In this chapter, a synopsis and analysis of the assigned case study will be given. It will evaluate “The Blue Sky Software Consulting Firm” case study in order to clarify the company’s main aspects of management and leadership, identify possibilities to improve the current state of affairs, and determine the most appropriate methods and techniques for doing so. Besides, a SWOT analysis of the organization will be introduced to identify its main strengths and weaknesses, as well as opportunities and threats.
Background
The case study under consideration introduces a company, Blue Sky, with its own set of organizational issues and concerns. Blue Sky is an expert in consulting services, which are offered to different clients. Its overall age is 15 years. For a long period of time, Max Blue served as the company’s CEO, and today he is the Chairman of the Board. The role of CEO is now fulfilled by Jim Willis. The current success of the company is evident; however, it cannot last long unless it is supported by a successful plan and knowledge.
There are five regional offices of the company located in different parts of the country. Moreover, the size of Blue Sky is impressive indeed due to the existence of three main divisions, each with its own vice president. Each division leader has his or her own approaches and techniques to management, and it is hard for the CEO to combine the work of each department and office due to the absence of a written strategy and the inability to promote a strategic planning process. Therefore, certain strategic changes are expected from the leader, and the phenomenon of leadership transformation has to be investigated (Fuda, 2013).
The changes in the leadership style require the changes in a company, including the evaluation of the organizational performance, skills and knowledge of employees and leaders, and various external factors that may influence the activities of the company’s representatives. Ethical changes and the consideration of social norms are required as well (Todnem & Burnes, 2013). These tasks are not the only ones that have to be performed by the leader of the company in order to demonstrate a successful transformation in a leadership style. The improvements of the environment, motivational issues, and respect to the interests of all team members are crucial in organizational performance (Alizor, 2013; Cameron, Quinn, Degraff, & Thakor, 2014; Fowler, 2014).
Taking into consideration the requirements and possible expectations, the investigation of internal and external factors of the company has to be developed (Campbell, Jardine, & McGlynn, 2016). There are many methods that can be used to understand what kind of work has to be done by the company to stay competitive and successful in its organizational performance. The development of the SWOT analysis is one of the possible ways to be offered to the company. One of the first steps that can be taken is the recognition of the skills of employees and their leaders. Each department has its team, and the task of each team is to demonstrate positive outcomes and a deep understanding of what has to be done in order to promote the prosperity of the company.
The offered SWOT analysis is the possibility to investigate the opportunities and threats of the company and the strong and weak aspects of the company, as well as all its employees. The team has to know how to resolve organizational problems and change the performance in regards to the expectations (Gulati, Wohlgezogen, & Zhelyazkov, 2012). SWOT analysis is one of the most effective efforts that can be used in team-building because it provides the required stimulation, evaluation, and organization (Fleisher & Bensoussan, 2015).
It is an analytical method that helps to identify the categories in which the company should work or which have to be removed in a short period of time because of certain instability or threat. With the help of the information that is available to the creators of SWOT analysis, the leaders can learn the internal and external factors and understand how the evolution should look like. There are several steps that should be made: the assessment of the whole situation of the company, the creation of the matrix with clear titles and goals, and the identification of the factors that may fulfill the chosen matrix.
First, it is expected to talk about the strengths of the company and its employees. Then, weaknesses that have to be improved should be discussed. The next step is the identification of the opportunities with the help of which Blue Sky can become better and more successful. Finally, the recognition of the threats is an integral step that prevents the company and its leader from making the mistakes in the future.
The correlation of the internal factors, which are the strengths and weaknesses of the company, and the external factors, which are the threats and opportunities, should be made to prove that all efforts and knowledge have the meaning for the company, for each its employees and managers, and the leader, who makes a decision to become a transformational leader.
SWOT Analysis
A SWOT analysis is crucial for Blue Sky because it helps identify the main strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities of the company and determine the steps that can be taken to change the situation and achieve positive results.
The company’s strengths are as follows:
- History and experience;
- Abilities to find and use resources;
- Several regional offices;
- Established relationships with suppliers;
- Attention to technical output;
- Recognition of clients’ needs and expectations;
- Role of the leader;
- Readiness of vice presidents to protect their positions and offices;
- Young team members; and
- Team readiness to follow the leader.
The company’s weaknesses include the following:
- Loss of customers;
- Employees’ inability to cooperate;
- Poor regional office systems;
- Decentralization of business in different regions;
- Weak decision-making skills;
- Uncertain style of leadership;
- Leader’s doubts of his own powers and abilities;
- Autocratic instead of transformational leadership;
- Poor technical skills in some offices;
- Mutual critique of all regional offices; and
- Absence of cooperation.
Some opportunities that exist include the following:
- Intentions to change;
- Recognition of the company’s problems;
- Readiness to work on the company’s concerns;
- Attention to a new strategic plan;
- Improvement of decision-making processes;
- Improvement of regional offices;
- Cooperation between offices and their leaders;
- Willingness to hire a specialist to improve organizational culture;
- Organization of new meetings; and
- Involvement of all employees in discussions.
Lastly, important threats include the following:
- Loss of customers;
- Delays in strategic planning;
- Poorly established relationships between employees;
- Poor supplier base;
- Lack of new products introduced to clients; and
- Lack of personal interest in the development of the company.
References
Alizor, J.O. (2013). Leadership: Understanding theory, style, and practice: Things you need to know about leading an organization. Bloomington, IN: WestBow Press.
Cameron, K.S., Quinn, R.E., Degraff, J., & Thakor, A.V. (2014). Competing values leadership (2nd ed.). Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar.
Campbell, J.D., Jardine, A.K.S., & McGlynn, J. (2016). Asset management excellence: Optimizing equipment life-cycle decisions (2nd ed.). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
Fleisher, C.S., & Bensoussan, B.E. (2015). Business and competitive analysis: Effective application of new and classic methods. Upper Saddle River, NJ: FT Press.
Fowler, S. (2014). Why motivating people doesn’t work… and what does: The new science of leading, energizing, and engaging. Oakland, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Fuda, P. (2013). Leadership transformed: How ordinary managers become extraordinary leaders. London, UK: Profile Books.
Gulati, R., Wohlgezogen, F., & Zhelyazkov, P. (2012). The two facets of collaboration: Cooperation and coordination in strategic alliances. Academy of Management Annals, 6, 531-583. Web.
Todnem, R., & Burnes, B. (2013). Organizational change, leadership and ethics: Leading organizations towards sustainability. New York, NY: Routledge.