Worker-Sensitive Firms and Herman Miller
Q1. Evaluation of the statement “A worker-sensitive firm is bound eventually to face a competitive disadvantage as it cannot control its labor costs”
Hartog (2012) portrays that a worker- sensitive firm offers an environment to their employees, where they can take participation in decision making process. Routh and Borghi (2016) also depicts that provision of extra monetary and non-monetary benefits to the in-line employees also represents a worker sensitive firm. The organization that is taken into consideration is Herman Miller. This organization treats their employee as an important asset of the organization and also offers increments to them. Herman Miller also propose less salary gap between the managers and the line workers in order to incorporate a parity among all the working personnel. Moreover, every after 6 months, both the bosses and workers evaluated with other and all the leaders also use participative leadership traits in order to communicate with their clients. The statement that “A worker-sensitive firm is bound eventually to face a competitive disadvantage as it cannot control its labor costs” can be easily justified in terms of Herman Miller case study as the process of consultancy with the subordinates takes much time and that time can be utilized in developing other business strategy.
Moreover, Routh and Borghi (2016) in this case affirms that company who invests so much time and facility to organization when decides to cost cutting in terms in these aspects, the brand reputation gets affected. This is the scenario occurred in case of Herman Miller as the new CEO that is J. Kermit Campbell decided to cut about 200 employees and close several plants from Texas and New Jersey, the brand reputation of the concerned organization got diminished that affects their total profitability by 90%. Thus, it can be concluded that investing in people results in better working atmosphere and community relations but it also consumes much time that results time for other crucial operation like market promotional strategies and products development that provides the company a competitive advantage.
Q2. Do you see any risks in Herman Miller lowering its quality and its prices? Do you think it should have done so?
I think that, the strategy for lowering the cost of the products is good but on the other hand the idea for lowering the quality of the products is not a productive approach. O’guinn et al. (2014) also mentioned that managing authority of an organization must assess the basic metrics of attaining more profitability. Shin (2016) furthermore portrays that reducing costs or increasing revenue can increase the net profit but diminishes the net profit margin. Moreover, there is a general tendency of people that if an organization lowers their price of the products that is probably because they may have lowered their products quality or the previous products charges were too high. Singh (2013) thus depicts that in both the case the reputation of the organization gets hampered.
Evaluation of the Statement ‘A worker-sensitive firm is bound eventually to face a competitive disadvantage as it cannot control its labor costs’
Considering the given case study, it can be said that Herman Miller was liable to offer premium furniture ranges made from materials like rosewood and Honduran mahogany. The managing authorities also decided not to use these materials after the stock will finish and this has lead to poor profitability. According to that given statistics that after diminishes the quality of the material of the products, the percentage in the total sales also diminished. In the year 1985 the percentage of sales was 8.3, which is reduced to 5.8 in the following year that is 1987. Moreover, the percentage of sales was 5.2 and 1.6 in the year 1989 and 1991. Thus, it can be noted that the company had to face loss in profits. However, the sales percentage increases when the premium quality products with premium materials are again prepared but the procedure taken for closing some of their outlets and employee cost cutting that results in around 90% loss in and that reflected in their sales percentage for the year 1995 that is 0.4%.
Q3. What do you think of the “enlightened” policy announced by Max DePree as he retired that henceforth no DePree will ever work for the firm again, in order that able people can have unimpeded career paths within the company?
According to the policy, Max DePree will be the last DePree to lead Herman Miller. Max wants to offer career opportunity to deserve candidates from their employee and not anyone from their generation. In this case, the positive facet is that promising managers get the chance to outperform and handle the business operations for attaining more productivity and profitability. However, the negative consequence that can be occurred in this situation is that family people, who are outperformers, cannot get a chance to prove their competencies. Westberg and Pope (2014) highlight another factor that is in this way, employee will get more value and biasness can be avoided. This on the other hand will enhance the brand reputation and recognition in the community. Another negative consequence that can be noted in this context is that former owners may develop some conflicts with the next leaders as the new CEO may misinterpret their suggestions.
Task-1
Q1. How easy or difficult was it for you to develop this strategic plan? What would have made the process easier or more effective?
The plan that can be undertaken is to define the goals of the implementation of the new applications software and defining their incompatibility specification that can comply with the Microsoft’s operating systems. The problem that can be faced in this case is the selection of accurate resources for developing the new applications. Phunchongharn et al. (2013) also depicts that businesspeople also have to think whether or not these newly developed products will be preferred by the customers. Another problem that can be faced is the collaboration with effective stakeholders (Cassidy, 2016). In this case, collaboration with Microsoft proves to be beneficial but need much investment at the initial stages. Thus, developing a strategic plan for developing new application software by maintaining all the stakeholders and giving training to the development team regarding the compatibility development of the application along with the collaboration with stakeholders is a difficult phase.
Risks of Lowering Quality and Prices
However, this adversity can be overcome by formulating a timeline and short-term goals so that progress of each section and phase of the strategic plan can be evaluated. Moreover, discussion and research about the recent compatibility specification of the Microsoft’s operating system can be attained.
Q2. Which of the ten steps do you imagine would be easiest to implement? Which do you think would be most challenging? Explain your answers.
According to me, defining goals and the scope of the products and services is the most difficult process of this strategic process. (Galliers & Leidner, 2014) explain that the first two phase of the strategic development needs the accurate assessment of the company’s market like- market position, reputation and financial standing. In this phase, all the preference of the working personnel should also be considered as they are the one who act upon the developed plan. Moreover, defining the organization’s accurate scope of the plan so that all the existing resources can be utilized is a challenging responsibility of the developing team. (Cook et al., 2014) depicts members of the development team are a crucial part of the strategic planning. Thus, in this case, the concerned organization should also assess their culture so that every member of the development team can feel motivated and encouraged to obtain the recent knowledge on developing new technology and utilize the knowledge.
I think that assessing the internal and external resources and environment is easy to implement. Moreover, implementing the strategy and evaluating the outcome are also the easiest step as all the tough procedures are performed earlier. Evaluating the competitor’s market position and comparing with their abilities is also easy to perform as the managing authorities and marketing team collaboratively can accomplish this procedure.
Q3. What special challenges, if any, would the employees of your company face as they attempted to implement this plan? How would you attempt to overcome these challenges?
It is evident that not all employees have the equal potential and ability to understand the new requirement and for developing application software from the scratch. In this case, there must be a chance for conflict arising that can be overcome with regular communication among them. Autesserre (2014) also explains that conflict can be resolved by taking equal part during the session and monitoring their progress. In this way, if any employee required extra training or guidance that can be provided either by an expert or by any subordinates. The next obstacle that can be faced is to assess a way that is optimized. Cassidy (2016) explains that selecting an optimized way also takes much time as in the initial stage all the possible ways have to be evaluated. However, this adversity can be overcome through expert advice on the selection of most effective ways.
Evaluation of the Policy Announced by Max DePree
Task-2
Q1. For each of the situations, were the impediments to change similar or different?
In both the cases the staffs require training regarding the technology and the business procedures so that they can perform the desired task effectively. However, in the first case, every staffs and medical workers should be provided training regarding the online and digital technology so that they can access the patient’s details whenever they want. Moreover, in the second case, the training is provided by the old employee to the new joiners. Amichai-Hamburger et al. (2015) in this case highlighted the fact that performing a job in a workplace can be easily taught by any managing authorities but an experienced employee can guide the optimized way for attaining the organizational objectives. Moreover, another impediment is to attain the knowledge effectively within the desired time.
Q2. Were the ways of overcoming the impediments similar or different?
In situation A, training regarding the use of digital technology for medical purpose and data retrieving process is give to the medical staffs. Moreover, in the second case, the training of the new employees by retiring ones is provided. However, in the second case, there is a probability of conflict arising among the employees bit in the first case, difficulty in handling the tablets, handhelds and application software. Thus, overcoming the adversities in both the cases is different.
In the first situation, where doctors can face problem for utilizing the medical data retrieving and access application software, it can be resolved b giving them 2 days training and some video excerpts through which the can learn the process of accessing the details by practicing the steps once or twice. Moreover, in the second case, where occurrence of conflict is the major adversity, it can be effectively resolved through four steps- identification the source of the conflict, assessing the situation, suggesting proper solution and implementing the most effective solution. Weidmann (2015) explains that in the first step, the old employee must evaluate the cause of the conflict and ask a series of question to everyone so that they can represent their concerns. The second process signifies the selection of the accurate reason by assessing the past event where conflict occurs (Wallensteen, 2015). The third step comprises of the step for suggesting probable solution for overcoming the conflict. Taken for instance, in this context, the existing employee should communicate with each member so that he can assure that every employee can understand the procedure for performing the organizational works. The last step is to implement the selected solution so that conflict cam be resolved.
Task-1
Q3. How might the nature of the situation confronted dictate the types of change barriers confronted and the ease with which these may be overcome?
In both the case, the change barriers can be overcome if the knowledge regarding the benefits of the undertaken procedure is conveyed to every employee. In the first case, the doctors should know the benefits of the digital technology that they can do the job faster and access the details of the patients hassle free. Autesserre (2014) highlight another benefit that is application software like database management system (DBMS) also allows the doctors to keep patients details without any data redundancy. In addition to that, in the second case, all the employees should value the experience of the old employee. Furthermore, the old employees on highlighting the difference between the effectiveness of the organization’s suggested procedure and optimized procedure will also help the new employee to understand which process in better. In this way, they can overcome the change barrier and internal conflict.
Reference List
Amichai-Hamburger, Y., Hasler, B. S., & Shani-Sherman, T. (2015). Structured and unstructured intergroup contact in the digital age. Computers in Human Behavior, 52, 515-522.
Autesserre, S. (2014). Peaceland: conflict resolution and the everyday politics of international intervention. Cambridge University Press.
Cassidy, A. (2016). A practical guide to information systems strategic planning. CRC press.
Cook, C. N., Inayatullah, S., Burgman, M. A., Sutherland, W. J., & Wintle, B. A. (2014). Strategic foresight: how planning for the unpredictable can improve environmental decision-making. Trends in ecology & evolution, 29(9), 531-541.
Galliers, R. D., & Leidner, D. E. (2014). Strategic information management: challenges and strategies in managing information systems. Routledge.
Hartog, J. (2012). Capabilities, allocation and earnings. Springer Science & Business Media.
O’guinn, T., Allen, C., Semenik, R., & Scheinbaum, A. C. (2014). Advertising and integrated brand promotion. Nelson Education.
Phunchongharn, P., Hossain, E., & Kim, D. I. (2013). Resource allocation for device-to-device communications underlaying LTE-advanced networks. IEEE Wireless Communications, 20(4), 91-100.
Routh, S., & Borghi, V. (2016). The idea of form, informality and aspirations of workers. Workers and the Global Informal Economy: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, 1.
Shin, H. (2016). The Roles of Brand Reputation, Product Information and Discount Rate in Mobile Advertisement. 12, 49-64.
Singh, D. (2013). The brand personality component of brand goodwill: some antecedents and consequences. Brand equity & advertising: Advertising’s role in building strong brands, 83.
Wallensteen, P. (2015). Understanding conflict resolution. Sage.
Weidmann, N. B. (2015). Communication, technology, and political conflict Introduction to the special issue. Journal of Peace Research, 0022343314559081.
Westberg, K., & Pope, N. (2014). Building brand equity with cause-related marketing: A comparison with sponsorship and sales promotion. Journal of Marketing Communications, 20(6), 419-437.
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