Questions and Answers of Finance For Executives Managing

What are the essential characteristics of a business process?
Are there alternative processes used and in which circumstances – when no one is looking, when time is short, when an important customer asks etc.?
What major problems does the current process create?
Where are the decision points or branches in the process?
How long does each step take – typically and in an emergency?
Who oversees the process and who has the power to intervene?
Who does each step?
Linking these steps, what are the inputs and outputs at each stage?
Starting at the beginning, what are the steps involved in the process?
introduce an approach to changing processes.
describe basic techniques for process mapping
Why might international diversification be more risky than moving into a new industry in an organisation’s own country of operations? What factors might a corporation analyse to assess the
Does Wesfarmers’ success with the Bunnings model in Australia translate into likely success in the UK or other markets? Argue your case in terms of knowledge of customers and competitors in home
Diversification has the potential to completely transform the nature of an organisation in terms of its customers and markets. Discuss this statement in relation to Wesfarmers’ history of
Changing customers is a major change of strategy. What are some of the potential implications for change within an organisation itself?The following questions refer to the Wesfarmers Bunnings
What are the risks associated with pursuing a diversification strategy?
Describe the four broad categories in the adapted Ansoff matrix?
What is the purpose of conducting a Porter’s five forces analysis?
What is the name for the strategy of growing a business into serving unfamiliar customer groups or offering new product types?
For Super8 film Kodak has a strong competitive position. How would you rate the attractiveness based on size and growth factors?
Based on your assessment, how well-positioned is Kodak to grow profitable market share in smartphones?
Using the GE–McKinsey matrix, do a quick high level assessment of attractiveness and competitiveness of the proposed new smartphone venture for Kodak.a. How attractive is the industry for Kodak?
In this chapter we looked at industry analysis using the Porter’s five forces model. Which of the five forces has had the biggest impact on the overall profitability of the photographic imaging
consider the choices that an organisation faces when changing customers and competitors
identify models for choosing customers and markets
How does your identity influence your behaviour – for example, goals, associations/affiliations or life/career choices?
Take some time to reflect, and describe your own identity in a brief paragraph.
How might the concept of impressing relate to organisational culture and the induction of new staff?
What is meant by the term identity work? What is the role of discourse in exploring identity?
Why does identity have such a significant influence on human behaviour?
Refering to the Green Circle Construction Mini-case, what was the effect of the‘action not words’ approach on the senior management team?
Staff, members and volunteers who work for not-for-profits or nongovernment organisations (NGOs) are working for a cause. Consider the role of identity in the Australian Red Cross case as staff and
ABB went through a series of changes in strategy as different CEOs came and left. How did the ABB identity change with each successive new CEO? What sorts of actions did each leader take to shape ABB
explore the implications of enacting change and engaging with identity work.
investigate the identity work model
discuss the connections between change and personal identity
What additional measures could the miners and others at the mining company have taken to anticipate and work with resistance to change?
Referring to Mini-case: Miners’ story, what were some of the deficiencies in the company’s approach to change?
Discuss how power and politics in organisations can cause disruption in a planned change.
Discuss the role of leadership in unplanned change.
Discuss the key concepts of Lewin’s theory of change and innovation and how they should be incorporated.
Explain the difference between planned and unplanned change. What are the internal and external forces that influence these types of change?
What are the benefits in using coaching as an approach and having a skillset for managing change?
identify connections between the enquiry–action framework and the theories of change introduced earlier in the book
explain the practicalities of the enquiry–action framework
One of the key features of the OCI tool discussed in the Galoshes Mini-case is that it measures the organisation’s current culture based on the employees’expectation of the behaviour required of
Review Mini-case: Using evidence – Galoshes Ltd. Is it always necessary to conduct both a qualitative and a quantative study? Discuss.
What could possibly be the reasons for the difficulties encountered by Training Co. at the analysis stage?
Review Mini-case: Training Co. Discuss whether collecting evidence by having 15 interviews was sufficient within this case context.
What skills and attributes should a change agent have to collect successful evidence for a change program in an organisation?
In an age of innovation, change is inevitable. Identify the critical factors that contribute to the successful management of an innovative change.
Discuss the major benefits of conducting a focus group and decide when you would use one.
What are the ethical considerations in survey research?
Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of survey research.
What are the major drawbacks in using a qualitative data approach?
Discuss why using a qualitative approach to gather evidence was important in the Galoshes Ltd example.
Given the evidence that was collected from the City of Mayfair, what changes would you recommend and why?
Is unbiased interpretation possible? How can you avoid bias?
If you had been appointed to conduct the research, what method would you have chosen and why?
Explain what qualitative research and quantitative research are.
identify the political and social challenges of gathering, analysing and presenting evidence in change processes.
build familiarity with a range of techniques used to gather evidence
What should one bear in mind when stories are institutionalised? Discuss the pros and cons on institutionalising organisational narratives.
Why do you think stories have such power to bring people together?
Review Mini-case: NSC Finance. Identify the elements of organisational culture in this case then identify how they emerge in the story shared by the advisers.
Visit www.revlon.com and research the company so you can share your understanding of its success within today’s entrepreneurnial context. Do you think retelling the story today will engage the
In your opinion does the story of Revlon work with young people today?
Review the Mini-case: Revlon Corporation. What considerations should one exercise when corporate stories are retold?
What meaning do you give to the role of gender, the play of artificial technologies and the new cultural meanings that unfold in life stories?
When you hear stories from your grandparents and parents, do you feel their stories have ‘no fit’ in the times in which you are living? How has it shifted to the stories you would share?
Review the Mini-case: ‘Caught in contradictions’. Share your reflections on this story.
Below is a story template that you can use as a guide for telling effective and meaningful stories. Using this template, write a story you wish to tell that you believe is important, memorable and
Discuss the positives and negatives of using narrative analysis as a change management tool and process.
Discuss the ways in which storytelling can help change leaders to be more effective.
When people share their stories how can change agents analyse the stories and use them as a tool to manage?
What makes a story persuasive?
Do you believe Moore’s Law will have an impact in the legal sector? List the ways in which you think it will make its impact.
Imagine the disruptive technological change of lawyers being replaced by robots and take a position on whether that would be possible. List and discuss your reasons.
Pick a competing legal firm and identify how it is innovating and what its story on leadership is. Compare and contrast.
Identify the key leadership qualities demonstrated in this study then discuss whether they are critical leadership qualities for managing change work.
introduce narrative analysis and its relevance for managing change
show how conversations, stories and the use of narrative analysis fit into the broader social and interactive context of organisational change
Identify the pros and cons of taking an incremental versus a radical approach to structural change.
Explain the difference between a mechanistic and an organic structure. Which type would provide the best platform for change in a volatile environment?
What are the key reasons an organisation might adopt a divisional structure?
What are the key advantages of a functional structure?
Why should an organisation’s external context be considered relevant when determining an appropriate organisational structure?
Was there any way Hsieh could have adopted a more consultative approach to quickly establishing a strict rule-based approach to working?
How would you characterise the change approach adopted by CEO Tony Hsieh in moving Zappos to Holacracy™? Consider the confronting ‘rip the bandaid off’ memo to all staff.
What are the pros and cons of a hybrid approach that seeks to have either:a. some parts of the organisation structured in an organic way and other parts in a mechanistic way; orb. people working
Using the mechanistic–organic model, examine the Holacracy™ structure and system that Zappos adopted. To what extent is the model organic and flexible versus mechanistic?
How would you describe the environment of Zappos?
suggest a framework for enacting structural change
explore the alternative structures that organisations can adopt and consider their relative strengths and weaknesses
discuss the relationship between the business environment and the structure of organisations
What can be learned from the success of 3M’s new adapted approach?
How does the 3M story challenge the traditional approach of change schools? Why was it legitimate to depart from the strict Six Sigma approach?
What might have been the consequences had 3M chosen to remain in the adhere posture and not adapted Six Sigma wherever necessary?
What does the 3M experience in relation to culture tell us about the consequences of an adopt and adhere stance with Six Sigma? If an organisation needs to retain key aspects of its current culture
Review Mini-case: 3M adopts and adapts Six Sigma. What were the various reasons 3M adopted the Six Sigma approach?

Showing 100 - 200 of 378