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A-Level Business > unit 10 > Flashcards

unit 10 Flashcards

1
Q

what is a flexable organisation

A

is one that is able to adapt and respond relatively quickly to changes in its external enviornment in order to gain advanatge and sustain its competitive position

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2
Q

benefits of being a flexable organisation

A
  • more likely to be efficient and responsive
  • more likely to respond to and meet changing customer needs and wants
  • improved decision making
  • a more attractive place to work for the best people
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3
Q

whats restructuring

A
  • involves changing the orgnisational structure ie. delayering
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4
Q

what is delayering

A

removing layers of management from the hierarchy of the organisation

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5
Q

levels of hierarchy

A

the number of layers of management or supervision in the organisation strucutre

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6
Q

whats flexible employment contracts

A

flexible working involves arrangements where there are a variety of options offered to employees in terms of working time, working location and the pattern of working

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7
Q

benefitrs of a flexible workforce

A
  • savings on costs, many businesses saved on office rent during pandemic and continued with greater home working
  • aids recruitment and staff retention
  • to take advantage of devlopments in technology, allowing for secure home working
  • to be able to deliver services to customers on 24/7 basis
  • to meet employment legislation, increasingly the law allows certain groups of employees the legal right to request flexible working
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8
Q

drawbacks of flexible working

A
  • administrative work and ‘red-tape’ involved in setting up, running and managing flexable working
  • potential loss of customers if key employees reduce their working hours
  • lower employee producitvity (potentially)
  • inability to substitute for certain skills if certain employees are absent
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9
Q

0 hour contract

A
  • allow employers to hire staff with no guarantee of work
  • employers work only when they are needed by employers often at short notice. Employee pay depends on how many hours they work.
  • some zero hours contracts require employees to take the shifts are offered, while others do not
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10
Q

organic structures

A
  • informal
  • flexible and fluid
  • favours verbal communication
  • associated with decentralised decision making and empowerment
  • find change easier to handle
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11
Q

mechanistic structures

A
  • more formal and bureaucartic
  • associated with centralised decision making and supervision
  • formal communication methods
  • favours standardised policies and procedures
  • little percived need to change
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12
Q

what did kurt lewin argue

A

that successful businesses tend to be constantly adapting to thier enviornment and changing rather than being flexible

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13
Q

explain force field analysis

A
  • there are driving change and forces restraining it
  • where there is an equilibrium between the two sets of forces there will be no change
  • in order for change to occur the driving force must exceed the restraining force
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14
Q

examples of interal forces for driving change

A
  • need for higher profits
  • poor producitivty
  • lack of innovation
  • need to change culture
  • change of leadership
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15
Q

examples of external forces for driving change

A
  • customer demand
  • competiton
  • legislation and taxes
  • political enviornment
  • economic conditions
  • ethics and social values
  • technological change
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16
Q

why is change resisted

A
  • self interest
  • misunderstanding
  • low tolerence of change
  • different assessment of the situation
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17
Q

kotter and Schlesinger suggest that there are 4 main reasons why change is resisted

A
  • self interest
  • different assessment
  • low tolerance for change and inertia
  • misinformation and misunderstanding
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18
Q

reasons for resistance to change self interest

A
  • self moti is a powerful motivator
  • arises from a percived threat to job security, status and financial posistion
  • individuals often place their own interests ahead of those of their organisation, particualry if they dont feel a strong loyalty to it
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19
Q

reasons for resistance to change, different assessment of the situation

A
  • here there is disafreement about the need for change or what that change needs to be
  • some people may simply disagree with the change proposed, or they may feel they have a better solution
  • this is different from ‘self interest’, the resistance here is based on disagreement about what is best for the business
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20
Q

resistance to change, low tolerance and inertia

A
  • many people suffer from inertia or reluctance to change, preferring things to stay ‘the way they are’
  • many people need security, prediciatbility and stability in thier work
  • if there is low tolerance of change (perhaps arising from past expiernces) then resistance to change may grow
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21
Q

resistance to change: misinformation and misunderstanding

A
  • people dont understand why change is needed, perhaps because they are misinformed about the real strategic position of the business
  • perception may be widespread that there is no compelling reason for change
  • perhaps even an element of people fooling themselves that things are better than they really are
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22
Q

mnemonic for resistance to change

A
  • S elf interest
  • A ssessment issues
  • L ow
  • T olerance
  • M isunderstanding
  • M isinformation
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23
Q

Kotter and Schlesinger suggest that there are six ways of overcoming resistance to change

A
  • education and communication
  • particpation and involvement
  • faciliation and support
  • manipulation and co option
  • negotiation and bargaining
  • explicit and implicit coercion
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24
Q

Overcoming resistance to change: education and commuication

A
  • honest communcation about the issue and the proposed action helps people see the logic of change
  • effective education helps address misconceptions about the change, including misinformation or inaccuracies
  • education and communcation are unlikely to achieve very short term effects. they need to be delivered consistently and over a long period of time for maximum impact
25
Q

overcoming resistance to change: participation and involvment

A
  • involvement in change programme can be an effecitve way of bringing ‘on board’ people who would otherwise resist
  • particaption often leads to commitment, not just compliance
  • must weigh up how much involvement is needed, being mindful to always avoid obstacles and delays
26
Q

overcoming resistance to change: facilitation and support

A
  • kotter and schlesinger indentified what they called ‘adjustment problems’ during change programmes.
  • most people (though not all) will need support to help them cope with change
  • support might include additional training and conselling and mentoring as well as simply listening to the concerns of people affected.
  • if fear and anxiety is at heart of resistance to change, then faciltation and support become particalary important
27
Q

overcoming resistance to change, manipulation and co-option

A
  • co option involves bringing specific individuals into toles and posistions thast are part of change management
  • manipulation involves the selctive use of information to encourage people to behave in a particular way
  • may be deemed to be unethical but perhaps only option if other methods of overcoming resistance to change prove ineffective
28
Q

overcoming resistance to change: negotiation and barganing

A
  • the idea here is to give people who resist an incentive to change - or leave
  • the negotiation and bargining might involve offering better financial rewards for those who accept the requirments of the change programme
  • alternatively enhanced rewards for leaving might also be offered
  • this approach is commonly used when a business to restrucutre the organisation
29
Q

overcoming resistance to change, explicit and implicit coercion

A
  • this approach is very much the ‘last resort’ if other methods of overcoming resistance to change fail
  • explicit coercion involves people been told exactly what the implications of resistaning change will be ie. job losses
  • implicit coecion involves suggesting the likely negtaive consequences for the bussiness of failing to change without making explict threats.
30
Q

whats democtatic leadership

A

involves team members in decision making, fostering a sense of ownership and commitment. This style encourages open dialogue, which can lead to innovative solutions during strategic implementation.

31
Q

whats paternalistic leadership

A

focuses on the well being of employees, with leaders making decisions that they believe are in the best interest of thier team. while this can create a supportive enviornment, it may also stifle creativity if employees feel their input is not valued.

32
Q

whats autocratic leader

A

centralises decison making in the hands of a single leader. This can lead to quick decisions but may also foster resentment and restrict team input.

33
Q

what laissez faire leadership

A

grants employees significant autnomy. while this can empower indiviudals, it may lead to lack of direction if not managed properly

34
Q

what are tall structures

A

feature many levels of hierarchy, which can create clear lines of authority but may slow down decision making. this strucutre can be beneficial in large organizations where speciliased roles are necessary

35
Q

what are flat structures

A

have fewer levels, promoting faster communication and decision making. This strucutre can enhance collaboration and adaptabilty but may struggle with clarity in roles and responsibilites

36
Q

what are matrix structures

A

the use of employees from different departments can help speed up projects as well as add creativity and input, very common in dynamic industries such as IT

37
Q

what is delayering

A

involves removing layers of managment to streamline processes. this can lead to increased effeicnacy but rrequires careful handling to ensure that communication remains effective

38
Q

what is decentalisation

A

distributes decison making power throughout the organization. this can empower employees and improve responsiveness to local needs but may lead to inconsistencies in decision making.

39
Q

what is crtical path analysis

A

this is a method for organsiing activites associated with a perticualr process in order to find the most efficent way of completitng a task

40
Q

what is a business strategy

A

it is a defined plan of action that outlines the direction a business wants to take and defines how the plan will cascade through the organisation by the allocation of resources

41
Q

why are strategies needed for a business

A

sets the direction for the entire organisation and helps to align all employeees towards a common goal

42
Q

what is a MVP

A
  • minimial viable product
  • A pared-down version of a product that’s designed to gather user feedback early in development
43
Q

best business strategy, Tesla

A
  • create a minimial viable product
  • rather than joining and being like the rest of the market, Tesla created a luxery, expenisve car, with the price up $200,000
  • he did this knowing he wouldnt make a profit, however such a car in line with Teslas vision statement of ‘to create the most compelling car company of the 21st century by driving the worlds transition to electic vehicles’
  • they knew early on batteries would present the biggest hurdle so he took complete control of their supply chain by investing in battery manufactures
44
Q

why strategies fail, McDonalds

A
  • pressure from regulatory bodies about the high fat content of their menu
  • 2005 they launched their ‘healthy’ salad range
  • salads didnt sell in 2005 generted only 2% if McDonalds overall revenue
  • McDonalds made consumer focus group and they said they simply didnt enjoy yhe tatse of the salds as the much as the burgers.
  • so mcdonalds started to innovate on the salads with dressing et, sales increased to around 3% of revenue.
  • turned out the salad was far less healthy
45
Q

what can we learn from McDonalds

A
  • stick to core competencies
  • when you embark on a new startegy you need to clearly articualte why your doing it, and what the problem is trying to solve.
  • the mcdonalds startegy started with salads and tryign to mitigate reputational risk, then it changed to trying to drive extra revenue
46
Q

difficulties of strategic decision making

A
  • making strategic decisions is difficult, there are so many factors which businesses have to consider, not least the stakeholders who will affected
  • startegic decisions should be communicated effecively to the stakeholder so that they are aware of what the change will entail
47
Q

problems of startegic decision making

A

there can be problems:
- the data may be insufficant, inaccurate or invalid. This means that underlying patterns may not be obvious or may be misses
- data may be incomplete, decisions made on a inaccuarte view of world
- the data may have been releveant at the time of collection but the rate of change now voids it

48
Q

mintzberg on emergent strategy

A
  • ‘a pattern of action that develops over time in an organization in the absence of a specific mission or goal, or despite a mission and goals’
  • ‘startegys emerges over time as intentions collide with and accommodate a changing reality’
49
Q

whats planned startegy

A
  • intended startegy
  • influenced by specific corporate objectives
  • based around a formal strategy planning process
  • supported by traditioanl planning tools and methods
  • described in formal business plan
50
Q

whats emergent strategy

A
  • the startegy that actully happens
  • strategy responds to events as they arise
  • often involves stratigic and tatctical change
  • not restricted by formal planning tools and methods
51
Q

whats strategic drift

A

occurs when a business’s strategy doesn’t change to match the changing environment.

52
Q

why does strategic drift take place

A
  • business fails to adapt to a changing external enviornment
  • what worked before doesnt work now
  • complancency has set in - often built on previous success
  • senior managment deny there is a problem
53
Q

strategic drift and kodak

A

failed to respond to rapid development and take-up of digital photography, despite having created such technology

54
Q

strategic drift and nokia

A

lost dominant global market leadership in mobile phones by falling to respond to smartphone technology

55
Q

phase 1 of strategic drift

A

incremental change

56
Q

phase 2 of strategic drift

A

strategic drift

57
Q

phase 3 of strategic drift

A

flux

58
Q

phase 4 of startegic drift

A

transformational change or death

59
Q
A

A-Level Business (22 decks)

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