Business Policies and Management - Essay Example

Case Study Assignment PART ONE: Response to specific questions on the worksheet Analysis Assumptions Held By Kelly. Kelly assumes that they cannot maintain existing services with the limited staff they presently have. He assumes that this project development will fail due to limited time and shortage of staff. He further assumes that Pat Lambert hasn’t heard of QC. Kelly also assumes that he can design one feature and make it work by August. He assumes that the “iscanner” was a hit because the development department took time to put the software together. Assumptions Held By Pat. Acuscan is not controlling 40 percent of the market for its products, the iscanner. Prices of iscanner are dropping as the product becomes a commodity. To succeed in the current market, Acuscan needs to expand in its technology. It also needs to create a solution to un-recognized customers’ needs. To make the year successful, Acuscan must act quickly since its competitors are already working for the market by looking for new ways to improve their existing technology. Assumes that a potential exists to use iscanner technology and equipment in a retail environment. He further assumes that due to the flexibility and power of iscanner, market development for Operation Optimize, security software will require minimal investment of time of existing staff and effort. Assumes that to deliver operation optimize, the company must deploy the installation of the software within six to eight months, way before competitors know of its existence. Assumes that iscanner will, with the superior experience of its staff, take the market by storm. Assumptions Held By Cliff. Assumes that Pat Lambert history as a talented and creative marketer in the cereal industry will prove to be useful for Acuscan in recapturing their position as the market leader in the industry. He assumes that the company will face a short term budget crisis before launching the new product. Assumptions Held By Chris. Assumes that there is a problem between the Marketing department and the product development department. Assumes that due to the falling revenues of the company, tough decisions can be made by employees and thus maintain the department’s strength and productivity. He assumes that his department will make a 15 percent reduction in budget without laying-off of staff. Arguments Made By: Cliff O Connor. Cliff O Connor argues that based on recent numbers of downslide in business, the revenues for iscanner will fall because sales and service revenues are sinking. He further argues that the current sales and service ratio which is at 50/50 will fall by 30 percent and the service sector is expected to provide 70 percent of the revenue this year. Pat Lambert. Pat Lambert argues that if a prototype is installed by August that includes all the features of Operation Optimize, then customers will be thrilled and they will be ahead of their competitors even if the product is not accomplished. He further argues that the development department is capable of producing the software within the stipulated time since one of the employees at the department told him that they have extra time to develop such kind of software. Kelly Thomas. Kelly Thomas argues that the reason as to why they cannot develop the software by August is because, based on his analysis of two years ago, when the company had more people, every support engineer was allocated a client after every one hour and as a result, the product in the market was of high quality and needed less support. Currently, the engineering development department has a shortage after 25 percent of the total staff was laid off and thus the remaining personnel needs more time to create the software since most of them are involved in the engineering support department for customers. Chris Martinas. Chris argues that the sales and revenues of the company are shrinking and to maintain the strengths and productivity of the company, there needs to be a 15 percent cut in the budget of the company. Chris further argues that it is possible to achieve a 15 percent cut in the budget without laying-off of staff and thus Total Corporation of the employees of the department is needed. Evaluation of the Arguments: Cliff O Connor. The argument made by Cliff O Connor is sound. This argument is based on statistics and records of the company and thus he foresees the future based on past and current trends. For instance, Cliff argues that the current revenue of the company based on sales and service ratio is 50:50. This argument can only be made if there is an available statistical data to provide proof. In conclusion, the argument made by Cliff is very logical. Pat Lambert. The argument made by Pat Lambert is unsound. It is based on predictions and no available record is shown to support his line of reasoning. Pat argues that customers will be happy if the prototype is in the market by August despite its incompletion. Normally, if a product is released in the market and it does not offer value to clients, customers won’t be happy. Based on this analysis, the argument made by Pat was emotional and not well thought out. Kelly Thomas. The argument made by Kelly Thomas is sound. His argument is based on experience and facts. Kelly gives an example of two years ago, when the department had enough staff and the quality of work was good. Each of the Engineering staff had enough time to serve the client’s needs and as a result, the product became a market leader. Currently, Kelly argues that there is a shortage of staff in the development department and due to this; more time is needed if a quality prototype is to be developed. In conclusion, the argument made by Kelly is logical and sound. Chris Martinas. The argument made by Chris Martinas is sound. His argument is based on facts and analysis of the market trends and professional experience. He argues that to maintain the strength and growth of the company, there needs to be a reduction in budget. This argument can only be made by professionals who have experienced management crises and successfully overcome them. He further states that the company is experiencing financial problems and measures need to be put in place to save the company. This argument can only be made by an executive after looking at the company’s accounts and thereafter making a conclusion. In conclusion, the argument made by Chris Martinas is logical. Fallacious Arguments Two wrongs make a right. On this perspective, there is a fallacious argument between Pat Lambert and Kelly Thomas. Kelly asks sarcastically if Pat knows what QC is and on the other hand pat responds by asking sarcastically if Kelly knows what iterations are. The Red Herring. This fallacy is introduced by Kelly Thomas. While arguing with Pat Lambert, Kelly states that two years ago, the company allocated every hour of their support engineers to serve the needs of their clients. This is an irrelevant issue since Pat wanted to know why the development department could not develop a new prototype by August. Slanting This fallacy is made by Kelly while addressing Pat. He asks Pat sarcastically, “Does, we don’t have time mean anything to you?” False Analogy This argument is made by Pat when he argues that customers will be happy with the prototype even if it is not complete when it comes into the market by August. The statement was addressed to Kelly Thomas. Appeal to Emotion This fallacy is made by Kelly while addressing Pat. He asks what the need to meet again is if they would argue. He poses the questions; “To do what? Argue again?” Conclusion The problems that characterize the situation are: The company is making loses and losing its market share to its competitors. There is a shortage of financial and human capital in the company. There is disunity and differences among key managers of the company, Pat Lambert who heads the Marketing Department and Kelly Thomas who heads the Engineering Software development department. The company, according to Cliff O Connor, reduced its staff by 500 people and the expected revenue is expected to fall by 30 percent with the services the company offers overriding the sales by 70 percent. The reasons contributing to fall in revenue of the company is due to increased competition from major competitors and lack of new innovative products to be released in the market. The argument between Pat Lambert and Kelly Thomas basically involves lack of time in the development of new software and thus more employees are needed to help in this initiative. The main problem in their argument therefore is lack of the much needed human capital in the development department of Acuscan. In all these, the main cause of conflict within Acuscan is lack of financial capital to advance its interests. The solutions to these problems are twofold: Either the company acquires loans from financial institutions. This will enable the company to expand its business in the market or, The company is compelled to reduce the salaries of its staff to a possible minimum (Bursk, 1956). The strengths of the two solutions are; In solution one, loans from financial institutions are easily available and due to the good reputation of the company, it will be able to acquire substantial amount of money for the purposes of its businesses. In solution two, the company will be able to retain its staff and thus human capital won’t be a problem. The weaknesses of the two solutions are; In solution one, loans come up with high interests which the company will have to pay. In solution two, the company may be faced with mass resignations from its employees due to protests of salary cuts. The solution I will advice the company to take is the adoption of salary cuts. This is because, if the employees decide to leave because of the cuts, then the company can employ new employees at their own terms and conditions. PART TWO Executive Summary Chris O Connor, the Chief Executive Officer of Acuscan, has hired me as the new Vice President of Organizational Department. My duty will be to create an Organizational Department plan for the whole year. My other duty is to help the company transit into retail market with the emergence of a new product made by the company while the company retains its traditional market and quality of its product. However, I am employed into the company during a time when it is facing a crisis. As the vice president of the Organizational department, I will prepare a document that will highlight the problems that the company is facing. I will also highlight the product that the company manufactures. This document will seek to provide the policies that the company ought to enact in order to make it regain its diminishing market share. This document is divided into four parts: Part one will give a brief summary of the situation facing the company, part two will introduce key points relating to the situation facing the company, three will provide conclusions on the situations facing the company and part four will give recommendations and actions that need to be taken in order to make the company profitable again. Summary of the situation Acuscan is a company that provides security software iscanner used in scanning security businesses and mostly in airports. Acuscan, through its product iscanner, controls 40 percent of the security market and has employed 1,500 employees across the United States of America. In the previous financial year, the company hit 100 million dollars in revenue despite economic slowdown and traumatic labor relations. However, the above scenario, according to the Scanners Weekly is not the case. Acuscan is said to be experiencing financial problems due to pressures from its competitors and has laid-off nearly 500 employees. This has however reduced the company’s costs by 15 percent. The company CEO foresees a downward slump in revenue to 30 percent with the service sector netting 70 percent of the revenue. In order for the company to survive the harsh economic conditions, it has hired Pat Lambert, an experienced and skillful marketer to help in the growth and retention of the company’s traditional markets of the company. To improve the revenue of the company, Pat and Chris Martinas, Vice President of Product development, decide to launch new security software that will target the retail sector and it needs to be installed in the market by August. However, the two are faced with a resistance from Kelly Thomas, the chief engineer for software development who argues that the product cannot be developed before August since there are not enough personnel to work on its creation. Mr. Kelly and Pat are thus involved in arguments against arguments, as a result compromising their professionalism and wasting time which could have been used in solving other pressing issues. Key points relating to the situation The company is facing serious financial troubles. The company lacks enough human capital for its operations. The company wants to launch new products in the market. The company wants to diversify its market to the retail sector. There is disunity amongst senior officials of the company concerning the launch of a new product. Recommendations and actions to be taken The organization should find ways and means of improving its financial capital without resorting to cost cutting measures such as laying-off of staff. This is because it takes a lot of financial resources to train staff and incorporate them into the company. For instance, when the company recruits employees who are not experienced, it would take a lot of time and resources to train them and as such, losing such kind of staff is not beneficial to the company. The means in which the company can improve its sources of revenue are: Taking loans from either banks or the government. Reducing the salaries of its employees. Floating its shares to the public in order to raise revenue (Bursk, 1956). The Chief Executive officer also needs to find ways and means in which he will enact discipline amongst its employees. This will help to improve the relationships between the employees of the company and thus effectively develop products that will appeal to the market by encouraging cooperation and mutual respect. The Chief Executive officer can do this by): Developing codes of conduct in which employees have to follow while working for the organization (New man and Logan, 1959. Organizing social activities in which the employees of the company will participate to help in developing friendships and understandings amongst the employees. Organizing seminars for employees to teach them on Inter-Personal communications skills and how to interact with colleagues at the work place. To improve on its market share and gain advantage over other security companies, Acuscan needs to embark on aggressive advertisements and sales promotion activities. This will improve product sales and thus gain an advantage over other companies which have not resorted to such measures yet. Conclusion of the Executive Summary In conclusion, the company is capable to of improving its sales and acquiring command of the security market by 70 percent. This is because of the superb skills within the enterprise and the iscanner technology which can be developed and improved to meet the present needs of the company. The chief executive officer needs to look into areas where there is in adequate staff and re-hire the laid off staff to ensure continuity. In the long run, if implemented, this policy will prove profitable to the company. Also in implementing these recommendations, Acuscan needs to look for market of its product in Europe, Asia and Africa. These are emerging markets and its growth is assured if it can gain access to these markets. With the right policies and effective implementation of such policies, Acuscan is capable of becoming a market leader in the provision of security devices and thus improve its revenue to a mark higher than what it is presently. Works Cited Bursk, Edward Collins. (1956). Human Relations for Management, the Newer Perspective. (1st ed.) New York: Harper Newman, William Herman, and James P. Logan. (1959). Business Policies and Management. (4th ed.) Cincinnati: South-western Pub. Co. Read More