Rondell Data Corporation

The challenges facing Mr. Bob Stetzel upon his arrival at VTB were many. However there are some which weigh heavier on the success of the organization than others. It is those challenges that will be highlighted in this report. One such problem is the constant influx of uneven demand for products and services – which suggests a lack of IT strategy connected to the business goals.

A wise man once said, “The only permanent thing in the world is change,” an adage that rings especially true for organizations in this fast-changing era of technology and communication. Daft very deftly puts the inescapable need for change in three simple words, “Innovate or Perish” in his book “Understanding the Theory & Design of Organizations” [2].

When DGL International, a manufacturer of refinery equipment, brought in John Terrill to manage its Sales Engineering division, company executives informed him of the urgent situation. Sale Engineering, with 20 engineers, was the highest-paid, best-educated, and least-productive division in the company. The instruction to Terrill: Turn it around. Terrill called a meeting of engineers. He showed great concern for their personal welfare and asked point blank: “What’s the problem? Why can’t we produce? Why does this division have such turnover?

Jeff’s immediate reaction and desire of reassigning Tyler to his new project indicates that not all employees have bought in to or have a functional understanding of the organisation’s matrix

Riordan Manufacturing is a Fortune 1000 enterprise, which requires a large information technology Department (IT) with experts in many areas of IT. Riordan uses technology in their individual departments to communicate and allow the departments to work together as much as possible. However, there is room for improvements.

One of the valued but demanding customer, who had considered Engstrom as a certified supplier, was requesting a large order but Engstrom was unable to deliver on time due to the low productivity problem. The plant manager along with his assistant were already dealing with the troubling numbers when this happened. While the task was a tough bone and not easy to tackle, and there were a lot of factors needed to be taken in to consideration. The leadership started to analyze and break down the main causations other than the overall economic trend that dragged the company into the turmoil, as it turned out, it was the low, frustrated employee morale and diminished work satisfaction.

The next constraint to his job performance is the leadership style and characteristics of his superior. His superior sounds as though he does not exhibit interpersonal skills. The case study states that he would call Paul into his office and ask of him what the problem was but he wouldn’t really want to listen. It also states that his superior read weakness into any personal problems so the workers were to keep their personal life separate from their work life. The case study also portrays that the type of rewards or punishment that his superior offers is negative reinforcement. Negative reinforcement is

• Overworking of the engineers and staff may lead to inferior product quality, low staff morale due to lost vacation days and possible dissension within the staff.

National Computer Operations (NCO) was an internal, monopolizing computer support entity that was faced with a challenge which was presented by the new banks chainman. The change, which was to take effect in 2 years, was that NCO could now market externally and all the internal departments could buy computer services from outside firms (Spector, 2013, p. 73). How was the company leader, Gar Finnvold, going to overcome these changes? The following essay will discuss a step by step diagnosis for the organization, as well as, who and what tools will be utilized. Additionally, the essay will describe who and what tools will be utilized.

The role played by the IT in the company to the rest of the organization is reactive to business conditions rather than a proactive approach. IT has been busy establishing several IT processes, policies, and projects in order to catch up with current demand from customers, and has been relying on the “diving catch” approach of finishing things at the very last minute.

The partnership at Hefty Hardware between IT and the business is not effective. One of the core problems faced by Hefty Hardware was the lack of a productive, working relationship between the company’s IT and business divisions. The four building blocks needed for a foundation on which a solid relationship could be constructed; competence, credibility, interpersonal interactions, and trust, were not present between the two divisions (McKeen & Smith, 2012). The business division felt IT lacked competence when dealing with business needs, demonstrated by the IT department not having knowledge of Hefty Hardware’s basic business concerns, goals or processes.

b. Heterogeneous goals and priorities. Each function’s different goal and subunit orientation causes it toview problems differently. Subunits have become competitive as the attempts of one to achieve goalsthwart the attempts of another.c. Bureaucratic factors. Rondell’s structure has evolved historically and status inconsistencies havedeveloped among different groups and managers—between the heads of R&D and engineering. Althoughthe head of R&D, “Doc” Reeves, formally reports to Frank Forbus, the director of engineering,informally Reeves has more status and power. The manufacturing manager is concerned about his lack of a degree, which he believes lowers his status, so he deliberately causes problems for other managers toincrease his power and status.d. Incompatible performance criteria. Each function is evaluated according to its goals, so when slowengineering design raises manufacturing costs or results in lost customers or penalty clauses in customer contracts, functions come into conflict.e. Competition for scarce resources. Some functions, such as R&D, can command whatever resourcesthey want. Engineering services is running very lean, its engineers stretched thin, and no resources for aneffective preproduction unit. Given that profits have fallen, competition for resources might increase,which will worsen the

Four areas that the criteria should include are employee’s impact on the performance goals, skill set, work ethic and professional development. The first set of criteria would relate directly to individual's impact to the vision and objectives of the company. The plant manager should be as specific as possible to help quantify the engineers’ contributions. The second set should be measures concerning a variety employee skill sets such as technical ability, communication, documentation, problem-solving, and adherence to the company’s philosophy. Identifying the engineer’s strengths and weaknesses on diverse skill set criteria will help the engineer gain a wider understanding of his performance overall. The third set of criteria concerns itself with an employee’s work ethic. Work ethic criteria include the amount of work missed, lateness arriving for a job, how well the employee is motivated, positive communication with peers and management, and how well the employee interacts with co-workers and management. The final set of criteria includes a how much an employee is committed to furthering their knowledge and expertise of their given profession. Organizations look positively on employees that strive for greater expertise in their given professions. Managers

In the book Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution, Michael Hammer and James Champy discuss a concept that he originated known as “reengineering”. The process of reengineering involves coming up with new ideas, specifically processes, which are technologically advanced and extremely effective in completing corporate work. Companies must think ahead so that they will not only succeed today, but also set the rules for future business. A critical part of reengineering involves ignoring the current procedures and structures that have been set by a company and replacing them with more efficient processes. In creating these new processes, companies must focus on the needs and wants of consumers. This will ensure customer satisfaction, which is a key part of maintaining a competitive advantage in today’s world.

From the view point of the structure and HRM system, EPD has several problems. For example, EPD had used be a kind of divisional structure. They were only two divisions who were not located in Corning, NY. After Don Rogers became a division manager of EPD, he moved many sections to Corning. It causes miscommunication between sections. In addition, they have luck of appropriate talent for marketing.　EPD is a product oriented company as well as CGW. In EPD, including CGW, Marketing and Sales have treated less important than R&D and Plants. In fact, many company’s top executives had been promoted from manufacturing,