Trust
Essays

The book by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner - the Leadership Challenge - has launched these two management and HR consultants into a highly visible and very successful position as "experts" on leadership.

¶ … Limits to Growth," and what has happened in the intervening years. The first edition was published by the Club of Rome in 1972. The author of this paper contends that the authors of "Limits to Growth" were correct…

Though modern people have concerns about atomic testing and the impact of radioactive fallout, ignorance about the atomic bomb and radiation meant that people who were exposed to such testing in the 1950s and 1960s were…

Ethics of privacy is a very controversial ethical issue that affects just about everyone in the world today. Who can access your information stored on computer systems? What kind of information should be stored there?

Giany Plc. was founded in 1997 by former athlete George Hamilton, who had a vision of improving the American way of life. His ideal was that of a world in which physical education, exercise and effort were no longer…

The meaning of Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery'

The effects of distributed and servant leadership within a middle school environment is best measured and made most relevant when student achievement scores, both in the short- and long-range, significantly exceed…

Racial profiling is generally defined as the practice of law enforcement stopping an auto -- not based on an infraction of highway safety laws, because of the driver's ethnicity, or race.

¶ … archetypal criticism of the book, showing how the author weaves the archetypal motif of Cinderella throughout the story. "Atonement" is the story of a young girl who changes the fate of others by her accusations,…

Analytics and Business Intelligence (BI) have the potential to completely redefine and make more customer-centric any enterprise. The tendency to celebrate technology alone is however short-sighted and lacks awareness of the broader, more strategic issues that surround successful BI and analytics implementations. This is an area of software where the ability to analyze terabytes of data very quickly while also testing hypotheses and evaluating trends can become more of a focus that using these systems for accomplishing strategies and long-term objectives (Todd, 2010). The ability to integrate analytics and Bi into an organization is predicated on having a very clear vision and mission for how a specific BI and analytics application or platform will be used to accelerate an enterprise to its objectives. The foundational elements of change management strategies must be in place as well, as the systems must reflect user needs, preferences and be integral to their roles if the overall system is to achieve its full potential (Todd, 2010). Case studies often provide a useful framework for evaluating how enterprises are getting the greatest value from their BI and analytics investments. Two case studies form the foundation of this analysis, the first detailing Exclusive Resorts, LLC and the second, Marshfield Clinic. Both of these case studies illustrate how critical it is to have a balance of technical and sociotechnical systems design and change management included in the development of any BI and analytics application. The intent of this analysis is to evaluate the lessons learned and potential for improvement in both case studies cited, including the need to continually stay vigilant to the needs of those the system was developed and designed for. One of the most fundamental best practices of effective BI and analytics implementations is the development of change management programs and frameworks well in advance of software being customized and implemented (Ghosh, Scott, 2011). The more effective a given change management strategy and program is, the greater the level of ownership a given enterprise system gains during the initial design and implementation phases of development (Todd, 2010). When this occurs the eventual launch of a new BI or analytics systems can attain an 80% or greater adoption rate globally (Ghosh, Scott, 2011). When systems reach this level of adoption, they have the potential to completely re-define the financial and operational performance of an enterprise. Both Exclusive Resorts, LLC and Marshfield Clinic have been able to attain this level of change management as can be seen in how effective their respective BI and analytics systems are in improving the performance of their businesses. As can be seen from both case studies, both have a very high level of authenticity and transparency associated with them, that leads to a correspondingly higher level of trust and adoption by associates in each company (Todd, 2010). Both Exclusive Resorts, LLC and Marshfield Clinic have been able to attain such remarkable success with their BI and analytics applications by concentrating on authenticity, transparency and trust, all powerful catalyst that drive up system adoption and in turn allow these powerful systems to deliver greater results than would have been possible without the sociotechnical change that occurred. The case studies are, in reality, as much about how to manage rapid and significant change as they about the technologies involved in these applications as wlel. With the reduction in fear regarding their jobs, the employees at Exclusive Resorts, LLC are able to use these technologies to better understand customers and improve satisfaction and loyalty. The intelligence gained from using analytics systems at Marshfield Clinic has the potential to save lives. Both transformations of these businesses started at the associate level, with highly effective use of change management strategies and the ability to manage sociotechnical systems to customer needs effectively.