My video on POM. please watch for better understanding. Thanks.

Oranizational Study: -

VOLVO Group

 

A company at the forefront

Volvo 3P’s mission essentially defines what we as a company intend to achieve:

“To propose and develop profitable products to ensure a strong competitive offer for each Volvo Group truck company, based on common vehicle architecture and shared technology.”The Volvo Way is the foundation for building a competitive corporate culture. The Volvo 3P values, based on the Volvo Way are the guiding principles for the company´s operation. The values guide and inspire all employees in the daily operations and development:

• Driving Business Value and Innovation
• Teamwork across Functions and Cultures
• Organizational and People Development

VOLVO is  organized in five synchronized functions responsible for product planning, product development, purchasing and project management. Each function is represented at our various locations and applies global processes and methods.

Scope The complete truck tractor, minus the driveline, plus related services. This is the principal scope of supply.

This means that the expertise covers basically every field of vehicle engineering, including electrical and electronics engineering, as well as product strategy and supplier management.

Challenge…
…not only ourselves but also the truck companies we serve - all in order for each of the truck brands to develop its competitiveness in every market segment.

We are young
3 of 10 Volvo 3P employees are under the age of 34. Gender diversity is progressing positively and currently 1 of 5 employees is a woman.

We are global
We operate at eight geographic sites around the world. This of course opens an array of possibilities in terms of global career development for our employees.

Considering the size and niche of our company, it is fair to say that Volvo 3P is the largest development organization in its field. And through effective knowledge sharing we ensure that our capabilities are optimally utilized.

HISTORY TIMELINE-

1920's-Volvo was incorporated in 1915 as a subsidiary of AB SKF, the Swedish ball bearing manufacturer.
1930's-The Series 3 trucks were extremely popular
•and Volvo Penta was enjoying tremendous success with its outboard engines
1940's-The Queen Elizabeth set sail on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York.
•Volvo's first terrain vehicle, the TVA, was demonstrated.
1950's-•Volvo acquired the construction equipment manufacturer, AB Bolinder-Munktell
•A new material known as "reflex" (reflector) was introduced on the Swedish market. It was designed to increase traffic safety in the darkness
1960's-•Volvo acquired its competitor, Arvika-Thermaenius.
•The S1000 was now sold as a Munktell, but under the name Volvo BM
1970's-The two-millionth Volvo car rolled off the assembly line.
•The F889, Volvo's most powerful truck to date, suitable as rugged semitrailer tractor or as all-wheel drive emergency fire tender for airport service.
1980's-•A new plant for producing bus chassis and trucks was opened in Curitiba, Brazil
1990's-Volvo had entered into an alliance with the French automotive manufacturer, Renault.
2000-Launch of a number of new products, were Volvo Trucks' new FL generation, Volvo Buses' new B12M, Volvo CE's A35D and A40D and Volvo Penta's launch of the new engine series, 420 and 620.
2010-The Volvo Group enters partnership with WWF to reduce CO2-emissions;UD Trucks and Nissan Motor end collaboration on contract manufacturing of light-duty trucks.
Product and Services-

Where is Volvo Group Headquarters located?

 

The Volvo Group Headquarters is located in Torslanda, outside Gothenburg, Sweden.

Volvo Group financial position

Net financial debt in the Industrial Operations amounted to SEK 27.5 billion at June 30, 2012, an increase of SEK 5.7 billion compared to the first quarter of 2012, and equal to 34.9% of shareholders’ equity. Excluding provision for post-employment benefits, the Industrial Operations net debt amounted to SEK 23.2 billion, which is equal to 29.5% of shareholders’ equity.
The Volvo Group’s liquid funds, i.e. cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities combined, amounted to SEK 31.1 billion at June 30, 2012. In addition to this, granted but unutilized credit facilities amounted to SEK 33.8 billion.
During the second quarter, currency movements increased the Volvo Group’s total assets by SEK 5.2 billion related to revaluation of assets in foreign subsidiaries.
The equity ratio in the Volvo Group amounted to 23.9% on June 30, 2012 compared to 24.3% at year-end 2011. On the same date, the equity ratio in the Industrial Operations amounted to 28.5% (28.5).
At June 30, shareholder’s equity in the Volvo Group amounted to SEK 87.4 billion.
http://www.volvogroup.com/group/global/en-gb/investors/reports/annual_reports/pages/annual_reports.aspx


Corporate Social Responsibilities---

	Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes Volvo Group has qualified to be included on DJSI World, Euro Stoxx and Nordic. Link to website
	Nordic Sustainability Stars SIX STAR is a Nordic sustainability index launched in 2009 by SIX and Ethix SRI Advisors. Volvo Group is ranked among the top 25 Swedish companies. Link to website
	ECPI Global Carbon Equity Index and ECPI Ethical Index Global is designed to select the 300 top capitalized companies in the global market best equipped to tackle a world of rising carbon emissions. Volvo is included in the two indexes. Link to website
	Sustainable Value CreationThe Volvo Group has gained top ranking in a survey on responsible business practices conducted by Sweden’s largest institutional investors. The survey studied the 100 largest corporations listed on the Nasdaq OMX Nordic Exchange in Sweden. Link to website

 

The Three Monks :)

Hello again.. last class we watched an awesome video...thanks to our beloved Dr. Mandi (Professor Prasad,NITIE) for it..hope you guys will also love it. The film is based on the ancient Chinese proverb:" One monk will shoulder two buckets of water, two monks will share the load, but add a third and no one will want to fetch water."^[ The film does not contain any dialogues, allowing it to be watched by any culture, and a different music instrument was used to signify each monk. The film tells the story from the aspect of the buddhist bhikkhu(monk) . Catch it here..

For those who didnt get the time watching the vedio...let me tell you what its all about.. :)

A young monk lives a simple life in a temple on top of a hill. He has one daily task of hauling two buckets of water up the hill. He tries to share the job with another monk, but the carry pole is only long enough for one bucket. The arrival of a third monk prompts everyone to expect that someone else will take on the chore. Consequently, no one fetches water though everybody is thirsty. At night, a rat comes to scrounge and then knocks the candleholder, leading to a devastating fire in the temple. The three monks finally unite together and make a concerted effort to put out the fire. Since then they understand the old saying "unity is strength" and begin to live a harmonious life. The temple never lacks water again.. :)

what I learnt from this video was that TEAM work increased their productivity...when they had one goal..and each one of them tried their level best to achieve it...so as to have a mutual benefit....instead of acting in a selfish manner wih legpulling. The mutual support ultimately helped in solving the problem..which was in one way impossible....but later "IMPOSSIBLE" became "I-M-POSSIBLE " with teamwork . :)

So..lets all forget our ego and hostility...and let us all like-minded people work to achieve a goal...which each one of us dream to achieve one day... believe me, if you think its tough to achieve, with teamwork its possible. UNITED WE STAND---DEVIDED WE FALL!!!
And as we saw in the vedio, in the end, the monks came up with a nice simple solution..using a pulley...which they could not think about earlier !!! :) So..ultimately TEAMWORK indeed yields superb results beyond our imagination.

And... at last.. i would like to add...this movie clip won various awards...to name a few-

Won the outstanding film award at China's Ministry of Culture.

Won the Best animated film prize at the first Golden Rooster Awards in 1981.

Won four international awards including a Silver Bear for Short Film at the 32nd Berlin film festival in 1982.

Khan Academy : Redefining Education!!

KHAN ACADEMY :- A free World class education for anyone anywhere.

In this age of technological revolution the type of education khan academy is trying to provide is the the appropriate future of education. providing education. With the stated mission of "providing a high quality education to anyone, anywhere", the website supplies a free online collection of more than 3,200 micro lectures via video tutorials stored on YouTube teaching mathematics, history etc. In Fact KHAN ACADEMY revolutionized the way education is delivered into a much effective and efficient way. There is no scope of missing any particular lecture as everything is stored in the digital archive. Also the student to teacher ratio is 100% and no student have their doubt suppressed.

Students can work at their own pace and also if they want can jump to calculus. Also if there is any lack,one can replay the lecture again and again to get a deeper understanding. it is the most used library. Now gradually khan academy is increasing its market share with more and more viewers.
Its YouTube channel has over 150 million total views, compared to MIT's 38 million. It also has twice as many subscribers, at more than 320,000. What makes it special is actually the innovative methodology of Mr Salman Khan in capturing different ideas and videos and using them in explaining vital concepts. The Khan Academy started with Khan remotely tutoring one of his cousins interactively using Yahoo Doodle images. Based on feedback from his cousin, additional cousins began to take advantage of the interactive, remote tutoring. In order to make better use of his and their time, Khan transitioned to making YouTube video tutorials.While all videos continue to be hosted on Khan Academy's YouTube channel, they also are available through Khan Academy's own website, which also contains many other features such as progress tracking, practice exercises, and a variety of tools for teachers in public schools.

This gradually will make the student self sufficient. I'm just going to say it that probably Khan Academy is the best thing or u may say revolution that happened in educational field since Socrates!

The valley crossing exercise.

• Safe - Both the legs of the person have full support
• Half Risky – One leg in the air and the other leg has support
• Full risky - Both the legs are in the air without any support
• Half risky – One leg is in the air and the other leg has support
• Safe - Both the legs have full support

What this implies-

1. Figuring out what to do :

Role A = Role B = Role C : All roles are equal and there is no differenciation between the responsibilities of any two persons.
For all the 3 members, the task is designed to be - Easy, Lighter, Clear and Systematic 
All three are equally responsible in their contributions for the overall task completion.
2. Figuring out who should do :

Roles of all three members are similar but not same; and equivalent in terms of total effort & risk.
All 3 member Roles have equal distribution of 
Risky situations (1); 
Half risky situations (2); 
No risk situations (2)
All roles are designed for equally strong persons and there is no weaker or stronger requirement in any specific role.
Communication and feedback across the 3 members was instantaneous.
Interdependence among the 3 members was maximised and made crucial.
The roles are interlocking, with highest levels of interaction among the members, with instantaneous feedback being exchange and without any scope for social loafing.

3. Figuring out how to do :

All the 3  members are systematically trained for all the steps and, while crossing, they communicate and coordinate with each other through a various kinds of sounds and other signals.

4. Team Excellence :

Team excellence comes through proper designing of team tasks, correctly assigning team roles, and preparation and execution of the tasks. Thus, excellence is designed by the managers.

Theory X and Theory Y

LE:02 : Theory X-Theory Y

Here comes the relationship between managers and employees,whch actually determines the fate of an organization. to simplify, lets consider X for lazy and Y for hardworking. now there may arise four cases.

Case 1: Theory X employees and Theory X manager:-
in this case, the workers have no enthusiasm to work and likewise the manager assumes that they are lazy and worthless. as a result, the company in which thy are working can never get the work done in time and the company suffers fom huge losses/debts and one day ultimately dissolvs, untill and unless there is a change in management and the company revisit their rules and regulations.

Case 2: Theory Y employees and Theory X manager:-
in this scenario, even if the employees have the interest and try to work their level-best, the manager neither have any innovative ideas nor have any high spirits. He doesnt feel that they can bring a change. He doesnt understand his employees,assigns work to them not of their interest and fails to give appraisals. Feeling suffocated the employees leave the organization in search of a better work culture. This is in fact the most dangerous scenario.


The theory from a managers perspective-

Case 3: Theory X employees and Theory Y manager:-
this is the case which is the most challenging one,where the real managerial activitis come into play. The manager,even if he has some theory X employees, feels still they have some potential , which actually made them get hired in the organization. he impregnates a belief that every employee is a part of the organizaton, every one has a prticular unique duty of his own and they are getting paid for their job. And it is a sin to shun his duty. He never fails to praise and applause his employees,understands their interests and accordingly gets the job done. And the employees in turn upon realising their true potential never failsMay be before deadline.

Case 4: theory Y employees and Theory Y manager:-
this is the easiest case. both the manager and employees are aware of their duty and performs to their level best. Such a company can rasily reach their targets. this scenario is most desired.

so....which one is you? :)

: The Show Begins :

LE:01::In search of excellence!!

“Excellence is never an accident;

it is always the result of high intention,

sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution;

it represents the wise choice of many alternatives.”

- William A. Foster

We’ve all heard the phrase, “You are what you think.” I believe our greatest barrier is usually our self-talk. We can be our own greatest enemy!! Yes. Prof Prasad's interactive session strenghtened my beliefs. In his first class, he asked us for a tower building exercise with small equal sized cubes. Everyone selected a perticular range of his own choice. This is goal setting. What you feel is what you can do. It varies from person to person. To our surprise the person exceeded his own limit. THATS IT !! We should never underestimate ourselvs. We should not cry for our past failures,rather learn from our mistakes. I feel that no-one of us is aware of his true potential. So, what is the problem in dreaming big?
If the set goal is kept higher than achieveable goal,then I think the performance automatically increases. you run fast after a mirage untill and unless know it was a mirage. you never know, it can be a real oasis even. So, i feel, we should dream big. Prof. Prasad's then remarked that a person blindfolded can build even a bigger tower, with a proper guidance and mutual understanding. thats what counts. with mutual understanding and proper system of workflow, even a small personal defect can be overcomed. we just need to have a clear idea of what we are, what we want to do, and what needs to be done. If we keep our targets high within ourselvs, then i feel we can outshine ouselvs. The compitition is not with our peers. We actually compete with ourselvs. And Prof. Prasad guided us saying thats what a profit making organization looks for in its employes. Active participation. He gave us a nice case of 3 persons trying to cross a bridge. Though it has risk, but still the work can be executed with proper communucation within the team,mutual understanding with every individual playing his/her role. Everyone in the team should have a crystal clear idea about fhis/her pertciular duty and should perform it without failure. Only then i feel excellence (a which is ordinarily good and surpasses ordinary standards) can be achieved. actually, excellence can be achieved with proper synchronization between effeciency and effectiveness. effeciency is how we do things and effectiveness is how we manage things. Its like the path we choose and the vehicle we take. Rather say like this,
                                    
                                          Excellence = Efficiency X Effectiveness

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