Entrepreneurship and innovation

In the modern world, both the scope and the intensity of entrepreneurship have grown. Every day, as many little enterprises as giant corporations are established. As a result, formal organizations are losing out on talented and skilled workers as people pursue their own personal interests (Seddon, 2013). However, there remains a segment of the population that is underemployed in many organizations. But not everyone is employed by a learning organization. According to the case study, this paper will concentrate on elaborating on the shifting perspective in formal employment and entrepreneurship.

Chapter 1

This section of the essay will focus to discuss why an individual would choose to leave their promising career and start a small business with little or no experience, no significant cash, and starting model. In the present day, the job market is flooded by graduates as the number of educated people continue to rise in every dawn. As such competition for white collar jobs has increased. From an economic perspective, the increased demand favors the employers are they reduce their wages for the best skills in town. On the other hand, the fresh graduates from college are disappointed as their dreams do not match the reality. In this sense, unemployment continues to rise in the modern marketplace. Unemployment is present in the sense that individuals are willing to do other jobs besides what they studied in college in order to meet their financial needs.

The example of Andy Ross in the case study proves this phenomenon. From the article, we get to learn that Andy holds a bachelors and master’s degree from a well-recognized tertiary institution. Following this, he gets a good job and his profile improves while working for large firms. However, as time went by, Andy grows discontent as he is not satisfied with his current job description. This is despite the fact that he is offered a relatively good remuneration coupled with external benefits. Despite this, he feels haunted by his desires and goals that he goes not find peace in the office environment. His desire, thus, drove him aware from his promising career.

As a family man in a new marriage, Andy finds it difficult to disclose his discontent to his wife. First, he has little or no tangible model on the business he would like to start. However, he feels it is important for him to start a business which he will operate with his dear wife. His case represents those of many global citizens who are willing to abandon their professional career path and venture into entrepreneurship. With little ideas or even start-up capital, the desire to open up a business is intriguing in the business market.

Andy, thus, thought about opening a themed cake party. The idea came as he celebrated his birthday party with family. In the first eight years, Andy made abnormal profits while in the cake business. This is because he ventured into a virgin business where there were little professional competitors of his caliber. As a result, the market was ready to receive his high quality cakes at a competitive price. His management skills also enabled him to advertise and balance the expenses and profits. In the long run, the business was successful under the support and partnership of his wife.

While individuals might be facing different challenges, the case study affirms the general reasons as to why such people would venture into entrepreneurship. For starters, dissatisfaction in the workplace forms as one of the most common reasons. When bright minds are not engaged in learning organizations, they find it difficult to execute their optimum ability towards the progression of the company. The discontent grows when the management does not incorporate like-minded people together to complete a specific course. Therefore, through “command and control” the skillful employees feel limited to realizing their full potential. In the office environment. The individuals do not feel useful as they ought to be. As a result, they focus on other means to make the society a better place by designing alternatives of doing things and assessing situations to bring about better solutions for profit. These are the basic pillars of entrepreneurship.

Additionally, entrepreneurship has no limits in terms of management and potential. As such, business-minded people have the opportunity to become their own bosses. The scenario allows them to manage their skills and time for maximum productivity and positive impact in the society. With this being said, most people abandon their career jobs for financial freedom. Unlike in the formal employment, revenue in the business sector is limited to an individual’s hard work and desire to make a change. In the chase of financial stability, a person is able to find their purpose in terms of what they do best. This brings job satisfaction and joy in doing business.

Part Two

As highlighted in the introduction, the aim of the essay is to explain why the current generation is not working under the “learning organizations.” In other words, the case study focuses on the factors which make it unlikely for a random employee to work for a learning institution. According to Professor John Seddon, a learning concern is that which focuses to consistently improving its capacity to expand in terms of its thinking patterns. The end result is that people are continually learning to work as a group under little or no supervision. The scenario is not common as most companies are under management through command and control systems instead of the employment of systematic thinking (Norton, 2009).

In the article, “Why aren’t we all working for learning organizations?” it is clear that the majority of the modern firms are not under the system of mind shifting, otherwise referred to as the learning system. Seddon emphasizes on the need to utilize the new mindset I such organizations instead of using survival tactics. According to the management levels in most companies, the leadership is left with adaptive mechanism where alternatives are designed according to the current business situation (Seddon, 2013). Even though adaptive learning might be helpful up to a certain point, it is rendered useless if a firm has no capacity or ability to create. Creation can range from developing new mindsets to creating new business ideas. Team work is, thus, essential when it comes to a corporative when roles and responsibilities of individual interact on a daily basis (Hill, 2008).

But why implement the learning organization phenomena? According to Forbes magazine, some of the most successful institutions have been found to employ the learning mindset on the workforce. As a learning institution, the organization is able to maximize the skills of its employees through coordination and teamwork. However, most of the firms in the modern day society are not conversant with the new working mindset. The reason is explained by Edwards Deming who narrates that the modern culture is to blame. When growing up, children are spoilt by their parents over materialistic things while they are still young. As a result, people’s values are distorted as they grow up (Stodd, 2014). According to Deming, at first, individuals are born with self-respect, intrinsic motivation, earning curiosity but all these values are distorted through secondary and tertiary institutions. With this, it has become difficult to witness learning institutions in the job market.

Conclusion

As discussed in the paper, the organization’s way of management can be blamed for the movement of employees from the formal public and private sector to individual entrepreneurship. Without better channels of managing talent through motivation and reward, most skillful workers feel dissatisfied with the daily routine (Buller et al. 2003). As a result, entrepreneurship becomes a better alternative for business-minded colleagues who are not afraid of pushing their boundaries and realizing their true potential. The case of Andy proves this scenario since his profile and position is generalized to fit those of a successful career and a good marriage.

It is, therefore, important to encourage learning organizations in the modern day. However, the initiative needs to start from the toddlers as they are brought up. Modern day parents and guardians need to focus on bringing up their children with dignity, motivation, and self-respect. The change in mindset through high school and college can be blamed for the loss of focus, materialism, and lack of intrinsic motivation. With this, making a learning organization would be easier and corporations will be better equipped to fulfill their financial obligations and business objectives.

References

Buller, P. F., & Schuler, R. S. (2003). Managing organizations and people: Cases in management : organizational behavior and human resource management. Mason, OH: Thomson Learning Custom Pub.

Hill, Charles W. L. (2008). Global Business Today. Boston: McGraw-Hill Irwin

Norton, Ann, and Jenny Hughes. (2009). E2 - Enterprise Management. Oxford, U.K: Cima/Elsevier

Stodd, Julian. (2014). The Social Leadership Handbook: Narrative, Engagement, Technology

Seddon, John. (2013). Freedom from Command and Control: Rethinking Management for Leaning Organizations