10. Change Management

One thing that bothers me is people being short-sighted.  Specifically, people who are so comfortable with the "now" that they refuse to make small alterations that would significantly benefit their future.  For example, I overheard a story about a certain business who stayed several years behind in technology because the employees were so unwilling to change.  They rebelled against word processors, voice mail, email, and every other business technology that today they can not do without.  What surprises me the most is that they do not even acknowledge being hard-headed in this regard.  Change management did not exist for this organization and it comes back to bite them far too often.  As such, change management should be a chapter in every executives book on leadership.  As we learned, failure to adopt is often fatal.  You must change in order to survive.

9. Second Life

One thing I do not think we have mentioned in class is the possible use of Second Life as a business tool.

For those who do not know what second life is, it is basically an virtual world where users (via their "Avatar") are capable of interacting with each other by visiting virtual lounges, storefronts, etc.  The thing that fascinates me the most about Second Life is that users are allowed to upload powerpoints, videos, and other types of media and then share them with selected guests.  Businesses are now considering using this technology to hold meetings and seminars.  As businesses and their personnel adapt to this technology, huge savings may be realized in the form of cutting travel costs.

You can check out all that Second Life has to offer at http://secondlife.com/whatis/?sourceid=0410-sergoog-slSecondLife-wisl&gclid=CJvDo6e7nKUCFchA2godNj-gHg

8. Health Care Tech

For this blog I feel I must deviate from the topic of outsourcing to share a story about how technology is currently helping my Grandmother stay independent.  Recently, my grandmother has been experiencing unexplainable attacks that cause her to get dissoriented and, on occassion, pass out unconscous.  Doctors are uncertain as to the cause of the problem.  One possible cause however, relates to her heart rate.  To test this theory, doctors must monitor my Grandmother's heartrate during the actual attacks. 

Not long ago, such constant heart-rate monitoring would have required a patient be bedridden in a hospital.  However, thanks to a remote heart monitoring device, doctors are able to watch my grandmother's heart rate without ever seeing her.

I witnessed this little device in action last Sunday.  My grandmother and I were in church when she began to experience an attack.  Instead rushing to the hospital, my Grandmom pushed a button which triggered her heart monitoring device.  After church, I drove my Grandmom to my uncle's house where she picked up the phone, dialed a number, and placed the device up to the speaking end of the telephone.  A serious of fluxiating tones rang out for several minutes.  Once the device finished its chant, my Grandma confirmed with the nurse on the other end of the line that the tone was finished, and the nurse in-turn confirmed that the transmission had been received without error. 

While I was very troubled to see my Grandmom go through this ordeal, I could not retain my interested in what had just transpired.  I quized my uncle, an M.D., on the details of the process.  The fluxuating tones that rang-out from the device reflected data about my Grandma's heart rate.  This raw data was then processed through an application that translatted the source into graphs and charts.  These graphs were then sent to my Grandmother's cardiologists.  Within 15-30 minutes of my Grandmom hanging up the phone, a cardiologist will call her (or my uncle) with the test results.

In healthcare, speed is everything.   Though I occassionally agree that technology is gradually destroying modern human values, I will never dispute how technology is improving modern human health.   

7. Outsourcing: Finger-pointing

One drawback of outsourcing to multiple vendors is that if an error occurs with some function related to all vendors responsibilities, the firm responsible for the error might blame the mistake on one of the other vendors, or the firm itself.  Finger-pointing is detrimental as it fosters hostility among the involved parties and may result in the firm never identifying the true source of the problem.  The result... wasted time, wasted money, and new enemies.  For this reason, among others, I believe that outsourcing should be limited to as few vendors as possible.  Fewer vendors equals better relationships with selected vendors, and less risk of finger-pointing.  

6. Outsourcing

Admittedly, before taking Dr. Schwaz's class I assumed that outsourcing was synonymous with off-shoring.  As a person who always values U.S. manufactured goods over foreign made products, I did not support [what I thought was] outsourcing.   It turns out that I do support outsourcing and am not much for off-shoring.

Outsourcing is beneficial as it allows firms to concentrate more on their core competencies and less on task to which they are not specifically oriented.  For example, a law firm can outsource marketing and concentrate more on what they were organized to do... practice law.  There are obvious drawbacks to outsourcing (i.e. control, cost, etc...) but I believe that functions outside of a firms scope should be outsourced until that firm, through expansion efforts, is capable of incorporating those functions in to their operations and strategic goals.

5. Knowledge sharing and innovation

It has been proposed that knowledge sharing might suppress innovation.  I disagree.  Though I am sure there are inherent dangers associated with relying on another’s data to base decisions, I believe that most innovators build upon the ideas of those before them.  For example, a manager who comes up with a new way of tracking inventory probably based his new method on the successes and failures of other managers who shared their experiences with him.  I doubt such a manager could develop a successful tracking method without this knowledge.  So if I am right, knowledge sharing becomes crucial to innovation. 

4. Change

Some businesses stay ahead of the technology curve, while others fall behind.  Yet those companies that have fallen behind will have to make an upgrade at some point in time, be it today or in 10 years.  This being said, why do some companies try to maximize the time between basic upgrades (i.e. MS Office 2003 --> MS Office 2007--> MS Office 2010)?  I think in many cases they wait for the employees, not the technology, to evolve.

I use the MS Office example because my workplace still uses Office 2003.  Why?  My answer... traditional secretaries.  Most of the secretaries at my workplace have been with our firm for several years and are very comfortable with the technology currently in place.  These traditional secretaries do not want nor feel the need to waste time learning all the bells and whistles of a new Office suite, even if it would make their lives easier. These secretaries (and their outdated Office suite) do, however, conflict with the young associates entering the firm.  The associates, like I, prefer the latest and greatest Office suite.  As my generation slowly outnumbers the priors, our technology will replace theirs.  Such is my analysis on several "slow to adapt" organizations.  People can be a greater barrier than the costs and availability of technology.