Control System Design

The team I would like to refer to for this post is the Business Development Center (BDC) team of the luxury automobile dealership, located in Maryland, USA, to which I provide remote bilingual business development services.

The BDC team is composed of eight Business Development Representatives, scattered around remote locations, such as Uzbekistan, one or two Latin American countries, and Canada, their job being to boost sales traffic into the actual dealership location, executing commercial efforts so that the actual Sales Team, which operates physically in the actual dealership premises in Maryland, is better able to sell more vehicles.

The BDC teams performs its tasks through the use of a Customer Relationship Management platform (a CRM), in which all interactions with sales leads are captured, in such a way that every time a Sales Consultant sells a vehicle, the CRM is able to trace back which specific BDC Representative generated and / or was involved in the lead. The BDC’s goal is, hence, to generate test drive appointments and provide administrative, commercial, and customer service support (both pre and post-sale) to help deals materialize.

Having already established what the BDC Team’s role and goals are, our Management and Leadership class assignment represents a great opportunity for me to propose a plan aimed at how to apply certain forms of control to oversee the accomplishment of the referred tasks and goals.

So, when we think about Output Control, it is in fact a must in this kind of industry. While for a usual Car Sales Consultant the mandatory Output Control form would be the number of vehicles sold per month, in the case of the BDC Team, the specific Output Control indicator would be the number of test drive appointments set up per month, and a sub-indicator stating how many of said appointments turned into actual sales. This form of control is very objective and goal-oriented, lacking any potential bias by any given supervisor, as the number are the ones literally speaking about the BDC Team members’ performance.

Moving along, in terms of Behavioural Control, said form of control is based on measures that deal with the actions aimed at yielding the results sought after. In the case of the BDC Team, perhaps it would be a great idea to encourage BDC Team members to increase their Saturday availability hours, as such is the day when this line of business generates most of its income, hence fostering the team to increase their chances of success for both the company and themselves, as they are entitled to performance bonuses based on number of test drive appointments generated and sales associated to them.

And, as far as Clan Control goes, it is important to consider that this is a rather informal sort of approach, which leans on key social-related aspects, such as traditions, expectations, values (as per Creating Organizational Control Systems – Mastering Strategic Management – 1st Canadian Edition (opentextbc.ca)). With that in mind, the BDC Team is usually considered in the internal festivities that company management organized for certain celebration dates, such as Halloween, Thanksgiving, Birthdays of the Month, etc., to foster team integration and sense of belonging, which I believe do have a positive impact on performance as well.

Managing a Diverse Team

This post is about an interview Colombian and USA actor, Mr. John Leguizamo, gave to ABC News Prime in 2021 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT3xiQK-NTk). This actor is part of an ethnic minority, the Hispanics. He was born on July 22^nd, 1960, in Colombia, and moved to the United States as a child, so he is also a US citizen. He is a well-known Hollywood star, mainly known for his role as an actor and comedian, although he is also a producer of both movies and documentaries. Moreover, he is also an activist who raises his voice against discriminatory practices against his fellow Latinos and Hispanics.

 The workplace challenges prompted by his ethnic group identity this professional actor has had to overcome to make it in Hollywood are several, as he pointed out throughout the interview. Some of said challenges, for instance, comprise poverty, prejudice, immigration, lack of roles being created for actors such as himself to really have an opportunity to shine and demonstrate his skills.

The interview went on to let him further express how this movie he directed in 2021, based on a true story, goes to show how many gifted Hispanics simply are never given the chance to pass a casting process, or how they are not even nurtured by higher powers, preventing them from climbing their way up.

He explained how this Hispanic professor from Florida, Mr. Mario Martinez, struggled and succeeded big time by, precisely, nurturing, coaching, supporting, and encouraging a group of Latino students back in 1998 all the way until they became USA National Chess Champions, which is something he was able to portray in his film “Critical Thinking”.

Leguizamo elaborates some more on his criticism on how he feels like he and his fellow Latinos / Hispanics are living in what he deems a cultural apartheid, totally neglected, despite said minority group accounting for 25% of the U.S. box office.

          Some strategies I could propose for Mr. Leguizamo to try to help him overcome some of the challenges faced in the workplace are, for instance, encourage him not to so easily accept uneven distributions of decision-making power and access to perks and benefits, but instead to raise his voice and let producers, directors and even the audience know his people are not going to allow them to abuse those powers.

            Another strategy would be to make sure in his acting performance contracts to include a variable compensation component based precisely on the degree of his performance, making sure his efforts are duly recognized monetarily at the very least.

Another strategy would be to practice his assertiveness skills, in a such a way that, without him being disrespectful, he learns how to raise his voice to an extent that nobody dares crossing the line or abusing his kindness.

Yet another strategy that could be suggested to Mr. Leguizamo would be to encourage him to work on his uncertainty avoidance skills, given that his career is somewhat unstable, and even more so in his case given the minority related issue, hence it would be in his best interest to acquire some skills that deal with uncertainty avoidance.

Furthermore, I would also suggest Mr. Leguizamo to strengthen his focus on projecting his reward-obtaining moments for down the road, hence enabling him to be more resilient in the present, with focus of knowing, or at least expecting, to be further recognized or rewarded later.

A final strategy I would like to propose to this professional performer would be for him to further foster in-group collectivism among his fellow Latino / Hispanic artists, so that they can more strongly express their pride and union, which as a collective body will enhance their degree of representation of their community, hopefully managing to make an easier space for the upcoming generations not to have to struggle as hard to have access to the same opportunities as non-minorities do.

Organizational Behaviour - Daniel's Blog Entry #6 - Family Commitments and Remote Work - Grand Summary

This sixth blog entry related to our Organizational Behaviour class basically intends to summarize the prior five posts, dealing with the issue at stake, which is Family Commitments and Remote Work. In chronological order of posting, the articles based on which the mentioned blogs were created were: (1) "The pandemic changed how we work. Now, mothers want it to stay that way", written by journalist Kiernan Green, and published by CBC News, on October 10, 2022, (2) "When Your Boss Doesn’t Respect Your Family Commitments", written by Ms. Rebecca Knight, and published by Harvard Business Review, on September 01, 2020, (3) "Is the work-from-home debate already over?", written by Mr. Gene Marks, and published by The Guardian, on August 28, 2022, (4) "The pros and cons of working remotely", written by Mr. Bill George, and published by Fortune, on April 17, 2021, and (5) "Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation", written by Mr. Lyman Stone and Mr. Adam Ozimek, and published by Economic Innovation Group, on March 07, 2023.

Regarding the similarities found among all five articles I consider important to highlight the fact that all five of them were published by duly accredited entities, backed up by their prestige and careful choice of studies on which they based their disclosures, such as CBC News, Harvard Business Review, The Guardian, Fortune, and Innovation Group.

Continuing within the similarities that were perceived among the referred articles, most, if not all of them, have in common, as the trigger for the rest of their arguments, the undeniable game-changing event, which was the Covid 19 pandemic. As it may have been noticed throughout the reading of my prior five posts and of the articles based on which they were inspired, all of them start their analysis with the mentioned pandemic as the common factor that jump starts the rest of the discussion, stating facts such as those which describe the pandemic having been the root cause of millions of workers being sent home to continue with their duties, overnight, when the whole health-related crisis unfolded. That very event, referred to by all five articles, generated several transversal consequences affecting the life and overall dynamics of individuals, families, companies, industries, countries, and therefore were inevitably pointed at as a key component of the “Family Commitments and Remote Work” mega subject. As I mentioned earlier, the pandemic was the game-changing element that triggered the rest of the discussions, because, had it not been the case that workers were sent home, and yet entire industries proved to be able to keep delivering positive results, the debate on whether remote work could stay for good as an ongoing labor mode would have never been brought up, or at least not to the extent that it has. And again, all five articles invariably get their fuel from said event.

And, with respect to differences found among these five articles, the authors of articles number 3 and number 4 happen to somewhat disagree on their opinions regarding hybrid mode. Indeed, while Mr. Gene Marks advocates for hybrid mode, stating that the best possible solution to reconcile the perspectives of those who are pro remote work versus those who are against it is to go hybrid (in her article titled "Is the work-from-home debate already over?”), Mr. Bill George, on the other hand, while trying to suggest said mode would be a wise way out of the controversy, he lets is slide that perhaps such mode (hybrid) may not be such a good idea after all, as given that such an approach could potentially trigger its own set of issues and disputes among employees, some of the employees may feel played against when comparing themselves with certain peers who may be getting more home-office days than them or what not (as per his article, titled “"The pros and cons of working remotely").

As far as my takeaway from the research based on the previously mentioned articles, being myself one of the casualties of the pandemic, from a professional career stand point, that is, I strongly believe that the disruption it caused generated a priceless opportunity for professionals to rethink and redesign our careers, in such a way that would have never crossed my mind before. Nowadays, looking back, I am nothing but grateful for the unprecedented windows and doors that got open because of this situation, which have enabled me to become sort of what they are now calling a digital nomad, who gets to work from anywhere in the world, hence enjoying the perks that such a fun level of mobility triggers, which, by the way, happens to boost a healthier family life, granted by the flexibility that this kind of work arrangement provides.

Organizational Behaviour - Daniel's Blog Entry #5 - Family Commitments and Remote Work

         This fifth blog entry related to our Organizational Behaviour class is based on the following article, titled "Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation", written by Mr. Lyman Stone and Mr. Adam Ozimek, and published by Economic Innovation Group, on March 07, 2023 (https://eig.org/remote-work-family-formation/).

The article reflects on how dramatically the increase of remote work over the last couple of years has impacted society and the economy in such a way that it will be very difficult to ever go back to the base line as it was prior to the Covid 19 pandemic. Within such reflection, the authors go on to analyze that, even though there have certainly been negative outcomes out of the whole pandemic generated ordeal, there has also been several positive consequences, such as the fact that the sudden new remote-working mode arrangements enabled many people and entire families to get to enjoy more quality time at home, without necessarily leaving work unattended. Furthermore, having more flexible time to spend on their personal and family affairs boosted birth rates considerably, mainly on women with higher economic power and education levels.

The article points out that not only does remote work has enabled workers to enjoy more flexibility regarding where to work, but also regarding when to, as their performance tend to be measured more based on actual results and deliverables than on how punctual they show up at a given location to render their services. Hence, individuals are now further able to organize their overall schedules and can balance out their professional and personal life in a healthier fashion.

The authors then get statistically deeper in their analysis and try to break down some interesting figures as to how, apparently, unmarried remote workers were noticeably more prone to engage in marriage planning within the next year, and they support this interpretation on the fact that remote workers have probable higher migration rates than non-remote workers. At any rate, the article concludes that there seems to be an impact created by remote work on how much family formation intentions are likely to increase on women, mainly on older women who already have kids, and in general how the higher quantities of remote workers are impacting on fertility rates spikes.

As far as how this article relates to myself personally, I would say that I have witnessed close friends of mine, who used to have proud bachelor-like lifestyles, getting suddenly married and becoming parents, coincidentally during and post pandemic, as they were somehow feeling more vulnerable to loneliness and seemed to want to tie the knots and settle for a family. So, I would say the article does make sense, at least from the small sample I have been able to analyze from real life.

Organizational Behaviour - Daniel's Blog Entry #4 - Family Commitments and Remote Work

             This fourth blog entry related to our Organizational Behaviour class is based on the following article, titled "The pros and cons of working remotely", written by Mr. Bill George, and published by Fortune, on April 17, 2021 (https://fortune.com/2021/04/17/remote-work-home-hybrid-model-future/).

As its very title hints, the article at stake does a very well conceived illustrative job at portraying the advantages and disadvantages of a remote work arrangement, clearly detailing with the same level of thoroughness both sides of the same coin.

Among the pros the article describes there is time savings, productivity, schedule flexibility, balancing family needs, cost savings, organization design (very nice example of how, through a Zoom meeting, nobody gets to sit at a more “important” spot around the table, hence making the internal dynamics within the organization more horizontal and less hierarchical).

And, on the other hand, the cons listed by the article include issues dealing with trust, collaboration, lack of access to “informal interactions” and to meeting with customers in person. The last two of the mentioned cons are further explained by the author, stating that certain supervisors tend to lean on spontaneous pop ups in front of their subordinates to informally touch base with them, which certainly makes a difference, due to the human interaction taking place, which is totally forgone when exclusively working remotely. Same reasoning goes to explain about how important it is to at least once, in the first encounter, meet your customer face to face, and then maybe have the privilege to further follow up with them remotely, as that first meeting will have a higher positive impact if handled in person.

Hence, as the author further elaborates, organizations are leaning toward hybrid modes of job attendance, which could potentially resolve the conflicts between pros and cons, yet he (the author) points out that hybrid mode itself may create issues of its own, dealing with how fair certain employees may perceive the distribution of who gets to be where how many days and so on. Thus, seems like organizations will end up having to play it by the ear, in terms of deciding which actual mode or combination of modes to finally settle for.

As far as how this article relates to myself personally, I have been asked, even with my current online freelance arrangements to, eventually, become somewhat flexible and accept to visit the company premises sometimes, for face to face interaction with whole team at the Maryland-based automobile dealership, which is something that could certainly enhance my relationship with the staff and managers, and foster some team building dynamics, so I think I will agree with doing it every so often, as long as the official arrangement stays remote.

Organizational Behaviour - Daniel's Blog Entry #3 - Family Commitments and Remote Work

 

This third blog entry related to our Organizational Behaviour class is based on the following article, titled "Is the work-from-home debate already over?", written by Mr. Gene Marks, and published by The Guardian, on August 28, 2022 (https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/aug/28/remote-work-home-office-debate-pandemic).

The article begins by stating that it is safe to consider that the worst part of the Covid 19 pandemic is finished, and with that in mind, he sets the stage for the “whether now the time is appropriate to go back to the office” debate.

Mr. Marks (article’s author) mentions about some AT&T workers making official claims to avoid them being forced to return to the company’s premises to fulfill their duties, whereas, on the other hand, big shots, such as JP Morgan Chase’s CEO criticizes remote work and complaining about certain platforms such as Zoom. Tesla Motors’ CEO, Elon Musk, is also quoted in the article, allegedly stating that he does not mind his employees working from home, as long as they have put in good forty (40) hours in the office first. Go figure.

The article also talks about certain economist from Stanford University claiming that working from home is beneficial for companies as its has proven to boost growth, mentioning that other supporting studies state that 77% of workers disclosed an increase on their productivity levels when they were allowed to perform their tasks from remote locations. Although, the author also let it be known that other reports claim that workers performing from home are 70% less productive than those are not performing from their households.

 The article goes on to discuss the aspect of mental health, stating that, while certain experts tend to consider that working remotely potentially decreases workers’ stress levels (considering that they do not have to deal with daily commute, or the fact that they get to sleep longer, etc.), hence making family obligations be more easily complied with, an study conducted by the American Psychiatric Association, on the other hand, states that most employees working remotely have felt the hit of feeling lonely, isolated, locked in monotonous life styles and even struggling to actually put an end to their work day.

Taking all of the above into consideration, the author suggests that the way to go is a hybrid type of scenario, where by part of the time employees are allowed to perform their tasks from home, while also being encouraged (and somehow forced to) go to the office another part of the time, as some individuals tend to perform better when having the chance to have a human interaction with their peers. Thus, hybrid should be the target to aim for.

As far as how this article relates to myself personally, having worked the past three years from home, I would say that I agree with both angles of the analysis. Indeed, I find it more enjoyable that I get to distribute my own time and that I do not have to deal with daily traffic and such. But, on the other hand, sometimes I do feel that loneliness sensation of not interacting face to face with other human beings for prolonged periods of time, in which cases I try to compensate it with outdoor activity, which is not work per se, but it still makes it up for the cumulative hours I get to be secluded with my online jobs responsibilities.

Organizational Behaviour - Daniel's Blog Entry #2 - Family Commitments and Remote Work

 

This second blog entry related to our Organizational Behaviour class is based on the following article, titled "When Your Boss Doesn’t Respect Your Family Commitments", written by Ms. Rebecca Knight (currently a senior correspondent at Insider covering careers and the workplace. Previously she was a freelance journalist and a lecturer at Wesleyan University. Her work has been published in The New York Times, USA Today, and The Financial Times), and published by Harvard Business Review, on September 01, 2020 (https://hbr.org/2020/09/when-your-boss-doesnt-respect-your-family-commitments).

The article makes a parallelism between the ideal situation in which someone’s boss is understanding and flexible regarding his / her subordinate’s personal life and the opposite case, in which someone’s boss is rather unpleasant and completely oblivious to his / her subordinate’s personal life, making them really struggle to balance out their professional and commitments and their family and personal affairs.

Ms. Knight goes on to describe some stories collected from her research and from interviews she has conducted out there in the different markets and she explains how certain supervisors even dare to cross the line to become hostile toward their employees, harassing them any given time the worker has to leave his / her duties earlier due to having to care after their child sudden school-related issue or perhaps to accompany and aging parent deal with an eventual health-related matter.

            As a disclaimer, it is worth mentioning that this article is USA-based, and as such, specifically encourages readers from said country to know their rights, mentioning, for instance, that some states happen to have flexible-work related policies enacted for their government employees, and also prompts the reader to investigate whether they may qualify for the so called federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act (important also to consider this article is dated September 2020, right in the midst of the first year of the pandemic, even before vaccines came out). But the idea may easily be applicable to different jurisdictions across the globe. Workers must know their rights.

The author also suggests workers to be upfront and transparent about their situation to their bosses, trying to explain them the ins and outs of their particular concerns and how they propose to still deliver results, but emphasizing the work-from-home arrangement they require in order to tend to both their personal and professional responsibilities.

As far as how this article relates to myself personally, in my case, when the pandemic started I had an office to go to and a schedule to go by, and hence, when we were suddenly switched to work-from-home mode, at the beginning my boss had no choice but to allow said arrangement to be in place, yet as weeks and months went by, but while we were still dealing with the pandemic situation, he began pressuring me to go back to the office, just because. He did not have a solid argument, as my performance had not changed, if anything I was putting in more hours, from home, to make sure I could keep my job. But eventually we came to an agreement for me to leave. It turned out to be for the best, as this sudden outcome prompted me to start looking for online freelance alternatives to continue developing my career, but I guess that is part of a different story.