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In Module 1 I learned that management can refer to both the people with the responsibility to direct an organization, and the activities and functions used to achieve organizational goals. The people who manage an organization have four key functions, which include: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Top managers often make decisions that determine the course for the entire company, while middle managers provide leadership and turn strategic plans into operational blueprints.

The role of management is complex and depends on the level of the manager performing the roles. Leadership is the ability to lead people to embrace the goals of the organization and is important for all levels of managers. First-line managers participate with their employees to help motivate them. Informational roles involve the sending and receiving of information. Top managers are the voice of the company and can also represent it in the public eye. Middle managers have to decide what information gets passed to lower level employees and how it’s transmitted. First line managers disseminate information and help the employees translate what it means.

The four primary management decision roles are entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator, and negotiator. Entrepreneurs are top level managers who direct the company and take the most risks. Disturbance handlers are usually top and middle management and react to both internal and external events. Resource allocators are involved in all levels of management and make decisions regarding resources for single activities to resources for an entire company. Negotiators are usually top and middle management, but all levels have to negotiate on occasion.

Technical skills are important for managers, and especially front-line managers who often participate in the daily activities of the organization. Conceptual skills enable creativity and intuition which is more useful to upper level management who use it to create new ideas, unique strategies, and innovative solutions. Human skills are also integral for managers to learn because firms often expect managers to lead and guide their employees.

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Source: Pixabay CC0 Public Domain

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In module 2 I learned about corporate social responsibility, sustainability, business ethics, corporate culture, and diversity.

Organizations use four strategies to increase corporate social responsibility (CSR), such as environmental efforts, philanthropy, ethical labor practices, and volunteerism. There is strong evidence to suggest a relationship between a company’s value and CSR, leading many to believe that CSR activities can increase a firm’s value. Some benefits a firm receives from CSR is a better reputation, product market gains, attracting highly qualified personnel, employee productivity and earnings quality. Sustainability refers to a company’s efforts to not adding problems to the environment.

Ethics are important in business because it prevents the company from harming anyone (or anything), and it benefits the organization internally. Business ethics refers to the behavior of the members of a business. A code of ethics is the company’s values, responsibilities, and conduct expectations. Its purpose is help employees handle ethical dilemmas in a way that won’t damage the company. These are usually posted online and in places easy to access by both the public and employees. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) had to be established after a number of ethical lapses came to light that encompassed companies across the globe. These ethical scandals cost investors billions of dollars and had worldwide implications. Under SOX, any individual who reports the misconduct of an authority figure in that company is offered protection from reporting the incident to OSHA.

Organizational culture is a term that describes an organization’s shared goals and values. When everyone shares these same goals and values a culture of mutual respect, collaboration, and support emerges. Corporate values are more easily recognizable, and it’s easier to build a brand, when the company’s corporate culture is strong.

Diversity is recommended by many experts as a long-term strategy for successful companies. Diversity in a company has a broad meaning to include personality, cognitive style, education, social background, and more. New ideas and opportunities are able to emerge when people from all walks of life and backgrounds are heard and valued.

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In module 3 I learned about what globalization meant to organizations, and the different strategies, benefits, and risks associated with it. Globalization can be defined as the process a company uses to exchange goods, services, capital, technology, and knowledge across the globe. It is very beneficial to businesses because it expands the markets, they can use to sell their products and buy resources. This helps a business become more competitive by allowing them to purchase better resources at better prices and to sell their products or services to the highest bidder.

Because of globalization there has been a greater demand for both global organizations and trade agreements. The World Trade Organization (WTO) deals with the rules of trade between countries and is composed of 148 member nations. Its two goals are to provide funds for developing countries and to help end extreme poverty, and to promote shared prosperity by helping the lowest 40% of the population to earn more income. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is composed of 189 member countries who work with developing nations for economic stability, growth, and to reduce poverty. Regional trade agreements, such as NAFTA and ASEAN, establish equally binding treaties with member countries that address trade barriers and tariffs. Custom unions allow free trade on products within the countries of the custom union, they may also all agree to having a common external tariff (CET). Common markets are very similar to common unions, but they include the free trade and movement of resources such as labor. Economic unions, such as the EU, adopt common economic policies, external barriers, internal barriers, and free movement of resources.

Globalization had positive and negative effects in the political, economic, and cultural arenas. It isn’t possible for a country to remain totally isolated from the outside world, and therefore organizations such as the UN and WTO exist. Information is spread almost instantly from one country to another, and people are more aware now than ever of worldwide events. People can also trade with other countries over the internet just as easily as they can walk into a local store. Nations with rare resources can focus on that particular strength and trade on the world market. All of which has led to global competition which in turn has helped improve shipping channels, supply chains, reduce trade barriers, and centralized financial institutions.

When managing a global organization there are many things to consider since conditions can differ in other countries. There are many cultural differences that need to be taken into account in order for managers to be effective. The nine dimensions that characterize culture and are important for managing a global organization are power distance, uncertainty avoidance, permanence orientation, assertiveness, future orientation, humane orientation, institutional collectivism, ingroup collectivism, and gender egalitarianism. Managers must also be attuned to the cultural surroundings and consider things such as communication practices.

Global integration is the degree that a business can use the same products and methods in other countries, while local responsiveness is the degree that a business customizes the products to meet the needs of a specific country. There are four basic global business strategies: export, standardization, multidomestic, and transnational.

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(adapted from John/Lynn Bruton and Lumen Learning is licensed under CC-BY 4.0.

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CSR and Sustainability within companies and nonprofits : e-CSR.net

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Global CR RepTrak 100 is a global survey that rates multinational companies while accounting for their corporate social responsibility (CSR) reputation. During January and February 2019, the study collected the opinion of 230,000 people from the general public across the 15 biggest economies. What are the companies with the best CSR reputation? Let's take a look.
Building A Company's Reputation And The Importance Of CSR

Market share, sales volume, license to operate, loyalty and profitability are all organizational performance metrics influenced by people's intents of purchasing, accepting, advocating for or investing in a brand. This intent is built on the perception people get from companies in dimensions such as:

Product. They have good quality products that meet needs.

Governance practices. They are open, transparent and ethical.

Workplace practices. Equal opportunities are given among employees and they are rewarded fairly.

Social responsibility. Social and environmental causes are supported.

Leadership. They have bold leaders with a clear mission and vision of how to get there.

The public judgment of these attributes is the result (often unconscious) of paid, earned and owned media which people see every day. Sometimes it is a tweet, tv ad, or billboard that helps us assess whether a brand meets our values or not. People also use the power of digital to scrutinize these aspects of a company and to clear out their expectations.

Apart from RepTrak's results, another recent study from Unilever says consumers are buying what brands advocate for and not just what they are selling. Studies show people are increasingly concerned about sustainability and want companies to be more transparent. Therefore, it's vital that companies develop their corporate responsibility strategies (CSR) and communicate them throughout the most indicated channels. As the Rep Institute says, to avoid risk, companies must know how to proactively manage reputation, deliver on stakeholder expectations, and mitigate against risk by delivering on reputation assurances.

The Top 10 Companies With The Best CSR Reputation

Meet the top 10 companies best prepared to mitigate reputational risk and failure. These are companies that proactively managed their reputation and delivered the messages their stakeholders were looking for via the right communication channels. By having done so, they can now enjoy the trust of their investors, employees or customers and they are seen as caring about many other issues apart from profit - like ethics, innovation, environmental causes or well-being at the workplace.

Let's take a closer look at the three companies with the best reputation and analyze two other relevant brands that come up in the top 10.

#1 Rolex. Companies With The Best CSR Reputation

Rolex has been one of the top 10 most reputable companies in the world for four consecutive years. The brand has a unique ability to connect its products to the company and trigger emotions to its stakeholders by anchoring its values in high-profile personalities. For instance, Roger Federer is an unquestionable symbol of excellence (Rolex has a great score regarding product quality) and resilience. At the same time, the marine biologist Sylvia Earle is exploring the ocean and protecting ecosystems (Rolex also has a large score on the environmental protection area).

Companies With The Best CSR Reputation

The Lego Group is on the top 10 list of the most reputable companies in the world for the third year in a row. The Danish brand already has a steady and strong presence as it builds a coherent story-line with its values of sustainability, education and societal contributions. Most recently, they replaced their plastic materials with plant-based plastics from sugarcane; one more way the company has pushed their CSR values.

Companies With The Best CSR Reputation

The Walt Disney Company swopped places with The Lego Group since the 2018 ranking. According to RepTrak, Disney scores higher in the areas of leadership and financial performance. Furthermore, this is an iconic, caring company that has enjoyed an emotional connection with the public for many generations. Taking a closer look at Disney's own CSR report, we can see it is consistent, well organized, and connects to the global reporting initiative (GRI) framework too.

#5 Microsoft And The Hard Time For The Tech Industry

The recent scandals on data privacy and transparency have made many tech industry players, like Google or Facebook, drop in the reputation rankings. However, Microsoft resisted and sits #5 in the global ranking. By being transparent regarding product updates and bugs, the American company improved its reputation of empowering every person and every organization on the planet to do more - the company's mission. Increasing the connection of its products and services with the company's purpose and ethics, as well as selling products at more competitive prices, all helped the company receive this score.

Companies With The Best CSR Reputation

Hello Netflix, welcome to the top 10 ranking for the first time after being #24 last year. Throughout 2018 Netflix kept positive conversations focused on the business expansion and subscriber increase. This way, they developed an image of innovation. Their leadership started to be seen as a positive disruptor among the main media and film industries. By removing Kevin Spacey from House of Cards, one of Netflix's top shows, they sent a clear message about the company's priorities. They said no to the possibility of sexual harassment, no matter the costs. In the end, despite the (likely) money loses, the company seems to have gotten stronger in terms of ethics.

The Top 100 Companies With The Best CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) Reputation

By looking at the ranking above, we can see that Google fell to 14th place, and Nestlé went from 38th place in 2018 to 71st this year. The highest fall was from Nissan, which isn't even in the top 100, going from the 20th position to number 115. On the other hand, Estée Lauder Companies have been climbing and improving their reputation, presence, and relevance. Carlsberg has also jumped 18 places. The company announced its commitment to carbon neutrality and water consumption reduction. Moreover, the strategy of sending messages associated with the Danish happy, work-life balanced and natural lifestyle, seems to be paying off.

This ranking brings together the companies that did the best job communicating their strategy and values. They sent the right message to the right people via the right communication channel but this doesn't necessarily mean they are better, more responsible or more valuable than others. In fact, this ranking mirrors citizens public perceptions. So the companies scoring higher succeeded in communicating effectively their CSR strategies, even if they don't have the most effective strategies in the world.

In the end, this ranking is another confirmation that CSR is an indirect synonym of corporate reputation as people are increasingly expecting brands to be more responsible, transparent, ethical and to care about society and the environment. So companies that haven't started looking for their higher purpose, as Raj Sisodia from the Conscious Capitalism movement would put it, need to start doing it as soon as possible. The companies already doing it need to make sure they reach their audience. In a world with an overabundance of flowing information, reaching everyone might impossible - but reaching the right people surely isn't.
Image credits to corporate reputation on Shutterstock

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What Are The 100 Companies With The Best Reputation On Corporate Responsibility?

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Global CR RepTrak 100 is a global survey that rates multinational companies while accounting for their corporate social responsibility (CSR) reputation. During January and February 2019, the study collected the opinion of 230,000 people from the general public across the 15 biggest economies. What are the companies with the best CSR reputation?

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In module 4 I learned about the planning process and decision making, which go hand in hand. Planning is the process of setting goals and defining actions required to achieve the goals, which are derived from the vision and mission statements. Effective plans are coordinated and focused on specific outcomes. Benefits of planning are improved resource utilization, set performance standards, and flexibility. Drawbacks of planning could include preventing action, leading to complacency, preventing flexibility, and inhibiting creativity.

When planning objectives must be defined and goals set, premises must be developed and may need to be adjusted as time passes. Managers must also evaluate alternatives and receive input from several sources while identifying alternatives. Resources need to be identified as well, not just current resources either but also ones that will be needed for future use. This information will help managers plan accordingly.

Managers use many different types of planning tools as well. Short term plans are usually made for less than a year, while long term plans are over a year, and both must be monitored frequently. Standing plans refer to policies, procedures, and regulations, and as the name suggests they are used frequently. Single use plans address a onetime project or event. When companies successfully use tools and strategies to meet their goals, they create competitive advantage. It’s not a long-term goal but it does indicate a success to have a competitive advantage and a good plan creates sustainable competitive advantage. Management can use PESTEL and Porter’s Five Forces to measure competitiveness and attractiveness in an industry. Once that’s been completed a SWOT analysis helps a company identify strengths, and a RBV can be used to look for assets that can be used to take advantage of external opportunities.

There are cognitive biases and other barriers that can interfere with decision making. There are different methods that can be used to help stop barriers from interfering, such as the rational decision-making process or decision trees. Using brainstorming within a group or playing 🤬’s advocate can really help to look at issues from different angles.

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CC IMAGE COURTESY OF GERALT [HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/PUBLICDOMAIN/ZERO/1.0/DEED.EN], VIA PIXABAY

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In mode 5 I learned about the four key elements of an organizations structure and a high performing culture. The four elements are common purpose, coordinated effort, division of labor, and hierarchy of authority. Depending on how an organization applies these elements can have a resulting structure that exhibits one of four departmental structures: functional, product, customer, and geographic.

four key elements of an organization’s structure: common purpose, coordinated effort, division of labor, and hierarchy of authority.

As a company grows it goes through many stages and encounters different struggles in each, how a company handles these obstacles determines if it will succeed or not. In the first phase, creativity, the entrepreneurs struggle to grow. During the second phase, direction, management needs to take more control and guide the company with capital focused goals. In the third phase of delegation, employees are more comfortable with their roles and middle management gains more autonomy. In the fourth phase of coordination, structure becomes more centralized. In the fifth phase of collaboration, teams combine across the organization and systems are simplified.

The organizational culture refers to the collective behavior of the people who make the organization and includes their values, visions, norms, working language, systems, symbols, and beliefs. It affects how employees interact with each other and the public, clients, and stakeholders. A strong culture is also very important for a successful business. A high performing culture is a result driven culture that generates efficiency and completes their objectives. Organizations have to be productive in order to achieve their goals, and once a culture becomes high performance it becomes second nature for the employees.

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In Module 6 I learned about managing human resources and communications. Both of these topics are very important for the success of a company, and HR is a key department. HR is responsible for training and development, compensation, safety and health, employee and labor relations, terminating an employee when necessary, and plays a role in planning and growth.

It’s very important for HR managers to know discrimination laws and to make policies to avoid discrimination. If discrimination does occur HR managers and upper management must work together to take action. There are several laws about discrimination and the EEOC is responsible for enforcing them, some examples are the Equal Pay Act of 1963, Civil Rights Act of 1964, and Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

HR use advertisements in news papers and trade publications, online sources, and apps to find potential employees. To narrow it down HR examines resumes carefully, do background checks, and conduct preliminary phone interviews so that only the most promising candidates are called in for interviews. These candidates are passed to the hiring manager who will sit down with each one for a personal interview and possibly a second interview if one is needed. After the interviewing process a new employee must go through onboarding and then a rigorous training program. Performance evaluations are a tool for determining how quickly and how well an employee is developing and are used to act as fillers in an employees training. Management and HR also handle both voluntary and involuntary terminations.

For communication to be effectively exchanged the receiver has to understand the message of the sender and can be sent via speech, visuals, signals, writing, or behavior. Business communication is the transmission and exchange of information between people in an organization  to facilitate business activities. These communications can include marketing, brand management, customer relations, reputation management, and event management amongst others. It is held to a higher degree than everyday communication because the chances to recognize and correct a mistake are lower and the risk is high. Miscommunication can happen when there are barriers to effective communication that distort, obscure, or misrepresent the message. The size and structure of an organize also affect how communication flows, and can hinder or improve it.

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Business Ethics

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More than ever, a company's success depends on the talent it's able to attract, but attracting the best talent is about more than just offering the best salary-or even the best benefits. Companies may have a lucrative offer for a prospective candidate, and a culture where they'll feel at home, but how do corporate ethics stack up against those of its competition?

This may not seem like the most important question to ask when you're trying to hire someone for a position-especially one that might not be directly affected by the actions of your corporation as a whole-but the modern workplace is changing, as are American professionals' values, and if you want to keep up, you need to know just how significant those ethical values are.
What Qualifies as "Ethics"?
What do I mean by "ethics"? This is a broad category, and subjective in nature, but generally, I'm referring to these areas:

Fraud and manipulation. This should be obvious, but ethical companies don't engage in shady or manipulative financial practices, such as fraud, bribery, or insider trading. The problem here is that individual actions are often associated with the company as a whole, so any individual within your company who behaves in an unethical way could compromise the reputation of your company. Setting strict no-tolerance policies and taking proper disciplinary action can mitigate these effects.

Sustainability. Sustainability refers to practices that may be continued indefinitely, usually with respect to the environment. Choosing renewable forms of energy, such as solar and wind, and decreasing pollutants are examples of this. However, sustainability may also refer to the use or consumption of other natural resources, such as water.

Diversity and inclusion. Diversity and inclusion efforts are also seen as responsible, ethical business practices. These include programs to hire people from more diverse backgrounds, including different ethnicities, sexes, and differently abled people.

Exploitation. Large companies can make greater profits by exploiting local populations, especially in developing countries, or by exploiting tax loopholes to the disadvantage of individuals and businesses around them. These practices may yield your business a short-term benefit, but they're heavily frowned upon by the American public, and are usually seen as unethical.

Donations and contributions. Finally, a business's donations and volunteer contributions to charitable organizations, local groups, and good causes can also be considered an ethical and/or benevolent practice.

So is it more important that a company pay attention to, and potentially invest in these areas?
The Age of Information
We've entered an age beyond the industrial; we're living in the information age. And no, that isn't just a buzzword used by digital marketers-it's being studied and treated as a major leap forward in human history. Today's prospective employee has more information than ever before, and businesses are more transparent now than they ever have been.

A company's history, public messages, and even current staff are all publicly available information, and all it takes is a Google search for a prospective employee to find it. For that reason alone, company ethics are more important than they've been in past decades; one scandal or breach of ethics will stick for potentially years, and conversely, any efforts made to conduct business ethically will be more apparent and publicly recognized.
The Millennial Factor
It's also important to realize that millennials are the next generation of talent entering the professional world-and they're the ones dictating what's important for companies. According to a Bentley University study, 86 percent of millennials consider it a main priority to work for a business that conducts itself ethically and responsibly. In fact, most millennials would be willing to take a considerable pay cut to work for such a business.

What does that mean for ethical practices at your company? It means if you want any chance of recruiting up-and-coming talent in your industry, you need to start engaging in a more responsible way. Otherwise, you'll be alienating 86 percent of the young workforce before you even get to make an offer.
Increased Competition
One other factor to consider here is the compounding nature of competition. As more businesses begin to realize the importance of responsible and ethical practices, more businesses are going to invest in those efforts, which means any businesses that don't follow suit are going to look worse by comparison.

As just one illustration of this effect, between 2011 and 2015, the percent of Fortune 500 companies that published sustainability reports ran from 20 percent to 81 percent. Developing a company ethically is only going to become more significant as competitors invest in their respective initiatives.
The Bottom Line
A company's ethics and corporate social responsibility matter more today than they did a few decades ago. Workers place a higher emphasis on the values of their employers, and have access to more information than ever before.

If you want your company to remain competitive in the hunt for the best candidates in your field, spend some time defining, perfecting, and promoting your company's ethical behavior.

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How Much Do A Company's Ethics Matter In The Modern Professional Climate?

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More than ever, a company's success depends on the talent it's able to attract, but attracting the best talent is about more than just offering the best salary-or even the best benefits. Companies may have a lucrative offer for a prospective candidate, and a culture where they'll feel at home, but how do corporate ethics stack up against those of its competition?

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@Kevin Phillips (publicdomainpictures.net)

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Motivation is a key factor that impacts performance since motivated employees produce higher quality work more efficiently. There are two forms of motivation: intrinsic motivation that exists within a person and extrinsic motivation that comes from external sources. There are four main theories that explore needs based motivational theories, including: Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Frederick Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory, Clayton Aderfer’s Existence-relatedness-growth (ERG) Theory, and David McClelland’s Acquired Needs Theory. The motivational approach for job design considers motivation, satisfaction, engagement, absenteeism, and turnover.

Goal-setting Theory is an influential and practical theory of motivation that needs to be specific enough to answer who, what, when, where, why, and how of the goal. Setting challenges for employees that are specific and attainable help them perform better, with the more challenging the goal the more they focus. Feedback on a goal is also important for the progression of the employee.

While leadership is about establishing direction and influencing others, management is about operating the business. They’re both very important skills to learn and have a lot of overlap with each other. There are different types of leaders, including charismatic, heroic, and transformational leaders. They use different leadership styles to motivate the behaviors and actions to achieve organizational goals. Leaders also use vision to set the direction so that all areas of a business are working towards the same goal. Leaders also use different types of influence to motivate employees, who will have differed in how susceptible they are to each type.

An engaging leadership style includes employees in decision making and can help retain employees for a long time. An autocratic leadership style is the complete opposite, employees are given no say in decisions and it’s not successful in engaging employees or maintaining job satisfaction. Laissez-faire leadership styles allow subordinates to have a free hand in deciding their own policies and methods. Participative leadership involve employees who feel invested in decisions and committed to the choices. Transformational leadership is when “leaders and followers make each other advance to a higher level of morality and motivation.” These leaders work to enhance motivation and engagement of followers towards a shared vision and is change oriented. Transactional leaders are focused on supervision, organization, and group performance and operate within existing boundaries of process, structures, and goals. Emotional leadership is a process that leaders use to influence followers to accomplish common goals.

Studies have found that most leader’s traits can be grouped into personality, demographic, task competence, and interpersonal attributes. Situational contingency states that different leadership types are needed for different situations which are identified in the Cognitive Resource Theory (CRT). In the Path-Goal Theory a leaders’ behavior should change depending on the satisfaction, motivation, and performance of their subordinates.

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Why organizational culture matters

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You'll often hear someone, when speaking to a friend about work, say, "So, what's the company culture like?"

In response, you might hear something along the lines of, "Really friendly people. Ping pong tables. Free pizza on Friday's."

Culture is a critical component of any organization. As the HubSpot Culture Code states, "Culture is to recruiting as product is to marketing." To attract and retain talented people, you need to create a culture people will love.

But organizational culture is more than friendly people or a cool office space. Here, we're going to define organizational culture and describe different types, so you can get a sense for what it is -- and why it matters.

What is organizational culture?

Organizational culture is an inherent part of any workplace.

Essentially, organizational culture is the values, behaviors, and shared vision that contribute to the environment of an organization.

Let's focus on one aspect of that for a moment -- "values". In this instance, we're using values as an umbrella term over the whole organization, but also as a label to define the daily interactions between individual employees.

For instance, your company might value autonomy. On a larger scale, you might implement autonomy by allowing leaders to manage their own teams with little interference. However, to truly infiltrate the culture, you'll want each employee, from intern to VP, to feel autonomous over their own schedules and workload.

For our purposes, it's important to distinguish the difference between "value" and "behavior". Your company might value kindness, but to truly create a compassionate culture, you'll need to ensure each employee follows certain behaviors. Kindness can mean anything from being inclusive during team outings, to remaining open to new ideas during meetings.

If your values don't play out in your employees' daily behavior, you'll never create the kind of culture you want.

Finally, it's critical your company have a shared vision. Without a shared vision, it's difficult for your employees to work together towards a common goal, make effective decisions, and move the company forward. Additionally, your vision is the motivating factor that can keep employees engaged when times get hard.

For instance, consider Life is Good, a company with an impressive 4.0 rating on Glassdoor. From an outsider's perspective, Life is Good sells t-shirts and other apparel. But their vision is bigger than that -- "To spread the power of optimism."

A vision helps a company grow, but it also enables individual employees to stay on track and make the right decisions for the brand. When faced with challenges, Life is Good's employees might ask themselves, "Well, does this spread optimism, or does it go against our mission?" Ideally, the vision acts as common ground and enables leaders to take a step back and allow for greater autonomy across the organization.

Types of organizational culture

University of Michigan business professors Robert E. Quinn and Kim S. Cameron developed the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument, or OCAI. Using their research in the field, they came up with four different organizational cultures -- but, it's important to note, most organizations are a combination of these cultures. Here, we'll break them down.

1. Clan Culture

Clan Culture is a "family-like" culture. People are friendly and respectful towards one another, and leaders are seen as mentors. There's an emphasis on team-building and employee involvement. Clan Culture organizations prioritize their Human Resources department, and implement long-term HR approaches to encourage teamwork and inclusion. There's also a strong emphasis on loyalty and tradition.

Smaller companies are typically good examples of Clan Culture. For instance, Propellernet, a Brighton-based marketing agency consistently named a top UK Place to Work, has said they "prioritize the health and well-being of our team, work hard to challenge, engage and inspire them, and have a business plan that focuses on making their dreams come true."

2. Adhocracy Culture

This is an innovative, dynamic, and creative work environment. Above all else, a Adhocracy Culture promotes freedom and individual innovation. Employees are encouraged to experiment and offer new ideas, and leaders are seen as risk-takers. Ultimately, the organization aims to grow and create new products. Their metric of success is whether they are able to anticipate market needs and develop new solutions to meet that demand.

Apple is a good example of Adhocracy Culture -- Steve Jobs, Apple's founder, once said, "We hire people who want to make the best things in the world." Apple puts an emphasis on invention and creativity.

3. Market Culture

A Market Culture emphasizes getting things done. There's a competitive nature both among employees and even between leaders. Employees are motivated by rivalry and reaching goals, and there's a steadfast focus on winning. Leaders are both hard drivers and rivals. Ultimately, success is measured by market penetration and stock.

Oracle is a good example of Market Culture. Oracle's executive chairman and co-founder Larry Ellison has said, "I'm addicted to winning. The more you win, the more you want to win."

4. The Hierarchy Culture

Strict institutional procedures are adhered to closely in a Hierarchy Culture. A leader's job is primarily to ensure employees follow procedures correctly. In a Hierarchy Culture, there's a strong emphasis on efficiency and uniformity. Ultimately, the organization's goals revolve around smooth execution, results, and low costs. A Hierarchy Culture relies on systematic problem-solving and process control to operate effectively.

Bureaucratic organizations like the Department of Motor Vehicles, or Burger King, are good examples of a Hierarchy Culture. These organizations follow corporate procedures to ensure consistency and results.

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What Organizational Culture Is & Why It Matters

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You'll often hear someone, when speaking to a friend about work, say, "So, what's the company culture like?" In response, you might hear something along the lines of, "Really friendly people. Ping pong tables. Free pizza on Friday's." Culture is a critical component of any organization.

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In module 8 I learned about controlling processes and operations. Company standards define practices and objectives define the actions that need to be taken, so an organization needs these to understand where it is, where it wants to go, and who it is competing against. Managers must consistently monitor progress and update performance reports to measure operational success. Tools used to take corrective action should the need arise include budgeting, determining effective management strategies, finding areas that need improvement, and determining potential areas for collaboration. Processes are constantly streamlined to minimize costs and work quickly to make operational control successful. Quality control assess the quality of products and services against benchmarks determined by the industry standards to address the quality before entering market.

Project managers use critical path method and PERT charts to determine potential delays and deciding tasks. They also help to visualize the tasks chronologically and are used to develop each stage of development to ensure ideal resource allocation. Critical path helps a project manager prioritize and set effective deadlines. A Break-even analysis can be used to determine the amount of company needs to sell to break even. A ratio analysis may be used to determine how efficiently a project manager is controlling resources. Managers can also use scorecards to convey performance across a range of strategic criteria or a visual scorecard to display a graphic representation.

Key elements in use when a manager designs the control systems include the characteristic or condition being controlled, the sensor, the comparator, and the activator. Managing control is necessary for properly working systems and processes within an organization. Some common barriers to managing control are lack of resources, inaccurate measurements, improper information flow, and incorrect analyses.

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Types of Leadership

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Did you know there are four types of leadership styles? A leader doesn't just adopt one of these styles, but all four! And, did you know that their style changes based on a number of factors? That's right; leaders are a little more calculated than you thought, but it's all for the good of the team and the vision.

The four styles of leadership are: direct, coach, support and delegate. While these 'styles' may not mean much to you right now, they will at the end of this post - and they will certainly mean a lot to you when you enter into a leadership role.

These four styles of leadership determine the level of decision-making authority you, as the leader, give to individuals in your team. Each individual will be given different levels of 'authority' when it comes to decision making, and this is based on the nature of the task at hand, and the individuals role, experience and emotional maturity

Take a look at the leadership framework below to wrap your head around these four styles, and their 'level' of support and direction:

Leadership style: Directing

True leadership skills are not required when one is telling another what to do; how to do it and when it needs to be done. This makes this style more of a management tool than a leadership tool.

The 'directing' style is useful when: one is working with freelancers or contractors for example. When work is outsourced; and you have a clear idea of what you need done; and what the outcomes should be, you would use a 'telling' style. In this case there needs to be a clear direction (in order to communicate what you want), however, there needn't be a high level of support.

The 'directing' style would not be useful when managing a direct team, as it would hinder growth and prevent the development of an inspiring team culture.

Leadership style: Coaching

Leaders are visionaries; they build a vision, and direct their team to achieve the vision. However, in order to successfully direct their team and accomplish the objective, they first need to sell their idea and vision to all those involved in bringing it to fruition. This is not only done to effectively communicate the objectives, but to also excite, motivate and get team members believing wholeheartedly in the endeavour.

The 'selling' style is useful when: you, as the leader, are introducing a 'new' or refined vision. Although the vision was not formed by the team members; you need their buy-in to ensure they're motivated to perform, and achieve the end goal.
This style is best used when the team is made up of individual contributors that are full-time employees.

Leadership style: Supporting

Collaboration is about working together: sharing ideas, suggestions and solutions within a group; but having the final say, as the leader. This is a rather inspiring leadership approach, as each team member is considered, and feels they are contributing in the decision-making process. Because the style is low on direction (from the leader), it gives the individual space to prove themselves and lead the process; and because there's a lot of support, they are not held directly accountable for the outcome, should it fail.

The 'collaborative' style is useful when: a task needs to be carried out but does not need the initial involvement of the leader until a decision needs to be made. For example: when one of your team members are hiring an employee - they have full control over the recruitment process (interviewing/screening etc), but you as the leader have the final say, based on their input, ideas or suggestions. The 'collaborative' leadership style is best used when leading a team of managers or directors; otherwise a team of individual contributors.

Leadership style: Delegating

'Delegating' is yet another leadership style best used when leading a team of senior leaders, directors or managers. Because there is little direction or support, the leader gives full authority to the individual or team to make the final decision.
The 'delegating' leadership style is useful when: you fully trust the decision-making abilities of the individual or group. This style is usually used by CEO's, who fully trust the capabilities of their directors or managers, due to their experience and emotional maturity. The 'delegating' leadership style is hardly ever used in teams made up of junior or mid-level staff, unless the decision is incredibly low-risk.

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The four types of leadership styles - MasterStart Blog

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Did you know there are four types of leadership styles ? A leader doesn't just adopt one of these styles, but all four! And, did you know that their style changes based on a number of factors? That's right; leaders are a little more calculated than you thought, but it's all for the good of the team and the vision.

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The importance of Business Communication

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Effective communication adds value for businesses.

Email LCD display image by Alex Yeung from Fotolia.com

The importance of business communication is one of those things that is often overlooked. Most people assume that as long as you can type a sentence or have a voice, you can communicate. And this is true, however, that doesn't mean your communication is actually effective. For business, effective communication on several levels is required. Otherwise, not only does the business suffer internally, but the bottom line will take a hit as well.

Importance of Communication in an Organization

Effective business communication is the art of sharing information in a positive and helpful fashion. Whether this information is being conveyed to employees or customers, it is important that the best method and atmosphere is created when sharing the information. This is especially true when sharing negative information and bad news. That said, the elements of effective communication organization are the same, regardless of the kind of news or who is receiving it.

Honesty Is Key

Even when the news is bad, and even when it's the last thing you want to do, honesty is a criteria of communication. It might make you feel better to provide half-truths or omit important facts from the interaction, but that relief is short-lived. Eventually, the truth will come out and then you're forced to provide the full details and admit you lied. It is best to tell the truth once and get it over with than to have to address the same issue repeatedly because you weren't completely honest the first time.

Make It Quick

There is no real reason to have a long intro or backstory to lead up to the main point you're trying to convey, other than to buy time (or maybe work up courage). Don't dance around the issue. State the issue, let everyone know the result or problem created by the issue, offer your solution for the issue and thank people for their time. Sometimes we get wrapped up in the emotions of the news and we forget to let people know the actionable options that exist to deal with the issue. Having notes so you stay on track can help. It is also best to wait until emotions have had a chance to settle before addressing issues, especially when dealing with staff issues.

Check Your Body Language

Your body language can support or undermine your message. For example, if you tell an employee, "My door is always open. I'm willing to listen to your thoughts and opinions," but while you talking, you're slouched against the door frame with your arms folded and a frown on your face, your words might be inviting but your body language is not. Good posture, eye contact, and an inviting facial expression will improve your workplace communication and the ability to effectively convey what you need to say.

Know Your Audience

How you convey information will depend on your audience. If you're talking to corporate insiders, you can throw in shorthand and jargon and still get your points across. However, if you're talking to your customers, you'll want to keep the jargon to a minimum. Otherwise, you could spend more time explaining the jargon that sharing the information you wanted to share.

Have a Clear Message

Before you sit down with your team, an employee or the board, know exactly what you want to say. "Winging it" just leads to miscommunication. Take notes and bring them along if you need to. Knowing exactly what you want to say will help you frame your message and make sure your lead up stays on point and drive home the point you needed to make.

Listen More

Being an effective communicator requires you to be a good listener. People want to know they've been heard. So, if you can repeat back what a person has said to you before adding your own response or counter to their argument, you have a better chance of creating a dialogue that benefits everyone.

Effective communication can be a challenge, but if you want to be an effective leader, employee or influencer, honing your communication skills will help you in your career.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Importance of Business Communication in an Organization

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The importance of business communication is one of those things that is often overlooked. Most people assume that as long as you can type a sentence or have a voice, you can communicate. And this is true, however, that doesn't mean your communication is actually effective.