There are several theories on why groups develop. The classic theory, developed by George Homans, advocates that group development is based on activities, interactions, and feelings. What it means is when individuals share common activities; they will have more interaction and will develop attitudes which could be positive or negative toward each other. The major element in this theory is what kinds of interaction are shared by the individuals involved in the group.

Social exchange theory offers an alternative explanation for group development. According to this theory, individuals form relationships based on the implied expectation of mutually beneficial exchanges based on trust and felt obligation towards each other. Thus, an insight that in relationships exchange of thoughts and ideas is positive and essential if individuals are to be attracted to and affiliate with a group.

Social identity theory suggests that individuals get a sense of identity and self-esteem based upon their membership in outstanding groups. The nature of the group may be demographically based, culturally suitable, or organizationally based. Individuals are motivated to belong to and contribute to identical as their character groups because of the sense of belongingness and self-worth membership in the group imparts.

Do you know that the study of group dynamics is dated back to 1960s by Bruce Tuckman. He said that groups do not usually perform at maximum effectiveness when they are first established. They come across several stages of development as they struggle to become productive and effectual. Often, groups experience similar developmental stages while they encounter conflicts and resolutions. According to Tuckman’s theory, there are five stages of group development: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. During these stages group members go through lot of pains as they need to address several issues and the way in which these issues are resolved decides whether the group will succeed in accomplishing its tasks or the group will break up.

Forming: This is the first stage. In this stage lot groups form temporarily; this stage is characterized by some puzzlement and lot of uncertainty. The group is not sure about their major goals. Leadership matters here a lot. Thus, forming is a direction period when members get to know one another and share expectations about the group. Members learn the purpose of the group as well as the rules to be followed. If the forming stage is rushed trust and openness cannot be developed. Individuals are often confused during this stage because roles are not clear and leadership matters to bring in a feeling of settlement. If the group is formed on basis of weak leadership, the group is far from being formed.

Storming: This stage is called storming because in this stage, the group is likely to see the highest level of incongruity and conflicts. Members in the group challenge group goals and struggle for power. Individuals often compete for the leadership position during this stage of development. This can be a positive experience for all groups if members can get organized through resolution. Members often voice concern and criticism in this stage. If members are not able to determine the conflict, then the group will often split up or continue in existence but will remain unproductive and never advance to the further stages.

Norming: This stage is categorized by the identification of individual differences and shared expectations. If in this stage the group members begin to develop a feeling of group unity and identity the group’s existence strengthens. They experience cooperative efforts which begin to yield results. In this stage usually responsibilities are divided among members and the group decides on evaluating progress. Roles and responsibilities are passed on to members in the group in norming stage.

Performance: Performance of group occurs when the group matures and attains a feeling of cohesiveness. During this stage of development, individuals accept one another and conflicts are resolved through group discussions. Members of the group make decisions through a sensible process that is focused on relevant goals rather than emotional issues.

Adjourning: This stage is not is not experienced by all groups, because it is characterized by the performance discharged by the group. Some groups stay relatively permanent. There are reasons why groups disband; they differ from group to group. Some common reasons are the achievement of the tasks or individuals deciding to go their own ways. Members of the group often experience feelings of conclusion and sorrow as they prepare to leave the group. The reasons could be rational or irrational.

We human beings don’t always make the right decisions because our rational judgment is influenced not only by our infatuations and emotions but we all have built-in biases and some other feelings as conceit, egos and illogical dogmas. We don’t understand sometimes why we behave in a fashion or why we take wrong decisions. One big factor affecting the quality of decisions is whether a decision involves a group.

Group dynamics can lead otherwise sensible individuals to agree or disagree decisions they might not come to on their own. At times the effects are positive, as when some group members help others overcome discrimination. But the dynamics of a group often have negative consequences. Since most organizations   rely on collective decision making in some contexts, managers must to be on the lookout for group biases and their undesirable results. There are again some common manifestations of the group effectiveness. Such as conformity – many people go along with the group regardless of what they themselves might think as individuals. Then comes group polarization – it’s a phenomenon which shows that deliberation can intensify people’s attitudes, leading to more extreme decisions. A study in US federal courts showed that judges working alone took a relatively extreme course of action only 30% of the time. When they were working in groups of three, this figure more than doubled, to 65%.

It has been observed that it is an elating feeling when like minded people come together in a group. It is an exhilarating to see when a team of dedicated people meet to discuss and decide a course of action which benefits each member in the group. If a group is given freedom to choose whom and whom not it can have in its team, positive performance can be observed. It is always gratifying to have likeminded people to form groups. They work together, though each of them coming from different backgrounds and levels of experience, but each with the same intellectual capacity to problem-solving and eventually come up with well executed outcomes. People with similar points of view can supplement and substantiate the perspectives which help in achieving organizations goals and objectives.

I like Margaret Mead’s quote “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed it’s the only thing that ever has” this sums what group dynamics is all about beautifully.

The concept of the value chain was coined and explained by Michael Porter in his popular book “Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance” in 1985. Value chain is a sequence of activities or practices which aims at creating and adding value to a product or a service. Value is added at every process of doing business. Businesses aim at enhancing their margins and thus they need to work on their operating procedure carefully. Businesses work to change input into an output by adding greater value in it. Thus the logic behind it is simple; the more value a company creates, the more profitable it becomes. When more value is created, the same is passed on to the customers and thus further helps in combining a competitive edge. One happy customers gets ten more customers. Value adds brand loyalty and brand awareness in markets. The primary activities of value chain are inbound logistics, operation, outbound logistics, marketing & sales and after sales service. These primary activities are supported by procurement, technology, human resource management and firm’s infrastructure. Products pass through a chain of activities in order, and at each activity the product gains some value.

Processes that go in primary and supporting activities of value chain are as follows:

Primary activities:

Inbound Logistics: involves relationships with suppliers and it includes all activities required to from placing order for raw material, receiving it, storing it, stacking it and circulate inputs. Inbound logistics is associated with receiving, storing, disseminating inputs for the operation such as material handling, warehousing, and inventory control, vehicle scheduling and servicing the suppliers.

Operations:  involves all the activities required to transform inputs into outputs (products and services). For example machining, packing assembly, equipment maintenance, testing, printing pasting, stacking and facility operations.

Outbound Logistics: is associated with distribution. All activities required to collect, store, and distribute the finished product. It includes reaching the finished goods to the point of consumption.  Warehousing, material handling, routing, selection of routes, mode of transport, order processing and scheduling.

Marketing and Sales: activities include market research, segmenting market, sales promotional activities, developing, positioning and branding. Marketing and sales activities inform buyers about products and services. The activities in marketing facilitate the purchase with advertising, promotion, sales force size, training and developing, channel selection, channel relation and pricing.

After Sales Service:  includes all the activities required to keep the product or service working effectively for the buyer after it is sold and delivered. Such as installation, repair, training, parts supply and product adjustment

Support activities: 

Procurement: is the acquisition of inputs, or resources, for the firm.

Human Resource management: This consists of all activities involved in recruiting, hiring, salary, training, developing, compensating, motivation and performance appraisal. A transparent, ethical Performance Appraisal system is never demoralizing or inhuman. What’s inhumane is failing to make the organization’s standards and values clear and transparent and not letting people know where they stand.

Technological Development: It pertains to the equipment, hardware, software, procedures and technical knowledge brought to bear in the firm’s transformation of inputs into outputs. The digital revolution has created an Information Age.

Company’s infrastructure: this facet shows a company physical infrastructure, intellectual infrastructure, human infrastructure, digital infrastructure etc. In short, it refers to internal strengths of the company and how well connected it is externally.

Example of Starbucks for a better understanding of value chain:  The Starbucks journey began with a single store in Seattle in the year 1971 by three partners who met while they were students at the University of San Francisco: English teacher Jerry Baldwin, history teacher Zev Siegl, and writer Gordon Bowker. To become one of the most recognized brands globally, Starbucks planned a mission statement “to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.” To achieve the mission the organizations concentrates on all primary activities such as:

Primary activities:

Inbound Logistics: The inbound logistics for Starbucks refers to selecting the finest quality of coffee beans from the coffee producers in Latin America, Africa and Asia. In the case of Starbucks, the green or unroasted beans are procured directly from the farms by the Starbucks buyers. These are transported to the storage sites after which the beans are roasted and packaged. The ready beans are sent to the distribution centers few of which are company owned and some are operated by other logistic companies. The company itself does the procurement to ensure high quality standards right from the point of selection of coffee beans.

Operations: Starbucks operates in 65 countries either in the form of direct stores operated by the company or as licensed stores. Starbucks has more than 21,000 stores internationally which includes Starbucks Coffee, Teavana, Seattle’s Best Coffee and Evolution Fresh retail locations. According to its sales figures, the company generated 79% of the total revenue during fiscal year 2013 from its company operated stores while the licensed stores accounted for 9% of the revenue.

Outbound Logistics: There is very little or no presence of intermediaries in product selling. Majority of the products are sold in their own or licensed stores only. As a new venture, the company has launched a new range of single-origin coffees which is sold through some leading retailers in the U.S. such as Guatemala Laguna de Ayarza, Rwanda Rift Valley and Timor Mount Ramelau.

Marketing and Sales: Starbucks invests in superior quality products and high level of customer services than aggressive marketing. However, need based marketing activities are carried out by the company during new products launches in the form of sampling in areas around the stores. At Starbucks at a point in time, some of their executives visited their coffee shops and noticed that good employees were losing their poise when faced with agitated customers. Instead of coming down on the individual employees, they developed new training material that eliminated the stress of these situations. The executives at Starbucks found that when they empowered their employees with tools they needed to serve customers happily, their employees gained their smiles back.

After sales service: Starbucks aims at building customer loyalty through high level of customer service at its stores. The retail objective of Starbucks is, as it says in its annual report, “to be the leading retailer and brand of coffee in each of our target market by selling the finest quality coffee and related products, and by providing each customer a unique Starbucks Experience.”

Support Activities:

Infrastructure: This includes all departments like management, finance, legal, etc which are required to keep the company’s stores operational. Starbucks well designed and pleasing stores are complemented with good customer service provided by the dedicated team of employees in green aprons.

Human Resource Management: The Company’s committed workforce is considered a key attribute in the company’s success and growth over the years. Starbucks employees are motivated through generous benefits and incentives. The company is known for taking care of its workforce and this is perhaps the reason for a low turnover of employees, which indicates great human resource management. There are many training programs conducted for employees in a setting of a work culture which keeps its staff motivated and efficient.

Technology Development: Starbucks is very well known for use of technology not only for coffee related processes (to ensure consistency in taste and quality along with cost savings) but to connect to its customers. Many customers use Starbucks stores as a make shift office or meeting place because of the free and unlimited wifi availability. The company in the year 2008 also launched mystarbucksidea.force.com as a platform where customers can ask questions, give suggestions and openly express opinions and share experiences. The company has implemented some of the suggestions given via this forum. Starbucks also uses Apple’s iBeacon System wherein customers can order their drink through the Starbucks phone app and get a notification when they walk in the store. Thus, Starbuck uses the available technology to their fullest strength.

Procurement: This involves procuring the raw material for the final product. The company agents travel to Asia, Latin America and Africa for the procurement of high grade raw material to bring the finest coffee to its customers. The agents establish strategic relationship and partnership with a supplier which is built up after reconnaissance and communication about the company standards. High quality standards are maintained with direct involvement of the company right from the base level of selecting the finest raw material which is coffee beans in case of Starbucks.

Conclusions: Starbuck’s rivals benchmark their business processes.

Most of people get confused between resume and curriculum vitae (CV); we also hear words such as portfolio and bio-data. All four terms describe presentation of particulars of an individual.

A resume is a synopsis of the most relevant professional experiences you have for the particular job for which you are applying. It is snapshot and hence not more than one or two pages in length. Resume word is originated from the French word “resumer” which means a summary of an individual’s educational background, relevant work experience, history and achievements. A resume is mainly used when seeking a new job and is sent to the employer in order to introduce an individual, depending on the detailing he/she gets a chance to meet the recruiter or the employer. A resume is ideally sent when applying for middle and senior level positions, when experience and related skills are more important than educational details.

A curriculum vitae, normally called a CV or curricula vitae, is derived from a Latin word which means “course of life.” A CV contains a detailed narrative of an individual’s work experience in details listing the achievements, educational background, skill set, languages known, awards won etc. A CV is a more elaborate description than a resume. CVs are accepted internationally and are used to apply for executive, academic, managerial, medical and many other senior posts jobs.  In my opinion, a CV is a marketing tool which can be used by an individual to endorse himself.

The primary differences between a resume and a curriculum vitae are length, while both are used in job applications. A resume is brief summary and a CV is a detailed document.

Portfolio originates from the Italian word “portafoglio” meaning to carry and ‘foglio’ meaning leaf or paper. Portfolio is an album of work samples shown to prospective employers, usually in creative fields such as photography, art and graphic design. It so happens that work pieces comprised of art and design cannot be explained theoretically. As a result, presenting pictures, designs and samples is the best way to tell a recruiter about your work. Hence, unlike a resume or a CV, a portfolio may contain pictures, documents, and onsite media details, screen shots of a website, and notes or letters of praise from distinguished clients.

Portfolio is a typically a large, thin, flat case for loose sheets of paper such as drawings or maps; it is a variety set of photographs of a model or actor intended to be shown to a potential employer; it can also be a range of investments held by a person or organization; it describes a range of products or services offered by an organization which called ‘product portfolio’ in marketing; it also describes the position and duties of a Minister or Secretary of State. Painters, graphic artists, journalists, advertisers, authors, poets and other creative types of work profiles  can use career portfolios successfully while job-hunting,

Let us try understanding the term of portfolio with the help of an example. Let’s say there are two candidate shortlisted for a post, who possess the same strengths and experience for a job profile. Candidate number 1 sends his resume to the employer, theoretically stating his skills, achievements, past experiences, and a list of renowned people for references who praise his work. Meanwhile, candidate number 2 sends pictures and samples of his new art work along with letters of appreciation from clients and a collection of tweets admiring his work. Who do you think will get the job? Obviously candidate number 2, because in his case, the recruiter can see the exact work, along with certificates of people who have accepted his work in the market.

The term bio-data, which is rarely used these days, stands for biographical data, is commonly used in the medical field. A bio-data, is usually was used only in hospitals on a prescription pad hung on a patient’s bed side. It mentions the patient’s name, age, sex, weight, disease, medicines given pulse rate, blood pressure, diet given and other relevant details. This form is now used in a few countries, particularly in government institutions, or when applying for grants. Emphasizing an individual’s particulars such as date of birth, religion, sex, race, nationality, address, and marital status. This form is different from a resume and a CV, which focuses more on an individual’s qualifications. Typically in a bio-data factors such as educational qualifications and past job experience take a back seat.

Rarely do we see resumes and CVs tailored to fit a job. Sure, many of the background and academic details tend to remain the same but in a good CV/resumes the tone and accent changes. Rarely people pay attention to what they write in their resume. While you remain the same person, but your description, narrative changes with a new perspective depending on the job you are applying for. It is therefore advisable to constantly re-examine and refine your resume and CV because it speaks volumes about you in absentia. Remember your presentation skill and technique for language matter a lot. Your resume or CV should express your natural self-confidence; keep refining what you say and how you say it in the most concise way. Your CV especially evolves your perceptions on different dimensions in a practical manner. Keep your resume handy with you. Because it is a running list of everything you have accomplished so far. And, you never know a bright opportunity might come your way any time. Keep your CV short and sweet. Put only what is relevant. You don’t need to include everything. Remember, you are advertising yourself for a job, not giving them your life story.

A well written cover letter is essential to be sent with your CV/resume/portfolio or bio-data. Your cover letter should be used to expand on your past achievements, and explain why you think you are the ideal candidate for the role. Use the covering letter to clearly outline your objectives, underlining particular projects or interests that you think will make you stand out. Get straight to the point, employers appreciate an honest approach and keep your document current and up-to-date.

It’s a shocking fact but according to multiple sources, on an average an adult makes about 35,000 decisions in a day. Young children make about 3,000 decisions each day. The decisions diverge from which dress to wear, what to eat for lunch, what to cook, whether to go in for a haircut, whether to go for voting, whether to continue sleeping, whether to say hello to someone on the road who is friendly or not so friendly etc, etc…. these are common decisions besides the serious issues on which we take decisions almost every moment in a day. However, there is no accuracy in each decision making of ours. For many of us decision making seems more of a challenge than it should be, for many of our decisions we rely on somebody for their opinions.

When we look back, I am sure, we feel there are so many decisions we made are not the correct decisions. Let’s take a simple example, your recent visit to restaurant for dinner will make you think whether your menu choice was right or not, was it the best decision? Could you have something new on the menu? Think of all those business decisions we need to make. They are more complex and more puzzling. It’s not that we don’t want to decide, or that we are intentionally being difficult about an issue. Sometimes, decision-making is just really, really challenging, even when it seems like it’s about something totally superfluous. We find loads of people who shy away from making decisions; it is an issue for many people. Let me tell you, it is a glaring fact that more and more people want shy away from making decisions than ever before.

Recently, a lot of research has focused on a certain mental limitation, which has to do with our ability to use a mental trait known as executive function. When we focus on a specific task for an extended period of time, mind gets confused about how to implement the task; it’s like if I wanted to eat a burger and I instead ate salad, I am flexing my executive function muscles. Both thought processes require conscious effort; one needs to resist the temptation to let his/her mind wander. However, that use of executive function, which is a talent we all rely on throughout the day draws upon a single resource of limited capacity in the brain. When this resource is exhausted by one activity, our mental capacity may be strictly hindered in another, seemingly unrelated activity. And this process of thinking and making decisions goes on and on.

The skill of good decision-making has become increasingly important. We have an abundance of choices, both with the simple things in life such as ordering from a menu, where to go for a haircut, which style of suit to stitch, which perfume brand to buy to the serious things in life such as choosing your career, health treatment, or whom to marry. When making a tough personal or professional decision, I think the best advice is ‘Be TRUE to yourself.

Before you know when to trust your gut, you have to know yourself well enough to understand where on the decision-making scale you fall. On one end of the spectrum, you have the highly intuitive people, and on the other are the intensely analytical people. It seems, Sam Walton used to take a lot of decisions based on his gut feelings: on one such occasion, Walton’s decision to hold Saturday morning all-employee meetings which led to a culture of rapid information and decision making, which in turn created one of the biggest companies in the world. Similarly, Jack Welch’s decision at General Electric (GE) to fully fund a first-in-class training center at Crotonville, led to the development of hundreds of great leaders who practiced the “GE Way”. Henry Ford was a quick decision maker – he is famously known for his decision making power. Henry Ford’s decision to double the wages of his workers enabled him to attract the talent he needed, and helped insure a class of worker who could afford the very products they were building.

Under the dynamic leadership of Indira Gandhi, India’s voice was heard with respect in various international organizations and forums. She took certain decisions keeping in view the prevalent circumstances that resulted in raising the stature of India at the international level. She had no articulated world vision but had observed her father identifying India’s national interest with independent decision-making in international affairs, economic development at home and the exclusion of India and its neighborhood in Southern Asia from either of superpower’s sphere of influence. Her decisions were pragmatic, her dealings with foreign leaders tough.  The truth is under her leadership, India started progressing in many areas. Indira Gandhi was a quick decision maker.

Our emotions help us decide what’s important to us, they prompt us  to take some action, they guide us toward an aspect of what needs to be exposed and what needs to be healed of self, they also guide us when we are out of balance so that we can bring back ourselves to center. Friends, each decision of ours need not be ‘correct’. In life’s journey, we go through the thick and thin, with each good or bad experience. Some choices may lead to more painful lessons than others, but that doesn’t mean we should not make decisions. I have seen people who flip a coin to make decisions as in ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ chits with ‘yes’, ‘no’ scribbled on them, seeing a soothsayer for his advice and some more weird things. Life involves some risks. Flip the coin and see where it leads you.

I believe, it’s better to trust our intuition because sometimes our intuition guides us toward those things we fear the most so that we can push past them and become stronger as a result. The next time you feel fear, embrace it, inspect it, and if guided to do so, move boldly toward it. Try it!

There’s nothing wrong with being shy. The world needs some quiet, thoughtful, introspective people. It takes all sorts of people to make the world a beautiful place. There are some people who are reserve; they don’t shoot off their mouths every now and then. They think before they ask questions. We should understand that people who are reluctant to interfere and careful not to offend others are not weak people. If somebody appears shy, that person is not a weakling.  If you are shy be proud of it. Many people are shy in the world. Their shyness prevents them from expressing themselves, from making friends, and from enjoying life to its fullest. And, for some people, shyness is a cocoon. They feel safe and warm and quiet inside their cocoon. They confine their world to the cocoon but it’s wrong to assume that they are lonely in there.

Most people are shy to some degree. Extreme shyness may be something one would want to look a bit closely at but equally disturbing would be extreme extroversion. There is a social norm and fewer people fall someplace in the middle. But let us assume a person enters a party and the spotlight is thrown on him and he is asked to give a speech or sing and he feels uncomfortable it cannot be called extreme shyness.

When you think of someone being shy, you probably don’t think of celebrities who are always in the spotlight. But, surprisingly the list consists of people like Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, Bill Gates and Albert Einstein. It seems Barrack Obama is of introvert personality but has leveraged introvert’s natural capacity for thoughtful communication. Warren Buffet is a classic example of an introvert taking careful, well-calibrated risks. Buffet is very thoughtful and likes to be in his own confined world. He is not flashy though he is counted among the richest people in the world.  You might not expect the founder of the social network to be reserved, but Zuckerberg is a classic introvert. He is shy and introverted and he often does not seem very warm to people who don’t know him, but the fact is he is an affectionate person. The Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer insists that the spotlight is not her style; she says that she is naturally shy and introverted and yet modern media ignores it and paints her as an extrovert instead.

Personality refers to an individual’s pattern of thoughts, feelings and behavior that make a person unique. There are multiple kinds of personalities whom we encounter in our day-to-day lives; some are strong, some are charismatic, open-minded, while some are withdrawn or shy.  Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and founder of the school of analytical psychology. He proposed and developed the concepts of the extroverted and introverted personality, archetypes, and the collective unconscious. The issues that he dealt with occurred from his personal experiences. For many years Jung felt as if he had two separate personalities. One introverted and other extroverted. This interplay resulted in his study of integration and wholeness. Jung’s perspective on personality is quite insightful; he wrote that what appears to be random behavior is actually the result of differences in the way people prefer to use their mental capacities.

Introverts are known for having fewer connections in their life, but these connections are usually much deeper. Extroverts think as they talk or let’s say that talk as they think.  The process for introverts is much different and it’s so internal that you can’t make out outwardly that anything is happening. An introvert could be sitting in corner thinking about the meaning of life or could be solving some grave problem of his organization. Just because they are not more vocal about everything does not mean they are not passionate about life. Introverts feel things just as deeply as extroverts; the difference is that they are simply not very effusive about it.  Perhaps their thinking process does not frequently involve others.

It is known that introverts are quieter and tend to feel more energized from spending time alone, while extroverts are louder and gain fortification and energy from being around with others. Extroverts often exhibit qualities of charm, magnetism, and affiliation, while introverts tend to be creative and prefer to work alone. But it’s not always black and white: we all coexist on this planet – introverts and extroverts need to work together manifesting qualities of each depending on the circumstance. And, being an introvert doesn’t mean being a recluse: introverts can often be amiable social butterflies in their own quiet way.

Introverts are born with great listening skills because they tend to think first, before voicing their opinions. They prefer understanding others before seeking to be understood, which indirectly helps them build good rapport with people. When others speak their mind freely, introverts listen carefully to have a good grasp of their perspectives and viewpoints. People generally feel much more at ease with opening themselves up when they see and feel the readiness of introverts to hear their point of view. In other words, introverts have flair of making others feel valued for expressing their opinions. They make great managers.

As it is also in their nature to consider carefully what to say before they actually open their mouths, writing seems to be a better communication channel than speaking since it grants them more time to consolidate their thoughts before they respond. For these reasons, introverts make good writers. World’s greatest playwright, poets and writers, like William Shakespeare, J. R. R. Tolkien, Emily Dickinson and J.K. Rowling are known to be introverts.

We all know introverts like spending time by themselves more so than extroverts, and few extroverts can understand such self-reliance. Carl Jung has explained that while extroverts require social stimulation to feel energetic, introverts like to recharge their energy by isolating themselves after intensive interactions. All in all, they do not seek other’s opinions and approvals to feel happy. One biggest fact about introverts is that you can confide your secrets in an introvert because they respect other’s feelings and are genuine in their actions.

And, if you exhibit qualities of both introversion and extroversion then you are an Ambivert. Ambiverts typically slide up and down the gamut depending on the situation, context and people around them. Being able to balance both extroversion and introversion is an asset. Ambiverts can typically be adaptive to context and situations more easily. According to psychologist named Hans Eysenck, who coined the term “ambivert” in 1947, ambiverts offer a good balance between the hypersensitivity of some introverts and the domineering attitude of some extroverts. They are emotionally stable; they are more intuitive and are more influential. Every workplace, college, school, social gathering has representatives of each personality type, and the best thing to do is accommodate others and acknowledge the fact that each individual has his/her personality and respect the uniqueness of others.

In today’s complex business world a customer’s perception is reality. No business can afford to take the customer for granted. And, customers sometimes get things wrong. Customers are an asset though they are not listed as an asset in balance sheets and financial reports. Customer Relationship Management CRM requires to be placed in the centre of an organization’s business process because customers recognize when an enterprise does not value them or care about their needs.

Companies that possess knowledge about their customers can use it to their profitable advantage and are wildly successful. Knowing in particular what buyers want always helps organizations to build and deliver the precise solutions to meet customers’ needs. They offer their products at the right time, right locations, at the right price, and with the suitable warranties. Companies which are CRM savvy deliver their products and services with the right features and support their customers to create positive buying experiences.

Conversely, organizations which don’t focus on their customers often fail. A bonding with the individuals who might buy their products is essential, but for some reason, many miss this absolutely critical aspect of business. All too often, organizations spend their energy on everything but lack to have conversations with current and potential customers.

The American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ASCI) reports indicate that within the Personal Computers (PC) category, customers perceived Apple as the best company in terms of customer service management. Apple’s baseline scores are excellent. Apple focuses on product innovation and customer service round the clock. Similarly, in the major appliances category, as per the ACSI survey General Electric company (GE) stands at no. 1. Among many other things, GE’s blog is a very good way for the organizations to keep in touch with their customers, and GE is one of the few corporate that has its own blogs especially to sort out customer’s problems.

Smart organizations believe that it’s easier to keep existing customers happy than attract new ones. Imagine the amount of revenue is spent on trying to attract new customers to a business when all you really needed to do is to keep the existing customers happy. The promotional budgets are always higher than the CRM budgets.  When you give your existing customers a great customer experience they can work optimistically for you though word of mouth and referrals.

Social media: Complaints spread like wildfire on the Internet. The social media works like wild fire because of its far flung reach. Because of social media we have been more connected than we were in past. Today on social sites people share their good and bad experiences and the post can go viral through social media, highlighting poor experience of a customer about a company to millions of people. Simultaneously, it can work wonders too if smartly used.  For example, Lay’s created a feeding frenzy across the social media landscape with “Do Us a Flavor,” challenging consumers to create new Lay’s potato-chip flavors for the chance to win $1 million or 1 percent of the winning chip flavor’s net sales. The campaign was rolled out to U.S. junk-food junkies in mid-2012, the campaign generated close to 4 million flavor ideas through a Facebook app and SMS. A panel of chefs, celebrity foodies and flavor experts selected three finalists: Cheesy Garlic Bread, Chicken & Waffles and Sriracha. Parent company Frito-Lay developed and released all three and named Cheesy Garlic Bread the winner in May 2013, after more than 1 million consumers voted via Facebook, Twitter or text.

For an organization to become victorious with their CRM initiatives, it is important to focus on the two key strategies technology and CRM strategy. These two strategies are the sum-total of planning, development and implementation activities needed to achieve a company’s customer-related goals. CRM technology is the systems-based application and integration that facilitates and supports the customer interaction. In order to ensure the highest likelihood for CRM success, the organization needs to invest in technology and a deep insight is also required as to what is realistic. A proper strategy must be put in place in order to correctly implement and deploy technology.

Segmenting your customers rightly, targeting your product and service at them rightly and positioning your product on the right plank are essential. You should understand the different types of customers you deal with. Look at your team and identify members those who are not  always putting the customer first. They are dangerous for the team.

Data-Driven Decision Making: At its core, CRM is all about making smart decisions based on good data-capturing. The most important step, but it can also be the most difficult because it involves various changes such cultural change, trends change, technological change, economic change, policies change so on and forth. The problems with each of these are that they are not easily shared, they are often temporary, and they cannot be analyzed if not captured methodically. One of the biggest problems facing decision makers is their inability to use data captured by the employees working directly with customers to make decisions. This is the case because many ERP systems make it difficult for end users to enter data such as call notes into a database. And when simple tasks become difficult, employees stop doing them. Even if you aren’t working on a system that makes it easy to enter and share collected data, it is important to get all employees in the habit of entering useful information into the system so it can be used optimally while making strategies and analyzed. The record helps organization when employees leave and walk out of the organization and the data is not lost with their exit.

Enhance your data: There are two primary ways to enhance your data. You can do this internally through marketing efforts to gather more information about your customer base and you can purchase third-party data to enhance what you already have. Analyze your data. Only when you have a culture that is committed to capturing data can you trust the data enough to analyze it and make strategic decisions based on your analysis. You can create reports that measure the performance of your marketing campaigns, the response to your advertising campaigns, existing customer’s reactions, new customers who are thinking positively about your product, costing gaps, pricing gaps, distribution gaps, supply chain management gaps, R&D needs etc, etc. It is the best way to inform your institution on changes that need to be made, and it will provide the data you need to make those decisions.

One final thought about CRM: It is not a destination, it is a journey. If your organization makes the decision to undertake a CRM implementation, the process is not over when the system is installed. In fact, it is just a beginning. Once you start, you cannot stop. Therefore, the decision to begin should not be taken vaguely or lightly. However, at once your firm commits to a CRM viewpoint; it will forever change how you do business and how you view your customers. The phrase “the customer is king” is now more true than ever. The abundance of buyer information currently available through the explosion of cloud, social and mobile platforms has enabled buyers to learn about a product before the buying process. Only CRM will help to effectively measure and react with customer engagement.

Situational Leadership model is a popular model of leadership which is formed by Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard; this leadership model is based on the idea that effective direction depends on leader’s ability to be flexible as per the requirement of a situation in the organization.

Situational leadership refers to the styles of leadership in an organization which leaders manage as per demand of a situation. They need to show lot of flexibility while managing challenging and difficult situations. They need to command, demand, inspire, prompt, mentor, guide, coach, sell ideas, take part, act, build, and sometimes even reprimand. Often the leadership style may change as per need of the hour. Following are four styles which are common.

Telling and Directing:

James F. Parker, the Ex-Southwest Airlines CEO is a great example of telling & directing leadership. He has earned reputation for always putting the customer first, no matter what the situation. The September 11, 2001 tragedy led to an unmatched situation of forcing all airlines to shut down for days, which led to stranding passengers, pilots and flight attendants at airports across US. While other airlines sat and waited, Southwest employees took the passengers for bowling or to the movies to pass the time. The customer loyalty earned owing to this quick thinking, resourcefulness, and flexibility to make the most out of a bad situation helped Southwest’s popularity soar leaps and bounds. Parker also announced Southwest would not only retain all their employees but also start a profit sharing payment to employees just three days after 9/11, when other airlines were contemplating a 20 percent cut in staffing. Southwest handled the crisis much better than any other airline.

In telling and directing, the leader of the organization makes the decisions and informs others in the organization of the decision; this style of leadership also refers as micro-management because the leader is very involved himself in the crisis or situation and closely supervises the people who are working. The leader calls the shots by getting closely involved and his subordinates follow him with faith.

Selling and Coaching:  

Effective leadership in change process is particularly important because the leader can make great effect during the organizational change process. The leader’s competencies such as emotional intelligence, integrity, drive, leadership motivation, self confidence, intelligence and knowledge of business are essential for effective leadership for transforming organization. Ratan Tata started his career as a chairman to Tata Group of Companies in 1991. He took charge from J.R.D. Tata. India was going through a period of economic reforms such as liberalization, privatization and globalization of business. The constantly changing business environment needed the business leaders like Ratan Tata first to manage the environmental change. Ratan Tata during the nation’s transitional phase led the Tata Group of Companies for 21 years and established Tata as a world brand. He used the various leadership styles such as transformational, transactional. He also used product orientation as well as people orientation concern – selling and coaching. He led the Tata Group with the qualities such as courage, creativity; risk bearing ability, social sense, sense of employee training and development and ultimately having a quality concern about the product. Leaders when they use the selling and coaching style of leadership get   involved in the day-to-day activities as they are aware of critical inputs. However, input is requested from the employees before the decision is implemented. With this style of situational leadership, employees are still supervised but it is in more of a coaching manner rather than a management manner.

Participating and Supporting:

Virgin Airline’s Richard Branson’s informal style and unconventional attitude has earned him fame. His affinity to the hippie movement, particularly of the sixties, simply reflects his knack for being in tune with the feeling of the times. This is one of Branson’s greatest business attributes. This allows him to project the Virgin brand as a “cool” alternative. Besides, Branson is not motivated by money. Money may be a measure of his success, but for him the excitement is in the challenge. Virgin staffs are often paid a little less than market rates yet they are happy to work for Virgin because they enjoy being in the team. In this regard, I will like to draw your attention to the fact that when organizations struggle today on the employee retention issue for Virgin Airline loyal employees are their core competence. Losing skilled and experienced employees is the biggest loss to companies. Branson leads his organization with self-example; he tells his people to do “the impossible possible”. For Branson, the Virgin experience has been a magical mystery tour. That is the reason people can’t resist joining the Virgin adventure. It is a way of life than a job.

The participating and supporting style of situational leadership passes more responsibility to the employers or followers. While the leader still provides some direction, the decisions ultimately lie with the follower. The leader is there to provide feedback and to increase their confidence and motivation with praise and feedback for the tasks completed.

Delegating style:

Delegating leadership requires appointing managers who are competent and do not need day-to-day supervision. Warren Buffett hires executives who are highly skilled and independent and then trusts them to perform. Within this environment, Buffett’s staff is self-assured and driven to achieve. They not only feel they are in charge; they do have full responsibility. Consequently, supervisors are motivated to reach their goals. Buffet believes in the abilities of his employees, but he does not keep that to himself. He communicates his trust and respect to the people he hires. If someone makes a mistake, Buffett often uses it as a learning experience and does not believe in penalizing the worker. Although he does not interfere with his executives’ functions, Buffett is accessible and willing to advice, if he is sought out. He is open and honest in his interpersonal dealings and is willing to acknowledge his own mistakes. Buffet is approachable, because he projects a mixture of modesty, confidence and appreciation.

Delegating is the situational leadership style where the leader is involved the least amount with the employees. The employees are responsible for choosing the tasks and the directions they will take. Although the leader may still be involved for direction or feedback purposes, it is on a much lower level than with other situational leadership styles. With this style of leadership, the employees know their role and perform it with little supervision required.

Conclusion: The Situational Leadership Model suggests that there is no sure-shot solution or “one size fits all” approach to leadership. Depending on the situation, varying styles of leadership is required.  However, leaders must first identify their most important tasks or priorities. Second, leaders must consider the readiness level of their followers by analyzing the group’s ability and readiness. Depending on the level of these variables, leaders must apply the most appropriate leadership style to fit the given situation. Change is pertinent and each change brings along with it different challenges. Leaders are supposed to grasp the situation and use relevant keys to solve problems.

Most professionals spend more of their waking hours in the office than at home; we see our office collogues more and interact more with them than our family members. Naturally, we get more drawn to our office colleagues.  While our general philosophy of friendships may be “the more, the merrier,” making friends in the office has a distinctive set of pros and cons. While regular friendships depend on sharing trust, confidence, sharing our personal secrets, and confiding little or big problems in our friends, getting this close at work place with somebody has its drawbacks.

It’s a bit tricky to get close to somebody at workplace. We cannot hide away from competition, creation of new alliances, breaking of existing alliances, dependencies, backstabbing and gossiping. We become vulnerable if we are not aware of what is going on in the office politics. Often, our nonworking selves and relationships are significantly more casual than is warranted for a professional situation. And, if we try mix the two, the result may be messy politics and dynamics that can complicate our life both at work and at home. Another common problem can arise if you get promoted and your ‘friend’ is not – or your friend gets promoted and you don’t: promotions usually change workplace friendships.  People start resenting friends once they get promoted to higher positions.

Many researches show that people get attracted to their co-workers at the place of work; it is where the mainstream of couples meet. And, there’s a reason for this: unlike online dating, newspaper ads, singles events and speed dating, the office gives you a chance to actually get to know and even bond with a person before you assert your interest. Working side by side with someone daily, seeing him or her under pressure, sympathizing over problems and congratulating over wins gives you a portrait of the person on the inside as well as the outside. It’s the core of the person that matters in love and hence workplace provides the “best infrastructure” to fall in love. It’s the most ‘organic’ and ‘natural’ place for falling in love. These relationships often last for longer time, because they’re reality based then online dating or seeing a matrimonial ad.

Unfortunately, the same ingredients can make office connections tempting even to bond in extra marital affairs; this is the disadvantage and a concern. The reason so many people date in the workplace, even though it’s often terrible, is that it’s easy. You get to know someone well by working alongside them, observing them interacting with others, seeing them under stress. A lot of these relationships do work, and several end up in mess.

Mutual dependence on each other for work, working in a team on difficult and challenging projects, facing the same challenges and knowing the same set of people with their strengths and weaknesses helps in deepening the friendship among colleagues. Also, in big cities and  metros where usually workers stay alone in PG accommodation, and they feel homesick do in their initial tenures cling on to their coworkers;  it’s easier to go out on Friday evening to chill together directly from office with colleagues than make plans with people who live in different parts of the city. It’s quite normal.

Office environment becomes lighter and much healthier during lunch and tea breaks. Workers come together to chat, share jokes, discuss news, views, personal problems, personal news etc which relieves them from stress. It’s fun to be around friends and colleagues. Friendship benefits employees as they are able to give vent to their feelings and their stress levels become low. This automatically increases their productivity. The best places to work are the organizations which have open and friendly work cultures. Having friends at work makes individuals feel at ease and being themselves.

Though politicking cannot be avoided at workplace where betrayal of trust, competition, partiality, bias, jealousy and a sense of unfairness, money and power equations keep brewing, it is observed that employees who are friends are able to handle these differences in a better manner, thus, preserving a peaceful work environment. It is important to deal with problems straight away and avoid causing further conflict.

And, what about bosses being friendly with their subordinates – Is it good or bad? People like to work with people they like, and if you can develop a friendship with your subordinates, you’ll see more productivity. Your people will want to worker harder, and they probably might take on more challenges and cross their limitations for you. Do you tend to create such relationships? Think of your people one by one and ask, “If his performance slipped and didn’t improve, would I be able to terminate him? If she made repeated serious mistakes in spite of careful coaching, could I cut back her responsibilities or tell her she won’t get a raise?”

There are no hard-and-fast rules that govern how close a friendship should be between a boss and an employee. But there’s a general rule of thumb that boundaries must be created and respected; because the friendship can hinder the professionalism. There’s no question it can be lonely at the top, and making friends in the office when you’re the boss can be a nice solace. Just like there are pros to being friends with your employees, there is also a downside if the relationship isn’t managed properly. Managers have to be mindful of getting too close to one of his or her reports because it can make it hard to give out orders or worse appear inappropriate or unfair to the other employees in the office. That’s why experts say bosses have to set boundaries and stick to them. Yes it’s ok to go out for one or two drinks with staff after work but it’s not a good idea to stay out until 2:00 a.m. downing shots. Too much closeness with subordinates might bring in awkwardness in relationship. You might feel uncomfortable to give instructions. You might want to take a step back. Instead of being their drinking buddy, instead of hanging out with the regularly, you may use the friendship as a way to mentor them.

As a boss makes sure you are in control of the relationship. You should be in position to make tough decisions, give constructive feedback, keep sensitive information confidential, and be objectively alert. Ask yourself this question that as a leader are you effective?

Even a well-managed friendship can have some bumps along the road. Make sure that there has to be that defined line. Too often if you get friendly favors can be called in or expectations are going to be made. It can create a situation where other employees see it as favoritism. It’s ok to chat with employees and to ask about their family and weekend. It’s good to care and it’s important to show you are interested in who they are and what they are becoming as an employee and their personal growth. This doesn’t mean you don’t have great relationships with your employees. I just think you can do that best without being their ‘friend’.