The Team Management Activity and Reflection paper

The Team Management Activity and Reflection paper

Week 4 Assignment MGT 330

Introduction

John Maxwell says the “leadership is relationships, nothing more or nothing less.” With that quotation being the foundation or mode of life for which I operate I have built wonderful working relationships. I am working to complete the Bachelor’s degree program at Ashford University as personal, professional development for myself. I will implement the five functions of management: planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controls to work towards the operational goals set by the company.

Planning

Planning establishes a foundation for managers to follow. Companies work diligently to meet operational goals both yearly and quarterly. Promoting a positive team culture is essential towards to development and acquisition of these goals. The future positive state of the company is derived through planning. As a manager, the importance of “drawing on the knowledge, skills, and abilities of employees at all levels of the organization” is of immense proportion and crucial towards the company’s growth (Baack, Reilly, & Minnick, 2014). Using a needs assessment is very much needed to improve the inner workings of the team. There are a number of tools used to assess the needs of the company. Some type of SWOT analysis can be very helpful during this time. Measuring the team’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats is a process that has proven to move good companies to great companies. Amazon’s creation supported it as being a multi-faceted company and not being single streamed in revenues and services. A sure weakness of our organization is the deficit or the lack of physical stores available or created. The most significant success is the affordability and accessibility of the products from our company.

Organizing

“Organizational design is the process by which managers make specific organizing choices that result in the particular kind of organizational structure for the company (Baack, Reily, A Minnick, 2014.)” James Q. Wilson states that, “task structures affect the rates at which an organization will generate and adopt innovations”. Wilson also goes on to hypothesize that “the greater the diversity of the organization, the greater the probability that members will conceive major innovations”. Amazon has an organizational structure that does just this (Rivet, 2017). Amazon continues to be able to have several projects working simultaneously which promotes an innovative atmosphere. We will continue that by creating jobs that are creative and placing individuals into those positons that promote diversity and cutting edge innovation and ideas. This transitions into staffing.

Staffing

In this author’s opinion, employee placement is one of the most important functions of staffing. The staff is what makes the company valuable. Quality people providing quality service to the customer. We have a good reputation of offering quality products however being certain to hire quality personnel is our challenge. I will look to offer the best salaries possible in order to make the jobs competitive in finding quality individuals.

Competitive salaries beget competitive applicants. We need to pay to keep and maintain the best personnel available. Places this author in the mind of companies like Publix and Chick fila, there wages are about average therefore there staffing is above average as well.

We will involve ourselves in recruiting fairs to entice the brightest and most interesting. Hosting private recruiting fairs can be a definite plus for our growth and brand.

Leading

“The terms leading and managing are often used interchangeably; however, there are differences. Harvard Business School professor John Kotter (2001) suggests that one is not better than the other, but rather that the two concepts are actually complementary. He suggested two differences between leading and managing: Managing is about coping with complexity. Leadership is about coping with change.” (Baack, Reily, & Minnick, 2014). Creating leaders is the sure way of improving an organization and guaranteeing its success. We will create leaders. When staff belief that there company cares for their development then the achievement is limitless. Offering leadership training courses, development incentives, and leadership exposure are sure ways to be certain Amazon.com is continuing to move in the right direction.

Controls

Evaluating performance against set performance goals is the good recipe for consistent growth in an organization. To inspect what you expect and the goals are set which should be met is a catch phrase we will use with our managers. A consistent evaluation and feedback period is crucial.

Goals need to be set and achievable. There are S.M.A.R.T. goals that will be created and revisited regularly. S.M.A.R.T. mean specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time sensitive. By creating SMART goals and monitoring them an organization can stay of track and achieve the mission and vision set by the company. If there is no vision then the people perish meaning the company fail if the individuals fail. Strong goals make focused organizations. Focused organizations make strides in the world. The leadership team will get together and write our goals which should be aligned with the mission/vision of the company.

Conclusion

Amazon.com is already a great company and a good leader is one who seeks to make great greater. Through the implementation of these few initiatives, Amazon.com will continue to be a driving force in the world in the present and the future. By implementing the five functions of management: planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controls I will help keep Amazon.com on top in quality service and products.

References

Baack, D., Reilly, M., & Minnick, C. (2014). The five functions of effective management (2nd ed.). Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/

Mejia, L. R., Balkin, D. B., & Cardy, R. L. (2005). Management: People, performance, change (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill Irwin.

Rivet, Daniel J., “Amazon’s Superior Innovation: A Study of Amazon’s corporate structure, CEO, and reasons behind why it has become the most innovative company in today’s market.” (2017). Honors Theses and Capstones. 343.

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