SEMESTER SPRING 2013
PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT (MGT503)
ASSIGNMENT NO. 01
DUE DATE: 06th MAY, 2013
MARKS: 20
ASSIGNMENT:
“Although caring may not be a word many people would normally associate with management. Cheryl Womack of Kansas City, Missouri, has built a $45 million company (VCW Inc.) by caring about her customers and her employees. She started her business in 1981 in the basement of her home with one telephone and call-waiting. What does VCW Inc. do? The company oversees the National Association of Independent Truckers. VCW offers cost-effective insurance coverage, retirement benefit plans, low-interest credit cards, and other benefits to thousands of independent truck drivers who belong to this association. In addition, many large motor carriers who hire independent drivers are also her customers.
Womack’s customers are a unique breed, indeed! Independent truck drivers “move the world” as they travel across the country with the products we use every day. Independent truck drivers are also business people and must run their businesses efficiently and effectively or they won’t survive in this intensely competitive industry. How does VCW show that it cares about its customers-these independent truckers? It provides an answer to a problem that many of them face: where to find cost-effective insurance coverage that
other insurance companies refuse to carry. Womack subscribes to the belief that if you can help solve a customer’s problem, you’ll be successful. She and her employees have been successful at solving their customers’ problems and caring about them by providing outstanding customer service. But Womack’s caring management doesn’t stop with her customers. It extends to her employees, as well.
Her most compelling statement about her management philosophy is that “everything I do here is designed to cultivate and grow employees.” From the beautifully designed offices to the formal dinners and travel experiences she provides, Womack sees her role as a mentor for employees, not as a boss. She wants her employees to not only do their jobs but also to recreate, redesign, and expand them. Employees can earn $1,000 for proposing suggestions that help them do the job better. VCW Inc. also has a profitsharing plan that gives employees a stake in the company’s ability to make a profit. Womack also recognizes that employees need more than financial caring. To that end, she implemented on-site day care for employees’ children, and employees enjoy inexpensive, delicious home-cooked meals at the office prepared by an employee who started at VCW in customer service
but who had always dreamed of a job cooking for others. Womack strongly believes in the power of such benefits to show employees that she cares about them and wants them to be committed and productive at their jobs”.
Q1) Which of the four management functions does Cheryl Womack seem to be particularly strong?
ANS. Cheryl Womack seems to be particularly strong in following management functions:
- PLANNING
Cheryl Womack’s company (VCW Inc.) is customer-focused organization having marketing objective to provide cost-effective life insurance and end of service benefits to her valued customers that other competitors don’t provide.
- 2. ORGANIZING
Cheryl Womack believes in “Right People for Right Job” philosophy of management, her organization is teamed up with highly dynamic and committed employees who directly values the input of customers, the dynamic employees of the firm process the input of end users and come up with unique solutions for customer’s entire satisfaction which differs the Womack’s organization from other players of the insurance industry in market.
- 3. LEADING
Cheryl Womack acts as Mentor for her employees, she believes in knowledge sharing philosophy
- 4. CO-ORDINATING / CONTROLLING
Cheryl Womack involves her employees to not only focus on his/her job but also to come up with creative, fresh and innovative ideas which can be proved as solutions for organization’s main challenges this strategy helps in monitoring actual performance, comparing actual to standard and taking corrective action
Q2) Which of the management skills Cheryl Womack optimally possessed?
ANS. Cheryl Womack possesses the following management skills:
- TECHNICAL SKILLS
Cheryl Womack understands the problems of her customers at grass root level; she is proficient in her field of insurance industry, she keeps her eyes open and does her best what others don’t.
- HUMAN SKILLS
In order to meet the new challenges employees are welcomed to take part in decision making process by putting creative, fresh and innovative ideas on table which can be proved as solutions for organization’s main challenges, Womack utilizes this tool of “Human Skills” to solve her customer’s problems.
- CONCEPTUAL SKILLS
Cheryl Womack believes that if she cares employees, employees will definitely care customers, the powerful management tool behind VCW Inc. success story is friendly and congenial work environment with optimum remuneration and other social benefit charges as payback to employees which motivates team work and builds high performance team.
Provide examples supporting your choices.
Source: Based on Small Business 2000, Show 110.
IMPORTANT:
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information for better understanding or visit http://linguistics.byu.edu/faculty/henrichsenl/apa/APA01.html
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