How to Set Up the Start-Up Company Successfully - Assignment Example

?Organizational Behavior and People Management How to Set Up the Start-Up Company Successfully Introduction Mr Ryan O’Neal and Mr Jeff Hoffman approached John Consulting Company for managing a project to setup a Startup Company, Sturata Inc in Vermont USA. The aim of the project wad to develop an innovative system for order fulfilment in warehouse using autonomous mobile vehicles. The mandate of John Consulting Company was to establish the company and install the autonomous mobile vehicle system for production. The capacity of the production system would be to produce one control station and 50 vehicles per week. The project would consists of three phases as follows: Phase 1 : Strategic Plan and Business Case Study Phase 2 : Research, Design, Development and Installation of equipment for production Phase 3 : Production and Project Closure Since the robots would be operating in close proximity with human workers with in the premises of the warehouse, the system installed would be extensively tested for quality and safety. Total of 100 suppliers comprised the supply chain of the project for component and equipment delivery and technical support. With such huge number of suppliers to develop project supply chain, Meredith and Mantel (2012) advocate using request for proposal. Another significant requirement for the project is to comply all the legal and administrative requirements. The customer expects the project to complete within 10 months with current commitment of resources and financial support. Project Organization Design Plan The project organization consists of following team members: Vice President Engineering : Mr Ryan O’Neal Chief Technical Officer Mr Ryan O’Neal is an entrepreneur and investor with 25 years of experience in research and development of autonomous mobile vehicles with different research networks in schools and universities specializing on the subject. The extensive experience and high skills of Mr Ryan O’Neal would prove beneficial to project for establishing Sturata Inc. Chief Executive Officer : Jeff Hoffman Mr Jeff Hoffman has extensive experience in successfully managing endeavors at similar positions in warehouse and supply chain management. During his career, he earned professional rewards that lifted his prestige in business networks. Chief Operating Officer : John Consulting Company Project Manager Project Manager or Chief Operating Officer would be from John Consulting Company who has background track record in delivering project as per the customer expectations in different organizational structures including functional, projectized and matrix organizations. The project manager has strong management skills for initiating new and innovative business ideas in existing organizational setup. Vice President, Administration : Miss Yamaguchi Miss Yamaguchi, a young Japanese-American with a degree from The Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA, has been appointed as Vice President of Administration who has developed a strong foundation of working in cross cultural teams. Her management skills and intellect would be of immeasurable contribution to establishment of Sturata Inc. Chief Financial Officer : Vacant The position for Chief Financial Officer is vacant. Liaison Function Officer : Vacant A liaison function officer would be appointed for developing interface of academics involved in the project with Republic of Ireland, Italy, Germany, California, and the UK. Team Members : Technical and Engineering Experts Mr Ryan O’Neal and Mr Jeff Hoffman estimated at approximately 100 engineers and technical personnel would be required for at least eight months to complete the project with in the desired schedule and budget. Other essential skills that required for Startup Project would include: Autonomous Mobile Vehicle designers from Tokyo based company Royichi Experts on legal and regulatory requirements Human resource management Analyst for communication interfaces Technical and Engineering experts Expert on quality and safety standards Marketing managers for developing and implementing promotional campaign Interface Diagram for within and External to Organizations The interface diagram displays the various interfaces between different units and teams within the company. In addition, interface diagram also represents the interfaces of these organizational entities to the external organizations and legal and regulatory bodies. The interface diagram would be used to depict the role and responsibility of each stakeholder and potential leadership skills required for maintain a positive interaction at these interfaces to guide to project towards successful completion. The interface diagram is shown in the next page. Sturata Inc Interface Diagram Stakeholder Conflict Resolution Activity Plan Jergeas et al. (2000) defined stakeholders as a group or individual that affects or is affected by the project objectives. Hanly (1992) describes project stakeholders as individuals or organizations whose interests are affected by the execution or completion of the project. Stakeholders have varying levels of interest in the project outcomes depending on the type of their involvement and the role they play in relation to the project (Boddy and Patron 2004). During the entire lifecycle of the project, a number of individuals, groups or organizations are affected by the completion of the project (Jepsen and Eskerod 2009). Thus it is important to identify these stakeholders, evaluate their needs, wants and expectations in relation to the project objectives and identify which stakeholders have greater impact on the project decisions (Freeman and McVea 2001). Milosevic (1989) is of the view that identification of stakeholders followed by their classification in accordance with nature of their interest should be the starting point of the project stakeholder management. Koster (2009) is of the view that requirements of the project stakeholder need to be classified based on the determination of legitimacy of demand and thus should be prioritized according to their influence on the project objectives. According to Chinyio and Akintoye (2008), based on their interests and influence and perspective of the project under consideration the project stakeholder can negatively or positively impact the project objectives. Daft (2001) stresses that the project manager should benefit from the early identification and prioritization of stakeholders in early stages of the project, which would result in better project performance and would determine the project successful completion. For the project, Jeff Hoffman discovered a Tokyo based company, Ryoichi comprised of 13 engineers having expertise in the design and development of autonomous mobile vehicles. Jeff Hoffman was inclined to acquire Ryoichi using stock options and cash to finance the purchase whereas Mr Ryan O’Neal wanted to use Ryoichi as Contract Company because he was concerned with the anticipated difficulties in communication between the project team and Ryoichi members and the working style of engineers at Ryoichi. In order, manage this conflict between the stakeholder, a comprehensive stakeholder management plan was developed which is shown on next page. Royichi Purchase Assessment The key to any organization’s success is the effectiveness of its workforce in executing the strategy to achieve business objectives. The current globalization and high competition in business demands that all employees in the organization perform effectively both at individual level and as team members and align themselves with the organizational strategic objectives (DBM and HCI 2011). This becomes more complex when new employees are made part of the company as a result of acquisition. Same is the case with our project for development of production system of autonomous mobile vehicles. During the setting up of Startup project for Sturata Inc, the company decided to acquire Ryoichi, a Tokyo based company, having expertise in design and development of autonomous mobile vehicles. However, there were certain concerns regarding the difficulties in communication between the current team members and the engineering team of 13 personnel at Ryoichi since very few were fluent in English. Another problem was with the entrepreneurial working of the Ryoichi since they were very closely connected with each other due to dependency on output from one member as input to another’s job during research and development. This required a more structured framework to assimilate the new members from Ryoichi into the current organizational structure of the Sturata Inc project so that all employees work effectively towards the successful completion of the project and start the production in time. Bauer (2007) suggests adopting Four C’s framework for assimilating the new employees in the company’s existing culture. The Four Cs stand for Compliance, Clarification, Culture and Connection. Compliance. It is the lowest level of employee assimilation and involves educating the employee on basic organizational policies and work authorization system. Clarification. It involves making employees understand their position, responsibilities and related expectations. Culture. Culture involves assimilating the new employees with the current formal and informal norms of the company. Connection. Connection is the requirement of interpersonal relationship across all levels of the organization and the information networks that new employees needs to establish. Figure 1 : Four C’s Framework for Assimilating New Employees Besides above to assimilate the Ryoichi employees in the current organization working, the company needs to educate and train both current employees and Ryoichi engineers to work in a multicultural team. Leadership and Team Stress Management Plan Puri (2012) highlights that stress at workplace results from three situations “shortage of time, strained relationships or when employees feel they are getting a raw deal”. In the same context, leaders face additional stresses due to unique leadership demands involving decision making based on limited or no information, conflict management, to deliver more and rapidly with less resources and time in account. The consequences of these stresses may result in compromising the personal and project performance, deteriorating the relationships with workers and higher management, failure to achieve the organizational objectives (Bal, Campbell and McDowell-Larsen 2008). Thus it becomes equally essential to manage leadership stress while managing the team stresses. Flamholtz and Randle (2007) developed a leadership style matrix to help diffuse the leadership stress by the type of people and tasks involved. Figure 2 : Flamholtz and Randle’s Leadership Style Matrix Quadrant 1 : High Programmability/Low Job Autonomy refers to the tasks needed to be completed in a specific way or by a team requiring motivation, feedback, guidance and high levels of interactions where a directive or autocratic style of leadership is more effective. Quadrant 2 : High Programmability/High Job Autonomy refers to the tasks that requires to be completed in a specific way by the team or individuals requiring more delegation of powers and autonomy in the their work suggesting use of consultative or participative approach in leadership. Quadrant 3 : Low Programmability/Low Job Autonomy refers to leading a highly creative and innovative project with team members that may not require autonomy and would need direction and interaction to assimilate in the working of the organization. Here again consultative or participative leadership is the best fit. Quadrant 4 : Low Programmability/High Job Autonomy refers projects that are creative and the team demands more freedom and independence of tasks suggesting a more non-directive leadership style. Thus consensus and Laissez-faire are the most suited leadership styles to work in such research and development projects. The stress at work is becoming of increased important and the leaders not only need to manage their stress but that of the team members. Thus, it becomes essential to manage the team stress through team building activities like Back to Back Drawing. This involves dividing the team into two pairs and seating them back to back. One person gives the verbal instructions to the other for drawing a picture without telling the partner what is the shape. After the completion, the drawings are compared with the actual shape to see how the partner interpreted the instructions of his team member and identify the problems with sending or receiving the instructions during communication. Survival Scenario. This exercise involves forcing the team to communicate and agree to ensure survival in the worst case scenario. The exercise may involve a scenario of plane crash in desert and the team has only twelve items so they learn to prioritize, rank, rate and evaluate urgency of each item to ensure survival. Stereotype Party. This exercise involves tagging team members with a personality type on their back so that they can see others but not their own. And the person tagged then asks stereotype questions to identify his personality type. Code of Ethics for Sturata Inc A Code of Ethics for Sturata Inc. highlighting the value system the organisation should embrace keeping in view its multi-cultural and cross-functional nature is presented below. General employee conduct in a multicultural environment Sturata Inc is proud to promote cultural diversity in its work force by showing respect for and value individuals due to diversity in their cultural background, experiences, working styles, and approaches to solve problems. The company relies on cultural diversity to derive and inspire innovation for growth of business and enhance competitive advantage by making decisions that serve a broad spectrum of customers globally. The company promotes the policy for respecting one another for a conducive working environment free from discrimination, harassment and intimidation based on cultural background. Conflict of interest and post-work activities We should avoid situations that involve conflict between personal interest and the interests of Sturata Inc. Such a conflict may be result of personal grain from outside activities for your responsibilities at Sturata Inc. Other situations for conflict of interest may include post work activities including actions of family members or relationships other than family members. If a situation of conflict of interest arises, report the issue to your higher management and the company’s legal expert. Recording organizational communications Use of Sturata Inc’s equipment and communication system is vital to the business and should be used for the appropriate business purposes only. Honest communication is vital to the business progression and so as to be maintained while communicating to customers, client and all stakeholders within and outside the organization. It is also essential to keep record of communications made within company’s departments and outside to clients and stakeholders in appropriate format digital or project file system in hard format. Relationship with suppliers, customers and partners Relationships with suppliers, customers and partners should be based only on sound business decisions and fair dealing. Employees of Sturata Inc and their family members may not serve as officers, directors, agents, employees or consultants of the supplier, customer and partners except with the permission and consent of the CEO. If such a relationship exists which may result in perceived or actual conflict of interest, it may be reported to higher management and legal expert of the Sturata Inc. Prevailing applicable industry practices and regulations would govern the disclosure of information regarding business activities, financial status and performance issues. Gifts, favours, and commissions Business gifts, favours and commissions can be a goodwill gesture but are difficult to identify the intent of the person or company providing them. No gift, favour and commission would be accepted if it obligates or appears to obligate a person receiving it. Acceptance of cash of equivalent is not permitted under company’s code of ethics. Local and national laws related to accepting from and giving gifts, favours and commissions to government officials are to be respected in all circumstances. Responsibility to society and environment Sturata Inc is committed in bringing contributions to quality of life and economic development of the society. Sturata Inc also encourages its employees to participate in such initiatives that promote a quality life through charitable and professional organizations. No one in the company may force employees to join a specific charitable organization or participate involuntarily in the initiatives. Sturata Inc is committed to promotion and maintenance of practices depicting responsibility towards healthier environment for the benefit of customers and employees. 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