Managing Communication & Decision Making Processes

Alp Ermis, Emily Blazensky, Karan Kalwani, Richie Perez, & Neil Cohen

Agenda

• Mission Statement• Case Study – Semco• Personal Experiences• SKIT!

Mission Statement

• Unorthodox methods of managing and communication with employees may yield higher efficiency and production of the company.

Semco“Harness the wisdom of the

people”• No official structure, No organizational chart,

No business plan, No company strategy, No 2-5 year plans, No goal, No mission statement, No long term budget, NO CEO

• Employees decide own work hours/days that work best with their personal schedule

Seven-Day Weekend

• Employees DO NOT come to office 9am-5pm M-F, they come at the times and days that make sense for them to come, or they do not come at all.

• “We humans are complex creatures with many facets, interests, talents, and personalities…It's a lousy way to live and a lousy way to work.”

Up N’ Down Pay

• "Up 'n' Down Pay," literally allows employees to manage their own pay.

• Why Beneficial:Allows people with temporary problems

or family issues to scale back their work hours without derailing or endangering their careers.

Retire-a-Little

• You don't typically have the money or leisure time to realize your dreams when you are most physically fit to pursue them.(20-30yrs) Conversely, you no longer have the required physical stamina for such pursuits when you have the most time and money to spare. (55+yrs; retirement) Isn't that ironic?

Retire-a-Little

• This plan, allows employees to better square their life cycle with their career cycle. Under our Retire-a-Little program, people are allowed to acquire from the company as much early retirement as they wish; provided they repay that time later.

Work N’ Stop• Allows employees to take a sabbatical of up to three

years for any given purpose.• How they make it work:

To finance these sabbaticals, Semco allows employees to set aside a portion of their monthly pay. The company acts as banker by keeping the money, but releases it whenever employees feel they have enough to underwrite their time off and want to make a withdrawal. For the employee, this program is a golden opportunity to balance their work and personal life. For the company, it pays for itself in productivity and longevity not to mention decreased turnover.

WhyWay

“People are considered adults in their private lives; at the bank, at their children's schools, with family and among friends, so why are they suddenly treated like adolescents at work?” – Semco

• With a show of hands, our employees can veto new product ideas or scrap entire business ventures. Everyone’s opinions are considered and valued.

Profits

• From 1994 to 2003, Semco increased its annual revenue from $35 million to $212 million. And we continue growing nearly 40% each year without any public investment.

• Semco has what everyone else wants; huge growth despite a fluctuating economy, unique market niches, rising profits, highly motivated employees, low turnover, and diverse products and service areas.

GEEDEEKAY INTERNATIONAL

• Financial Export Company• Dealing with Export and Import of Textiles and

Electronics• Customers located everywhere around the

world• EX: Miami, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Korea

WHAT I DID

• Verified that debit and credit notes were identically numbered

• Produced Invoices, Sale notes, debit notes, and credit notes.

• Managed Inventories using LIFO and FIFO• Paid attention to currency rate• Went to post office to pick up and send money

CONS

• Had to be on time no matter what excuse was made.• Boss was hardly in the office so it was extremely hard

to ask questions.• Extra working hours in the office without extra pay.• Strict towards interns and employers about length of

lunch time.• No group communication so it was hard to follow

what everyone was doing.

Methods of Communication in the

Work Place• Technology’s effect on office communication email

and instant messaging• Technology’s effect on staff meetings computers, cell

phones• Positives v.s. Negative

Oracle Corporation at a Glance

• An aggressive tech company• Databases• e-Business Applications & Suites• Hardware• Acquired Sun Microsystems for around

$7.4 billion

• Oracle has offices all over the globe• Employs over 105,000 people

Co-Op at Oracle

• e-Business Migration Analyst– Costs of migrating old/different

license models to current Oracle license models.

• Worked in global teams of people from Argentina, Canada, Costa Rica, India, and Romania.

Various Modes of Communication

• United States– Telephone and/or Face-Face

• Costa Rica– Instant Messaging

• India/Romania– Email

The Skit

SUMMARY

• Semco proves that a corporation can thrive using unconventional communication and decision making processes

• Negative communication styles tend to lead to negative consequences for both the employer and the employee.

• Knowledge of a variety of communicative styles/decision making processes can help a manager relate to and motivate their employees better.

Bibliography

• http://www.hoovers.com/company/Oracle_Corporation/rcyyki-1-1njg4g.html

THE END