Custom Chip - Article Example

Why do conflicts exist between departments at Custom Chip?

Departments at Custom Chip are not well interconnected and integrated. This is because each of the departments has been finding itself interfering with the work of other departments. Moreover, neither do these departments understand the priorities of the other departments. As revealed by the case study, the Department of Human Resources interferes with the production department by introducing unexpected activities. As a result, a conflict occurs between the departments making the department leaders feel as if other departments interfere with their work.

Analyze workflow interdependence among departments

Workflow in this company begins with the marketing department. This department collects orders from customers with detailed specifications of customer needs. After the collection of orders, the work is sent to the engineering department that designs the approach to be used to meet the customer’s specifications. The engineering department then sends the work to the production department which undertakes the process of producing the items ordered by customers. In case of any issue in production, the production supervisor is supposed to call the product engineer for guidelines. The workflow process for this company has been lengthy. This has made it to cause delays in the delivery of orders. Moreover, it has been costly thus resulting in high costs of production, and ineffective thus resulting in low levels of production.

Based on your analysis, what recommendations would you give to management?

Several modifications in the workflow require to be done in order to overcome its ineffectiveness. One of the modifications that could assist is integrating the departments of this organization in the production process. To integrate the departments, the company should make the production process to be multidisciplinary teamwork. In this kind of approach, the production team would be involving marketing personnel, a production engineer, and a production supervisor. Another modification that can be adapted to the workflow to enhance its effectiveness is ensuring that each department plays only its specific tasks without interfering with other departments.  

What is the type of design used now at Custom Chip? Would you recommend a change in the organization’s design?

The type of design used at Custom Chip is that of production workers reporting to their supervisor, the supervisor reporting to the production engineer, then production engineers reporting to the production engineering manager. This design has proven to be ineffective. Hence, I recommend that is should be modified to promote accountability and effectiveness. A modification that I would recommend is the introduction of production sight engineers who will act as production managers. The managers would be accountable for the production process and ensure effectiveness in production.