Identify problems or issues
The problem is that there is a lack of direction. The employees feel threatened by the intrusive and invasive meddling of their new owners, the managers of MegaFirm. Most of the employees are resistant to the change in management. They are too used to the informal and flexible leadership style that is typical of the former old Mick and John partnership era. Adding insult to injury, the two new MegaFirm officers have set up a formal organizational structure that has its advantages and disadvantages. One advantage is that the employees will not be guided on which benchmarks to overshoot in each accounting period. The benchmark is based on a study of what is the ‘average’ skill needed for a person to perform a job specification.
Diagnose situation: what’s going on?
The employees are resistant to the change in leadership style. The employees are threatening to leave because they resist the change where the officers of MegaFirm have set up a formal organizational structure in the company. The employees want to hold on to the old ways where they were happy at the informal and flexible style of the two partners Mick and John. Their other two partners, Erik and David left the partnership because they believed that research projects should not be curtailed as envisioned by Mick and John.
What contributed to the problems/current situation?
There are many factors that contributed to the problem. One factor is the refusal of the partners to accept new investors to fund the business. The new investors could have contributed much–needed capital to increase the working capital, revenue, and profits. Another factor is the withdrawal from the partnership of Mick and John. And, the intrusion by the Mega firm managers contributed much to the employees’ dislike of a change to the new work environment. Lastly, the remaining partners lacked the human resource mind
How does it relate to theory and research?
(ie compare the situation in the case with what we’ve covered, e.g. does it illustrate a concept, etc)
The problems mentioned above are conceptually related to many related theories and researches discussed. For example, the two remaining partners should attend seminars on leadership training in order to increase their capacity to function the jobs. Many managers have reached such a high position because they own the business just like persons involved in this case study but they lacked the training to maximize the management of people and scarce resources.
For, a better management style would include the mixture of conceptual skills and interpersonal factors. The good manager should also acquire these interpersonal skills and factors and learning the best possible combination of the skills and factors that permeate each unique factory situation. The two managing partners must learn to accept that MegaFirm has the right to intrude they had contributed lots of money to the business. Also, the employees must accept that the formal and ‘red tape’ style of MegaFirm for synergy will be created when both the company’s old business culture of informality is infused with formal line and staff style of MegaFirm (Benfari, 1999, p. 2).
Developing options and recommendations
What would you do to fix it?
A no holds barred brainstorming is the best remedy to the situation. All the parties will treat each other as equal during the brainstorming and contribute their suggestions, comments, criticisms and misgivings, and recommendations in terms of the new policy where MegaFirm and the two partners have joined forces to bring the company back to its old pedestal as a company with a profitably viable business organization. Clear, the meeting would end up with most of themselves happy because they had contributed their voices for the betterment of the company, Powerdome. The employees will beam with pride because they contributed to the betterment of the company(Paulus & Nijstad, 2003, p. 5).
Another remedy is to allow an increase in the employee’s creativity skills. Likewise, managers of the MegaFirm and other organizations and businesses must increase their creativity output by breaking down and restructuring knowledge. For, clients are bolder now and prefer to buy from poor drink(Proctor, 1999, p. 1).
Why these options and not another?
The options to be creative and have no –holds barred brainstorming are the best options to implement here. The two options above will surely topple the walls dividing the company between the workers and the owners. Both the managers of MegaFirm and the two remaining local partners of Powerdome should agree as to which option or options to implement for lasting interpersonal and work environmental peace within the organization.
How do the options reflect what we’ve covered?
The options reflectively say that there is still hope for the company. The implementation of the approved options will be beneficial to both the managers and the workers. The workers will be happy to have been given their chance to voice out their sentiments. In turn, the company will have to have an increase in the quality and quantity of products and services sold because all parties involved had already given their voices as to what is the improvements today (Jonassen, Tessmer & Hannum, 1999, p. 56).
What would you have done differently and why?
I would have immediately called for a meeting with all parties involved in the Powerdome company. I will gather the suggestions, comments, and other statements from all parties in the villages. I will set up a formal style of leadership with the option to encourage all persons in the company to give their 110% performance, to the village or association.
What would you recommend they do going forward?
The employees must tone down their obsession to resist change to a new environment that is more complex for it will only have minimal effects on their freedom to exercise their creative skills. The employees must attend company-sponsored seminars so that they will learn about the many advantages and disadvantages of accepting the change in the owners and leadership within the company. Managers must realize that the employees are human beings too and deserve to be part of the decision making processes of the company. A happy employee will work better than a complaining employee( Morris & Pavett, 1992)
The structure of the company under the new ‘formal’ line and staff organizational framework should be implemented but in a toned-down manner. The employees will be more comfortable if they are given lots of months to slowly adjust to the new situation of married life. For, the organizational structure is one of the key variables affecting how a firm’s strategies are put into action. A good organizational structure would surely be characterized by happy employees and happy managers(Earl, 1998).
References
Benfari, R. C. (1999). Understanding and Changing Your Management Style. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
(1998). 1 Exploring the Relationship between Information Technology and Organizational Structure. In Information Management: The Organizational Dimension, Earl, M. J. (Ed.) (pp. 5-19).
Jonassen, D. H., Tessmer, M., & Hannum, W. H. (1999). Task Analysis Methods for Instructional Design. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Morris, T., & Pavett, C. M. (1992). Management Style and Productivity in Two Cultures. Journal of International Business Studies, 23(1), 169+.
Paulus, P. B. & Nijstad, B. A. (Eds.). (2003). Group Creativity: Innovation through Collaboration. New York: Oxford University Press.
Proctor, T. (1999). Creative Problem Solving for Managers. London: Routledge.