SWOT Analysis of Airstar Inc - Case Study Example

Airstar, Inc Name Institution Course Professor Date Executive Summary This paper is a report, which is compiled based on the analysis of Airstar, Inc case study. The report identifies the problem, solutions to problem, the organization structure, and makes a recommendation on the company. Report findings illustrate that the company has problem in its organization structure and design. This has led to the development of several challenges in the company, which have impacted the performance level of the company. These include development of frustration among managers of the company on how to run the affairs of the company effectively. On the same note, the communication channels of the company are not effective. This makes sharing of information and knowledge in the company a significant challenge. Lack of an effective organization structure of the company affects its ability to address the problem of the inherent competition in the market. Based on this, the report recommends that there is a need for the company managers to develop higher competencies in terms of management and leadership skills. This will ensure that they have the ability to handle issues and challenges of the company effectively. The report also finds it necessary for the company to conduct a SWOT analysis, so that it can identify its competitive strength in the market and improve on the same. Finally, the report concludes that Airstar, Inc needs to address the issue of organization structure and design in order to regain its former competitive strength in the market. Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Table of Contents 3 Introduction 3 Problems 4 Organization Structure 4 Leadership 5 Strategy 5 Job Description 6 Current Structure 6 Solutions 7 Development of a Strategy 7 Mission Statement 8 Leadership and Management Skills 8 Basic Functions 9 Recommendations 10 Leadership and Management Skills 10 SWOT Analysis 10 Organization Structure 11 Strategy 11 Conclusion 11 Bibliography 13 Introduction This paper provides a report on Airstar, Inc based on the organization structure and design of the company. The report identifies the problems, which the company is facing, proposes solutions to these problems and recommends on what should be done in order to ensure that the company has the ability to its desired goals and objectives with minimal competition from its current business environment. Airstar, Inc is a company, which is involved the manufacture and provision of repair and maintenance services to small aircraft owners. The company focuses on the engines and pistons overhauls and manufacture. The company had been at the top performance to the death of the founder president and incoming of Roy Morgan as the new president. Further, the company has being able to retain its managers for a longer time. However, Airstar, Inc is facing several problems because of the nature of the market environment where it conducts its business activities. Moreover, the operation industry for the company has changed significantly. These changes have induced a stiff competition from other companies, which include Pratt & Whitney, and General Electric. Airstar, Inc was known for superior customer services, safety, and quality of products. This has drastically changed as the company is experiencing considerable challenges from its business environment, which have impacted the functions and operations of the company in a negative way. These challenges include frustration of managers and employees, poor organization structure, and communication channels are not effective. Problems Organization Structure The key significant problem, which the company faces, is the lack of organization structure. This problem has affected the functionality of various operations and activities in the company. For example, the company managers, as well as employees are frustrated. This frustration emerges from the threat of competition, which the company faces from the market competition. Further, the frustration has intensified since the company does not have an organization structure, which has the ability and power to counteract the market force of competition. Another example is that communication channels in the company are not effective. This is based on the fact that managers cannot effectively share and manage knowledge in the company. Consequently, it is complex for the company to brainstorm ideas of overcoming the overwhelming competition, which is imposed by the market. On the same note, the interaction level of employees in this company is reduced significantly due to the poor communication channels. Leadership Leadership of an organization plays a significant factor towards ensuring that the organization has the ability and potential to attain the desired goals and objectives (Bassett, & Carr 1996). Airstar, Inc is suffering from lack of effective leadership. This is because the new president of the company, Roy Morgan, does not have adequate leadership and management skills. This indicates that Morgan is incompetent to lead the organization towards attaining its vision, goals and objectives. This is further demonstrated by the inability of Morgan to steer the managers towards formulating an effective strategy, which has the inability to counteract competition. On the same note, stagnation of top managers of this company in old versioned management environment has caused the company a big blow. This has contributed towards a reduction in the overall performance output of the company. This occurs since these managers do not have the ability and competency level to lead the organization as the business environment is changing at a rapid rate. Strategy A strategy acts as a guideline or direction, which an organization has to take in order to attain an outlined objective. Airstar, Inc lacks a strategy for counteracting the inherent competition within its business environment (Westerman, & Iansiti 2006). This makes the company to lose its performance level and attain significant internal problems. On the same note, the operation of the company is based on predicable and stable environment. This indicates that the company does not have a strategy, which creates a room for running the business activities and functions effectively when the operation environment changes. As such, the company is in unstable operation due to a weak strategy for running its business activities. Job Description Job description determines the expectations of each employee in an organization. This is because an employee is assigned task, which are independent and they are expected to deliver on the same. Airstar, Inc is experiencing an internal problem of lack of job description among employees. This has resulted in role duplication among employees (Zand 2009). Consequently, the performance output of employees in the company is below expectations. Further, lack of job description causes a lot of problems on communication channels of employees in the company. This is because employees are not aware of what they are expected to deliver, as well as how they should deliver and report. Current Structure Organization structure provides a guideline, which a company has to follow in order to attains its goals. This is characterized of an adaptable vision and mission statement of the company. Unfortunately, Airstar, Inc is one company, which is suffering from lack of a formulated vision and mission statement. Further, the company does not have an organizational goal. This has resulted in the company attaining poor results in its marketing environment (Williams, and Rains 2007). This is because the company does not have a guideline on how and why it needs to attain goals. On the same note, Airstar, Inc does not have strategy, which would aid in providing a direction, which needs to be followed in order to attain success, as well as counteract the overwhelming competitive force in its marketing environment. This is further evidenced by the attainment of the chaotic working environment in the company. Moreover, Airstar, Inc lacks the potential of handling the current changes within the aviation industry. This makes the company not to have the power to run its activities effectively. Instead, the company is being overtaken by other companies such as General Electric, which have the power and ability to adapt to the current change and run its affairs effectively. This situation has occurred since the company does not have a strategy or an organizational goal to enable it to run its activities ((Zand 2009). On the same note, the managerial structure of this company is not straight; this has impacted the performance of duties in the company. A consequence of this has been the duplication of job roles among employees. Solutions Airstar, Inc may solve its internal problems of role duplication by the formulation of an effective policy, which will guide employees on what they are supposed to do. This policy should be served as a written document to employees, so that they can read and comprehend their job expectations. This will serve as an effective guideline for employees, as well as enabling the company to improve on its performance level and move forward. Development of a Strategy Airstar, Inc needs to develop a strategy, which will act as a guidance on how to carryout various functions and processes. This strategy could be developed from the existing direction-setting process or a afresh. This will create an opportunity for the company to identify areas, which needs improvement in order to move forward and succeed in carrying out its business functions (Persson 1997). Moreover, the strategy will provide an end purpose of the company and direction, which needs to be maintained in order to ensure that the company is in a position to attain the desire success level. This will also create an opportunity for the company to attain a competitive edge in the business environment. This will occur since the company will stay focused on attaining its success based on the directions provided by the strategy of the company. On the same note, the strategy should be developed after the management team of the company conducts an effective assessment of its internal and external environment. This will create an opportunity for the company to know the available resources, uncertainty level of the business, anticipated change, threats and opportunities. As such, when the results of this assessment are incorporated in the strategy of the company, Airstar, Inc will actually move forward and attain the desired success level. Furthermore, the assessment should include identification of the weaknesses and strengths of the company, so that the management team can discover the competitive strength, which the company has in comparison to other firms in the same industry. Mission Statement One of the essential activities, which the company may take in order to counteract its challenges is the formulation of a mission statement. This should be aligned to the structure of leadership in the company, so that the problem of role duplication is eliminated effectively. On the same, Airstar, Inc should develop organizational goals and flexible business policies, which will encourage effective accommodation of changes. This will also contribute towards ensuring that the company has the ability and potential to perform its functions effectively. Leadership and Management Skills Addressing the issue of leadership and management skills at Airstar, Inc will save the company losses. This is because the current leadership style adopted by Morgan is based on predicable and stable environment. As such, the leadership of the company is not ready to handle any changes, which the business environment may indicate. Therefore, Morgan and other managers of the company need to reconsider the need for developing higher competency levels in management and leadership of the company. This will ensure that the company has a vision and management processes and functions occur effectively (Stebbins, & Shani 1995). Basic Functions Airstar, Inc management team needs to adopt the four basic functions of management. This will ensure that the company has the ability to address all the inherent problems, as well as attain an effective organization structure (Persson 1997). These functions include organizing, controlling, planning, and motivating. Organizing focuses on the development of effective internal structures of the company, which varies depending on the industry and business environment of a company. These structures will ensure that communication occurs effectively in the company and role duplication does not occur since all employees will comprehend their job expectations. Controlling is an essential process, which involves identification of a company’s performance standards. The standards have to aligned to goals and objectives of the company. This aids in assessment of company’s performance, as well as reporting on the current state of the company. This is an essential function, which Airstar, Inc needs to embrace. Controlling should be followed by planning in order to ensure that the company has a clear direction on how to carry out most of its activities and functions effectively. This will overcome the challenge of employees’ frustration. Finally, Airstar, Inc needs to adopt several strategies, which seek to motivate employees. These will contribute towards ensuring that employees are able to attain job satisfaction and improve on their individual level performance (Hansen et al. 2002). Recommendations Leadership and Management Skills One of the key recommendations for the case of Airstar, Inc is that, the new president, Roy Morgan, needs to develop the necessary leadership and management skills. This will enable him to identify the problems, which the company is facing and develop amicable solutions to the same effectively (Herrera 2002). Moreover, these skills will enable Morgan to bring the resources of the organization together and allocate them effectively, so that they can work towards improving the performance level of the company and counteracting the inherent market competition. SWOT Analysis SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat) analysis is an effective tool, which companies adopt in order to determine their competitive power in the market. Airstar, Inc should adopt this tool to analyze both its internal and external market environment. This will ensure that the company is able to detect threats and opportunities, which exists within its operating environment (King 1999). Consequently, the company will have an opportunity to direct adequate resources towards achieving success. Moreover, the company will be able to identify its strengths and weaknesses, which will enable it to develop an effective strategy for operating within its marketing environment. This strategy will also enable the company to conduct its activities in an effective manner while addressing its strength, opportunities, weaknesses and threats, so that it can be able to attain a competitive strength in the market. Organization Structure Airstar, Inc needs also to reorganize its organization structure. This is because the current organization structure for the company cannot lead it towards attaining the desired goals and objectives (Jordi, & Jean 2007). The reorganization of the organization structure will ensure that all the managers, as well as employees are able to realize their job roles and expectations. Consequently, the problem of job role duplication will be eliminated significantly. On the same note, the new organization structure will ensure that the communication channels for the company are open and direct. This will ensure that sharing of information and knowledge in the company will occur effectively. Further, the company will have an opportunity to manage its knowledge and information efficiently. Strategy It is also necessary for Airstar, Inc to develop a vision-based strategy. This strategy will provide a guideline and direction, which the company needs to follow, so that it can attain its goals and objectives (Gupta, & Chin 1994). Therefore, employees and managers will execute their duties based on the outlined strategy for the company. Moreover, the strategy will create room for the company to overcome the inherent market competition. This should involve the inclusion of innovative ways of penetrating the market such that the current competitors will not have an opportunity to copy the strategy. This will ensure that the company weakens the force of competition effectively. Consequently, the company will have an opportunity to concentrate on the manufacturing process and improve on the quality and safety of its products. Conclusion Airstar, Inc has a chance of regaining its initial performance level. This may be done by a sharp focus on the organization design and task for the company. This should also include the development of a strategy, which is able to guide the company in all business environments, and formulation of a working policy for employees. Consideration of this will encourage employees to focus on improving their individual level performances, and the managers will have a stipulated guideline on how to run the affairs of the company. Given that Airstar, Inc is at the third stage of organization cycle, the management team of this company should not create an opportunity for the company to get to the fourth stage of death (Gupta, & Chin 1994). This should be taken into consideration since the current stage of the cycle for the company is that of death. However, it is not yet late for the managers to engage effectively in delineation of responsibilities and tasks, formulation of mission and vision, and adoption of an effective strategy, which will guide the company towards attaining its former status of being a market leader. Moreover, there is a need for the company to adopt the concept of SWOT analysis, so that it can be able to identify its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This will also contribute towards ensuring that the company is in a position of attaining an effective organization culture, as well as plan for its activities. Consequently, the company will attain a competitive edge in the market. Bibliography Bassett, G, and Carr, A., 1996. “Role sets and organization structure.” Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 17 (4), pp. 37-45. Gupta, Y, and Chin, D., 1994. “Organizational life cycle: A review and proposed directions.” The Mid - Atlantic Journal of Business, 30 (3), pp. 269-269. Hansen, F., Smith, M, and Hansen, R.B., 2002. “Rewards and recognition in employee motivation.” Compensation and benefits review, 34 (5), pp. 64-72. Herrera, F., 2002. “Demystifying employee motivation.” Employment relations today, 28 (4), pp. 37-52. 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Zand, D., 2009. “Strategic renewal: how an organization realigned structure with strategy.” Strategy & Leadership, 37 (3), pp. 23-28. Read More