Solution on Southern Discomfort Case

1. In relation to your current business environment (or one that you are familiar with):

If a company decides to help differentiate its branded footwear by offering buyers 500 models/styles to choose from, then company managers should evaluate the merits of trying to reduce the $14 million annual costs for production run setup costs associated with producing 500 models/styles at each plant by

Proficient-level: Define the terms agency relationship and agency problem, and list the three approaches to minimize the conflict of interest resulting from the agency problem.

1. What does this split-department situation do to your efficiency as a manager, and how can you compensate for this change?

First, in the area of communication network, everybody has to be on the same page for the network effectiveness. In my department we an opportunity to improve the who needs to know component. Often times, project managers are the last to know pertinent information that pertains to projects. We like to operate in a proactive instead of reactive fashion. Next, in the area of organizational structure, the manager of our department is open and has been for a while. Filling this role would provide effective alignment for the department. Currently,

4. What would you recommend managers to do insure a smooth integration of the information systems, given the

Differentiation was achieved by creating a completely new type of fashionable and functional shoe that was extremely comfortable to wear and fun because of its bright colors. in addition, because of Crocs’ innovative inventory replenishment system, which allowed retailers to order what they needed and get new stock in a couple of weeks, retailers did not need to

According to Miles et al. (1978, p. 547), an organization is both its purpose and the mechanism constructed to achieve the purpose. It means that the concept of organization is embracing both goals and all the elements that represent unique combination. Miles et al. (1978, p. 553) draws the conclusion that structure and the processes taking place inside the organization are closely aligned; it is hard to speak about one without mentioning the other. It is important to understand the conclusion drawn by Miles et al. (1978). It illustrates how the

Answer 2. The first problem that is going to arise while implementing the strategy is the resistance form the divisions, so it is required to convince the departments

Now that I have broken down my departments’ framework I will proceed to elaborate on the strengths, opportunities, and overall “dysfunction’s” present

Over the past few years many changes have been made by organizations, in the way that they do business. One of these changes has been going from rigid and centralized organizations, to now taking advantage of flexible and decentralized structures. An organizational structure outlines the way the job tasks are formally divided, grouped, and coordinated. The effect a decentralized structure has on managers and employees is that, the gap between who can make the decision has been spread. With a decentralized structure the process of decision-making comes down to the manager that is closest to the action. The impact on organizational strategies has been that organizations have to adapt to the new structures to fit in to be able to compete more efficiently and effectively.

Traditional companies with boundaries, rules, and extensive plans are at a supreme disadvantage in today's globalized world, where technology changes daily and the value chain commands changes of its own. In a traditional company where people are categorized into neatly defined positions with their job descriptions filed in triplicate in the human resources department, the way a company plans its business can cause it to sink or swim. Bad planning can mean lost opportunities, being overtaken by the competition, loss of revenues, or watching its niche slip away because of a new technology, an alteration in the global marketplace, or simply a failure to market its product effectively. When changes occur, they happen too

14. What is good for the organization is the concern of the supervisors, not the employees.

To begin with, effective management is achieved if corporations apply a departmentalized framework. In today’s world, departmentalization is the most common way to manage corporations effectively. “Departmentalization is an aspect of organizational design that includes the subdivision of a business into units based on their function or other criteria” (Sandilands). This type of corporate framework enables specialization, that is, assigns people to specific jobs for which they are trained. For example, if a car manufacturer decides to use a departmentalized framework, the corporation is able to create a variety of departments and assign different kinds of work to a variety of specializations; the marketing department will be in charge of selling, as well as market planning and evaluation, the after-sales department in charge of warranty issues, and the finance department in charge of

When Jill Thompson took over as chief executive officer at Bosco Plastics, the company was in trouble. Bosco had started out as an innovative company, known for creating a new product just as the popularity of one of the industry’s old standbys was fading, i.e., replacing yo-yo’s with water guns. In two decades, it had become an established maker of plastics for the toy industry. Bosco had grown from a dozen employees to four hundred, and its rules had grown haphazardly with it. Thompson’s predecessor, Wilhelm K. Blatz, had found the company’s procedures chaotic and had instituted a uniform set of rules for all employees. Since then, both