Statistical Analysis System

Anita Orzel

Statistical Analysis System

Southern New Hampshire University

Statistical Analysis System

SAS is animpeccable company to benchmark for best management practices. SAS is a software company founded in 1976 (AboutSAS.com). SAS software is used by large companies to make business decisions by collecting, and analyzing business data. Over 90 of the top 100 companies listed in Fortune 500 use SAS to analyze business information (AboutSAS.com). In addition, SAS is also recognized as a pioneer in its corporate culture. The main source of this success is the ability of SAS to nurture its most prized resource, its creative assets. These creative assets come through several forms including the organization’s culture, HR practices, decision making, strategic management, ethics, and mission and vision.

SAS mission and vision statement is; “SAS delivers proven solutions that drive innovation and improve performance” (AboutSAS.com). The mission and vision statement is not only written they are believed in. CEO Jim Goodnight philosophy is “treat employees like they make a difference and they will” (AboutSas.com). With this philosophy and the company’s mission and vision statement it motivates the employees to do great things for the company no matter what position they hold, it makes them feel as they matter and that they are important to the company.This enabled SAS to move their vision to higher reaches outside the US and start serving the entire world with customers in over 148 countries.

Strategic management plan contains the preparation and implementation of the primary goals and wits taken by a company’s management, grounded on deliberation of properties and an assessment of the internal and external surroundings in which the firm contends. One thing SAS does thrive in is giving its workforces occasions to work on exciting and challenging developments. The software developers have the prospect to develop cutting-edge software to be used in the world. The corporation makes an effort to concentrate its business in the areas of analytics, which add the most value and help organizations best scrutinize variable data for decision constructing, creating opportunities for SAS workers to be braved and also the company removes employee’s obstacles. Eradication of equipment, policies, rules, and meetings that could obstruct efficiency is enhanced.

 Furthermore, SAS has a “world-renowned culture based on trust, flexibility and values” (AboutSAS.com). SAS is committed to a work/life balance and they provide onsite childcare, onsite fitness centers, spa, onsite health clinic,dry cleaners, and a barbershop, (Kaplan, 2010). CEO Mr. Goodnight states “My chief assets drive out the gate every day, my job is to make sure they come back” (Kaplan, 2010). The company believes that the employees are their best assets and they are the reason for their success. “To keep employees challenged we trust and empower them to take risks and innovate. That keeps them happy; and when employees are happy they keep our customers happy.” (Business Guru Jim Goodnight’s Innovative Approach to Leadership 2015). SAS culture is the driving force behind its motivation for creativity.

The Human Resources at SAS put a large emphasis on employee satisfaction. Only four years after the company started demonstrates the first evidence of emphasis SAS places on its employees, and the following Human Resource practices occurred when one of its employees became pregnant. That decision gave birth to the company’s first day-care center. As many companies look to reduce perks, at SAS they look at these perks as an investment. According to Jenn Mann, Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer of SAS. “At SAS, our goal is to offer meaningful work for our employees, an empowering management philosophy, and a world-class work environment that includes services and benefits to make employees’ lives easier at work, as well as in their personal lives. This allows them to be motivated, creative and innovative in our software development. It’s critical for us to provide a workplace that incentivizes great talent.” These words can be backed up by the fact that the turnover rate at SAS is lowest in their industry at 2-3%. This shows that the employees are extremely happy to work at SAS, and Human Resources pays a major part in this strategy.

The managements pivotal role in decision making process at SAS are based on the fact that they believe that people, employees and customers are their best assets. In a statement Mr. Goodnight stated “Our continued growth in 2009 is further proof that investing in a long term relationship with customers and employees and maintaining a deep commitment in R&D pays” In 2009, when the economy took a downturn and most companies were laying off, SAS not only had no layoffs they had one of their best years and were ready with new software in 2010. The employees were told that there would be no layoffs and the management wanted them to focus on customers’ needs and not be distracted. At SAS they have developed a unique way of managing and leading employees by encouraging innovation and caring attitude. They keep employees intellectually engaged by removing distractions, managers spark creativity, and make customers part of the product development by keeping them engaged, (Florida, Goodnight, 2005).

SAS is committed to establishing honesty, fairness and accountability in every decision, including each interaction with its employees, customers, suppliers and competitors (About SAS 2015). These values have an enormous impact on the employees of the company. In 2014, SAS did not have any substantiated and materially negative incidents with regard to public policy, privacy, corruption, ethics, bribery, anti-competitive actions, anti-trust violations or monopoly practices, societal impacts, the environment, labor practices, or employee discrimination or harassment; nor were there any sanctions or fines for noncompliance (About SAS 2015).

The culture at SAS Institute not only views customer communication as an opportunity to fix issues, “they collaborate with users to invent new solutions” (Florida & Goodnight, 2005). Managers and leaders live the vision of the company by incorporating it in their daily lives. The company’s overall success for over three decades is a direct cause of the strategic management planning. The fact that SAS has the lowest employee turnover, highest customer retention, and it is a largest privately owned company with revenues over $3 billion dollars shows that the management practices are exceptional.

Statistical analysis system employs decision-making strategies that help in the running of the organization. The executive feels that mounting an organization data managing and analysis strategy; it can use this knowledge at all comparable levels of the association to reach premeditated objectives put in place. SAS offers a complete submission enabling pronouncements at scale with the following constituents:Data preparation for analytics, retrieving and preparing the right data at the right required time.Enterprise Miner, comprehensive deep modeling of contest areas, including the range of open birthplace analytics contributions.Decision manager, anmerger of business rules executive and model supervisor, enables   business users to project, test and install decision suites and learn through a response circle.

               The system thinking approach of SAS will greatly align with the above decision making in the sense that system verdict making compartment results from the effects of strengthening and balancing procedures.Since the start of SAS from 1976, the company has developed an exceptional organizational culture, with a philosophy that focuses on“Advancements in analytics technologies make the unimaginable possible. We believe in empowering our employees to change the way the world works and give people The Power to Know” (Goodnight & Sall). SAS is one of the few companies that truly believe that their success is because of their employees. The creative management techniques of strategic planning, decision making, company culture, employee management, and ethical standards are a direct source of their success. As the company grew it advanced these aspects in a way that they have successfully become one of the largest and most successful software developers in the world.

References

AboutSAS. http://www.sas.com/en_us/home.html

Business Guru Jim Goodnight’s Innovative Approach to Leadership. (n.d.). Retrieved from:

Goodnight, J., Florida, R., 2005. Managing for Creativity. Retrieved from:

Goodnight, J., Sall, J. SAS Leadership. Retrieved from:

Kaplan, D., 2010. SAS: A No. 1 Best Employer.  Retrieved from:

Konrad, A. M., Yang, Y., & Maurer, C. C. (2016). Antecedents and outcomes of diversity and

equality management systems: An integrated institutional agency and strategic human resource management approach. Human Resource Management, 55(1), 83-107. doi:10.1002/hrm.21713

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