The Expansion of Rudmore Press Ltd - Case Study Example

Running Head: RUDMORE PRESS EXPANSION ANALYZED A Case Study Analyses of The Expansion of Rudmore Press Ltd. ________________________University Current Issues There are several issues faced by the Rudmore Press, Ltd. as a result of the business expansion. Tony Stone, as the managing director of the Rudmore Press were able to identify major changes and restructuring of the organization. The company’s direction was from line structure - wherein by nature are fairly informal and involved few departments and on a first-name basis with the president, to the line-and-staff organizational structure with the staff departments that provide specialized, functional assistance to all managers, to ensure adequate checks and balances, and to ensure that products gets advertised (Boone & Kurtz 1993). He was able to identify that the company needs to expand its services because of customers growing demands and to operate in a highly competitive market. Also, the company was able to cope with the needs of improving the equipments through the policy of continuing investment. And his dynamic attitude moves the organization forward. These are actually the strengths of Rudmore Press. However, though Tony was able to identify the need to restructure, he missed details involved in restructuring like identifying the right person for the right job. The people he placed on major positions lack qualifications and skills. Tony should see to it that they were provided with adequate training (Sison 1981). Thus, one problem would be the preparation of the major players in the organization to accept additional responsibility as a result of the organization’s growth. The changes that occurred in Rudmore Press is regarded as an organization-wide change because it involved restructuring of operations, new technologies as brought-in by a computerized dispatch system, mergers with two small independent lithograph companies, and new programs like the initiative to obtain the ISO Approved Quality Standard Certificate (McNamara 1999). It is but typical that there is strong resistance as probably the result of the fear of lacking management skills, or conflicting goals of its members (personal goal is not aligned to company goal). Another issue would be the leadership presented by Tony among his colleagues. He is indeed a dynamic managing director but he himself needs to improve his management skills to be able to understand them. As a leader, he should be the role model for Roger, Gerry and Anthea. According to Maxwell (1999), to keep leading, and if he wanted to grow his organization, he should remain teachable. Roger’s and Gerry’s attitude are but reflections of his excuses for not finding time to develop his skills in management. Joyce Baker, as quality controller, will find difficulty identifying the performance of each unit due to lack of solid parameters or standards as basis of quality measure. One integral part of TQM is that improvement objectives are in place and “deployed” down through the company by means of specific objectives at each level that will result in the company objective being achieve (Barrett 1994). However, the specific objectives of each department at Rudmore Press still need to be documented and deployed to all departments and members. Attitudes toward change of the major players within the company should also be considered in the expansion. There was no leveling with expectations between the managing director and the other members of the boards or management team. Roger’s introverted personality does not fit what is required by his new position as Marketing Director, which requires much communication with clients and stakeholders (Kiyosaki & Lechter 1998). Gerry’s feeling of working harder and putting-in more hours than the other three is a reflection of demoralization. Anthea, though willing to learn lacks loyalty and remained short-sighted for assuming the role of administration director. Analysis of Rudmore Press, Ltd. Organizational Form and Structure As defined organizations are social entities that are goal-directed, deliberately structured activity systems, with an identifiable boundary (Bedeian & Zamnuto 1991). As a Social Structure, from 1980’ to its current state, Rudmore Press is an Open System, which interacts with its local businesses, as well as gathers resources from suppliers and its tie-ups with two small independent lithographic companies. Its expansion is clearly a reaction to environmental changes brought about by the increasing competitive state of the market (Daft 1992). Rudmore’s organizational goal or the desired state which Tony attempts to reach is for the company to expand its client-base by identifying new markets, which lay down on the shoulders of Roger (Etzioni 1964). As a deliberate structured system, this basically comes into fruition when Tony identified departments that would achieve efficiency in the work process to coordinate and direct separate group process (Pondy & Mitroff 1978). The four (4) major departments identifiable within the current structure of Rudmore Press are the Production line, Quality Control, Sales & Marketing and the Administration Department. The most manned among four departments are those involved in the production and other three departments are less comprehensive since these function as support departments for the operations. The identifiable boundaries of Rudmore Press may be represented by the sales team, a part of the administration department’s task and the computerized dispatch system which produces and coordinates all customer documentation since it deals with the exchanges among their clients and stakeholders (Katz & Kahn 1978). Looking at the structural dimensions of Rudmore Press, we can say that it is an informal (formalization) structured organization since it has little laid-down policies and procedures, and communication does not come in forms of written documents. Even new systems are on ad hoc basis. There is division of labor but as per standardization of performed activities may not be done in uniformed manner due to lack of documentation. As per hierarchy of authority, it is much more of a centralized authority since most decisions came from Tony. However, as per consideration of professionalism, the level of formal education and training of employees are low since most of the leaders did not took long periods of training to hold their current positions within the organizations (Daft 1990). Their assumptions of post were not even merit-based since most of them were assigned by the managing director. This is understandable since the company relatively developed from a two-manned organization and seniority was also considered. Considering the contextual dimension of Rudmore Press, the company is a medium-sized organization that ranks low with respect to formalization, standardization, and professionalism. The culture within the company is unclear and not delineated. It employs much more of a bureaucratic or mechanistic approach in management and this is evident in the feelings of Gerry and Roger towards Tony’s management. Though Tony claimed that they practices a contingency approach, where decisions depends upon the situation, still it cannot be described as organic because the management process is not free-flowing and it only works in uncertain environment with non-routine technology which is not the case of Rudmore Press (Hall 1991). If we analyze the company in the modernist point of view, we can say that Rudmore Press is not being able to establish a new corporate culture that values lean staff, flexibility, rapid response to customer, motivated employees, and caring for customers, and quality products. That is for the reason that most of the leaders within the organization still cares more for personal motives and are receptive to the changes that are being introduced within the organization. If we are to view it in the interpretative view, we may say that the company has gone far already and initially, the approaches employed by Tony in organizing them worked well since they have expanded well within three decades. However, currently, most organizations are focusing on decentralization of decisions and communications by employing technologies as an effective tool of disseminating information as employed by the Washington Post (Washington Post 2006). In post-modernistic view of management, the HR Department played a significant role in establishing the policies, its implementation and inculcating the culture to the organization’s members. HR should align policies and functions from different departments to that of the objective of the company. This is done through the HR function that was ‘directed at developing coherent, planned and monitored policies on all aspects of the organization which influence or structure employee behavior such that these generate behaviors which support the achievement of organizational strategies (Clark & Mallory 1996). Thus, Anthea Stones’ seeing her role not permanent and her hope of going back to the role of a wife and a mother to her family is not in consonant with the current trend of management among growing organizations. Principal Challenges Tony Stone, as the managing director, should learn to employ a Post-Bureaucratic approach to organization where decisions are based on collective inputs, consensus and dialogue from his directors (Heckscher & Donnellson 1994). This will provide empowerment to his directors and will create new leaders within the Rudmore Press (Maxwell 1998). The truest test of his leadership skills is when he learned to delegate and give authority without losing grip of the management team. Another, being able to communicate the need for change among the key players of Rudmore Press is a challenge. Making them see the significance of moving forward and aligning their personal goals with the corporate direction should be accomplished. Communication is the key. Tony made a right decision to employ consultant. They may serve as facilitators of change by communicating the company’s goal, assessing current activities if it’s aligned to the company’s objective, and what was done to meet it (McNamara 1999). Another key or challenge to the company is sustaining their growth. It can only be done if they are willing to be trained. A carefully planned and handled effort of management to develop or improve certain phases of an individual’s skills, attitudes, discipline, behavior, or knowledge to make them either more effective on their present job or better qualified for another post (Sison 1981). And this must be done with the full commitment of the Administration Department, which is also another challenge. The admin should ensure that the new management structure from centralized and bureaucratic organization to decentralized structure will be made possible by the activities spearheaded by the Administration department or upon creation of HR management team as the current trend in managing culture (Cray & Mallory 1998). Work Cited Barrett, Derm (1994). “Fast Focus on TQM” in The Portable Guide to Effective Management. World Executive’s Digest (1996). World Executive’s Digest Limited: Singapore. Bedeian, Arthur G. & Zamnuto, Raymond F. (1991). Organizations: Theory and Design. Dryden Publishing: Chicago. p. 9. 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