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4 big factors affecting productivity
1. Internal
2. factors External factors
3. Own factors
4.  Foreign factors
One of the key factors affecting the productivity is the application of new production technologies, brand new and more efficient machines.

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Productivity is one of the most renowned concepts within the field of business administration. Because of that a lot of the management strategies are designed attending the factors that affect it. Nevertheless, it could be difficult to identify them all because of the diversity of circumstances they come from. Following this direction, it's very useful to present a clear and general model to help us classify and Identify them.

As it name suggests, productivity obeys to production, but always referred to efficiency. From a wide point of view, increasing the productivity means the capacity of producing more with the same use (and consumption) of resources. That's to say to be able to produce the same at lower cost, investing the same in materials, labour force, time, and so on.

For example, one of the key factors affecting the productivity and usually understood as the most determinant of all is the application of new production technologies, brand new and more efficient machines. But there are many other factors as important as technology. If we want to order in a more advisable way everything surrounding productivity and the relationship between the factors it is recommended to follow this classification:

Internal factors: they are included inside the dynamic and the production process of the company but not necessarily belong to it.

External factors: they are physically outside of the company, in the external context but affecting the productivity.

Own factors: they belong to the company and are directly in touch with the external context. Not necessarily are inside the building.

Foreign factors: they are not directly affecting the company's productivity and are far from the internal and own factors. They usually affect all the society.

It would seem that the internal and own factors are the same and the external and foreign factors too. But if we consider the company as a universe, as a system, as a tribe, it will be clear how all they are different from each other. Some are inside of the company but don't belong to it.

In everyday life these 4 factors never come alone; so that it's necessary to underline that they are interacting all the time and show up combined. It is the mix of all factors which influences the productivity. In that order of ideas, let's identify these couples: internal-own factors, internal-foreign factors, external-own factors, and external-foreign factors.

Internal-own factors: they are, for example, the inner organization of the company, the business model or the labour force. Although it is very common that workers are looked as the most deciding internal-own factor affecting productivity, the truth is that management is even more because of its influence over the work teams.

Internal-foreign factors: these factors work internally but depend on a third foreign service. For example, the Internet service and installation in the physical space of the company or the sewer system of the city.

External-own factors: they are outside of the company but are closely related and can affect the productivity. For example, raw materials used in the production chain and bought from an external supplier.

External-foreign factors:they are far from the production chain and only influence the productivity indirectly. Between the most far away factors we find the government policies, the international currency market, security national conditions, and some others at the same level.

Internal Factors
Internal-own. Example: business administration or R+D lab inside the company.

Internal-foreign. Example: the Internet physical installation made by the provider of the service.

External Factors
External-own. Example: raw materials bougth from a provider.

External-foreign. Example: the working policies of the country.

In any case, all the internal factors are easier to modify by the company. A flexible schedule, the duration of the workday and video conferences instead of unnecessary trips are examples of internal factors that we can rapidly change.

On the other side, the external-foreign factors are more difficult to change, let's consider, for example, the holydays in a country and their effect on productivity. They are fixed by law. But the size of the company matters if there's any intention to influence over these contextual factors. For example, the big companies working with public services like gas, water, oil or electricity have an important influence on government and natural resources policies.

Small and medium companies are not able to play at such levels but, on the contrary, the smaller the company the easier to change work methodologies, hierarchies or schedule flexibility.

In summary, to increase productivity it is necessary to start identifying where all the factors affecting it come from. To place them on a dashboard or a chart really helps to follow a strategy. Therefore, it is useful to have it at the bottom of the analysis of causes and control of resources and productivity.

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4 big factors affecting productivity - WudaTime

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Productivity is one of the most renowned concepts within the field of business administration. Because of that a lot of the management strategies are designed attending the factors that affect it. Nevertheless, it could be difficult to identify them all because of the diversity of circumstances they come from.

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The Benefits of Total Quality Management
TQM is a management approach to long-term success through customer satisfaction. All members of an organization participate in improving processes, products, services, and the culture in which they work.

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The application of Total Quality Management helps in streamlining processes, and ensures a proactive work system ready to counter deviations from the ideal state. What are some of the major benefits of Total Quality Management?

The major thrust of Total Quality Management (TQM) is to achieve productivity and process efficiency by identifying and eliminating problems in work processes and systems. TQM addresses key problem areas such as mistakes in work processes, redundant processes, unnecessary tasks, and duplicate efforts. TQM interventions also help with predicting and pre-empting such mistakes and unproductive activities.

Improving process efficiency brings about many benefits to the organizations in terms of costs and time.

The major benefits of TQM in terms of cost savings include:

elimination of non-confirmation and repetitive work

elimination of waste costs and reject products

elimination of repairs and reworks

reduced warranty and customer support costs

process efficiency leading to improved profit per product or service

fiscal discipline through elimination of unnecessary steps and wasteful expenditure

TQM frees up management time from redressing problems and directs management time and effort to:

increase production

extend the range of products

improve existing products

TQM and Customer Satisfaction

A major long-term benefit of Total Quality Management relates to customer satisfaction. TQM aims at improving quality, and identifies the best measure of quality as matching customer expectations in terms of service, product, and experience. TQM interventions quantify problems and aim to achieve the best state defined in terms of such customer expectations.

Some examples of the application of Total Quality Management to improve customer satisfaction include:

Reduction of waiting time by changing the method of appointment scheduling or client handling

Making changes to the delivery process so that the product reaches the customer faster

Better quality products requiring no repairs improving customer loyalty

TQM and Organizational Development

Among the major benefits of Total Quality Management is improvement in Organizational Development. TQM heralds a change in the work culture by educating all employees on quality and making quality the concern of everybody, not just the Quality Control department. The focus on quality leads to a proactive work culture aimed at preventing mistakes rather than correcting mistakes.

Total Quality Management's focus on teamwork leads to the formation of cross-departmental teams and cross-functional knowledge sharing. Such interventions lead to many benefits such as:

Improvement in communication skills of individual employees and overall organizational communication

Knowledge sharing, resulting in deepening and broadening of knowledge and skill-set of team members, and the making of a Learning Organization

Flexibility for the organization in deploying personnel, contributing to rightsizing, and ensuring cost competitiveness.

Another benefit of Total Quality Management is that TQM promotes the concept of internal customer/supplier satisfaction. For instance, the HR department considers employees as internal customers and processes their queries or requests within the specified time limit. The lab technician in a hospital processes the clinical tests required by the doctor, an internal customer in a timely and efficient manner, according to the laid down customer satisfaction norms.

TQM and Human Resources

A major application of benefits of Total Quality Management relate to Human Resource Management. Application of TQM in an organization brings about the following benefits to the Human Resources of an organization:

1. TQM extends the ownership of the business process to each employee involved in the process by empowering them to rectify mistakes on the spot without supervisor review or action. This generates intrinsic motivation and creates an atmosphere of enthusiasm and satisfaction among the workforce.

2. TQM's thrust on eliminating mistakes and improving productivity contributes to accomplishment of targets faster. The resultant free time allows employees to enhance their knowledge and apply their creativity to improve existing products and develop new products.

3. TQM's thrust on quality leads to identifying skill-deficiencies in employees and providing training and other interventions to bridge such deficiencies. Cross-functional and cross-departmental teams allow employees to share their experience and solve issues jointly, leading to benefits such as broadening skill-sets, and improvement of existing skills.

4. TQM's focus on eliminating mistakes and bringing about process efficiency heralds a direct approach such as counseling and other remedial actions to solve issues such as absenteeism.

5. The enhanced productivity brought about by TQM translates to better profits for the organization, and consequently better wages.

TQM and Competitive Advantage

The application of Total Quality Management brings forth all-round benefits and makes the organization more competitive. In the new business environment marked by demolition of barriers and free flow of information and products, organizations retain their competitive advantage by reducing prices, improving existing products and innovating new products. TQM is a business strategy that allows organizations to achieve all this and much more.

Total Quality Management demolishes the myth that increased quality results in increased costs and decreased productivity. TQM proves that quality is actually the key to decreased costs, and better productivity and positions quality as a critical component of strategic business advantage.

References

Powell, Thomas, C. (Jan 1995). Total Quality Management as Competitive Advantage: A Review and Empirical Study
Strategic Management Journal (16.1)

VIPTaskManager. Problems and advantages of Total Quality Management. Retreived from https://www.taskmanagementsoft.com/solutions/articles/problems-and-advantages-total-quality-management.php

Image Credit: Ken Lund. https://www.flickr.com/photos/kenlund/

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The Benefits of Total Quality Management: TQM in Process Improvement, Customer Satisfaction and Organizational Development

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The benefits of Total Quality Management become apparent in process improvement, customer satisfaction and organizational development. TQM aims at all round improvement of the business through continuous improvement of processes and products, and enhancing efficiency of people and machine. This aids in eliminating defects and improving quality.

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5 Basic Financial Skills Every Manager Should Have
1. Cash Versus Accrual Accounting
2. The Basic Financial Statements
3. Budget Preparation

4. Variance Analysis

5. Financial Analysis of Capital Investments and Strategic Initiatives

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Every day, managers make decisions that affect their company's financial performance, whether it is scheduling operations, hiring and firing personnel, preparing a budget, approving a capital investment, or sending an invoice for payment. Often these managers lack the basic financial skills to allow them to understand the financial implications of their decisions. As a result, resources are wasted, poor decisions get made, and the financial performance of the organization suffers. Based on my experience working with nonfinancial managers over the years, I have identified five basic financial skills that anyone with management and supervisory responsibilities should have.

1. Cash Versus Accrual Accounting

There are two methods of accounting used to record business transactions: cash and accrual basis accounting. Most medium-sized and large corporations use accrual accounting, so it is important to understand what this means for you as a manager. When does an expense get charged against your budget? When do you receive credit for a sale? Does a purchase order generate an accounting transaction?

Understanding the difference between these two methods of accounting is important to manage your cash flow, spending levels, the obligations to your vendors, and the receivables due from your clients.

2. The Basic Financial Statements

Managers should be familiar with the basic financial statements prepared for external users and what information is presented in each statement. An understanding of the financial statements will provide you with the basic terminology needed to communicate with your accounting and finance personnel. In particular:

What information is presented in the financial statements?

How are my actions reflected in these statements and what line items do I affect?

Does my company use a different format for internal financial reporting?

Do I understand how to use these statements to improve the financial and operational performance for my areas of responsibility?

3. Budget Preparation

Managers should know how to prepare a departmental budget, a quantification of the resources you require to achieve the objectives and actions plans for the next fiscal year. It is not a formality to satisfy the demands of top management, lenders, or investors.

The budget preparation process is a time to question how resources are being used and if they could be used more effectively or efficiently. Departmental spending should be directly tied to the objectives, strategies, and action plans for the budget year and aligned with company's strategic plan.

Managers should identify and document the operating assumptions that drive their spending levels. Each line item should have a reasonable basis of estimation, such as sales or production volumes, number of employees, percentage of salaries, and cost per employee, among others.

4. Variance Analysis

Managers need to analyze the variances against the budget or forecast. All significant variances, favorable or unfavorable, should be examined.

Managers should be able to relate the variances to what happened in their department or work area for the accounting period. Is this a one-time variance or will it be recurring for the remainder of the year? Do you need to include this variance, favorable or unfavorable, in the financial forecast for the quarter or the fiscal year? If you cannot explain the budget variances based on your knowledge of the operations, you should contact the finance department immediately.

5. Financial Analysis of Capital Investments and Strategic Initiatives

Managers often present and defend capital investments and strategic initiatives designed to improve operational and financial performance. The financial evaluation of these projects is key element of the approval process.

Managers should know the assumptions that underlie the financial analysis of any project championed under their leadership and ask the hard questions. I have seen companies waste millions of dollars in projects and initiatives based on a faulty financial analysis.

Managers should also understand the concept of return on investment (ROI) and how to interpret the results of the common financial techniques used to measure ROI: payback, net present value (NPV), and internal rate of return (IRR). They should identify how a project will affect particular line items on the balance sheet and the income statement and the impact on the financial performance of the site or the company if the financial objectives of the project are not met.

Financial skills are an integral part of the basic toolkit that any manager should have. Managers should understand the financial implications of their decisions and how to use financial information to improve their company's performance. Training and development organizations should ensure that their leadership development programs provide the basic financial skills that their leaders need to manage the business more effectively.

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5 Basic Financial Skills Every Manager Should Have

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Every day, managers make decisions that affect their company's financial performance, whether it is scheduling operations, hiring and firing personnel, preparing a budget, approving a capital investment, or sending an invoice for payment. Often these managers lack the basic financial skills to allow them to understand the financial implications of their decisions.

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Elements of a Management Control System
~five elements of a corporate entrepreneurship management control system.
• Planning what is desired.
• Establishing standards of performance.

• Monitoring and evaluating actual performance.
• Comparing actual results with desired results.

• Rectifying deviations and taking corrective action.

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Elements of a Management Control System There are generally five elements of a corporate entrepreneurship management control system. * Planning what is desired. Establish clear goals and objectives. * Establishing standards of ... - Selection from Corporate Entrepreneurship [Book]

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8 Leadership qualities to motivate and inspire your team
Motivation is the collection of factors that affect what people choose to do, and how much time and effort they put into doing it. Motivation gives energy & hope to people.

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Being the leader of a team is a huge responsibility, regardless of whether you're the CEO, department manager, or supervisor.

As a leader, it's your job to inspire and motivate the others on your team to work to the very best of their abilities. Being an effective leader demands a number of qualities and characteristics that encourage those around them to succeed. This article will examine eight leadership qualities that can help to inspire and motivate your team.

1. Provide a vision and purpose

Create an inspiring vision of the future that also gives your team a purpose - something to look forward to, and something to work towards. Make this vision achievable and realistic and work with your team towards achieving this goal. Think of practices or services that could help make both yours and their job easier. Use personal stories and anecdotes to explain your vision and inspire your team members, it will make you more relatable and less of a separate entity.

2. Set clear goals

Set clear goals for completing a project so that your team knows what is expected of them. Ensure that your team agrees with goals and deadlines you have set, and can identify with them on a personal level. This way they can be motivated to work harder and achieve those goals, boosting productivity levels in turn. Making sure that your team are in agreement and happy with goals and deadlines you have set will help them feel more involved in their work.

3. Lead by example

One of the most powerful motivational tactics you can use is to lead by example. Working hard, showing professional integrity, and having a can-do attitude are all qualities that will have a positive effect on your team members.

If your team recognises that you value the time and effort they put into their work, and you demonstrate the same actions and values you expect from them, it will inspire them to do the same.

4. Encourage teamwork

Encourage members to work together as a team by stressing the importance of and the connection between teamwork and achieving group goals. Note the fact that when people work together, work is much easier and quicker to do. You can further motivate your team by linking performance with team goals.

Encouraging teamwork will help individual team members feel less isolated and separate from the workplace. Employees will feel more engaged and a part of a larger community, inspiring them to work harder and enjoy what they do.

5. Be optimistic and positive

Having a positive attitude and an optimist outlook, even when times are tough, can inspire your team members to adopt the same attitude and outlook and continue to work hard. Remaining positive will show your team that it's not the end of the world if things are going wrong, and keep them focused on the greater picture.

You can also help motivate your team by reacting positively to goal or project completion, and to the skills and abilities that each member brings to the team. Make them feel valued and appreciated, and your team will work harder.

6. Give praise and rewards

This is one of the best ways to inspire and motivate your team to work harder. When you praise one person in front of others, it encourages them to work harder or perform better, simultaneously motivating the others to work hard in order to be praised. When a reward is linked to performance, people will work even harder and be more committed to their task in order to win the reward.

7. Communicate with the team

You should be contactable at all times so that your team members can ask you questions about a project, get your opinion, offer ideas, and give feedback. Being available for your team plays a key role in motivating them, as it shows that you value the project and their feedback. Making yourself more available also avoids making your team members feel isolated and separate from management. Ensuring you're always available for your team can boost productivity and improve the quality of your work.

8. Empower team members

When you give team members the power or authority to do something with complete control, this helps to motivate them to complete the work. You can also keep motivating your team members to work hard and bring out the best in them by offering constructive feedback. This will result in an empowered, happier, and more productive team.

The eight qualities above are essential in making you an effective team leader. By developing your leadership skills, you'll see your team's performance, productivity, and morale improve significantly. In turn, this can lead you and your company towards greater success.

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8 Leadership qualities to motivate and inspire your team

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Being the leader of a team is a huge responsibility, regardless of whether you're the CEO, department manager, or supervisor. As a leader, it's your job to inspire and motivate the others on your team to work to the very best of their abilities.

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Leadership vs. Management
The difference between leaders and managers is that leaders have people follow them and their ideas while managers have people who work for them.

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4 Starbucks Leadership Style Precepts
Mr. Schultz leadership style is a blend of democratic and transformational leadership. The Starbucks CEO is a great communicator and listener. Schultz’s leadership style revolves around motivation and inspiration. All the things he mentioned about leadership style is useful and important to consider for future plans.

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Starbucks is known the world over for their chain of coffee shops. It is one of the most successful American companies that is now serving hot and cold coffee and non-coffee based beverages to 64 countries, including the United States, Canada, Japan, China, Turkey, United Kingdom and the Philippines, to name a few. In the US alone, there are about 11,000 stores, according to the coffeehouse's annual report. In China, there are currently 700 stores, and more will be opened within the year.

The success of coffee giant Starbucks is definitely admired and even envied by competitors around the world. What makes this multi-million company incredibly successful is highly attributed to the company's leadership style. One of the statements that Starbucks released about their leadership reads: "Through our unwavering commitment to excellence and our guiding principles, we bring the unique Starbucks Experience to life for every customer through every cup." This can be translated to the coffee chain wanting to serve first. So, based on that theory, Starbucks' leadership style is "servant leadership."

What Does Servant Leadership Mean?

From the term itself, servant leadership style is practiced when a company's sole purpose is to serve others - to make other people's needs a top priority. This leadership concept was first coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in his essay "The Servant as a Leader," which was first published in 1970. In his essay, Greenleaf said, "The servant-leader is servant first... It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions...The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.

"The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people's highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer, is: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived?"

Starbucks is recognized as one of the most ethical companies around the world today. This means that the company strives to make a difference in other people's lives. Besides, the multi-billion company not only goes beyond its customers' needs, but also aims to serve the greater good of the community, which was proven after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. The company spent their time and resources into helping rebuild the community.

Although many people are opposed to servant leadership style, there is no denying that it offers several advantages.

1. It Works Well In a Diverse Workplace.

Autocratic leadership will alienate employees in a diverse workplace, while a democratic form of leadership may cause opposing views to be lost or distorted. But because the servant leadership style serves every member of the group, this allows for personalized management, ensuring each personality is catered for and team cohesiveness is maintained.

2. It Breeds Loyalty.

With other styles of leadership, the needs of the company are put ahead. But with servant leadership, the staff's needs are prioritized over the business'. When a business embraces this style of leadership, it has a strong sense of consideration for its employees. As a result, the management will cater for their employees' need to develop in his or her chosen career, encouraging loyalty to the company.

3. It Encourages Involvement.

Under a servant leadership style, a workplace operates for the individual needs of the employees or as a whole. In this type of leadership, you are also encouraging involvement among staff members - allowing them to feel free to offer their opinions and input on important matters.

4. It Promotes Productivity.

The servant leadership style promotes productivity because of the strong positive feelings between the staff and the management. This is because it translates to a high sense of morale. And when people are happy with their jobs, productivity rises, too.

While Starbucks as a company prefers the servant leadership style, the company's CEO, president and chairman Howard Schultz, considered as one of "the world's greatest leaders," has a different leadership approach.

Howard Schultz Leadership

Mr. Schultz leadership style is a blend of democratic and transformational leadership. The former is defined as the kind of leadership that lets employees freely voice out their opinion and input. Although business decisions are made considering what other members say, it is still completely under the leader's discretion to choose the best course of action to take. Meanwhile, the latter kind of leadership is the kind of leadership that upholds morale. This means that the leader and followers are bound together through the leader's vision and personality. This lets him gain his members' trust, respect and admiration.

The Starbucks CEO offers support and encouragement to his employees, as well as followers. He is also a great communicator and listener, gathering ideas and giving recognition to that contribution. Aside from that, Schultz's leadership style revolves around motivation and inspiration. He encourages his staff to give feedback and ask advice from the employees, using personal lines of communication like email and telephone calls. But what really defines Schultz's manner of leading his people is empowerment, quality service and entrepreneurship.

Schultz said, on how businesses should operate in the United States, "I think the private sector simply has to take a larger role than they have in the past. Our responsibility goes beyond the P&L and our stock price.... If half the country or at least a third of the country doesn't have the same opportunities as the rest going forward, then the country won't survive. That's not socialism."

Starbucks is recognized as one of the "World's Most Ethical Companies" for eight years now. The nominees for this award were screened and evaluated using categories that include Reputation, Ethics and Compliance Program, Governance and Leadership and Innovation.

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4 Starbucks Leadership Style Precepts - Joseph Chris Partners

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Starbucks is known the world over for their chain of coffee shops. It is one of the most successful American companies that is now serving hot and cold coffee and non-coffee based beverages to 64 countries, including the United States, Canada, Japan, China, Turkey, United Kingdom and the Philippines, to name a few.

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Team Building and Leading Teams
This video shows how you build and lead a successful team which is not an easy thing it takes lots of effort to achieve great team members. The main goals of team-building are to improve productivity and motivation.

Create a team mission

Build trust in each relationship

Encourage cooperation

Develop emotional intelligence

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Components Of Training & Development
It is important to always have an orientation and training development in any type of business because it helps the employees in many ways. Orientation gain employee commitment, help understand the organization's expectations and convey what he or she can expect from the job and the organization. The purpose of the training is to organize and facilitate learning and development. Expedite acquisition of the knowledge, skills, and abilities required for effective job performance.
Orientation and training can be beneficial in many positive ways. For example, they can:
1. Lower costs by helping the employee get up to speed quickly and avoid time- or money-consuming mistakes.
2. Help the employee to gain confidence and feel valued because he or she knows the company’s system, people, and expectations.
3. Improve the employee’s performance by helping him or her to build skills and relationships quickly.

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How to Determine the Right Employee Compensation

As a manager, you may need to negotiate compensation both within your corporation and with your new hire.
* How do we think about compensation strategy once we get past new hires?
1. Full disclosure
2. What positions and what roles in your organization are the most important
3. Building a compensation strategy

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There are several strategies on how to determine the right employee compensation structure and packages for small and mid-size businesses. How much should you offer? What's fair? Here's the breakdown.

In a small to medium-size business new hire compensation is usually determined on a case-by-case basis. Start by taking a look at the position, experience, skills, and knowledge required to fill the role.

Before recruiting and identifying candidates take a look at these factors to help identify the right person and understand a compensation range based on similar qualifications.

Market Data

Once you've evaluated your position, you can start reviewing market data. There are many different paid sources that will give you excellent comprehensive data. Employers can also utilize free tools, such as salary comparison websites and company reviews.

Utilize market data to determine how much you will need to pay a prospective employee based on experience level, geographic location, industry, and job function.

Compensation History

A common and increasingly frowned upon strategy for determining compensation is asking the individual what their salary was at their last position and then adding a little bit onto that number. This strategy can be problematic because their recent salary may not have been appropriate for that specific role.

Furthermore, this strategy is actually illegal in specific regions such as New Orleans and New York City as well as in states such as California, Massachusettes, Delaware, and more.

Compensation Strategy

Once hiring decisions have been made it's important to develop a compensation strategy to keep employees satisfied long term. Build the right employee compensation structure that gets new hires in the door, rewards their value to the organization, and motivates them to grow within the company.

Equal Pay for Equal Work

To establish an equal pay strategy be proactive in adjusting employee pay for a fair workplace. This can mean giving an immediate pay bump or an increase over the long term. Decisions should be made according to your comfort level and what's fair and right for the employees.

Looking for more compensation information? Here are our compensation FAQs answered by payroll experts.

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How to Determine the Right Employee Compensation

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There are several strategies on how to determine the right employee compensation structure and packages for small and mid-size businesses. How much should you offer? What's fair? Here's the breakdown. In a small to medium-size business new hire compensation is usually determined on a case-by-case basis.

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Business Communication Around the World | Market-Inspector
Business communication is the transmission and exchange of information between people in an organization to facilitate business activities. I think this video is interesting in how it gives you brief information about how people negotiate around the world and how they react that way you know how to negotiate when you travel the world.
" People of different cultures share basic concepts but view them from different angles." - Richard D. Lewis
This quote summarizes the whole video basically people in each country has its own techniques and way to convince people about business.
Some interesting facts:

Italians prefer discussions with people they know well when doing business.

Americans are not afraid to voice their ideas in the workplace.

In China, negotiations usually happen "behind the curtains."

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Business Communication Around the World | Market-Inspector

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In our globalised world, intercultural communication has become an inescapable reality in both the conduct of business a...

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Centralized & Decentralized Organizational Structure

In a centralized organization, only the top managers make decisions, whereas the lower-level managers are tasked with carrying out the directives. In a decentralized organization, the decision making is pushed down to the managers who are the closest to the work or client.
~Centralized organization advantages:

Clarity

Consolidation

Focus

~Disadvantages:

Lack of Initiative

Low morale

Lack of opportunity

~Decentralized organization advantages:

Engagement

Quality of information

Flexibility

~Disadvantages:

Blind spots

Unclear chain of command

Inefficiency

I found it important to learn about these structures because it will help in the future with business majors. I think the centralized organization the managers have so much responsibility and things to do while the decentralized organization is less.

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Businesses are as unique as snowflakes, and an organizational structure that works for one company may be completely wrong for another. Traditional, mainstream management tends to be top-down and centralized, with decisions and directives coming down a clear chain of command. Nontraditional leadership is often decentralized, with inputs and insights coming from all levels within the organization.

In practice, successful companies may practice a hybrid of these two styles, with clear leadership complemented by competent staff who are also empowered to take initiative and make ongoing decisions.

TL;DR (Too Long; Didn't Read)

A centralized management structure concentrates power at a single location or with an individual or small group of individuals. Decentralized management distributes authority more broadly to informed employees and multiple levels of management.

Centralized Leadership Advantages

Centralized Leadership Disadvantages

Decentralized Management Advantages

Decentralized Management Disadvantages

Centralized Management Best Practices

Whether your business organizational structure is centralized or decentralized, the overall approach may be less important than the way you implement it. To successfully use a centralized management structure, make sure that structure and responsibilities are clearly delineated. This information may be expressed in an organizational chart, but it should also be reinforced by ongoing training and communication.

A business with a centralized management structure can increase its odds of success by delineating management function in terms of outcomes and strategies rather than specific tasks. This approach gives managers the tools and authority to think outside the box if a situation calls for innovative approaches. It helps to avoid the stagnation and compartmentalization that can result from a rigid and static chain of command.

Decentralized Management Success Factors

A decentralized management structure depends on high-quality training so employees know how to make judgement calls under pressure. Training builds both skills and confidence, two essential ingredients for empowering employees to step up and make the most of a decentralized paradigm.

Although decentralized management relies on input and knowledge from many levels in an organization, employees and managers should still have a clear understanding of their job responsibilities and whom to approach if they need help. This management style requires ongoing learning, which depends on having coworkers present to help supplement and augment an employee's knowledge base. In addition, employees should be encouraged to seek guidance when needed rather than making decisions that require a higher level of understanding.

Blending Centralized and Decentralized Management

In practice, even if your company has a clear, centralized organizational structure, your employees will most likely have to make some decisions on their own. Management isn't present every time an employee interacts with a customer or encounters an unforeseen situation.

Similarly, even companies with decentralized management structures often see employees deferring to managers, especially when a situation calls for advanced problem solving. The terms "centralized" and "decentralized" management describe general approaches that don't follow every aspect of the workplace.

An organizational structure that successfully blends centralized and decentralized management approaches will clearly define which types of decisions are the sole province of managers and which should be made by employees. Staff have the training and education they need to make judgement calls and take initiative. Workers have the authority to take initiative, even if this sometimes results in mistakes.

About the Author

Devra Gartenstein founded her first food business in 1987. In 2013 she transformed her most recent venture, a farmers market concession and catering company, into a worker-owned cooperative. She does one-on-one mentoring and consulting focused on entrepreneurship and practical business skills.

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Businesses are as unique as snowflakes, and an organizational structure that works for one company may be completely wrong for another. Traditional, mainstream management tends to be top-down and centralized, with decisions and directives coming down a clear chain of command. Nontraditional leadership is often decentralized, with inputs and insights coming from all levels within the organization.

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Understanding and Developing Organizational Culture

Organizational culture refers to the behavior of the people who make up an organization; this includes their values, visions, norms, working language, systems, symbols, beliefs, and habits. Organizational culture affects the way people and groups interact with each other and with clients. I found this video important because it explains the key to a successful organization is to have a culture based on a strongly held and widely shared set of beliefs and goals that are supported by strategy, and structure.
* What is Organizational Culture?

Human nature

The organization's relationship to its environment.

Appropriate emotions.

Effectiveness.

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The key to a successful organization is to have a culture based on a strongly held and widely shared set of beliefs that are supported by strategy and structure. When an organization has a strong culture, three things happen: Employees know how top management wants them to respond to any situation, employees believe that the expected response is the proper one, and employees know that they will be rewarded for demonstrating the organization's values.

HR has a vital role in perpetuating a strong culture, starting with recruiting and selecting applicants who will share the organization's beliefs and thrive in that culture. HR also develops orientation, training and performance management programs that outline and reinforce the organization's core values and ensures that appropriate rewards and recognition go to employees who truly embody the values.

This article covers the following topics:

The importance of having a strong organizational culture.

HR's role in fostering a high-performance culture.

Definitions of organizational culture.

Factors that shape an organization's culture.

Considerations in creating and managing organizational culture.

HR practices to ensure the continuity and success of an organization's culture.

Communications, metrics, legal, technology and global issues pertaining to organizational culture.

Background

An organization's culture defines the proper way to behave within the organization. This culture consists of shared beliefs and values established by leaders and then communicated and reinforced through various methods, ultimately shaping employee perceptions, behaviors and understanding. Organizational culture sets the context for everything an enterprise does. Because industries and situations vary significantly, there is not a one-size-fits-all culture template that meets the needs of all organizations.

A strong culture is a common denominator among the most successful companies. All have consensus at the top regarding cultural priorities, and those values focus not on individuals but on the organization and its goals. Leaders in successful companies live their cultures every day and go out of their way to communicate their cultural identities to employees as well as prospective new hires. They are clear about their values and how those values define their organizations and determine how the organizations run. See What does it mean to be a values-based organization?

Conversely, an ineffective culture can bring down the organization and its leadership. Disengaged employees, high turnover, poor customer relations and lower profits are examples of how the wrong culture can negatively impact the bottom line.

Mergers and acquisitions are fraught with culture issues. Even organizational cultures that have worked well may develop into a dysfunctional culture after a merger. Research has shown that two out of three mergers fail because of cultural problems. Blending and redefining the cultures, and reconciling the differences between them, build a common platform for the future. In recent years, the fast pace of mergers and acquisitions has changed the way businesses now meld. The focus in mergers has shifted away from blending cultures and has moved toward meeting specific business objectives. Some experts believe that if the right business plan and agenda are in place during a merger, a strong corporate culture will develop naturally. See Managing Organizational Change and Managing Human Resources in Mergers and Acquisitions.

Business Case

If an organization's culture is going to improve the organization's overall performance, the culture must provide a strategic competitive advantage, and beliefs and values must be widely shared and firmly upheld. A strong culture can bring benefits such as enhanced trust and cooperation, fewer disagreements and more-efficient decision-making. Culture also provides an informal control mechanism, a strong sense of identification with the organization and shared understanding among employees about what is important. Employees whose organizations have strongly defined cultures can also justify their behaviors at work because those behaviors fit the culture. See Toxic Workplace Cultures Hurt Workers and Company Profits.

Company leaders play an instrumental role in shaping and sustaining organizational culture. If the executives themselves do not fit into an organization's culture, they often fail in their jobs or quit due to poor fit. Consequently, when organizations hire C-suite executives, these individuals should have both the requisite skills and the ability to fit into the company culture. See HR Can't Change Company Culture by Itself.

Culture plays a vital role in an organization's success. Therefore, HR leaders and other members of the HR team should foster a high-performance organizational culture. See How to Practice HR on Purpose.

HR leaders are responsible for ensuring that culture management is a core focus of their organization's competitive efforts. For HR leaders to influence culture, they need to work with senior management to identify what the organizational culture should look like. Strategic thinking and planning must extend beyond merely meeting business goals and focus more intently on an organization's most valuable asset-its people.

HR has been described as the "caretaker" of organizational culture. In carrying out this essential role, all members of the HR team should help build and manage a strong culture by:

Being a role model for the organization's beliefs.

Reinforcing organizational values.

Ensuring that organizational ethics are defined, understood and practiced.

Enabling two-way communications and feedback channels.

Defining roles, responsibilities and accountabilities.

Providing continuous learning and training.

Sustaining reward and recognition systems.

Encouraging empowerment and teams.

Promoting a customer-supplier work environment.

Recognizing and solving individual and organizational problems and issues.

What Is Organizational Culture?

For HR professionals to have any impact on culture, they must first have a thorough understanding of what culture is in a general sense and what their organization's specific culture is. At the deepest level, an organization's culture is based on values derived from basic assumptions about the following:

Human nature. Are people inherently good or bad, mutable or immutable, proactive or reactive? These basic assumptions lead to beliefs about how employees, customers and suppliers should interact and how they should be managed.

The organization's relationship to its environment.How does the organization define its business and its constituencies?

Appropriate emotions. Which emotions should people be encouraged to express, and which ones should be suppressed?

Effectiveness. What metrics show whether the organization and its individual components are doing well? An organization will be effective only when the culture is supported by an appropriate business strategy and a structure that is appropriate for both the business and the desired culture.

Culture is a nebulous concept and is often an undefined aspect of an organization. Although extensive academic literature exists relating to the topic of organizational culture, there is no generally accepted definition of culture. Instead, the literature expresses many different views as to what organizational culture is.

Organizational culture can manifest itself in a variety of ways, including leadership behaviors, communication styles, internally distributed messages and corporate celebrations. Given that culture comprises so many elements, it is not surprising that terms for describing specific cultures vary widely. Some commonly used terms for describing cultures include aggressive, customer-focused, innovative, fun, ethical, research-driven, technology-driven, process-oriented, hierarchical, family-friendly and risk-taking.

Because culture is difficult to define, organizations may have trouble maintaining consistency in their messages about culture. Employees may also find it difficult to identify and communicate about perceived cultural inconsistencies. and See Defining Organizational Culture Culture Conversation Starters.

Factors That Shape an Organization's Culture

Organizational leaders often speak about the unusual natures of their company cultures, seeing their domains as special places to work. But organizations such as Disney and Nordstrom, which are well-known for their unique cultures, are rare. See Viewpoint: 3 Steps to Cultivating a Customized Culture.

Most company cultures are not that different from one another. Even organizations in disparate industries such as manufacturing and health care tend to share a common core of cultural values. For example, most private-sector companies want to grow and increase revenues. Most strive to be team-oriented and to demonstrate concern for others. Most are driven, rather than relaxed, because they are competing for dollars and market share. Some of the cultural characteristics that distinguish most organizations include the following.

Values

At the heart of organizations' cultures are commonly shared values. None is right or wrong, but organizations need to decide which values they will emphasize. These common values include:

Outcome orientation. Emphasizing achievements and results.

People orientation. Insisting on fairness, tolerance and respect for the individual.

Team orientation. Emphasizing and rewarding collaboration.

Attention to detail. Valuing precision and approaching situations and problems analytically.

Stability. Providing security and following a predictable course.

Innovation. Encouraging experimentation and risk-taking.

Aggressiveness. Stimulating a fiercely competitive spirit.

See Trust Engenders Trust: A Q&A with Paul J. Zak.

Degree of hierarchy

The degree of hierarchy is the extent to which the organization values traditional channels of authority. The three distinct levels of hierarchy are "high"-having a well-defined organizational structure and an expectation that people will work through official channels; "moderate"-having a defined structure but an acceptance that people often work outside formal channels; and "low" -having loosely defined job descriptions and accepting that people challenge authority.

An organization with a high level of hierarchy tends to be more formal and moves more slowly than an organization with a low level of hierarchy.

Degree of urgency

The degree of urgency defines how quickly the organization wants or needs to drive decision-making and innovation. Some organizations choose their degree of urgency, but others have it thrust on them by the marketplace.

A culture with high levels of urgency has a need to push projects through quickly and a high need to respond to a changing marketplace. A moderate level of urgency moves projects at a reasonable pace. A low level of urgency means people work slowly and consistently, valuing quality over efficiency. An organization with high urgency tends to be fast-paced and supports a decisive management style. An organization with low urgency tends to be more methodical and supports a more considered management style.

People orientation or task orientation

Organizations usually have a dominant way of valuing people and tasks. An organization with a strong people orientation tends to put people first when making decisions and believes that people drive the organization's performance and productivity. An organization with a strong task orientation tends to put tasks and processes first when making decisions and believes that efficiency and quality drive organization performance and productivity.

Some organizations may get to choose their people and task orientations. But others may have to fit their orientation to the nature of their industry, historical issues or operational processes.

Functional orientation

Every organization puts an emphasis on certain functional areas. Examples of functional orientations may include marketing, operations, research and development, engineering or service. For example, an innovative organization known for its research and development may have at its core a functional orientation toward R&D. A hospitality company may focus on operations or service, depending on its historical choices and its definition in the marketplace.

Employees from different functions in the company may think that their functional areas are the ones that drive the organization. Organizational leaders must understand what most employees perceive to be the company's functional orientation. See Building a Customer-Centric Culture: Five Lessons Learned.

Organizational subcultures

Any organization can have a mix of subcultures in addition to the dominant culture. Subcultures exist among groups or individuals who may have their own rituals and traditions that, although not shared by the rest of the organization, can deepen and underscore the organization's core values. Subcultures can also cause serious problems.

For example, regional cultures often differ from the overall culture that top leadership tries to instill. Perhaps aggressiveness that is common in one area may not mesh with a culture emphasizing team building. Or an organization with a culture built around equality may have trouble if the national culture emphasizes hierarchy and expects people to bow to authority. Managers and HR professionals must recognize those differences and address them directly.

Creating and Managing Organizational Culture

An organizational culture tends to emerge over time, shaped by the organization's leadership and by actions and values perceived to have contributed to earlier successes. A company culture can be managed through the cultural awareness of organizational leaders and HR professionals. Managing a culture takes focused efforts to sustain elements of the culture that support organizational effectiveness. See Addressing the Six Sources of Workplace Cultural Conflicts.

How culture develops

An organization's customs, traditions, rituals, behavioral norms, symbols and general way of doing things are the visible manifestation of its culture; they are what one sees when walking into the organization. The current organizational culture is usually due to factors that have worked well for the organization in the past. See How to Create a Culture of Civility.

Founders typically have a significant impact on an organization's early culture. Over time, behavioral norms develop that are consistent with the organization's values. For example, in some organizations, resolution of conflicts is hashed out openly and noisily to create widespread consensus, whereas in other places disputes are settled hierarchically and quietly behind closed doors.

Though culture emerges naturally in most organizations, strong cultures often begin with a process called "values blueprinting," which involves a candid conversation with leaders from across the organization. Once the culture is framed, an organization may establish a values committee that has a direct link to leadership. This group makes sure the desired culture is alive and well. For values blueprinting to work, organizations must first hire people who live the values and have the competency needed to perform the job.

Sustaining a culture

The management of organizational culture starts with identifying a company's organizational culture traits or "artifacts." Artifacts are the core business activities, processes and philosophies that characterize how an organization does business day-to-day.

Identifying these traits-and assessing their importance in light of current business objectives-is a way to start managing culture. Three broad concepts help identify the traits specific to a culture:

Social culture. This refers to group members' roles and responsibilities. It is the study of class distinctions and the distribution of power that exists in any group.

Material culture. This involves examining everything that people in a group make or achieve and the ways people work with and support one another in exchanging required goods and services.

Ideological culture. This is tied to a group's values, beliefs and ideals-the things people view as fundamental. It includes the emotional and intellectual guidelines that govern people's daily existence and interactions.

Leaders and HR professionals within an organization should approach culture management by initially gaining an understanding of the common traits found in all businesses. Then, they should take the following steps to manage their organization's culture:

Identify common artifacts or traits, including those from the standpoint of an organization's social, material and ideological culture.

Convene groups of employees-representatives from all levels, functions and locations of the organization-to assess the validity, significance and currency of key artifacts.

Subject those traits to a rigorous assessment of their underlying shared assumptions, values and beliefs.

Summarize findings and share them with all participants to solicit additional insights.

Create a culture management action plan. The plan should enhance traits that support corporate growth or organizational effectiveness and correct traits that might hinder a company's advancement.

Typically, shared assumptions and beliefs originate with an organization's founders and leaders. Because those beliefs proved successful (otherwise the company would not exist and the leaders would not be in their positions), often they go unchallenged; however, those assumptions and beliefs might be outdated and may hinder future success. See 6 Steps for Building an Inclusive Workplace.

HR Practices to Develop Culture

HR has a special role in ensuring that an organization's culture will continue and thrive. When an organization does a good job assessing its culture, it can then go on to establish HR policies, programs and strategies that support and strengthen its core purpose and values. In aligned organizations, the same core characteristics or beliefs motivate and unite everyone, cascading down from the C-suite to individual contributors.

HR professionals have many tools for developing and sustaining a high-performance organizational culture, including hiring practices, onboarding efforts, recognition programs and performance management programs. HR's biggest challenge is deciding how to use these tools and how to allocate resources appropriately. See Taming the Savage Culture: A Q&A with Tim Mulligan.

Hiring practices

The central role that HR plays in helping an organization capitalize on its culture is in hiring. HR has the opportunity to select people who fit the way the organization operates. Traditionally, hiring focuses primarily on an applicant's skills, but when a hire's personality also fits with the organization's culture, the employee will be more likely to deliver superior performance. See Finance Sector Needs New Focus on Culture to Attract Talent and Candidates Choose Jobs Because of Company Culture.

On the other hand, ill-fitting hires and subsequent rapid departures cost approximately 50 percent to 150 percent of the position's annual salary. Unfortunately, nearly one in three newly hired employees' leaves voluntarily or involuntarily within a year of hiring, and this number has been increasing steadily in recent years. See 5 Unique Interview Questions Every Recruiter Should Ask.

Some hiring practices to ensure cultural fit include these:

Looking at each piece of the organization's vision, mission and values statements. Interview questions should hone in on behaviors that complement these areas. For example, if the organization works with a lot of intensity, then job applicants should display that natural intensity to be considered for hire.

Conducting a cultural fit interview. Ask questions that elicit comments about organizational values such as honesty or integrity. If a candidate's description of the worst place he or she ever worked sounds just like the organization where he or she is interviewing, the candidate probably will not be successful.

Leaving discussion of company culture for later. Do not tell candidates about culture up front. First,listen to what they have to say about their experiences and beliefs. This tactic will reveal more candid responses to help determine whether they are a fit for the organization.

Making sure at least three people are involved in the hiring process. Different people will see and hear different things. These varied perspectives give a clearer understanding of the person being considered for hire.

Searching for employees who will fit in seamlessly can have drawbacks. The biggest mistake an organization can make is to paint an inaccurate picture of itself as it tries to attract candidates. If new hires discover they have been sold a bill of goods, they will not be happy; they will probably not stick around, and, while they are around, morale will decline.

Another possible drawback is that people are more reluctant to take negative actions against people like themselves. As a result, mediocre workers are more likely to stay employed if they share the cultural values. Similarly, although an organization's comfort level is palpable when the culture is aligned, experts say, too much comfort can result in groupthink and complacency.

Onboarding programs

HR plays a primary role in socializing new employees by designing and overseeing the onboarding process. Onboarding teaches newcomers the employer's value system, norms and desired organizational behaviors. HR professionals must help newcomers become part of social networks in the organization and make sure that they have early job experiences that reinforce the culture. See Managing the Employee Onboarding and Assimilation Process.

Reward and recognition programs

These programs are key mechanisms HR can use to motivate employees to act in accordance with the organization's culture and values. For example, if teamwork is a core value, bonuses should value teamwork and not be based on individual performance. HR should also put the spotlight on those who personify the company's values. See Who's at the CENTRE of your recognition program? and Employee Recognition Tech Must Align with Company Culture.

Performance management programs

Employees who share values and aspirations tend to outperform those in environments that lack cohesiveness and common purposes. Performance management programs can greatly affect corporate culture by clearly outlining what is expected from employees as well as by providing a feedback tool that informs employees about proper behavior. See Performance Management That Makes a Difference: An Evidence-Based Approach.

Communications

Conflicting messages regarding corporate culture may create distrust and cynicism, which can prompt, or help employees justify, actions as deleterious as embezzlement. Experts say that cultural inconsistencies may also cause workers to grow discouraged, to believe management is disingenuous, to doubt statements from higher-ups and to be less inclined to give their best effort.

Organizations may be investing significant time and money in creating a culture but may not be reaping the commensurate rewards-especially if executives, supervisors and rank-and-file employees have differing perceptions of the company's culture. HR professionals must therefore ensure that the organization clearly and consistently communicates its culture to all employees. See HR's Role in Creating a Culture of High Trust: Q&A with Richard Fagerlin.

Metrics

Assessing organizational culture is a crucial step in developing sound HR strategies that support enterprise objectives and goals. But how do you measure something as potentially tough to describe as culture? After identifying the key dimensions of culture such as values, degree of hierarchy, and people and task orientations, performing these next steps will help organizations assess culture:

Develop a cultural assessment instrument. This instrument should enable members of the organization to rate the organization on the key cultural dimensions, as well as on aspects of the organization not covered on the assessment.

Administer the assessment. Survey respondents should include individuals at all levels, functions, divisions and geographical units of the organization.

Analyze and communicate about assessment results. Leaders and HR executives should discuss areas of agreement and disagreement about the organization's culture.

Conduct employee focus groups. Just because top management leaders agree on organizational culture does not mean that all employees see things that way.

Discuss culture until consensus forms around key issues. Focus on "Who are we?" and "What makes us who we are?" Organizations that decide that where they are now is not where they want to be may need to look at moving the organization to embrace a different culture.

Cultural assessments, and other activities such as cultural audits and 360-degree feedback, may also help uncover cultural inconsistencies. Then leaders and HR professionals can eliminate the inconsistencies. For example, if customer service is a focus of the company's culture, evaluate how much time employees spend visiting customer sites, how much interaction they have with customers, what customer service training they receive and other indicators of a customer service focus. See The New Analytics of Workplace Culture

Legal Issues

Employers that emphasize cultural fit in their recruitment and selection process can be vulnerable to discrimination claims if they are not careful. HR professionals should ensure that hiring practices and selection decisions based on a cultural fit rationale do not result in discriminating against any applicants who may not be "just like" the selectors.

Employers should also be aware that certain types of organizational cultures (for example, cultures that are highly paternalistic or male-dominated) may tend to perpetuate disparities in promotions, compensation and other terms of employment. Those disparities may violate anti-discrimination laws. See In Focus: Latest Lawsuits Shine Light on Racist, Sexist Workplace Cultures and Address the Small Infractions to Create an Inclusive Culture.

Global Issues

Research suggests that national culture has a greater effect on employees than the culture of their organization. Organizational leaders and HR professionals should understand the national cultural values in the countries in which the organization operates to ensure that management and HR practices are appropriate and will be effective in operations in those countries. National cultural differences should be considered when implementing organizational culture management initiatives in global businesses.

Managers must be able to respond to nuances in communication styles, as well as deal with different expectations that employees have of their leaders across national cultures. Not meeting those expectations may doom the global organization's chance for success in particular countries.

These issues become even more complex in global business mergers. Success in international mergers depends on the merged organization's willingness to enable people with different cultural perspectives to engage in meaningful and valuable discussions about the new business.

See:
Helping Expatriate Employees Deal with Culture Shock 3 Steps in Aligning Culture Across the Globe

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The key to a successful organization is to have a culture based on a strongly held and widely shared set of beliefs that are supported by strategy and structure.

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Advantages & Disadvantages of Team-Based Organizations
I always think working as a group is easier than individual because that way you get different opinions, ideas, and have a different experience of knowledge.  A team is made up of people with complementary skills who are working toward a common purpose. Some of the advantages & disadvantages as mentioned in the article:
~Advantages

Better Communication

Team Resolve Problems Quicker & finish duties quick

Flexible and Empowered Workforce

~Disadvantages

Potential for Conflict

Some people are not Team Players

Under-performing Employees Hide Behind the Team

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Advantages & Disadvantages of Team-Based Organizations

Team-based organizations emphasize the value and importance of all employees regardless of their specific roles or the simplicity and complexity of the tasks that they perform. In a team-based business, work processes are handled by groups of employees that are assigned specific projects with timelines established to achieve goals. In this organizational structure, employees have more autonomy and more authority to make decisions, without needing managerial approval.

Team-Based Organization Elements

In a team-based organization, employees work in specific groups that are tasked with a project. With a few exceptions, these teams don't have supervisors, which means that employees must establish trust with each other to achieve project goals. This also means that employees share responsibility for managing every task, and are given the authority to make decisions that are typically made by managers and supervisors in more traditionally structured businesses.

In most team-based organizations, managers establish goals, milestones, and performance standards, but allow team members to determine how to meet these requirements.

Advantage: Better Communication

The primary advantage of a team-based organization is that because there are usually no managers or only one manager supervising multiple teams, communication between employees is much more free-flowing and effective. Team-based organizations lack the multiple layers that employees would otherwise have to go through before making a suggestion or receiving the go-ahead to implement a new idea.

Advantage: Teams Resolve Problems Quicker

This improved communication also means that companies can resolve work issues quicker because employees can share information at a faster rate, which speeds up responsiveness.

Advantage: Flexible and Empowered Workforce

Another advantage is that team-based organizations are more flexible than organizations that are traditionally structured. As a business owner, you can shift employees from one team to another to maximize their skills and talent and to also keep them motivated with new challenges. Employees that work in teams are also more likely to understand their specific roles in the organization and are also more likely to feel validated and empowered.

Disadvantage: Potential for Conflict

A major disadvantage of a team-based organization is that personality conflicts within the team can negatively impact efficiency and group harmony. Although managers have the option of moving one employee out of the team to preserve unity, the disruptive employee would have to fit well with another team, which can be a challenge.

Disadvantage: Some People are not Team Players

Another disadvantage is that not all employees are suited to teamwork. Some employees work more efficiently on their own, and being part of a group may not maximize their skill set.

Disadvantage: Under-performing Employees Hide Behind the Team

Another drawback is that some employees in a team setting may rely on other employees to make up for their own lack of effort. In other words, some employees may coast on the efforts of other employees, which may require managers to implement individual performance milestones to ensure that each member of the team is putting forth the same effort.

About the Author

Sampson Quain is an experienced content writer with a wide range of expertise in small business, digital marketing, SEO marketing, SEM marketing, and social media outreach. He has written primarily for the EHow brand of Demand Studios as well as business strategy sites such as Digital Authority.

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Advantages & Disadvantages of Team-Based Organizations

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Choosing a team-based business structure can give you a flexible workforce and your employees increased motivation, which boosts productivity. But it can also present problems such as personality conflicts among team members that managers must resolve, which can disrupt team morale.

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In What Ways Can Decision Trees Be Used for Business Decisions?
A decision tree is a flowchart showing multiple pathways for potential decisions and outcomes. They are used to compare the costs and likely values of decision pathways that a business might take.

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You generally should base business decisions on a clear method.

John Foxx/Stockbyte/Getty Images

You can use decision trees to guide you in deciding among several alternatives. The decision-tree method allows you to approach the problem in a structured and systematic way to arrive at a logical conclusion. When used for business decisions, the method represents a documented record of the inputs that were available to you, the way you performed your evaluation and the reasons for the final decision.

Alternatives

A decision tree starts with the identification of alternative actions you can carry out. It helps you make a decision based on which one gives the more desirable outcome. To create the decision tree, you draw a square representing the root of the decision on the left side of a piece of paper. Two or more straight lines leading at different angles from the square to the right represent the alternative courses of action. For example, your decision could be whether to develop a new product or continue with your existing products. Your decision tree shows a square at the left with two straight lines leading from it to the right and representing the decision to proceed with the development or not.

Events

An event is an occurrence that happens outside your direct control and as a result of your actions. In the example of whether to develop a product, the possible results from the decision to proceed would be the development of a successful product or a product failure. You can show these possible events by drawing two further straight lines, branching from the end of the line representing the decision to develop the product. A third line continues from the line representing no product development and shows the resulting lack of development.

Outcomes

The outcomes are the results of making a decision, weighted with the probabilities of particular events occurring. For the example of product development, you might have to invest $50,000 to develop the new product, expecting it to generate total profits of $100,000. The probability of developing a successful product might be 80 percent. As a result, you have an 80 percent chance of earning $100,000, a 20 percent chance of earning nothing if the product fails, and a 100 percent chance of earning no additional profit if you don't develop the product.

Decision

The decision tree yields an expected value on which you can base your decision. Enter $50,000 on the first line representing the product-development decision, $100,000 and 80 percent on the line representing a successful development, $0 and 20 percent on the line representing a product failure and $0, 100 percent on the line representing no product development. For the successful product-development line, subtract the $50,000 development cost from the $100,000 profit and multiply by 80 percent to get an outcome of $40,000. For the failed product line, multiply the $50,000 development cost by 20 percent to get a minus-$10,000 outcome. The expected value of the decision to develop the product is $40,000 - $10,000 = $30,000. This $30,000 compares with an expected value of $0 for not developing the product. The decision tree shows that you should proceed with the development.

About the Author

Bert Markgraf is a freelance writer with a strong science and engineering background. He started writing technical papers while working as an engineer in the 1980s. More recently, after starting his own business in IT, he helped organize an online community for which he wrote and edited articles as managing editor, business and economics. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from McGill University.

Photo Credits

John Foxx/Stockbyte/Getty Images

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In What Ways Can Decision Trees Be Used for Business Decisions?

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You can use decision trees to guide you in deciding among several alternatives. The decision-tree method allows you to approach the problem in a structured and systematic way to arrive at a logical conclusion. When used for business decisions, the method represents a documented record of the inputs that were available ...

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6 Ways to Improve Your Decision-Making Skills
YES, it is hard to decide right away but I think we make it complicated for ourselves and overthink at times. It is simple just follow these steps.
Ways to improve your decision-making skills:

Determine the issues

Make list of pros & cons

Always have different plans in mind just in case

Imagine the results of decision before making them

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Decision Making Made Easy

As employees, we each possess many different qualities that help us fit in and excel at our jobs. Maybe you're great in a crisis, are wonderful at managing a team, or really excel at making awesome PowerPoints. Maybe you've been honing your soft skills, reading up on inner-office communication or feel at home planning an office party or outing. We all have our strong points and hopefully we use them to their optimum levels each and every day.

Unfortunately, one area in which many employees feel themselves lacking is their decision-making skills. Decision-making is vital in so many ways to success in the workplace, especially if you're a manager, need to delegate, or are the final authority on a big issue, but many of us find ourselves floundering when making a decision is down to the wire. Here are a few ways to improve your decision-making skills and improve your work life dramatically.

Determine the True Issues

Decision making can fluster us and prevent us from seeing the true goal of the decision we are charged with making. Don't let the responsibility cloud your reason; assess the truth of the issue from all angles and then grapple with the responsibility of making the final decision. If you don't know the issue inside and out, your decision won't be informed and thus has less of a chance at being effective and good for all parties involved.

Imagine the Results-and Be Honest

When we are the leader in a situation, it's easy to imagine our ideas as the ones that produce the best, most desired results. Unfortunately, we can tend to glamourize our own ideas to the point that we aren't able to see the weak spots in them. When you're trying to make a decision, you must imagine the possible results or outcomes and be absolutely honest about the negative possibilities as well as the positive. When you're being honest with yourself from the start, you can approach each topic of concern with a level head and a selfless perspective.

Make Lists of Pros and Cons

For many people, keeping a mental rank-and-file of the pros and cons of particular options simply isn't enough to help them reach a final decision. Have a special notepad that you can turn to, one which contains pros and cons of certain options and well-thought-out scenarios wherein that option could help or hinder progress. Weighing pros and cons is among the first steps to making an informed decision, and having a record of pros and cons is great for reference when you're absolutely lost.

"Know Thyself"

Plato's ancient maxim is still applicable today, in a variety of environments and situations. When it comes to making decisions in the work place, knowing yourself is absolutely paramount. If you don't know your own limits, boundaries and abilities, it's next to impossible for you to make an accurate and effective decision. Especially if you're a leader or manager in the situation, you need to know your own bandwidth, how capable you are in the area or topic of interest and how easily it will be for you to delegate tasks based on your own knowledge.

Always Have a Plan B

Another reason we might have trouble making decisions is because the idea of a "be all, end all" is extremely intimidated. If we feel backed into a corner and forced to choose between two options, neither of which is a guarantee, we begin looking for possible alternatives so all isn't loss if we make the wrong decision.

If you can avoid it, don't make a decision on an important topic without also having a solid Plan B. You'll experience tremendous relief and peace of mind knowing that even if your decision fails, you have an option in place to soften the blow.

Don't Make Decisions Under Stress

This should go without saying, but making a decision when you're threatened, pressed or otherwise frazzled will seriously compromise your judgment of things. If you find yourself getting severely stressed over making a decision, take some time to unwind and relax. Escape the office environment and let your brain come down from the tension involved with making a decision under pressure. Once you've sufficiently unwound, revisit the options, their tenets and the possible outcomes. You'll have a level head, a calm demeanor and a refreshed sense of reason.

Decision making is never easy, but when you are armed with excellent decision making skills, the process is easier and produces a more effective result.
Have you focused on professional growth in this area? What did you learn during the process? image credit: jesadaphorn/freedigitalphotos.net

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Video: 6 Ways to Improve Your Decision-Making Skills

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As employees, we each possess many different qualities that help us fit in and excel at our jobs. Maybe you're great in a crisis, are wonderful at managing a team, or really excel at making awesome PowerPoints. Maybe you've been honing your soft skills, reading up on inner-office communication or feel at home planning an office party or outing.

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10 Easy E-commerce Strategies to Help You Reach More Customers
E-commerce strategies rely on the power of the Internet, both in the growing popularity of online purchasing and in shaping marketing strategies.  The article focuses on how to gain more customers using E-commerce strategies.
I think the Important tips that should be considered:

Make payment convenience a priority

Develop an E-commerce strategy

Focus on building consumer trust

Sell the experience, not the product

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If your business is an online store which is selling products or services, you might be interested in helpful advice on how to reach more customers using E-commerce strategy.

A strategy is a summary of how your store is planning to achieve its goals and improve its position in the market.

There are different types of strategies depending on the goals. In this case, we will focus on how to reach more customers for your e-commerce business.

First of all, make sure your online store is:

accessible from every type of device (PC, laptop, phone etc.).

readable with clear design and information on it.

For this purpose, your E-commerce store needs to have a responsive web design and a mobile-friendly theme. Customers expect mobile-friendly sites. Businesses with a mobile-friendly website will make more sales over those which do not have one. Statistics since 2017 show that mobile device usage is either equal to or surpassing desktop usage.

Source: StatCounter Global Stats - Platform Comparison Market Share

Web store home page, product pages, and product categories are the most visited places in an online store. How are they designed and how to be understood as well as possible? These questions may be answered by UX Design strategies.

What else can be done in order to make your online store more profitable?
Related: 6 Ways to Reinvent Your Ecommerce Website
1. Increase E-commerce Search Usability

Does your e-commerce platform record or analyze what customers are searching for? If your online store system is able to tracks this, you are probably having effective navigation and search capability.

Organize your web store for these two main groups of potential customers:

Visitors who know what they want to buy.

Visitors who only want to browse.

Customers who know exactly what they are looking for want to find the right information as quickly as possible. Designing a high-performing search experience is a key feature for your users because if users can't find what they are looking for, they will buy it from another store.

The second category is potential customers who just want to browse through the online store and compare items. They will use navigation menus and move into product categories and pages. You should organize the menu bar and categories in intuitive easy-to-use sections.

Does your website have well-designed search and navigation functions? They need to be user-oriented in order to be effective and help improve the overall experience customers are having on e-commerce websites.

To boost conversions in an e-commerce store you can improve the search usability in the following fields:

design and behavior of the search field;

search scope selection;

how should the autocomplete be designed;

results layout and features;

filtering and sorting the search results on the results page.

2. Use High-Quality Photographs and Good Product Descriptions

Include beautiful product images and photos to attract the attention of potential customers. Outside the brick and mortar world, customers can't touch the product and are making their buying decisions entirely dependant on product imagery and feedback.

Showing good viewable thumbnails in the search results page will help users find the desired product in one click and get a better idea of what are you offering.

Don't just describe the product - you can create a comprehensive list of features and benefits. Your target customers want to know everything about a potential purchase and how this product would help them and improve their everyday life.

Consider these tips when writing product descriptions:

1. Create proper subheadings.

2. Use bullet points to attract attention.

3. Improve readability with larger font sizes.

4. Provide video and real photographs to your product.

5. Pay attention to white spaces through the content to make the copy more readable.

Website design and content creation should work together for optimal results. Make copy part of your whole UX experience and enjoy higher conversion rates right away.

If you want to perfect your product descriptions you can check " How to Write eCommerce Product Description: Best Practices " and try out some of the suggested practices.

3. Try Personalizing the Home Page

Personalization is a technique that records what customers viewed or visited on their last session on your website and makes new buying suggestions on every following visit based on past experience in the store. This can be a personalization based on previous behavior such as previous purchases or based on real-time data such as a location or time.

59% of online shoppers believe that it is easier to find more interesting products on personalized online retail stores", invespcro.com, Online Shopping Personalization - Statistics and Trends

Amazon is the pioneer of the user-centric shopping experience. Their homepage helps people easily find the right product in the personalized block in the first section when you log in under the "related to items you've viewed" tag.

4. Focus on Consistent and Unique Content

Why? Because content marketing is still one of the most effective marketing strategies you can apply today. The world of advertising is constantly changing, consumers are trying to avoid ads in many ways. With content strategy implemented the right way in your e-commerce business, you can provide more value to your customers.

To do this, you first need to understand your customers and how your product would help them and solve their problems. The main thing is to focus your content production around your customer's problems and what value you can provide to them.

Don't forget to first understand your target audience, what their interests are, their demographic data, etc. When done the next step is to make a plan for your posts. Publish relevant, valuable articles with good and easy-to-share options. Best tips for good-looking content is to include:

Lists - They are more readable from paragraphs.

Advice headlines with "How to" text relate to your reader's problems.

Topical posts - Which are relevant to something trendy and popular.

Do tests with headlines, measure how well different types of content work, which generates the most traffic to your online store, and which of them led to the most sales.

If your target audience are millennials we have great ideas on how you can attract them to your eCommerce website.

5. Optimize Shopping Cart Functionality

To prevent customers from abandoning their shopping carts, you should be sure shopping cart functionality is perfect and easily navigable. The way to understand weaknesses is to do tests frequently. Test different options on a page to reduce shopping cart abandonment.

During the optimizing process, you should pay attention to revenue not in conversions because this is the main business goal. Clear the checkout page and remove distractions and/or possible places to exit. This will prevent any confusion during the checkout process. Plenty of conversion studies have shown that the fewer clicks during checkout, the higher your conversion rate will be.

Here's a little bonus for readers that own a WooCommerce shop - check Tyche Softwares' Abandoned Cart Pro Plugin for minimizing cart abandonment rates.

6. Build E-mail Lists

If your online business is not using email marketing as a communication channel, you are missing out on huge sales. Use sign-up forms, give something in exchange for an e-mail address like a discount code or even a small present. Make sure you win the customer's trust and never send out emails without the user's consent, otherwise you risk winding up in the SPAM folder and no one wants to ruin their brand like that.

Include sign-up fields at the end of your blog posts or buying guides. If the visitors enjoyed the content you provided them, they will be happy to keep in touch and get information about news, discounts, and promotions and will leave their e-mail. Don't forget to include an option, where the customeris able to join your mailing list as part of the checkout process.

An email list can never be "full" or ready, but as soon as your first customers start to opt-in for your newsletter, you can use their emails to:

Promote new or upcoming products.

Offer promotions or discounts.

Send relevant and helpful blog posts.

Ask for feedback.

Create special newsletter-only campaigns and discount codes.

7. Improve Your Social Media Strategy

The social media strategy your marketing team prepares should be connected with your content strategy. The content creation from your e-commerce website should be published and shared on social media, as this guarantees you a larger audience and boosted visibility.

Visual social networks such as Instagram, Snapchat, and Pinterest, are usually best for online shops that are selling products, however, don't underestimate Twitter and Facebook as more than 75% of all internet users are also there.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution, but here is a basic list of general guidelines you can check to see if your content follows in order to create the best customer experience for your clients:

Post daily and consistently.

Consider an automated tool to make sure your posts are on track.

Always use images when posting, even on Twitter.

Do not spam.

Do not use social media for promotions only, engage with your customers.

Use analytics to track your audience's engagement.

Test multiple social media marketing strategies before picking the right one for your business.

But how are we so sure social media marketing strategies can help your e-commerce business? Check some benefits that come with a well-tailored social media campaign:

Gathering information about your customer's online behavior allows for the creation of targeted ads.

Building strong relationships with people - Daily communication with your customers helps any business to answer the buyer's needs and provide a better user experience.

Unique and high-quality posts on social media expand brand awareness and convert people to brand ambassadors.

Better customer support - Over 67% of consumers use social media platforms for customer support. If your business answers are timely and really help your customers, they can get viral.

Cost-efficiency - social media is the fastest and cheapest way of connecting with your customers.

Higher conversion rates - In 2019, social networks influenced 74% of shoppers for their purchasing decisions

Implementing a social media strategy to your eCommerce store is obligatory. But after that you need to analyze how your social media channels are performing - your posts engagements, reach and campaign outcomes. In this tutorial, you can learn how to improve your social media campaign using data visualization.

8. Create Landing Pages

With the development of personalized landing pages with a unique copy, your e-commerce online store increases the chance of attracting more customers who are willing to buy your products. Create specific landing pages for the different groups in your target audience. Outline your buyer personas and use analytics to determine the general demographic segments you are catering to.

How to build high-converting landing pages that drive sales, sign-ups or subscriptions?

Here are some suggestions:

A landing page should have only one single purpose and only one CTA (Call to Action) button. This doesn't mean you can't have multiple buttons, but they should all lead to the same conversion goal. Conversion rates decrease if the buyer's attention isn't focused well enough.

Create clear user-friendly designs for all of your landing pages. The only clickable elements should guide the visitor to the desired goal. It is a good idea to hide the navigation bar at the top, social media icons or elements that can distract the visitors.

The one thing you want your visitor to do should be the only thing they can do - Unbounce.

For further inspiration, you can check out this tutorial where you will learn 6 great tips on how to write landing page copy that converts.

9. Build Advertising Strategies

E-commerce shop advertisements help to improve your online visibility and boost sales. Before starting an ad campaign, you should answer three questions: How many visitors does your business' website need for a successful conversion? How much is the budget you can safely allocate and for what period of time? What is the best advertisement outlet for your products? These answers will help you to make some calculations and predictions and will narrow your advertisement options.

Most people choose to start with Facebook Ads or Google Adwords - The most popular and user-friendly platforms for advertising.

Whatever you choose, the most important part is to analyze and track the traffic to your website. Google Analytics, for example, is showing where are visitors coming from, and what are they doing on your website.

Retargeting methods to reach visitors and potential customers is also a smart move to increase ads effect. Facebook pixel is a tool that can keep a record of all the FB visitors on your website and help create targeted campaigns.

Then you can set-up preferences based on where did your visitors spent their time on site - product page, blog, testimonials etc. Collecting information takes time and patience, but expanding your audience allows for a detailed analysis that gives better results.

10. Implement User-Generated Content

The UGC (User Generated Content) idea is simple: C onsumers post content (video clips, pictures, testimonials, reviews, and blogs) that is publicly available online through social media and other sites, regarding your store, brand or product. Generated organic content can be either a positive or negative experience with an online store or products. UGS can help you gain more leads to your e-commerce website, because

Shoppers that interact with CGC are 97% more likely to convert with a retailer than customers who do not. Brands see a 78% lift in conversion rates when customers interact with CGC.

How can consumers generate content for you?

Here are some helpful ideas:

Organize product contests on social media and encourage people to share how they are using your products; you can also enable voting rules.

Ask customers how they think can make your product better.

Use campaigns on Instagram with branded company hashtags to encourage customers who love your brand to post images and tag you.

Try reaching new potential customers and check if there are viral social channels you are not already using.

Use real-time interactions with Facebook Live videos, Twitter's Periscope app, Youtube Live or other Live stream platforms and services.

Conclusion

The digital strategies for e-commerce stores that we listed are a small part of the opportunities your business can use to reach more customers online. Every point of this article shows ideas which can be developed into working sales.

Analyze your webpage, test some of the patterns we have outlined, and give us feedback on what works well for your business and what you need to improve. You can always contact DevriX and schedule a call with one of our marketing specialists for in-depth analysis and any kind of marketing tips and tricks.

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10 Easy E-commerce Strategies to Help You Reach More Customers - DevriX

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If your business is an online store which is selling products or services, you might be interested in helpful advice on how to reach more customers using E-commerce strategy . A strategy is a summary of how your store is planning to achieve its goals and improve its position in the market.

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Strategic Management Process 6 Steps
Strategic management is the process of managing, planning, and analyzing in order to reach all organizational goals. This is important for marketing people. It explains in the article about 6 steps of a strategic management process that help in any business.

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Strategic management is construed in the context of a process. Strategic management process 6 steps is an identifiable flow of information through interrelated stages of analysis directed toward the achievement of an aim. In the strategic management process 6 steps, the strategists primarily determine objectives and make strategic directions and actions. It is involved with the development of an effective strategy to help achieve organizational objectives. Our operational definition of strategic management process 6 steps are:

There are included the Strategic management process 6 steps. Strategic management process 6 steps are:-

1. Developing Organization's Vision and Mission

2. Strategic Analysis of the Organization

3. Establishing Objectives

4. Strategy Formulation

5. Strategy Implementation

6. Strategic Evaluation and Control

This definition encompasses six inter-related issues of strategic management process 6 steps. Such as:-

First, the strategy-makers develop a vision for the organization and then formulate a mission in the light of the vision. While a vision states 'where we are going', a mission describes the organization's present business and its purpose for existence.

Secondly, the strategy-makers conduct a thorough analysis of the organization's internal and external environments to gather enough information for setting objectives.

They set objectives in the third phases. These objectives subsequently use for measuring the organization's performance and progress.

Fourthly, they embark upon the most important task in the process of strategic management - formulation of a strategy to achieve the objectives at the third phase. A strategy comprises the actions and approaches undertaken by the organization's managers to effectively and efficiently achieve the vision, mission, and objectives.

At the fifth phase of the strategic management process 6 steps, the managers accomplish all the necessary organizational tasks for sound implementation of the chosen strategy.

Finally, managers monitor developments, evaluate the performance of all those involved with implementing a strategy, and make corrective adjustments in the organization's objectives, strategy or in the implementation plan on the basis of actual situations, including new developments in the environment as well new ideas and opportunities. That means, strategic evaluation and control attempts to establish standards of performance, monitors progress during the implantation strategy, and (if anything goes wrong) intimate corrective adjustments.

Developing Organization's Vision and Mission:

In the strategic management process 6 steps, developing the organization's vision and mission is the first step. In this step will be discussed the vision and mission separately.

Strategic Analysis of the Organization:

The analysis is a main phase of the strategic management process 6 steps because the information added in this phase will form the next two phases. In this phase, fold as much material and information relevant to completing your vision. The emphasis of the examination should be on thoughtful the desires of the business as a defensible unit, its strategic track and classify creativities that will benefit your business raise. Scrutinize any outside or interior topics that can touch your goal line and purposes. Make sure to categorize both the strong point and dimness of your organization over and above any intimidations and chances that may rise along the trail.

Establishing Objectives:

It is the third step of the strategic management process 6 steps. Establishing objective is a direction setting task. A mission statement provides an overall goal of the organization but does not enable managers to go for action. Managers, consequently, need to change the mission to precise performance objects. Establishing objectives adapts vision and mission to explicit performance consequences. Objectives must set for monetary performance and plan performance for accomplishment. Top managers set broader objectives with longer time horizons than do successively lower levels of managers. Lower level managers set objectives based on the middle-level objectives. In effect, lower-level objectives provide the means for achieving middle-level objectives and, in turn, middle-level objectives provide the means for achieving top-level objectives.

Strategy Formulation:

After having completed the strategic analysis of a company, managers are now in the possession of a strong pool of information regarding the industry competition, external opportunities and threats, and weaknesses. Based on they would logically proceed term objectives for the would formulate appropriate endeavor to gain competitive market.

Formulation of strategy (fourth step of the strategic management process 6 steps) is in order to ease the formulation of strategy, managers need to have an in-depth look at several issues. They expect to identify the generic. And other competitive strategies as applicable to single-business Company and match the strategies to industry and company situations.

Under this step of the strategic management process 6 steps; will discuss the following these topics. Such as:-

Formulation of competitive strategies that a single business company can employ for achieving competitive advantages

Matching strategy with the industry and company situations and

Formulation of corporate strategy.

Link: Different Types of Public Enterprises and Principles of NPM
Strategy Implementation:

The fifth step is the strategy implementation of the strategic management process 6 steps. Effective strategy implementation is precarious to the attainment of the business endeavor. This is the stroke phase of the Strategic management process 6 steps. If the general strategy does not effort with the business' existing construction, a fresh construction should be fitted at the opening of this point. Every person within the business must make rich of their farm duties and responsibilities, and how that hysterics in with the general objective. Furthermore, any capitals or backing for the endeavor must protect at this argument. Once the aid is in place and the staffs prepare, perform the design.

Strategic Evaluation and Control:

Strategic evaluation and control is the final one of the strategic management process 6 steps. The internal and external environments of an organization are constantly changing. Such changes can make the organization's strategies obsolete. It is, thus, essential to periodically review, evaluate and control the strategies that the organization has been implementing. Timely evaluation and control would help managers take corrective measures to keep everything on track.

These are the strategic management process 6 steps in the strategic management concept. You can use or follow the attached links for getting more knowledge about the Strategic management process 6 steps of strategic management overview with its important types.

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Strategic Management Process 6 Steps | HigherStudy.org

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Strategic management is construed in the context of a process. Strategic management process 6 steps is an identifiable flow of information through interrelated stages of analysis directed toward the achievement of an aim. In the strategic management process 6 steps, the strategists primarily determine objectives and make strategic directions and actions.

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How Have Individuals Shaped Globalization?
Yale SOM’s Jeffrey Garten examines a thousand years of globalization through the lens of 10 individuals who accelerated and shaped the process.

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Globalization is in some ways a new idea. According to Merriam-Webster, the word "globalize" made its first appearance in print in 1944; "globalization" followed seven years later. The concept as we understand it was introduced in a 1983 Harvard Business Review article by Theodore Levitt, who defined the term and went on to explain how he saw the world changing. "Gone are accustomed differences in national or regional preferences," he wrote.

Many see globalization as a product of the technological changes of the 20th century. Rapid advancement in transportation and communication led to booming global business, which in turn has allowed culture and ideas to travel the world as well. Exemplified by the essentially stateless global corporation, it is powerful, far-reaching, and perhaps a little frightening. On the eve of the financial crisis, the Economist devoted an issue to multinationals, celebrating them and imploring readers that rather than fear multinationals, "people would be wise to do all they can to make them feel at home in their country."

But not everyone puts globalization into such a small box. Understood more broadly as the growth of connections that open one region of the world to another, the process can be traced back much further. Adam Smith wrote that 1492 and 1498, the years of the voyages of Christopher Columbus and Vasco de Gama, were the two most important dates in human history because they opened up the rest of the world to European powers.

Jeffrey Garten, Yale SOM's dean emeritus, pushes the date back even farther. In his new book, From Silk to Silicon: The Story of Globalization through Ten Extraordinary Lives, he begins in 1162, the year that Genghis Khan, who created the largest empire in the world before the British Empire, is believed to have been born. In contrast to most historians of globalization, Garten looks at the phenomenon through the lens of individuals, rather than huge historical forces; he begins with Khan and ends with Deng Xiaoping, whom Garten credits with relaunching China as a world economic power.

While Garten is fascinated by the role of individuals, he doesn't claim that the 10 figures he profiles are essential to the rise of globalization. Rather, he says, all lived in revolutionary times-characterized by political, technological, intellectual, or social changes-that were ripe for people to have an impact.

"In the end, they didn't bend history; they accelerated it," he said. "And for one reason or another, these particular people got there first. They might have been smarter; they might have been quicker; they might have been luckier. They did make a difference. But I think that it's very likely that the historical circumstances which gave them the opportunity would have sooner or later given others the opportunity, too."

Garten's main characters-they also include Margaret Thatcher, banker Mayer Amschel Rothschild, and Cyrus Field, who helped build the first transatlantic telegraph-didn't cause globalization, but they undoubtedly shaped it.

"Each of them did something really amazing," he said. "Each of them transformed their world in such a way we're still living with the impact."

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How Have Individuals Shaped Globalization?

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Globalization is in some ways a new idea. According to Merriam-Webster, the word "globalize" made its first appearance in print in 1944; "globalization" followed seven years later. The concept as we understand it was introduced in a 1983 Harvard Business Review article by Theodore Levitt, who defined the term and went on to explain how he saw the world changing.

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Want a Successful Business? Build An Effective Strategy
A strategy is a long-term plan that you create for your company to reach the desired, future state you envision.

Goal setting

Analysis

Strategy formation

Strategy implementation

Strategy monitoring

Planning out & building an effective strategy isn't something easy and quick it takes time, effort, and insisting. In my opinion, if you take your time and put all your effort into it you will be a successful person and role model to many people.

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Do you ever wonder why some companies are successful and perform better than others? Or why some are hard to beat and others are not? Well, if a company wants to stay competitive in the industry, it must create and execute a strategy that is good and sound.

For example, companies like Amazon have been successful for years because their strategy is tightly tied to their vision. Amazon is known as the most customer-centric company in the world. Its products and services provide a seamless experience, where people can come to a place, find, discover and buy online.

A strategy is a long-term plan that you create for your company to reach the desired, future state you envision. A strategy includes your company's goals and objectives, the type of products/services that you plan to build, the customers who you want to sell to and the markets that you serve to make profits.

A strategy is solid when all the assumptions you make at the time of its creation have been validated and tested for accuracy, and the decisions you've made can be presented with clear facts and evidence. It is important to ensure that your strategy aligns with your company's objectives, the type of business that your organization does and is known to do and the environment in which you plan to thrive. For example, Google's vision is to provide the best internet experience to users. It's well-known to the public as Google Search. All the products and services that Google builds are aligned with its core objectives.

A good strategy will help you make good investment decisions, like how and where you would like to spend money. It also helps to provide guidance on project prioritization and other activities within your organization. Allocate and optimize resources, and make profits that generate above-average returns.
What To Consider When Developing Your Own Strategy
1. Clear, long-term objectives: Prepare a strategic plan that is long-term and realistic. What type of products/services would you like to build? Who will be your customers? What markets would you like to serve, and what activities would you like to carry on to get to your desired future state?

2. Opportunity: Carefully analyze what opportunity exists in the future and how it might evolve over time. Gather more data and facts associated with it before finalizing any decisions. Clearly diagnose the risks and challenges anticipated in pursuing this opportunity and come up with the mitigation plan to address them.

3. Innovatio n: Ensure that the products/services you plan to build are unique, with clear differentiation -- and that they are aligned with your business. Think back to when Apple launched the iPod, a truly innovative product. The company has since been well-known for its brand and quality. Along with its computers, people buy Apple's other products too, like the iPhone, iPad, etc., even though they might be more expensive than the alternatives.

4. Competition: Ensure that your strategy remains competitive. Choose a market that is either not served or underserved with little or no competition, and be the first one there. This way, you capture the market share, build your brand and position your company well in that marketplace, making it harder for any new entrants.

5. Economies of scale: Lower the cost of your goods/services while remaining innovative. Offer unique features and high-quality customer service. For example, Walmart always tries to sell its products at a much lower price, increasing its sales through a large customer base and generating higher profits.

6. Time to mar ket: Carefully evaluate the options of "build versus buy" for the products/services that you plan to offer your customers. Sometimes, it might be cheaper to buy part of the products or solutions that are already available or outsource to a third-party vendor to save some cost of producing your goods/services and getting them out in the market.

7. Tes ts: Periodically review and update your strategy to ensure that it's valid at all times and meets your company's objectives and market needs. Test it out in small phases. It's better to fail fast when it is less expensive and recover from mistakes.

8. Risks and failures: Factor risks into your plan and allow your organization to accept failures. Use unique insights gained from successes and failures to learn from your past experience and improve your future.

9. Stakeholder s: Once your plan is finalized, share it with employees in your organization to provide them with guidance and reasoning on the initiatives that will be carried out within the company. Explain how it relates to them and to the firm. Additionally, prepare a separate plan to share with your external stakeholders, like investors, partners, suppliers, industry analysts and your customers. Let them know what you are doing, why you are doing it and how it affects the company's forecast in generating revenues and impacting shareholders' value.

Want your company to be successful and perform better than your competitors? Develop and execute a solid, competitive strategy to make profits that generate above-average returns.

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Want A Successful Business? Build An Effective Strategy

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Do you ever wonder why some companies are successful and perform better than others? Or why some are hard to beat and others are not? Well, if a company wants to stay competitive in the industry, it must create and execute a strategy that is good and sound.

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How To Take Your Company Global

Research, research, research. First thing you always do when thinking of taking your company globally is to search for opportunities. Think about market entrance and size, cost efficiency, labor and resource supply, geographical constraints and legal regulation.

Plan things out.

Ask local experts about the local market and listen to their advice.

Visit the countries required and establish personal relationships

Focus on global marketing strategies

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Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

The American market for almost everything is huge, but it's not large enough for many entrepreneurs. For these growth-minded business owners, the rest of the world is their oyster. Seeking international growth by going global as an importer-exporter offers opportunity aplenty. Some of the specific advantages presented by successfully growing globally include:

You can extend the sales life of existing products and services by finding new markets to sell them in.

You can reduce your dependence on the markets you have developed in the United States.

If your business is plagued by destabilizing fluctuations in your markets due to seasonal changes or demand cycles, you can even out your sales by tapping markets with different or even countercyclical fluctuations.

You can exploit corporate technology and know-how.

Finally, by entering the global marketplace, you'll learn how to compete against foreign companies-and even take the battle to them on their own ground.

The overriding reason to go global, of course, it to improve your potential for expansion and growth. And there are too many international opportunities for us to catalog them all here-or even in a much longer book than this one. The obvious opportunities are the markets in Canada, Mexico, Europe and Japan. But those only scratch the surface. There are many other fast-growing, less-competitive markets.

Just spin the globe and you can find an opportunity to sell something, somewhere. Unearthing just the right opportunity for you involves more work, of course. This information will get you started on that work.

Questions to Ask Before You Start
Experts agree that growing a business in America is risky enough. But what if your aspirations prompt you to debut your concept in a foreign land instead? Wesley Johnston, professor of marketing and director of the Center for Business and Industrial Marketing at Georgia State University in Atlanta, highlights the factors that can either make or break your business when you try to grow by going global. Here are key questions to ask yourself:

Will the product sell well in the targeted culture? Think market research. The good news is most American products and services are embraced overseas. But if many of your potential consumers are lactose-intolerant, you'd want to steer clear of opening an eatery that sells only cheese pizza, says Johnston.

Is your target market familiar with your product or service? If not, be prepared to invest a lot of time and money in consumer education. On the flip side, if you're the first one to introduce a new and exciting concept, "the product then becomes synonymous with your company name or chain," Johnston explains.

Do you feel comfortable in that country? Since you'll probably have to live there temporarily to operate the chain in its early stages, you'll need a working knowledge of the language and culture.

What is the infrastructure like? Can you get Western-style accommodations and support? How good are the roads? Are your supplies guaranteed? What about the reliability of hot water?

If you don't get the answers you want with the first foreign market you're considering entering, that may not mean your idea is poor-just that you picked the wrong place. "It's a big, big world out there," Johnston says. "I don't think there's any one idea that won't work somewhere."

The Pitfalls of Exporting
Along with promise, going global carries an equally heavy load of peril. From chasing too many opportunities to getting whacked by currency fluctuations, the game of international expansion has many threats that domestic-only businesspeople never see. You can grab the brass ring of growth by going global, but only if you avoid the pitfalls.

The moment you've been waiting for has finally arrived, and you're ready to export your product. Now what? Your first order of business is to heed the hard lessons learned by those who have gone before you. Many have blundered, but that doesn't mean you have to. Below are some of the most common exporting mistakes, according to John E. Cleek, program director at the Bloch School of Business Administration at the University of Missouri in Kansas City.

Failing to plan your strategy. "Small businesses are particularly vulnerable to this problem, but larger ones are often guilty of the same mistake," says Cleek. "It takes far more time to extract yourself from problems created by lack of planning than it would to do it right the first time."

Chasing inquiries the world over. Just because dozens of countries show interest doesn't mean you're ready to market your product everywhere. Patience is key. "It takes discipline to respond to an inquiry from a country about which you know very little," Cleek says.

Assuming if it works in America, it will work anywhere. Not true-you need to tailor your sales and marketing efforts to each country. Don't ignore the cultural differences that shape the marketplace. The same goes for pricing, shipping, payment terms and packaging.

Assuming business will be done in English. Familiarize yourself with the local language. Says Cleek, "It is the height of ignorance to expect other people to learn our language to buy from us."

Going Global

Doing business around the world can seem a long way from doing business in your hometown. But each year countless small businesses make the trek. Like most long journeys, going global can be boiled down to a series of steps. Here are the six basic steps to going global:

1. Start your campaign to grow by international expansion by preparing an international business plan to evaluate your needs and set your goals. It's essential to assess your readiness and commitment to grow internationally before you get started.

2. Conduct foreign market research and identify international markets. The Department of Commerce is an excellent source of information on foreign markets for U.S. goods and services.

3. Evaluate and select methods of distributing your product abroad. You can choose from a variety of means for distributing your product, from opening company-owned foreign subsidiaries to working with agents, representatives and distributors and setting up joint ventures.

4. Learn how to set prices, negotiate deals and navigate the legal morass of exporting. Cultural, social, legal and economic differences make exporting a challenge for business owners who have only operated in the United States.

5. Tap government and private sources of financing-and figure out ways to make sure you are getting paid. Financing is always an issue, but government interest in boosting exporting and centuries of financial innovation have made getting funding and getting paid easier than ever.

6. Move your goods to their international market, making sure you package and label them in accordance with regulations in the market you are selling to. The globalization of transportation systems helps here, but regulations are still different everywhere you go.

Understanding Another Culture
One big difference between doing business domestically and internationally is culture. According to Hilka Klinkenberg, founder of Etiquette International in New York City, less than 25 percent of U.S. business ventures abroad are successful. "A lot of that is because Americans don't do their homework or because they think the rest of the world should do business the way they do business," she says. Klinkenberg offers the following tips to avoid making costly mistakes in international business meetings:

Build a relationship before you get down to business. "That entails making small talk and getting to know one another without [immediately] getting into business discussions," she says.

Don't impose time limits. Says Klinkenberg, "Keep [the meeting] as open as possible because it adds strength to your negotiating position."

Do your research. Learn at least a few pointers and facts about the country; it shows you respect your potential partners' cultural heritage. Also, get comfortable with the basic words in their language.

Bring your own interpreter. If they provide the interpreter, warns Klinkenberg, "the interpreter is going to have the other person's [interests] at heart, not yours."

Understand body language. "People think [body] language is universal-it's not," she says.

Dress with respect and authority. This should be self-explanatory. If it's not, seek the help of an image expert.

Financing Help From the Import-Export Bank
As with any growth plan, expanding internationally requires financing. And growing globally requires special capabilities when it comes to finances. One of the most popular sources of financing for businesses expanding overseas is the Export-Import Bank of the United States. The Ex-Im Bank, as it's commonly known, is an independent U.S. government agency that has helped finance overseas sales of more than $300 billion in U.S. goods and services since 1934.

The Ex-Im Bank guarantees working capital loans for U.S. exporters and guarantees repayment of loans or makes loans to foreign purchasers of U.S. goods and services. It also offers U.S. exporters credit insurance to protect against nonpayment by foreign buyers.

To get Ex-Im Bank help, your product or service must have at least 50 percent U.S. content. The bank will finance the export of all types of goods or services except for most military-related products.

Finding a Foreign Distributor
As tricky as it can be to obtain financing for a global expansion program, finding foreign business partners can be even tougher. If you can find foreign distributors for your product, you will be able to simply sell them your products and let them worry about reselling them at a profit in their domestic markets. Distributors are nice because they can offer foreign customers top-notch service and are easier for you do deal with because they typically buy enough of your product to build up an inventory.

You may be able to find a foreign distributor by simply looking around your home city or state for a foreign company with a U.S. representative. Trade groups, foreign chambers of commerce in the United States, and branches of American chambers of commerce in foreign countries are all good places to start your search for a foreign distributor.

International business consultants can provide valuable help the first few times you are trying to evaluate a foreign distributor. If you prefer to do the job yourself, look for the following when assessing in a foreign distributor:

Start by focusing on countries whose imports to the United States are granted favored status. This means lower import duties and lower cost for you.

Once you've selected countries as likely sources, contact trade representatives at the appropriate embassies. They should be able to provide you with lists of manufacturers of the products you're interested in.

Attend foreign and domestic trade fairs where companies seeking to export to the United States are exhibitors.

Read U.S. and foreign newspapers and magazines, scanning for advertisements and articles about products you might want to import.

You can eliminate many foreign distributor prospects by deciding whether you need a stocking or nonstocking distributor. Stocking distributors are generally larger firms that will commit to purchasing an inventory of your product.

If your product requires a salesperson knowledgeable about technology and other special aspects of your product, you will obviously require a distributor who can provide that type of sales force.

The best distributor will be one with a track record selling to the companies or consumers who are target markets for your product.

Unless you are fluent in the language of the country you are selling to, you should choose a distributor who can speak your language well.

You will want prompt, competent responses to your requests for information or service. Make sure your phone calls, faxes and e-mails are answered in a timely, satisfactory fashion.

Meet your prospects in person, and, as always, get and check references.

Importing Products and Services

International trade involves more than shipping U.S. products overseas. For many products, foreign sources of supply can provide higher quality, lower cost or some other desirable feature in comparison to U.S. sources. For instance, Italian shoes, French wines and Japanese cameras are widely available in the United States because of their recognized superiority in some respects to domestic alternatives.

Importing doesn't have to be limited to goods, either. Many companies have grown by importing services in imaginative ways. For instance, a large quantity of the data-entry work that used to be done in the United States is now done by workers in countries such as India and China. The companies for whom this work is being done have effectively imported the data-entry services of international workers.

At one time, identifying sources of products to import was a serious challenge for American importers. But vast improvements in the global telecommunications network have greatly eased that task. Today anyone with a computer and a modem can do Web searches to locate suppliers virtually anywhere in the world. Furthermore, they can communicate with those suppliers, exchanging specifications and requirements far more easily, swiftly and conveniently than ever before. If you have an idea for importing a product made in another country, it should be easy to find a supplier who can sell it to you. Here are tips for finding a source of products to import:
Excerpted from Growing Your Business
The Internet is having a large impact on the way international business is conducted. This impact is especially significant when it comes to finding leads for international trade partners. You can look at TradeNet, the U.S. government's online trade-matching service, for numerous links, databases, message boards and other tools for finding products to import and other opportunities to grow your business internationally.

Once you've identified some likely sources of products to import, make contact with the company and begin gathering information. You'll want to obtain samples of products and, of course, discuss prices and terms of payment. Take special care to check the quality of the products-the United States is a sophisticated marketplace, and shoddy products that might succeed elsewhere will be shunned here.

As in any circumstance where you're checking out a new prospective supplier, ask for references. Get a referral to a company that has dealt with this supplier before, and call to check them out.

Shipping procedures are a paramount concern when moving products long distances. High-value items may be shipped by air, but many products come by ship. This often means transit times measured in months, with the associated risks of missing market opportunities. Make sure your supplier understands your requirements for delivery and that the shipping procedure chosen will do the job. Once you are happy with the arrangements, have an attorney experienced in international trade review the contract.

Why Go Global?
International expansion is not necessarily the best way to grow your company. The U.S. market is big enough for most small businesses to expand almost indefinitely. But entering the international arena can protect you against the risk of decline in domestic markets and, most important, significantly improve your overall growth potential.

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Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. The American market for almost everything is huge, but it's not large enough for many entrepreneurs. For these growth-minded business owners, the rest of the world is their oyster. Seeking international growth by going global as an importer-exporter offers opportunity aplenty.

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What makes you special?
I found this video very interesting and inspiring because it talks about different people from other countries how they're living and the way they think. Mariana Atencio talks about her immigrant experience when she traveled the world from Haiti to Hong Kong. Mariana tells us how the people she's met along the way have taught her that the only thing we all have in common is being human and embracing what makes you different. She talks about how we should not judge each other and have feelings for others and try to put ourselves in other people's shoes. From what I understood in this video which is something very important is when you see something or someone different do not judge right away try to observe and learn because life is teaching you something.

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What makes you special? | Mariana Atencio | TEDxUniversityofNevada

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How diversity makes teams more innovative
Are diverse companies really more innovative? Rocío Lorenzo and her team surveyed 171 companies to find out and the answer was a clear yes. I found this video interesting because she speaks facts that are true. She says things happen in reality.
Rocio Lorenzo says "Are companies really more innovative because they have more diverse leadership or the other way around? Which way is it?
Companies that are more diverse are more innovative, and that company that is more innovative have more diverse leadership. It works both ways diversity driving innovation & innovation driving diversity."
I found this important question and I think everything is connected to each other.

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Rocío Lorenzo: How diversity makes teams more innovative

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Are diverse companies really more innovative? Rocío Lorenzo and her team surveyed 171 companies to find out -- and the answer was a clear yes. In a talk that will help you build a better, more robust company, Lorenzo dives into the data and explains how your company can start producing fresher, more creative ideas by treating diversity as a competitive advantage.

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The 4 Elements That Make Great Company Culture

Neil Patel is an inspiring entrepreneur. Forbes says he is one of the top 10 marketers, and Entrepreneur Magazine says he created one of the 100 most brilliant companies. He was recognized as a top 100 entrepreneur under the age of 30 by President Obama. I found this article important and interesting because his blog speaks about elements that make a great company culture and facts that are to be considered for success.

* Important elements that make great company culture:

1. Hiring people who fit the culture which see how they work and how they get along and work with others.
2. Having employees know the values and the mission of the company which workers who know the value of the company and people around it. When employees are passionate about the values and mission they are dedicated to accomplishing the goal.
3. Knowing those good decisions can come from anywhere which decisions can come from different diversities and different minds.
4. Realizing You’re a Team and Not a Bunch of Individuals which no racism all diversities suppose to work as a team to make a great company.

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"Maintaining an effective culture is so important that it, in fact, trumps even strategy."

- Howard Stevenson

Culture. It's probably a word you hear often if you follow blogs on entrepreneurship or read articles on business and management. But what is it exactly?

According to Frances Frei and Anne Morriss at Harvard Business Review:
"Culture guides discretionary behavior and it picks up where the employee handbook leaves off. Culture tells us how to respond to an unprecedented service request. It tells us whether to risk telling our bosses about our new ideas, and whether to surface or hide problems. Employees make hundreds of decisions on their own every day, and culture is our guide. Culture tells us what to do when the CEO isn't in the room, which is of course most of the time."
This post will cover all of the elements that make great culture. Each culture has different tactics and unique qualities. But, universally, culture is about the employees and making sure they have a fun and productive working environment.

Let's dive in.

Why Should You Care about Culture?

The workplace should not be something that people dread every day. Employees should look forward to going to their jobs. In fact, they should have a hard time leaving because they enjoy the challenges, their co-workers, and the atmosphere. Jobs shouldn't provoke stress in employees. While the work may be difficult, the culture shouldn't add to the stress of the work. On the contrary, the culture should be designed to alleviate the work related stress.

This is why culture matters. Culture sustains employee enthusiasm.

You want happy employees because happiness means more productivity. And when a business is more productive, that means it is working faster; and when it works faster, it can get a leg up on the competition. So it's worth the investment for companies to build and nourish their culture.

Culture is also a recruiting tool. If you're looking to hire talented people, it doesn't make sense to fill your office with cubicles and limit employee freedom. You'll attract mediocre employees, and you'll be a mediocre company. If, on the other hand, you have an open working environment with lots of transparency and employee freedom, you'll attract talent. From the minute people walk in the office, they should know that this is a different place with a unique culture.

When you put a focus on culture, you'll have guiding principles. People will know you for this. Employees will live by it. It'll help get you through difficult times. You'll base hiring and firing decisions on the principles. It'll help get all employees working on the same company mission. In some sense, it's the glue that keeps the company together.

A company culture that facilitates employee happiness means lower turnover and better company performance. Employees are loyal and companies perform better. It's a win-win.

If your company ramps up to more employees, the culture will become a self-selecting mechanism for employees and candidates. The people who would fit into your culture become attracted to it and may end up with a job. For example, at Amazon, they look for inventors and pioneers. People who want to work there know this and are attracted by it.

Now, let's get into the elements that make great company culture...

1. Hiring People Who Fit Your Culture

Tech Journalist Robert Scoble meets with a lot of CEOs. And when talking about hiring decisions, they always try to make sure they don't hire jerks. It's for this reason that companies have such a rigorous hiring process. Some companies like to bring job candidates in to work with their employees for a week. They give the candidates a project and see how they work and how they work with others.

In a post on Harvard Business Review, Eric Sinoway breaks down types of employees and how they impact company culture. The high performing employees who don't fit into your culture are known as vampires. These vampires must be terminated because, while performance is solid, they're attitude is detrimental to company culture, which is detrimental to business.

Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, one of the strongest advocates of culture, makes a great point when he notes that the people you hire represent your company even outside of work. If you meet someone and they tell you where they work, your perception of that place will change based on your opinion of the person. If they're nice, you'll view the company in a positive light. If they're a jerk, you won't view the company favorably. This effect can be even greater when it's a company you've never heard of and didn't previously have any opinion of. If the person is helpful, you'll view the company as helpful. This is why it's important to hire people who share your company's values.

One bad hire can affect an entire department and possibly dozens of customers. And it can happen quickly, acting like a virus that spreads. The employees will talk about the bad hire; and if action isn't taken, it can get much worse.

But the good thing is that any damage can be reversed. And more than that, your values can be reinforced at the same time. If you release that toxic employee (the vampire), it'll show other employees that you appreciate them and are serious about your culture.

2. Having Employees Know the Values and the Mission of the Company

There's a question that often gets asked in job interviews:
Why do you want to work here?
The purpose of the question is to provide the interviewer with a sense of what the interviewee knows about the company. If the interviewee can provide a specific, pointed reason for why they want to join that company, it shows the interviewer they've done research on the company and may be a fit for the position.

Of course, an interview will show only so much. A person can be whoever they want to be for 30-60 minutes. The only real way to know if someone is on board with the values and mission of a company is to watch them work for an extended period of time. Do they follow the same values in their personal life? This is why you need to really get to know the serious candidates.

Zappos has their core values. They guide how employees work and enjoy their personal lives.

When employees are passionate about the values and mission (like organizing the world's information at Google), they are dedicated to accomplishing the goal.

In a video on the Facebook Careers page, Mark Zuckerberg says:
"The reason why we've built a company is because I think a company is by far the best way to get the best people together and align their incentives around doing something great."
At Facebook, it's about making the world more open and connected. These drive the employees, guide the product, and energize the entire company. If an employee isn't committed to the mission, it just becomes another job. And when it's just another job, it usually means the employee isn't happy.

On the other hand, when the employee is on board with the mission, they're engaged in the job and want to help the mission succeed, thus helping the company succeed.

3. Knowing That Good Decisions Can Come from Anywhere

No one has all the answers. A company where only management makes decisions is a surefire way to send A and B players away to other companies.

As some companies get bigger, they tend to limit employee freedom. The employees are less and less involved in key decisions and their impact on the business is drowned out. It becomes a part of the culture. Employees go to work, do what they're told, and just help someone else achieve their dream. The worker's impact on the business is minimal and they become "just another employee at just another company." And for some people, it's all they want: go into work, take orders, do the job, and wait for the clock to hit 5:00 P.M.

But this is not what the best employees want.

They want to have a voice and a meaningful impact on the company and its direction. They know that anyone can win a debate with the most senior person at a company. They also know they can create tools for the company without the need for management approval.

For instance, the Google News tool was created by a research scientist at Google named Krishna Bharat. Creating Google News wasn't something that came from a management meeting and descended upon Bharat. He invented it after the September 11 attacks because he figured "it would be useful to see news reporting from multiple sources on a given topic assembled in one place." It came from a problem that he was having; he wasn't instructed to create it.

Companies have greater success when employees are given this type of freedom that isn't ruled by a hierarchy, assuming they're talented employees who fit the culture. Knowing that good decisions can come from anywhere and expanding employee freedom are cornerstones of attracting talented individuals who will fit into the culture if you let them.

4. Realizing You're a Team and Not a Bunch of Individuals

Ever notice how many CEOs refer to their employees as a "team"?

On the Instagram jobs page, they refer to themselves as a team, not a company.

Quora has a "Team" page, not an "Employees" Page:

Refer.ly invites people to "Join Our Team":

The difference between being a team and just a bunch of individuals is that the individuals see themselves as separate from each other. Helping others is forced because you normally operate on your own projects, or your own part in a larger project.

Teams work together on all work related projects and help where necessary. It doesn't matter who gets credit for what because you accomplish everything together. You're knit together, not separated.

If you watch sports, you see how teams function. They work together (in the form of passes and assists), encourage each other, and communicate regularly (communication on the sidelines when they're not playing). There are always a few who get accused of putting themselves before the team, known as a ball hog in basketball. This is because they "hog" the ball and don't involve any of their teammates in the offense. This impairs the offense which cannot work at 100% because not all 5 players are fully involved.

These people are usually dealt with appropriately at the direction of the head coach. They usually see decreased playing time or are cut from the team. Teams work best when everyone is on board, feeding off each other, and playing together. If you have a bunch of individuals, or ball hogs, they'll break down from conflicts, become ineffective, and then irrelevant. Teams are the best and most efficient way to get things done.

Stay Tuned...

In the coming weeks, we'll be profiling different company cultures. We'll take a look at Google's culture and what makes it so effective and unique. We'll examine Zappos and their customer service centered culture, Facebook's engineering heavy culture, and many others. Stay tuned for more!

What other elements are important for company culture? Let me know in the comments!

About the Author: Zach Bulygo is a blogger, you can find him on Twitter here.

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The 4 Elements That Make Great Company Culture

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"Maintaining an effective culture is so important that it, in fact, trumps even strategy." - Howard Stevenson Culture. It's probably a word you hear often if you follow blogs on entrepreneurship or read articles on business and management. But what is it exactly?

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Culture & Diversity
I think everything is connected to each other when it comes to culture & diversity. Without the different diversities people in our world, we wouldn't learn in life. We must always:

1. Understand and appreciate the interdependence of humanity, cultures, and the natural environment.

2. Respect, listen and learn from each other's experiences that are different from our own.
3. Understanding that diversity includes not only ways of being but also ways of knowing.

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Top, Middle, Lower Management
~Top-level management

The top-level management determines the objectives, policies, and plans of the organization.

Top-level management spends most of their time planning and organizing.

Top managers are ultimately responsible for the long-term success of the organization. They set long-term goals and define strategies to achieve them.

They guide the organization in the right direction towards achieving the goals.

~ Middle-level management

Middle managers must be good communicators.

Require more managerial and technical skills and less conceptual skills.

They prepare short-term plans for their departments.

Middle-Level Management has limited authority and responsibility.

~Lower-level management

Lower level managers direct the employees.

Lower level managers make daily, weekly, and monthly plans.

They spend their time in directing and controlling.

They are responsible for the quality and amount of production.

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What makes a good leader?
This video is interesting to watch because it teaches true facts about leadership.
Leadership is the ability to communicate a vision and inspire people to embrace that vision.

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Management Style

I found this article interesting because it gives you specifically the different types management styles of people what's their duties and their responsibilities. One important thing when considering career success is leadership style, both in how you manage people and how you like to be managed. Effective managers can improve productivity and employee morale.

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Have you ever been told that you are an effective manager? Are you looking for your management style and to take your management skills to the next level? Have you considered getting an online degree in management?

You can increase your chance of being promoted and position yourself for a new job by learning how to effectively manage others. That's why Grace College has several online degrees that help instill management principles - whether it be our Bachelor of Business Administration , MBA , or Master of Nonprofit Management .

If you think business management or nonprofit management is the way forward for you, read about these six widely agreed-upon types of management styles used in today's business world, and let us know which management style you prefer!

Autocratic

Autocratic managers make decisions unilaterally, without much (or any) input of subordinates. This unilateral format can be perceived as a good management technique if the right decisions are made, and it can lead to faster decision-making, because only one person's preferences need to be considered. However, this style of management can drive away employees who are looking for more ownership of decisions and more autonomy. In times of crisis where time is limited, autocratic management is permissible, but extended periods could lead to high turnover.

Consultative

This form allows for more discussion than an autocratic method but is essentially dictatorial. As the name suggests, a leader in this form consults his or her employees, but ultimately the leader makes the final decision. Decisions attempt to take the best interests of the employees into account but also focus on the business. This type of management style often leads to loyalty from employees included in decision-making processes, but those who are left out are more likely to move on. It can also lead to a dependency of the employees on the leader.

Persuasive

A persuasive leader maintains the final decision-making control. However, he or she makes choices based on the persuasion of subordinates. Employees will convince their manager of the benefits of a decision and the manager will make the final decision. This is a great option for managers who need input from experts but still can keep the final decision-making up to them. This does not work when employees do not support management and choose not to provide input or do not trust decisions that have been made.

Democratic

As its name suggests, democratic managers offer employees an opportunity to engage in decision-making. This means all decisions are agreed upon by the majority. The communications go from both the manager down to employees and from the employees up to the managers. This style works well when complex decisions must be made that have a variety of outcomes. However, democracy does slow down decision-making and could be inefficient at times.

Laissez-faire

This style is the complete opposite of autocracy; employees are allowed to make the majority of decisions, with management providing guidance when needed. The manager, in this case, is considered a rather than a . This style of management is popular in startups and technology companies, where risk-taking is encouraged. However, it can lead to difficulties in making decisions.

Management By Walking Around (MBWA)

This classic technique involves management by listening. Managers gather information by listening to the thoughts of employees that can stop problems at their source. When using this type of management style, managers must be counselors and not directors. A good decision will be well received and respected by all. When employees do not support management, there can be problems in MBWA management.

Discover Your Management Style

As you learn more about success in the management field, take these six styles with you to discover your most effective style of leadership. At Grace College, we prepare our students to become leaders in their field:

Our fully online master of nonprofit management degree will give students the education and credentials they need to succeed in working with a board of trustees, volunteers, and donors in the third sector.

And thanks to our online business degree programs , you can learn business management principals from former CEOs of million-dollar companies from the convenience of your own home!

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Discover Your Management Style at Grace College

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Looking for your management style or leadership style? Considered getting an online degree in management (bachelors or masters) at Grace?