Answer To Oral

1 Are meetings really necessary? Sometimes in fact I think people see meetings as a one hour vacation from the regular work they do, and take as many meetings as possible. Have you ever noticed how few people actually contribute during a meeting - either by participating in the conversation or decisions or agreeing to take an action item away from a meeting? This is not to say that I find meetings unimportant - just that I don't think everyone shares the opinion that meetings should add value to what we do. As I see it there are at least five reasons to have a meeting: - Provide status of a project or business function to those who are responsible for progress but are not involved day to day - Request resources from peers and superiors - this can be in terms of dollars or human capital - Gather input on a design from a wide range of individuals - commonly used when a difficult problem arises with no clear "right" answer. - Inform the "troops" about the direction the group or business is heading, especially if a big change will occur - Sell people products or ideas The problem with regular meetings is that it is always the "same" people attend, the "same" discussions are had and the "same" conclusions reached, with no real effective decision made. If you were given the agenda in advance, you could easily guess what each person is likely to say to each discussion item. In fact, you could probably write the minutes without anybody bothering to turn up. If you decide to hold the meeting as part of your team building campaign, or to contribute to participative management, make sure these items become part of your list of objectives in a way that is measurable. Some managers call meetings because it is the easiest way (or the only way) to get face-to-face with their team. This approach may well be easy but it is a waste of your most important resource - your time. Meetings are probably the best way to exchange information and ideas if a meeting is led correctly.

The first thing we should do is determine a meeting is actually necessary. If we simply want to communicate some information, is email or another communication vehicle a better approach? We should be constantly asking ourselves if the meeting is the best use of time and resources. Also, who, exactly, needs to be in the meeting? What will each person's contribution and takeaways be?

2 Can you describe one of the big scandals in the US in the early 2000s ? Enron Corporation was an American energy company based in Houston, Texas. Before its bankruptcy in late 2001, Enron employed approximately 22,000[1] and was one of the world's leading electricity, natural gas, pulp and paper, and communications companies, with claimed revenues of nearly $101 billion in 2000. Enron has since become a popular symbol of wilful corporate fraud and corruption. The scandal brought into question the accounting practices of many corporations throughout the United States. Accounting practices Enron had created offshore entities, units which may be used for planning and avoidance of taxes, raising the profitability of a business. This provided ownership and management with full freedom of currency movement and the anonymity that allowed the company to hide losses. These entities made Enron look more profitable than it actually was, and created a dangerous spiral in which each quarter, corporate officers would have to perform more and more contorted financial deception to create the illusion of billions in profits while the company was actually losing money. This practice drove up their stock price to new levels, at which point the executives began to work on insider information and trade millions of dollars worth of Enron stock. The executives and insiders at Enron knew about the offshore accounts that were hiding of losses for the company; however the investors knew nothing of this. Enron president and chief operating officer Jeffrey Skilling began advocating a novel idea: the company didn't really need any "assets." By pushing the company's aggressive investment strategy, he helped make Enron the biggest wholesaler of gas and electricity, trading over $27 billion per quarter. . Peak and decline of stock price

In August 2000, Enron's stock price hit its highest value of $90. At this point Enron executives, who possessed the inside information on the hidden losses, began to sell their stock. At the same time, the general public and Enron's investors were told to buy the stock. Executives told the investors that the stock would continue to climb until it reached possibly the $130 to $140 range, while secretly unloading their shares. As executives sold their shares, the price began to drop. Investors were told to continue buying stock or hold steady if they already owned Enron because the stock price would rebound in the near future. By August 15, 2001, Enron's stock price had fallen to $42. Many of the investors still trusted and believed that Enron would rule the market. They continued to buy or hold their stock and lost more money every day. As October closed, the stock had fallen to $15. Many saw this as a great opportunity to buy Enron stock because of what Lay had been telling them in the media. Their trust and optimism proved to be greatly misplaced.

.3 / How can a firm be and remain competitive? The hardest is not to become competitive but to remain. To become competitive, a firm must have an innovating idea, but it is not all, the most important thing to become competitive is the money. So, to become competitive, a firm must have an innovating idea and money. After that, it’s the time to remain competitive and that the hardest point. To stay competitive, a firm must constantly have new ideas, constantly improve its product or service and constantly seek to reduce the cost of production to lower the selling price of its product. This firm has to innovate in its product but also in its manufacturing process. To remain competitive, a company must offer something that its competitors do not. The company can also diversify; enter in a new market more successful than the first. 4 How can a firm encourage initiative? To be more and more competitive a company should encourage initiative in is own structure. Initiative could bring a lot of new ideas 1. Hire candidates who - display curiosity, an open, questioning attitude, - a strong interest in further learning, and - who appear to be self-directing. A little irreverence for the conventional wouldn't hurt either. 2. Clearly communicate the company's goals, strategies, progress and problems.

Be open to everyone's help and ideas. 3. Maximize top-down and lateral information flow. Initiators need to know what is happening all around them. Let people walk across boundaries to get their jobs done. Create "webs" for your people. 4. Hold off judgment on projects until the results are clearly negative. In other words, presume ideas to be good until proven bad; give new ideas a second chance. Believe in serendipity and chance. 5. Build a sense of action and urgency. Set clear deadlines and aggressive schedules. Demand action; do not settle for just complaints. Treat failure to act seriously. 6. Release control through delegating day-to-day affairs to the lowest level, and permit a wide latitude of acceptable behavior and approaches. Reward people who push new ideas and take risks. Treat failure as an opportunity for learning, not as a mistake. 7. Design systems and structure to support the individual, not vice versa. 8. Ask provocative questions; e.g., how can we do this better? Keep stirring the pot with tough, penetrating questions. 9. Make waves yourself, experiment, take a chance, keep pushing the bar higher. 10. Expect and demand that everyone grow in ways meaningful to them. 5 / is it possible for a firm to reconcile profits and ethical values? Business and ethics are two topics habitually segregated in our thinking. This pigeon holing is the source of most of the difficulty people have in thinking about business ethics as a unified entity. Our thoughts wander down one avenue or the other and often end up at irreconcilable destinations. The difficulty of reconciling the dichotomy has given much anxiety to both businessmen and philosophers. Managers are frequently torn between doing what is best ethically and what is in the best interest of business. Marly moralist twist their thinking in such convoluted ways to achieve a reconciliation that their conclusions are either feeble or incoherent. Others abandon the effort and declare business to be amoral and not the proper province for ethical discourses.

What are the most famous ethical values ? - Respect -

Solidarity

-

Mutual aid

-

Equality gender, color, origin…

I don’t understand why these ethical values can interfere with the profits. On the contrary, to make profits, a company has to innovate, find new ideas, create new processes, and to do these things, the employees have to work together, in team or with different department. To work together, the atmosphere among the employees must be pleasant…and for that, the only solution is that this company is imbued with all these ethical values. So to me, and I hope that the case for a lot of other people, profits and ethical values are inseparable. In other words, in addition to "what a company does," it is equally important to focus on "how it does it." 6 / The firm you run is going through difficult times. What measures can be taken? How to choose? -

Relocate in another country Diversify products. Specialization in high quality product To find investors or sell parts To lay off some employees

7 / what do you think is a good communicator? To reach a goal for a company or for a team it is essential to have some good communicator to There are some key elements that go into being a good communicator. - Most importantly, you must take a sincere interest in what others have to say, regardless if you find the information boring or irrelevant. - Good communicators know fundamentally that putting in time to ask the right questions and really listen to the answers is never time wasted. Are your communication abilities influenced at all by whether or not the person you're communicating with can help YOU? Do you communicate more respectfully with top-level executives than you do your peers? Are

your motivations to communicate influenced by how much money a potential customer has to pay you? If so, it might be time to rethink your motivations. - Making others feel special is at the heart of communication success. When others feel validated and heard, they usually respond in kind. It's the old reciprocity idea: If you treat me well, I'll treat you well. Good communicators pick up on the little things that are important to others and remember important dates, events, and names. If you're not good at doing these things, you can never give in to your weakness. - Good communicators take the time to take the time. Studies have shown that if there's a contradiction between one's words and one's actions, the truth is perceived to lie in the actions. Make sure your nonverbal communication isn't thwarting your good verbal intentions. - Because work environments change on a continual basis, part of being a good communicator involves rolling with the punches. If you need more information before you can move forward, ask for it. If you're confused by what you hear, ask for clarification. Make no assumption that asking for something makes you look foolish or stupid. Good communicators ask a lot of questions and then take action toward goals that will benefit both themselves and others. Remember: We are all works in progress. By taking incremental steps to improve your communication effectiveness, you'll reap long-term professional rewards.

8 / What qualities are essential to an executive these days? Honesty - People who consistently tell the truth are very uncommon these days. Be an honest person, and this puts you in a limited group of people. Trust - Being honest over time starts to build trust, and trust is essential to start to become an influential lead executive. Love - It sounds weird that you need to show love in order to be a lead executive, but it's necessary. Your peers need to know that you have a soft side.

Compassion - Showing compassion for the employees is so important, they want to know that you care about them, and understand what they are going through. A "Can Do" Attitude - Lead executives know how to find a way to make things happen, and if they can't find a way, they make one. Will to Win - Lead executives have both the will to win, and the hate to lose. Both are just as important. Learn - Our environment is always changing, and as a result we must learn to adapt to it. Lead executives are great at learning from both their successes, and failures. Respectfulness - To be respected you first must show respect. Lead executives treat others with more respect than they expect to be treated with in return. Persistent - One of the most important is to be persistent, this goes along with the "can do" attitude. It's great when employees know that their lead executive will never give up. Courage - It's not always going to be easy, a lead executive has the courage to tackle new challenges and problems. Listen - A lead executive must meet the needs of those around him, and in order to meet those needs, he/she must be a good listener. Likeability - People like people who are like them. Lead executives are great at find ways to connect with others by finding things that they have in common. The twelve qualities that I have outlined above are what I believe to be the most important qualities that a lead executive must have. I'm sure that I have missed some, so if you have any more to add, let me know.

9/ You are setting up your own (medium-sized) business. You are recruiting.people.Describe and justify how you conduct job interviews? Recruiting people is not so simply and it’s different when your recruit an employee or an executive. To build a strong staff to make the maximum of benefit, recruiting people is very important.

The first thing is to sort out the CV. The profile has to correspond to the task.

After, I would to have an interview with each of them. The last thing to do is to speak about their weaknesses and strengths. All of them have the competence required. Ask him about his work experience. 10. You are setting up your own (medium-sized) business. You need money? What options are available to raise funds? Which one(s) would you choose? Options: - Find investors -

Obtains state subsidies

The best is to find an investor 11/ You would like to set up your own (medium sized) business. What should be considered when opting for a legal status? When you create your own company you have the choice on the legal status between 4 types of status. There the Sole proprietorship:  It’s the simple form of entity.

 Your are the one at the head  When you make profits it get directly in your own pocket  You pay less taxes  Drawbacks: if your business fail your can lose everything. The Partnerships:  It’s like a sole proprietorship but it’s conducted by 2 or more people  You benefit of pass-trough taxation  It exist a limited partnership Corporations:  It’s the common form for large businesses in the united states  No personal liability So to choose between this 3 or 4 legal status to get your business you have to take in consideration a lot of parameters. -

the numbers of people who found a company, if you’re alone you can choose a sole proprietorship instead of a partnership

-

The state were you live because some legal status are forbidden in some states in USA

-

If you want to take risk to loose your own things if your business fails, like in the sole proprietorship liability.

-

The taxation which depends on the legal status.

12. You would like to set up your own business (medium sized). What sort of management style would you adopt? Suit to the changing face of the world and the workplace, unilateral management is out Holistic is in. I would like to adopt participative management style. Some people still think that to do a job right, you have to do it yourself. I disagree because Participative management is the here and now.

The best is to involve employees in the decision making process in real terms because a company needs to take the most of their employees skills. To get the maximum of the staff, every manager needs to enlist the ideas and the opinions of his workforce and also to trust them. So when I will have a decision, I will form management committees to discuss and decide upon issues of importance at an organizational level. Decision making will share between all the employees. Group ownership of organizational issues increases understanding of, and commitment to, reaching shared goals. Further, the imperative to involve employees at all stages satisfies their inherent need for self actualisation. So everybody will participate in the company by discussing decision, share their ideas and opinions but all decisions make will be approve by the ceo. Finally every employees of the company will actively participate to the company life and so the atmosphere will be better. Work away from the stress is, i think one of the best way to innovate, design and produce better quality product.