Top Workplace Safety news in September: New safety recommendations for temporary workers; OSHA updates reporting rules for severe injuries; 40% of 2013 workplace injuries involved transportation; Top OSHA fines in August and more.
Top Workplace Safety news in September: New safety recommendations for temporary workers; OSHA updates reporting rules for severe injuries; 40% of 2013 workplace injuries involved transportation; Top OSHA fines in August and more.
Enhancement in NDT inspection for operational effectiveness, efficiency and e...Innerspec Technologies
We intend to show that any change shall be linked, not only to improvement, but also to immediate cost reduction so that all management structure can conceive quick implementation as
part of its department strategy & enhancement in their budget cost.
For that, concepts such as effectiveness, efficiency and excellence must be approached. We will give clear saving cost ways which will follow the terminology.
In Financial terms and without a deep analysis, we can conrm cost savings above 30% from current prices are achieved.
How operational innovation can transform your company.Bibek Prajapati
To meet these challenges, the integration of innovation management with operations strategy is fundamental.Definition of innovation: The process of translating an idea or invention into a good or service that creates value or for which customers will pay.
Introduction
The Payoffs
Organizational Barriers
Making It Work
Getting Implementation Right
Is It Sustainable
A survey of IT experts revealed 43 percent of their organisations had recently killed an IT project. The study, conducted by ISACA, an independent IT governance group, highlighted the top 5 reasons these organisations named for terminating projects prior to completion.
Does Your Company Have an Innovation Strategy? What every Board Member should know.
In light of the changing competitive landscapes, the role of the Board in directing strategy and ensuring long term value growth and marketplace relevance has never been more important.
JWI 556 Lead Change by Putting People FirstAssignment 1, TempTatianaMajor22
JWI 556: Lead Change by Putting People First
Assignment 1, Template #2
Applying Kotter’s Model to Individual Change
While Kotter’s change model is a framework designed to support large-scale change initiatives in organizations, it is built around understanding and managing the very human forces that undermine successfully implementing and sustain change. Use the template below to collect and organize your thoughts on how these principles might apply to individual/personal change initiatives.
Kotter’s 8 Errors
Parallel in Individual Change
1. Allowing Too Much Complacency
2. Failing to Create a Sufficiently Powerful Guiding Coalition
3. Underestimating the Power of Vision
4. Undercommunicating the Vision by a Factor of 10 (or 100 or Even 1000)
5. Permitting Obstacles to Block the New Vision
6. Failing to Create Short-Term Wins
7. Declaring Victory Too Soon
8. Neglecting to Anchor Changes Firmly in the Corporate Culture
5
Defining and Categorizing Various Forms of Risks
Student's Name
Professor's Name
Course Name and Code
Date
Defining and Categorizing Various Forms of Risks
LTD Acceptance has been operating successfully without a risk mitigation plan in place. Although a major crisis has not arisen out of this omission, it might be looming, especially given that the company serves its clients via proxies. This danger underlines the significance of having a risk mitigating framework in place that will aid in overcoming any threats that crop up.
Importance of Risk Identification
Highlighting the apparent risks that may encounter the organization is a significant process. When operational risks are not identified at their formative stage, there is a chance that normal functioning will be hampered. Also, the workforce may be subject to encountering risks. If affected, execution of their mandated duties is curtailed and thus operations will also stall. Failure to identify risks also means that the business cannot accurately define its objectives. Doing so without a risk identification framework would be a recipe for failure as risks can completely damage the company’s operations.
Market Risks
There are several market risks that LTD Acceptance may face and therefore the need of having an identification framework in place. For example, the interest rates at which the company prices its premiums can be affected by a shift in the monetary policy (Leybag, 2018). Also, there is the foreign exchange risks that are likely to impact the company as it deals in automobiles that are subject to importation. The other market risk is commodity price. For example, the price of commodities such as fuel may rise and stay high for a prolonged period (Leybag, 2018). This will impact the automobile owners who may be unwilling or incapable of paying insurance premium rates that they deem high.
Business Risks
The company is also not immune to business risks and faces a couple of them in day to day operations. Economic ...
Running head WC PROGRESSIVE PRODUCTS STAY VS GO .docxrtodd599
Running head: WC PROGRESSIVE PRODUCTS STAY VS GO 1
WC PROGRESSIVE PRODUCTS STAY VS GO 9
WC Progressive Products Stay vs. Go
Cheryl Harris
Walsh College
MGT 457
Business development is based on diverse factors, which create a strong commitment where it is possible to understand essential elements, which can help in improving organizational development. The reason why companies engage in business is to make profits. If an organization is unable to generate revenues, it means that there is need to evaluate company performance and its operations in coming up with a better decision that can be positively engaged in improving company development (Oshri et al., 2015). WC Progressive Products have been highly involved in the industry and has been able to remain competitive across different harsh economic times. The need to improve the company operations should be considered as a priority where there is a strong focus on the underlying concepts, which define a highly successful business context. Comment by Dr. B.: This is NOT correct reference citation. You MUST first name ALL the authors, the first time you use the reference source….THEN you may use et al.,
The available options that the company is considering are essential in developing a strong emphasis on fundamental changes based on the company development. Outsourcing is a key global business strategy where a company decides to subcontract part of the company value chain to other companies who specialize in the same activity. The hired company, in this case, has an agreement with the primary company for delivery of specified services or materials to help in improving the company performance as well as the distribution of specialized quality products to its customers (Tate et al., 2014). Comment by Dr. B. [2]: See comment above. Also, ending a paragraph on a reference citation is a “cover your ____” activity. What you are implying, by doing so is that you paraphrased all the information in the entire paragraph --- highly unlikely. In the future cite your sources correctly, and do not use this format again.
Industrialized economies tend to have a higher cost of production that makes it very difficult for companies to achieve their set objectives while limiting its production line to the rules and regulations within the country. Business organizations always put into consideration necessary measures where they focus on ensuring that they can maximize on profit margins. It is essential to understand the risks and benefits involved in the company embracing outsourcing and remaining.
Reasons for going
Shifting the company operations to Valhalla seems a logical decision, which will provide a strong focus on the company development especially considering the incentives that the prime minister has been put in place. A key reason for going is that there are no restrictio.
Learning from MistakesAnalyzing the external environment is a cr.docxsmile790243
Learning from Mistakes
Analyzing the external environment is a critical step in recognizing and understanding the opportunities and threats that organizations face. And here is where some companies fail to do a good job.
Consider the example of Salemi Industries and the launch of its product, Cell Zone, in 2005. Although it tried to carefully analyze its potential market, it misread the market’s demand for the product and paid a steep price for its mistake.1 Mobile phone usage was sharply increasing, and its founder observed that patrons in places such as restaurants would be annoyed by the chatter of a nearby guest having a private (but loud!) conversation. Salemi Industries interpreted this observation as an opportunity to create the Cell Zone: a “commercial sound resistant cell phone booth that provides a convenient and disturbance-free environment to place and receive phone calls … with a design feature to promote product or service on its curvilinear outer shell,” according to the firm’s website.
Salemi Industries’ key error was that it failed to take into consideration an emerging technology—the increasing popularity of text messaging and other
35
nonvoice communication technology applications and how that would affect the sales of their product. For example, the Pew Internet & American Life Project estimated that the number of text messages that were sent each day would soar from 500,000 in 2001 to 4 billion in 2009. In addition to this technology shift, the target locations (restaurants) were not interested in or willing to give up productive square footage for patrons to hold private conversations. Not surprisingly, the firm has sold only 300 units (100 of them in college libraries), and Salemi Industries has lost over $650,000 to date.
Discussion Questions
1. What is the biggest stumbling block for Cell Zone?
2. Are there other market segments where Cell Zone might work?
Successful managers must recognize opportunities and threats in their firm’s external environment. They must be aware of what’s going on outside their company. If they focus exclusively on the efficiency of internal operations, the firm may degenerate into the world’s most efficient producer of buggy whips, typewriters, or carbon paper. But if they miscalculate the market, opportunities will be lost—hardly an enviable position for their firm. As we saw from the Cell Zone example, misreading the market can lead to negative consequences.
In Competing for the Future, Gary Hamel and C. K. Prahalad suggest that “every manager carries around in his or her head a set of biases, assumptions, and presuppositions about the structure of the relevant ‘industry,’ about how one makes money in the industry, about who the competition is and isn’t, about who the customers are and aren’t, and so on.”2 Environmental analysis requires you to continually question such assumptions. Peter
36
Drucker labeled these interrelated sets of assumptions the “theory of the business.”3 The sudd ...
Is your strategy evaluation biased The balanced scorecard may be .docxvrickens
Is your strategy evaluation biased? The balanced scorecard may be the cause--and the cure
Scott A. Emett and William B. Tayler
Strategic Finance. 95.5 (Nov. 2013): p27+.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2013 Institute of Management Accountants
http://www.imanet.org
Listen
Full Text:
Managing organizations means managing people, and people have powerful motivations that shape their beliefs and judgments. These motivations can lead to disastrous business outcomes when they bias crucial decisions, such as selecting and evaluating strategy.
Ford Motor Company is a prime example. In 2008, in the midst of declining profitability, new CEO Alan Mulally asked all division managers at Ford to evaluate the results of their own division's operations. They were supposed to color-code operational reports according to their division's performance: Green indicated favorable results, yellow indicated caution, and red indicated problems. At his first few meetings with his division managers, Mulally noticed that they consistently colored their reports green despite successive years of multibilliondollar losses. Finally, with some encouragement, a brave manager warned him about potential problems with a new product the company was set to introduce. Mulally recalled: "The whole place was deathly silent. Then I clapped and said, 'I really appreciate that clear visibility.' And the next week the entire set of charts were all rainbows." (See Alex Taylor III, "Fixing Up Ford," CNN Money, May 12, 2009.)
A cynic reading this vignette would say these managers were simply hiding bad results to save their jobs. This is possible, but it's also possible, and even likely, that at least some of Ford's division managers fell prey to what psychologists call motivated reasoning, a bias in which people unconsciously evaluate evidence in ways consistent with their own preferences. This type of bias can hinder a company's ability to learn from mistakes and to build successful strategies.
Like Ford's Alan Mulally, other executives must find ways to mitigate this bias to improve decision making. For Mulally, the solution was to change the motivation of his managers. He praised honest reporting of bad results, demonstrating to all that he valued transparency. In return, the managers responded positively to this approach and gave Mulally the insights he needed to turn the business around.
A 2009 study, sponsored by IMA (Institute of Management Accountants) and reported in the May 2010 issue of The Accounting Review, investigates the motivated reasoning managers succumb to when evaluating strategy, as well as how to overcome this bias by employing a popular management accounting tool, the balanced scorecard. (See William B. Tayler, "The Balanced Scorecard as a Strategy-Evaluation Tool: The Effects of Implementation Involvement and a Causal-Chain Focus.") Here, we'll first describe the ideas underpinning that study. Then we'll discuss the implications of the research for managers seeking to improve ...
Enhancement in NDT inspection for operational effectiveness, efficiency and e...Innerspec Technologies
We intend to show that any change shall be linked, not only to improvement, but also to immediate cost reduction so that all management structure can conceive quick implementation as
part of its department strategy & enhancement in their budget cost.
For that, concepts such as effectiveness, efficiency and excellence must be approached. We will give clear saving cost ways which will follow the terminology.
In Financial terms and without a deep analysis, we can conrm cost savings above 30% from current prices are achieved.
How operational innovation can transform your company.Bibek Prajapati
To meet these challenges, the integration of innovation management with operations strategy is fundamental.Definition of innovation: The process of translating an idea or invention into a good or service that creates value or for which customers will pay.
Introduction
The Payoffs
Organizational Barriers
Making It Work
Getting Implementation Right
Is It Sustainable
A survey of IT experts revealed 43 percent of their organisations had recently killed an IT project. The study, conducted by ISACA, an independent IT governance group, highlighted the top 5 reasons these organisations named for terminating projects prior to completion.
Does Your Company Have an Innovation Strategy? What every Board Member should know.
In light of the changing competitive landscapes, the role of the Board in directing strategy and ensuring long term value growth and marketplace relevance has never been more important.
JWI 556 Lead Change by Putting People FirstAssignment 1, TempTatianaMajor22
JWI 556: Lead Change by Putting People First
Assignment 1, Template #2
Applying Kotter’s Model to Individual Change
While Kotter’s change model is a framework designed to support large-scale change initiatives in organizations, it is built around understanding and managing the very human forces that undermine successfully implementing and sustain change. Use the template below to collect and organize your thoughts on how these principles might apply to individual/personal change initiatives.
Kotter’s 8 Errors
Parallel in Individual Change
1. Allowing Too Much Complacency
2. Failing to Create a Sufficiently Powerful Guiding Coalition
3. Underestimating the Power of Vision
4. Undercommunicating the Vision by a Factor of 10 (or 100 or Even 1000)
5. Permitting Obstacles to Block the New Vision
6. Failing to Create Short-Term Wins
7. Declaring Victory Too Soon
8. Neglecting to Anchor Changes Firmly in the Corporate Culture
5
Defining and Categorizing Various Forms of Risks
Student's Name
Professor's Name
Course Name and Code
Date
Defining and Categorizing Various Forms of Risks
LTD Acceptance has been operating successfully without a risk mitigation plan in place. Although a major crisis has not arisen out of this omission, it might be looming, especially given that the company serves its clients via proxies. This danger underlines the significance of having a risk mitigating framework in place that will aid in overcoming any threats that crop up.
Importance of Risk Identification
Highlighting the apparent risks that may encounter the organization is a significant process. When operational risks are not identified at their formative stage, there is a chance that normal functioning will be hampered. Also, the workforce may be subject to encountering risks. If affected, execution of their mandated duties is curtailed and thus operations will also stall. Failure to identify risks also means that the business cannot accurately define its objectives. Doing so without a risk identification framework would be a recipe for failure as risks can completely damage the company’s operations.
Market Risks
There are several market risks that LTD Acceptance may face and therefore the need of having an identification framework in place. For example, the interest rates at which the company prices its premiums can be affected by a shift in the monetary policy (Leybag, 2018). Also, there is the foreign exchange risks that are likely to impact the company as it deals in automobiles that are subject to importation. The other market risk is commodity price. For example, the price of commodities such as fuel may rise and stay high for a prolonged period (Leybag, 2018). This will impact the automobile owners who may be unwilling or incapable of paying insurance premium rates that they deem high.
Business Risks
The company is also not immune to business risks and faces a couple of them in day to day operations. Economic ...
Running head WC PROGRESSIVE PRODUCTS STAY VS GO .docxrtodd599
Running head: WC PROGRESSIVE PRODUCTS STAY VS GO 1
WC PROGRESSIVE PRODUCTS STAY VS GO 9
WC Progressive Products Stay vs. Go
Cheryl Harris
Walsh College
MGT 457
Business development is based on diverse factors, which create a strong commitment where it is possible to understand essential elements, which can help in improving organizational development. The reason why companies engage in business is to make profits. If an organization is unable to generate revenues, it means that there is need to evaluate company performance and its operations in coming up with a better decision that can be positively engaged in improving company development (Oshri et al., 2015). WC Progressive Products have been highly involved in the industry and has been able to remain competitive across different harsh economic times. The need to improve the company operations should be considered as a priority where there is a strong focus on the underlying concepts, which define a highly successful business context. Comment by Dr. B.: This is NOT correct reference citation. You MUST first name ALL the authors, the first time you use the reference source….THEN you may use et al.,
The available options that the company is considering are essential in developing a strong emphasis on fundamental changes based on the company development. Outsourcing is a key global business strategy where a company decides to subcontract part of the company value chain to other companies who specialize in the same activity. The hired company, in this case, has an agreement with the primary company for delivery of specified services or materials to help in improving the company performance as well as the distribution of specialized quality products to its customers (Tate et al., 2014). Comment by Dr. B. [2]: See comment above. Also, ending a paragraph on a reference citation is a “cover your ____” activity. What you are implying, by doing so is that you paraphrased all the information in the entire paragraph --- highly unlikely. In the future cite your sources correctly, and do not use this format again.
Industrialized economies tend to have a higher cost of production that makes it very difficult for companies to achieve their set objectives while limiting its production line to the rules and regulations within the country. Business organizations always put into consideration necessary measures where they focus on ensuring that they can maximize on profit margins. It is essential to understand the risks and benefits involved in the company embracing outsourcing and remaining.
Reasons for going
Shifting the company operations to Valhalla seems a logical decision, which will provide a strong focus on the company development especially considering the incentives that the prime minister has been put in place. A key reason for going is that there are no restrictio.
Learning from MistakesAnalyzing the external environment is a cr.docxsmile790243
Learning from Mistakes
Analyzing the external environment is a critical step in recognizing and understanding the opportunities and threats that organizations face. And here is where some companies fail to do a good job.
Consider the example of Salemi Industries and the launch of its product, Cell Zone, in 2005. Although it tried to carefully analyze its potential market, it misread the market’s demand for the product and paid a steep price for its mistake.1 Mobile phone usage was sharply increasing, and its founder observed that patrons in places such as restaurants would be annoyed by the chatter of a nearby guest having a private (but loud!) conversation. Salemi Industries interpreted this observation as an opportunity to create the Cell Zone: a “commercial sound resistant cell phone booth that provides a convenient and disturbance-free environment to place and receive phone calls … with a design feature to promote product or service on its curvilinear outer shell,” according to the firm’s website.
Salemi Industries’ key error was that it failed to take into consideration an emerging technology—the increasing popularity of text messaging and other
35
nonvoice communication technology applications and how that would affect the sales of their product. For example, the Pew Internet & American Life Project estimated that the number of text messages that were sent each day would soar from 500,000 in 2001 to 4 billion in 2009. In addition to this technology shift, the target locations (restaurants) were not interested in or willing to give up productive square footage for patrons to hold private conversations. Not surprisingly, the firm has sold only 300 units (100 of them in college libraries), and Salemi Industries has lost over $650,000 to date.
Discussion Questions
1. What is the biggest stumbling block for Cell Zone?
2. Are there other market segments where Cell Zone might work?
Successful managers must recognize opportunities and threats in their firm’s external environment. They must be aware of what’s going on outside their company. If they focus exclusively on the efficiency of internal operations, the firm may degenerate into the world’s most efficient producer of buggy whips, typewriters, or carbon paper. But if they miscalculate the market, opportunities will be lost—hardly an enviable position for their firm. As we saw from the Cell Zone example, misreading the market can lead to negative consequences.
In Competing for the Future, Gary Hamel and C. K. Prahalad suggest that “every manager carries around in his or her head a set of biases, assumptions, and presuppositions about the structure of the relevant ‘industry,’ about how one makes money in the industry, about who the competition is and isn’t, about who the customers are and aren’t, and so on.”2 Environmental analysis requires you to continually question such assumptions. Peter
36
Drucker labeled these interrelated sets of assumptions the “theory of the business.”3 The sudd ...
Is your strategy evaluation biased The balanced scorecard may be .docxvrickens
Is your strategy evaluation biased? The balanced scorecard may be the cause--and the cure
Scott A. Emett and William B. Tayler
Strategic Finance. 95.5 (Nov. 2013): p27+.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2013 Institute of Management Accountants
http://www.imanet.org
Listen
Full Text:
Managing organizations means managing people, and people have powerful motivations that shape their beliefs and judgments. These motivations can lead to disastrous business outcomes when they bias crucial decisions, such as selecting and evaluating strategy.
Ford Motor Company is a prime example. In 2008, in the midst of declining profitability, new CEO Alan Mulally asked all division managers at Ford to evaluate the results of their own division's operations. They were supposed to color-code operational reports according to their division's performance: Green indicated favorable results, yellow indicated caution, and red indicated problems. At his first few meetings with his division managers, Mulally noticed that they consistently colored their reports green despite successive years of multibilliondollar losses. Finally, with some encouragement, a brave manager warned him about potential problems with a new product the company was set to introduce. Mulally recalled: "The whole place was deathly silent. Then I clapped and said, 'I really appreciate that clear visibility.' And the next week the entire set of charts were all rainbows." (See Alex Taylor III, "Fixing Up Ford," CNN Money, May 12, 2009.)
A cynic reading this vignette would say these managers were simply hiding bad results to save their jobs. This is possible, but it's also possible, and even likely, that at least some of Ford's division managers fell prey to what psychologists call motivated reasoning, a bias in which people unconsciously evaluate evidence in ways consistent with their own preferences. This type of bias can hinder a company's ability to learn from mistakes and to build successful strategies.
Like Ford's Alan Mulally, other executives must find ways to mitigate this bias to improve decision making. For Mulally, the solution was to change the motivation of his managers. He praised honest reporting of bad results, demonstrating to all that he valued transparency. In return, the managers responded positively to this approach and gave Mulally the insights he needed to turn the business around.
A 2009 study, sponsored by IMA (Institute of Management Accountants) and reported in the May 2010 issue of The Accounting Review, investigates the motivated reasoning managers succumb to when evaluating strategy, as well as how to overcome this bias by employing a popular management accounting tool, the balanced scorecard. (See William B. Tayler, "The Balanced Scorecard as a Strategy-Evaluation Tool: The Effects of Implementation Involvement and a Causal-Chain Focus.") Here, we'll first describe the ideas underpinning that study. Then we'll discuss the implications of the research for managers seeking to improve ...
In a May 9, 2024 paper, Juri Opitz from the University of Zurich, along with Shira Wein and Nathan Schneider form Georgetown University, discussed the importance of linguistic expertise in natural language processing (NLP) in an era dominated by large language models (LLMs).
The authors explained that while machine translation (MT) previously relied heavily on linguists, the landscape has shifted. “Linguistics is no longer front and center in the way we build NLP systems,” they said. With the emergence of LLMs, which can generate fluent text without the need for specialized modules to handle grammar or semantic coherence, the need for linguistic expertise in NLP is being questioned.
01062024_First India Newspaper Jaipur.pdfFIRST INDIA
Find Latest India News and Breaking News these days from India on Politics, Business, Entertainment, Technology, Sports, Lifestyle and Coronavirus News in India and the world over that you can't miss. For real time update Visit our social media handle. Read First India NewsPaper in your morning replace. Visit First India.
CLICK:- https://firstindia.co.in/
#First_India_NewsPaper
‘वोटर्स विल मस्ट प्रीवेल’ (मतदाताओं को जीतना होगा) अभियान द्वारा जारी हेल्पलाइन नंबर, 4 जून को सुबह 7 बजे से दोपहर 12 बजे तक मतगणना प्रक्रिया में कहीं भी किसी भी तरह के उल्लंघन की रिपोर्ट करने के लिए खुला रहेगा।
हम आग्रह करते हैं कि जो भी सत्ता में आए, वह संविधान का पालन करे, उसकी रक्षा करे और उसे बनाए रखे।" प्रस्ताव में कुल तीन प्रमुख हस्तक्षेप और उनके तंत्र भी प्रस्तुत किए गए। पहला हस्तक्षेप स्वतंत्र मीडिया को प्रोत्साहित करके, वास्तविकता पर आधारित काउंटर नैरेटिव का निर्माण करके और सत्तारूढ़ सरकार द्वारा नियोजित मनोवैज्ञानिक हेरफेर की रणनीति का मुकाबला करके लोगों द्वारा निर्धारित कथा को बनाए रखना और उस पर कार्यकरना था।
role of women and girls in various terror groupssadiakorobi2
Women have three distinct types of involvement: direct involvement in terrorist acts; enabling of others to commit such acts; and facilitating the disengagement of others from violent or extremist groups.
31052024_First India Newspaper Jaipur.pdfFIRST INDIA
Find Latest India News and Breaking News these days from India on Politics, Business, Entertainment, Technology, Sports, Lifestyle and Coronavirus News in India and the world over that you can't miss. For real time update Visit our social media handle. Read First India NewsPaper in your morning replace. Visit First India.
CLICK:- https://firstindia.co.in/
#First_India_NewsPaper
03062024_First India Newspaper Jaipur.pdfFIRST INDIA
Find Latest India News and Breaking News these days from India on Politics, Business, Entertainment, Technology, Sports, Lifestyle and Coronavirus News in India and the world over that you can't miss. For real time update Visit our social media handle. Read First India NewsPaper in your morning replace. Visit First India.
CLICK:- https://firstindia.co.in/
#First_India_NewsPaper
1. Top 5 Business Blunders of 2010
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corporate bankruptcies or bailouts, the year still saw its fair share of business failures, many due to
self-inflicted wounds. My Top 5 Business Blunders includes businesses that, through every fault of
their own, have failed to remember and implement core business principles.
5. United States Postal Service: A Failure of Management -It might seem unfair to start the list with
a government bureaucracy. However, the USPS is that rare government bureaucracy that performs
a valuable business service (as opposed to an administrative service) for everyone and doesn't
receive any tax revenue to operate. In other words, the USPS is supposed to function like a business.
Facing both technological and competitive obstacles, the USPS lost $8.5 billion in 2010. Part of the
problem is that the USPS has 535 CEOs, otherwise known as Congress, who stymie any serious
structural reform. But the USPS is also burdened with outdated procedures, infrastructure and
staffing that fail to focus on real customer needs.
4. Egg Recall: A Supply-Chain Breakdown -- Following the largest egg recall in history, many
consumers were left wondering how and where the breakdown occurred. Somewhere from Point A
to Point B the eggs allegedly became infected by contaminated feed from a supplier, unnoticed by
2. the company's quality processes.
Supply chain failures occur for many reasons: cost, complacency, relying on past practices, and
focusing on the wrong metrics. Instead of treating the supply chain as an integrated process in their
overall production line, businesses fall back on faulty performance metrics that don't lead to a better
or more consistent product.
3. Toyota Recall: A Failure of Design -- The Toyota recall shares a major characteristic with the egg
recall: supply-chain breakdown. Subsequent investigations, however, revealed that a major
contributing cause were design issues that led to consumer error. The fault still rests with Toyota,
who failed recognize the design issue, even when faced with consumer complaints.
The lesson for businesses is that keeping the lines of communication open between the consumer
and management is almost as important as ensuring you're building a safe product. If a product is
only safe under certain specific conditions, but becomes dangerous under others, it's back to the
drawing board.
2. Health Care Reform: A Failure to Define Goals and Test - No, it's not a business. But the law's
unfavorable approval ratings stem in part from its authors' inability to articulate a clear purpose,
thus holding an important message for business. Like any major company initiative, unless you're
clear on your goal, those tasked with developing and implementing the reform will fail to deliver.
That's precisely what happened with "Obamacare."
This is good lesson for any CEO. The administration was never able to succinctly explain the reason
behind the massive reform. Was it to reduce healthcare costs? Was it to insure more people? Was it
to improve the quality of care? The administration made the case on all three fronts, leading to mass
confusion with the public -- the customers. And the massive initiative is being implemented without
any beta testing on a limited scale.?
Relying on pie in the sky promises to dramatically change a functioning system, even one that
admittedly needs improvement, without any ramp-up or implementation testing on a small scale is a
recipe for disaster. If you set politics aside, and look at the health care reform from the perspective
of a business, it's a great example of how not to implement transformational change.
1. BP Oil Spill: A Failure of Leadership and Metrics: The Deep Horizon oil rig explosion is clearly the
biggest business blunder of 2010. At the most basic level, BP suffered from a failure to balance
competing objectives. Tony Hayward began as BP's CEO in May 2007 with a promise to focus "like a
laser" on safety concerns, as well as operating performance. The metaphor proved to be all too apt:
A laser can focus on only one thing at a time. It appears that BP failed to focus on the right target.
What's likely is that BP's management believed they were meeting all safety performance targets, or
at least gaining on them, because they were spending millions of dollars to improve safety. By the
metrics they had created, the company might well have been making progress. The metrics they
3. chose were the problem. The point for all businesses is that making safety a priority and throwing
resources at it without appropriate metrics may lead to very bad outcomes.
Lisa W. Hershman is the CEO of Hammer and Co., a Boston-based business education and research
firm, and co-author with Michael Hammer of the newly released book, "Faster, Cheaper, Better: The
9 Levers for Transforming How Work Gets Done."
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/12/30/business-blunders/