Organizational Silence

The big thing that happens when people don't speak up, is lack of communication. That lack of communication leads to lack of information and flow. This, I believe essentially chokes the command line, and provides no room for resolve. The importance of communication really comes into play when considering organizational silence. But don't get me wrong, silence can be a very good learning tool as well. The ability to communicate within an organization is the most essential part of growth, and without it, no one knows what is going on behind the curtains.

The main reason why people tend to "not say anything" is what I believe to be fear. If someone is afraid of telling his or her boss something about a problem, that problem gets puts away and shunned from the rest of the management team. This is not a good strategy, as we all know that small problems can become huge ones in little to no time. Employees do tend to have fear for one reason and one reason only, their boss. The person who is managing that person is literally afraid of possible repurcussions that coupld potentially happen if he or she is stuck in a tight situation and is confronted. The ability to address problems right off the bat, I think is the way around the problems that arise from organizational silence.

The good part about being quiet is that you have the optimal ability to learn. As one once said "you can't learn when your talking" essentially puts the people in the position of speaking and addressing the other crowd of people with his or her beliefs in the hot seat. This is a good case most of the time, as that someone who is speaking generally knows more about that subject than you do, or else they wouldn't be saying anything at all. They also might have another opinion, or have an alternative idea. This is the main reason why I think being quiet is beneficial, but when problems arise, we need to be loud as hell.

Extra Readings for Chapter 11

Lt. Withers - This article tells a good story of a true leader, and his willingness to sacrifice his own self gains for the sake of others. Withers has a strong sense of caring and help for others before himself. He took in the two refugees, and helped them out to essentially survive, and prosper. This is strong sign of a leader.Their children were able to reunite with the refugees, and see how they developed and prospered after the war. Withers portrayed strong communication skills between himself and his troops, took the time to listen to them, and kept an open mind. These qualities in Withers signified him as a strong leader. Lt. Withers is a true definition of a strong leader.

Col. Dowdy - Dowdy showed many acts of leadership through out his mission as commanding officer of 6000 troops. He Brought himself to the same level of his troops, which is very few and far between in the military regime. He dedicated his amenities to his troops, and treated them just as how he was treated. He had a significant amount of care for each one of his troops, and did not let any of them down. Everyone who served for him during this time believed that he was a true purposeful leader, even though we was discharged.

New Wine, Old Bottles - The three steps that were implemented into this system were very significant for this type of business. The first step was to build the key relationship with your business customer. This step is one of the main focuses in marketing, to essentially build life long customers. The second step is setting up win-win performance agreements, this is a necessary next-step after setting up the relationship with the customer. The customer will need some sort of assurance that the product or service will be on-time, correct, and exactly what they wanted. The third step is being a good source of help. This third step is one of the long term aspects of the relationship that really count. The customer wants to know that if he or she needs some assistance with your product, we need to be there for them. This third step holds all of the ground I believe in keeping a reputation.

Good Leadership - In all aspects of being a good leader, they need to put themselves on the same page as the people they manage. A good leader only puts himself above others in carrying responsibilities. The information database that a leader has is significant, and the more he or she delegates that information, the more powerful the team is a whole. The more people know, the better. There is no reason for hiding information from other employees, or people under you. A good leader will also make the most correct ethical decisions that will best benefit the company to te best of his or her knowledge. A good leader will always be asking himself "Is this the right thing to do?" This is the one thing that a leader must always keep in the back of their mind.

Level 5 Leadership

A level 5 Leader is defined as a an executive in whom genuine personal humility blends with intense professional will. Executives who posses this paradoxical combination of traits are catalysts for the statistically rare event of transforming a good company into a great one. I believe that a leader should be charismatic, but this is not the case as some good leaders have been somewhat shy. A level 5 leader can be shy, and also be very successful. The typical leader shows a sense of outgoing personality, but sometimes being reserved is a good thing. A good learning tool is to practice the art of humility. One has to put the blame of issues solely on themselves, and somewhat push away the rewards. The behavior that a good leader portrays is important as well. The way the leader acts, the followers tend to recreate. Having a positive outlook on life is good in a sense that people below you will usually have a better attitude as well. Leaders do what ever it takes to get the job done.

The Deans Disease

The deans disease is a problem that potentially any manager can be susceptible to. The deans disease can be applied to any form of leadership in a sense that power can be overwhelming. The abuse of power, and the control of resources that the power encompasses, can be a very big problem. The common affect of the deans disease can be seen in many aspects of management, not just deans.

The top manager of any team has certain people who work under them. When these people begin to copy the dean in ways to always benefit the manager, the manager becomes more engulfed into the disease. The constant praise and complements from the lower workers always reassures the manager that everything he or she is doing is essentially perfect. This power trip that the manager becomes engulfed in consumes his or her entire reality of managing. Then the manager becomes more of a figure of power and dominance instead of being a leader.

A good leader needs to be social, humble, and have a good sense of who they are. They need to realize their weaknesses before they can better the work of others. Good leaders surround themselves with people who take issue to the thoughts and ideas that the manager has to offer. The best way to learn is through conflict, and when there is nobody to conflict with, the process never gets better. Everyone just becomes consumed by the managers power, and strives to be like him or her.

The way to look out for these traits in everyday situations is to encourage independent thought, reinforce independent thought, and implement a written policy that implements the idea of open door ideas. The manager needs to be accessible in every aspect. He or she needs to listen to what others have to say about certain ideas. And not to act from the position standpoint, but act on a social positive manner that internally motivates his or her employees to succeed. The main way to stay away from the deans disease is to be social, open, accessible, and continuously improve ideas and rules to better everyone.

Evidence Based Management

The idea of evidence based management is somewhat common sense. But it is strange that many times in a management situation, people do not follow these methods. To do what is right based upon the results. It seems as though this concept is simple, yet not implemented in the common daily routine of managers. Even with the use of doctors evidence based decision making 15% of the time, they are still relying on methods learned in school, patterns of experience, and certain methods that they believe is right. But none of these assumptions that these doctors are making directly relates to the evidence from results. The even worse case is the percentage of actual managers of businesses that do not implement evidence based decision making. This is a very scary thought, and confusing to me how all of these managers still stay afloat.

It seems as though many managers are trying to move in the direction of evidence based management. The continuous improvement process can be assumed in one way or another to be evidence based. Managers are trying to move from their old ways that have always worked, and are now being subject to change. It seems as though doctors do have a better way of using evidence based management in their practices, but they are also clouded with vendors and new products that could be based upon new evidence, but might be a little over exaggerated.

The tough part about a manager being evidence based is the amount of clouds that revolve the honest truth about what really works. Everyone in the field of any type of work has data that supposedly is based on true evidence. But sometimes this is not the case at all, there so too much evidence out there, and the truth has become engulfed with clutter. Considering the amount of evidence out there, and the search for the true hard facts, there is still many paths that lead to no where. Either the data from the research is not accurate, or the evidence is not applicable to the current situation. There are many boundaries that a manager must face when transitioning into an evidence based management system and mindset.

Gary Loveman & Harrah's Entertainment

The hiring of Loveman for the implementation of new marketing strategies and operations was a great move by Harrahs. Loveman had the most significant impact in the marketing arena. The data that was collected through the club cards had to be analyzed, and used as a beneficial tool in expanding Harrahs, and better identifying certain things that each individual can do to better the company as a whole. Loveman planned on using the data collected to shape the marketing strategies he would implement. While analyzing the data, he found out that 26 percent of the gamblers produced 82 percent of the income. And, that the gamblers that produced all of this income were not the high rollers, they were just the average consistent gambler.

When Loveman realized that the main customers were not just the high rollers, he started to focus more on customer service. He implemented strategies that mainly focused on the average everyday customer. He also implemented the employee rewards to customer satisfaction. The more satisfied the customers, the more money. Loveman implemented some of the fundamental rules to a successful business. He realized that the main way to get Harrahs to grow as a company, they needed to satisfy their customers. And the only way to satisfy the customers is to satisfy Harrah's employees. Happy employees, happy customers, leads to growth, and ultimate success.

Under the leadership of Loveman, Harrahs grew to great heights. Satre eventually stepped down, and Loveman took over as the CEO of Harrahs. Even today, Harrahs shows quality customer service, and is dedicated to their customers. They still receive tons of information from the club cards, and can constantly improve their marketing strategies. I think that the data analysis, the study of the data, and the strategies that came from the sets of data was the ultimate key in the success of Harrahs.

Diamonds in the Data Mine

The strategies that Harrah's mainly followed to increase their customers was evidence based. The evidence based strategies that they followed was directly focused on their casino players. Instead of spending millions of dollars in flashy water fountains, or high class shows, Harrahs spends most of their money on the everyday customers. I think that the reasoning behind Harrah's strategies is unique, and very effective. The way they make every experience for their customers "personal", makes their profits truly rise. Since their main income is based upon slot machines, they focus on the people who play these slot machines, and in turn generate more income.

In stead of focusing on the high rollers, and the one time big spenders, they mainly focused on the everyday average joe. This was a good strategy because they knew that the average joe would come back, and be a regular customer. The regular customer focus made the people who mattered the most, and generated the most income, made Harrahs successful. I believe that this strategy is effective in many ways. The comfort level of the customers is necessary for their happiness, and their likeliness to spend more money.

The service that Harrahs provides is unique and effective. The employees are very personal with their customers, and they try to make every experience for the customers great. The outreach of their employers is one of the most important aspects of their success. This is one of the main business rules for success, and it is funny to see that most of all of the other casinos do not follow the same type of approach.