This essay was created to suit the APA format composed of 560 words with eight(8) references. This would be a good model if you are trying to write similar essays.Please always remember the golden rule: "Do not copy!" Plagiarism is punishable and this can mean your future if you are in school/university and you try to copy something and claim that it's yours!

The Home Depot’s
Running Head: THE HOME DEPOT’S ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS AND POWER

The Home Depot ‘s Organizational Politics and Power
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The Home Depot’s Organizational Politics and Power

Being one of the model and one of the most successful home improvements and products retailer in the world, Home Depot can be a benchmark when a business entity or a business organization is being talked about. The company is also “well known for its entrepreneurial and laissez-faire culture, a culture fostered by co-founders Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank, who led the company from 1978 to 2000.” (Home Depot’s, 2004)

Being such a big organization, various perceptions are made towards its organizational politics and power. In fact a big leap for this issue happened in 2000 when Robert Nardelli was appointed as the CEO of the company and everyone around considered him as a “veteran” (Freeman, 2007). Nardelli was claimed to be responsible for Home Depots change of culture. Since there is a changing demand for better leadership and management, politics and power are at constant change in an organization.

Centralization of power is how the Company’s organizational structure is designed. It means that the ultimate decision and power relies with the highest echelon of management going up to the Board of Directors. Home Depot, according to one of its Stores Vice President, “retains its entrepreneurial spirit with the benefits of a centralized leadership team. “ (Taylor, 2008) However, centralized as it may be, Home Depot is a flexible organization that does not hesitate to find for the best people to its organization. This means that even the best of the officers must perform to their greatest capacity in order to stay in their power and retain their respective position. It is because Home Depot, aside from Dell Computer, Starbucks Coffee and Nike have been said to have market leadership with “the success of change leaders.” (Wilson, 2003, p. 45)

Contrastingly, although leaders can be changed in case of a certain need of the Organization, while they are at power, the leaders and officers still have the stronghold as to the decisions that the Company makes. Adding the fact that Home Depot has a “military” style of management since Nardelli’s appointment, it is a very disciplined organization for that matter.

In 2005, The Home Depot hired 17,000 military job seekers, including veterans, separating active duty service members, National Guard members, reservists and military spouses, through Operation Career Front. Operation Career Front provides career opportunities for current and former members of America’s military community, military spouses and other dependants. (The Home Depot)

It means that Home Depot has a "more rule-based governance of the workforce" (Estlund, 2003, p. 41) and productivity is encouraged and increased in this manner of management. The bad effect? “The change in gears was shocking to a lot of people who were accustomed to Bernie's laid-back style” (The Home Depot, 2008) in the Company.

With the departure of Nardelli however in January 2007, Home Depot must adapt with another set of changes: another set of policies as well as power struggles within its high echelon officers as well as adjustments needed by all its personnel and employees. With Frank Blake’s succession after January 3, 2007 Home Depot was in overhaul again when Nardelli ceased to be “the right guy” (Parija B. Kavilanz, 2007) for Home Depot.

Although the power has changed, little changes have been expected with Blake and according Hoff, a retailing analyst, as stated in USA TODAY, “the only difference is that Blake is not Nardelli” ( Jones & Krantz, 2007). This means that discipline within the organization is still intact.

References
Estlund, C. (2003). Working Together : How Workplace Bonds Strengthen a Diverse Democracy /. New York: Oxford University Press.

Freeman, S. (2007, August). Chrysler Hires A Fix-It Man. Washington Post, p. D01. Retrieved August 6, 2008 from .

“Home Depot's Cultural Evolution - A comparison of the Company's Culture Under ITS Founders and BOB Nardelli”. (2004). Retrieved August 6, 2008 from .

Jones & Krantz. (2007, January). Home Depot Boots CEO Nardelli. The USA Today. Retrieved August 6, 2008 from http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/2007-01-03-hd-nardelli_x.htm>.

Kavilanz, P.B. (2007). Nardelli out at Home. CNN Money. Retrieved August 6, 2008 from http://money.cnn.com/2007/01/03/news/companies/home_depot/index.htm

“Quarterly Earnings Releases”. (2008). The Home Depot Website. Quarterly Earnings Retrieved August 6, 2008 from .

The Home Depot and Military. (2008). The Home Depot Website. Retrieved August 6, 2008 from .

Wilson, I. (2003). The Subtle Art of Strategy: Organizational Planning in Uncertain Times. Westport, CT: Praeger.

I will be writing about the follwoing topic soon. It will be 3 pages, which is around 750-800 words, in APA format ( I cannot exactly show the format here but I will try to indicate the guide). This is a very interesting case which I personally find interesting writing about. I do hope the future write up to this will be able to help those who are in need in the near future.Preferred language style: English(U.S.)

`If you are unable to provide parental information due to one of the circumstances listed below, you may complete and submit the FAFSA with only the information about you and your finances and leave parental information blank:

*You have no contact with your parents and do not know where they are (and you have not been adopted by someone else); or
*You have left home due to an abusive situation; or
*Your parents are incarcerated; or
*Your parent refuses to provide their information on the FAFSA and refuses to provide you with any financial support; or
*You are homeless or at risk of being homeless but are unable to answer ‘Yes’ to questions 56, 57 or 58
*Your FAFSA will not be complete until the financial aid office at the school you plan to attend verifies and approves your circumstances. If you do not meet either of the above conditions, but still feel that you have special circumstances, you should contact the financial aid office at the school you plan to attend to discuss *Your family situation. You may print a copy of the Special Circumstances by selecting this link

That is an excerpt from the 2010-2011 FAFSA `Dependency Status Worksheet.`

Finally, here's the case:

My parents are refusing to provide me their tax information or any type of financial or moral support because I do not want to attend a school close to home, and be subjected to their religious beliefs and moral guidance. I have been living on my own since August 2006 and have never received any type of financial support from them. NOT A DIME!! I need to you to do some research and figure out what goes into a bulletproof dependency override request and develop something of the nature for this situation. The school I was accepted to is Tuskegee University. I would try to talk up TU and the opportunity itself as much as possible. Make it know that any person in my family (siblings, aunts, uncles, etc.) and other third parties can vouch for my independence and the ignorance of my parents. I also can produce legal documents (rental agreements, tax returns, utility bills, etc.) that I am solely responsible for.

After watching the video, Triumph of the Nerds, Parts 1-3, submit a Case report that begins with a refection log (listing at least 10 new ideas or things that you learned from each video — 30 total). Given the history of computing, chronicle how computer technology has change the business world and how computing technology is providing solutions for business needs--from software and computer hardware to databases, networking and support. This case requires the analyze the computing cost conundrum i.e., some computing cost continue to precipitously drop while other costs are increasing;

Watch:

1. * Part 1: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2539790754467363791
2. * Part 2: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5444663153778650128
3. * Part 3: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8579920210107554913

* Identify and discuss specific computing areas that are experiencing cost increases and decreases.
* List and prioritize at least three problems or challenges computing technologies are presenting for businesses along with some rationale.
* Based on the history presented in the videos and how CBIS are used in businesses today discuss some computing tends from your vantage point and outline and discussion possible topics for Triumph of the Nerds, Parts 4.

This case analysis should be at least 6 pages (350 words per page). The paper will be graded on the following criteria; 50% Content/Development (breadth depth of material covered), 20% Organization, 10% Format, 10% Grammar/Punctuation/Spelling, and 10% Readability/Style. The use of either MLA or APA style guides is acceptable.

You may assume the reader has some knowledge in the field for which you are writing and does not require a complete digest. Citation of and specific credit to relevant earlier works is part of the authors scholarly responsibility. At the same time, cite and reference only works pertinent to the specific issue and not works of tangential or general significance.

You must use at least two academic journals, and at least two practitioner journals to research this topic. Academic journals are usually peer-reviewed journals with names like: Journal of the Academy of Management, International Journal of Marketing, etc… and their audience is academia. Practitioner journals are magazines and other periodicals aimed at the executive and practitioner audiences. Titles would include CIO, Business Week, and Computer World—to name a few.

The purpose of these papers is to demonstrate that you can link technology to `the business` so it is essential that your analysis focuses on linking and synthesizing information learned in this course to the greater body of knowledge related to computer based information systems.