Organizations need managers and leaders

Organizations need both great leaders and managers in order to be successful. Leadership is not something that is taught, but a natural quality that a person possesses that can be motivational and inspirational to others.  Managers are successful because they have the capabilities that enable them to be organized, to be able to delegate, and to make sure employees stay on task.  Managers, however, is something that can be learned. They can become more successful if they capitalize on continuously learning what can make them better. In adding to your ideas, leadership is considered to be a concept that deals with the building of relationships whereas management is a function of an organization.  A typical manager delegates optimizes, finalizes priorities, and is strategically centered.   Leaders take the knowledge from the group and find ways to use it to learn together as a whole to achieve the best results (Lucia, 2018).

Leadership and management cannot work without each other to be successful.  This could have been elaborated on by providing examples because the two concepts do overlap each other in some areas of an organization.  While both leaders and management need great communication skills, there are other areas that both management and leadership need to exist at the same time. For example, techniques such as target-setting is something that is done by management that focuses on certain activities but will only work well if there is a strong presence of leadership because there must be someone emphasizing the importance of the activity that needs attention to other employees. They must make them see why it is important to focus on these activities in order to inspire them to meet these targets (Pidgeon, 2017).  Another technique, called management by walking around, also requires good leadership qualities to be able to listen and communicate with other employees. The information that is given is built on having strong relationships and then having the ability to apply it to make necessary changes in order to push the company forward in the right direction (Thompson, 2018). By showing how the two overlap will strengthen your ideas in that management and leadership cannot work without each other.

References

Lucia, F. (2018). Manager versus Leader. Why Are Both Roles Valuable? Ovidius University Annals: Economic Sciences Series, (2).

Information management, planning, and control in a business environment presentation framework

This framework discusses the topic of information management, planning, and control in a business environment. This presentation aims at providing all individuals involved in business administration on how to plan, evaluate, control and manage environments related to business. This is made possible by assessing business process management in turbulent environments. As for this case, the author has used a good example of the control of offshore service vessel for those companies in complex and highly volatile situations. In business management, the organization is supposed to make sure that all the business models have been strongly linked to the external partners to ensure that those logistic challenges in turbulent environments are effectively dealt with.

There are three major cases that the organization can implement when attempting to deal with increased turbulence. First is the use of capacity and based knowledge where the business will consider expansion of collaborative partners; second is resource redisposition where the management will aim at increasing its dynamic scope and last is uniform and sufficient knowledge with the stakeholders.

Enterprise resource planning is very important when it comes to business manufacturing, control, and planning of all the dynamic market requirements. The compact independence among the business activities and essential technical nature of the organizational systems under investigation impact how business management make decisions. Enterprise resource planning is very important when it comes to business management and operation within a dynamic environment. This is made possible as Enterprise resource planning systems provide any available effective information about business operations in a dynamic market environment.

To develop this strategy, the following elements where considered; the process- overall workflow, the activities or the tasks – where the management is based, the flows where technology and organization performance is provided; the events – those challenges resulting to the strategy to end or begin. The gateways indicate a change of events. Last is the participants where all individuals performing the task will be named. 

References

Grice, G. L., & Skinner, J. F. (2004). Mastering public speaking. Pearson.

Lucas, S., & Suya, Y. (2004). The art of public speaking. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Van Ginkel, S., Gulikers, J., Biemans, H., & Mulder, M. (2015). Towards a set of design principles for developing oral presentation competence: A synthesis of research in higher education. Educational Research Review, 14, 62-80.

Integrated Business Planning

The authors note that the business environments are constantly changing, and as such, managers should respond to the uncertainty. The informationhelps to plan for the situation,so that the business stays in control. They explain that,good information improves management skills and decision-makingprocess, and therefore, a business that relies on that will have a competitive advantage. It also helps in supporting the goals, and strategies of an organization. They say that the process of planning; involves identifying issues, formulating objectives, and forming the team to work on solutions. Implementation of the agreed strategies is the final stage in achieving control. If there are changes to be made, thorough research should have been conducted, by the team designated to provide solutions.

References:

Kepczynski, R., Jandhyala, R., Sankaran, G., & Dimofte, A. (2018). Integrated Business Planning. Management for Professionals.

How Good Are Your Decision-Making Skills?

Today, I completed the survey “How Good Are Your Decision-Making Skills?” While working through the survey, I did not feel like the scenarios were too predictable. When completing some surveys, individuals are susceptible to response bias, which means they select answers that make them look better or feel better about themselves. I did not feel any pressure to select the correct answers when completing this specific survey. The given scenarios were not controversial and did not ask respondents to choose the most morally correct answers. More to the point, I found that this survey was an accurate depiction of my decision-making skills and tendencies.

First, according to the general score interpretation, I fell into the “medium” or “okay” total decision-making process score. This means that I understand the basics of decision-making, but I am not an expert. The survey goes on to state that I earned 11 out of 20 stars for establishing a positive decision-making environment. A positive decision-making environment is one which creates a focus on the decision at hand and gathers the right group for making the decision. I think my lack of leadership experience plays a role here. I have not had much experience in leading work-groups, and for that reason, I have a hard time being the disciplinarian and keeping the group on-task.

Another sub-par score for me was generating potential solutions, a category where I scored 9 out of 15 stars. I find this to be somewhat inaccurate. I believe in my decision-making I successfully generate potential solutions (almost too many decisions). Perhaps my inability to narrow down potential solutions is part of the reason for a score deficit in this category. Further, I scored around 50% for the categories: deciding and checking the decision. Often, I find myself bogged down with too many options for a decision, making it nearly impossible to close in on a specific, correct, decision. I examine all the options until all are viable and each have their own pros and cons.

Two categories that were strong for me were evaluating alternatives and communicating and interpreting. I also find these results to be accurate. Communication is one of my strengths as an employee and as a leader. I think I do an exceptional job of keeping all stakeholders up-to-date with the information they want and need. It does not surprise me that the same is true within my decision-making. In regard to communication within decision-making, I think I excel at ensuring that all parties are filled in and understand my decision. I am an open-book. As for evaluating alternatives, this is one of my strengths, but also a weakness, as aforementioned.

As I was reading some of the materials for this week, one tip struck me specifically. Tai Lopez (as cited in Suslow, 2017), states “sometimes good enough is perfect”. Often in my decision, I try to find the perfect solution, which often isn’t time-efficient or even possible. Similarly, Jeff Bezos (as cited in Mejia, 2018) urges decision-makers to categorize decisions into reversible and irreversible decisions. When making irreversible decisions, individuals should take more time and weigh out all the alternatives. When making reversable decisions, it’s preferred that individuals make decisions with about 70% of the information they desire. I think I typically shoot for knowing 100% of the information, which slows my decision-making down significantly.

A third option that matches or improves my decision-making style is clear goal setting (Arsham, 2017). In my athletic career, I always had built-in goals. However, I often neglect goal-setting in my professional life. My goal is to do a good job. This is obviously not a clear or workable goal, though it is very achievable. Clear, workable goals are important, I know, but I struggle to set these goals for myself. Goals could help me make faster decisions in the workplace.

At this stage of my career, I feel that authentic leadership is my most effective leadership style. Authentic leadership requires clear and effective communication. Utilizing this style means the leader is self-aware and understands the nature of their relationship with their followers. Communication is one of the strong-points of my decision-making and can be used in authentic leadership too. Rather than inspiring, making critical decisions, or having great vision, authentic leaders are more focused on working with people. I think authentic leadership suits my personality and my decision-making. I do not try to overstate decisions to my colleagues, I prefer to be straightforward with them (Northouse, 2015).

Overall, through this journal, I’ve strengthened my understanding of my own indecisiveness. Rather than succumb to the temptation of utilizing group-decision making (and avoiding making the decision on my own), I’ve reflected on some ways that I can improve my own strategies. This course will continue to help me understand my avoidance of decisions and how to decrease that avoidance.

 

References

Arsham, H. (2017). Leadership Decision Making. Retrieved from: http://home.ubalt.edu/ntsbarsh/Business-stat/opre/partXIII.htm

Suslow, P. (2017). 11 Genius Tips to Be More Decisive. Retrieved from: http://www.success.com/article/11-genius-tips-to-be-more-decisive

Mejia, Z. (2018). Amazon’s Jeff Bezos: This simple framework can help you answer the most difficult questions you face. Retrieved from: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/19/jeff-bezos-simple-strategy-for-answering-amazons-hardest-questions--.html

Northouse, P. G. (2015). (7th ed.)  Leadership: Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks: 
CA: Sage Publications. 

Management information systems are distinct

The importance of information systems is very clear in the various disciplines of computer science, so it has become a major branch in different universities. It is not possible for different institutions and companies to develop without relying on certain information systems because information systems provide the benefits and standards necessary for the process of development and progress.

Management information systems are distinct from other information systems because they are used to analyze and facilitate strategic and operational activities. Academia is used to refer to how individuals, groups and organizations can evaluate, design, implement, manage and use information systems and generation, to improve efficiency and efficiency of manufacturing, possibly a system called decision support systems, expert systems, and operational information systems.

A system development methodology refers to the framework that is used to structure, plan, and control the process of developing an information system.  A wide variety of such frameworks have evolved over the years, each with its own recognized strengths and weaknesses.  One system development methodology is not necessarily suitable for use by all projects.  Each of the available methodologies is best suited to specific kinds of projects, based on various technical, organizational, project and team considerations.

  

Strategic Management and Strategic Leadership

Thesis Statement:

Strategic management is an approach to how an organization creates their future by adapting to the environments around them. Whereas, leadership is an element or part of management that deals with strategic thinking and carrying out the vision, mission and general policies.

Opinion on the Impacts:

The decisions made by management can have an adverse or a positive effect on their employees, community and other interested parties. What we do and say today will impact others in some form or another. Making clear, solid logical decisions are critical for the wellbeing of interested parties.  The culture created will be the forefront of a company and an image that will be realized by others.

As stated in “What’s under the hood? the mechanics of leadership versus management”, “While management and leadership do have their philosophical differences, they both share the common element of attaining goals”.(Zimmerman, 2018) With this we see that both have their respective roles but must come together to reach their goals.

Differences between:

Leadership is a skill of leading other by example and management is an art of organizing and coordinating things in an efficient way. For example, in leadership a leader builds trust and inspire others with and management controls with managing activities. With leadership core principles and guidelines would be established whereas, policies and procedures would be created by managers.

Closing:

Although there are some differences, leadership and management strategic decision-making are critical for a strategic plan and are closing tied together one is not possible without the other as Leadership is an element within Management.

Thank you,

Jeffrey

References:

Zimmerman, E. L. (2018). what’s under the hood? the mechanics of leadership versus management. Supervision, 79(10), 13. 

Thompson, Arthur. Crafting & Executing Strategy: The Quest for Competitive Advantage: Concepts and Cases.

Alternative Method in Healthcare in Saudia Arabia

The Saudi Arabia government has embarked on the development of an alternative healthcare system courtesy of the National Transformation Program 2020. The government hopes to achieve quality healthcare and efficient service delivery in the face of the drop in oil prices, which have exerted pressure on government spending (Alharbi, 2018). Currently, the healthcare system runs on an electronic system where patients receive free treatment. An alternative system must meet the needs of the society and achieve cost-effectiveness for invested resources.

The new healthcare system is geared towards including the private sector in the medical care. Inclusion of private providers is bound to reduce the pressure on government resources through a liberalization program (Alharbi, 2018). The private sector exists to make profit out of its service and also introduce competitiveness in service delivery. Consequently, the need for a system change is justified as a departure from the free access to healthcare that favors public providers but increases government spending.

System change in the healthcare field is affected by factors in drug manufacture. Manufacturers play a critical role in healthcare delivery and government authorities must assure them of favorable patent administration that ascertains profitability (Menu, 2015). As an incentive, governments can increase funding for research to spur innovation in treatment. In the U.S. government funding amounts to 40% of research costs (Menu, 2015). A sustainable healthcare system must therefore include all stakeholders in the healthcare value chain including drug manufacturers.

The new healthcare system proposed under by the Saudi Arabia government responds to the economic realities in the country. Besides, the system seeks to incorporate the private sector in the delivery of efficient and high quality healthcare. The current system disadvantages private healthcare players due to the free access to healthcare by the citizens. A change of system will therefore increase competition in healthcare provision, which will deliver quality healthcare services for the citizens.

References

Alharbi, M. F. (2018). An analysis of the Saudi health-care system’s readiness to change in the context of the Saudi National Health-care Plan in Vision 2030. International journal of health sciences, 12(3), 83.

Menu, M. C. (2015). Making Medicines Accessible: Alternatives to the Flawed Patent System. Health and Human Rights Journal.

Supply chain management processes.

According to the authors, companies have already developed and implemented processes internally, and now it’s time to integrate them externally with other businesses. Coordination between management and employees ensures,commands are implemented and feedback received. The informationmust be gathered, in order to make critical decisions that would help a business avoid the turbulent environment. It may be collected from competitors, employees, and customers. Planning on what to do with the gathered information, is solely the work of top management. The authors note that,businesses that are ready to change according to the prevailing conditions; will always stay ahead of their competition. Businesses should stay in control of the environment, and it is the duty of the management, to decide on how they will achieve that objective. They conclude that,businesses should come up with better ideas on how to implement the proposals. Getting it right would increase control of the business environment.

Reference:
Croxton, K. L., Garcia-Dastugue, S. J., Lambert, D. M., & Rogers, D. S. (2001). The supply chain management processes. The International Journal of Logistics Management.

Parent Tips

Be patient and firm when your child tests limits - All kids need limits, and most of them will test those limits. 

When your child challenges the rules, stop and hear him out. Respond briefly with your decision: "I understand your friends watch that show and then do homework, but you know our family rule: homework comes first." When your child does the right thing, offer a positive consequence: "You stuck to the homework schedule all week. Let's celebrate with a pizza." 

Guide your child to better decision-making - Making good decisions is key to becoming an independent learner. When your child has a decision to make, guide her thinking by asking questions. For example, you might ask what will happen if she chooses one toy over another at the store. Or which one will she use more? It is also important to let her learn from her mistakes. Living with the results of a poor choice will help her make a better one next time. 

Enrich your child's life with four R's - To create a family life that will support your child's efforts in school, keep four R's in mind: Routines, Rules, Responsibilities and Rituals. Routines make things go more smoothly by helping kids know what's coming next. Rules let them know where the boundaries are. Responsibilities teach them to care for themselves and others. And family rituals, such as a Friday game night, bring everyone closer. 

Small changes can multiply math success - Is your teen struggling with math? Often, a few simple changes will help students improve. Encourage your teen to do at least a little math every day, even if there's no homework. Remind him that math is more than numbers, so he should also study math vocabulary and make sure he takes careful notes in class. If he isn't sure about his notes, have him check with the teacher after class. 

Are you applying constructive parent pressure? - Did you know that just like peer pressure, parent pressure can have a positive or negative effect on teens' lives? Expressing high expectations and encouraging your student to challenge himself and to learn from mistakes can increase his chances of success in school. But if your expectations are too high, your teen may just stop trying at all. Help him set goals that are challenging, but realistic.

Instagram, The Digital Phenomena

Instagram is known as one of the major players in social media networking, it is a network that is owned and operated by Facebook, for photo publishing and sharing. According to (Bhatt, 2018), it has started in 2010 from a very small project at the Silicon Valley, as in application that is limited to mobile phones and hit the top downloads of photography applications in the app stores in a very short time. 

 Instagram was limited to mobile use, people preferred the fact that Instagram was available on their phones all the time. The founders did not want to launch a desktop or web version of the application is it depend on photography, where new mobile phones have better cameras and more chances to capture photos from different locations then a laptop.  In my opinion this move has given Instagram so many users are that are committed to publish better photos fulfilling their desire of looking good in front of others. I think it is a successful move because eventually Facebook page $1 billion to purchase Instagram in 2012 (Bhatt, 2018).

 Instagram was and still is in continuous development, it is always adopting value creating ideas. As cited from (MAB, n.d.), in 2013 Instagram noticed that people are desiring to watch videos in the network, this pattern was noticed as Snapchat entered the industry,  as a result of that they introduced 15 seconds video publishing in Instagram,  in three years it became 60 seconds, and the added many options and features to the application such as story, live streaming, and IGTV.

 References:

Bhatt, N. (2018). Instagram Business Model – Everything You Need to Know about How Instagram Works & Revenue Analysis. Retrieved from https://www.ncrypted.net/blog/how-does-instagram-work-insights-into-instagram-business-model-and-revenue-model-of-instagram/

MAB. (n.d.). Instagram – The Unstoppable Value-Creation Machine. Retrieved from https://digit.hbs.org/submission/instagram-the-unstoppable-value-creation-machine/

The agile method

The agile method has many great advantages as well. The method is so flexible that will allow you to pick and chose the right approuch that will be fit to the project objectives. The method also is very dynamic that can align with any kind of development projects. 

The main issue with our IT development projects in our market that the development team mix up 2 things. The development approach and methodology with the Project management approach methodology. when both are mixed up this may result in a poor development output.

You may refer to the below link for more Agile methodolgy advantages:

https://www.planview.com/resources/articles/benefits-of-agile-development/

Uber Engineering the Architecture of Rider app

Ever think about IT and using an alternative system to able to do more tasks in an easy and more powerful way to avoid the lack of incompatibility?

The naturally longer development cycle of hardware development must be taken into account also in the iteration length or meeting frequency"

We have seen many examples like the development of new technology and the rece that these companies to develop new techs.

Uber has the ability to do so especially after the acquisition of Careem their  biggest rival in the region.

A system development methodology refers to the framework that is used to structure, plan, and control the process of developing an information system.  A wide variety of such frameworks have evolved over the years, each with its own recognized strengths and weaknesses.  One system development methodology is not necessarily suitable for use by all projects.  Each of the available methodologies is best suited to specific kinds of projects, based on various technical, organizational, project and team considerations.  

The business factor that should consider where when the need for developing and improve the system is clear and it should be changed and that depend on the system that used if it was old, or when the organization needs for expansion and this system will not support. 

Uber did change their architecture engineering previously because of the old one would not support to be uploaded on cloud and during this need, they change it and it's obvious when the app for driver and user get upgraded in a smart and easy way. 

Reference 

Engineering the Architecture Behind Uber's New Rider App. (2019, January 17). Retrieved from https://eng.uber.com/new-rider-app/

Alternative Method for Developing a System

Using System Development Lifecycle at Cheesecake Factory Restaurant

System development defines a clear and an outlined step by step process in an organization which is technologically focused. There are several alternative methods of developing a system in an organization. One of such organization which has embraced the alternative approach of system development is the cheesecake factory restaurant which uses the system development lifecycle (SDLC) method to facilitate their project management processes.  Cheesecake factory Restaurant Company produces and distribute cheesecakes in the US (Baer & Lemin, 2018). The factory is an updated modern restaurant which utilizes the SDLC system in organizing the business activities that include touch screen computerization. However, the primary purpose of using the SLDC system at the restaurant is to improve and coordinate its activities (Alshamrani & Bahattab, 2015). 

SDLC offers a logical approach to managing a sequential series of operations. Since the cheesecake factory operates in over 200 areas, they use SDLC related methodologies to enter data from input documents in those locations which are characterized by the higher transaction (Baer & Lemin, 2018). The method also allows them to process large volumes of data which needs validation. Since the system is simple and easy to understand, it enables the company to identify critical points in the project’s development cycle while allowing the firm to classify and prioritize critical tasks. Before adopting this method, different business factors were considered such as the system’s return on investment, time, resources such as capital and human capital, intended purpose and its advantages to the customers (Alshamrani & Bahattab, 2015). In my view, the use of SDLC system in the restaurant was appropriate since the goal of implementing the method was to build a system that will enable the restaurant takes orders fast and process them in the kitchen instead of running back to the kitchen to consult and hand them to the chefs.  

References

Alshamrani, A., & Bahattab, A. (2015). A comparison between three SDLC models waterfall model, spiral model, and Incremental/Iterative model. International Journal of Computer Science Issues (IJCSI), 12(1), 106.

Baer, J., & Lemin, D. (2018). There's a clever reason why The Cheesecake Factory's menu is so long. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/why-the-cheesecake-factory-menu-is-so-long-2018-10?IR=T

Challenges for alignment of IT strategies and business objective

Van Der Zee and De Jong (1999) cite a main problem with alignment as the time lag between business and IT planning processes. That is, given that the business environment and technology change so quickly, once an IT plan is enacted, there is a high probability that the plan and the technology are already obsolete.

Here is a point to add as challenge for alignment of IT strategies and business objective, business environment is constantly changing, and thus there may be no such thing as a ‘state’ of alignment. Strategic choices made by one organization frequently result in imitation by other organizations. Thus, strategic alignment is a process of change over time and continuous adaptation (Henderson and Venkatraman, 1993). 

There are four steps to align the business and IT strategies:

Plan: Translate business objectives into measurable IT services, so resources are effectively allocated to maximize turnover and ROI – This step requires ongoing communication between business and IT leaders.

Model: IT designs infrastructure to increase business value and optimize operations – IT must understand business needs and ensure that they are implementing systems critical to business services.

Manage: Service is delivered based on company objectives and expectations – IT must act as a single point-of-service request, and prioritize those requests based on pre-defined priorities.

Measure: Improvement of cross-organization visibility and service level commitments – While metrics are essential, it is crucial that IT ensures a business context to what they are measuring and keeps a clear relationship between the measured parameter and business goals.

The benefits of better synchronization between business and IT

• Faster time-to-market 
• Increased profitability 
• Better customer experience 
• Improved collaboration 
• Greater industry and IT agility 
• Strategic technological transformation 

Source:

https://www.signavio.com/post/importance-of-business-and-it-alignment/