After analyzing the company’s strategy, structure, environment, culture, conflict and power relations, one find out that many things need to be put in place in the firm, in concern with these areas to enable the firm to be a market leader again. The first problem at the Printzhof Press is that the leadership structure is relaxed, and the leaders are not willing to push their employees. Most importantly, the HR manager needs to be a full strategic partner in transforming the department. The leader can achieve this factor by using the contingency effectiveness approach, which mainly relies on the important organizational resources which are the human resources of the company. Thus, the manager needs to ensure that he formulates a plan for employee development.
The COO and the HR manager need to agree to the fact that they need to adopt a measurable performance method, which is in tune with organizational culture and employee behaviors. On the same note, the structure of the organization was a fundamental factor in helping Ash to solve the pending issues of the business. After a thorough examination, she realized that the structure was functional and would be much better with few adjustments in the right places. She should adot the,leadership structure in the firm to help ker reach out to the employees. To achieve her goals, she had to be a structural typologist who first analyzed and reacted to the situation appropriately (Daft 65). Therefore, she sed her strucvtural typologist nature to help her analyze the roblems I the fir. She had a meeting with the leaders and this helped her identify the mmain problems in the compay before she couldcome u with her priorities. Considering factors such as organizational structure, culture, competencies and skills will be effective in accomplishing the necessary work to be done in the firm.
Secondly, the firm needed to improve on product development strategies. According to the case study, the company had not produced supplementary materials that accompanied newly published books (Cespedes and Lynda 8). The manager also worked with the CEO to fend off publisher who advocated for the development of these materials. The move served the negative purpose of making the company lose some of their authors who moved to work with organizations that produced such ancillary products.
The ability to improve on product development is achievable by resolving intergroup conflicts that mar most of the operations of the company. The conflicts mostly occur in the fact that the leaders do not accept any contributions from other leaders and partners working in the same environment. Intergroup conflict at Printzhof also occurred due to the relaxed leadership styles and inability of employees to accept change easily. Ability to improve and develop new products is paramount for the firm’s competitive advantage as it will put it at the top of their performance within the publishing industry. On the same note, the leaders need to consider Porter’s competitive strategies to help them increase profits in the development of ancillary products for higher educations. Some of these strategies include product diversification, which is achievable by developing new products. Another competitive strategy refers to cost leadership, which enables the firm to come u with prices that their clients can afford. Product differentiation is another Porter’s strategy that the leaders can use to create unique products which meets the needs of their clients.
An analysis of the case also reveals that the organization culture and operations at Printzhof needed drastic changes (Cespedes and Lynda 8). The case study reveals that they still relied on the old methods of organizational operations. The company had not incorporated modern methods of operations such as the use of technology. Similarly, the organizational culture of the business was one that relied on the fact that employees know what should be done and should not be pushed to perform their duties.
Ash needed to ensure that she, Ernest, and Kross work on the changes to be made since their influence in making such alterations were important. Secondly, they could make the first move of taking care of any possible intergroup conflicts that might arise in the process such as Kross agreeing to take orders from his junior. They also needed to examine the organizational environment to take advantage of opportunities that would help them move in the right direction. The environment at Printzhof functioned in creating effective working conditions. However, they need to create an environment that adapts to changes in the firm such as the use of modern methods of printing and selling their products.
For example, Ash could influence the two leaders to enable employees to use their skills to be creative and innovative in developing the new products. She could also consider the ecosystem of the organization and evaluate whether it promoted a cooperative or competitive attitude among the employees (Daft 69). Ash understood that for Printzhof to make the forward leap in making a profit in the publication of higher education materials, the employees needed to be more cooperative than competitive. They also needed to have similar goals that would make the move in the right direction as a company.
Another important factor to consider when solving the organizational issues was the firm’s structure. Ash noted that the structure of Printzhof was functional but needed better and more effective changes to make it the best within the firm. For example, the HR managers needed to be more proactive, the leaders needed to advocate for the production of new materials and the employees needed to be pushed to work hard (Daft 123). The uncertainty of the environment was another factor to consider since it would influence future operations. The future of the firm of complex and their profitability could be attained by making relatively simple changes in the named areas of concern.
Primarily, the company needs to address the issue of operations and organizational culture. The leaders at the company still relied on old methods of operations. For example, they had not adopted the use of the technological advancements that most publishers used to fasten the firm work. Their methods of operations used old ways that lead to waste of time and resources. Ash noted that most of the leaders recognized the fact that technological advancement had been incorporated in other publishing firms (Willmot, Richard and Jonathan 58). However, these same leaders were not willing to take advantage of such important moves.
Similarly, the human resources worked at their pace and did not accept input from external professionals. The culture of the firm was that of less cooperation from the leaders and employees. The employees worked on their own and leaders were not expected to question them. The leaders totally entrusted their employees and failed to assume strategic moves that would help the firm move in the right directions. Notably, the human resource manager felt that the employees should be left to perform their work without interference from other external forces. This aspect of the lack of effective operational strategies and working organizational culture led to the decline in sales (Daft 145).
Another issue at the firm was the fact that the leaders of the business failed to notice the lack of product development meets the demands of their clients hence a decline in sales. Despite the fact that the organization published the right materials, they lacked the support materials required for the newly publishes books. Therefore, the aspect led to the decline of sales since some authors withdrew from Printzhof. Another problem noted in the firm was the laxity in human resources (Willmot, Richard and Jonathan 154).
Despite the fact that the company hired the best and most skilled employees, the leaders did not play a major role in monitoring their performance. The leaders did not have the proper methods of evaluating their performances in the firm. Similarly, the firm lacked adequate plans for employee development. They lacked the training to equip their human resources with up to date knowledge and skills. It is no wonder the employees failed to adopt the use of new technologies in the organization. Another notable problem with the company was a lack of ease of accepting change (Daft 165).
The first recommendation that I would give to Robin is that she needs to work together with the leaders to effect the required changes in the firm. Robin needs to embrace teamwork and make Nygren, Kross, and Raines know that they are important parts of the organization. She needs to explain to them the reason why the company needs to make the changes in the identified areas. Working as a team would make it possible for her to rally the leaders on her side to influence their employees to embrace the expected changes.
Secondly, Robin needs to work with the leaders to change the organizational culture and operations strategies. For example, by working with the three leaders, she would influence them to accept directions from their juniors. They also need to form a culture in which employees are more proactive and easily accept change in the company. Thirdly, she needed to encourage the leaders to develop a new product with the aim of improving profits and remain at the top of their operations in their environment.
Fourthly, it is important for Robin to work with Raines to ensure that he comes up with the right methods of evaluating employee performances. She should go ahead and implement methods of evaluating employee performances based on behaviors and measurable outcomes. She also needs to work to ensures that the programmers accorded respect to Davidson and improve the multimedia sectors of the company. Finally, she should not aim at replacing any of the leaders based on the values that the employees accord to them. Instead, she should use them as the gateway to make the required changes in the organization. Similarly, it is important that she consider environmental factors that might hinder her duties at the firm
The advice is that Robin needs to appreciate teamwork and work with the leaders since they possess effective organizational information that she will need to implement her priorities effectively. On the same note, working with the leaders will act as an easy way of getting the rest of the employees on her side, since the employees listen more to their leaders that they do to outsiders. Secondly, she needs to be firm in implementing her priorities and ensures that she improves the operation, culture, and the performances of the organization without breaking it. She needs to conduct effective internal and external environmental factors that might affect the need to implement her priorities. Apart from organizational culture, she also needs to carefully evaluate how factors such as employees’ attitudes will affect her ability to implement the formulated priorities.
Robin’s ability to implement her priorities also relies on her need to get the employees to appreciate teamwork. The two factions- the leaders, and the employees- need to work together to ensure success in the implementation of the identified priorities. As she aims to implement her priorities, she should ensure that she obeys the company’s structure, vision, and mission. She should also consider the environment in which the firm operates and ensure that they do not affect the need to implement her points of concern. On the same note, some factors, such as the development of new products might require additional skills from the employees. Robin should identify areas that require training and work with the leaders to provide the necessary training for their human resources. Most importantly, the ability to achieve her goals depends on time. Therefore, she should come with a definite time frame for the implementation and communicate the same to leaders and employees of the firm. Similarly, we should come with adequate means of evaluating the success of her implemented priorities. Thus, she should be able to measure the success rates and communicate the same to all leaders and employees of Printzhof.
Works Cited
Cespedes, Fank and St.Clairs Lynda. "Strategy, Structure, Environment, Culture, Conflict and Power Relations." Brief Cases. 2013.Print
Daft, Richard L. "Organization Theory and Design, 3rd Canadian Ed". Toronto: Nelson, 2015.Print
Daft, Richard. "Organization Theory and Design." Belmont: Cengage Learning, 2006.Print
Willmot Hugh, Daft Richard, and Murphy Jonathan. "Organization Theory and Design: An International Perspective." Belmont: Cengage Learning EMEA, 2014. Print
