The Problem Solution: The USA World Bank - Essay Example

Running head: PROBLEM SOLUTION: USA WORLD BANK Problem Solution: USA World Bank Goes Here of Phoenix Problem Solution: USA World Bank Humans who constitute an organization can only ‘script’ a success story for the organization. That is, all the humans from employees to management can only put an organization in a cruise mode in terms of production, profit etc, with their knowledge, skill, hard work etc, etc… With so much significance being given to the human component, it is only natural, that the decision-making process mainly rests with them, with other non-human elements only aiding the process. The top management team should send orders to different departments to collect the needed information, and when they receive the inputs, they should process it and take the correct decision for the proper functioning of the organization. One of the important inputs or aids that will surely help an organization in the decision making process is the research and statistics component. That is, components like descriptive statistics and probability concepts with good hypothesis and research will go a long way in aiding the management to come up with correct decisions. In the case to be analyzed, USA World Bank (UWB) is on the threshold of launching a new product, with the board already initiating the decision making process. And the component that is aiding this decision making process is the statistics work done by the respective department. So, this paper by using the research and statistical concepts will analyze the UWB’s issue or problem, opportunities, stakeholders’ view, end state vision, available solutions and the results. Situation Analysis Issue and Opportunity Identification USA World Bank is facing some important issues, which needs quick and appropriate attention. The first issue is USA World Bank’s track record in introducing new products, which cannot be considered successful. Brian Allen, President of New Product Development for USA Word Bank, agrees with this fact, “Our new products have pretty much tanked in the past couple of years. We’re under a lot of pressure” (Scenario). So, the issue or challenge is to break this trend and introduce a truly workable product. The next issue that is plaguing USA World Bank is the need to select a product to launch using faulty statistical results. That is, a survey was done to find which product out of two, a consumer credit card or a credit card for small business owners will work optimally. Even though, the survey clearly favored the normal consumer credit card, the issue with that result is that a statistics specialist found faults with the statistical analysis particularly the method used to collect the data. As the product development team is unable to collect the statistical data properly and is also not technically skilled to interpret the data collected, it could lead to incorrect selection of product, causing problems If these issues are handled in a constructive manner, USA World Bank will have feasible and workable opportunities. Firstly, it has 2 options cum opportunities, for its plans to introduce a new product to reach their objectives of growth and neutralization of competition. The first one is a normal consumer credit card with a good incentive program. The second is a credit card for small business owners with a $200,000 limit and some incentives. Also, UWB will have the opportunity to launch both these products at the same time. Brian and his team will also have the opportunity to develop a standard process for researching and selecting new products. And importantly, UWB will the opportunity to improve their functioning, sales and profits. Stakeholder Perspectives/Ethical Dilemmas Board Members The board members of USA World bank are the key stakeholders, whose decision will change the fortunes of the company both in the positive as well in the negative direction. That is, they are the decision makers who have to choose one product between the two to launch, and importantly whether to choose that one based on faulty research and statistics. This decision apart from helping the organization gain maximum profits could also favor the board members. That is, as it is the norm in any organization for a board member to have a share or stocks in the company, company’s profits will also aid them financially. But, the element of dilemma mainly comes in the aspect of choosing the right products and believing the research conducted. Top Management Team Among the various tiers of management in USA World bank, the top management team has the next big stake in the issues facing the company. The top management team is the stakeholder who makes the decision to present two products for consideration to the board members. Even though, they have right motive of developing the organization in terms of product success and profits, the management team should be careful when supporting which of the two products. The other dilemma is, whether Brian, President of New Product Development for USA World Bank is correct in taking two products for launch to the board. Employees Employees are the other group of stakeholders, who face some ethical dilemma. That is, even though the decision to launch the product is in the board and the management’s hands, the lives of employees in turn depends on their decision. Because, only if the product succeeds, they will have optimum salary, job security etc, without which they can contemplate leaving UWB Problem Statement When a research cum survey was done to find which alternative or opportunity or product will work, it gave a clear result. That is, the survey clearly favored the normal consumer credit card with incentives. According to the studies done by BEST research team, this product will be successful because it can entice the people to switch from their current banks. The main selling point is the incentives, which will act as the strong magnet, holding the present customers and bringing in the new customers. The confidence, that the results of the study or research will work stems from the background of BEST, considered a good independent firm, and also from established fact that this type of research have worked very well in the past. But, the problem with the result is that, a statistics specialist found faults with the completed statistical analysis, particularly the method used to collect the data. Firstly, the statistics specialist, Bea found that the sample used to do the survey was not in the apt levels or range. That is, she thinks that the survey done using the inputs of 140,000 persons is too large a sample. The main argument is, a sample size of 140,000 will actually distort the results because of its huge size. Then, she notified that the sample is also not representative, with the gender percentages, which came out of the research, not showing accurate results. That is, even though the female population is more, with the Population Census also vouching that there will be slightly more females than males, the survey only shows the response of minimum number of females. Instead, the survey is showing a higher percentage of men, possibly due to an assumed reason (which could be wrong) that men are more comfortable with computer technology, and therefore more likely to respond to an online survey. So, Bea put the question mark over the survey mainly about its representative nature. She recommended that making a decision based on that survey, and choosing the option of credit card with incentives, will lead to a failure as it will not reach the targeted group. Also, the other problem is the failure of the product development team to analyze the validity of the research report submitted by BEST. Correct analysis of the data will only lead to the correct selection of product. As the product development team is unable to collect the statistical data properly, and is also not technically skilled to interpret the data collected, it will lead to incorrect selection of product, causing problems. By focusing and solving these problems or problem statement, UWB will be able to achieve their end state goals. End-State Vision The ideal end state for UWB could be selecting a correct product based on correct data analysis. This can be achieved by appointing qualified staffs to do the statistical survey in a correct manner. For UWB, the end-state vision looks brighter because they have a choice to select one product from two products, both of which could be successful in the near future due to their strong points. The other end state vision for UWB is that, it would have developed a standard process for doing research and to select new products aptly. For that, firstly, accurate statistical data should be collected about the products that are going to be launched. There should be topmost accuracy in the data collected, so it can convince all the board members to go for the selected product. Even if the number of product to be launched is one or two, the product should be backed by a strong research. By infusing a good standardization and consistency in the research, the selected new products will bring good profits to UWB. Good profits will translate into expansion of market share. That is, only when the correct, feasible and ‘could be’ successful product is selected, the goal of achieving growth and expansion of market share is possible. So, another end state vision should be expansion of market share, increase of profitability and increase of customer base, through sound research and selection of products. Alternative Solutions As discussed in the introduction, Statistics works as an integral tool for every organization, and will aid the decision making process in different ways. So, one of the alternative solutions that can be considered by USA World Bank is, the hiring of in-house statistician or statisticians. The work of the recruited statistician will involve analyzing the collected data. He/she will also use many statistical tools like ANOVA, Descriptive statistics etc to corner on the solutions. Descriptive statistics is a vital tool because it only constitutes the “methods of organizing, summarizing and presenting data in an informative way” (Lind, Marchal & Wathen, 2004). In any case, if the analysis is done perfectly, the results and the suggestions will also come out in an effective manner, with the statistician only analyzing the data effectively Another alternative that can be considered is the creation of an internal research team at UWB to collect and analyze data. That is, a group of statisticians can be arranged into a team to analyze and find out the best products that will bring in the profits. Also, full work loads related to data collection and analysis can be divided among team members with each member or few members doing an allocated quantity of work. For example, few members of a team can do the ‘on field’ work of collecting data through survey, while the other members can analyze the collected data to interpret results. The Benchmarking process can also be considered an alternative solution because of its utility in research component. As it will help in assessing the current position as well as the priorities of UWB in an accurate manner, it will be useful. For that, a kind of survey should be conducted inside UWB by the management, to grasp the thought process of the employees Analysis of Alternative Solutions The goals of UWB mentioned in the table 3 are selecting the correct product, setting a standard for future research and finally increasing the profit, and thereby expanding the market share. These goals can be achieved using any one of the alternative solutions that are available. Among the above discussed alternative solutions, the first and the highest weighted solution on table 3 is hiring of an in-house statistician, which is rated at 3.60 and positioned in the middle scale. This solution will work because the current problems UWB facing with the launch of its new product, is the lack of appropriate data and the correct interpretation of the data. So, if a statistician is appointed, he/she will collect the appropriate data and will provide optimum results. That is, the data collected through research should be analyzed perfectly to provide the accurate results, and if UWB has an in-house statistician, he/she will do the analysis perfectly without any bias or influence. The second highest weighted solution is the setting up of an internal research team having the ratings of 2.70. The main advantage with this solution is that UWB doesn’t have to depend on outside agencies to collect and analyze the data. As these external agencies will not be able to understand the company’s goals and will also be exposed to bias, the internal research team will be a best solution. The other advantage with this solution is that, through continuous specialized testing, this team will be able to form a set standard that can be followed while doing future research and also while selecting the product, both of which will boost UWB’s market share. The final alternative and the least weighted solution, rated at the low range of 1.90 is the benchmarking process. This process will be helpful in different ways, i.e. UWB will be able to find the problems plaguing it, compare it with other companies, and importantly find out how the other companies overcame the problems. Risk Assessment and Mitigation Techniques The alternative solutions, which were discussed above and which can be implemented to get positive results, has some inbuilt risks. So, this section will analyze some of the risks found in the three alternative solutions, and will also discuss the mitigation techniques that can be used to address the risks. Firstly, the hiring of an in-house statistician is an effective plan because, as discussed before, it will provide the company an able and experience hand in making crucial decisions at the time of product launch. But, the problem with this solution is that, the hired statistician may not perform up to expected levels. That is, he/she may not be fully qualified or technically equipped to handle the entire tasks, associated with finding the correct product. This problem is a solvable one and can be mitigated, if the top management selects the best candidate among a pool of statisticians, after going through a detailed testing selection process. Secondly, even though the formation of internal research team will help to find correct products and set the standard for future, their work will not be of high quality. This is because, teams without any expert statistician could commit the same mistakes done by BEST, while doing the research part. This could be solved, if the formed team is equipped with the needed skills to do the correct research. Finally, the benchmarking process will provide a complete analysis of the company, bringing out the positives or attributes as well as the negatives or problems faced by UWB. But, the problem with this solution is that, it will not be able to ‘corner in’ on the specific problems of UWB like the problem with research and interpretation of data, because Benchmarking process will be of overall nature and will not be able to provide the accurate solutions. This can be mitigated, if the benchmarking process is entirely focused on the problem with product launches. Optimal Solution The optimal solution can be picked up from the list of best alternatives, which have the lowest risk potentials. The low risk, best alternative available to UWB is the hiring of in-house statistician. That is, the optimal solution for United States World Bank is to recruit a highly qualified and experienced statistician who can fully control the researching part as well as the outcome of results. In the present case, the recruited statistician will be able to analyze the data provided by the BEST, in the aspect of which card to launch. Then, he/she will able to make any required changes or even conduct additional research, if it is needed. In future also, the hired statistician will be able to provide feasible and effective suggestions for the management to implement. So, the statistician’s work, inputs and suggestions will surely play an important role in the decision making process, thereby justifying the tag of being the optimal solution. In any organisation, the leader along with his/ her team will formulate policies, rules and goals for the success of the organization. Then, the important process of decision making will also fall into the hands, if correctly said, ‘falls’ into the brain of the leader. During that process of decision-making, one of the approaches the leader could try is, putting for discussion his/ hers thoughts among the workers, and involving them productively. This strategy will have unexpected at the same time favorable results, because one may never know from where, when and importantly from whom a great idea could come. “Dont tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results” (Patton). So, in UWB’s case involving and allowing the recruited statistician to play an important part in the decision-making process, will surely aid UWB in coming up with a good decision. So, hiring in-house statistician is the optimal solution UWB could implement, which will surely fulfill its goals - selection of the correct product, establishing the standard for future research and to expand the market share. Implementation Plan In any organization, to implement a new solution, a set of procedures or activities or initiations will be required to fully actualize the implementation of the solution, and to see the results. In the case of UWB, the optimal solution of hiring an in-house statistician can be fully implemented or put to effective use, only if certain activities are carried out. And one of the activities or procedures that need to be set or created for the effective implementation of the solution is the establishment of a communicative structure. As, organization is a structure with ‘collage’ of humans doing their allocated work under the supervision of a leader, it needs a communication structure or tool to ensure smooth flow of information, requests etc between the workers and leader, and between the workers themselves. And the communicative structure, which can fulfill this role and help the newly recruited statistician very much, is the establishment of Intranet. “An intranet is a private network that is contained within an enterprise. It may consist of many interlinked local area networks... The main purpose of an intranet is to share company information and computing resources among employees” (searchVB.com) That is, when the statistician is collecting the data and doing the analysis part, the Intranet can work as collaborative tool making it easy for the statistician to converse with the other executives. In the case of UWB, the statistician can work hand-in-hand with the two pivotal figures for the product launch, Brian and Jim in a seamless manner. Apart from the communication, the intranet will also provide the executives the chance to see the status of their project real time daily. With the option of rapid feedback also integrated into this tool, the executives will be able to get the necessary information very quickly. So, the optimal solution of hiring an in-house statistician will be further optimized by the setting up of a communicative structure in the form of an intranet. Evaluation of Results After the statistician is recruited and given the job to analyze and interpret the data, evaluation of results should be done to judge whether this solution was a failure or success. This can be judged or tested using a good number of criterions. The criteria will be both ‘theoretical’ analysis and ‘practical’ analysis. ‘Theoretical’ analysis in the sense, results of the strategic plan can be analyzed in the theoretical stage itself, before actually implementing it in the working of the organization, by using tools like the weighted system – discussed in the table 3. That is, this solution can be inputted into the weighted system and the resulting ratings can be judged by different scale. In the case of UWB, the solution of hiring a statistician came out triumphs in this weighted system, earning ratings of 3.70. So, as the results are positive, the next course of actions can be taken like acquiring approval of the board members for the new product, launching at least one product in the next three months, increasing the profitability to around 40 percent and finally expanding the market share to over 20%. Conclusion An organization and its decision making process should not stagnate; it should be kept at a momentum to get positive results. That is, any organization should try to introduce new products or services at regular intervals or appropriate times, and for that the decision making process should be set at an optimum level to select the apt product. And one of the aids that can put the decision making process on a safe path and at the same time in a ‘cruise mode’ will be the recruitment of new staffs. Involving others productively in the process of decision-making is an important concept and so highly qualified and experienced candidates should be recruited as staffs. In the USA World Bank scenario, hiring and involving an in-house statistician will enable it to collect the right data, research the data, analyze the data and suggest possible solutions. Even though, there will be other solutions to resolve the problem with statistical analysis in UWB, an in-house statistician will be able to provide a quality work to solve the problem. And with the establishment of a communicative structure, the statistician and the other executives will be able to select the correct product, and thereby will usher their organization into successful territories. References Lind, D.A., Marchal, W.G. and Wathen, S.A. (2004). Statistical Techniques in Business and Economics. The McGraw-Hill Companies, New York. Patton, George S. Leadervalues. Retrieved June 18, 2008 from http://www.famous-quotes-and-quotations.com/leadership-quotes.html searchVB.com. Intranet. Retrieved June 18, 2008 from http://searchvb.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid8_gci212377,00.html Table 1 Issue and Opportunity Identification Issue Opportunity Reference to Specific Course Concept (Include citation) Concept USA World Bank’s has a bad track record in introducing new products. So, the issue or challenge is to break this trend and introduce a truly workable product. The next issue that is plaguing USA World Bank is whether to launch a product using faulty statistical results. Even though, the survey clearly favored the normal consumer credit card, the faults in the survey and the inability of the product development team to collect the statistical data properly and interpret it accurately, is a major issue Firstly, UWB has 2 options cum opportunities, for its plans to introduce a new product. The first one is a normal consumer credit card with a good incentive program. The second is a credit card for small business owners with a $200,000 limit and some incentives. Brian and his team will also have the opportunity to develop a standard process for researching and selecting new products. And importantly, UWB will have the opportunity to improve their functioning, sales and profits. Descriptive statistics is a vital tool or concept because it only constitutes the “methods of organizing, summarizing and presenting data in an informative way” (Lind, Marchal & Wathen, 2004) Statistics Table 2 Stakeholder Perspectives Stakeholder Perspectives Stakeholder Groups The Interests, Rights, and Values of Each Group Board Members The board members are the decision makers who have to choose one product between the two, to launch, and importantly whether to choose that one product based on faulty research and statistics. Top Management Team Even though, they have right motive of developing the organization in terms of product success and profits, the management team should be careful when supporting which of the two products to launch Employees Even though the decision to launch the product is in the board and the management’s hands, the lives of employees in turn depend on their decision. Because, only if the product succeeds, the employees will have optimum salary, job security etc, Table 3 Analysis of Alternative Solutions [Click twice on table to change, see instructions on next page. The alternatives and their ratings as well as the goals and their weightings shown below are for illustrative purposes, you should enter your own. Delete this paragraph when done.] Table 4 Risk Assessment and Mitigation Techniques Risk Assessment and Mitigation Techniques Alternative Solution Risks and Probability Consequence and Severity Mitigation Techniques Hiring of in-house Statistician The hired statistician may not perform up to expected levels. Medium He/she may not be qualified or technically equipped to handle the entire task, failing to find the correct product This problem is a solvable one and can be mitigated if the top management selects the best candidate among a pool of statisticians, after going through a detailed testing process. Formation of a internal development team The data collected and the analysis done by the team may fall short Medium The team without any expert statistician could commit the same mistakes done by BEST while doing the research part. This could be solved if the formed team is equipped with the needed skills to do the correct research Benchmarking process The problem with this solution is that it will not be able to ‘corner in’ on the specific problems. Medium The analysis will be of overall nature and will not be able to provide accurate solutions This can be mitigated if the benchmarking process is entirely focused on the problem with product launches. Table 5 Optimal Solution Implementation Plan Deliverable Timeline Who is Responsible Installing the Intranet structure Within one month Top management with the technical crew Its usage by the Statistician. To converse with the other departments and executives After the statistician is appointed Top Management Table 6 Evaluation of Results End-State Goals Metrics Target Selecting a product based on correct data analysis Hiring an in-house statistician Can be evaluated after looking at the performance of the launched product Develop a standard process for doing research and to select new products aptly. If the launch of the product is successful, the process can be replicated and based on the results of continuous testing, a standard process can be formulated. It is a long term target without any specific time limit Expansion of market share, increase of profitability and increase of customer base Based on the performance of the product launched Could be seen from 3 to 12 months. Read More