THE WAYS WE WORK – GROUP 12

Questions:
1. Layla followed the practice of management by objectives (MBO) while
setting goals for team members. Discuss the various phases of the MBO process
from the case, that helped her team achieve its goals (20 points).

2. Explain briefly the various advantages of implementing MBO in

organizations from the case. Do you anticipate any disadvantages of this
management method? If yes, please list down some of them (20 points).

Answer:

Question 1.
The various phases of the MBO process are used by Layla from this case, which
helped her team gain its goals. It is shown in steps:
 Firstly, Layla had a formidable sales target to achieve, and then she began
the meeting by informing her team members about the corporate meeting.
 At the same time, she invited suggestions from her team members
regarding the role to be played by each of them. The meeting then
progressed on to setting of individual targets for by each team member.
 All members set goals and agree on it. The team aimed to increase the
organizational profits by 18% over the next six months.
 They draw up a plan and monitor progress every 2 months. Layla also
gave a feedback on the performance of every member of the team. The
team then collectively identified the areas of improvement and decided
upon the measures they would take to overcome their deficiencies.
 To end year, they had achieved their targets
Rely on MBO, they have a plan and measure to achieve the goals
comprehensively and best.
Question 2:
Request: Make a SWOT analysis of Yahoo by filling the SWOT matrix. Each
dimension (strong, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) must have at least 04
ideals.
Strength:
* It attracted the attention of many people at the time when it was a universal
Internet service with many utilities in the late 19th century.
* The company is large in scale, used by many people in many languages in
many different countries
* Bringing many benefits in life through the Internet to many people
* Earn high profits
Weakness:
* Only developed for a short time
* Yahoo's companies posted revenue and operating margins for the competition
and have since been surpassed by Google.
* Has not changed and set new goals to develop more
* Generate revenue only on your own services without using other platforms

1. Layla followed the practice of management by objectives (MBO) while setting

goals for team members. Discuss the various phases of the MBO process from the case that
helped her team achieve its goals.

Layla implemented the MBO process as an intervention to improve the

productivity of her sales team. She successfully implemented the process by following a
sequence of effective planning, control and development. The following are the various
phases
of the MBO process that led to its success:
- The MBO program was initiated by the top management which set the overall
organizational
goals and communicated them to the people down the hierarchy. However, the
management
did not interfere much with the means of achieving the objectives. In other words, it gave
adequate autonomy to its employees to implement the progress.
- Layla then drafted a plan of action to achieve the targets decided by the management for
the year.
- She invited employee participation in various aspects of implementation of the program.
She
encouraged her team members to decide the role each one would play in role to achieve the
team’s target. She sought their suggestions to play in order to achieve the team targets that
each individual would achieve. These short-term targets were in line with the team’s long
term
goals and objectives.
- Layla also set specific time frames specific time frames for the accomplishments of the
targets. Thus the goals were not only specific but also time bound.
- She closely monitored the performance of all the team members without actually
interfering in their job. She also offered positive feedback to her subordinates and this
helped
them overcome their shortcomings and perform effectively.

Thus the MBO program implemented in the sales team proved to be beneficial to both the
employees and the management

2. Explain briefly the various advantages of implementing MBO in organizations from the
case. Do you anticipate any disadvantages of this management method? If yes, please list
down some of them (20 points).

Advantages:
-Effective planning and control mechanisms helped the team achieve their short-term goals,
and
this in turn, helped in the achievement of the organizational objectives.

-Besides, the employees were also motivated as the management gave adequate recognition
to their involvement and participation in achieving team goals.

-The target to be achieved by the team was highly challenging. This further motivated the
team members as they had better opportunities to prove their problems solving skills.

- Thus, the outstanding performance of the sales team helped the organization achieve in
the long term.

Disadvantages:

1. The philosophy of M.B.O. should be well understood by managers and employees. If the
persons who are to operate management by objectives do not fully understand the
philosophy of M.B.O., it is no wonder that M.B.O. fails.

2. If the goals are to be attainable, they should be realistic. If the goals are vague uncertain
and unambiguous managers and employees may not be in a position to carry out their work
successfully.

3. Setting up of verifiable goals is not an easy task. It involves lot of time, study, effort and
work.

4. M.B.O. lay emphasis on short-term goals and neglect the long range goals.
5. Possible conflicts may arise between the superiors and subordinates in setting goals, work
process and standards, work follow up, etc.

STRENGTHS:

 Yahoo has many auxiliary operations

 Yahoo is the leader in providing brand-building graphical video and display
ads
 Strong brand recognition, second best-known interactive web portal
 Yahoo is a clear leader in content categories like Yahoo Finance, Autos, and
Real Estate.
 Access available to anyone with internet access
 Yahoo has far more services to offer its users than the competitors and many
other specialized sites.
 Yahoo! has a tremendous numbers of customers (over 350 million users of its
services and solutions).
 A key long-term strength is Yahoo!'s international business presence (US, Asia,
Europe and Australia).
 The Yahoo! Directory is an original source of structured information. It has
built over the last decade, and unlike mainstream search engines, its content is
moderated.

WEAKNESSES:

 Yahoo business model is dependent upon how fast advertising revenues

increase
 Yahoo did not remain the greatest name recognition
 Yahoo's advertising revenues are falling due to competition
 Google maintains first-mover advantage in customized advertising
 Differentiation is difficult for Yahoo!. Almost all of its packaged services are
available from other sources.
 As technology develops and new unforeseen advertising media emerge, the
future is uncertain for the income streams from internet advertising industry.

OPPORTUNITIES:

 The opportunity to Improve search-based advertising

 Internet video advertising expected to increase drastically
  Global expansion, especially into Asian markets. The international market is a
huge opportunity for Yahoo! (Greater China Region, India,...)
 Cross-channel advertising program offers much potential
 Lot of traditional business have went online.
 Mobile technologies offer another opportunity for Yahoo! The mobile devices
of the future will need services and solutions.

THREATS:

 Google command roughly 50% of all online searches, while Yahoo has a 29%
share
 Increasing strength of competitors, e.g. Google is continually expanding its
content and
 services and growing its customized advertising
 Social websites are breaking into the advertising market (MySpace, Facebook,
etc.).
 International, culture specific competitors could affect Yahoo! in the future,
unless strategic alliances are forged.
 Politic threats when Yahoo operating in remote countries.
SWOT Analysis for Starbucks:
Strengths:
 Strong brand name recognition
 Large retail distribution system
 Quality product
 Extensive product list
 Good supplier relationships
 Strong human resource
Weaknesses:
 Reliance on a single source of revenue or enterprise
 High prices
 Some of the innovations may fail over time
 Increase expansion makes it complex to handle the operations
Opportunities:
 Brand Extension
 Develop in international market
 Continued domestic expansion
 Expansion into retail operations
 Strategic alliances with other manufacturers
Threats:
 Increasing number of competitors in the growing market
 Consumer trends toward more healthy ways and away from caffeine
 Economic conditions may make consumers unwilling to pay high prices
 Political conditions abroad may limit expansion

Managers can learn from this case study:

 Setting up goals, making plan, developing directions for the organization,
including long term and short term.
 develop and innovate products in the market
 potential development of customer services
 diversifying business
 Implement growth strategies to exploit customer connections such as sell item
related businesses, develop these products with other companies