Xerox and the Vision Quest Com 665 Travis Rondeau Central Michigan University 2015 In the early 1990’s, the Xerox company leadership implemented Native American leadership practices in order to improve the company’s culture and gain competitive advantage. One of these practices was the vision quest. These vision quests gave time for employees to be creative and think of ways to redesign Xerox products. This retreat centered on Native American customs of belonging and working as a group. Each community has its collective memory of past events and its common knowledge of the behavior of people within that immediate history. Over decades of community life, a leader emerges as the community recognizes in his or her continual activities a sense of consistency, commitment to the community, and wise decision-making" (Carr-Ruffino, 2014, p. 303). The Xerox vision quests allowed for the employees to leave the workplace, become a community, focus on process improvement and lead the company in a better direction. The vision quest, while not a sanctioned religious activity, boasts a strong affiliation to its Native American roots and merely the name can easily draw a religious connotation. Mission Statement Xerox has a rich heritage based on customer-focused and employee-centered values. These components help the organization to deliver both profitability and growth. The mission statement for Xerox is, “ To become change agents and innovators - using
A firm’s operation function entails getting activities and things done such as the production of goods and customer services. After considering services and products demanded by buyers, the organization’s weaknesses and strengths, and the weaknesses and strengths of the competitors, proficient corporations should formulate their vision and express it in the mission statements. Lenscrafters has a mission statement that outlines their strengths and future projections. In the mission statement, the enterprise identifies that it aims to maintain the loyalty of its customers, design quality eyewear, deliver value to the buyers’ requirements, and motivate the personnel to institute the globe’s best job environment (Lenscrafters Case Study, 2015).
An analysis of Cabral’s Life and Death Among the Xerox People: Progression of Technology and Mechanized Life
Kouzes and Posner remark that leadership experiences are ?voyages of discovery and adventures of a lifetime?[and] they are challenging explorations under rigorous conditions? (174). While
They have to enlist others in a common vision (p. 17). The challenge, Kouzes & Posner says is to turn the idea into an inspired vision (p.106). The leader needs to imagine the possibilities and find a common purpose. The authors refer to James MacGregory Burns transformational leadership theory asserting that people commit to causes, not plans (p. 122). In order to have a transforming effect, the leader must raise the level of human conduct and ethical aspiration of both the leader and follower. Just like Kotter (1990) outlines the methods to change an organizational culture is by telling stories, using symbols, the designing of physical space, using jargon, rituals, etc., Kouzes & Posner suggest the same thing when they explain the power in using symbolic language to communicate a shared identify and give life to a vision (p. 143). When challenging the process, leaders know that in order to bring change they have to experiment and take risk (p. 19). The authors indicate that “proactive people tend to work harder …[by being] persistent in achieving their goals (p. 169) and treat every job as an adventure (p. 184).”
Xerox operating units were disconnected, self-interested and in many ways siloed. Clendenin found that "the interests of systems managers in the various Xerox operating units did not always align with those of Xerox as a whole."
We live in a world where, because of the Internet and the Web, we can communicate with someone in Africa or Asia as easily as we can communicate with someone in the office next door. A company like Xerox represents businesses all over the world, and the diversity of its employees is a big plus. Acknowledging our differences and
In this report the proposed solution is based on sustainability of the work that has been done by Anne Mulcahy to turn the company around. To continuously improve the company by utilising the balanced scorecard of strategies, implement innovative continuous improvement projects, Xerox to set up an innovative continuous programme office, to ensure that proper Total Quality Management (TQM) characteristics are in place and to implement seven key cross-functional business
Xerox had come to recognize Fuji Xerox as a critical asset and we get to the conclusion that Fuji Xerox does create value. Xerox Should gives more autonomy in order to compete directly with our principal threat Canon who is introducing twice as many products than Xerox with a lower investment. Xerox should focus on the high-end segment and impulse Fuji Xerox by leaving them the responsibility of the mid and low-end
Xerox is an American corporation having its headquarters currently in Norwalk Connecticut. The headquarters of the company moved from
Ideally, a good mission statement also provides information regarding the organization’s overall management philosophy, its business model, its technical and social competencies, and its values and beliefs (Aguinis, 2009; Azaddin, 2011; Bart & Hupfer, 2004; Covin, Slevin, & Schultz, 1994). Moreover, to make mission statements of large companies more individually relevant, Azaddin (2011) advocates flexible “guiding statements” that account for the “context, culture, structure, and needs of an organization” (p. 31). Thus, a mission statement must be meaningful and applicable to all stakeholders for strategic decision-making to be effective.
The culture that the executives wished to maintain is one of big ideas, large thinking, and a strong emphasis on creativity. It is one that opposes bureaucracy and rigidity without cause, and despises formality without passion. And it is one that strives to stay relevant, fresh,
Financial Research – The Xerox and to make the current profit targets meet with Wall Street's expectations. In addition, Xerox specifically adopted the measures of "return on equity" and "profits standardized" to
Major advantage with this option is the fact that Xerox operates in the market it fully knows, dominates and controls. As a market leader, having gained clear edge over main competitor IBM, Xerox can consolidate its position with the introduction of innovative new product "Book-In-Time solution" that could significantly reduce the publishing costs.
Leaders believe people have an intrinsic value beyond tangible contributions as workers. As a result, genuine interest in the spiritual, professional and personal growth of all employees is demonstrated.
The mission statement communicates to stakeholders the main activities that the company focuses on in order for it to achieve its vision. The mission statement communicates to employees’ information on how to conduct their day to day activities. The mission statements also describe the organizations, policies, culture as well as ethics (Alesia 2013).