Management Techniques at McGraw-Hill - Case Study Example

? McGraw-Hill McGraw-Hill is an organization that was setting its foot in the business of publishing books. They wanted tobegin, but they were facing several challenges. This involved getting into a field that was already competitive. One primary determinant was to ascertain demand for textbooks. They had a tough time figuring out ways to reach professors to buy their books instead of the books that they usually purchase. Making a book needed many efforts like finding out what lecturers like as well as making sure the users understand the content of the book (Hasik et al, 2007 P. 117). They needed to figure out whether they needed to make a book, which was common or accommodated to different professors. One of the initial things that the company needs to carry out is a feasibility study. This would be significant since creating something without knowing its important could be extremely expensive in the end. Analysis Question 1 McGraw-Hill in determining the feasibility of the Primis idea had several numbers of questions to ask itself before investing in the project. The main question, which the company needed to ask itself, is whether they had money and if not where were they going to get them. The second question was whether they had technological means of delivering, the ability to carry out research, the capacity to store materials and the method to be used in delivering the materials to the required point of sale in a timely manner. Other question was whether they had the means, opportunity as well as the revenue pack to justify getting the business idea started. Moreover, before making their materials, they need to examine a piece of work, which has been doing well in the market and compare it with those that are not doing very well. The other question was the uniqueness the new product would bring into the already competitive market in order to gain grounds. In addition, they needed to ask themselves where to get individuals to produce the content, review the text, revising it as well as printing the text. Last was the manner in which they were going to pay royalty. Question 2 The system approach worked extremely well for the initial stage because a great idea had already been born. The primis had a smart team that’s was able to determine and come up with solution on various questions. This includes determining whether the company was able to print the entire textbooks, which are currently demanded on time, even though they had no idea if custom publishing was feasible. The team also had to look at additional factors of pricing as well as quality. The company was also lucky to own its fast printing machine, which was the only one in the flour of the house publishing at that time. The system received funding which was a key to developing the system. In addition, the company had developed the content, had the storage capacity as well as the printer to start with. Question 3 The team should have tried to learn the objectives that will be met by the scheme. This objective needs mainly to be quantitative goals so that when the project is put into place it is easy to relate quantitatively the accomplishment with the initial objective set. Analysts must be able to approximate what hardware, as well as human resources, will be required to apply a system to meet the objectives. Analyst should also explore other ways to put into practice the system as well as their resource requirements. A cost-benefit analysis must be obtained for every alternative and provided to the administration. The analysis will be important for a company to determine which resolution they are likely to put in place. Feasibility of attaining objectives with available technology, as well as human resource together with cost, is vital parameters for informed administration decision-making process. Question 4 In my own view, I would not have implemented the system with the information the company had at that time. I would have first note the weaknesses in the current scheme as well as set goals to get rid of them. In addition, I would have the goals quantified and explore solutions to meet the objectives. Furthermore, I would assess the feasibility of option solutions taking into consideration limitations on resources. The other essential thing I would have done is to rank order options and discuss them with the end user. I would also prepare a scheme proposal for organization approval. It is important at the same time to find out if it is possible to realize these objectives. Lastly, I would have determined the cost of realizing every objective as well as finding cost benefit when quantified. Design Question 5 The Primis system development for McGraw-Hill was being driven by several factors for it to achieve the competitive advantage over other companies in the market. This process of achieving the competitive advantage was determined by quality, speed as well as service. To start with, the company knew well that, for their products to sell and penetrate easily into the already competitive market, quality needed to come first. In dealing with quality, the company examined what all users of their product were looking for in the book, especially the students and lectures. In addition, the company knew very well that to emerge the winners, in the market they have to produce at a high speed. Producing at a very high speed means that the company will then be able to supply the books to their clients with efficiency when demanded. This will give the company the advantage of being viewed as reliable and at the end; the company will win the market. In addition, service was also a priority to the company. The company sought several means of compensating and rewarding their employees. This then translated to hard work and production of quality products by all the stakeholders involved as well as attracting workers from other companies. Question 6 Having clear knowledge of the challenges they would face since no major publisher had ever embarked on such project, McGraw-Hill created a custom publishing system that was suitable as well as supporting much customization of textbooks despite the limited technology in custom system at that particular time. Data base design is also another system design tool that was utilized to develop the system. The design of content database was, therefore, determined. In addition, printing file format was an additional tool. Requirements for formatting documents for printing were hence developed. Question 7 Having in mind that business client must view the products as a solution to meet their needs; the Primis took into consideration several factors. The company, therefore, began to develop as well as evaluating alternative system solution, which meant that they had to compare the existing publishing process to the newly proposed one as well as identifying solution that best meet the customers’ requirements. They try to find out why the books were not adopted and they learned that they were lacking the content the professors were looking for. In addition, several copy shops, which several universities wanted to use their regional source materials to teach existed. The company went to present the material in a way that it would be used in any way as well as being understood. Therefore, they arranged their books in chapters and ensured that one chapter related to the other. So, one needed to cover the chapters in order to be able to understand what would happen in the coming chapters. In addition, they took into consideration the possibility that the lecturer could rearrange the chapters and; therefore, they had to find a means, which would allow students to realize the flow of the chapters with much ease. They achieved this by repeating figures in the previous chapter and making referrals to them. Question 8 The team knew that with technology, things will not remain the same forever, and the changes would affect their production process. The company, therefore, embarked on identifying a company that was already embracing technology and had proved to adapt to technological changes with ease. They first had to choose one of the many competing company in the market, but they realized they needed to have the standard to be able to choose the right company. The team, therefore, chose a company that was going to meet their goals in terms of standards. Kodak was the preferred company because they wanted to use what was becoming the industry’s standards. However, Kodak was tying with another company, and the company had proved a case of the reason why they wanted to do this. System Development Question 9 Prototyping stands for a process of establishing model that shows the facial appearance of a proposed product, service as well as system. Prototyping would have made it possible for Primis team to demonstrate to their clients, staff members and other users what the software will do. The prototypes, however, are not fully functional compared to the final software application, though they provide the required information for users to make a decision. It would have given the users of the Primis product an opportunity to try out the product a find out if it meets their want. If the prototype does not, the Primis could have made the required changes and send it back for testing by the users. Question 10 Development of the system is all about focusing on the requirements as well as demands of the business and the end users. End Users should have worked endlessly, progressively and amicably to put their requirements into the system in a realistic manner. They should have been as honest as possible. They also would have identified mistakes made by the Primis, give the company a chance to learn from them, and enable the company to turn all this to their own advantage (Howett, 2002 P. 137). The users would have enabled the company to make self-effacing improvements and improving them repeatedly until maximum degree of quality is achieved. Moreover, the users would have challenged the company by being uncertain and deferring unknowns until the company gets to understand them and handle them effectively. Question 11 McGraw employed technological choice as a management technique. This was a great advantage to them since no other company had embarked on such an investment and, therefore, added to their successes. McGraw Hill did a phenomenal marketing campaign with Primis by advertising themselves using the New York Times. They use to cover four pages advertising their products daily when the other companies were not doing it. Another thing is that McGraw Hill was doing the entire classroom publishing which becomes an added advantage over the other companies. The company additionally allocated many resources in the project at a time when other companies did not think it was necessary to do so in order to be won the market. McGraw Hill also becomes successful in impressing the clients. They were able to convince them through meeting their demands when required to do so. The company became so efficient in this to a point they would complete printing a book within 48 hours since the period an order is made. They would also make it available at the required point for collection in a timely manner. Question 12 It was essential for the company to take into consideration the relationship of Primis to back-end systems at McGraw-Hill in order to cut down on the cost of production. It was easy for the company to maximize its profits as well as start the venture because it was already in the printing industry. This, therefore, meant that they only had to invest on the new system alone. The other facilities like storage were already in place and needed only to be expanded to accommodate the more materials. Also, the on the side of transport was may be to bring in more of what was already available. In terms, human resource the company had its authors who were qualified and they just required to add a few who are specialist in the sector IT to speed up the production process. Question 13 If I were the Manager at Primis, I would have created a different team to go out research on books that were doing well in the market as well as those that had failed to get adoption in the same market. I will then begin the decision of whether to start the idea basing on the analysis of the two. In addition, I would have considered opening outlets in several areas. This would ensure that the clients get the type of materials they need around their place as well as locking out other companies, which would be interested in copying the idea. The company will then be able to stand relevant in the market for a longer period. Maintenance Question 14 If I were a professor, I would choose a color eBook while considering adopting a custom textbook. First, the book has a good impression and, therefore, appealing to almost all the students. The writing as well as pictures on the book is very clear, and one can really understand what is being described by looking at the figures. I would adopt the color e-book to avoid being left behind as other colleagues embrace the things that are brought by technology. Question 15 In order to determine the information that is added into the system, I would take into consideration the number of users who benefit from such information. In cases where a good number of people use the information I will only amend changes on few parts of what already exist without changing the other parts that are considered useful by several users (Hademenos et al, 2008 P. 112). In addition, I will completely dispose information with little or no users and substitute it with the current ones. In some few exceptional cases, I will keep the new and the old information. This process will have the effect of changing the content partially, changing the content completely and in some cases destroy all contents. In conclusion, the leaders of this plan would have to consult the IT department for them, to work together in thoughts that they have. This would entail obtaining the required hardware to get the development going. The hardware would comprise of a printer, computer as well as a scanner. IT department would also require collecting required software to make pictures that match with the subjects. If they were working with an outside organization, they would have to ensure that they have programs that do well with the outside organization. McGraw Hill would require establishing an area to store their materials safely. In addition, the company would find a convenient way to transport their materials to other sellers they may utilize them. The achievement of this plan will take a lot revising and work from the administration as well as IT for them to be triumphant. Hademenos, G. & Murphree, S. (2008). McGraw-Hill's PCAT. USA, NJ: McGraw Hill Professional Hasik, J., Rudnick, S. & Hack, R. (2007). McGraw-Hill's GMAT: Graduate Management Admission Test. USA, NJ: McGraw Hill Professional Howett, J. (2002). 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