not indulge in e-commerce and do not have a online business model. They follow a traditional brick and mortar model of business with just an online presence. Therefore, in the US market, the number of competition in medical staffing is low, as medical staffing has followed traditional recruitment consultancy model.

Online marketing suggestions and strategies

Online marketing opens the avenue for a completely new mode of marketing. Online marketing provides the opportunity to open up new avenues for business. In case of medical staffing agency, the marketing model can incorporate, apart from generic staffing solutions opportunities to generate revenue.

In case of staffing business, it is possible to extend the services to both the clients and the customers. Online marketing would deal with the distribution of the product, pricing, and promotion. The place for the marketing i.e. the website, which becomes the touch point for the customers and the companies need to be made in simple and interactive manner so that it is easy to handle.

Therefore the four Ps of marketing that the agency should follow are-

• The pricing should be competitive and done differently for both the parties. The companies will be charged an annual subscription for accessing their account that would allow them to browse and select resumes from the database. the annual subscription will come two username and passwords be that the companies will be given. Any additional username must be purchased. Other than this, the companies may buy additional recommendation so as to make pay higher to gain recommended status, that would show to the job seekers as preferred companies, increasing their credibility.
• The products that the company would sell are  the access to the database, resume writing service, and other additional services like online job fairs, professional networking, etc.
• The promotions would be done through various traditional and nutritional media. Advertisements will be given in well-known medical journals and magazines in order to reach the right target customers. Further, the hospitals would be contacted directly and the companys presence will be made known through job fairs and conferences.

Pricing and product form the vital part of the marketing strategy of the agency. In the traditional business model, revenue was gathered on commission basis wherein the companies paid the agency whenever there was a successful placement. In the online model, candidates would be asked to register and registration for candidates looking for job would be free.

This would help us increase the database of our company stronger. The companies would be allowed to search through our databases on paying a fee. Further, the companies could post their job requirements on the website and the candidates could look through them without any price.

In the online business mode, companies are charged a price for the provision of posting their jobs. This provides additional value to both the client and the candidates, as searching for the right candidate or the right job be not left on the recruitment consultant, rather on themselves.

Search engine considerations and optimization strategies

The search engine optimization of the website will be done through enriching our content and providing the best possible database in place to grab the attention of the viewers.

Therefore, enriching the database and developing a relevant search tool would increase the search optimization of the website. The other strategy is to link with the hospital websites and other social networking sites in order to make the presence of the online agency known.

Further setting the keyword for the development of the website is important in order to gain more relevance when a search is done. The key to the success of the website will be search engine optimization that can be mostly by marketing the website through search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN, or Bing. This process would help in optimizing the search engine result for the website.

This is done by using optimization techniques that ranks the website higher than the others do when a relevant search is done. Further, this would also require establishing links to other related websites such as in Monster or LinkedIn in order to increase presence and recollection of the users.

Another strategy that optimizes search criteria is to provide static links for easy access to all the pages of the website. Further important information must be presented in text rather than through images in order to increase the number of keywords for the search. Therefore, keyword tracking and choosing the right content would play big role in search engine optimization.

Online customer relationship management (CRM)

Online customer relationship management is important in order to gain greater accessibility to customers and gain their loyalty. As the element of human interaction is missing in online business model, therefore more effort must be placed on customer relationship.

CRM is an essential part of handling clients and for the CRM software must be used that keeps in mind the search done by the clients be it the job seekers or the employers. Therefore, the website must help them to save their search and send in information on the basis of their searches to their email when they are not searching for the job.

In case of job seekers, daily relevant jobs must be sent to the email of the customer in order to help them have a look at the new job and increase their chances of applying to it. Further, other benefits like providing the number of views of the resume or the number of views and application for a job posting can provide a greater information regarding the company and provide better customer relationship management. Online CRM can be handled using various software and CRM vendors provide tools like cloud computing.

These enable a streamlined marketing and sales process. They also help in getting a feedback on customer satisfaction and increase the efficiency of the company. Further, online CRM also helps in reducing expenses and increasing customer loyalty. In case of the medical staffing agency, CRM will concentrate on customer service and support, analytics, and marketing. Support and customer services recognize the kind of service that is relevant for the client and offers similar services to cater to the clients personalized needs.

Analytics are intertwined with the marketing and customer support services that would allow the company to identify the undergoing trend and thus turn in predictions for better serving the job seekers and clients alike. The software for marketing helps in identification of the best possible leads, which are then passed on to the sales team. It also helps in multichannel communication with the clients that enhances in promoting the services that the agency brings forth.

E-commerce solutions

The e-commerce solutions that the company will have are to provide a complete online database that can be accessed at a fee by the companies. The job seekers can register and submit their resume. Further the pricing would be based on subscription charged to the companies.

The job seekers do not to pay for the resume submission. However, they must pay for premium services like contacting a recruiter directly or getting their resume built and for optimizing their resume in order to get better rank when a search is done. E-commerce process will help the company to enhance the transaction process smoother. Further, it will also secure the process of commercial transactions so that there are greater chances of safe transactions.

International considerations

As an online business is not restricted to a country, however, initially the agency will be based on the staffing business in the domestic country. However, as the company expands the services of the website will be taken to other countries. The online company will be based on the culture of the domestic country and will have a flat decentralized structure as is observed in many e-commerce companies.

There will be customer care executives who will be available for online queries. Further, there will be more information available to the clients in order to understand how the company works and how they can benefit from it. The international market is highly competitive and there are many opportunities to tap talent from abroad as well as cater to clients in other countries. An online venture allows the company to cater to markets other than that in the USA.

Further, venturing into the international market also creates issues related to cultural differences that may create problems. An online expansion will help the company to operate in international markets without physically entering the market structure or the cultural differences that may be created due to a physical expansion.

Projected web development and maintenance costs

The main cost of setting up a website is identifying the client requirements and the requirements in the website. Further, a competitive research to identify what other competitors and their websites look like in order to have better website standard. Designing of the website can be done at a cost ranging from as low as $25 to thousands of dollars depending on the requirement.

However, maintenance of the website is low. Changes in the website can be done at low to medium cost. The cost of hosting a website can range approximately from $100 to $300 per year.

Website Index

Web site indexing is an important aspect of building a website. This can be done by submitting the website address with search engine providers like Yahoo, Google, or Bing. These search engines continually add and update their list of websites. Therefore, just by adding the URL of the website would allow to the company webpage to be visible when a relevant search is done.

In this process, the full URL of the website must be entered, along with the keywords that may enhance the search ability of the website. Then a site map for the website must be created and linked to the root of the public html file of the company website.

Conclusion

The proposal to extend the medical staffing agency is a unique idea that will benefit the company to gain greater access to a larger amount of quality resumes and help in serving a larger number of clients. Further, this will also decrease the cost of doing business, and will help in increasing the company turnover. therefore an online business opportunity will help the staffing agency to gain greater momentum and success.

Reference

Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2009, December 17). Employment by industry, occupation, and percent distribution, 2008 and projected 2018. Retrieved from U.S. Department of Labor: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/ecopro_12102009.htm

Interview with Senior Manager

Summary of Interview with John (Fire Station Chief)

The first interviewee was the Chief of a fire department. Concerning his day-to-day work, the Chief reported that most of his work revolves around financial management and allocation of the resources of the fire department and ensuring that the firefighters in the department receive proper training.

The Chief reported that the most critical problem facing the department is safety. The firefighters job is very risky. The third question asked about the skills needed to succeed in the line of work. The managers response related to the skills needed to be a firefighter, and not a manager.

The fourth question dealt with the reasons why some people have failed in the line of work. The Chief said that those who fail in the line of work do not have the patience to learn and grown in the trade. In the fifth question, the Chief pointed out that the most important skill needed to be the manager of the fire department is the ability to solve problems. In the final question, the Chief said the qualities he would look for in someone meant to replace him are openness, availability, and a hands-on approach to work.

Management Functions

The four management functions of planning, controlling, organizing, strategizing in the Chiefs line of work are clear. The Chief is in charge of planning for the operations of the department. He ensures that there are resources for use in the operations of the fire department.

In the area of controlling, it is up to him to ensure that the financial resources given to the department are sufficient to run the department for a given period. The Chief said that the money given to the department mainly goes to the payroll, which accounts for ninety percent of the departments expenses.

Organizing the department is also part of the Chiefs work. He is responsible for planning to ensure that all the activities of the fire department take place in an organized manner. Finally, the Chief is in charge of strategizing regarding the operations of the department. He determines the number of staff needed and he finds the best way to meet the shortfall based on his experience as a firefighter.

Similarities and Differences to Other Managers

The fire station Chief is responsible for higher level thinking for the entire department. The issues the Chief raises cut across the operations of the entire department. In this sense, his work is different from the work of the other managers. The main similarity between the Chiefs work and that of other managers is that they all work with people.

This means that it is the job of all managers interviewed to supervise, to motivate, and to organize resources and staff to achieve departmental goals. The unique role that a senior manager plays shows in the high scores the Chief gave to the functional aspects of management that he handles. His scores are the highest in all categories compared to the other two managers.

Interview with Middle Level Manager

Summary of Interview

The second interview was with Sarah, who is the Assistant Dean of Academic Services in the School of Business. Sarah reports to the Dean, but the schools staff report to her. In this sense, she is a middle level manager. When asked about how her typical day looks like, Sarah pointed out that her work varies a lot to the extent that it is difficult to have a clear picture of what a typical day looks like.

She said what she does depend on the time of the year. During the registration period, spends a lot of time discussing majors, internships, and solving problems related to the registration of students. At other times, she does exam assessments and grading of papers. The most critical problem Sarah faces is dealing with issues requiring the intervention of a parent or a guardian.

In many cases, the person responsible for taking care of the student is never aware of what the student is going through. Sarah finds herself bridging this gap very often. Sara pointed out three skills needed to succeed in her line of work. First, one must be a good listener because different people come with different sorts of problems. Secondly, one must know how to delegate.

Other people can solve some problems more effectively, and it is impossible to handle all the needs that come your way. Thirdly, one must know how to take charge in situations. Sarah pointed out that those who fail in her position are poor listeners. She added that they are also rude and that they are oblivious of what is going on around them.

The job needs someone engaged with the issues. When asked about the skills needed to succeed in her job, Sarah said that the job requires a team player because of the need to refer people to other places. She also added that it is very important to be a good listener. The two skills Sarah would pass on to someone that should replace her are the ability to organize oneself, and the requirement to be kind to all people.

Management Functions

Sarahs involvement in the four management functions of planning, controlling, organizing, and strategizing are as follows. Her need to plan revolves around her work. The workload on her desk requires someone who can effectively plan her time. She has fewer powers to control what happens in the school because the dean sets the standards for control.

However, she plays an important role in implementing the controls and ensuring that everything goes according to the overall plan. Sarah does a lot of work that involves organizing issues. Arranging for internships and meeting student to discuss majors requires a person to have a high ability to organize operations. On the issue of strategizing, Sarah participates in meetings that develop strategy for the operations of the School of Business. Therefore, she is part of the team that develops strategies for the School of Business

Similarities and Differences to Other Managers

Sarah as a middle level manager reports to the Dean. She has people working under her, while she works under someone. She has a higher degree of independence in the execution of her work compared to Jesse, the low-level manager. However, she does not have much say about financial management priorities of the organization. Sarah scored moderately high on the specific aspects of management that her work demands. Her scores were lower than the Chiefs buy higher than Jesses scores.

Interview with Low-Level Manager

Management Functions

The person interviewed as a low-level manager is Jesse, who is the Director of Global Education. In the first question, Jesse said that most of the work she does revolve around talking to current and prospective international students who need clarifications of various kinds. She also attends many meetings related to her work. Jesses response to the second question, about her most critical challenge at work, was managing the budget.

She said that she must do a lot of work, but that the work must be within budget. The third question in the interview was about the critical skills needed to succeed in her line of work. The skills listed by Jesse were communication skills, motivational skills and mentorship skills. The need for good communication skills come from the nature of work in the office. She has to communicate with current and prospective international students on a regular basis.

She also has to communicate with her superiors and colleagues in meetings. As a low-level manager, Jesse has a high need to motivate her team and to mentor the team. She depends on her team to handle the workload effectively hence the need to keep the morale high. She also needs to ensure that they are becoming better at what they are doing in order to achieve the best results. Managers in Jesses position fail because of stress and burnout, the workload is very distributed.

Therefore, a manager can easily feel overwhelmed by the number of issues to handle. Jesse also pointed out that those who fail have poor delegation skills, or are not willing to delegate some of the work. When asked about the outstanding skill other managers in her position have, Jesse said that the ability to trust team members, ability to mentor them, and good project management skills count. The main things Jesse would stress to someone who she is training to replace her is to follow laid down departmental rules and procedures.

Management Functions

An evaluation of the Jesses involvement in the four management functions of planning, controlling, organizing, and strategizing reveal the following. First, she has a very important role to play in the planning of the operations of the department. She is in charge of the delivery of the mandate of the Global Education Department hence the need to plan well. Secondly, she exercises a lot of control in relation to the work of the subordinates in the department.

However, she does not have much say in budgetary allocations. Her role in organizing the operations of the department is also very important. As the department head, she must make sure that all members of staff are doing the right things to cover their work quota. Finally, she has an important responsibility in the development of strategy. Her role in the development of strategy is to figure out how to execute the mandate of the department based on the goals provided by senior administrators in the institution.

Similarities and Differences to Other Managers

Jesse work is similar to the other managers in the area of people management. However, she has a more task oriented job description as shown by the clarity of her day-to-day work. In addition, she says that the best way to handle the work she does is by following the rules and sticking to the departmental policy.

She works more as an executor of strategy rather than a developer of the strategy. Compared to the Fire Station Chief, she has few options related to sourcing for financing and determining the staffing rules. Jesse had the lowest scores in management functions.

3Ms historical summary

3M is based in the US and it employs more than 84,000 employees. Moreover, it engages in the production of more than 55,000 different products. It owns 29 international companies. It also operates in more than 60 countries. 3M was founded in Minnesota in 1902. The company was established as a mining venture.

However, the venture failed and it was taken over by John Dwan in 1905. In this case, it engaged in the production sandpaper products (3M, 2012). When 3M became financially stable in 1916, it began disbursing dividends to its stakeholders. Today, the headquarters of the company are located in Maplewood.

3M Corp started its operations by mining in quarries. However, the company faced challenges while trying to improve the quality of its products. Moreover, it encountered problems while marketing its products to local and international markets. As a result, the managers of the company started supporting the employees in order to motivate them to be innovative and train them to develop new products for the company.

Therefore, innovativeness was the core strategy of the company. It came up with a unique product after being in business for 12 years. The innovations that are unique to the company include Three-M-ite cloth, waterproof sandpaper, Scotch brand tapes and the masking tape (Hitt, Ireland, & Hoski, 2009).

3M Corp started expanding internationally in 1929. It started by taking its operations to Europe. The company also started selling its stocks in the same year. After becoming financially stable, the company started partnering with other similar companies in the market thereby boosting its profitability significantly.

Today, the company has acquired Arizant Inc. and Winterthur Technology group (Wikinvest, 2012). The company is also capable of manufacturing unique products in an efficient and consistent manner. This has improved the overall competitiveness of the company globally.

3M Competitors

In order to cope with the competitive pressure in the market, 3M has diversified its business operations into six segments. These include Protection services, Security services, Healthcare services, Industrial and Transportation services, Graphics and Display services, and Office services.

The company makes more than two thirds of its sales from outside the US. The major competitors of the company include Johnson & Johnson, Bostik Inc. and Sika AG (Wikinvest, 2012). Since these companies manufacture similar products to 3M, the company has been forced to invest in overseas markets and diversify its range of products in order to help it cope with the competitive pressure in the market. Because of the unique strategies that the company adopts, it has been able to boost its profitability and stability in the market.

3Ms position in the Industry

Research shows that 3M engages in a diversification strategy in order to boost its stability in the market. In this perspective, 3M is regarded as a multi-industry company that has been able to establish the highest global presence. It develops innovative products thus boosting its profitability significantly.

Moreover, the company is becoming increasingly global. In this case, 63 percent of its earnings come from the operations that it carries from outside the US (Hill & Jones, 2008). Global infiltration of the company has allowed it to be well-positioned in the market. As a result, the company has been able to utilize the potential of developing markets such as China and India. The company also buys products that are popular in their domestic markets thus helping it penetrate foreign markets easily.

Recent developments in the company

3M believes that innovation is the way of life. As a result, the company applies creativity in its daily operations to help it solve the challenges that interfere with its development goals. Innovation also helps the company to overcome the problem of inequality. In order to be successful in its operations, 3M focuses on business model innovations and disruptive technology.

Since 2008, 3M has been able to complete more than 20 transactions. These transactions have been focused on the companys vital areas of operation. The key portfolios of the company include Perceptive Pixel Inc., Printechnologies GmBH, Naporo GmBH, and Ecovative Design LLC.

For instance, Perceptive Pixel Inc. designs the most advanced multi-touch solutions. As a result, the company has been able to attract the government, healthcare institutions and medical imaging professionals to adopt this technology in their operations. On the other hand, Printechnologies GmBH develops electronic systems which facilitate in the printing of digital information on a paper. Moreover, Naporo GmBH utilizes bio-based materials and then uses them as renewable materials.

In addition, Ecovative Design LLC focuses on the development of mycelium which closes the gap between wood and plastics (Hill & Jones, 2008). Mycelium is used for insulating purposes. In this perspective therefore, it is evident that 3M focuses on innovation in order to remain competitive in the market.

Future direction

3M believes that its future developments will be influenced by its ability to prepare its employees for leadership responsibilities. As a result, the company is embarking on strategies aimed at ensuring that qualified women and minority groups are represented in leadership positions. The company also aims at developing leaders who will be able to expand the operations of the company in future. This will ensure that the competitiveness of the company remains high in the global market.

References

3M. (2012). 3M New Ventures. Web.

Hill, C., & Jones, G. R. (2008). Essentials of Strategic Management. New York: Cengage Learning.

Hitt, M. A., Ireland, D., & Hoski, R. E. (2009). Strategic Management: Competitiveness and Globalization : Cases. New York: Cengage Learning.

Wikinvest. (2012). 3M Company. Web.

The study of an effective group is of paramount importance especially in the academic circles. Here a well thought out group implies a great deal of academic excellence among learners and also a good spirit of team work. This is because working in groups makes learners tolerable to other people with diverse ideals and believes.

In this case we are going to look at an academic group at college level of study which is supposed to work out assignments issued in classroom. We will also look at some tips which make this group to produce successful results. Finally, we will also look at how various dimensions of group participation are expressed in our group of interest and also how they lead to the groups effectiveness.

There are various factors which can be described to be very critical for the group to attain the intended standards of effectiveness. The most interesting point to note is that all this factors surround the leadership of the group. One of the key factors is the information sharing especially from the group leader to his group members.

This can be realized through practicing open and transparent ways of passing messages which are wholly accessible to each and every member of the group with equal regards. In this case members will be in a position to come up with highly valued decisions since all members are quite knowledgeable about all crucial affairs of their group (Weber, 1983, p. 1). Also, with free flow of information there will be little objection towards arriving at final and most critical group decisions.

Secondly, the other inevitable factor for the attainment of an effective group is the group confidence among the members themselves and also towards their leader.

The group confidence implies the faith that they have upon themselves as it regards to the performance of their tasks and responsibilities and most particularly towards their leader. In this case the leadership style will have a lot of influence in shaping the confidence of the members in a group. Here the group leadership which appreciates and values the contribution of its members will lead to an effective group.

This is because the members will participate more on the group tasks and in decision making due to existing good confidence towards the leadership. Also other practices which can increase group confidence includes retention of membership by the previous leaders of the group and practicing democratic form of leadership other than being autocratic (Wageman, 2010, p. 1).

The other factors which can be attributed to attainment of an effective group include also the performance of the group. This implies the rate at which the group is able to give desired results and also the value of such results.

To achieve this, leaders should strive to develop a common vision amongst the members of the group. This common vision should emphasis on efforts of the individual members of the group which stimulates their devotion towards the affairs of the group thus increasing the level of performance of the group.

Lastly, the other factor is group cohesion which implies togetherness of the members and ability to remain united in their efforts to meet the set goals and objectives (Weber, 1983, p. 1). Here members feel a great deal of belonging to the group because they are highly appreciated and this motivates them to participate fully towards the success of the group thus attainment of an effective group.

The groups effectiveness can also result from the various dimensions of group participation as expressed in our group of interest. Firstly, verbal and non verbal communication is expressed for example through speeches, discussions, taking minutes and writing letters to members.

This leads to information sharing which is very critical for an effective group. Secondly, the group development over sometime is exhibited by the fact that people keep on forming ties as their interests continue to harmonize as a result of increased interactions.

This leads to the development of a shared vision which motivates the members to put more efforts towards the attainment of the set goals thus high levels of efficiency in the group. Thirdly, the roles-task roles and maintenance roles are seen where the members are clearly assigned some duties and responsibilities to undertake for the common good of the group. Here the group composition will be organized in such a way that members with some distinct talents are placed in position where they can make good use of their talents.

For example people with leadership qualities will be assigned leadership positions in the group. This proper composition of the group will lead to good results thus an effective group. Finally, social interdependence and trust is expressed through mutual respect among members as they interact in the course of undertaking their tasks (Cohen, 1997, p. 7). This will lead towards the effectiveness of the group since all members feel free to participate because their opinions are being heard and respected.

From the above, it is clearly seen that group are not just mere gatherings. For a group to be effective a lot of efforts are required from each member. Finally, without devoted leadership in the group, effectiveness can not be realized.

Reference List

Cohen, S. (1997). What Makes Teams Work. Web.

Wageman, R. (2010). Interdependence and group effectiveness. Web.

Weber, J. (1983). Group Effectiveness: Understanding Group Member Roles. Web.

Throughout the history of humankind, the excitement and passion for risk-taking as well as the pursuit of easy gain have found their expression in the form of gambling. Apart from card games and roulette, a most popular form of gambling is lottery. Although attempts have been made to calculate the winning formula of a lottery, it still remains a matter of luck to win the jackpot.

Annually, millions of people involve in lottery, which has led governments to the idea of instituting the lottery and controlling the money turnover. Among the legalized lotteries is that of Oklahoma, instituted as recently as in 2004 by an overwhelming majority during a general election ballot. Instituting the Oklahoma lottery has raised both approval and protests, resulting in a heated debates between the proponents and the opponents of the case.

The key motto of the Oklahoma lottery that has won the sympathy and assistance of the general public is that this lottery is meant for collecting additional investments into Oklahoma education. The 2004 Oklahoma Lottery Education Act was enthusiastically supported by a convincing majority of voters since it presupposes that a big share of the lottery revenue is used for improving the educational situation in the state (Oklahoma Lottery Commission).

The money is invested at all levels of education, starting from programs for kindergartens and primary schools to funding colleges and universities. An especially positive aspect of this investment is that the lottery money is used as additional funds for education, without replacing the standard existing ones (Oklahoma Lottery Commission).

Moreover, understanding that one is investing money in such a commendable sphere as education even without winning the lottery makes participation even more attractive. As the lottery sales and marketing director remarked in an interview, The primary focus of all our advertising and promotional efforts has always been education (Brus).

The lottery trustees emphasize the enthusiasm caused among the public by advertisements and reports of how much proceeds of the Oklahoma lottery have been directed for educational purposes (McNutt).

Against the backgrounds of such public enthusiasm, there exists a certain danger of taking the Oklahoma lottery for something more than it is. Indeed, the revenue gained from the lottery sales appears a drop in the bucked as compared to the money necessary to fund all the state and governmental education plans and projects.

In addition, a portion of tax revenue gained by the state from lottery sales is actually counterbalanced by lost sales of other goods, which makes the Oklahoma lottery not as profitable as it may seem (Community Action Project). Therefore, overly enthusiastic prognosis of the lottery benefits should be tailored to the state of things basing on realistic calculations.

However profitable or unprofitable it might be, the Oklahoma lottery presents an attraction to the citizens since it satisfies their need for entertainment. Lotteries have been a perennial tradition that is the more attractive due to its noncompulsory character and a chance for instant wealth at a comparatively low cost of one lottery ticket.

In a sense, state lotteries are a way of voluntary tax-payment that can be beneficial not only for the state but also for the winning taxpayers. In case with the Oklahoma lottery, the satisfaction from participation increases with the idea that one benefits even without winning: the money spent for the lottery ticket is not wasted but invested into the good purpose of education.

Taking into account that thirty-seven states have already enacted official lotteries, the Oklahoma lottery appears as a worthy continuation of tradition supported by a good intention of promoting the state education system (Community Action Project).

In addition, the beneficiary character of the Oklahoma lottery inspires people to invest not only in education. For example, a couple who won the lottery and become millionaires decided to donate money for fighting diabetes in children from rural areas (Simpson).

In spite of the positive effects of winning a lottery, there are certain psychological disadvantages of it, as peculiar to any type of gambling. For one thing, excessive involvement in lottery activities may lead to a sufficient decrease in the personal income of participants  which, in its turn, results in decreased purchasing power and lower lottery sales.

For another thing, multiple protests have been voiced against the use of children in the Oklahoma lottery advertisements (McNutt). Some part of the general public considers such advertisement strategy to be a direct introduction of gambling as a positive activity to younger generations.

All in all, the pros and cons combined, it appears that instituting the Oklahoma lottery has benefited the state more than harmed it. The moral concerns for appropriateness of lottery as gambling activity have existed for centuries, and eradicating lottery at all appears an impossible task to complete since dozens of illegal lotteries would exist instead.

Therefore, instituting the lottery can be viewed as a wise step for Oklahoma. On the one hand, it benefits the educational system of the state: little money as it can raise, it is still more than nothing. On the other hand, promoting the Oklahoma lottery as a charitable enterprise raises the public morals and inspires more charitable acts and a non-indifferent attitude to the needs of the others.

Works Cited

Brus, Brian. Selling the Lotto: Lottery Marketer Focuses on Education Benefits. The Journal Record (Oklahoma City). 2007. Web.

Community Action Project. SQ 705 and SQ 706: Oklahoma Education Lottery. State Ballot Question Issue Brief #1. 2004. Web.

McNutt, Michael. Oklahoma Lottery Commission Declares It Wont Scratch Commercials. News OK. 2010. Web.

Oklahoma Lottery Commission. Beneficiary. Oklahoma Lottery. 2010. Web.

Simpson, Susan. Oklahoma Lottery Winners Don and Joyce Harvey Help Fight Diabetes. News OK. 2009. Web.