Problem
Scenario (fictitious): Star Porusta, an engineer and the current CEO and president of The Allways Wheel Company in Detroit, Michigan started about 2 years ago. The company began creating forklift and robot wheels using mecanum technology (wheels that have cylinders allowing sideways movement and back and forth (see Sekizli® videos on YouTube). Slowly but surely, the company has grown from a fledgling startup of 4 engineers forging their own prototype wheels by hand to a 25-person company that outsources certain components for production to a German company and the rims to a production company in Canada. The president is finding herself unable to cope with the workload, trying to do most of the work herself. Currently, the marketing/sales person also handles finance. Another employee handles HR and customer service. One of the original engineers handles the coordination of production and inventory, another original engineer also handles production problems and distribution, and a few employees are salespersons. Her founding engineering partner, the current vice president (VP), has reminded the president that the company needs to look for new clients and develop new products, including car wheels. In addition, it is obvious to the VP and others that AI needs to be infused within their current processes to create more efficiencies, especially as regards inventory and distribution.
The president and VP have called you in as a business consultant to address their company's issues.
Task:
A. Determine the current structure of the company.
B. Evaluate the current leadership style of the president.
C. Determine the goals.
D. Determine what strategic changes need to happen, including why the company will need to change to a functional, divisional or matrix organizational structure, and explain why.
E. Evaluate the current situation.
F. Recommend a change implementation plan to the president and the VP Address the what, who, when, and the follow-up steps in the implementation plan.