Problem Solving Strategies For Companies: Importance Of Learning And Teamwork

Learning Creates Critical Awareness

The learning creates critical awareness by analyzing a problem which leads to gaining of knowledge or learning. The awareness about the ever changing business environment helps the companies and entrepreneur to analyze them to frame strategies. Their interaction with the market and external environment lead to learning and gaining valuable knowledge which companies can use in the future. Team work is used in the companies to attain goals maintain competitive advantage (Scanlan and Chernomas 1997).

The awareness about the complex business environment makes the companies diversify risks and promote productivity. The managers face constant challenges to cope up with the challenges. I feel sometimes the first solution is not the most prudent one and the companies can also take the follower strategies. The awareness about the problem makes the companies form strategies but incorrect decision making can create more problems (Chung et al. 2013). The companies need to form different strategies to tackle these problems. The managements of these companies have to take crucial decisions regarding their market strategies. I can analyze that it is important to be aware of the external environment conditions to arrive at correct decisions. The companies, especially the multinational companies need to have a deep knowledge about the political, economical and social situation in their various host markets. These markets provide the companies learning situations where they can derive the knowledge required to make strategies (Zhang, Cui and Zheng 2016).

The entrepreneurs including both individuals and the companies have to critically think about various options while making strategies. They have to consider the political, social, economical and legal in these learning situations to derive their acquired knowledge. They then apply their knowledge to make strategies to pose tough competition to their competitors (Navarro-García, Arenas-Gaitán and Rondán-Cataluña 2014). It can be analyzed that managers and entrepreneurs who take short cuts in problem solving often are npot able to apply the knowledge gained from the market successfully which inhibit their competitive advantage. They instead of taking a short cut solution, need to consider different solutions to be able to arrive at the most appropriate solution (Berchicci 2013).

The learning of the problem solving process shows that there are two main parts of the action, analyzing the problem and innovating to find a solution. I have current changed my thinking after learning about the intricacies of the problem solving process. The first step is defining and chalking out the problem. The next step is locating the causes of the problem which in my opinion makes the problem solving action simpler (Bardach and Patashnik 2015). The next step lies in seeking several alternative ways to solve the problem, recognizing both long and short term solution. The other ideas should also be considered if the opted options fail to materialize. The companies need to consider the alternative solutions and their impact on the business. The companies can judge their competencies while adopt their strategies based on their learning processes. They can also in my opinion gather strength from the past experiences and faults which had led to losses in the past (Morris et al 2015).

Awareness Helps Companies Form Strategies for Ever-Changing Business Environment

The weaknesses of analytical problem solving process show that every time knowledge about the problem does not guarantee a permanent solution. This can be due to lack of knowledge, experience and rational thinking process. The vertical thinking of about the problem solutions and missed commitment without considering the alternative ways often hinder problem solving (Díaz-Fernández, López-Cabrales and Valle-Cabrera 2014).

We are aware those teams are used to enhance productivity, quality, service levels, coordination between teams, innovation and learning among the employees. The predominance of team work improved after the 80s especially in the multinational companies due to increasing complexity in work, globalization, stiffening of the competition, rise of knowledge as capital, requirement of high quality standard and evolving global corporate scenario.  I have been a part of a sporting team and have good experiences during my tenure in it.  The clarity of the goals, the commitment of the members to achieve them and the corporation among the team members as per my critical thinking make team effective, in my opinion. The lack of critical thinking, lack of consensus, deficiency of critical analysis of the situations and conflict among members make team effort ineffective. As per my learning, the most important factor to make team work possible is strong communication among the team members.

A critical analysis of the success of a team shows that a strong coordination  of efforts, trust among team  members and concern about bind a team together. The members of an efficient support each other mentally to achieve goals and care for each other. This creates an environment of shared responsibility which in my opinion increases the level of commitment among the team members to achieve the goals.

My learning tells me that there can be several types of teams like problem solving teams, special purpose teams and voluntary teams. The problem solving teams are the teams which are formed to find solutions to problems. They meet, recognize the alternative strategies in the light of the problem, recognize the best solution and suggest it to the management. The special purpose teams receive orders from the management directly and usually act as change agents. They come into play while bringing changes in the organizational changes in order to about to the changing market situations. They speak and mentor the employees to accept the changes by eradicating their fear and insecurity. The self made teams manage all the jobs in hand by taking care of the job to the minutest detail.

Entrepreneurs Need to Consider Political, Social, Economic, and Legal Factors in Learning Situations

I am aware and learnt that using team effort to attain goals have certain advantages to the organizations. The team work enforces collective decision making process and effort towards achievement of goals. The teamwork in my opinion helps in undermining personal interests of the leaders and the team target gains supersession over the former. The team members share their ideas and opinions which increase the chances of innovation. Teamwork encourages facilitates acceptance  and understanding the opinions of others, thus leading to better strategy formation.

Critical thinking has helped me in evaluating the data sources and the findings of the research in a better way. As a critical thinker, it has helped me in making rational conclusions from a given set of information, which will be useful for solving the problems or taking decision in a process. It has also helped me in articulating the arguments and getting a better understanding of the support or the claim of the evidence. The critical thinking capability for the questions have allowed me to gain a better understanding of the topic so that it can be analyzed and assessed for all the possible solutions that are possible for the question (Jackson 2015).

When I go through the theories that have been published, I try to evaluate the evidences that are from the credible sources and try to form an opinion that is not too general in nature. My opinion has to be supported by the evidences that are present in the reading and the main aim for the study.

The arguments are deductive and inductive in nature where deductive argument states that if the argument has been accepted then the conclusion gets accepted as well automatically. The inductive on the other hand states that the conclusion may differ from the argument that has been presented (Hua and Wang 2017).

As a HR manager of a manufacturing organization, it is my responsibility to look after the staffs and the harassment that they face in the everyday lives in the workplace. For the accuser, the question that will be asked by me is to verify the level of harassment that the accused has blamed on the person. This will help me in being at a better position of understanding the situation. For the accused, the question that will be asked by me is that what has the person experienced and why has it being termed as an harassment. These questions will help me in analyzing the situation and come to a particular conclusion without being biased.

Analytical Problem Solving Process

The argument structure has to be identified in three parts, which will include the premise that the base of the argument from where the conclusion can be drawn. The reasoning of the argument can only be done if the evidences that support the argument are provided to me. This will help in making a rational decision for the argument. The conclusion portion will include the portions from the reasoning, which needs to be provided and will conclude by collaborating the primary points along with the evidences that will support the argument in making a fair decision (Muller and Wechsler 2014).

The things that I have to avoid so that the argument is rational in nature are generalizing the idea that is not being specific to the argument that I want to give. The fallacies or the errors that needs to be avoided by me are that I have to respect the position of the employees that they are currently maintaining in the workplace so that they do not get offended by the decision that I take and avoiding illogical statements that have no continuation with the previous statement (Rajagopalan 2016).

The problem solving strategies of the companies require them to form teams and work in a united way. They acquire the knowledge from the internal and external environment, analyze it and use it to form future strategies.

References:

Bardach, E. and Patashnik, E.M., 2015. A practical guide for policy analysis: The eightfold path to more effective problem solving. CQ press.

Berchicci, L., 2013. Towards an open R&D system: Internal R&D investment, external knowledge acquisition and innovative performance. Research Policy, 42(1), pp.117-127.

Chung, C.C., Lee, S.H., Beamish, P.W., Southam, C. and Nam, D.D., 2013. Pitting real options theory against risk diversification theory: International diversification and joint ownership control in economic crisis. Journal of World Business, 48(1), pp.122-136.

Díaz-Fernández, M., López-Cabrales, A. and Valle-Cabrera, R., 2014. A contingent approach to the role of human capital and competencies on firm strategy. BRQ Business Research Quarterly, 17(3), pp.205-222.

Hua, X. and Wang, L., 2017. Understanding and Detecting Supporting Arguments of Diverse Types. arXiv preprint arXiv:1705.00045.

Jackson, S.L., 2015. Research methods and statistics: A critical thinking approach. Cengage Learning.

Morris, M., Schindehutte, M., Richardson, J. and Allen, J., 2015. Is the business model a useful strategic concept? Conceptual, theoretical, and empirical insights. Journal of Small Business Strategy, 17(1), pp.27-50.

Müller, S. and Wechsler, S., 2014. Lexical approaches to argument structure. Theoretical Linguistics, 40(1-2), pp.1-76.

Navarro-García, A., Arenas-Gaitán, J. and Rondán-Cataluña, F.J., 2014. External environment and the moderating role of export market orientation. Journal of Business Research, 67(5), pp.740-745.

Rajagopalan, K., 2016. Preferred argument structure: grammar as architecture for function.

Scanlan, J.M. and Chernomas, W.M., 1997. Developing the reflective teacher. Journal of advanced nursing, 25(6), pp.1138-1143.

Zhang, L., Cui, Y. and Zheng, M.B., 2016. Two-way open innovation and firm growth: the moderating effect of external environment. Asian Journal of Technology Innovation, 24(1), pp.123-141.