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Assignment: Leadership Management Concepts Instructor: Dry. Alan Buffalo Date: October 19, 2013 As my future plan, after graduating from the university of South Florid* master of business administration program, I will go back to Thailand to work for my family business as the third generation factory manager following my father. My family business has been open for more than 40 years. It produces and sells pork snacks. Nowadays, It Is operated by my father and my uncle who control and manage every department In the factory Including 40 employees.
We have loyal customers because f unique and good taste. However, my family business has many weak points In management aspects that need to be improved. These limit expansions and opportunities for my business which are important for surviving in the competitive business world today. Fortunately, this course provides many contents that can help me emphasize management problems of my business and solutions for them. Moreover, It helps me prepare myself for my leadership role in the near future. I would Like to point out how this knowledge Is beneficial to me In details as follows. Understanding the nature of management According to “Pearson Custom Business Resources”, to be a successful leader, it is crucial to understand what management is. We should understand not only its definition but also its nature. Understanding the nature of management is very critical to survive in the rapidly changing business world. It is undeniable that leaders have to face a number of challenges on a regular basis. Therefore, they have to learn how to manage them effectively and strategically.
Managerial challenges that they should prepare for are managing changes, managing resources, managing strategically, and managing entrepreneurial. After studying this book, I have legalized that my business lacks an understanding of these. For example, my family business has been operated by my family members for more than 40 years without any help from outsiders because my father and my uncle are conservative and distrustful. As demand for products increases, they should Invest In higher technologies and hire more engineers to Increase productivity.
However, they refused to do so because they were worried that their secret techniques and ingredients might leak out to their competitors. Based on this decision, they lost many opportunities such as exporting to other counties, supplying to minarets coated all over Thailand, and reducing costs. The factory does not have enough capacity to keep up with customers’ demands. As a result, they lost market shares to their competitors. From this situation, It shows that my father and my uncle fall to manage changes.
They refused both the need for change and the opportunities to create change. As a future leader, I have to prepare myself to confront any changes and turn them to be opportunities not obstacles. Furthermore, I will manage resources, manage strategically, and manage entrepreneurial to make my business become more successful. Operations management As a future factory manager, I will have to manage and control manufacturing of enhancing products’ quality and production’s efficiency which are important for successful management.
My business has faced many protactinium’s and production problems which affect customers’ satisfaction such as low-quality, late delivery, wrong orders, and production shortages. Fortunately, after obtaining my bachelor degree as an industrial engineer, I learnt many useful tools for improving productivity and quality such as quality control charts, MR., simulations, and time motion study. I have applied these tools to improve production efficiency in my factory. For example, I used a simulation program to allocate manpower. Also, I used time motion study to create effective work instructions.
Moreover, as part of a cost reduction team at Automotive parts company where I worked for 3 years, I had chances to see how they are applied in the successful company. For example, visiting a Toyota factory was a valuable experience for me. It showed the efficiency of a Just- in-time system, which is very beneficial for production. From my experience, I fully understand the importance of operations management. I will apply my knowledge and my experience to solve my business’s production problems and products’ quality, to make my business more effective, and to make it more productive.
Strategic management The objective of strategic management is to determine, create, and maintain competitive advantage. It is beneficial for organizations to analyze what are their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in external environments. From this lesson, my business should be explored to set strategies to help it compete in the market. After roughly reviewing every aspect of my business, strengths of my equines are traditional products (it has produced the products for more than 40 years) and loyal customers (they trust and admire favors of the products).
Weaknesses of my business are products are easily copied, a lot of competitors, entry barrier is low, and products can be easily substituted by other kinds of meat if the pork’s price is raised. Also, we have to examine external environments such as society, technology, politics, global industry, and competitor forces which affect company’s profit. For example, because of high demand in the market, my competitors started to give up traditional products and invest technologies to increase productivity. However, they lost many loyal customers.
Should I give up the strength to meet the demand same as them or try to find another way? Solutions of these kinds of problems are what I have to find in my near future. I have to consider and manage strategies to keep my business’s advantages to survive in the ever changing business world. Self leadership management I have to serve my family business 2 years from now. By that time, my age will be 27. It is quite young compared to its average workers who are 35 years old. Even though I have 3 years work experience, I have never taken any leadership roles rigorously. These may be obstacles for me to lead my business to success.
However, according to “Mastering Self Leadership”, these concerns that I mentioned above are made up by myself. I should believe in myself; that I can lead successfully to overcome any obstacles. Also, I should encourage myself that what I choose is what I am and what I become. Thus, it is important to build self leadership skills to change my attitude toward everything I do. Moreover, this book provides many tools opinion, many lessons in this book can help me prepare myself to be an effective deader and accepted by everyone; my father, employees, and other department managers.
For example, as I mentioned above, I have to lead 40 employees who are mostly older than me. 2 years ago, I helped my family business to become “IGMP” (good manufacturing practice standard) certified. Many things in the factory had to be changed such as employee’s dress code, their hand washing habit, factory cleaning methods, and work instructions. Many employees refused to change because they had worked like this for more than 10 years. They had lost their motivation and passion for this Job for a long time. Also, I was 23 years old, no one believed that I could lead them in the right direction and followed my directions.
At that moment, I felt really disappointed that I could not do anything and lost my confidence. I did not believe that I could lead my family business to success. However, today, if I have to face these kinds of situations again, I would use tools and techniques in this book to help me. I will not only exercise self leadership but also, I will encourage my employees to exercise self leadership. Exercising self leadership such as natural reward, self talk, and mental practice can help us change our attitudes on what we are doing.
It creates more confidence and motivation to face any difficult challenges. Ethical Challenge I have been taught about ethics since I was a kid. My father always tells me stories about the failure of our business in the beginning which happened from the first generation. My business was started by my grandfather and his friend. At first, they helped each other to build the business with a strong intention that it will be successful. My business grew slowly but constantly. However, my grandfather’s friend wanted it to grow faster and make a lot more profits than it currently did.
He did whatever he could do to make profits without being concerned about any consequences or effects to others. For example, he forced his employees to work hard but he did not give them reasonable salary. He sold poor quality products without being concerned about customers’ satisfaction. He was only concerned about what profits or benefits he received. Obviously, he fell in the shadow of irresponsibly, power, and privilege. My grandfather realized that this was not how he wanted his business to be. As a result, he decided to separate with him and built a new one by himself.
After separation, his friend’s business was closed. It was difficult for him to survive in the market because he didn’t have an loyal employees who he could rely on, loyal customers who kept coming back for his products, or money to expand or improve his business because he already used up everything. This story was told from one generation to the next generation because my family doesn’t want anyone to make the same mistakes. Regardless of this story, I have realized the bad consequences from people who looked over ethics issues. Also, I don’t want to end up like my grandfather’s friend.
Thus, ethics in working is important to me in every aspect of my business both internal and external. After I read the book “Meeting The Ethical Challenges Of Leadership”, I realized that there is a strong connection between ethics and leadership. I learnt that I have to know myself in order to not fall in any shadows and combat with devil inside which can happen from any situations because shadows and devils are the cause of bad very useful. For example, when I have to make any decisions in the future, to avoid any ethical problems, I have to understand moral behavior which is addressed in the monuments of ethical behavior.
These include moral sensitivity, moral Judgment, moral focus, and moral character. Then, I have to take a systematic approach which there are many methods. Fatherhood, I will have to work with a lot of people such as employees, customers, and management board. Awareness of ethical leadership in groups is beneficial as well. I have to resist corrupting, false consensus, and destructive communication in order to have effective and ethical outcomes. Besides making profit for my business, social responsibilities are important especially in the business world today.
My father and my uncle have never taken this action seriously. However, I have a strong intention to make it happen. Fortunately, one way to do that is suggested by this book. Creating an ethical organizational climate is one thing that I want to apply when I operate the business. It benefits not only my business but also everyone who involves in this business. In my opinion, ethics and leadership are unable to be separate from each other. Leaders determine the actions. Every action has a results. The results can affect others in both good and bad ways. Thus, ethical decisions or actions are really important.
In conclusion, this course is very beneficial for me because as with the many examples that I mentioned above, I can apply or use it in my future career and daily life. I realized what I have to focus on to be a better leader. I have to understand the nature of business and prepare for any challenges and see them as opportunities not obstacles. Operation and strategies management are important too such as increasing productivity and quality to compete in the market. Exploring my own weaknesses and strengths as well as my competitors are crucial to seek cooperative advantages.
As a new leader, preparing myself by exercising self leadership can create motivation and confidence to overcome any tough situations. Moreover, advising self leadership to followers could help them in the same way and it will affect their work performance in a good way. Finally, making decisions as well as managing,and working ethically are important not only for my business but also everyone that involves with it. I have to know myself and be careful about any decisions that I will make. Thank to this course. I will apply this knowledge to become a successful leader who will lead my family business to the success.