Each year, countless of companies fail due to the inability to change. While sometimes the issues are hard to identify or almost no one discovers them, a lot of times people have already recognized the flaws but are unable to transform their organizations. Before attribute these failures to stubborn managers or single-minded employees, let’s examine what actually happens in people’s mind when organizational changes occur.

Driving organizational change can trigger people’s fear and activate the same portion of the brain which deals with physical threats. In this article, McFarland suggests that people’s fear of being unable to navigate in the workplace will increase organizational resistance. Employees consider their key needs, “status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, and fairness”, to be deprived by the change and it would always be better to avoid such loss. Moreover, neuroscientists found that the “burning platform atmosphere” at work triggers a limbic response in employees. A burning platform is a practice to motivate employees to change through threatening them, and it has now been proven to be ineffective to reach organizational goals.

Neurosciences reveals how brain react when perceiving organizational change.

It seems like humans do not have full control over themselves. While this fatal statement can be depressing to changemakers, let’s not forget how little time humans(specifically, homo sapiens) have been free from day-to-day physical threats. Our ancestors went through those times which they have to be always prepared for fight, and this psychological defending mechanisms have long been hard-wired in our brains. To turn off the alarming system is by no means an easy task, but making people focus on evidence, fact, and how they can benefit from the change will certainly help. Moreover, letting employees be involved in decision making, effectively communicating the visions to the employees, and demonstrating short-term positive outcomes of the change will help the reinforcement.

Managers and exec often assume that employees know their plan and purpose of the change, however, the reality has been the opposite. It is worthwhile to invest time in educating and communicating with employees, rather than executing the change plan arbitrarily.

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Over the semester, I work with my assigned group members to examine, analyze, and solve a movie case which involves management issues. While we dedicated our time to solve the problem, we ourselves are also a live case on teamwork. Using the Five-Stage Model of Group Development, I would now reflect on the establishment and functioning of my case project group.

Our group, though not the energetic, hyper type of group, had formed well in the initial stages (Forming and Storming). We treated each other with respect, and we talked to each other in a friendly manner. Having just mentioned that, I noticed that my group members have differing personalities: Some of us were task-oriented and valued efficiency over effectiveness, while others were creative and would like to explore a variety of ideas before jumping into the work process. I was the latter type of person, and since the harmony within groups is important, I tried to present my ideas in a more timely manner so that creativity and efficiency co-existed.

As the deadlines of the project drew near, some issues emerged in the norming stage. Although the team structure was solidified, it was not an interactive group. We did not establish a norm of challenging each other’s ideas, and as a result groupthink influenced our performance. It is usually easier for tired university students to focus on “getting the job done,” however, this mentality can hinder growth and the potential of project. Also, I agree with the point brought up by Homen that different expectations on the result of the project will lead to the deviation of commitment among group members. The person who aims for a perfect outcome will inevitably contribute more on the project, and the workload will never be even.

Additionally, our group did not establish a habit of communication. We were concerned about the effect of our suggestions on our relationships with each other, and thus we rarely directly pointed out how each member can improve on their performance.

Finally, our group performed adequately in the case report and presentation. Although there are issues in our group, we have made large progress in finishing the job. We practiced hard for the presentation, and the final effort lead to a satisfying outcome.

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Work Cited:

Langton, N., Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. (2006). Organizational behaviour: Concepts, controversies, applications (4th Canadian ed.). Toronto: Pearson Canada.

As a human, living with diversity can be difficult. Our brains are long hard-wired to prefer those behaviors and cultures that are similar to ours while unconsciously reject those which are different from ours. However, working with different cultural groups is inevitable in today’s globalized world. Below are a couple of main differences that I found significant when working in multicultural settings.

• Task Completion > Relationship building

I discovered that personal relationship in the workplace is not highly valued in North America. People will directly challenge each others’ ideas in meetings, even when they understand that conflicts might arise and personal relationship might be affected. Also, it is the completion of task that solidifies work-place relationship. In Taiwan, however, it is the other way around; cultivating personal relationship is more or less necessary for successfully completing a task.

• Seniority is relatively irrelevant

I found out that seniority(age or year of study) does not really play a role in providing suggestions or opinions in organizations in Canada. If one has some constructive criticisms regarding the policy of an organization or discovers some flaws in a project, he or she is more than welcome to speak up and change the status quo, regardless of their age. On the other hand, East Asian’s high-context culture emphasizes seniority in an organization. If a novice suggests that some operations in the organization is not effective, the people who have spent more time in the organization will consider this as an offense.

I heartily agree with Claire that most people are unable to fully understand another culture and that the potential to embody exotic culture is limited. However, I believe that a mutual respect between different cultures is possible. Differences certainly exist, but some universal rules, such as delivering friendliness(smile) or being caring can be applied to build successful relationships.

Cross cultural communication is more subtle than we think.

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Before studying in Canada, I never have the idea that cultural values can have such a huge impact on the teamwork setting/workplace. Although we all want to success, the belief and values that we have long-held are so distinctive that it takes certain time to pass the storming stage of group formation.

According to the textbook, the Global Leadership and Organizational Behaviour Effectiveness (Globe) identified “nine dimensions on which national cultures differ”(Langton, 82). The form has listed some examples of countries which demonstrate/ not demonstrate the cultural values. Generally, this form should not be surprising: European countries tend to be more future-orientated, more individualistic, and more humanely orientated; the United States value performance and quick decision(assertiveness); Asian countries, though different in several metrics, values contexts and preexisting backgrounds(gender, power…etc).

When people from different culture work together, better assume that there are differences between customs until further evidence emerges.

Given these information, how do we work with people from different cultural background better? As the textbook has stated, group cannot survive without communication, so communication should key to group functioning. Particularly, I have found the advices provided to be useful when reflecting on my multicultural teamwork experience:

1. Emphasize description rather than interpretation or evaluation

Although this might mean stating facts rather than one’s own interpretation to others, it can actually mean to think less negatively when one encounters unfamiliar, ambiguous expressions. I used to be very sensitive to the feelings of others, and when people express confusion or some emotion that I was unable to identify, I would feel insecure and anxious. Now, having more experience working with people from different background, I understand that thinking too much is unnecessary and I should only focus on facts.

2. Practise Empathy

In Grade 11, I was the key volunteer of a specific festival, working with other three students in our school to recruit volunteers. When I posted the information that the volunteer hours can be used as CAS credit in the IB Facebook group, one teacher was so angry that he scolded me in the group with capital letters. He mentioned that it was a wrong information and that I should have obtain his verification before posting this. I was extremely depressed at first, for I have never been publicly criticized in a group. Nevertheless, I thought that he might have been in trouble for similar issues so he was afraid that same things would happen again. I emphasized both myself and him: I did not intend to spread wrong information, and he did not intend to hurt my feelings.

Work Cited:

Langton, Organizational Behaviour, 4th edition, p. 82-83.

The most interesting concept that I have found so far in COMM 292 is the Type A and Type B personality theory. According to the textbook, Type A personality stands for people who are obsessed with achievements and instant recognition, and do not mind to step on others. Conversely, Type B personality represents people who rarely feel the urge to achieve more in less time; they have patience with themselves. To be more specific, below is a list of comparison:

Type As

• Always multitasking
• Cannot enjoy themselves or truly relax
• Frequently, if not always, using numbers to measure their success

Type Bs

• Feel no need to display or discuss their achievements or accomplishments unless such exposure is demanded by the situation
• Can relax without feeling bad about themselves
• Never suffer from a sense of time urgency with its accompanying impatience (Langton 51)

Generally speaking, Type B people would be more successful in the workplace. I completed the exercise at the end of the chapter and found that I am a relatively easy Type A. This result should not be surprising, given the fact that I could hardly relax or do one thing at a time. The only reason that I am not a hard-core Type A is because I would not base my achievements at the expense of others.

So how could a Type A person transform into Type B?

Personalities are not 100% inherited and it should be changeable. On one hand, I somehow know that my irritable, easily-anxious personality is inherited from my family. On the other hand, there are certain tactics to ease out the clouded emotions and moreover, be patient with oneself. Below are some of the possible ways to be a relaxed, satisfied individual:

• Know the key points of assignments/tasks.

One of the reason that Type A people is always rushing is because they want everything to be perfect. However, time and energy are inevitable constraints on humans and we can only focus on the most important goals. Hence, if people could get a better picture of assignments/tasks and know the criteria well, it should not be hard to find the key points and prioritize them.

• Give yourself sometime every day to plan and reflect.

As a busy university student, set aside sometime to examine long-term goals every day can be a challenging task. Nevertheless, haste makes waste and planning ahead is usually the best thing to do to reduce anxiety. Plans are not intended to be perfect, but having some general timelines in mind can make life smoother and more meaningful.

• Get enough sleep.

Inconsistent sleeping patterns lower productivity, and the lowered productivity causes more anxiety, and more anxiety disrupts sleep. Disrupted sleeping pattern usually begins with some unresolved stress during the day, so in order to sleep well, one should find some way release stress, such as exercising daily or hanging out with friends. According to the National Sleep Foundation, “7-9 hours of sleep” is suggested for young adults (National Sleep Foundation 16). Sleeping well is such a crucial factor to become the calm and intelligent Type B person that it should be the priority in our daily life.

Relax more, sleep more, and be happy.

See you in the Type B squad someday!

Work Cited:

Langton, Organizational Behaviour, 4th edition, p. 51

National Sleep Foundation. (n.d.). How Much Sleep Do We Really Need? Retrieved February 06, 2017, from https://sleepfoundation.org/excessivesleepiness/content/how-much-sleep-do-we-really-need-0

Although it has been more than 10 years since Steve Jobs delivered the commencement speech at Stanford University, the “passion theory” has never stopped making an impact on people’s career choices. Jobs mentions to “follow your heart” and that the only way to do great work is to “love what you do” (Jobs 15-17). He encouraged college graduates to pursue their passion and not to settle until they found their destiny. As the CEO of Apple, he could not have been more persuasive on his stance.
But is that really the case?

The book title “So Good They Can’t Ignore You” was derived from the quote by Steve Martin, an American actor.

Cal Newport, an associate professor in Georgetown University and the author of five career/academic related books, has made his case against passion. He believes that passion should not be the most important factor when choosing jobs. In his lately published book “So Good They Can’t Ignore You”, Newport suggested that most people gain job satisfaction after they master their work, and that trying to find a job with “preexisting passion” would most likely lead to anxiety and job hopping rather than success. Instead of putting more emphasis on passion, he values craftsmanship and deliberate practice.

“Passion comes after you put in the hard work to become excellent at something valuable, not before.(Newport, 2012)”

As both parties have different standpoints regarding motivation, it reminds me of the McClelland’s Theory of Needs: Need for achievement, power, and affiliation. While Jobs believes that the drive to excel, the need for achievement comes from something deeper, Newport insists that achievement is what caused motivation.

I used to be a pious believer of the “true-calling” theory. Nevertheless, in Grade 12, I am interested in too many fields of knowledge to make a decision on college application. Eventually, I began another approach: Try to find what is missing in the world and choose something that could fill in the gaps. This method has surprisingly worked out: I noticed that there is a gap between arts and business, and as I have been an “art” person, I want to be familiar with various business models to sustain great organizations which support humanities and social innovations. Sometimes I still question myself whether I have made a good decision. Yet if I did not change the “passion approach”, I will never be in any of the post-secondary institutions and continue to sharpen my skills.

Work Cited:

University, S. (2016, September 16). Text of Steve Jobs’ Commencement address (2005). Retrieved February 05, 2017, from http://news.stanford.edu/2005/06/14/jobs-061505/

C., Newport. (2012). So Good They Can’t Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love. New York City, United States: Grand Central Publishing.

Langton, Organizational Behaviour, 4th edition, p. 123.

Circular economy has become a trendy concept over recent years. Instead of continually performing the “take-make-dispose” philosophies, several pioneers have come up with solutions to make our life more sustainable.

The National Zero Waste Council has collected some notable business models for circular approaches. The “products-as-a-service” model enables people to enjoy service rather than ownership. For instance, instead of buying light fittings, the customers can now buy the service of light. The manufacturers will go to people’s houses and change the fittings whenever a more efficient product is released, and recycle the old materials.

This image was taken from the Ted Talk delivered by Ellen MacArthur: The surprising thing I learned sailing solo around the world.

Also, the “product-life extension” model encourages upgrading and repairing used components of products. For example, engines do not necessarily have to be abandoned when it is broken. Instead, if people make the parts of engines re-manufacturable, they only have to change parts in order to make the machine well-functioned. Additionally, people do not have to throw away the entire toothbrush when they need a new one. Changing the brush is enough to satisfy people’s need of cleaning.

For the most part, I agree with the above approaches that the National Zero Waste Council has mentioned in their blogpost. However, I would also like to challenge the effectiveness of implementing these initiatives in real-world practices. In the post, while the senior managers of Dell eventually oversees the benefit of using recycled materials to manufacture products, not every managers in other firms will react upon these benefits. Since the performance of managers are mostly been evaluated in short-term scales, these decision-makers may favour not-so-sustainable-but-cost-effective methods of production. To sum up, the ideas are good, but the company have to redesign reward system for managers to act in a way that aligns with the companies’ long-term interests.

This image is taken from the article “Sweden is paying people to fix their belongings instead of throwing them away” by World Economic Forum.

In contrast, governments might be able to exercise circular economy with less concerns. In this article, World Economic Forum explores Swedish government’s approach of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by nudging consumers’ choices. The government offers a tax break for fixing machines and clothes. This policy is expected to bring not only consumer’s shift in buying more high-quality, long-term functional products, but also a decrease in unemployment, which unemployed people can get jobs easily from fixing things. The government has successfully provided a reward system(tax-break and employment) for people, so it has less issues in implementing circular economy than private sectors.

To conclude, while the idea of conserving resources are beautiful, this piece will serve as a friendly reminder for people who wish to do so to examine the reward system within their firm before assigning budgets of implementing these ideas. Circular economy can be expensive at first, but there are ways to minimized potential costs. 

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Compared to CSR(corporate social responsibility), “shared value” was a relatively new approach of achieving social good through business. Instead of donating money to charity and taking a passive role in fostering social benefit, shared value places an emphasis on creating common values for both the societies and the business.

However, while Porter & Kramer stated in this article that the concept of shared value can “unleash the next wave of global growth” and further fix capitalism, another article published by Forbes is not so optimistic about that. Steven Denning, the contributor, stressed that in order to fix the holistic system of capitalism, bigger actions must be undertook.

Denning’s main argument is that the concept of “shared value” described by Porter and Kramer does not entail “customer capitalism”, which the power of buyers today is more effective than the power of sellers. In today’s business world, company have to position customer at its core of designing and manufacturing products. Nonetheless, Steven mentions that Porter and Kramer does not really touch on the customer aspects in the whole shared value concept. From”reconceiving products and markets”, “redefining productivity in the value chain”, to “enabling local cluster development”, none of them shows a strong emphasis on understanding customers’ problems or finding possible solutions in response to them.

So let’s get back to the question. If the current concept of “shared value” does not fix the problems of capitalism, how can it be revised to make a greater impact? Denning pointed out that “delighting customers” is one of the most important factors needed to be involved in the concept of shared values. For example, Maxine mentioned that the Japanese-based company MUJI left their paper products unbleached so that production cost decreased and customers enjoy a lower price. Maxine’s perspective on how MUJI “makes customers feel that they enjoy additional benefit” has supported the importance of delighting customers when implementing shared values.

Additionally, MUJI’s products are classic examples of disruptive innovation. Miranda mentioned in her post that MUJI creates a value proposition which solves customers pain-being over-served and over-charged. The products are less sophisticated than most of the substitutes in the marketplace, yet well-functioned and aesthetically intriguing in its simple style. I would heartily agree on Miranda’s opinion that simplicity serves both the customers and the society well. While consumers’ needs are satisfied, the minimized packaging and decoration of products have reduced carbon footprint and potential waste.

The story of MUJI and Denning’s argument have proposed that shared values are more to changes within a company’s production line. In conclusion, considering customers’ taste, opinions, pain, and creating potential gain is vital to a company’s success of exercising shared values.

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“Data-Analysis” has been on the latest trend of management and decision-making for companies in recent years. The improvement of technology has made collecting and analyzing data more efficient and precise. However, how do a company makes the best use of its information assets? In this article, the authors together provided some solutions.

To begin with, the article stated that in order to make better decisions, firms should be “truly” data-driven, and this means creating “a culture of evidence” rather than “a culture of advocacy”. Having a handful of data report is not enough. Instead, the right procedure of using data should be established and solidified. The article indicates that the manager should only determine “what to test” and leave the rest of the work to data analyst who understands the business well.

The data-driven decision making method does have risk, such as turning down a senior manager’s project plan or going against with the company’s existed strategies. Nonetheless, it is an essential step for organizations to reach its ultimate goals. The biggest downsides of a gut-feeling decision making method is that it cannot correctly reflect or predict customers’ feelings or behaviors. Without evidence, what the company executives “feel” like the right thing to do may turns out to be an unnecessary approach or ineffective service.

As a person who had dealt with some aspects of data, I can related myself to the points made above. Over the summer, I was doing an internship program in Taiwan for an educational experience sharing platform. Our “products” are video-taped talks given by university students studying all over the world, and our “customer” are students who need more personal experiences and information to make their post-secondary decisions. As a startup social enterprise, I took on various roles and was involved in product team, marketing team, and even partook in decision makings. We used various tools, such as Google Analytics and Google Adwords to analyze the performance of the website and more importantly, how we can do better to improve page views.

I would classified the enterprise as a data-driven company. The CEO and manager simply determined the information necessary to be tested, and the marketing team will regularly come up with strategies according to the regular report. Decisions are solely based on data instead of personal opinions. For example, when we promoted our website to students in Malaysia, the marketing team examined the effectiveness of each post on Facebook to website performance every day. The executives trusted the analysts and did not interrupt any strategies the marketing team has developed because they are all based on data. Eventually, we boosted the sessions from Malaysia three times higher than it used to be.

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Ink Studio applies several strategies to ensure its growth in commercial activities and promoting traditional Chinese culture.

Can art business sustain itself while reinforcing the core mission of promoting delicate culture? In 2012, three Stanford alumni co-founded Ink Studio, an art gallery focused on Chinese ink painting and calligraphy. Unlike the existing ways that Chinese artworks are being processed and sold, the gallery has several different approaches that eventually lead to its commercial and cultural success.

The business began with differentiating themselves from the art gallery market. Instead of selling a variety of artworks at the same time, Ink Studio chooses to place an emphasis on Chinese ink painting and calligraphy because the three co-founders believe that the above two categories have been widely considered as “the highest form of artistic expression in China for more than 2,000 years”(Smith, 2016). Focusing on only ink painting and calligraphy, the gallery has developed its own features. According to Porter’s generic strategy, the studio is expected to obtain a higher degree of customer loyalty than its competitors.

Besides boiling products down to specific types of artworks, they also differentiate themselves by making sure the artworks are authentic. Britta, the art historian among the co-founders, has a solid experience and 30-year working relationship with the Chinese artists. By directly dealing with the artists, the co-founders believe that there is less chance of selling forgeries.

Next, Ink Studio makes the best use of its customer relationship. Its well-established brand image, such as authenticity and good quality, has addressed glamorous buyers, including Hong Kong’s M+ and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. This in turn makes the artworks sold in the gallery more valuable, and thus increases the revenue of the gallery. The rapid growth in income will further make it possible for the co-founders to focus more on promoting traditional Chinese artwork, which is the core value of the business.

Additionally, the gallery has determined its key resources by identifying themselves as a small business. Though the gallery has been successful now and is invited to some of the most prestigious art fairs in the world, they do not have many stockholders or people that they have an obligation to show their financial report. The co-founders are mainly responsible to only artists, collectors, owners, and themselves. It is this simple structure within a company that they can keep themselves from blurring the overall picture of the business and be less profit-driven, more enthusiasm-oriented.

Conclusively, Ink Studio has outlined several strategies that makes it business successful and holds on to its key values. The successful example of an art business may, in the future, lead to the prosper of art industries.

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