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Insights, application, wisdom and inspiration from peer-to-peer learning in my Business and Communications Classes, Lectures, Seminars and Consulting Practice.
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January
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Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant
We did Change Management using the OCI (Organizational Culture Inventory)
20 comments:
In listening to each group talk about their survey results, i observed that many of the groups seemed to have preconceived notions about what was wrong with Client A. I believe this comes from their experiences with Client A. The question now is, how do we avoid this with future clients? For example I don't like Wal-mart much but I would not want my experiences to change the quality of work done for them.
Monday’s class our groups presented a preliminary analysis of our first client. My team focused on the finance and capital area of Client A.
Our findings are that the client scores very high on effectively managing their capital and ensuring sound fiscal status from year to year. We were concerned with two areas that we feel could improve:
1) Minimize costs
2) Eliminate waste
This organization is comprised of many varying departments, and although each department strives to stay on budget and maximize return on investment, there seems to be a lack of organization and flow to the routine costs of running the organization. Examples are waste of food, paper, and other products as well as glitches in purchasing system and inventory management.
We see our job as the consulting firm not to make huge changes to the organization’s already sound fiscal management, but instead to suggest ways of minimizing routine costs and eliminating waste of resources.
I agree with the point b and k brought up. I had the feeling that much of what was said about Client A in our previous class was based upon assumptions that may or may not be accurate. I think it would be more useful to gather actual data to reach a diagnosis; this gives our prescriptions a higher likelihood of being useful for Client A.
Technology and Client A
As a part of the Technology group I would summarize our findings by saying that it is important that those who have the technology to use it to the fullest and most efficient extent possible. As this use of the technology increases the level at which we work and think will increase and client A will be able to work with more efficiency.
I know this doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with our class but I thought some of you might find it interesting. Just today Kevin Rollins resigned as the CEO of Dell computers and Michael Dell returned to man the company. It is interesting to note that Kevin Rollins is a member of the church and was a former partner at Bain and Co. Anyway here is the link to an article about the change it brings up a lot of questions. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a_Zb6OZWTeVk
Today's class was new information on how we will organize our classes company. I find it interesting that the Organizational Communication Class will be the substructure of our class. When we broke into our groups (sorry I was away from my group so much) but I was also given the opportunity to discuss why we would be benefitted by consulting the AFEC. For a longer description of what could go on please check my blog. josephmiller55s.blogspot.com I will try to get it up in the next day or so.
So we got in our groups to discuss, and it is nice to supposedly be out of the wait stage but frustrating now being in the ask stage because I feel that I am at a loss for what to ask. I don't know what kinds of questions to ask, I don't yet know enough about what I'm doing to ask any intelligent questions, or unintelligent questions for that matter. I suppose I just need to do some research for myself, but even that presents problems since I don't know what to research. I find class very interesting, I suppose I just have to be more patient.
Our groups presented this week, which created a lot of questions for me. Are we ready to consult a client? Are we organized enough to do this well? I feel that in some ways we are lacking a vision or goal for our class.
In reading several of the blogs today I realized I share some of the same concerns that other members of the class expressed. We may be too closely tied to Client A. We may be viewing “problems” through our own paradigm. This raises the question of are we going to be able to provide the best service. One other concern that I have is are we being invited to consult for Client A, or are we assuming that this is okay.
I’m concerned about the amount of deliverables that we are going to provide for our clients. We are quite far into the semester. How much are we planning on getting done for each client?
I’m very grateful that we have narrowed our client number to 2. This is going to help a lot. I have taken the role over internal technology and change. I would welcome any comments on what we can do as a class to improve our use of technology. I believe blogging is effective. Do you think it would be helpful to some sort of visual training, via Power Point or other means for setting up and using a blog, or do you think we are good on that. Please comment or send me an email to invictusstudios@gmail.com. I’m trying to get a pulse on all of us in the class. Thanks.
Just a reminder my blog changed to web.mac.com/leroyball.
So far so good. I'm happy to see that everyone takes what they're given in class and runs with it. I'm reminded of the scriptural principle that says we can't do something unless we're taught how to do it, and we can't be taught unless someone be sent to teach us. Brother Adams is teaching us and we follow that teaching. It all needs to be done an effective order and I'm sure after this semester the order of information will be perfected for the next semester. It's important to remember that, like life, what I think we'll be graded on is not so much what we do this semester for a seeming 'pilot' class but if we do our best. That's my current theory anyway.
In my Capital group we decidd to do some research on this area. Here are financial tips for you:
Keys to Financial Success
1. Get Paid What You're Worth and Spend Less Than You Earn
2. Stick to a Budget
3. Pay Off Credit Card Debt
4. Contribute to a Retirement Plan
5. Have a Savings Plan
6. Invest!
7. Maximize Your Employment Benefits
8. Review Your Insurance Coverages
9. Update Your Will
10. Keep Good Records
fro more info:http://financialplan.about.com/cs/personalfinance/a/TopTenMoneyTips.htm
Here are a few listing of good websites to learn about Capital/Finance that I have found recently!
www.finance.google.com/finance - good place for information about publicly traded companies.
http://money.cnn.com/ - recent new on finance issues
http://fisher.osu.edu/fin/overview.htm - a web site that has lots of links to other websites about finance!! (very very very good!!)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finance - wikipedia's def/info page
http://www.fool.com/ - not sure how amazing this one is - but has good info if researching!
http://www.kiplinger.com/ - haven't looked through this site yet - but looks interesting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_(economics) - def. of Capital
Technology and our Clients
In our technology group we decided that we can probably get the survey's we need published to an electronic page that will automatically give us our results and we are going to try to get that accomplished. Also, independently from the rest of the class, we decided that two clients would be our best bet as we will be able to work more in depth with two clients as opposed to doing shallow work with three clients because of our limited time.
Sometimes I get a little confused on what is going on in class. I'm still trying to figure out exactly why I feel this way, but I'm getting closer. On friday Feb. 2nd's class, we talked about the 7D cycle. I'm really glad that we did because it cleared up a little of my confusion of what our responsibilities are as students of this class. I hope to follow this cycle as we are consulting our organization.
For the marketing section we used a model that is a lot like a supply chain model to discribe what the organization goes through and what areas we see a need for improvement.The basic supply chain model is:
Input ->[transformation process]-> Output
Client A is going through a lot of changes right now, and we feel that the two areas where we can help the most are in marketing the output (market the new and improved product to potential consumers), and in change management with the actual process. The transformation process has already been changed a great deal, but what we see as the need is getting everyone in the organization up to speed and supportive of the changes.
Feb 6,
I'm really excited that we are starting to get more involved with our consulting projects. I feel there is a lot we can do for AFEC and I'm excited to find out our capabilities as we are consulting a struggling business. Hopefully we can make some improvements by the end of the semester.
Monday, February 5, 2007
Woe is me
So I missed class today due to the fact that I screwed up my back this past weekend oops =)
Joseph brought up a great point today in our discussion: we've got to get busy and start making progress! Mid-terms are in two weeks and we are still trying to identify the problems with our clients--although this is probably the most important step, we need to have time to develop the strategies and make the project deliverable if we are to make any impact with our clients. We feel like we need to work as a team, but collectively we aren't getting much done. If you have an idea to help the process along, make sure that Bro. Adams is ok with it and do it--don't waste time discussing it in class. Let's get some work done!
Sometimes I get a little discouraged and unmotivated in this class because we don't follow-up on a lot of the assignments that we given. I love completing an assignment and then talking about it afterwards. Follow-up is a great motivator.
I'm glad we are starting our projects though. Joseph is doing a great job of organizing the AFEC project and us as a team. Today we are going to talk to the manager of AFEC, I'm excited to see what we can do for them.
Class was great friday, by far the best class so far; for me anyway, we sat in our client group and just got some things done, Bro. Adams was gone for most of it but came back and let us interview him which was nice. J thanks for the Email you are the man!!!!!
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