Organizational Development of AcuScan - Assignment Example

Capstone - Case Study Assumptions Kelly’s With downsized staff strength, it would be difficult to start a new product development. 2) Programmingis a tough and complicated task; so only one feature is implementable by August. 3) Marketing people are ignorant or underestimate the work of technical people. 4) Its more important to bring out Quality tested product without hastiness. Pat’s: 1) Introduction of iScanner in retail will provide positive returns within the first year. 2) Have good programmers who would be able to meet the August deadline. 3) A prototype can be beta tested and launched by August. 4) With iScanner, retail shop manager will be able to see what customers will see. 5) The iScanner Retail can be introduced in phases with advanced variants in future 6) Kelly is overestimating the work that needed to be done to launch iScanner Retail. Cliff’s: 1) The company needs a new product to remain competitive and give it a fresh push. 2) Wanted to cut down the estimated budget stipulated by Pat for iScanner Retail. Chris’s: 1) Same as Pat but not willing to confront Kelly. 2) The company must act immediately as a team to outdo its competitors. 3) Market should be reached with a new product, and then go for optimization. 2. Explain the arguments made by each of these people. A. Cliff OConnor The company, AcuScan is going through a transition period both financially as well as product wise. That is, even though AcuScan is facing short-term budget crisis, Cliff believes a new innovation is necessary to keep the company competitive. With its main vehicle iScanner reaching a stabilizing phase with no opportunity to grow, Cliff want to introduce a product that will take over the mantle of being the premier product of AcuScan. But, this argument of Cliff has a weakening argument from himself. That is, with the labour retrenchment and budgets cuts in various department, AcuScan cannot provide the maximum for the launch of iScanner Retail, only 2/3 of the initial budget request. B. Pat Lambert The argument of Pat is, the future of AcuScan involves in the evolution of its iScanner into various applications or new products. Noticing the potential of the iScanner’s application in the retail store, Pat decides to take that course. To Kelly’s obstacles, he believes, AcuScan has enough programmers to work on the needed technology. Even if homegrown programmers are ill equipped to do the change, then that part of the new project can be outsourced to other skilled programmers. Also, according to Pat, iScanner retail will provide a helpful working environment for the retail shop owners providing the needed information about the visiting customers. C. Kelly Thomas Kelly who only pioneered the original iScanner is not open to the idea of inventing a new product or even innovating a existing product. He always believes in a quality product, which can stand the test of times, iScanner is a perfect example for it. So, Kelly argues that, they cannot actualize Pat’s plan because the time is very narrow for it and also giving a through Quality testing a go by, is not a advisable thing to do. He argues, that the management people doesn’t have a clue about the technical side of the product and the difficulty the programmers have to face in producing a product. He also feels that Pat’s opinion that only few modifications are needed for the ‘operationalisation’ of iScanner Retail is not possible. So, he argues that Pat and Chriss plans for launching the new product are vague, extremely optimistic and unreasonable, which makes it not proper to launch. D. Chris Martinas Chris firmly believes that any new innovation is the future of the company. Because, in order to achieve success, Chris argues AcuScan need to move into new markets and recapture the title of market leader and innovator. Also AcuScan’s main competitor Secur-A Corp is planning a similar device, Chris believes that speed is the mantra to beat Secur-A-Corp. Even though he did not directly confront Kelly, he mainly believes in Pats vision of iScanner being a retail product. 3. Evaluate each argument listed above as sound or unsound and why. Indicate whether they are emotional or logical in nature. A. Cliff OConnor Cliff’s argument that innovative changes are the need of the hour is a logical, and a sound argument. Because, even though company is in safe ‘shores’ because of last years profits, it is mainly due to staff reduction and not due to increase in sales volume. So, Cliff ‘s need for change has to be trusted as the viable option, which can increase sales revenues. B. Pat Lambert Pats arguments on the other hand don’t sound logical at all. Logical in the sense, firstly, he should have taken into the confidence the head of the development team, Senior Engineer Kelly. But, Pat without finding out the feasibility of the product from the main man, plans it and pushes Kelly to actualize it. So, from the arguments one can evaluate that Pat to prove his worth to Cliff, takes that initiative to go for a new product, which is fine, but his ignorance of AcuScan history, that to of iScanner history (which was lectured by Kelly) is a major drawback. In addition, Pat’s belief that he can put the product in the market by bringing in other programmers, formulate ‘extra codes’, thereby the needed modification also sounds illogical. Because, Kelly being the inventor who invented iScanner, he only knows all the inner working of the product as well as the software that controls it. So, bringing in other programmers is an emotional decision to actualize his plan and is illogical because it would be very difficult for new programmers to work with iScanner without Kelly’s support. C. Kelly Thomas In the case of Kelly Thomas, his arguments borders both on the logical side and on the emotional side. This is because being an experienced hand in AcuScan with thorough knowledge of iScanner, he knows what all it can do or what are all the things he can make it to do and importantly the timeframe he need to make it to do. This shows that Kelly’s argument has a logical pattern. When speaking about his emotional arguments he takes a confrontationist attitude towards Pat. That is, Kelly feels that Pat is undermining his position and Pat is basing all his argument on a superior attitude. This provokes emotional arguments from Kelly, when he refuses to meet Pat to discuss possible alternatives or compromises, and when questioning Pat knowledge about the technical details. D. Chris Martinas Chris argument in the whole scenario doesn’t count much because he doesn’t make any forceful argument supporting one side or other. In the initial stages, he with Pat is only behind the formulation of the whole plan, but when it enters the crucial stage, he plays a rather inferior role to Pat. Even avoids mediating between Pat and Kelly to solve the issue. Chris kind of follows the middle of the road approach and wants the two to get together and work out a compromise solution within the short period and reduced budget. But, mostly his arguments borders on the positive side, which shows his intention that AcuScan, should achieve success. 4. Describe specific fallacious arguments, and identify the people who hold them. 1. The first of the fallacious argument comes from Pat when he states in the progress report, “Operation Optimize” that the new retail application for iScanner can be made possible with only additional programming, without doing any consultation with Kelly. This can be regarded as a fallacious argument because Pat is someone who knows nothing about the intricacies of software and programming codes but acts and writes in the report that he knows it well. So, the act of Pat making big assumptions regarding the feasibility of the iScanner’s retail capabilities is an fallacious one. 2. Another fallacious argument of Pat comes out, when he converses through E-mail thread with Kelly about the comments of one of the AcuScan’s developers. That is, while stating his position on the feasibility of the product to Kelly, Pat tells about the conversation he had with one of the programmers, who worked under Kelly. He states that, the concerned programmer had conveyed to him that the iScanner’s retail plans are possible. This ‘behind the back’ activity and its description is fallacious because it is not proper on the part of Pat to first ask a subordinate and then the head about the feasibility of a major project. Also, the programmer could be a novice or ill-equipped to give a judgment about an important product and its software. 3. Kelly’s arguments while rejecting the possibility of the product also has fallacious element in it. That is, his answering to Pat represents the situation, when a plan was not formulated without following well-protected practices. Kelly in the center of this situation adamantly rejects the plans because of procedural and budget restrictions; he harbors the fact that, marketing has come up with these ideas without consulting him. This isolation in crucial stages only gave rise to these fallacious arguments from Kelly. 4. Both Kelly and Pat might be accused of making fallacious arguments when arguing about the feasibility of increasing the features in the new product. That is, Kelly focuses his argument by forcing Pat to select one feature that could be implemented within the deadline, while Pat counteracts by asking Kelly one good reason why a prototype cannot be beta tested before the launch. These arguments can be considered fallacious because it was not intended to solve the problem but only extend it. CONCLUSIONS 1. Describe all problems in this situation. A. The CEO of the company AcuScan wants a new product to be introduced to increase company’s revenues, even though he himself wants to reduce the budget by 15% in every department. B. The deadline is very narrow, and the features the product needs are extensive and complicated. C. The marketing team or person thinks it is possible to launch the product by the deadline with all the features, while the development team thinks other wise. 2. For each problem listed above, describe the data, arguments, and reasoning that contribute to the problem. Company’s revenues at half yearly period continue to slump with both sales revenue as well as the service revenues sinking. Based on recent numbers, the present sales/services ratio of 50/50 maintained by AcuScan for a quite period of time in the positive direction, will slide to about 30%. So, the services are expected to provide about 70% of the AcuScan’s revenues during the rest of the fiscal year giving the ratio of 70/30. CEO Cliff O’Connor to over come this downturn and to have better prospects for the company makes the decision to pursue new products. With the new products, Cliff hopes to capture a bigger market share than its existing one of 40%. The ‘gestation’ or development period of AcuScan’s main vehicle iScanner was about 1 year. Even though, the new application of iScanner Retail involves only an addition of features, Kelly feels the period of 6 months is not enough to provide a quality product. Pat’s behind the screen contact with one of the Kelly’s programmers and is plan to go for contracted software programmers from outside for $350,000 set the two departments of development and marketing on the collision course. 3. What is the underlying problem that is the base cause of the conflict within the company? The underlying problem that AcuScan is confronting to actualize the plan of iScanner Retail is that, they are (i.e. Pat, Chris and Cliff) expecting more in a short time with shortage of resources. Short time in the sense, the August deadline is too close to develop the product and test it. Then, there are not enough resources to complete the new project in an effective way. That is, with company going through tough times financial wise, the budget allocated for the new product is not on expected levels. Also, with the constrained thought process of Kelly, the capabilities of the programmers cannot be trusted. 4. What alternative solutions would you propose for this situation? The first alternative solution AcuScan should try for this situation is to put on hold the implementation of iScanner Retail. There is no need to scrap the project altogether but wait for the opportune and better times to give it a try. The better times will be possible only if few of the things go their way. Therefore, the financial situation in AcuScan should be strengthened before investing in new ventures. Even though the new venture is an option to raise the finances, it should not drain the existing revenues. Secondly, importance should be given to increase greater co-ordination between the product development and the marketing department, and then only the planning and the development stages should be continued. Both the departments should work together and find out the feasible features that can be incorporated into iScanner Retail 5. State the relative strengths and weaknesses of each alternative solution. Strengths of Solution 1: The advantage of putting on hold iScanner Retail, until the better times, will provide it the maximum sources financially to bring out a quality product. That is, every product that needed to be developed from scratch or from an existing product, involves man-hours and importantly corpus of funds. With the financial situation of AcuScan not in favorable condition, wait, watch and enter should be best feasible option. Weakness of Solution 1: The problem with this strategy of waiting for the best financial times is, AcuScan’s competitors could steal the limelight and market, by introducing same kind of product in AcuScan. So, there are extreme chances that other companies could be beat them and garner the available markets. Strengths of Solution 2: The departments in an organization cannot exist in isolation but requires coordination and teamwork between themselves. In AcuScan, if the two departments of product development and marketing work together, they can achieve their target of developing a product, which is of best quality as well as be a market leader. That is, if both the teams iron out their differences and are involved from the start, they can work out a feasible product within the confines of a realistic product specification. Weakness of Solution 2: The problem that will arise while implementing this solution is, it could lead to the problem of superiority complex between the two departments. That is, sometimes, coordination could turn into an unhealthy competition with one wanting to impose one’s will on the other and trying to upstage them. These create a bad working environment in AcuScan. 6. Which solution will you recommend to the CEO, and why? The solution, which I would recommend for AcuScan is not to go for highly sophisticated, unworkable and unrealistic products like the iScanner Retail. That is, they may adopt smaller feature enhancements, but to bring it out the product with all the features may be not be workable. That is, as said by Kelly, screening of customers entering the shop could only be done, the other features like tracking customer’s eye movements and focus throughout the store, capturing data about each consumer’s needs, wants etc, capturing data about customer’s specific characteristics etc. cannot be done easily. Pat’s target to introduce the new product within 6 months is unfeasible. The current product is itself is a successful one, and if the management wants to develop on it, parents should be at the center of that decision making process. So, they should discuss the realistic feature enhancements that could surely improve the AcuScan product at minimal cost. Executive Summary TO: Cliff O’Connor, CEO FROM: VP of Organizational Development Subject: Update – Operation Optimize This is the summary of the situation that is visible in the company, AcuScan, through the eyes of Vice President of Organizational Development, when it plans the development of the iScanner Retail. While summarizing the situation, the summary will firstly discuss key points that are involved in the process of launching a new product, including the difficulties and finally the recommended actions that can be taken to address the issues. The main problem we at AcuScan are facing now is, the drop in the financial fortunes of the company, with the job cutting of nearly 500 employees proving out to be the redeeming feature. Along with this situation, to regain our position as a market leader and to raise the sagging financial resources, AcuScan through employee, Pat saw the need to develop or remodel iScanner for use in the retail industry by the year’s end. The one issue, which may fastened our process to achieve our target is, our competitor, Secur-A Corp’s reported readiness to be in the process of developing similar software to cater to the retail industry. This situation, which gave the opportunity to introduce a new product, has created a kind of internal crisis between the two important departments. That is, our marketing head, Pat had formulated a new application for iScanner, which could revolutionize the retail industry. That is, the new model of iScanner would detect the incoming customers, track them through their eyes, find the customer’s preference etc. He thinks this newly formulated product should be launched within 6 months, so it can beat the competition that is brewing with Secur-A-Corp over launch of the product. But, one of our senior staff and the man behind AcuScan main vehicle iScanner, Kelly is not in favor of introducing any new product and even redeveloping it. His main opposition is due to the short time period that is available to the product development team. With budget spending also tightened, Kelly is opposing the product tooth and nail. Pat who thoroughly believes in the product is open for any discussion with Kelly and is receptive to other suggestions, including handing over the redevelopment part to outside programmers. This clash between two individuals and their respective departments have made iScanner difficult to take-off. In that case, I recommend that AcuScan put on hold the plan of Pat, and go for rather gradual improvement in the features of iScanner. Features those are feasible and technologically possible because many of the provisions put forward by Pat, as part of Operation Optimize, is very futuristic with little chances of it turning into reality. This way the financial situation could be salvaged a bit and thereby more allocation of funds into research is possible. If this is done, it will provide the company a no risk setting, in terms of financial situation and also lot of leverage in the aspect of deadlines. Read More