Reflective Commentary Guidelines From your reflective blogs throughout the semester think about the content that was most impactful. You will write one reflective commentary which will include an overview of what you learned and how you will develop yourself as a manager. The paper should be approximately 3 pages double spaced. • • • • Introduction—An overview of your paper’s layout (typically one paragraph) Overview—Synthesize key concepts that spoke to you covered in the chapters and lectures (not a chapter by chapter synopsis—just overview and integrate key concepts that you covered within your blogs that you found most interesting (1 page) Lessons Learned—What key take aways did you gain from this course and its content? How did the self-assessments assist with your understanding of your managerial potential? What best practices did you learn about that you hope to exercise?(1 page) Personal Action Plan—How will you apply what you learned from this course? What specific courses will you take to improve your managerial skills? Will you find a mentor? Will you get an internship? List actionable items that will develop you as a manager and leader. (1 page) The overview and impact section should draw upon what you have learned thus far in the course. It will be helpful to review the chapters before completing this assignment and jot down key take always. Your personal action plan should include specific things you would do as a management professional based on your recommendations in the Overview and Lessons Learned sections. Target is Trying to Overcome the Problem of “Showrooming” The competitive landscape in the realm of retail has changed and is continuing to change in recent years. One factor that has helped to shape and change the field is the notion of showrooming. Showrooming involves consumers going into brick-and-mortar stores to check out a product only to later purchase it at a cheaper price from an online retailer. This is a real and tangible problem directly impacting the bottom line that retailers must figure out how to deal with. Target is attempting to combat the issue of showrooming. The costs associated with being a brick-and-mortar retailer, such as the cost of the building, inventory holdings, and labor in a marketplace that is extremely competitive, create a situation where every sale counts. When you as a retailer have invested in a brick-and-mortar location and your customers come in to look at your products, you need them to make a purchase— from you. Showrooming involves customers using information technology to price-shop for the products you are displaying but ultimately making their purchase from a lowercost online retailer. This is a recipe for disaster. This case touches on Target's current campaign to address the issue. Read the case below and answer the questions that follow. Organizations today face a wide array of challenges that organizations in the past never have. One looming problem that can have a drastic impact on an organization's profitability—and perhaps even their long-term viability—is the issue of "showrooming." We have all done it—gone to a local retailer and looked at a product only to find out that you can buy it cheaper from an online retailer. And many customers will do just that in order to save some money. Target is one of the victims of the showrooming trend. Information technology and the increased popularity of smartphones have created conditions where brick-and-mortar retailers like Target are having to compete on a regular basis directly with online retailers. And that playing field is not necessarily a fair or level field. Unlike brick–and-mortar retailers, online retailers do not have the same cost structure to factor into their pricing strategy. For example, online retailers have significantly lower labor costs, oftentimes do not collect sales tax, likely do not have the same inventory carrying costs, and also do not have the same costs associated with their sales location. Online retailers also have a competitive advantage globally over brick-and-mortar stores with limited availability. Target is attempting to counter this trend by asking its suppliers to create special products that would set it apart from online competitors and shield it from the price comparisons associated with them. Where special products aren't possible, Target is asking suppliers to help it match rivals' prices. The store also said it might create a subscription service that would give shoppers a discount on regularly purchased merchandise. Vendors are likely to have little choice but to play ball with Target because of its clout as the second-largest discount chain. Target declined to comment other than to issue a statement saying it has long "prided" itself on having truly collaborative vendor partnerships and "we continually work with our vendors to remain competitive in the ever-evolving retail environment." Some analysts said Target's new tactics are unlikely to reverse the showrooming trend because they fail to address the root cost structure problems traditional retailers face. Compounding that problem is that online retailers such as Amazon use a different business model entirely; Amazon can sell products so cheaply because it uses its other profitable units—such as cloud data storage and fees it charges others to sell on its website—to subsidize the rest of its business. "The traditional retailers are still doing business the old way while Amazon has reinvented the model," says Sucharita Mulpuru, retail analyst at Forrester Research. And consumer preferences are also moving online. "That is where we're heading," said Adrianne Shapira, retail analyst at Goldman Sachs. "You can try and dance around it, but it's a fact." Source: Excerpted from Ann Zimmerman, "Showdown Over 'Showrooms,'" The Wall Street Journal, January 23, 2012, pp. B1, B5. Self-Assessment 1.1: How Strong Is My Motivation to Lead? Feedback score: Score : 41 pts. Range-based feedback: 38 - 50 pts. Feedback: You may have high motivation to lead. Interpreting the results Research shows that there are three elements to the motivation to lead. The first element is the extent to which you see yourself as a leader and the extent to which you find yourself accepting or pursuing leadership positions. One of the truisms in life is that past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. If you find that others see you as a leader (for instance, you have been asked to lead a student organization or you have been voted as a team captain), then there is a strong possibility that you will desire to be in leadership positions in the future. Items 1 through 4 are related to this element. The second element is the extent to which you are willing to act in a leadership role even when there is no clear reward for doing so. For example, if you have found yourself willing to spend extra time to help organize group activities or to be prepared to run a meeting even if there is no compensation (money, class credit) for doing these things, then this suggests that you have a strong internal motivation to lead. Items 5 through 7 are related to this element. The third element is the extent to which you respond positively when you are asked to lead and the extent to which you think that you have a duty to provide leadership when the opportunity presents itself. Research shows that people who have these thoughts and beliefs are more likely to be successful leaders. Items 8 through 10 are related to this element. Action Steps If you have a history of leadership, and you have found those experiences to be fun and rewarding, then you likely have higher scores on this self-assessment. You can be confident that you are building a good foundation for future leadership responsibilities. If your score on this assessment is lower than you hoped or expected, it may be that you have not had the opportunity to test whether you would be a good leader or not. If you have the desire to assume managerial and leadership responsibilities in the future, you should seek out opportunities for leadership right now. Your university or college probably has a number of possibilities for this. There are student organizations, varsity and intramural athletic teams, student life positions, and many more. Outside of higher education, you might have a job in which you can pursue leadership positions, even in small ways. Or you might belong to a social organization in which you can seek out leadership positions. In short, the best way to see if you have the motivation to lead is to actually lead and see how it goes. As this course proceeds, you will learn many things that are associated with quality management and leadership. Research shows that people can learn to be good leaders if they have the motivation and opportunity. Take the things that you read about in the text, and that you learn about and discuss in class, and put them into practice wherever and whenever you can. Google: Modern Management The study of management theory is important for various reasons. Knowledge of theoretical perspectives can help managers understand and interpret the present, guide their actions, provide a source for new ideas, give clues to the reasoning behind other managers’ decisions, give clues to the meaning of outside events, and reveal the reason for productive results. You are asked to demonstrate your knowledge of these concepts in this activity. Read the case below and answer the questions that follow. Have you ever found yourself daydreaming about finding a job that allows you to work from home, take naps, play video games, or eat as much free food as you want? Look no further, as Google offers its employees a hassle-free environment complete with lavish benefits such as these. The idea behind Google’s unique management style is that we now live in an age of rapid technological and cultural change much different than ever experienced before. Google’s hands-off, relaxed management style shows a deeper understanding of the values and aspirations of the youngest and largest demographic group in the United States: Generation Y. Despite Google’s seemingly perfect fit to Generation Y’s unique set of work standards and needs, the company continues to conduct research on effective management practices. In 2011, Google launched Project Oxygen, a statistics-driven research project designed to study what makes good managers. Preparation for the release of Project Oxygen results consisted of one year of data-mining performance appraisals, employee surveys, nominations for top manager awards and other sources including employee interviews. The result was more than 10,000 observations of manager behaviors. These observations were condensed into eight key behaviors of great managers, which include: be a good coach; empower and don't micromanage; be interested in direct reports' success and well-being; don't be a sissy: be productive and results-oriented; be a good communicator and listen to your team; help your employees with career development; have a clear vision and strategy for the team; and have key technical skills so you can advise the team. Project Oxygen did not necessarily result in the new and innovative approaches Google is known for, but the study still reveals some important observations. The data from Project Oxygen suggests that effective management is rooted in fundamentals as simple as making time for employees and being consistent. While companies may wish to implement new, innovative, and exciting management practices, they must be rooted in the core concepts of effective management practices. Sources: Excerpted from Johnson-Bryant, Radiah. “Apple Inc. Portfolio: Strategies for Reaching Global Markets.” Virginia’s Community College. https://sites.google.com/a/email.vccs.edu/bus100 rjohnsonbryant/home/strategies-for-reaching-global-markets Nussbaum, Bruce. “Google’s Greatest Innovation May be its Management Practice.” Fast Company (2011). http://www.fastcompany.com/1720052/googles-greatest-innovationmay-be-its-management-practice Manimala, Mathew J.; Wasdani, Kishinchand Poornima. “Distributed Leadership at Google: Lessons from the Billion Dollar Brand.” Ivey Business Journal (June 2013) Self-Assessment 2.1: What Is Your Orientation Toward Theory X/Theory Y? Total score: 51 pts. RANGE BASED FEEDBACK: 37-59 pts. Feedback: Your view of employees is split evenly between a Theory X and a Theory Y perspective. Interpreting the Result It would be a rare manager who was completely Theory X or completely Theory Y. Later in this chapter, you will learn about a contingency approach to management. This is the view that managers can—and should—adjust their managerial perspective and behavior to the particular employee and situation that they are dealing with. So, if an employee has shown themselves to be trustworthy, the manager who operates from a contingency perspective will place a great deal of trust in that employee, whereas newer employees or employees who have demonstrated that they cannot be trusted will get more of their attention. However, it is also true that employees will often behave in ways consistent with the way people expect them to behave. This “self-fulfilling prophecy” effect is well known and well established. You might be able to think of a person who believed in you so much that your performance was even better than you thought it could be. This might have been a teacher in a class, a coach in a sport, or a leader of a scouting group. The point here is that managers who have a stronger Theory Y perspective are more likely to have employees who live up to their optimistic expectations. Action Steps If you find that the results on this assessment are not what you expect, you should take the opportunity to reflect on why this might be. If you are stronger in a Theory X orientation, you can begin to work on seeing the good in other people even while acknowledging that we all have imperfections. To use an analogy from research on helping couples who have marital problems, it is clear that if you expect to see problems in other people, you will find them and it leads to difficult relationships. But it is also true that you can train yourself to see the good things in other people (including your employees), and if you work at this, you will find you will be rewarded with better relationships. By the way, if you are in a romantic relationship, this same advice applies to you. The more that you look for the good in someone else, the more you will find it. If you are strong in a Theory Y perspective, you need to be aware that it is also good to have a watchful eye. President Ronald Reagan is famous for saying that in the context of negotiations about nuclear weapons and capabilities with the Soviet Union that the United States should “trust, but verify.” For example, while you should trust your employees, you should also have good controls over things such as cash management, travel reimbursements, and treating customers well. Finally, if you are in work situation where your boss or supervisor is overly harsh and controlling, you should know that many managers are not like this. You might want to look for another employment opportunity that would be more consistent with the way that you would like to be treated. 
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