Term Paper on "Business in Order to Assess Effectiveness"

/>2) Talking about ethics in a business context is a very delicate issue as the manners in which these two entities act may often collide. The dilemma becomes even more delicate when considering the healthcare sector. The case of managers being pressured by stakeholders to increase profits is somehow typical in the business environment. Thus, the manager of the radiology firm is ready to act according to Machiavelli's principle stating that objectives excuse the means used for achieving them. Consequently, he is ready to overlook moral principles by contracting a supplier who provides non-qualitative components whose only advantage is their low price. Implicitly, the manager will jeopardize people' health by ignoring medical standards and by exclusively focusing on financial objectives. Moreover, such behavior is reprobate because the radiology firm exploits people's impossibility to go to another hospital as the respective clinic is the only one in their rural area. In conclusion, I would tell my friend to look for other ways of increasing profits if he doesn't want to bare the burden of lost lives. I would also advise him to talk to shareholders and explain the juridical implications of the low-quality technology if these prove to be insensitive to the moral ones.

3) Transaction costs can be described as the costs of "negotiating, monitoring and governing exchanges between people" (road.uww.edu/road/dragow/Building%20Effective%20Organizations/Chapter%203new.ppt). The transaction cost theory aims at reducing costs with regard to internal and external operations, at the same time. This objective can be achieved by resorting to the formal linkage mechanisms that the medium-sized computer manufacturer has chosen. Still, the case tells us that he hasn't managed to cut off costs.

One reason for this failure may be the increased uncertainty that has occurred after the merger or joint venture. Thus, the hypotheses established at the beginning of the partnership have been altered by the changeable environment and this has resulted in higher costs claimed by the partners' initiative to remediate things (road.uww.edu/road/dragow/Building%20Effective%20Organizations/Chapter%203new.ppt).

Secondly, formal linkage mechanisms bring along bureaucratic costs. These may induce higher overall costs especially in the first few months until a coherent strategy is set by the two partners (road.uww.edu/road/dragow/Building%20Effective%20Organizations/Chapter%203new.ppt).

Thirdly, problems may occur because of the lack of coordinated planning. In other words, a partnership is similar to the human body which functions as a whole. Any change or reaction developed by a certain organ impacts on the other organs and physiological processes, altering the initial equilibrium. Thus, a partner cannot act without coordinating his moves according to the other partner. Both of them must fight for the same goal according to a plan consensually drawn out (Peterson, Gallen, Eponou, Wuyts-Fivawo, Wilks, 2002).

Additionally, the lack of communication between merged organizations may lead to disruption. By not changing information, partners will act like isolate entities rather than a cohesive unit. And this will certainly result in higher costs and smaller profits and, eventually, will pose a serious threat to the company's survival (Peterson, Gallen, Eponou, Wuyts-Fivawo, Wilks, 2002).

4) First of all, the structure of an organization encouraging innovative behavior mustn't be rigid. This should be based on team work rather than hierarchical requirements. Consequently, people will appreciate the relaxed atmosphere and will not restrain themselves from expressing their creativeness.

Secondly, informal communication must be allowed and even encouraged because creative people often exchange ideas and opinions over their projects rather than on persons. Therefore, by endorsing a natural, free flow of information, employees may learn from each other and come up with brilliant ideas. In conclusion, within an innovative organization, relationships and not structure are the most important (http://www.creativityatwork.com/articlesContent/Rose-innovation-research2.html).

Thirdly, empowerment plays a major part in stimulating creativity. By permitting employees to make decisions on their own, these feel more motivated and responsible, at the same time, and try to impress their managers and colleagues due to excellent solutions and ideas. In order to ensure empowerment, managers should design a decentralized structure, should establish a performance-based reward system and should also create an alignment among "autonomy, control, and coordination" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organizational_empowerment#Organizational_Structure).

5) as Bassidy and Charan (2002) stated, "Differentiation is the mother's milk for building a performance culture." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organizational_empowerment#Organizational_Structure)This implies rewarding people in correlation with their performance, potential, skills and so forth. Such technique is extremely useful as surveys have emphasized that employees feel frustrated when they are considered equal to other colleagues who haven't obtained the same results (Chella, 2006). Consequently, they blame managers for not offering them a distinct position within the organization and often decide to go to another company which is capable of properly rewarding them. The impact on the organization may turn out to be disastrous especially if the employees wishing to leave are among the best specialists that the company relies on. In conclusion, differentiation is a democratic exercise that shouldn't be banned because of the coordination and motivation problems it implies. Undoubtedly, tailoring incentives according to every person's profile is not an easy job. It is much simpler to establish policies applicable to all employees. Still, the human nature is very complex and if a company wants to be successful, it must submit to its requirements. A way of simplifying the motivation process may consist of inviting employees to fill in questionnaires with regard to their expectations or the incentives that best stimulates them. Afterwards, individuals having the same profile should be grouped and addressed to by means of similar coordination and motivation tools.

6) Obviously, the maintenance of costs at a high level after the company's decision to reduce its activity to core businesses proves that not diversity has been its major problem. At a certain point, the case study mentions that the organization has decided to give up collateral activities as a result of "economic downturn and changing market conditions." Consequently, one may infer that the company hasn't properly analyzed the opportunities and threats occurring on the market. If managers had taken a closer look at environmental changes, they would have succeeded in detecting the real cause. On the other hand, it is possible for managers to have noticed changes without being able to adapt to them because of a rigid organizational structure. Thus, they might have thought to compensate the lack of flexibility by losing the two non-core business.

To conclude with, I'd say that the company doesn't properly interact with its environment. Therefore, I would recommend a higher emphasis on marketing and communication between this and the manufacturing department. Additionally, a more flexible structure could be needed.

7) Nowadays, advanced technology has become a sine-qua-non condition to competitive companies. Regardless of the sector within they operate, high-tech systems have become compulsory. This rationale applies to pharmaceutical companies, too, because these need advanced technology in order to ensure an appropriate collaboration among physicians, researchers, scientists whose findings are extremely important for developing the necessary products. In other words, I would suggest to the pharmaceutical organization that an it infrastructure is vital as it considerably aids to research and development activities and it allows an information flow among specialists which is essential in terms of timely adapting to the market's needs. Even though, at a first glance, the implementation of such systems puts a high pressure on resources, in the long run, the company will gain impressive revenues as a result of meeting the customers' requirements and keeping the pace with its competitors.

8) Moving from a global strategy to a transnational one implies giving up worldwide coverage and choosing several countries in which a company will perform. For such a strategy to be successful, one of the major requirements is the ability to adapt to the cultural… READ MORE