Case Scenario:
Today's global marketplace are faced with a constant need to understand the forces affecting them and adapt accordingly. Answer the questions listed below.
Innovation:
A former colleague calls you, and he sounds very frustrated. Once again, senior leadership has proclaimed itself the followers of the latest management fad and expects the entire organization to immediately shift direction. You shake your head. You know that organizations in today's global marketplace are faced with a constant need to understand the forces affecting them and adapt accordingly.
Primary Task Response: Within the Discussion Board area, respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. This will be the foundation for future discussions by your classmates. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas:
Reflect on the following statement:
Organizations need to adapt to innovative techniques while avoiding the pitfall of adopting unproven methods and/or fads that may not fit with the culture of the organizations.
Question 1. What would you say to your former colleague?
Question 2. Are these two forces mutually exclusive, or do you perceive a balance that can be struck between change and stability? Provide a detailed example that will support your position.
Question 3. What examples can you give of preparing and managing potential conflicts that result from change?
Question 4. How does organizational structure impact an organization's ability to innovate successfully?
Scenario:
You are the newly promoted Manufacturing Coordinator, reporting directly to the Director of Operations at Universal Products, International (UPI) a medium sized manufacturer of high-end consumer electronics components. You have several years of increasing responsibility in UPI, working your way up from a production team member to this new position with supervisory responsibilities. You have spent several years as a member of an Organizational Culture (OC) team that has reviewed organizational issues. This is a team composed of volunteers from across the company. This group makes recommendations for improvements that address employee morale and safety. Membership on the OC is for two years. Your term expired last year and you have been looking for ways to continue to contribute to improving the organizational culture.
You have been taking courses at CTU for the past few years and are nearing your degree completion. You have studied leadership, finance, accounting and other business administration courses that provide you with a working understanding of UPI structure and the core business competencies of the company. You applied for your new position and were promoted to help move the organization toward a more collaborative and participative culture. Your new supervisor is responsible for all manufacturing related departments. He reports to the VP of Operations and her area of responsibility is all company operations. Her peers are the Vice Presidents of Finance, IT, HR, Marketing, and Supply Chain Management. They all report to the company President.
The company has grown from 50 employees to over 300 hundred in the past four years. You have been part of this dramatic growth and have watched the company struggle with changes in reporting relationships, additions of new layers of management and adding several new product lines. UPI is poised for another large growth with the development of a new electronic component that will make portable video players more efficient.
The company is anticipating adding another 150 employees and opening a new production facility across town on a parcel of land that UPI recently purchased. This will mean that your department will have employees in two locations for the first time.
In addition to your regular tasks, your supervisor has asked you to serve on a project staff team that was formed to work out the changes that will be necessary as the new plant comes online. Other project staff will include your peers in other departments. This project team must be up and ready to make recommendations on changes within the next 90 days in preparation for how the two plant facilities will interact. In addition, this team can expect that the directors will routinely delegate other new projects and initiatives to discuss and submit recommendations.
You also will maintain your new responsibilities for a staff of 8 employees who coordinate production scheduling and coordinate with the two HR generalists that are physically located in the operations department but report to the HR department.
To be successful in this new assignment, you will need to apply what you know about organizations, their structures, change management, and how individuals work within organizations.