Sunday, August 31, 2008

Opinion: The Organization DNA!

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Abstract


The market is evoliving fast, and it is important for organzation to build a cultural value that can cope with the changes in the market in order to remain competitive. These set of values are the DNA of an organization that form the organization behaviour.

Keywords: Organization DNA, Organization Behavior
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Organization DNA


Organization DNA is your identity, and it tells who you really are. It is a set of value that should penetrate every aspect of the organization, and it is also difficult to replicate. Organization DNA can create a consistent behavior among the employees working under the same roof, and no employees would think otherwise. It ensures all employees are marching towards the same direction. There are 8 DNA values which I find quite interesting, and is important for organization, especially those operating in a fast moving environment, where speed does matter.

DNA ONE: Change is value

Organization will soon be ossified if they do not see ‘change’ as part of organization value. Environment is fast-changing and it is almost impossible to tell the speed of change. It is then important for organization to cultivate the value for change so that organization development is keeping up with the changes in the environment.

The value for change also helps in developing human resource in an organization. Employees that value for change are more receptive to new ideas or critique. There is almost zero resistance to change. Changes can be made in operational, as well as the correctional of attitude of the employees. In summary, Value for changes is important to develop an organization behavior.

DNA TWO: Self-Retrospect

Organization must ‘back to the future’; by constantly look to the past to form the learning curve. A learning organization builds their learning curve through consistent exploration of the future potential, as well as, learning from the past success and failure. Without looking back, organization tends to repeat the similar mistake, and it is costly for organization.

DNA THREE: Everything is caused by own-self

It is difficult for an organization to devise a perfect rule and policy to monitor workforce. An organization should believe the importance of self-monitoring, and take a differentiated measure through which, to educate the employees of the proper organizational value.

Organization’s workforce is like a series of connected link that forms a chain that binds each other. A chain is fallen apart when one of its connector (i.e. Department, Personnel) is corrupted, and broken. No perfect policy can help to monitor every single connector.

When a connector signals its deviation, the connector next to it should react to pull ‘it’ back. The failure of a team resembles a defective connector, the connectors next to the defective one is responsible to rehabilitate the defect. Success or Failure of one team is the responsibility of all others teams. Each team should look back, and ask, ‘what did I do wrong?’

Organization should focus building this attitude among employees; such value can have a multiplier effect for an organization. It drives self-improvement, and self- development; at the same time creating harmonious working relationship in an organization because it eliminates ‘finger-pointing’ culture.

DNA FOUR: Consumer is always No.1

Consumer is end-users and organization exists because of consumers. Hence, to succeed, organization must always anticipate consumer needs and must exceed consumer expectation.

It also drives the organization to think about consumers from every perspective. Marketing direction and execution techniques may not be the sole reason for failure of a new product; sometimes, it is about consumer needs. Of course, organization needs to analyze every perspective to investigate the reason of failure.

By thinking about consumer, organization will always ask, ‘Is my product meet consumer need?’ ‘Did consumer understand what the product is for them?’ This mindset keep consumer in the mind of organization.

DNA FIVE: Learn from No.1 to be No.1

Organization always wants to be different from competitors, but differentiation may sometimes give less effectiveness; moreover, differentiation comes with risk. Perhaps organization should take a step backwards, and think.

Sometimes the easiest way to compete is as simple as benchmarking the credible competitors. Every competitor has its unique strength an organization can learn from. Moreover, Idea is much easier to devise, and it is much practical, and not just an “art” of differentiation.

DNA SIX: Understanding your partner

Organization partners mean suppliers, retailers, agency or subsidiaries. Partnership can bring strategic implication to an organization. Organization should understand the strength of their partner where leveraging is possible, and weaknesses of their partner where improvement should made. There are times when weakness of partners can cost organizations a great deal. For instance, the No.1 distributor in Malaysia has the widest coverage in term of distribution point - as much as 70% in total Malaysia. Leveraging on their widest distribution network allows company to market product speedily. Unfortunately, one of their weaknesses is the uncertainty in stock delivery; it takes them from 5 days to 14 days to deliver the stock to customer site, although they promise 3 days delivery. The uncertainty in stock delivery days can be costly to organization.

DNA SEVEN: Speedy action is value

Speed is a “must-have” in an organization; the challenge in this milieu is to have an organization structure that synergy with market dynamic. As organization grows, restructuring is inevitable; increasing headcount is another issue, thus organization will need a system that automated itself. When a structure is deem automated, it involves additional departments and reporting line, and these, will tamper with the speed of an organization to response to market activity.

The environment has already changed; ‘big fish eats small fish’ theory is no longer valid, it is about the “faster eating the slowest” now. Taking Microsoft as an example, Microsoft is a giant organization, but if a group of smart people in a garage can create something news to the market, and perform faster and better than Microsoft. They can kill Microsoft.

DNA EIGHT: Always report bad news first

Bad news and good news carry different dynamism to organization, and it requires a balance of both. Bad news gives organization a sense of urgency; because it can be lethal to organization if not deal with properly. Some organization also considered “bad news” as a de-motivation molecule. In addition, it is also normal fort people to get carried away by good new. To deal with it, manager is advised to report bad news first, and name the solution; while good news is not lethal and can afford to be de-prioritized.

Organization also needs to understand that ‘no news mean bad news’; the environment is ever-changing, and organization is trying hard to keep up their pace with the change. Anything that deals with ‘change’ in an organization will be affected because ‘change’ comes with impact. We often heard, ‘market is quiet’, ‘No news for our brand’, ‘no news from market’, and so on…when someone claim ‘no news’, it means ‘they have not looked enough’ because nothing is ‘standing-still’ in our environment, and can not be ‘no news’; no news can be ‘dangerous’, could that mean competitors are all quietly prep for another ‘attack’?

Download Pdf: Organization DNA!

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Prince: I speak Mandarin better than Arif! ok!!!!!

I took my mandarin subject until Form 3 and I got D for every exam yet I can speak better than HIM!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Prince: Where will us be in 2020...(forwarded)

Please read this email as it is very well-written and easy-to-understand….especially the last few paragraph in red which makes a lot of sense.

where is our direction for our next generation..?

**************************************

Greetings to all,


For those who started work around 1973,

a 1.3 Litre Japaness car was RM 7000

Today the equivalent is.... let's say RM 60000...........8.5 times


In 1973 a double storey house was about RM 45,000..or less Today it is
about RM 300,000............6.6 times

(It was advertised in a school magazine at 37,000, Taman Lumba Kuda)

This makes it 8.1 times


In 1973 an Engineer's pay was RM 1000

Today it is about RM 2000 +/-............2 times....


From 1973 to 2008........35 years......what is the Trend.?

Bearish !!!!

In a stock market when the trend is bearish , what do we do?..Exit !!!


When a country's trend is bearish what do we do?

This Bearish trend is more difficult to turn around as compared to the
stock market.


I have used these 3 items House, Car & Salary as a measurement of the country' s performance for the past 35 years....

Foreigners also ask about these 3 items to gauge our standard of living.


There is a book I saw in MPH bookshop entitled :

Malaysia : The Failed Nation

some of you may be interested to read it.

I agreed with the writer.....


This morning I was having Coffee at McDonald ( now the coffee..100 %Arabica beans..is quite good@ RM 2.90....free refill !!. I asked how much per hour is their pay?

RM 3.00 ! x 8 hours = RM 24 per day... x 25 days = RM 600 per month

My daughter works part-time during her University days..she worked at Gloria Jeans Coffee.... the pay ? Australian $ 14.00 ( @ 3.15 = RM 44 per hour.....x 8 = RM 352 per day !!! x 25 days = RM 8800

13.3 times more !!!!! ......Price of houses in Perth is about the same in KL

Price of cars are about 23 % cheaper...in Perth.( Australia )


I think more and more people are becoming aware of this Bearish trend.

Developed country by 2020?...means High income country

Let's look at some as of year 2005 ( Financial Times )

USA GNP per capita US$ 35400

UK GNP per capita US$ 25510

Australia GNP per capita US$ 19530

Singapore GNP per capita US $ 20690

These are developed countries by income measurement


Malaysia 's GNP per capita US$ 3540

Year 2020..developed country?


Really...a sad story.

Worrying Trends, isn't it??

Ringgit sliding further and further under BN


Gan | Jul 8, 08 4:03pm

Recently, I interviewed some fresh graduates applying for jobs with my engineering company. I accepted two applicants on a starting salary of RM1600. It struck me as odd that 15 years ago, I myself started work as a fresh graduate engineer for the same pay.

Indeed, if you compare the salaries of graduates now and 15 or even 20 years ago, you'll find little difference but that their purchasing power is vastly different. It's the same story when you compare salaries of shop assistants, office staff, factory workers and others.

To compound the effect of inflation, the ringgit has depreciated greatly against all major currencies. The real income of most Malaysians has moved backwards.

This is why many Malaysians suffer under the petrol hike. The root of the problem is that our real incomes have shrunk in the face of inflation and depreciated currency.. Malaysians have not been spoiled by subsidy but are unable to move out of the time lock of stagnated and depreciated incomes.

If you compare the per capita incomes of Singapore , Hong Kong , Taiwan and South Korea , they are a few multiples of ours although at independence all these countries were the on the same economic level as Malaysia .

What has gone wrong? We were the rising star of East Asia , a country rich in natural resources with the most promising potential.

The reason is massive corruption, plundering of resources, wastage of funds for huge non- economic projects, anti-public interest deals with politically-linked companies and passing-of-the -buck to the man in the street..

Four decades of NEP where education, economic and employment policies are defined by race ensured that meritocracy took a back seat.

Our university standard has declined and the today best and brightest of our youths emigrate to escape the racial inequility only to contribute to the economies of foreign lands.

The reputation of our judiciary which was held in high esteem worldwide has sunk so low that foreign investors now insist on arbitration in Singapore in case of any dispute.

We also have a slew of oppressive laws such as the ISA, OSA, Uuca and PPPA which stifle free speech and are designed to keep the ruling parties in power.

We have become less attractive to foreign investors and now lag behind our neighbours in Asean for foreign direct investment. Even some corporations who have established themselves here are moving out.

All the economic and social malaise cannot help but affect the value of our currency. The strength of a country's currency is after all, a reflection of its fundamentals.

Furthermore, Bank Negara has a policy of weak ringgit to help exporters, never mind the burden on the common folk. The government is pro-corporation, not pro-rakyat.

While the poor and middle-class are squeezed, an elite group gets breathtakingly rich. We have the distinction of having the worse income disparity in Asean. A re-distribution of wealth is under way from the poor and middle-class to a select group of politically-connected elite.

The end result of this re-distribution will be a small group of super-rich while the majority are pushed into poverty and the middle-class shrinks. This is what happens when the rich gets richer and the poor get poorer.

There is much that is wrong with Malaysia . The responsibility for pulling the country backwards can be laid squarely at the door of the ruling regime. It is BN's mis-governance, racial politics and culture of patronage which has seen the country regress economically and socially.

We seem to be sliding down a slippery slope, further down with each passing year of BN's rule. Another five years of BN rule and we'll be at Indonesia 's standard under Suharto. Another 10 years and we'll be touching the African standard. What a way to greet 2020.

Is there any hope for Malaysia ?

Faced with the reality that BN will never change, many Malaysians desperate for change turn their lonely eyes to Anwar Ibrahim.

Pakatan Raykat has promised to treat all races fairly, to plug wastage, fight corruption, reform the judiciary and make Malaysia more competitive.

But some have questioned whether we can trust Anwar and his loose coalition of disparate parties..

The question is not whether we can trust Anwar and Pakatan Rakyat but whether we can afford not to.

Can we afford another ten years of BN's misrule?

Prince: 'Ciplak' Boss...

Friday, August 01, 2008

Prince: New 'word' on the block!

TO UPDATE YOU GUYS ON NEW WORDS THAT MIGHT BE COMING UP...

Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2008 22:18:51 +0800

There are possible plans underway to apply to the Oxford and Webster to include a new word for their 2009 dictionary:

badawi
[baa-daa-wee] (noun): To start something full of promise but end in disappointment, failure and/or disaster.

Eg:

'I'm trusting you to perform this task well; don't do a badawi, ok?'

'Whatever I do, I will always find a way to badawise it.'

France badawied their Euro 2008 campaign. England pre-badawied theirs, while Italy were guilty of over-badawification.

Prince: Chinese Characters...

內地網上流傳一些遊戲文章,模擬字形相近的中文字之間的對話,看完令人忍悛不禁:


「晶」對「品」說﹕「你們家難道沒有裝修?」


「夫」對「天」說﹕「我總算盼到了出頭之日!」

「熊」對「能」說:「怎麼著窮成這樣啦?四個熊掌全賣了!」

「丙」對「兩」說:「你家什麼時候多了一個人,結婚了?」

「乒」對「乓」說:「你我都一樣,一等殘廢軍人。」

「兵」對「丘」說:「兄弟,踩上地雷了吧,兩腿咋都沒了?

「王」對「皇」說:「當皇上有什麽好處?你看,頭發都白了!」

「口」對「回」說:「親愛的,都懷孕這麽久了,也不說一聲!」

「也」對「她」說﹕「當老闆了?出門還帶秘書!」

「日」對「旦」說:「你什麼時候學會玩滑板了?」

「果」對「裸」說:「哥們兒,你穿上衣服還不如不穿!」

「由」對「甲」說:「你什麼時候學會倒立了?」

「巾」對「币」說:「戴上博士帽就身價百倍了!」(「币」是「幣」的簡體)

「呂」對「昌」說﹕「和你相比,我實在家徒四壁!」

「扁」對「」說:「才敗選一次而已,就搞自閉?」

你說漢字是不是很可愛!

Prince: Money not Enough II...Cinema...

Prince: Gone in 60 second!!

Prince: Malaysia Political Blockbuster!