DIGITAL ASSIGNMENT: I

NAME – AVINASH RAJ REG NO.- 17BME0136

Course Code : MEE1015

Faculty-In-Charge: Dr. Srinivasan Narayanan Slot : G1

1. What are the short-term solutions for companies that are in trouble?

Whenever companies are in trouble, the three things that a CEO must do
are the following:

1. listen
2. Listen
3. LISTEN
The main reason why companies in trouble need consultants is because
people within the organization have stopped listening to each other.
This is true for much of the work that consultants perform in
organizations today.
Often, when a company is in trouble, it already has the
answers that it needs. Whether the CEO realizes it or not, the company
already knows what is wrong and it already knows what it needs to do
to fix the problem. There are always signs when a business is in trouble!
Here’s why this is usually true:

The employees have talked about it

The customers have complained about it

Lower level managers have sought to

change it

This is why it is critical that CEO’s and their leadership teams listen to
the stakeholders of their organizations. This listening should be ongoing
and it is especially critical when an organization is in trouble. The
listening I discuss here is deeper than normal listening, however. It’s
the listening that Stephen Covey discussed in this article: Stephen
Covey on the Power of Listening for Understanding.

A CEO of a company in trouble needs to focus leadership efforts on

listening to the organization’s stakeholders to really understand their
perspectives. The CEO can get outside help to facilitate a formal
listening process if they need it (and this may be necessary if there is
too much bad history). Once the CEO understands the problem with all
of its difficulties, she or he can work with their leadership team and
stakeholders to fix it.
If you lead a company, small business, department,
work group, or volunteer organization, the first three things you should
do when your company is in trouble is listen, listen, and listen.
Other solutions are
• Financial Issues
It is common for businesses to run out of cash, due to one reason or
other. this can cause a business to delay payments, which results in
heavy fees and other such problems.
The Solution: In such a situation a business has two options, i.e: to
decrease spending and to increase revenue. you must get rid of all
unnecessary expenditure. sit down and decide what you can do without
and then get rid of it.
For example, if you are on rent and you do not use all the space then
you can shift to a smaller and more affordable office. this way you will
be able to save money on rent and other expenses as well, including
electricity.
The second option is to increase revenue. this is obviously said than
done as the only way to increase revenue is to increase customers and
this takes time.
If you are already in a financial crunch and in dire need of money then
the only option you have is to apply for a business loan.
According to unsecuredbusinessloans.com.au “banks generally make it
difficult and often say no to small businesses however now there are
many non-bank lenders offering the finance you need.”
Also, remember that not all loan applications get approved. banks and
other loan providing institutions will give you a loan only if you are able
to prove your worth. this can be done by providing collateral and
having a good credit history.

• Human Resource Issues

All the employees that work for a business are the business’s human
resource. they can cause a lot of problem for a business if not handled
properly.
The Solution: The solution is to keep your employees motivated and
have a backup in case someone quits unexpectedly. this can be done by
providing training to employees to overtake seniors in the future.

• Client Issues
Client issues include not having enough clients or having clients that are
very difficult to work with.
The Solution: The best option is to be careful when picking clients and
to stay away from troublesome individuals. secondly, draw up a
contract that prevents your rights and puts limitations on the kind of
demands a client can make.
 • Inventory Issues

Inventory issues include running out of inventory. this can be due

to several reasons including poor management or not having
enough cash to buy inventory.

The Solution: The solution is to use an inventory management software

so that you are well aware of what you need and when. this way you
will never run out of inventory. however, in case you have financial
issues, you can once again rely on business loans to help you get what
you need. but, remember that these loans should be used with much
care as you have to pay interest on them.

2.Why is total customer satisfaction is important?

• Retaining satisfied customers is cheaper than acquiring new

ones
Obtaining the attention of
prospective customers, gaining
their interest and converting them
costs up to 6 times more than
retaining existing customers. This
is why it’s worth focusing and
spending resources on keeping
existing customers satisfied with
your goods and services. Don’t
forget about your consumers after
one-time deals and encourage them to keep up good relationships
during a long-term period.

• Customer satisfaction matters even more than price

Customers want to be treated right. Plenty of research proves that the
majority of customers will choose the company that made them
satisfied even if it offers higher prices over a cheap but low-quality
service option.
So, take the effort to satisfy customers with excellent service, as it is
even more important than offering lucrative prices. Moreover,
increases in costs are easier to justify when your clients are satisfied at
every stage of the interaction.
• Customer satisfaction promotes customer retention
The longer customers stay satisfied, the
more often they will return to you in the
future, and prefer buying your goods and
services to your competitors’ products.
Customer retention is also a step towards
maintaining loyalty.
To achieve this, implement effective tips
to keep users on your site longer, do email marketing and social media
marketing to keep them engaged, provide personalized experiences,
offer what your clients need and want, meet their expectations and
even exceed them.
• Customer satisfaction promotes customer loyalty
As long as you can retain trusting and loyal relationships with
customers and keep them satisfied, they will keep on coming back to
buy from you. Loyal customers will later get accustomed to appreciate,
use and advocate for your brand during their lifetime, bringing you a
revenue.
• Customer satisfaction reduces negative word of mouth
As research shows, customers are more
eager to share negative experiences than
positive reviews and recommendations.
Add to this the fact that people tend to
believe other customers more than
company representatives and
advertisement.
So, losing one unsatisfied customer means losing up to 20 more
customers (both existing and prospective) because of their bad
experience spreading through word of mouth. Satisfied customers, on
the other hand, will become your brand advocates.
• It reduces customer churn
An Accenture global customer satisfaction report (2008) found that
price is not the main reason for customer churn; it is actually due to the
overall poor quality of customer service.
Customer satisfaction is the metric you can use to reduce customer
churn. By measuring and tracking customer satisfaction you can put
new processes in place to increase the overall quality of your customer
service.
I recommend you put an emphasis on exceeding customer expectations
and ‘wowing’ customers at every opportunity. Do that for six months,
then measure customer satisfaction again. See whether your new
initiatives have had a positive or negative impact on satisfaction.
 • It’s (all) about the money, too
It shouldn’t be surprising, but customer satisfaction is also reflected in
your revenue. Customers’ opinion and feelings about the brand can
affect, in both positive and negative way, the essential metrics – such
as the number mentions and repeated transactions, and also customer
lifetime value or customer churn.

Happy customers won’t look at your competitors offers – they will

happily interact with your brand again, make a purchase and
recommend the product further. If you meet all of their requirements
and answer their needs while delivering the best quality of your
services, they will be fully satisfied.
• Great customer experience can take your brand places
The importance of customer satisfaction should never be neglected.
You should consider it especially while planning your marketing and
positioning campaigns. Satisfied customers are more likely to share
your content across social media.
They will also more keenly interact with your posts, leaving some
delightful and admirable comments. Later you can use it as the source
for case studies and success stories. Being an example of a company
that provides a ravishing customer satisfaction? Every brand should aim
for it.
• Final thought
Providing great customer service will satisfy both you and your targets.
They get proper service; you get a proper revenue and everyone is
happy.
As simple as that. Think, is there something more you can do to better
treat your audience? That’s why you should never forget the
importance of customer satisfaction.

It’s high time to face the truth – your brand can always do better!
3. Discuss Deming’s contribution in the field of quality/TQM. Further
list down all quality guru’s unique contribution in this field.

Deming's points apply to any type and size of business. Service

companies need to control quality just as much as manufacturing
companies. And the philosophy applies equally to large multinational
corporations, different divisions or departments within a company, and
one-man operations.
The 14 Points
1.Create a constant purpose toward improvement.
• Plan for quality in the long term.
• Resist reacting with short-term solutions.
• Don't just do the same things better – find better things to do.
• Predict and prepare for future challenges, and always have the goal
of getting better.
2.Adopt the new philosophy.
• Embrace quality throughout the organization.
• Put your customers' needs first, rather than react to competitive
pressure – and design products and services to meet those needs.
• Be prepared for a major change in the way business is done. It's
about leading, not simply managing.
• Create your quality vision, and implement it.
3.Stop depending on inspections.
• Inspections are costly and unreliable – and they don't improve
quality, they merely find a lack of quality.
• Build quality into the process from start to finish.
• Don't just find what you did wrong – eliminate the "wrongs"
altogether.
• Use statistical control methods – not physical inspections alone –
to prove that the process is working.
4.Use a single supplier for any one item.
• Quality relies on consistency – the less variation you have in the
input, the less variation you'll have in the output.
• Look at suppliers as your partners in quality. Encourage them to
spend time improving their own quality – they shouldn't compete
for your business based on price alone.
• Analyze the total cost to you, not just the initial cost of the product.
• Use quality statistics to ensure that suppliers meet your quality
standards.
5.Improve constantly and forever.
• Continuously improve your systems and processes. Deming
promoted the Plan-Do-Check-Act approach to process analysis and
improvement.
• Emphasize training and education so everyone can do their jobs
better.
• Use kaizen as a model to reduce waste and to improve
productivity, effectiveness, and safety.

6.Use training on the job.

• Train for consistency to help reduce variation.
• Build a foundation of common knowledge.
 • Allow workers to understand their roles in the "big picture."
• Encourage staff to learn from one another, and provide a culture
and environment for effective teamwork.
7.Implement leadership.
• Expect your supervisors and managers to understand their workers
and the processes they use.
• Figure out what each person actually needs to do his or her best.
• Emphasize the importance of participative management and
transformational leadership.
8.Eliminate fear.
• Allow people to perform at their best by ensuring that they're not
afraid to express ideas or concerns.
• Ensure that your leaders are approachable and that they work with
teams to act in the company's best interests.
• Use open and honest communication to remove fear from the
organization.
9.Break down barriers between departments.
• Build the "internal customer" concept – recognize that each
department or function serves other departments that use their
output.
• Build a shared vision.
• Use cross-functional teamwork to build understanding and reduce
adversarial relationships.
10.Get rid of unclear slogans.
• Don't let words and nice-sounding phrases replace effective
leadership. Outline your expectations, and then praise people face-
to-face for doing good work.
11. Eliminate management by objectives.
 • Provide support and resources so that production levels and quality
are high and achievable.
• Measure the process rather than the people behind the process.
12.Remove barriers to pride of workmanship.
• Allow everyone to take pride in their work without being rated or
compared.
• Treat workers the same, and don't make them compete with other
workers for monetary or other rewards. Over time, the quality
system will naturally raise the level of everyone's work to an
equally high level.
13.Implement education and self-improvement.
• Improve the current skills of workers.
• Encourage people to learn new skills to prepare for future changes
and challenges.
14.Make "transformation" everyone's job.
• Improve your overall organization by having each person take a
step toward quality.
• Analyze each small step, and understand how it fits into the larger
picture.
14 Steps to Quality Improvement:
1. Management is committed to quality – and this is clear to all
2. Create quality improvement teams – with (senior) representatives from
all departments.
3. Measure processes to determine current and potential quality issues.
4. Calculate the cost of (poor) quality
5. Raise quality awareness of all employees
6. Take action to correct quality issues
7. Monitor progress of quality improvement – establish a zero defects
committee.
8. Train employees in quality improvement
9. Hold “zero defects” day
10. Encourage employees to create their own quality improvement
goals
11. Encourage employee communication with management about
obstacles to quality
12. Recognize participants’ effort
13. Create quality councils
14. Do it all over again – quality improvement does not end

4. What is the difference between committed employee and loyal

employee?

• The difference between loyalty and commitment

Committed employees are
more likely also to be loyal
employees, while loyal
employees do not by
definition have to be
committed. A loyal employee
is happy to (continue to) work
for the organisation, as is a committed employee. However, employee
commitment goes a step further than loyalty.

Loyalty stems from 'being loyal to the organisation because the

organisation wants the best for you'. The employee will also express his
enthusiasm about the organisation to friends or acquaintances. A loyal
employee stays at the organisation as long as the organisation is good
for him. This does not automatically mean, however, that he is also
committed to the organisation and identifies with the organisation's
goals.

Committed employees want to continue

working for the organisation because they
support your organisation's strategy and
objectives. They identify with your
organisation and want to do their best,
because they feel at home there. Employees
who feel as if they fit into your organisation are also more likely to be
loyal to your organisation.

It’s commonplace to hear sports terminology at work– we “touch

base,” we set “goals,” and we draw up “game plans.” We even work in
“scrums” and “sprints,” and when there’s something really important
to be done, it’s time for us to “step up to the plate.”

Like sport, the business world is a fast-paced, competitive environment

that rewards performance and achievement. For better or for worse,
both worlds are full of people trying to get ahead- and this means that
there are almost always headhunters right around the corner,
promising a better deal for those in these particular scenarios.

Personal ambition, a persistent skills shortage, and rapid economic

growth in the UAE have all led to the rise of “job-hopping” in recent
years. For instance, in 2016, global recruitment specialists Robert Half
found that 85% of financial CFOs surveyed were concerned about losing
top financial professionals to other opportunities. While ambition is no
bad thing in itself, does the sport-work analogy offer a deeper insight
than just the semantics of everyday office conversation?

• The problem with loyalty

When we look at the pros and cons of job-hopping, it’s not long before
the idea of loyalty comes up. It’s a fair point to make, because from an
employer’s perspective, loyalty can be a good indicator of future
dependability in employees. The problem is that "loyalty" skews the
argument towards what’s in it for the employer, directing attention
away from the tangible benefits of committing to an organization for
the long term.

• Moving from loyalty to commitment

It would be naïve to suggest that those who move from job to job can’t
profit by doing so. There may be rewards of higher salaries along the
way, but that shouldn’t obscure the long-term view. Footballer Nicholas
Anelka played for 13 clubs in his senior career and wasn’t harmed in
terms of accolades or financial rewards. On the other hand, his
nickname “Le Sulk” gives an impression of how he’s remembered by
many in the game.

Sticking with an organization for longer can help both employer and
employee become part of the bigger picture– feeling invested in the
company, living its values and developing a genuine sense of
achievement. Maybe replacing the word “loyalty” with “commitment”
shifts the focus to what both employer and employee should be
thinking about when looking to the future.
Commitment is the bedrock of success for any successful athlete-
maybe that’s the true lesson that job-hoppers can take from the world
of sport.
Employee loyalty and commitment co-exist, they don’t necessarily
mean the same thing neither are they obtained by using the same tools
and mechanisms. The challenge facing organisations is that of
differentiating the two enough to be able to adopt practices that
facilitate both.

Employee organisational commitment is the extent to which the

employee: identifies with the organisation at an emotional level,
wholeheartedly accepts its rules and regulations, and feels obligated
not only to stay with the organisation but also to protect it from harm.
An ideal position is for the employee to have organisational
commitment which spills over to a commitment to the supervisor and
their job role. Such commitment serves the interests of the
organisation as opposed to being only committed to the supervisor and
or the job role. Employees who are more committed to their
supervisors than to the organisation have been known to quit their jobs
when their supervisors join another organisation.

Employee organisational commitment is at four main levels,

commitment to:

• Organisations’ Vision and Mission;

• Organisation’s core values
• Organisation’s objectives and goals.
• Job role.
An employee that is committed at all the four levels is in a better
position to identify with the company enough to be also committed to
their direct supervisor provided the supervisor behaves in a manner the
employee perceives as consistent with the four levels above. Where a
supervisor’s actions are contrary to organisational vision, mission, core
value, objectives and goals a committed employee is likely to lose faith
in the supervisor and do not have a sense of commitment towards
them.

Factors that lead to employee disillusionment with an organisation

leading to their losing their sense of commitment include:

• Failure by the organisation to keep promises it made during the

recruitment stage;
• Failure to respect the psychological contract;
• An absence of organisational justice giving rise to feelings of
unfairness and discrimination;
• Managers acting contrary to what is espoused as the
organisation’s vision, mission and core values.
• When employees are committed to the organisation, they can be
expected to exhibit loyalist behavior.

A final word on commitment and loyalty is that there is no one size fits
all. Different things motivate people. It is therefore critical to adapt
commitment and loyalty interventions to ensure that they address
peculiarities found among employees both as a group and as
individuals. While there are some who may become more committed
and loyal because of having their material needs addressed by the
organisation, some may be more interested in intrinsic needs such as
opportunities for growth, sense of fulfillment and transcendence. The
challenge for organisational leadership is to identify practices that work
for their talent pool and for individuals within that pool.

THANK YOU