Question 1: Organizational Structure & Design
HeavyCo is a US-based manufacturer of heavy industrial machinery, primarily for construction, and civil engineering sectors. Currently they are organized functionally. Sales in China and also in Brazil and Africa have rapidly increased, and are projected to continue to grow strongly for at least the next 10 years. So far, these non-US sales have been handled by US sales staff travelling to foreign locations as required. Clearly their current organizational structure, which is functional and domestically oriented, needs to be updated. What recommendations would you make regarding their organizational structure? Give consideration to the impacts on organizational structure resulting from 1) their industry (industrial manufacturing), 2) their respective national cultures, and 3) other factors you believe are relevant.
For this question, create 1) a diagram of a before and after org chart for HeavyCo, with all functions represented, and 2) a summary of the 5-7 most important changes to their current design, and why you are recommending those changes. The first part of the question will require some skill with the software to create the org chart in a way that’s clear and understandable—use Word to create the chart, or considering using Powerpoint, then copying and pasting the result into Word. In any case, please ensure the charts are clear and legible. For the second part, please use the table below, adding rows as necessary.
Change to Organizational Structure
Supporting Rationale
Question 2: Power & Politics
There are two options for this question. Please choose and respond to one of them.
Option 1
Consider two managers, working at different but similar organizations: Mr. A—who is very skillful politically, and Mr. B, who is not politically savvy at all. Compare and contrast the different ways these two managers would go about the task of selecting and implementing new enterprise-wide software for inventory management. Use the table below, adding additional rows as necessary, with Mr. A’s actions and supporting rationale in one column, and those of Mr. B in the adjacent column. Note that both managers are ethical and competent—in other words, Mr. B. does not take the actions he takes because he is incompetent, and neither does Mr. A. take the actions he takes because he is unethical. The objective here is not to compare an effective/ethical manager to an ineffective/unethical one, but rather to compare the actions of a manager who is politically skillful, to the actions of a manager who is not politically skillful.
Mr. A’s Actions and Rationale
Mr. B’s Actions and Rationale
Option 2
The objective of this question is for you to gain clarity on your own views related to the use of power and politics in the work place. This could be in the form of your own personal ‘policy’ on the use of power and politics in the workplace in general, or in your current or future organization. Alternatively, it could be in the form of an execution/implementation plan for a recent, ongoing, or future initiative, project, or career goal, focusing in particular on the political aspects for how you will move the initiative/project forward, or achieve your goal. A broad definition of ‘political’ includes all actions that are not an explicit part of your formal job description, or that do not fall under your formal, ‘legitimate’ authority. The design of the plan is up to you. If you are developing your own policy, it could be, for example, your own personal set of “5 Bylaws,” and might include a short vignette that describes a) a situation, b) how you would act/react, and c) how your actions demonstrate your Bylaws. If you are developing a plan, it could, for example, be phased chronologically: Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3; or it could be organized around a set of key actions. As always, please put forward any assumptions that would help me, or any other third party, to understand the policy/plan.
Question 3: Leading Leaders
We began the course with my proposal to you, that it would be useful for you to consider managing as a social discipline, rather than only a technical one. Together with some historical background, that set the ‘context’ for a more expansive view on managing and leading, one that included not only the sending of messages, but also, in addition, the co-creating of meaning; not only problem solving, but problem framing as well; not only ‘skills,’ but also ‘situated performances,’ etc. We then spent considerable time on ‘the self,’ and provided several methods of self-development, bringing in the views of others, and culminating with the future professional identity you hope to embody. We also covered historical—but still useful—approaches to leadership, including trait, behavioral and contingent; servant leadership; leader as sensemaker; the ‘rite of passage’ to leadership; and self-identifying as a leader.
The above describes my approach for leading and developing leaders, within the confines of a 1-semester course. For this question, please put forward your own plan for how you will develop aspiring/potential leaders. This can be applied to a particular, actual person you are mentoring/developing, or as your own policy/plan for developing leaders in general. As always, please put forward any assumptions that would help me, or any other third party, to understand your response.
Question 4: Leading Organizational Change
The purpose of this final question is to apply your own approach to leading an organizational change initiative, in consideration of our readings and discussions over the semester, and of course your own experience, for this specific situation:
After several months of falling sales, a nationwide clothing retailer performed an in-depth study of the causes of decline. Based on this study, they plan to shift their image away from “discount retailer” with a focus on low prices and discounts, toward a slightly more upscale image, with fewer discounts, and targeting customers with more disposable income. The new strategy has been tested with several stores, with positive results, and will now be expanded to all stores. Assume you are in charge of one of the flagship store locations, and that while the overall strategy is set (moving to a more upscale positioning), you as General Manager have considerable leeway in tailoring/localizing the specifics, including the merchandise mix, pricing, implementation, budget and timing.
For this question, please outline your high-level plan for leading the implementation of the new strategy at your store. You have two options: You can use the template below, or create a plan with your own formatting, remembering, as with the other responses, that you must include a supporting rationale.
Here is a template, should you choose to adopt it, modifying it as you see fit:
<Phase n>
<Phase n+1>
<Phase n+2>
Key Activities
· A
· B
· C
· A
· B
· C
· A
· B
· C
Milestone(s)
Timing/Duration
