Team Processes

Now we turn our attention to internal team processes. Team  processes pertain to those dy- namics that change over time and can be influenced  by team leaders. In this section, we discuss the team processes of stages of development,  cohesiveness, and norms. The fourth type of team process, conflict, will be covered in the

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Managing Team Conflict

The final characteristic of team process is conflict. Of all the skills required for effective team management, none is more important  than handling the conflicts that inevitably arise among members. Conflict can arise among members within a team or between one team and another. Conflict refers to antagonistic interaction in which one party attempts

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Work Team Effectiveness

Teams  are the building blocks of today’s organizations,  but not all teams are effective. Teams often do not live up to their potential or to the dreams managers have for them. Good  leaders help teams be successful. In this section, we look at the positive outcomes of effective teams. By assessing teams in terms

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Introduction to Organizational Control

1. The Meaning of Control It seemed like a perfect  fit. In the chaotic aftermath of 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, the Ameri- can Red Cross needed private-sector help to respond to the hundreds of thousands of people seeking emergency aid. Spherion Corp., a staffing company  based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, had the expertise to hire

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Feedback Control Model

All  well-designed  control systems  involve the use  of feedback  to determine  whether performance meets established standards. In this section, we will examine the key steps in the feedback  control model and then look at how the model applies  to  organizational budgeting. 1. STEPS OF FEEDBACK CONTROL Managers set up control  systems that consist of

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Financial Control

In every organization, managers need to watch how well the organization is performing finan- cially. Not only do financial controls tell whether the organization is on sound financial foot- ing, but they can be useful indicators of other kinds of performance problems. For example, a sales decline may signal problems with products, customer service,

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The Changing Philosophy of Control

Managers’ approach to control is changing in many of today’s organizations. In connection with the shift to employee participation and empowerment,  many companies are adopting a decentralized rather  than a bureaucratic control  process. Bureaucratic control  and decen- tralized control represent different philosophies of corporate culture, which was discussed in Chapter 2. Most organizations display

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Managing productivity and quality

1. Managing  Productivity Productivity is significant because it influences the well-being of the entire  society as well as of individual  companies. The only way to increase the output of goods and services to society is to increase organizational  productivity. 1.1. LEAN  MANUFACTURING Many of the concepts we have discussed, including just-in-time inventory and an

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SUPERJAM: The Classic Entrepreneurial Story

Growing up in Scotland,  Fraser Doherty spent his childhood  coming up with ideas for new products. Not all his money-making ideas were a success— indeed his fledgling egg-selling enterprise ended abruptly when a fox ate all his chickens-but he had a hunger to set up a business. At the age of 14, Doherty gave

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Introduction to Entrepreneurship

1. Introduction to entrepreneurship There is tremendous interest in entrepreneurship around the world. Although this statement may seem bold, there is evidence supporting it, some of which is provided by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). GEM, which is a joint research effort by Babson College, London Business School, Universidad del Desarrollo (Santiago, Chile), and

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Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs

Although many behaviors have been ascribed to entrepreneurs, several are common to those who are successful. Those in new ventures and those who are already part of an entrepreneurial firm share these qualities, which are shown in Figure 1.1 and described in the following section. 1. Passion for the Business The number-one characteristic shared

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Common myths about Entrepreneurs

There are many misconceptions about who entrepreneurs are and what mo- tivates them to launch firms to develop their ideas. Some misconceptions are because of the media covering atypical entrepreneurs, such as a couple of col- lege students who obtain venture capital to fund a small business that they grow into a multimillion-dollar company.

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Types of Start-up Firms

As shown in Figure 1.2, there are three types of start-up firms: salary-substitute firms, lifestyle firms, and entrepreneurial firms. Salary-substitute  firms are small firms that yield a level of income for their owner or owners that is similar to what they would earn when working for an employer. Dry cleaners, convenience stores, restaurants, accounting

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Changing demographics of Entrepreneurs

Over the past 10 years, the demographic makeup of entrepreneurial firms has changed in the United States and around the world. Of the 23 million busi-nesses in the United States,43 women, minorities, seniors, and young people own an increasingly larger number of them. This is an exciting development for the entrepreneurial sector of the

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The Positive Effects of Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurial Firms

Entrepreneurship’s importance to an economy and the society in which it resides was expertly articulated in 1934 by Joseph Schumpeter, an Austrian economist who did the majority of his work at Harvard University. In his book The Theory of Economic Development, Schumpeter argued that entrepreneurs develop new products and technologies that over time make

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The Entrepreneurial Process

The entrepreneurial process we discuss in this book consists of four steps: Step1 Deciding to become an entrepreneur Step2 Developing successful business ideas Step3 Moving from an idea to an entrepreneurial firm Step4 Managing and growing the entrepreneurial firm Figure 1.3 models the entrepreneurial process you’ll study while reading this text. This process is

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ICRACKEd: Solving a Problem and Building a Business in an Exploding Industry

In mid-2009, AJ Forsythe had a problem. While a student at California-Poly San Luis Obispo, he broke his iPhone twice within two days. The first time occurred when he was exiting his car. He dropped his iPhone and cracked the screen. That accident cost him $200 and an hour’s trip to the Apple store.

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The differences between opportunities and ideas

Essentially, entrepreneurs recognize an opportunity and turn it into a success- ful business.1 An opportunity is a favorable set of circumstances that creates a need for a new product, service, or business. Most entrepreneurial ventures are started in one of two ways. Some ventures are externally stimulated. In this instance, an entrepreneur decides to

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Three Ways to identify opportunities

There are three approaches entrepreneurs use to identify an opportunity their new venture can choose to pursue (see Figure 2.2). Once an entrepreneur un- derstands the importance of each approach, s/he will be much more likely to look for opportunities and ideas that fit each profile. We discuss the three ap- proaches in the

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Personal Characteristics of the Entrepreneur

How did Michael Dell come up with the idea of a “build it yourself” computer company? How did Dave Roberts, the founder of PopCap Games, figure out that there is a large and growing market for “casual” electronic games? Researchers have identified several characteristics that tend to make some people better at recognizing opportunities

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