1ORGANIZATION PLANNING AND GOALS

Running Head: ORGANIZATION PLANNING AND GOALS

Organization Planning and Goals

Carla J. McCoy

Unit 2 Discussion Board – Business Management and Leadership

February 20th, 2009

American InterContinental University

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Abstract

An Organization I have worked for and am familiar with was Cingular Wireless where I worked

in Revenue Management and Credit and Activations Departments. Cingular Wireless was

previously SBC and BellSouth which later Transitioned into AT & T during the time I was there,

so this report will present AT & T Wireless as the Organization. There are various goals that AT

& T Wireless has that will be evident in this presentation as well as a brief overview of the

Organization. You will be able to see if this company uses Measurable and Time strategic

methods for the goal process. A brief overview of how the goals meet characteristics of effective

goals will also be presented. You will also review two recommendations that I’ve recommended

in helping the organization to reach those goals. The thesis for this presentation is “Some live in

a Dream world, Few face reality, but the Wise turn one into the other” (McCoy, C., 2009)

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Introduction

It was fun and exciting working for AT & T because the opportunity was there but not

many people saw opportunity while working there, as I did. Various employees lived in a dream

world by believing they were so good at their jobs that they ended up believing they of all people

would not ever be fired or let go. They were proven wrong. Then there were various people who

were Realists that saw everything as opportunity and being to tense and serious all the time,

which some of those lost their jobs also. But the entire time I worked there I can say that I knew

two people that could turn one into the other and I viewed them as Wise. AT & T has various

goals and a bright overview of their Organization. They welcome change and train their

employees to be prepared to welcome change as well. The goals AT & T has set in place not

only meet characteristics of effective goals but view goals as opportunity to accomplish tasks

that very few see obtainable. I’ve made two recommendations at the end of this article that I feel

could possibly help AT & T reach those goals. (McCoy, C., 2009)

Overview and list of goals for AT & T

With over 77 million subscribers and the nation’s fastest 3G network, AT & T is

dedicated to enriching their customer’s lives by connecting people with their world and

practicing good values. Revenue’s for AT & T in 2007 were $42.7 billion which goes to show

that not only do they value Customers by treating them with respect, but they serve

approximately 95% of Fortune 100 companies, more than 80% of Fortune 500, and more than

1200 Federal, state, and local government agencies as customers. AT & T provides an

unprecedented selection of devices and has the very best international coverage compared to any

other carrier worldwide. One of the things I’ve heard people talk about is the 30 day no questions

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asked return policy which is nationwide and allows people to test the phone out without any

worries. For over a century, AT & T has provided high quality, innovative, reliable products and

services and their mission is to connect people with their world. Some key performance Goals

for AT & T would include Strengthening Communities and partner with diverse business

communities, more bandwidth in more places, investing in People, Leading Innovation and

Technology, Leading with Integrity, Minimizing our Environmental Impact, and Connecting

people and business. (AT & T Inc. Headquarters, 2009)

Goal Process

AT & T meets the characteristics of effective goals by the research I’ve obtained by

doing several things such as winning Stevie awards because it acknowledges and further proves

that AT & T has continued commitment to deliver good customer service, not only face to face

among retail stores but Online as well where more than 3 million transactions which include

ordering services, maintenance request and billing inquiries take place. Another area is where

AT & T ranked No. 1 in the telecommunications industry on Fortune magazine’s list of the

world’s most admired companies. (AT & T Intellectual Property, 2009) Corporate Social

Responsibility engages in initiatives that both enrich and strengthen communities by contributing

more than $164 million through corporate-employee and AT & T Foundation giving programs in

2007. The AT & T Foundation has been ranked as one of the most generous corporate

foundations in the United States. (AT & T Intellectual Property, 2009)

Some Strategic Focus areas I’d like to present are going back to the Goals AT & T has

which I’ve listed in Bullet Points. A good question would be how do they accomplish these

goals? (AT & T Intellectual Property, 2009)

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Strengthening Communities – They Give Back, Provide Volunteerism, and Support our

troops. When they give back they are providing good jobs, donating time and talents,

advancing and promoting education programs, and supporting undeserved populations.

They also have one of the largest industry-sponsored Volunteer Organizations in the

country, and they support out Troops, their families and veterans.

Investing in People - When they invest in People it’s evident that they have workforce

Inclusion which is giving respect for all individuals which is a top priority for this

company. They provide Supplier Diversity and set corporate standards for supplier

diversity programs. They provide significant Community Impact, and Multicultural

Outreach by connecting with customers and markets by respecting individual

perspectives.

Leading with Integrity – They have Corporate Governance and demand the highest

standards of ethics, integrity and responsibility within their Operations and have gained

the public’s trust and confidence through dedication to corporate values. They also

provide Citizenship and Sustainability Governance by providing a citizenship and

sustainability program in which provides direction to expert teams within the business.

Minimizing our Environmental Impact – AT & T does this by Managing Energy by

reducing energy from Installing high efficiency lighting and identifying lighting retrofit

opportunities. They also add automated controls such as motion sensors and temperature

controls as well as optimize building occupancy to reduce heating/cooling for underused

locations. They turn down network equipment components that are not required or have

reduced need. They are also a member of The Green Grid consortium which participates

with data collection to assist the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the

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development of Energy Star ratings. Another thing they do is Invest in Alternative and

Renewable Energy Sources which balances the business need for affordable supply with

the need to identify alternative and renewable forms of energy that have less impact on

the environment. Solar Power, and Wind power alternatives are a good example of what

they use. In early 2008 AT & T signed agreements with Austin Energy in the

participation of Green Choice. They also Improve Fleet Efficiencies by reducing fuel

consumption and emissions. In June of 2008, AT & T deployed 105 alternative fuel

vehicles by estimating that it will cut fuel consumption by nearly 34,395 gallons per year

which will also reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 300 metric tons. Another

thing they do here is Managing, Recovering and Recycling Waste which reduces

resources we all consume and keeps wireless devices from landfills. There were 3.9

million Phones, and 911,000 pounds of accessories and batteries were recycled in 2007.

Another thing they do is Engaging Their Suppliers in which they can reduce energy

consumption as well as cost without sacrificing performance, features and overall supply

chain resilience. AT & T is developing sustainable supply chain management guidelines

in order to determine how systematically incorporate sustainability into products and

services that they purchase from suppliers.

Connecting People and Business – AT & T connects people and businesses using

innovative and sustainable products and services such as Understanding and Promoting

Sustainable Solutions in which they joined Cisco and the Economist Intelligence Unit in

early 2008 because they wanted to see how customers view ICT as a solution to reduce

carbon emissions. AT & T has worked with Cisco to launch AT & T Telepresence

Solution, a new video conferencing service, which allows a combination of rich audio

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with High Definition video that will create an “in person” experience for people who are

in various places while at the same time they are determining greenhouse reductions that

customer’s are achieving by using Telepresence which replaces unnecessary travel.

Another thing is The Promise of the Broadband which allows high speed data

transmission which allows people to communicate more rapidly with less environmental

impact.

Leading Innovation and Technology – This makes a sustainable difference in society. AT

& T embraces change and creativity which rapidly converts ideas into useful products

and services and t heir vision and products have such a great impact that it is beyond their

immediate imagination. Therefore they apply principles of sound, which caters to the

needs of society. There are also AT & T Labs – which is an Inspiring Innovation because

they take into account the responsibility inherent in the global and long-term impact of

their work. Their goal is to design and create an entire new global network which will

processes and maximize automation, and allow for reallocation of human resources to

more complex and productive work. This is an evolution and will have a profound and

positive effect on the environment, customers, improving work, and health and safety of

workers. Another thing to consider is A Rich History That Continues today because one

hundred years ago, 10,000 rival telephone companies were competing for voice

communications which spawned by Alexander Graham Bell’s first call to Watson. AT &

T Labs has attracted some of the world’s greatest scientists, developers, and engineers.

Here’s a list for you to get a better review of how it worked out:

1) High Fidelity recording (1925)

2) First Tv-transmission (1927)

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3) Trans-Atlantic Radiotelephone (1929)

4) Radio Astronomy (1933)

5) The Transistor (1937)

6) The First Computer (1939)

7) The laser (1960)

8) Optical fiber communication (1977)

9) Cellular technology (1983)

10) The C++ operating language (1983)

11) Speech recognition and synthesis (1992)

12) Voice over IP technology (1995)

13) Quantum computing (1999)

14) Natural Voice Text-to-Speech Engine (2001)

15) Internet Project predictive and proactive network security (2005)

Then we have to review Innovation Highlights which include the facts that more than 1,100 of

the worlds best scientists and engineers lies within AT & T Labs, AT & T averages more than

two global patents per business day that are issued, More than 50 AT & T Labs professionals

have been named AT & T Fellows for demonstrated technical and scientific excellence, (GNOC)

which is the AT & T Global Network Operations Center has the most sophisticated command

and control center in the world. They play a vital role which ensures that AT & T’s standards of

excellence are maintained, Their Knowledge Ventures are focused on becoming a partner and

catalyst for business growth. Another thing they do is they have been Partnering with Leading

Universities which aid in the advancement of environmental related research for the past 14

years which is a multidisciplinary science that investigates how the economy and environment

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coexist. In 1993 the AT& T Industrial Ecology Faculty Fellowship gave awards for $25,000 to

three academic research teams across the country. The grants obtained help universities produce

faculty and students who can contribute in solving global and regional environment problems.

(AT & T Intellectual Property, 2009) So the question is whether or not AT & T is Measurable

and has Time Strategic? Yes they are.

Two Recommendations

It is my Recommendation that AT & T find a wider variety of Roles in Reducing Carbon

Emissions by doing things such as reviewing Office energy or paper use, or reviewing business

travel or employee commuting. Another way to possibly accomplish this task would be to have

Carbon free certified products, and have business and industrial processes set in place. A second

recommendation of mine would be investing in self sufficiency because being self sufficient by

creating programs which customers and communities can independently maintain their own

community. A good example of this would be for communities to use cisterns, or sane home

design, greenhouses, solar furnaces, and even composting toilets. By providing these to

recommendations to AT & T it would allow them to have a carbon free environment and carbon

free products, along with obtaining self sufficiency which is never a bad thing. (McCoy, C.,

2009)

Conclusion

According to the thesis of this article there are very few that are able to turn a Dream into

Reality and incorporate one into the other, However for those of us who have Dreams, that can

incorporate Reality into a real life event or situation and use the two to make sure businesses

reach their goals, strategies, and create new ideas in a fast paced work environment, I’d have to

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say that after writing this article that it takes little effort to sit back and create ideas that can

change the world and make it a much safer environment for us all to live in, but we can each

expect better customer service as businesses are trying their best to catch up in a fast paced world

where change is inevitable. (McCoy, C., 2009)

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References

AT & T Inc. Headquarters, (2009) About Wireless Services from AT & T About Us retrieved on

February 20th, 2009 at http://www.wireless.att.com/about/

McCoy, C., (2009) Planning for Unit 2 Discussion Board MGT240-0901A-21 American

InterContinental University retrieved on February 20th, 2009 at http://mycampus.aiu-

online.com

AT & T Intellectual Property, (2009) AT & T Wins Stevie Award for Technology in 2009 Dallas,

Texas, February 19th, 2009 retrieved on February 20th, 2009 at

http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26549

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