Managing Organization Change

Chapter 13 talks about managing organization change and innovation. I actually worked in a small convenient store that was changed in order to succeed. The store used to be just an average convenient store selling mostly soda, milk, candy, coffee, and other small grocery items. It was located right over the mass. border in NH, along a busy road. The store really didnt get much business becuase it wasnt near anything, it was just on the side of the road as people sped past it to get to the main part of town. They actually went out of business for a little while because they didnt know how to change in order to get more customers. Well about a year later, a family bought the store and completely changed it. Instead of being just an average convenient store they changed it into more of a liquor store and sold tons of beer and hard liquor and not much of the other stuff like soda and milk etc. They thought this would be a good idea because since they dont have as much tax in NH as they do MA, all the people in MA would come right over the border and buy their beer in NH at this store. It was a success, and now if its a nice day out, they are swamped with people all buying thier booze.

What other stores have been changed in order to not go out of business?

In Response to Jack

Is this going to be the worst Christmas ever, or can people look beyond the material objects?

It is pathetic how a lot people base the quality of thier Christmas and the holidays on how much cash they have to buy gifts for people. Or how much gifts they recieve from friends and family. In recent years many people go out and max out all their credit cards in the months of november and december, hoping to get a nice tax return in febuary to pay it all off. It's probably true that many people are going to be much more careful in how much money they spend this year because their budgets can't afford as much as they did in the years past. The economy is very bad, so maybe the malls and stores wont be as packed as they used to be. That is how most of the world views a good Christmas, tons of shopping and packed malls. But that is wrong, thats not the true meaning of Christmas, we are celebrating Jesus' birthday not going into debt. People should be able to just enjoy being with their families, having the day off, and eating good food with the people they love.

Whats more important to you, gifts and chaos or being with your family?

Organization Design

In my life I have had quite a few jobs. I have had jobs with all of the basic forms of organization designs. I worked at market basket for about year, and they have a mostly a fucntional or U form of organization. I think this form of organization is good for very large companies like market basket. But also its much more impersonal, because the main manager of the store barely knows the lowest employees, like the cart boys. I also worked at a small liquor store, which was a family business. This business didnt really have a organization design because of the fact that it was so small. The recent job I have is Cirlce K, which is a small gas station convenient store. The store itself is very small but it is owned by a much larger corporation, Macs Convenience. This corporation has an organization desing similar to the divisional M-form design. They have many small businesses and stores that are all related somehow. With my experience I have found working at the circle k most enjoyable. This is because it is not a small family business, but it is owned by a large corporation. The store itself is aslo small so the manager knows all the employees very well and we all know each other very well.

What type of organization design do you think works best? Does it have to do with what type of company it is?

Response to Kendyll

Do you think athletes should get paid so much? So you think they deserve it?

I think that it is somewhat ridiculous that professional athletes get paid millions of dollars when that money could be used for other things that are more helpful in the world. America could use that money towards many things like to build new schools or build better hospitals. This is how America should use its money but realistically, sports competition is apparently more important. The reason why Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter, and other pro athletes get paid so much is because it is almost like an auction for them. When they are free agents they can sign with any team they want to. They will most of the time go with whatever team is offering to pay them the most. For example, when the Yankees wanted A. Rod back in 2004, they offered him a contract of $25 million, which was better than what the Rangers were paying him, so he signed with New York. Every team wants to be the best, and to be the best you have the best players. If another team was wanted him bad enough they could of probably got him if they offered him more than what the Yankees offered him. So I think that it is somewhat a waste of money but it's all about the pay for the players and all about being the best for the teams.

Should there be a limit to how much professional athletes are paid each year??

Response to Tom

I think that is completely wrong for a company to be giving those kinds of bonuses to a single employee. Even if it is a manager, I don’t think they should be getting that big of a bonus, especially a company that had to lay off 100 workers that past year. That is just not fair that 100 workers lost their jobs because the company wasn’t able to pay them and then six months later give 1 million dollars to one of the managers. The manager is probably making good cash anyways. It would be understandable if one of the line workers came up with a design idea on their own and presented it to the company and got a huge raise for it, because that’s not their job. The manager who gets paid well to come up with new designs, should not get a million dollar because she came up with a new design that worked very well. It is similar to a doctor that prescribes a patient with a medicine which eventually cures the patient. The doctor is just doing his job the right way, and does not get a million dollar bonus every time a patient recovers from an illness.
What companies have also done things similar to this?

Response to Jack Guerino

I agree with Jack's point of view on saving receipts. It is almost completely pointless to save the paper receipt when almost all of our transactions are electronic. I understand that people would want to save their receipts in case they had to return whatever they purchased for a refund. But for the managing money part, it is just easier to go to the bank and get a bank statement for all of your purchases that month. So for items that are most likely not going to be returned for a refund, like groceries or going out to eat, then receipts are useless and a waste of effort, energy, and paper.

In what ways can people manage their money better, without the use of receipts?

Response to Kathy Cross

Is it fair that women get less pay than men for the same work?

I dont feel it is fair that women get less pay for the same work that men do. Also its not fair that minorities get less pay than white people. The glass ceiling, is exists in companies is referred to when minorities or women aren't able to get to top management positions. This is not very good when it comes to the competitiveness of the business. Having a women in a high position in the company can be very helpful. She might be able to come up with different ideas, or market a certain product better than a man would be able. Having a more diverse work place can also bring better problem solving solutions because there is a bigger information pool.

In what other ways is more minorities and women in the workplace a benefit?