Learning Activities
Sustainability and Leadership
Doing well in leading the energy of others is critical in today's business environment because of its volatile and dynamic nature. The 24/7 world of business that has been brought about by technological disruption and globalization has made change in the workplace as necessary as the computer itself. Only people can make change happen quickly in a business and only people can keep the 24/7 work demand a viable business advantage.
This week we examine the relationship between a strong leadership point of view and creating competitive edge. It is important that our new GDD leaders take this message home. GDD is losing money right now because we are in a highly competitive marketplace and do not have the resources to compete. Change and innovation are the only way out of this dilemma. Our leaders must look for opportunities and people who can meet this challenge.
THEME ONE: Companies need to make money to stay alive and it is the leader's job to make sure that the resources of the organization, including human resources, are used properly to make that happen.
Understanding what competitive advantage means to a company's bottom line is important in leading the vision. Competitive advantage means separating your company from others in the same business through value added products, processes or services that mark your business as better from the rest. It makes customers want to invest in what you offer the market. In watching the videos and in your discussion, try to ask yourself how can GDD create a competitive advantage and how could I as a manager for GDD lead that change?
Read:
a) Sustainable Competitive Advantage Definition Factors Creating One
b) Competitive Advantage Types Explained
c) 7 Steps to Create Competitive Advantage for a Company
A challenge for any business is to ensure the day-to-day business runs successfully while looking to the future to sustain its competitive advantage. The leader's job is to make sure that the resources of the organization, including human capital, are used properly to make that happen.
Denning (2013) reviewed Rita McGrath's book, The End of Competitive Advantage: How to Keep Your Strategy Moving as Fast as Your Business. McGrath proposed that sustainable competitive advantage is no longer a viable idea.
After reading Denning's article, Its Official! The End of Competitive Advantage and all of the readings for week 2, theme 2, take a position for or against the following statement:
"Sustainable competitive advantage as a strategic goal making tool is still viable for the business organization today."
Reference:
Denning, S. (2013, June 2). Its official the end of competitive advantage. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2013/06/02/its-official-the-end-of-competitive-advantage/#45d95a1b1d96
THEME TWO: Leadership drives competitive advantage when it creates a culture of inclusion of people and ideas, is responsible for its supply chain decisions and organizes a culture that promotes people, innovation and creativity. Inversely poor leadership creates little to no competitive advantage.
Leaders today must compete within the marketplace but also with the innovation and technology that is disrupting the marketplace. A leader must recognize the trends in the market, encourage the skills and resources of the company, and develop a sound relationship with the stakeholders of the company. Here, at GDD, we value even the smallest of suggestions that will help the bottom line.
Review the Company Profile before reading this material and consider some ideas that as managers we may explore to make the company more competitive.
Read:
a) Organizational Culture as Driver of Competitive Advantage
b) Creativity and Innovation: The Leadership Dynamics
c) Inclusive Leadership
d) Why Sustainable supply chain is good business
e) Interview with CEO Sam Allen John Deer Corporation on competitive advantage
f) The Culture or the Leader which comes first?
g) 10 Great Companies that Lost their Edge
Leadership drives competitive advantage when he or she can create a culture of inclusion of people and ideas, is responsible for its supply chain decisions and organizes a culture that promotes people, innovation and creativity. Inversely poor leadership creates little to no competitive advantage.
Use the facts of the case scenario below and the course readings for week 2, theme 2 to explain how Simon's investigation and the accident prove the following statement:
The culture of the company if not reinforced at all levels of the organization can kill sustainability.
As part of the movement toward making money Rockfish reviewed the Human Resources (HR) departments of GDD nationwide. He realized that worldwide departments were staffed much like GDD North America, with a personnel officer and a benefits specialist. Further, he found that most of their work was focused on form review and collection for benefits, approving vacation and sick time, as well has processing applications for employment. Rockfish decided to hire a department head for HR in North America as a test to see if the department could provide more value to the company. The new Department Head, Carly Simon, has great ideas on shared leadership and is hoping to be involved in other departments of the division by providing what she calls a "people take" on departmental tasks.
Rockfish has asked Simon to review the safety record of the Chicago station because it seems to have the highest incident of injury. Simon looked at the number of workmen's compensation claims that the Chicago station employees filed. The results show that the claims total was 24% higher than the other stations. Simon began to look for answers. Her conversations with the employees in the lunchroom revealed some very important ideas:
1). Employee attitude towards injuries was cavalier. They wore injuries almost like a badge of honor because it meant employees were able to cut down on time moving more packages out the door
2). Employees often worked double shifts to make up for the employees who were injured. Employees seemed to fear the idea of speaking up because it was not considered good to do so in the eyes of the team.
3). When pressed, the employees admitted that when met with possible delays in conveying the packages to the sorters or planes, they would ignore safety procedures.
Some believed that management cared more about productivity and profits than the welfare of the employees Simon suspected that the attitude of the employees of the station did not help the situation, but management was creating the problem. A major accident validated her suspicions. An old baggage machine that uses hydraulic lift to get the packages loaded in the cargo hold collapsed seriously injuring two men. One was not likely to recover the use of his legs. When Carly heard of the accident she ran to the tarmac and talked with James Taylor, the station manager. Distraught, Taylor confessed that he was pushing the workers to use the old baggage machine because production was much higher than the new machine. Taylor indicated that he had made several requests for two new machines but only received one. Management said that they did not care about the safety of the machine; that the men would just have to be careful.