- Staples Case
Many organizations with many units have increasingly moved from the traditional way of doing business and adopted rather non-traditional ways. This is due to the emerging issues which continue to change with the global trends in business. For instance, ‘Longs Drugs Company’ in the field of pharmaceuticals used to allow its managers to make products in accordance with the market served. However, this company has proved to be among the global pacesetters in business by having a more centralized decision making rather than decentralized. This allows it to adapt to changing trends. The drivers of this key trend are, one, to increase profits by widening the market of the organization. Profit making is the key motivation of any company. Therefore, an enterprise is always looking for new ways to increase its profit share; smart customization comes in handy to achieve this goal. Staples management has continued to adapt to the global needs of the pharmaceutical market. For example, in 2006, as ‘Ronald L. Sargent’, the Chairman of Staples reviled that the company’s North American shops generated over 80 percent of profits due to the adoption of a more centralized system of authority (Ann 2008).
Another driver of this trend by enterprises is improvement of organizational performance. When the industry is moving forward, no organization wants to be left lagging behind. Thus, this drives them to be continuously on the lookout for emerging trends and practices associated with a changing global way of doing business. The advantages of having a centralized decision making authority include reduction of conflicts, more control and accountability in the organization, fast execution of the company’s objectives and a more focused vision. A decentralized system of management lacks the above pros. The disadvantages are time wasting and less profits due to lack of a solid organizational vision. Division-wide performance management and the KAT as addressed by Winston are the key areas of focus.
- Campbell & Bailyn case
Bailyn and Campbell’s case provide a more sober approach in the world of business. Winston and the top management are changing the job description of sales people in the organization. This is an attempt of increase profits and makes the sales people to feel more at ease with themselves as owners of the organization. The job description of the sales people should not be significantly rewritten because the skills needed are already in use unknowingly. The skills required are more personal than trained. The reason for this is because training only gives skills to sales people so that they can improve the profitability of the company. The emerging issues and trends in the global market that pushed Bailyn and Campbell to introduce those practices require an individual sales person with character traits like ambitious, confident and honesty. These traits cannot be gotten by additional training of the sales person (Ann 2008).
- The war on drug
Terry C. Blum in his article “Adoption of workplace substance abuse prevention programs: strategic choice and institutional perspective” discusses a number of points regarding the adoption of testing and drug treatment. ‘The war on drugs’ requires sober thinking on the vice and the adaptation of programs that will improve the wellbeing of substance abusers. The main points that Mr. Blum discusses in his article are; one, substance abuse among employees is a big problem that needs to be urgently addressees in organizations. The affected organizations therefore need to have programs to detect and solve these issues before they cause major havoc for them. Two, the author speaks of punctuated equilibrium which is basically a balancing act by management to note environmental changes and the stimulating factors and act on them. A drug-free workplace is a perspective of neo institutional adoption of innovations to solve for the vice. The theory of perspective choice gives rise to the hypothesis that employees get involved in substance abuse to increase their productivity and efficiency. The author delves into this briefly. He says that management should adopt internally derived solutions. As a manager, one can learn a number of lessons from Mr. Blum’s article. First, managers should put in place drug testing programs so that they do not hire an employee that is already affected by substance abuse. Second, mangers must understand to employees who get involved in substance abuse while at work. This is because as the author states, most employees’ involvement is as a result of their desire to be more effective and productive at work. Therefore, though it is wrong, managers must be supportive and even take the affected employees to rehabilitation centers.
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute case
The research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute shows the different costs incurred by organizations. These costs are administrative, cognitive and opportunistic. The administrative costs increased because the cancer center must be maintained. Economic growth is hindered due to these increased costs and lost opportunities due cancer which is brought about mainly by substance abuse. The opportunistic cost associated with this is the fact that cancer leads to loss of business since cancer sick patients cannot work. Administrative costs are multiple since money used to treat cancerous employees can be directed to more profitable ventures. Cognitive costs refer to the psychological effects of cancer on patients who are employees and the workforce. Cancer and the Dana –Farber Institute has shown that the costs associated with the center cans sometimes be more costly psychologically than both administrative and opportunistic. This means that cognitive response is very important when determining the actual costs of the illness with respect to the employees of the organization.
Works Cited
Ann Donnellon. Campbell and Bailyn Boston Office0-Managing the Reorganization.Brief Cases, 2182(135), 3-10. (2008).
Terry C. Blum. Adoption of Workplace Substance Abuse Prevention Programs: Strategic Choice And Institutional Perspectives. Academy of Management Journal,48(6), 1125-1142. (2005).
