The Manager's View

NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS As markets and customer preferences change companies adapt to insure success. Adaptations usually are made to capitalize on markets and expertise a firm has developed over its life . Some adaptations are limited to updating packaging or marketing approaches or finding new uses for established products. There are occasions where new products are needed in order to meet new customer needs or address a disruptive market innovation. When addressing changing market needs and market disruptions it is necessary to find good ideas and then have a process to evaluate and narrow the field to the ideas most likely to succeed. Generating new product ideas The first step in generating good ideas that will further develop the markets and expertise that defines the firm is to clearly articulate the job customers are hiring the firm to perform. Here it is important not to be too restrictive in the focus of the definition. It is probab...

SHOWING EMPLOYEES THE PATH TO SUCCESS The Corpus Christi Caller-Times Newspaper was having difficulty with its financial reporting and its payroll costs for the financial area seemed high. After spending a few weeks with the personnel in the departments and reviewing operations, we felt like there was poor coordination between the various accounting functions and that there was duplication of effort. I was pondering an approach to address these challenges when I ran across an American Management Association workbook on Standards of Performance. It suggested that a job should be broken down into responsibilities that related directly to organizational goals. Further it said that these responsibilities should have standards set that related directly to an employee’s job performance1. The article also suggested job appraisals should be objective and directly related to the standards set. One of the most basic employee needs is the need for security and this need ...

What Employees Want Much research has been done on determining what makes individuals reach higher levels of productivity. The most renowned studies were done by Abraham Maslow and resulted in Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs”. This hierarchy explains that individuals first need to satisfy physiological needs (food, water, etc.) before moving to higher levels of the hierarchy. The next levels; Safety, Belonging, Esteem and, finally, Self Actualization were achieved in order and only if the lower levels of the hierarchy were satisfied to some extent. Frederick Herzberg used a similar approach to explain how individuals could be motivated at work.   His work can be related to Maslow’s research by matching motivating factors in the work place with Maslow’s hierarchy. Basic compensation can be related to the most basic physiological needs. Benefits and job stability can be related to safety needs. Company and employee sense of belonging can be related to belonging needs. Recognit...