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Saturday, September 25, 2010

After Further Review, The ruling on the field stands

Providian Trust decided to adopt a new system in order to make their business more efficient and streamline operations to achieve consistency. This would enhance their core competencies and alleviate customer concerns which could in turn expand their customer base and drive profit upward. An amazing idea in principle, but when put into practice, it can be described as......chaos. Employees were resistant to change and the rollout attempt was dreadful in terms of strategy.

To contrast this phenomenon, lets take a look at the sports world for just one second. I'll spend more time on football since its the greatest sport on the planet (put that oblong thing down, I'm talking about real football with a round ball). If you watched the England vs Germany game, Germany was leading 2-1 when Frank Lampard charged toward the 18yd box and unleashed a thunderous strike. The ball hit the cross bar and clearly crossed the line. The referee waved play on because from his vantage point the ball had not crossed the line. This was at a time where England, who had been dominated for most of that half had snatched the momentum with a first goal. A second would have changed the game but they were denied the goal, and went on to lose 4-1. There have been calls that a microchip be placed in the ball, so that once the ball crosses the goal line, there will be a way of noting that and awarding the goal to the scorer. FIFA (soccer governing body) president Sepp Blatter is very much against this change, whereas the players and many of the fans are for this change. Hence, it will not happen.

In the NFL and College football, plays are run and the ball is spotted by a human being who is standing on the sideline. This person tells us based on his perspective where the ball is supposed to be. Why not put a chip in the ball, and that way we can have technology tell us where the ball should be spotted and if its 4th and inches or 1st and 10. I know I personally would like to see that. Will it happen? probably not. Why? Because some people want to keep the historical traditions no matter how stagnant. A similar case can be seen in baseball with the refusal to expand the use of instant replay.

I bring this up because I am now wondering, when the employees and customers are calling for change, should management make this change in order to continue to satisfy the customers and foster and environment where employees feel they are being heard. The answer to this question should be yes.....or should it?

2 comments:

  1. Such a good point! I think this happens in a lot of different industries and I think the answer should be yes. Never underestimate the importance of customer satisfaction. And as we learned in marketing, employee satisfaction is closely linked. I think when employees and customers are requesting change, it would benefit management to respond. Otherwise the employees and customers will leave for the first company who does. Companies should try to use it to enhance their competitive advantage, not cripple it.
    And as for sports, they are notoriously slow at embracing technology, but they always give in eventually. I think we will see chips in balls in the next 5 to 10 years. Especially if the SEC has to keep issuing official apologies! - Stephanie Bissell

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  2. I just wanted to add, I hope they go with the NHL detection system when the ball crosses the line

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