The Wakewood organisation comprises seven units. Each unit is managed by a general manager who has full autonomy in his own operation. It is important for organisation to follow business ethic and social responsibility. It must ensure that all wastages are disposed without harmful to human's life. It must always comply with all required standard of safety and quality. The organisation must have a code of conduct for customers to maintain trust with them and let them know that each of them has been treated in the same way on business transactions. All employees are required to attend training on ethics courses.
Organisation culture
The chief executive is using participative style to manage the organisation. The organisation is facing internal pressure from poor staff morale. The general manager should identify the causal of such poor morale with assistance from professional team working for him.
Social background
The organisation introducing new computer technology to minimize staff cost and to maximize profit but on the other hand still retaining large volume of employee who do not have knowledge of using the new computer technology in production process. These employees have not been trained of using it. The employee motivation has been affected negatively by all these factors.
Business background
There have been a growing number of complaints from clients about the service provided by the Unit. Clients are not satisfied with service after sales and the low quality of product. Their complaints have not been treated well by the employee. The Wakewood organisation should identify the needs of clients and handle them well so that the clients will continue to do business with them.
Environmental effects
The environmental forces in Wakewood organisation can be divided into two main parts i.e internal environment and external environment. Internal environments are referring to elements within organisation such as machine, material, labour, strategy. The unit employs 700 people and accounts for 20 percent of Wakewood's activities. It shows that employee is the main resources of the organisation. Employee with skill or without skill can make a huge difference to the organisation. Therefore it is important to motivate them and to develop their skill and ability to achieve maximum performance. Majority of internal pressures are related to employee ability and experience to handle the problem. The general manager alone cannot handle this problem. He needs support from his professional team who can provide proper training to the employee. External environments are referring to elements outside organisation such as competition, customers, technology and legal which cannot be controlled by the organisation. Competition can bring positive or negative impact to the organisation depending on the situation. Competing in terms of pricing, quality, technology and services can affect the organsation overall goals. Businesses today use technology to run operations. They use all kinds of digital media for marketing promotion; they analyse financial data and prepare forecast using advance computer system; they use new asset management system to monitor and keep track on all assets movements. Technology enables business to respond to changes immediately. Wakewood has deployed a new computer technology for the whole organisation however the progress in the Unit has been slow compare to other units. The staff morale is poor due to staff has no knowledge of using the technology in the production process. Furthermore, the general manager does not pay much attention to the needs of clients. Thus, increase clients' dissatisfaction. If this situation prolong, the clients will shift to other companies. The general manager should consult with their experts who can provide on job training to employees. By doing this, the low staff morale can be improved.
Mission and Vision statement
After considering the above factors, the appropriate mission statement for the Unit is: "To become the number one among other units within organisation by producing highest quality of product and providing best services after sales to customers with 80% customer satisfaction". Vision statement for the Unit is "To be the first choice for customer with best quality and excellence services through continuing improvement in product development and services".
Once the mission and vision statements have been developed, the next step is to formulate specific objectives to achieve the above mission. Basically there are four objectives to achieve the mission:
To deliver good quality product at fair price.
To improve service after sales by training sales staff to handle the clients well and frequently conduct return visit to build customer profiles.
To open new convenience stores and develop online ordering services for home delivery.
To expand the range of products.
Generate, evaluate and select appropriate strategies for the organisation
The current structure in the Unit cannot cope with the deployment of new computer technology. As a result, staff morale is poor and product quality is low. This explains why the chief executive needs to make changes on attitudes and organisation structure.
B1.The current organisation structure:
CEO
GENERAL MANAGER
(UNIT 7)
GENERAL MANAGER
(UNIT 6)
GENERAL MANAGER
(UNIT 5)
ADMIN
FINANCE
PERSONNEL
GENERAL MANAGER
(UNIT 4)
GENERAL MANAGER
(UNIT 3)
GENERAL MANAGER
(UNIT 2)
GENERAL MANAGER
(UNIT 1)
B2. The propose new structure by functional:
CEO
MANAGER
(RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT)
MANAGER
(QUALITY CONTROL)
MANAGER
(PRODUCTION)
UNIT 7
UNIT 6
UNIT 5
MANAGER
(MARKETING)
MANAGER
(HUMAN RESOURCE)
MANAGER
(FINANCE)
MANAGER
(ADMIN)
UNIT 4
UNIT 3
UNIT 2
UNIT 1
Marketing Department
The unit should have a marketing department to face competition and improve sales in a way that customers are informed of a new product and they will make decision to buy the product which will increase the sales. The main role of marketing is to interact with customers, understand their need, customized the product and services to retain the customers and also to increase their loyalty and satisfaction. Customers are the most valuable resources to the company.
Quality Control Department
The unit should handle the quality of products to ensure quality standards are met before the product can be launched in the market. A quality control manager is responsible to set quality control policy and to handle quality audit and inspection from government.
Human Resource Department
Human resource department is responsible to provide training to all employees before the management implementing a new computer technology. The employee must have basic skill to use the new technology. Proper training must be provided in order to keep up with changing technology. It also develops skills of specific employee to move up a level or to move into a new position.
Production Department
The production department must work closely with quality control department to ensure product comply with all standard requirements.
Relying on one chief executive alone to lead the seven units within the organisation may not be sufficient to cover all aspects of business as he has spent most of his time in other units. The organisation needs a good management structure to achieve its objectives. The good management structure can be formed after conducting a SWOT analysis on the organisation.
Strengths
The chief executive has created a very positive reputation for other units within the organisation.
The strong leadership skill of chief executive makes him achieved significant changes and improvements in other units within the organisation.
The organisation has been operating many years which will continue to survive in the long run.
The unit is managed independently by a general manager with autonomous power in operation. Decision can be made faster without going through bureaucratic procedure.
Weaknesses
Employees have no knowledge of using computer technology.
The general manager does not pay much attention to the needs of clients
Poor communication with clients
Opportunities
The chief executive has achieved significant changes and improvements in other units during the last four years which has created goodwill by taking care of his clients need.
By having many units, it can retain its existing clients which can also obtain new clients through existing clients by word of mouth advertising.
Threats
Clients' dissatisfaction will cause them leaving the organisation and going to its competitors. Clients will always look for more stable, consumer friendly services places to spend their money.
Competitors can capture existing clients by using aggressive marketing strategies and special tactics to influence clients to purchase their products and services and obtain their loyalty.
The Wakewood organisation comprises seven units. Each unit is given autonomous power to run its operation. Each unit has full control over its own resources i.e materials, labour and equipment without sharing it with other units. Therefore, the cost of operating is very high. This can be overcome by establishing a good management structure in the following manners:
To revise its organisational structure from product based to functional based. Functional structures are suitable for relative big companies like Wakewood. It consists of group of employees differentiated by specialty to perform specialized set of tasks. For example, marketing department will have staff to handle all marketing related matters. This structure will improve operation efficiency.
To close down non profitable unit by transferring out its resources to other profitable units. By doing this, cost can be reduced.
To reduce production waste by using better quality of materials and more efficiency production methods.
To motivate staff working hard to improve productivity by paying good incentive and good salary. Frederick Herzberg has developed the motivation-hygiene theory to explain factors affecting employees' satisfaction and dissatisfaction. He defines satisfiers as motivators and dissatisfiers as hygiene factors. These two factors work in different ways. Work conditions and salary are two of the main factors listed in his theory leading to dissatisfaction.
To form a Research and Development department (R&D). This department is responsible for innovating and designing new products and at the same time improving existing products to meet customer needs. This department is formed with purpose to increase company profitability by using cost efficient method. It works closely with the marketing department. Marketing department will gather all information on consumer demands, method of purchasing, development of technology on the existing products and pass on all these information to R&D which will then take action to innovate its product to keep company position on top of current market needs.
Develop timetable for implementation of strategy.
Change of organisation structure
There are four key components to support the implementation of strategy i.e people, resources, systems and culture. The top management will have to initiate the strategy. They have to recruit skilled people to train the existing employee to support the implementation. Three months training should be adequate. Lines of authority must also be set so that employee know whom they are reporting to and to have a clear open line of communication with all employees. Meetings should be scheduled weekly to monitor the progress. These processes will need three months to put all into action.
Close down non profitable units and transfer out its resources to other profitable units.
To identify which are the most profitable units by referring to the statistic and financial reports of the seven units for the last few years. This should be implemented within three months. Once identified, action must be taken immediately.
To reduce production waste by using better material quality and more efficient production methods. This process will take long time to complete and a good research can help to reduce product defects, eliminate waste and finally reduce cost of production.
To motivate staff working hard to improve productivity by paying good incentive and good salary. Staffs are not motivated to do their work. Paying good incentive and good salary should be implemented immediately.
To form a Research and Development department (R&D). This is a long process which will normally complete within 2 years. Top management will have to recruit many competencies and skilled employees to conduct a research for company products. Sufficient funds must be allocated to serve the purpose.
Create appropriate dissemination process to gain commitment
Dissemination is the distribution of information and knowledge about the purpose of implementing the strategy and what benefit can be derived from working towards its goals. Dissemination process to gain commitment from senior managers and employees is essential for the successful implementation of strategy. Employee will believe strategy commitment is real if senior manager show personal and long term commitment. Implementation of strategy can cause resistance to change among employees. During the process of implementation, employee are required to redefine their roles if need arises. Understanding the causal of resistance can improve implementation outcome.( Karyn E. Trader-Leigh ,2002)
Monitor and evaluate the outcome of the implementation
Monitoring will help to assess whether the problem of implementation are being overcome or any new problems are emerging. Evaluation is important to enable strategy to be evaluated in a true sense of word. Therefore the strategy plan should specify who is responsible for overall implementation across the organisation and who is responsible to execute the strategy. In Wakewood, the chief executive is the person responsible for overall implementation. He will check the actual performance against the strategy plan and the environment and to report back the status to the board of directors. The head of departments are expected to report the status of day to day execution of strategy, the problem encountered and the solutions.
Conclusion
The strategies implemented should be reviewed periodically minimum once a year to find out whether the implemented strategies are still suitable for continuing practice if the business environment has changed. If the strategies failed to move the company towards its goals, then corrective actions must be taken. If the corrective actions taken are not successful, the whole process of strategy management will have to repeat until the desired goals and objectives are achieved.
