Digby's Downfall: Team Misalignment

Misalignment is an organizational problem that causes less than ideal performance and results. As I have pondered on misalignments that I have experienced in groups or organizations, one example that is on the forefront of my mind is my CapSim group. Looking in retrospect, I feel like as each round has gone by, my CapSim team has become more and more misaligned. This misalignment is causing us some serious troubles in CapSim, including a steadily decreasing profit margin, an ever-increasing negative cumulative profit, and a consistent, rock-bottom stock price.

At the beginning of our time as a group, I felt like my team's alignment was adequate. However, looking back on our early establishment, I realize that we hadn't yet defined a comprehensive alignment. The first task we did as a team was establish a strategy - to be a competitive team by being a low-cost leader. While we had a strong, ambitious strategy, the other components of our team were aligned differently, especially as we continued to go through each round.

• To be a competitive team, the structure would have been aligned through having a team leader as well as a leader for each decision department. Contrarily, our team did not establish a team leader. We were each given primary functions to make decisions for each department, although those roles became very flexible.
• While we had an ambitious strategy to be a low-cost leader, none of my team members possessed the skills, knowledge, and expertise to successful carry out this strategy. Similarly, none of my team members took the time to develop these skills completely by reading the CapSim material.
  
• Although my team's strategy was rigid and determined, our style consisted of a laid-back attitude. Overall, our team meetings were stress free and relaxed.
  
• Many of team's shared values differed among group members. Some team members valued hard work and promptness, while these attributes were not a priority for others. This created misalignment within our team members.

This misalignment between strategy, structure, skills, and shared values have all led us to the dramatic downfall that our team has experienced in CapSim. If I were to go back and attempt to realign this team, I would try to establish the more of these attributes at the creation of the team. Although you can't necessary establish strategy, structure, style, or shared values by discussing it with a team, you can set priorities and expectations that will influence these 7S's to achieve better alignment.

The Space Industry - Porters's 5 Force Analysis

The space industry is an industry that provides interesting analysis, especially in the area of Porter's Five Forces. During the early years of spaceflight, the industry was a monopoly of a small group of national governments. During this time, barriers to entry and supplier power was high.

In 1984, President Reagan passed the Commercial Space Launch Act which allowed private operators to perform launches. While government agencies, including NASA, maintained dominance within the space industry, this act allowed commercial companies to get a foot in the door of the industry. This act decreased the barriers to entry to allow the possibility of additional companies to enter the market. While the barriers to entry were still significant in terms of cost and resources, it was now possible to enter the once monopolistic market.

In July 2011, the space shuttle program ended, leaving Russia as the only provider that could fly crews to and from the International Space Station. The decision to discontinue the shuttle program decreased buyer power because it left consumers (astronauts trying to get to and from the International Space Station) with only one main option. With this being the case, many private spaceflight companies, including SpaceX, have moved towards creating their own shuttle vehicles that will eventually allow passenger travel. These companies anticipate they too will be able to transport austronauts to and form the ISS within the next year, which will increase the availability of substitutes within the industry.

The advancement of private spaceflight companies could possible open the door to new potential industries, including space tourism. These future industries could most likely have characteristics similar to the current space industry - high barriers to entry, low buyer power, and high supplier power - but could potentially create an increase in rivalry as more companies enter the private spaceflight industry.

Room in the Tablet Market?

Next week Amazon will introduce its new Android-based tablet into the market next week. Currently, the Apple iPad has 84% of the tablet market share. Conversely, Android owns 14% of the market. Tablets that run Android OS, however, include tablets made by Acer, Samsung, LG, Blackberry, Dell, and Lenovo, none of which have received very high reviews. When Amazon enters the market with their new Android-based tablet, they have the potential to secure a premier position in the tablet market. While Apple will remain the front runner of the market, Amazon has the potential to be a second market leader.

Amazon can also be successful with their new tablet through profit pools. Amazon can choose to sell their tablet at an initial lower cost and then focus on selling Amazon Prime, Android Apps, Kindle Books, and other Amazon products. By focusing their attention on complements to the tablet itself, Amazon can get their foot in the tablet market by selling their tablets at a lower initial cost.

Sources:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2393502,00.asp#fbid=rx1BA6ypvzC
http://mashable.com/2011/04/11/apple-tablet-market-gartner/

Carol Bartz - From Good to Fired

In "Good to Great," Jim Collins discusses the strategy of getting the right people on the bus. Furthermore, his analysis showed that nearly all CEOs who transform their good companies into great companies were not taken externally. While external managers can produce change within a company, their transformation is usually short-lived and ultimately unsuccessful. Yahoo, a company who has recently experienced management turmoil, has followed these same trends predicted by Collins.

Carol Bartz joined Yahoo in January 2009 after investors became dissatisfied with the stagnant growth and indirection under its previous chief, Jerry Yang, a co-founder of the company. Ms. Bartz was viewed as a strong executive leader and her reign was initially met with optimism. In fact, in my Change Management class I took fall 2010, my group did a research report on women who have made great strides in change management. Carol Bartz was one of the five women we researched.

While Bartz was able to attain growth within Yahoo during her tenure, Yahoo’s shares remained essentially flat closing at $12.91 in regular trading on Tuesday. After two years of dissatisfied shareholders, Bartz was final removed from her position. Until a permanent CEO is found, Timothy Morse, the company’s chief financial officer, will serve as the interim chief executive.

Even though Carol Bartz was seen with optimism at the onset of her position as CEO, she actually did more to damage the company than to transform it. I'm sure part of the reason she was unsuccessful was because she was taken from outside the company. Ultimately, Bartz is not a Level 5 leader and did not have the skills to take Yahoo from good to great.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/07/technology/carol-bartz-yahoos-chief-executive-is-fired.html?_r=1