#Notes4.1 Case in Point: Xerox Motivates Employees for Success

Developing Mission, Vision, and Values

4.1 Case in Point: Xerox Motivates Employees for Success

As of 2010, Xerox Corporation (NYSE: XRX) is a $22 billion, multinational company founded in 1906 and operating in 160 countries. Xerox is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut, and employs 130,000 people. 

How does a company of such size and magnitude effectively manage and motivate employees from diverse backgrounds and experiences? 

Mulcahy (CEO) believed that among other key businesses changes, motivating employees at Xerox was a key way to pull the company back from the brink of failure. 

One of her guiding principles was a belief that in order to achieve customer satisfaction, employees must be treated as key stakeholders and become interested and motivated in their work, create a stronger and more focused company. 

Mulcahy created a strong and successful business but encouraged individuals to speak their mind, to not worry about hurting one another’s feelings, and to be more critical. The importance of managing individuals in different ways and not intentionally intimidating people but rather relating to them and their individual perspectives. 

The CEO (Ursula Burns) wants to encourage people to get things done, take risks, and not be afraid of those risks. She motivates her teams by letting them know what her intentions and priorities are. 

#Note 7.2 Organizational Structure

Organizational Structure

How individual and team work within an organization are coordinated. 

• To achieve organizational goals and objectives, individual work needs to be coordinated and managed. 
• Structure is a valuable tool in achieving coordination, as it specifies reporting relationships (who reports to whom), delineates formal communication channels, and describes how separate actions of individuals are linked together. 
• Organizations can function within a number of different structures, each possessing distinct advantages and disadvantages. 
• Any structure that is not properly managed will be plagued with issues.
• Some organizational models are better equipped for particular environments and tasks.

Building Blocks of Structure

Four aspects of structure that have been frequently studied in the literature: centralization, formalization, hierarchical levels, and departmentalization. 

Centralization

Centralization is the degree to which decision-making authority is concentrated at higher levels in an organization. In centralized companies, many important decisions are made at higher levels of the hierarchy, whereas in decentralized companies, decisions are made and problems are solved at lower levels by employees who are closer to the problem in question. As an employee, where would you feel more comfortable and productive? If your answer is “decentralized,” you are not alone. Decentralized companies give more authority to lower-level employees, resulting in a sense of empowerment. Decisions can be made more quickly, and employees often believe that decentralized companies provide greater levels of procedural fairness to employees. 

Job candidates are more likely to be attracted to decentralized organizations. Because centralized organizations assign decision-making responsibility to higher-level managers, they place greater demands on the judgment capabilities of CEOs and other high-level managers.

The centralization of operations leads to inefficiencies in decision making. For example, in the 1980s, the industrial equipment manufacturer Caterpillar suffered the consequences of centralized decision making. At the time, all pricing decisions were made in the corporate headquarters in Peoria, Illinois. This meant that when a sales representative working in Africa wanted to give a discount on a product, they needed to check with headquarters. Headquarters did not always have accurate or timely information about the subsidiary markets to make an effective decision. As a result, Caterpillar was at a disadvantage against competitors such as the Japanese firm Komatsu. 

However, centralization also has its advantages. Some employees are more comfortable in an organization where their manager confidently gives instructions and makes decisions. Centralization may also lead to more efficient operations, particularly if the company is operating in a stable environment. 

In fact, organizations can suffer from extreme decentralization. For example, some analysts believe that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) experiences some problems because all its structure and systems are based on the assumption that crime needs to be investigated after it happens. Over time, this assumption led to a situation where, instead of following an overarching strategy, each FBI unit is completely decentralized and field agents determine how investigations should be pursued. It has been argued that due to the change in the nature of crimes, the FBI needs to gather accurate intelligence before a crime is committed; this requires more centralized decision making and strategy development. 

Hitting the right balance between decentralization and centralization is a challenge for many organizations. At the Home Depot, the retail giant with over 2,000 stores across the United States, Canada, Mexico, and China, one of the major changes instituted by former CEO Bob Nardelli was to centralize most of its operations. Before Nardelli’s arrival in 2000, Home Depot store managers made a number of decisions autonomously and each store had an entrepreneurial culture. Nardelli’s changes initially saved the company a lot of money. For example, for a company of that size, centralizing purchasing operations led to big cost savings because the company could negotiate important discounts from suppliers. At the same time, many analysts think that the centralization went too far, leading to the loss of the service-oriented culture at the stores. 

Formalization

Formalization is the extent to which an organization’s policies, procedures, job descriptions, and rules are written and explicitly articulated. 

• Many written rules and regulations. 
• Control employee behavior using written rules
• Employees have little autonomy to decide on a case-by-case basis. 
• An advantage of formalization is that it makes employee behavior more predictable. 
• Whenever a problem at work arises, employees know to turn to a handbook or a procedure guideline. Therefore, employees respond to problems in a similar way across the organization; this leads to consistency of behavior.
• While formalization reduces ambiguity and provides direction to employees

• Lead to reduced innovativeness because employees are used to behaving in a certain manner. 
• Strategic decision making in such organizations often occurs only when there is a crisis. 
• A formalized structure is associated with reduced motivation and job satisfaction as well as a slower pace of decision making. 
• The service industry is particularly susceptible to problems associated with high levels of formalization.
• Sometimes employees who are listening to a customer’s problems may need to take action, but the answer may not be specified in any procedural guidelines or rulebook. For example, while a handful of airlines such as Southwest do a good job of empowering their employees to handle complaints, in many airlines, lower-level employees have limited power to resolve a customer problem and are constrained by stringent rules that outline a limited number of acceptable responses.

Tall structures: Organizations with several layers of management between frontline employees and the top level.

Flat structures: Organizations with few layers, often with large numbers of employees reporting to a single manager.

Hierarchical Levels

• Tall structures have several layers of management between frontline employees and the top level.
• In tall structures, the number of employees reporting to each manager tends to be smaller, resulting in greater opportunities for managers to supervise and monitor employee activities.
• Tall structures are better at satisfying security needs of employees. Because tall structures are typical of large and well- established companies, it is possible that when working in such organizations employees feel a greater sense of job security.

• Flat structures consist of only a few layers. 
• Flat structures will be relatively unable to provide close supervision, leading to greater levels of freedom of action for each employee. Research indicates that flat organizations provide greater need satisfaction for employees and greater levels of self-actualization. 
• At the same time, there may be some challenges associated with flat structures. Research shows that when managers supervise a large number of employees, which is more likely to happen in flat structures, employees experience greater levels of role ambiguity—the confusion that results from being unsure of what is expected of a worker on the job. This is especially a disadvantage for employees who need closer guidance from their managers. Moreover, in a flat structure, advancement opportunities will be more limited because there are fewer management layers. 
• Finally, while employees report that flat structures are better at satisfying their higher-order needs such as self-actualization, they also report that 

Departmentalization

Broadly categorized as either functional or divisional.

• Organizations using functional structures group jobs based on similarity in functions. 
• Such as marketing, manufacturing, finance, accounting, human resources, and information technology. 
• Each person serves a specialized role and handles large volumes of transactions. 
• For example, in a functional structure, an employee in the marketing department may serve as an event planner, planning promotional events for all the products of the company. 

• Divisional structures, departments represent the unique products, services, customers, or geographic locations the company is serving. 
• Each unique product or service the company is producing will have its own department. Within each department, functions such as marketing, manufacturing, and other Companies such as IKEA, the Swedish furniture manufacturer and retailer, are successfully using flat structures within stores to build an employee attitude of job involvement and ownership.

Functional structures : Structures in which jobs are grouped based on similarity in functions.

In reality, many organizations are structured according to a mixture of functional and divisional forms. For example, if the company has multiple product lines, departmentalizing by product may increase innovativeness and reduce response times. Each of these departments may have dedicated marketing, manufacturing, and customer service employees serving the specific product; yet, the company may also find that centralizing some operations and retaining the functional structure makes sense and is more cost effective for roles such as human resources management and information technology. The same organization may also create geographic departments if it is serving different countries.

Functional structures tend to be effective when an organization does not have a large number of products and services requiring special attention. 

When a company has a diverse product line, each product will have unique demands, deeming divisional (or product-specific) structures more useful for promptly addressing customer demands and anticipating market changes. 

Functional structures are more effective in stable environments that are slower to change. In contrast, organizations using product divisions are more agile and can perform better in turbulent environments. 

The type of employee who will succeed under each structure is also different. Research shows that when employees work in product divisions in turbulent environments, because activities are diverse and complex, their performance depends on their general mental abilities. 

Two Configurations: Mechanistic and Organic Structures

The different elements making up organizational structures in the form of formalization, centralization, number of levels in the hierarchy, and departmentalization often coexist. As a result, we can talk about two configurations of organizational structures, depending on how these elements are arranged.

Mechanistic structures are those that resemble a bureaucracy. These structures are highly formalized and centralized. Communication tends to follow formal channels and employees are given specific job descriptions delineating their roles and responsibilities. 

Mechanistic organizations are often rigid and resist change, making them unsuitable for innovativeness and taking quick action. These forms have the downside of inhibiting entrepreneurial action and discouraging the use of individual initiative on the part of employees. Not only do mechanistic structures have disadvantages for innovativeness, but they also limit individual autonomy and self-determination, which will likely lead to lower levels of intrinsic motivation on the job. 

Despite these downsides, however, mechanistic structures have advantages when the environment is more stable. The main advantage of a mechanistic structure is its efficiency. Therefore, in organizations that are trying to maximize efficiency and minimize costs, mechanistic structures provide advantages. 

For example, McDonald’s has a famously bureaucratic structure where employee jobs are highly formalized, with clear lines of communication and specific job descriptions. This structure is an advantage for them because it allows McDonald’s to produce a uniform product around the world at minimum cost. 

Mechanistic structures can also be advantageous when a company is new. New businesses often suffer from a lack of structure, role ambiguity, and uncertainty. The presence of a mechanistic structure has been shown to be related to firm performance in new ventures. 

Organic structures

In contrast to mechanistic structures, organic structures are flexible and decentralized, with low levels of formalization. 

• Communication lines are more fluid and flexible. 
• Employee job descriptions are broader and employees are asked to perform duties based on the specific needs of the organization at the time as well as their own expertise levels. 
• Higher levels of job satisfaction on the part of employees. 
• Conducive to entrepreneurial behavior and innovativeness. 
• An example of a company that has an organic structure is the diversified technology company 3M. The company is strongly committed to decentralization. At 3M, there are close to 100 profit centers, with each division feeling like a small company. Each division manager acts autonomously and is accountable for his or her actions. As operations within each division get too big and a product created by a division becomes profitable, the operation is spun off to create a separate business unit. This is done to protect the agility of the company and the small-company atmosphere.
  

• KEY TAKEAWAY

The degree to which a company is centralized and formalized, the number of levels in the company hierarchy, and the type of departmentalization the company uses are key elements of a company’s structure. These elements of structure affect the degree to which the company is effective and innovative as well as employee attitudes and behaviors at work. These elements come together to create mechanistic and organic structures. Mechanistic structures are rigid and bureaucratic and help companies achieve efficiency, while organic structures are decentralized, flexible, and aid companies in achieving innovativeness.

 9. Those structures that are flexible and decentralized with low levels of formalization where communication lines are more fluid and flexible.

#Learning Journal What was the most helpful strategy you learned during this course

What was the most helpful strategy you learned during this course? 

I used to be confused. Why do need to take the"College Success"? After several weeks, I understood what the course is about. But I was not taking it seriously, because I did not get much interested in it and I have another course need to study until I found something that motivates me. In Taiwan, we don't have a course like this. Our colleges only teach us how to get a job and make money after we leave from school. The most helpful strategies I learned during this course are critical thinking and note-taking. 

How will you apply this strategy in your future studies here at UoPeople?

Critical thinking helps me think much more flexible and spot the most important details inside things. I remember that a few months ago before I apply for University of The People, I read a book on a moving high-speed train. The book title is "Insight Outsight", the book is telling every manager who wants to improve their skills about what they should know and give several examples to prove the theory. While I think of critical thinking, I thought of that book immediately. Every book has its own theory to show you why it is correct. But if we have critical thinking skills, we might begin to search even more evidence to prove it is right or it's might be a fake. There is so many fake news around social media and on the internet, many of it is created by some advertisement suppliers, to trick you to buy something you might not think it's necessary at first. If you can not think critically, you might fall into the fraud they set. I will apply the critical thinking skill to make my study much deeper into the truth.

What was the most surprising thing you learned this term? 

The most surprising thing I learned this term is the critical thinking process. 

Why did it surprise you?

It's surprising me because I did not know it even has a process? It sounds like a science experiment or business administration and I follow the steps to see how it works. During the process, I learned many skills that I didn't understand before. It's a procedure to peer any information and think how does it work? Who write it? What is the author's opinion? Is it a fake or for real? Traditionally, we don't doubt about what we learned and what we get from the school or any information when we don't know about one thing thoroughly. "I think, therefore I am"-René Descartes. Nowadays, there are so many frauds around the world that are tricking people by doing something dishonest. We may think we'll never be scammed, but already millions of people have fallen for fake emails, phone calls or letters that look genuine and ask us to give or update our financial details. The criminals get you to look over there whilst they rifle pockets.

Peer assessment is a unique education model. Think back to how you felt about peer assessment at the beginning of the term, and compare that to your feelings now. How have your feelings changed? 

Peer assessment is a model that I have never seen before. I have some doubts about it at first when I am supposed to do it. But a few weeks later, I feel it a useful model for communication and provides several aspects on the same topic. My feeling is from useless switch to effective. Just like an on/off button, it turns on my skills in this area.

Are you more comfortable with peer assessment? 

It's hard to say that it is comfortable or not. Not everyone can read the assessments from the other students without any emotional feelings and be a completely reasonable person. But while the peer assessments have several aspects to consider for, It's much better to do it. 

Have you learned something new while assessing your peer’s work?

The most significant thing I learned from assessing my peer's work is each essay has its own elements or factors to check. Putting pieces of information and words, knowledge together in sort of order, is not a piece of cake. And I learned that when we write something, we built it from words to sentences and then paragraphs. 

#Discussion A system of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs showing people what is appropriate and inappropriate behavior

The text describes organizational culture as “a system of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs showing people what is appropriate and inappropriate behavior.” 

From your own observations, give an example of a company’s culture being a strength or a weakness. 

About 10 years ago, my first fire department where I worked as a firefighter, has a dark history. It's obvious a centralization organization with bureaucracy. The top officer there only cares about the money they can take from the firetruck and equipment suppliers and the relationship with the mayor and the councilmen. They risked the firefighter's lives, just like the firefighters, risk their lives to save people in a burning building. While the culture has cost the firefighters' passions to the limit, they don't want to risk their lives anymore. Because the officers from the top to the bottom all execute like a corrupt bureaucrat, they don't want to change the problems of the shift system of the firefighters and ignored the bad institution behaviors. The value of being a firefighter is gone. They became to work less hard and unwilling to take any risk of their lives to save people in danger. This is the weakness of the organization. 

In what ways was it a strength or weakness? 

Strength or weakness can be reversed quickly if a tiny mistake happens. In this case, the top officers don't make their decisions to match the value and mission of what a fire department should do. Obviously, without integrity, there can be no trust.

Share examples of artifacts you have noticed to support your observation about that organization’s culture.

The example of artifacts, in this case, is the relationship between officers and the firefighters and the meeting spokes. All employees don't want to share their opinions and do more things that might benefit the department and once they get the paycheck is the only thing that keeps them work at the fire department. The amounts of the fire truck there, always a lot more than it's actually needed, and the firefighters don't share respect to any officers there.

#Discussion What strategies will you use to prepare for your final exam?

What strategies will you use to prepare for your final exam? 

First of all, I will calculate how many hours and minutes I have for studying. Then, collect every books, papers, articles or any other materials I have to read and distribute it on my todo list. For instance, if a book has 8 chapters on the catalog, I will do some math and give each chapter a specific number of hours to finish. Now I have the todo list with how many things I have to do and how many hours left under my control. Thus, the next step will to effectively execute the todo list and manage my time and also, avoid any distractions that can possibly get me out of the path or even get lost during the way to get prepared. When everything is set up, the next challenge will be how do I know my progress is going well? To do that, I can retake the self-quiz in the former few weeks' assignments. I set the objectives to achieve each quiz at least 3 times and all the minimize scores are 90 or more. 

Do you have, or have you ever had test-taking anxiety? What strategies will you use to manage test anxiety? 

Like fear, anxiety is a product we create to force ourselves taking seriously on a very important thing that can cause terribly affect us or put ourselves in danger. The danger is real, but the fear, the anxiety is just a product we create. To control and manage it, you have to use it as a weapon to fight the danger you face. If you really afraid of something happen to you, you will do everything you can to prevent it from happening. That's the power of fear. That's the strength of anxiety. 

#Notes 8.4 Signs of Organizational Culture

8.4 Signs of Organizational Culture

How do you find out about a company’s culture? 

Mission Statement

A mission statement is a statement of purpose, describing who the company is and what it does. 

• The first facet of the planning P-O-L-C function. 
• Effective mission statement: 1. Well known by employees 2.Transmitted to all employees starting from their first day at work. 3.Influences employee behavior.
• If the mission statement does not affect employee behavior on a day-to-day basis, it has little usefulness as a tool for understanding the company’s culture. 
• Enron provided an often-cited example of a disconnect between a company’s mission statement and how the company actually operated. Their mission and values statement started with “As a partner in the communities in which we operate, Enron believes it has a responsibility to conduct itself according to certain basic principles.” Their values statement included such ironic declarations as “We do not tolerate abusive or disrespectful treatment. Ruthlessness, callousness and arrogance don’t belong here.”
• A mission statement that is taken seriously and widely communicated may provide insights into the corporate culture. For example, the Mayo Clinic’s mission statement is “The needs of the patient come first.” This mission statement evolved from the founders who are quoted as saying, “The best interest of the patient is the only interest to be considered.” 
• Mayo Clinics have a corporate culture that puts patients first. For example, no incentives are given to physicians based on the number of patients they see. Because doctors are salaried, they have no interest in retaining a patient for themselves, and they refer the patient to other doctors when needed. 
• Wal-Mart may be another example of a company that lives its mission statement and therefore its mission statement may give hints about its culture: “Saving people money so they can live better.

Rituals

Rituals refer to repetitive activities within an organization that has symbolic meaning.

• Usually, rituals have their roots in the history of a company’s culture. They create camaraderie and a sense of belonging among employees. 
• Serve to teach employees corporate values and create identification with the organization. For example, at the cosmetics firm Mary Kay Inc., employees attend ceremonies recognizing their top salespeople with an award of a new car—traditionally a pink Cadillac. These ceremonies are conducted in large auditoriums where participants wear elaborate evening gowns and sing company songs that create emotional excitement. During this ritual, employees feel a connection to the company culture and its values such as self-determination, willpower, and enthusiasm. 
• Another example of rituals is the Saturday morning meetings of Wal-Mart. This ritual was first created by the company founder Sam Walton, who used these meetings to discuss which products and practices were doing well and which required adjustment. He was able to use this information to make changes in Wal-Mart’s stores before the start of the week, which gave him a competitive advantage over rival stores who would make their adjustments based on weekly sales figures during the middle of the following week. Today, hundreds of Wal-Mart associates attend the Saturday morning meetings in the Bentonville, Arkansas, headquarters. The meetings start and end with the Wal-Mart cheer; the agenda includes a discussion of weekly sales figures and merchandising tactics. As a ritual, the meetings help maintain a small-company atmosphere, ensure employee involvement and accountability, communicate a performance orientation, and demonstrate taking quick actions. 

Rules and Policies

Companies create rules to determine acceptable and unacceptable behavior and, thus, the rules that exist in a company will signal the type of values it has. 

• Policies about issues such as decision making, human resources, and employee privacy reveal what the company values and emphasizes. For example, a company that has a policy such as “all pricing decisions of merchandise will be made at corporate headquarters” is likely to have a centralized culture that is hierarchical, as opposed to decentralized and empowering. 
• The presence or absence of policies on sensitive issues such as English-only rules, bullying and unfair treatment of others, workplace surveillance, open-door policies, sexual harassment, workplace romances, and corporate social responsibility all provide pieces of the puzzle that make up a company’s culture. This highlights how interrelated the P-O-L-C functions are in practice. 
• Through rules and policies, the controlling function affects the organization’s culture, a facet of organizing.

Below are scenarios of critical decisions you may need to make as a manager one day. Read each question and select one response from each pair of statements. Then, think about the effect your choice would have on the company’s culture (your organizing function) as well as on your controlling function.

1. Your company needs to lay off 10 people. Would you

a. lay off the newest 10 people?

b. lay off the 10 people who have the lowest performance

evaluations?

2. You’re asked to establish a dress code. Would you

a. ask employees to use their best judgment?

b. create a detailed dress code highlighting what is proper and

improper?

3. You need to monitor employees during work hours. Would you

a. not monitor them because they are professionals and you trust them?

b. install a program monitoring their Web usage to ensure that they are spending work hours actually doing work?

4. You’re preparing performance appraisals. Would you

a. evaluate people on the basis of their behaviors?

b. evaluate people on the basis of the results (numerical sales

figures, etc.)?

5. Who will be promoted? Would you promote individuals based on

a. seniority?

b. objective performance?

Physical Layout

A company’s building, the layout of employee offices, and other workspaces communicate important messages about a company’s culture. 

• Nike campus in Beaverton, Oregon, can witness firsthand some of the distinguishing characteristics of the company’s culture. The campus is set on 74 acres and boasts an artificial lake, walking trails, soccer fields, and cutting-edge fitness centers. The campus functions as a symbol of Nike’s values such as energy, physical fitness, an emphasis on quality, and a competitive orientation. In addition, at fitness centers on the Nike headquarters, only those using Nike shoes and apparel are allowed in. This sends a strong signal that loyalty is expected. The company’s devotion to athletes and their winning spirit are manifested in campus buildings named after famous athletes, photos of athletes hanging on the walls, and their statues dotting the campus. 
• The layout of the office space also is a strong indicator of a company’s culture. A company that has an open layout where high-level managers interact with employees may have a culture of team orientation and egalitarianism, whereas a company where most high-level managers have their own floor may indicate a higher level of the hierarchy. 
• Microsoft employees tend to have offices with walls and a door because the culture emphasizes solitude, concentration, and privacy. In contrast, Intel is famous for its standard cubicles, which reflect its egalitarian culture. The same value can also be observed in its avoidance of private and reserved parking spots. 
• The degree to which playfulness, humor, and fun are part of a company’s culture may be indicated in the office environment. For example, Jive Software boasts a colorful, modern, and comfortable office design. Their break room is equipped with a keg of beer, free snacks and sodas, an Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii. A casual observation of their work environment sends the message that employees who work there see their work as fun.

Stories and Language

Perhaps the most colorful and effective way in which organizations communicate their culture to new employees and organizational members is through the skillful use of stories. 

• A story can highlight a critical event an organization faced and the organization’s response to it, or a heroic effort of a single employee illustrating the company’s values. 
• The stories usually engage employee emotions and generate employee identification with the company or the heroes of the tale. 
• A compelling story may be a key mechanism through which managers motivate employees by giving their behavior direction and by energizing them toward a certain goal, a new tool for engaging employees in setting direction.
• Moreover, stories shared with new employees communicate the company’s history, its values, and priorities, and create a bond between the new employee and the organization. For example, you may already be familiar with the story of how a scientist at 3M invented Post-it notes. 
• Language is another way to identify an organization’s culture. Companies often have their own acronyms and buzzwords that are clear to them and help set apart organizational insiders from outsiders. In business, this code is known as jargon. Jargon is the language of specialized terms used by a group or profession. Every profession, trade, and organization has its own specialized terms.

KEY TAKEAWAY

Organizational cultures are created by a variety of factors, including founders’ values and preferences, industry demands, and early values, goals, and assumptions. Culture is maintained through attraction-selection- attrition, new employee onboarding, leadership, and organizational reward systems. Signs of a company’s culture include the organization’s mission statement, stories, physical layout, rules and policies, and rituals.

#Discussion Forum Stress, both good and bad, is a part of life.

Why is stress management important?

It's unavoidable and all affecting you whether it's good or bad. There are many reasons that cause stress such as, works, assignments, chores, finance, insomnia and more. They all have one thing in common which is all affects you in different ways. We all have a fear of something happens to us whether you are rich or poor.

How does stress affect your life?

Stress, both good and bad. My life has been changed by many events that happened in my early life. When my father closes the business he built in his 20s about 25 years ago, I began to worry about the future, what kind of life I have to live with. Today, my father started a food company and run it well for almost 7 years. I still got stressed sometimes, because after he went through the downtime of his life, he became really emotional and controlling. He stops me from being a veterinary which is my dream job. So I got stressed and feared about the future because I don't know what I am going to do.

Identify three stress management techniques you are going to use to decrease your stress levels. How can you apply these strategies to your life?

We always have a little monkey in our mind to interrupt us and procrastinate. So I have 3 three stress management techniques of my own that are "fun", "easy and organize" and "rewards".

1.FUN: Making things fun is a great way for me to reduce my stress level. If I have to do something and I can't get away from it then I start to think about how can I make it less boring or even have fun doing it. For instance, when I working out or exercising, I imagine that I am fighting against a monster and I don't want to be its lunch.....

2.EASY and ORGANIZE: When something is easy and organized, it's become more possible to achieve. Instead of setting goals like lose weight, it's more achievable to set goals like "eat 400kcal a day" or "run one kilometer every day". Separate your goals to tiny simple and easy pieces can increase the confidence for you to start. Believe is key to achieve anything.

3. REWARDS: You will need some rewards for yourself to build a habit. After the habits have been built, you can decrease your stress levels when you doing something that makes you stressful but you already built a habit which you know that it will come with a reward.

How will these strategies help you manage your stress?

When you get stressed, you might be afraid of something happens to you. So think about the coming up troubles and get prepared. Making things fun, easy, organize and come with rewards to prepare the solution effectively. 

#Learning Journal Summarize the key steps in planning and executing change

Unfreezing Before Change

• Executing change without prior preparation is likely to lead to failure. So it's much better to get prepared before you actually make the change. So every organization should start with the preparation procedures which is the unfreezing to make sure that all members are sufficiently prepared for it and receptive. In other words, if you are not doing your study or research, you are much likely to fail on an exam.
• Communicating a Plan for Change: When employees know what is going to happen, when, and why, they may feel more comfortable. For instance, you go to see a doctor and the doctor doesn't explain why he(or she) doing this treatment, you might be nervous and confused, and start to think about all the bad situations.
• Ensuring that top management communicates with employees about the upcoming changes also has symbolic value. As I said, the doctor doesn't tell you all the details you should know about every step that you are about to be treated. It's might affect your confidence during the treatment.
• Develop a Sense of Urgency: Our brain is made up to avoid danger. So people are more likely to accept change if they feel that there is a need for it. If the doctor tells you that the surgery is necessary and you need to do it now, you will still choose to ignore it? 
• If employees feel their company is doing well, the perceived need for change will be smaller. Just like your recovery is doing well after the surgery.
• Building a Coalition: To convince people that change is needed, the change leader does not necessarily have to convince every person individually. In fact, people’s opinions toward change are affected by opinion leaders or those people who have a strong influence over the behaviors and attitudes of others. Instead of trying to get everyone on board at the same time, it may be more useful to convince and prepare the opinion leaders. Just like the advertisements on the TV or the internet. There is always a celebrity to introduce their product and telling you that it is really worth to buy. Then you lose your mind and your hand starts to get out of your control......Finally, you pick up your credit card and enter the card number......
• Provide Support: Employees should feel that their needs are not ignored. Just like patients need good care. Providing emotional and instrumental support, discussing the changes, encouraging employees to voice their concerns will express confidence in employees’ ability to perform effectively under the new system.
• Allow Employees to Participate: Employees who participate in planning change efforts tend to have more positive opinions about the change. I think this is important because when you are taking part in something, you get the satisfaction from its success. And the engagement can do more than just participation, because of the communication and the exchange of opinions.

Executing Change

• Continue to Provide Support: As the change is underway, employees may experience high amounts of stress. While the patient is on the pain of the treatment, the only thing that can make them comfortable is the anesthesia. They may make mistakes more often or experience an uncertainty about their new responsibilities or job descriptions.
• Create Small Wins: Sometimes, "Your surgery is successful" and show the evidence of the success on the screen is much better than just put you back to the ward and disappearance. If people see changes, improvements, and successes along the way, they will be inspired and motivated to continue the change effort.
• Eliminate Obstacles: It is the management’s job to identify, understand, and remove these obstacles. What do you think if the doctor sees cancer and telling you that he(or she) can not do anything?

Refreezing

• After the change is implemented, the long-term success of a change effort depends on the extent to which the change becomes part of the company’s culture. If the change becomes a habit in the organization, the rewards even show up before the change is executed. Like the smoker and a drug addict people, their brain might reward themselves even before doing the behavior.
• Refreezing involves ensuring that change becomes permanent and the new habits, rules, or procedures become the norm.
• Publicize Success: Sharing results with employees increases their confidence, like the moment you take down the king on a chessboard.
• Reward Change Adoption: The rewards are to give support to the change effort and it's may encourage others to get on board. However, customized rewards is a better way to do it, because not everyone is enjoying the same thing.
• Embracing Continuous Change: “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.” – Steve Jobs. Not all the efforts will result in success, but giving up must fail. By setting up a dynamic feedback loop, learning can become a regular part of daily operations. If an employee implements a new method or technology that seems to be successful, a learning organization is in a good position to adopt it.

The text discusses three kinds of organizational structures: matrix, boundary-less, and learning. In a 2-page paper answer the following questions

What is a challenge to reporting to more than one manager in a matrix organization?

In a matrix structure organization, the reporting relationships are set up as a grid, or matrix, employees generally have to report to both a functional manager and a product manager. However, all managers are humans, they are not computers who can be set up with zero conflict. Actually, even computers also have errors or bugs sometimes. The biggest challenge is clearly the coordination I think. Without coordination, not only human managers but also computers are all lead to failure eventually. For instance, if the managers are the CPU, Hard disk, GPU, and RAM then the employees are like many tiny pieces of units on the computer. Even a tiny little disconnection can get your computer broke and shout down unexpectedly. Interpersonal conflict is a common situation that happens in a matrix structure organization. Moreover, the conflict can appear in the contradiction of goals, objectives, mission, and vision. When employees are required to report to the lines, not around the work, they might not see themselves as part of the same team and lose the "I am one of the team" sense of feeling. Thus, while the focus is on power and control instead of the goal, attention is turned in the wrong direction. If the environment is complex that several teams are working on different aspects of a project, it can be unclear who has the final authority over decisions, because almost every employee owns a tiny piece of a project or product lines. However, this is one of the reasons why there are many delays in decision-making.

What might be a benefit?

If the coordinated across functional departments are doing well, the resources can be used efficiently, since experts and equipment can be shared across projects. The more coordinated across functional departments is doing, the more information flows across and through the organization. And the employees can speed the decision process with the help of the sharing information. 

What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of being employed by a boundary-less organization?

The advantages of being employed by a boundary-less organization?

Because of the traditional barriers between departments as well as barriers between the organization and the external environment are eliminated, you can increase the flexibility, collaboration, and shared more information. With a strong vision and goals, employees feel more self-satisfying with their job.

The disadvantages?

Because of the elimination of traditional barriers between departments and the organization to the external environment, the top managers might set multiple objectives to ensure the specific goals will be executed. The employees will take more responsibility for their jobs or the objectives set by managers. The truth is the more freedom you have, the more responsibility you have to take.

What is the main cost of maintaining an organizational learning environment?

The experimenting and learning new things can be the main cost of maintaining an organizational learning environment. Because of experimentation and testing, potentially better operational methods are encouraged, the organization has to pay the bills of failures. Not everything is perfect and can be done perfectly for the first time. 

What is the greatest benefit?

The experimenting and learning new things can be a way of identifying future opportunities. Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up. Learning from failed experiences is probably the best way to move forward quickly. Like a scientist experiment so many times to find the truth, you can find the treasure if you try enough shots.

Which kind of organization would you like to work for? Why?

If I just looking for a part-time job, I prefer the matrix organization. I can just do what I suppose to do and that's it. I don't want to be required to coordinate across reporting lines to accomplish other people's goals and objectives. No more duties coming up in my mind. However, if I want to learn and digging more about the job, I would like to choose the learning organization. In the learning organization, I can learn how to institutionalized experimenting with new ideas. I might be allowed to work on my personal project with the resources of the organization.

#Notes 7.3 Contemporary Forms of Organizational Structures

7.3 Contemporary Forms of Organizational Structures

Beginning in the 1970s, management experts began to propose organizational designs that they believed were better adapted to the needs of the emerging business environment. Each structure has unique qualities to help businesses handle their particular environment.

Matrix Organization

Matrix Organizations

• Combines a traditional functional structure with a product structure.
• To balance the benefits of product-based and traditional functional structures. 
• Specifically, employees reporting to department managers are also pooled together to form project or product teams. 
• Each person reports to a department manager as well as a project or product manager. 
• Product managers have control and say over product-related matters, while department managers have authority over matters related to company policy. 
• Created in response to uncertainty and dynamism of the environment and the need to give particular attention to specific products or projects. 
• Using the matrix structure as opposed to product departments may increase communication and cooperation among departments because project managers will need to coordinate their actions with those of department managers. 
• Research shows that matrix structure increases the frequency of informal and formal communication within the organization.
• Matrix structures also have the benefit of providing quick responses to technical problems and customer demands. 
• The existence of a project manager keeps the focus on the product or service provided.
• An example of a matrix structure at a software development company. Business analysts, developers, and testers each report to a functional department manager and to a project manager simultaneously.

• Each employee reports to two or more managers. This situation is ripe for conflict. Because multiple managers are in charge of guiding the behaviors of each employee, there may be power struggles or turf wars among managers. 
• As managers are more interdependent compared to a traditional or product-based structure, they will need to spend more effort coordinating their work. 
• From the employee’s perspective, there is potential for interpersonal conflict with team members as well as with leaders. 
• The presence of multiple leaders may create role ambiguity or, worse, role conflict—being given instructions or objectives that cannot all be met because they are mutually exclusive. 
• The necessity to work with a team consisting of employees with different functional backgrounds increases the potential for task conflict at work. Solving these problems requires a great level of patience and proactivity on the part of the employee.
• The matrix structure is used in many information technology companies engaged in software development. 
• Sportswear manufacturer Nike is another company that uses the matrix organization successfully. New product introduction is a task shared by regional managers and product managers. While product managers are in charge of deciding how to launch a product, regional managers are allowed to make modifications based on the region.

Boundary-less Organizations

• Boundary-less organization refers to an organization that eliminates traditional barriers between departments as well as barriers between the organization and the external environment. 
• The modular Organization. An organization where all the nonessential functions are outsourced. The idea behind this format is to retain only the value-generating and strategic functions in-house, while the rest of the operations are outsourced to many suppliers. An example of a company that does this is Toyota. By managing relationships with hundreds of suppliers, Toyota achieves efficiency and quality in its operations. 
• Strategic alliances (A form of boundary-less design where two or more companies find an area of collaboration and combine their efforts to create a partnership that is beneficial for all parties.) constitute another form of boundary-less design. In this form, similar to a joint venture, two or more companies find an area of collaboration and combine their efforts to create a partnership that is beneficial for both parties. In the process, the traditional boundaries between two competitors may be broken. As an example, Starbucks formed a highly successful partnership with PepsiCo to market its Frappuccino cold drinks. Starbucks has immediate brand-name recognition in this cold coffee drink, but its desire to capture shelf space in supermarkets required marketing savvy and experience that Starbucks did not possess at the time. By partnering with PepsiCo, Starbucks gained an important head start in the marketing and distribution of this product. 
• Boundary-less organizations may involve eliminating the barriers separating employees; these may be intangible barriers, such as traditional management layers, or actual physical barriers, such as walls between different departments. Structures such as self-managing teams create an environment where employees coordinate their efforts and change their own roles to suit the demands of the situation, as opposed to insisting that something is “not my job.”

Learning Organizations

A learning organization (One where acquiring knowledge and changing behavior as a result of the newly acquired knowledge is part of an organization’s design.) is one whose design actively seeks to acquire knowledge and change behavior as a result of the newly acquired knowledge. 

• Experimenting, learning new things, and reflecting on new knowledge are the norms. 
• There are many procedures and systems in place that facilitate learning at all organization levels.
• Experimentation and testing potentially better operational methods are encouraged. This is true not only in response to environmental threats but also as a way of identifying future opportunities. 
• 3M is one company that institutionalized experimenting with new ideas in the form of allowing each engineer to spend one day a week working on a personal project. 
• At IBM, learning is encouraged by taking highly successful business managers and putting them in charge of emerging business opportunities (EBOs). By setting up a structure where failure is tolerated and risk taking is encouraged, the company took a big step toward becoming a learning organization.
• Learning organizations are also good at learning from experience—their own or a competitor’s. To learn from past mistakes, companies conduct a thorough analysis of them. Some companies choose to conduct formal retrospective meetings to analyze the challenges encountered and areas for improvement. To learn from others, these companies vigorously study competitors, market leaders in different industries, clients, and customers. 
• By benchmarking against industry best practices, they constantly look for ways of improving their own operations. Learning organizations are also good at studying customer habits to generate ideas. For example, Xerox uses anthropologists to understand and gain insights to how customers are actually using their office products.