Listo system Essay

Introduction and Background: Listo system is one of the leading graphic service agency with long history of success at early 1990s. In early 1090s, the company quickly grew into one of the top graphic service companies in the world Listo system ‘VISION statement is â€Å"To be recognized as a leader in supplying quality graphic design product and services to our customers and to be respected by our clients and staff.† Listo Systems’ MISSION statement is: â€Å"We strive to develop superior graphic design products and services for our users through state-of-the-art technology, innovation, teamwork, and leadership.† (Justanswer.com) Diagnosis: Development of e-commerce in modern competitive commercial world has reduced need of middleman, brokers, and distributor, which radically changed the traditional layer distribution channel .The development of technological infrastructure epically ecommerce trading system not only shifted the power from seller to buyer, but also gave consumer’s the ability to search for best quality, service, term, flexibility and innovation. This gave wide flexibility in consumer buying process. If customer were not pleased with company’s product or service, they feel free to switch brand to other firm. Technologies have allowed Listo Systems to provide quality services and products faster and more efficiently. However, new technology has also been beneficial for Listo Systems’ competitors. The competition has grown significantly in number and in the quality of services and products that they provide. The increase in technology has also led to an increase in customer demands and expectations. Customers want services and products; however Listo’s Management was less concerned with the opinions and was more focused on production and profit. Instead of enlisting employees’ opinions, more directive orders were given. Listo hired a number of new managers and employees and due to lack of training and increased complexity associated with adding new layers to the hierarchy resulted in the organization’s goals and objectives becoming unclear. Analysis and evaluation: Analysis and evaluation can be done using two theories. PEST Analysis: Political: During 1990 various countries were implementing Trade liberalization, and perfect competition market for globalization where Listo also felt its impact both negatively and positively Economic: Europe and rest of the world felt the impact of government policies concerning taxation, labor union, cyber regulation, exchange rate policies . Social: Huge social change due to change in technology like internet media, was felt by listo system. Consumer attitude and opinion, consumer buying pattern , fashion and role model, were serious matter to focus during 1990 which hit listo hard enough to panic. Technological: Competing Technology development, could be handled through research based strategy, research based funding for replacement and solution of technology , information and communication, and consumer buying mechanism vs technology did not get full attention. Recommendation: 1. Listo should have to implement Research based funding for computing technological change should be implemented 2. Proper management strategy should be implemented to cope globalization and political change. 3. The expectancy theory should be implemented to motivate the employee provide them the assurance effort will lead to acceptable performance (expectancy), Performance will be rewarded (instrumentality), and The value of the rewards is highly positive (valence). (Herzberg, 1968) How has Listo Systems felt the impact of power shifting from the seller to the buyer? According to Rosabeth Moss Kanter, a professor at Harvard Business School, â€Å"The major challenge management faces today is living in a world of turbulence and uncertainty where new competitors arrive on the scene daily and competitive conditions change. We can no longer count on a stable world that is unchanging and unvarying and manage accordingly.† This statement implies in the case of Listo System and its overall performance in a competitive market. Regarding its history, Listo was very much concerned about its employee’s needs and their participation in decision making of the company. To operate in a world shaped by globalization and information revolution, the company focused more on the advancement of technologies and improvement in productivity. But the employees were taken as a secondary  importance. They were not provided with proper training of new technology and their views on decision making process were ignored. The significant changes in information flow, created people issues and called out the need for mass training in the organization. The company started giving emphasis to the advancement and was more concentrated on production and profit. Due to the lack of proper training, the employee’s became less motivated. For a better and effective performance, it is necessary for an organization to understand the behavior and needs of the employees. Satisfaction of the needs leads the employees to work more efficiently and effectively. A positive environment should be provided to make them more productive. But Listo ignored the requirement of the employees. And, the employees could not resist the rapid change in the organization. Moreover, new layers of supervisors and employees were added which slowed the pace of decision making. All these changes resulted in lack of employee’s motivation, lack of clearness of goal and a shift of power from seller to the buyer. The demotivation of employees and lack of clearness of the goal in the agency resulted in low quality production. As a result, the company could not cope with the growing and changing need of the customer and started losing them gradually. According to Michael Hammer, customers want more products from less money, more quality and service and more flexibility and convenience and more innovation. While the organization had been expanding in size and competence level, productivity was affected and quality decreased. It was very difficult to fulfill the needs and wants of powerful customers who have the ability to search for best service, quality, technology, innovation, etc. Due to the fast internet technology, customers have become aware of the new quality products with cheaper price and their expectancy level has become higher. They want more products in fewer prices and within a limited time. Directing, changing and influencing behavior of such customers is significant for the sustainability. The company must provide real value to them either by offering strong products and services or lowering the cost or by creating new technologies that is more efficient. Listo ignored the issues of consumer behavior as well as employee’s behavior. Ultimately, the power shifted from the seller to the buyer of the products and services. Customers were aware of the substitute products and services that are quality product at lower price which resulted as benefit to the competitors  of the company. As seller may raise the market price by withholding supply, the buyers may be able to reduce the market price by withholding the demand. To gather the attraction of such a huge market with all the knowledge and information, Listo had to strive hard. It should have focused more on customer’s behavior and their needs along with the employee’s satisfaction at work. There was no other option for the agency but to match the changing and growing need of powerful customers. The management needed to make new strategies to sustain in the changing market. The power shifting from the seller to the buyer had a big impact on the overall performance of the company. Due to this change of power, now the supply of the products and services depend on the satisfaction of the customer’s need and wants. It was now up to those large numbers of buyers to evaluate the products and make radical changes in the supply. Thus, the power shifting from seller to the buyer was an unexpected failure and gradual decrease in the demand of products and services of Listo Systems. What external environmental factors are affecting Listo Systems? An environmental factor plays a crucial role in the development of any organization. There are two types of environmental factors that affect the performance of a company (i.e. internal and external).Internal factors of environment refers to events, factors, people, system and conditions inside the organization that are controllable by the company. Whereas, the external factors of environment are those that occur outside the organization but causes the changes inside and are many times uncontrollable by the management of the organization. Based on Achieve Model, the external factors are the environment that can influence the performance an individual even if he/she has all the ability needed to the job. Listo Systems was also affected by both the internal as well as external factors in the environment. The internal factors included the goal of the organization, company’s rules and regulations along with its aim, organizational culture, and the employees working in the agency. Change in the internal factors of Listo had a great impact on its performance. Similarly, the external factors like customers, competitors, technology, suppliers, the economy, resources, and the regulatory system had a significant influence on its operation, growth, and long term sustainability. As per the information provided in the  websites, Listo being more focused on new technology was losing its employee’s motivation. As a result, the productivity was low and the quality was below the expectation of the economy, the customers, the suppliers, etc. Customers want quality product at cheaper price and if they don’t get it, they walk away for a substitute product that different competitors of the organization provide at lower price. The same thing happens in the case of Listo systems. The customers were taken away by the competitors because of the quality product at a cheaper price. The competitors were aware of the consumer’s behavior and expectancy. But, Listo had ignored the consumer’s behavior along with the other human behavior. It is very essential for an organization to understand the human behavior because it has to deal with human with different understanding, thoughts, needs, values and priorities. Even though the external factors are outside the company, it is important to monitor and adapt the external environment in a continuous manner. Since, Listo didn’t have a continuous monitoring on external environment, it lost its control oven those factors and it was very difficult for the agency to sustain in the market. It could not adapt the changing and varying environment as well as needs of the customers who play a vital role in the success of a company. Customers being dissatisfied with its products and services chose to move on to the substitutes provided by the competitors. And, the competitors having a good understanding of the human behavior made changes with their products to attract the customers of Listo. They were aware that if they provide a quality product at that moment they can win those customers which made Listo to lose its customers and made the demand low. Advancement in technology needs proper training which was not provided by the agency to its employees and thus there was lack of motivation resulting in low productivity. Thus, the suppliers of the materials and resources of the company were not willing to work with Listo systems because of its failure in the market. These external factors affected the overall environment of the graphic design company and changing its great success in the world to failure ultimately. CHAPTER- 2 COGNITIVE DISSONANCE Introduction: Cognitive dissonance deals with the relationship between one’s self-perception and their environment. Leon Festinger analyzed that when two  perceptions relevant to each other are in conflict, it creates the situation of dissonance. Diagnosis / Analysis: Alderfer’s ERG theory states that there are three core needs to motivate people; growth, relatedness and existence. Jackie had been looking for a large organization where she could develop her long-term career goals. Her positive attitude towards recycling was influenced by her observations and experiences that she had during her school life. There she tracked what happened to all the paper put in the trash pail in each classroom. Recommendation: There are many such employers who understand the employee’s behavior and adapt themselves to make them influence for a better performance and predict the future behavior of employees. So, there can be other options and opportunities for the job for Jackie. Because if she stays with Dorf, she might get frustrated if she can’t ignore the company’s choice to recycle and later on get disappointed and it will be harmful to both the company and Jackie herself. 1. Discuss Jackie’s dilemma in terms of cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance deals with the relationship between one’s self-perception and their environment. Leon Festinger analyzed that when two perceptions relevant to each other are in conflict, it creates the situation of dissonance. Jackie Hartnett, an individual with a high technical skills and a strong passion for the well-being for the environment, got job at Dorf Car Factory. Since, she was very much interested and concerned about the well-being of the environment; she could satisfy her job of reducing the harmful effects of wastes and garbage coming from factories by the means of recycling in an effective way and could give an outstanding performance. She had a very positive attitude and behavior towards her job as well as the boss, Charlie Damon. A positive behavior and attitude at his/her job helps a person to achieve the desired goal and satisfaction of physiological, social, safety, esteem and self-actualization needs. Alderfer’s ERG theory states that there are three core needs to motivate people; growth, relatedness and existence. (Managementstudyguide.com) Jackie had been  looking for a large organization where she could develop her long-term career goals. Her positive attitude towards recycling was influenced by her observations and experiences that she had during her school life. There she tracked what happened to all the paper put in the trash pail in each classroom. Jackie implemented a school- wide recycle program where she could apply her learning and experiences to make the environment free from the harmful elements. In this program, all the waste or papers were put in a separate trash pail and sent to a recycling factory to change it in reusable consumer goods. Her boss was finding her very attentive and efficient at work. She was experiencing a job satisfaction which matched her expectancy. Job satisfaction is achieved when needs of an individual is fulfilled. Both attitude and job satisfaction are interrelated. If Jackie had a negative attitude towards her job, she would have never been satisfied. Her needs were satisfied as well. But sometimes needs are blocked in the attempt to accomplish a goal. Frustration occurs when the goal attainment is blocked. Whereas, aggression comes with an aggressive and unfriendly behavior. Rationalization is a situation when a person makes excuses for his/her failure to accomplish a goal and regression is a tendency to react. Moreover, fixation means repeating the same behavior as per Maier. And, resignation relates to a situation when an individual gives up to the situation or move on after a prolonged frustration. All these situations come under cognitive dissonance. 2. How could this new information on Dorf’s actual recycling program affect Jackie’s perception of the company she works for? What impact could this have on her overall performance? Are her personal values around recycling strong enough to determine who she works for? Being experienced for a year in the job of recycling Drof’s performance had improved day by day. At the same time, she came to know about the facts of the recycling program and she then uncovered the actual information showing that several factory shipments of waste material being sold to another company. She made some quick research and came to the point that those other companies didn’t properly dispose the waste products in a hygienic way. The waste products and materials were not disposed in the right way to keep the environment free from the harmful effects of it. And, when she approached her boss, Charlie,  with the facts and information regarding the waste materials recycling, she was taken aback. She was informed about the costs associated with the approaches to ‘greener’. She was dissatisfied with the reply and was disheartened in a way that she started thinking about her personal values which must match with one’s job. Her personal value towards recycling doesn’t allow her to stay in the same job anymore a kind of frustration was created in her attitude as well as behavior. The actual recycling programs changed her attitude and lead her to cognitive dissonance where two perception of her own were moving in her mind. She was in a dilemma whether she should leave the job and break the commitment she had made with the company or she should continue her job instead of knowing the fact of it. But she had to decide and choose between her own perceptions which were a very difficult situation. Her personal values were strong because they were created as an attitude from school life environment. It’s very difficult to change such a strong and positive attitude which is built in years. It could determine what she was actually working for, whether for her personal values or for the achievement of goal. 3. Do you think Jackie should ignore the company’s choice to recycle or not and just keep doing her job? Is she willing to walk away from a good paying job with benefits? Are there other employers who are likely to be more open to recycling programs, and should she pursue opportunities with those companies? The recycling program of Dorf Car Factory created a psychological discomfort in Jackie and she was bound to change her perception to reduce the tension by ignoring the company’s choice to recycle. Cognitive dissonance in her changed her attitude and also affected her performance. Her goal won’t be achieved if she quits from the job. Her needs will be blocked which will lead her to an irrational behavior in a continuous manner. If she is not satisfied at her work place, the environment where she works, she can’t satisfy her job as well as the boss. She will be frustrated and the frustration will develop to the extent that will occur an aggressive behavior. Later on this aggression will take place of rationalization, fixation and resignation if continued for a long period of time. In that situation, she can’t ignore the Dorf’s choice whether to recycle or not because her inner perception and values are very different than her job requirement. But an employee should never ignore the fact that an organization’s achievement of goal is also the responsibility of the employee working there. Their performance and activity can improve or hinder the overall performance and play a crucial role in attainment of the organizational goal. At the same time, job satisfaction motivates one to work better and increase the productivity. One can’t work in a negative environment where employee’s satisfaction is not given any priority. Firstly, she should understand her need. Then, she should try to handle the situation and make herself comfortable with the job and focus on her work and try to change her attitude towards the recycling programs. If her attitude is changed positively, she won’t have any problem at her job at Dorf. Secondly, Jackie should try to find out a job that matches her satisfaction, competence, values and perceptions. And, she should have the broader knowledge of the companies and should also find out whether she’ll get the same type of job environment and employers or there are many more opportunities in the market where she can fit herself and get job satisfaction which won’t hamper her values and ethics. In my opinion, our values and attitude brings a sense of self-confidence and responsibility in us. So, Jackie should stay with her own values and move on for a job that satisfies her motives and needs rather than hanging on for a better payment. There are many such employers who understand the employee’s behavior and adapt themselves to make them influence for a better performance and predict the future behavior of employees. So, there can be other options and opportunities for the job for Jackie. Because if she stays with Dorf, she might get frustrated if she can’t ignore the company’s choice to recycle and later on get disappointed and it will be harmful to both the company and Jackie herself. Definitely, she should pursue to the opportunities of recycling programs with other companies for her better development and achievement of her own goal and should walk away from the Dorf Car Factory where she can’t get a job satisfaction and motivation. Bibliography F, H. (1968). One more time: How do you motivate employees? Harvard. Herzberg. (1968). One more time: How do you motivate employees? Harvard . Justanswer.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from www.justanswer.com: http://www.justanswer.com/homework/5gcht-case-study-listo-systems-challenge-growing-organization-listo.html Managementstudyguide.com. (n.d.). Retrieved