Gigawatt Studios, Inc - Essay Example

Proposal for action Introduction Gig watt Studios, Inc., is one of the upcoming gaming design organization started by three young entrepreneurs (Phil, Randy and Hank) who had the expertise to design high quality Nintendo DS games using their effective thought process. Their first gaming design was based on blockbuster movie Madagascar 2 has been gaining more praise from top magazines and user groups emphasizing the success of the first product. Celebrating their first success, started their project plan of second project. The objective of the second project is to design Nintendo DS games for upcoming Cars 2 movie. The conceptual idea gained support of the Pixar executives and venture capitalists. Organizational Staffing The studio has 12 full time and 5 part time employees. The key organizational members of gig watt studio are Phil, Hank, Randy, Bill (purchasing), Liz (Marketing) and Julie (Sales).Randy is process owner for production and concentrates on the design and packaging of the second project. Work Strategy The investors wanted the project to be initiated in next four months. As a first step, the work group leased a 3000 sq.ft work space. The Key organizational members review the past week progress by meeting every Monday 10 am and also plan the activities for the coming week. The meetings were not conducted religiously and often encountered situations like frequent delays, interruptions, breaks. Meetings were conducted orally and in an informal way and there was a huge gap in monitoring the status of the discussed plan of action .There was no minutes of meeting circulated with the action plan, process owners, key tasks and dead line for completion. Due to lack of communication, the second projects had carry –over and disdain leading to more complex problem among the investors and the bank. Analysis of Organization Communication Issues Key problems affecting the project plan Delay in the launch of the second project disappointing the investors. Problem in design phase as there are difficulties in integration of graphic and command programming. There was interference from the investors by changing the principal character of the movie twice in last three months affecting the initial project design. The project design was transformed to a more sophisticated work version. The key organizations members developed as two factions having different thought process on work strategy due to stress and created a hostile environment. Lack of participation and ownership further delayed the launch of second project. Strategy adopted to identify communication problems To evaluate the communication pattern on verbal aggressiveness, openness in message sending and receiving, trust, supportiveness, and perceptions of their influence over decision making by making the key organizational members to respond with open mind. In first round of data collection, all the members rated high for all communication parameters and they were in the initial start-up phase. There was a satisfactory output in terms of their work relationships, support, loyalty and socialization. Data collection for second round was conducted in an organized manner of recording the communication with peers in a way that each member recorded the interactions on a different day of the week. The second round data interpretation revealed serious gap in relationships and frequency of interaction among key organizational members. Third round of data collection revealed negative output in trust, openness in sending message and participation in decision making enlightening the sad state of gig watt studio. Analyzing the state of the organization, the consultant identified two major communication problems. Lack of Information Communication Lack of effective meeting management Recommendations Literature review Information Communication is of prime importance for any organization and it is believed that “communication dimensions with the greatest support as predictors were accuracy of information, desire for interaction, communication load, trust in superior, influence of superior, and communication satisfaction “(Pettit et al, 1997).  There should be defined process of information communication for better review and control for effective organizational development. According to the information processing theory, “the function of communication motivates the development of organizational structure” (Bates & MacWhinney, 1982, 1987). The pragmatic theory of language acquisition is based on the belief that “communicative functions and the situational context are the driving forces behind information management “(Austin, 1962; Bruner, 1986; Searle, 1969). Action steps for improving information communication It is important to circulate copy of the strategic plan to the key organizational members, focusing on project details like strategic goals, method of implementation, action plan and timeline for the planned actions for better clarity and understanding. Develop a information bulletin on critical happenings of the studio and encourage the key members to share information and present their views as suggestions or solution for effective implementation. It is ideal to have a status report on tasks from key members on a weekly basis. The status report should furnish information on what they did last week, will do next week and any actions/issues to address. Some of the critical information to be shared among key members is completed tasks, pending tasks, pending issues, date of report and planned issues. This information are very critical to identify gaps in implementation and address the same in the earlier phase of implementation. Accuracy and reliability of the information must be validated by a process owner within the organization. Action steps for effective meeting management Meeting management is of prime importance for resolving any organizational communication issues. Some of the critical steps to be followed are Inform Key members on meeting by developing agenda furnishing details of meeting date,time,points of discussion so that the members are prepared for the meeting It is critical for one person to chair the meeting and control hostilities and disturbances during the meeting. It is mandatory to establish ground rules for the meeting like punctuality ,compulsory attendance, recording the minutes of the meeting,discussion,presentation and views from each member, compliance on scheduled break timings It is important to manage time during meetings by adhering to agenda Assign process owners for each task with a timeline and review the same during the next meeting for better focus on the tasks to be implemented. Summary of action steps for Gig watt studio Plan and organize meetings based on agenda and involve key members to share their views on the same Share critical information among each other and develop information bulletin for better focus and involvement for the key members References Harris, T. E. Applied Organizational Communication: Perspectives, Principles, and Pragmatics . Hidreth, R. A. (1990). The Essentials of meeting management. Prentice hall College Div. Johnson, D. Information Seeking: An Organizational Dilemma . Owen Hargie, D. T. Key Issues in Organizational Communication . Thad B Green, J. T. Breaking the Barrier to Upward Communication: Strategies and Skills for Employees, Managers, and HR Specialists . Web links http://www.smetoolkit.org/smetoolkit/en/content/en/27/How-to-Run-a-Formal-Meeting https://www.changestart.com www.managementhelp.org/grp_skll/meetings/meeting Read More