Outside Consultants Inc.’s Management Interview Essay

Gathering Information from Senior Managers

Services

Outside Consultants Inc. would strive to improve the performance of Tasty Farms. It would achieve this by analyzing the existing practices of the organization and develop strategies that would lead to operational improvements. Exposure with numerous companies gives ‘Outside Consultants’ the upper hand in solving some of the problems that Tasty Farms faces. The company would use different approaches that would lead to operational improvements within Tasty Farms. The company would provide change management assistance and develop coaching skills within Tasty Farms. This would guarantee the long-term operational improvement of Tasty Farms’ activities. Also, the company would facilitate the development of strategies that would improve the efficiency of Tasty Farms. The company would bring its proprietary methodologies that would help in identifying some of the problems that reduce the efficiency and productivity of Tasty Farms. This would enable the company to provide recommendations that would improve the efficiency of various tasks within the organization. Interviews with senior managers of Tasty Foods will be the primary method that the company would use to determine some of the problems that reduce the efficiency and productivity of Tasty Farms.

Key Objectives of the Interview Process

The interview process will strive to determine how the operational processes within the organization compare with the processes of other companies in the industry. This will help in the formulation of operational processes that would enable the company to gain a competitive edge in the industry.

The interview process will also strive to determine what operational processes of the organization produce the desired results. This will enable the company to align the operational processes with other processes within the organization. The processes will align with the organizational culture of Tasty Foods. Also, the interview will strive to determine how to integrate the operational processes with the overall corporate management structure of the organization. This will help in the formulation of a clear ‘line of sight’ between the responsibilities of the employees of the organization and the objectives of the organization (Axson, 2010).

The interview process will strive to determine the performance management strategies of Tasty Foods. It will determine the interrelated strategies that Tasty Foods uses to improve the performance of employees, teams, and the organization. Therefore, the interview process will strive to determine the performance objectives of the organization. Also, it would determine the periodical performance appraisal of individuals and teams that the organization employs. The interview process would also determine how Tasty Foods evaluates the performance of individuals, teams, and the organization. Companies have different strategies on how to deal with poor performance. Therefore, the interview process will strive to determine the actions that the company undertakes to deal with the poor performance of employees and teams within the organization. This would help in the formulation of new performance management strategies that would improve the productivity and efficiency of the organization. However, the company would maintain the performance management strategies that are effective (Bowles & Cooper, 2009).

The interview process will strive to determine the current drivers of performance within the organization. How to assess, reward, and improve performance is one of the major focuses of the management of organizations. The interview will strive to determine whether there are inconsistencies in the drivers of performance within the organization. Inconsistencies in the drivers of performance is one of the major factors that may provide a clear explanation of the significant reduction in the efficiency and productivity of Tasty Foods. This will help in the formulation of new drivers of performance that will strive to improve the motivation and productivity of the organization. This would ultimately improve the efficiency of the organization (Cardy & Leonard, 2011).

Structure of the Interview

The interview will employ both open-ended and close-ended questionnaires. Close-ended questionnaires would enable the respondents not to divert from the major objective of the interview. All participants will answer similar close-ended questionnaires. This will provide insights into different views of senior managers of the organization. However, there would be certain close-ended questionnaires that would target senior managers of certain departments. The interview will also incorporate open-ended questionnaires. The open-ended questionnaires would enable ‘Outside Consultants’ to obtain information that would be difficult to obtain using close-ended questionnaires (Burawoy, 2009).

The interview will standardize the order of the questions that the participants would answer. This would enable the respondents to answer all the questions in the same context. Standardizing the order of the questions would help in minimizing the impact of context effects on the accuracy of the interview. It is a fact that it is very difficult to eliminate context effects. Therefore, the interview will strive to ensure that the context effects are constant across all respondents. The interview will ask several follow up questions. The follow-up questions will depend on the answers of the respondents to the previous questions. Follow up questions will help in providing explicit answers (Burawoy, 2009).

Parameters and Expectations

It is a fact that certain changes in the operational processor capacity of Tasty Foods are the major factors that have led to a significant reduction in productivity and efficiency of the company. The interview will attempt to determine the changes within the company. Also, it will determine whether resistance to change is the major factor that has led to reduced efficiency and productivity. The company will strive to formulate effective communication channels with Tasty Foods. The company would inform the management of Tasty Foods some of the problems in its operational processes. ‘Outside Consultants’ would identify several strategies that would help in tackling some of the problems. It would provide the pros and cons of several different strategies. This would enable the management of Tasty Foods to determine the most efficient strategy.

Questionnaires

1. What is your position in the company?
2. What is the number of subordinates under your supervision?
3. What is the major function of your department?
4. What are the major factors that are vital for the success of the major activities in your department?
5. What are some of the challenges that you face in your department?
6. Is the organization receptive to the challenges that your department faces?
7. What are the drivers of performance in your department?
8. Do your subordinates work in teams?
9. If your subordinates work in teams, what is the approximate proportion of work that teams perform?
10. What performance appraisal strategies do you use for individual employees?
11. What performance appraisal strategies do you use for teams?
12. How do you handle employees or teams that have poor performance?
13. From your perspective, what are some of the factors that have contributed to reduced productivity and efficiency of the organization?

References

Axson, D.A.J. (2010). Best practices in planning and performance management: Radically rethinking management for a volatile world. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Bowles, D. & Cooper, C.L. (2009). Employee morale: Driving performance in challenging times. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.

Burawoy, M. (2009). The extended case method: Four countries, four decades, four great transformations, and one theoretical tradition. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press.

Cardy, R.L. & Leonard, B. (2011). Performance management: Concepts, skills, and exercises. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.