BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division
What is it about the current organization design and product development process that fosters the problems of coordination we see in the case
Adding two additional Managing Directors could be a solution. One Managing Director that could ensure that Manufacturing and Product Development are working as a team to ensure maximum efficiency in creating and manufacturing new products. Cheung and Melzer would report to him/her. The other Managing Director that could be responsible for Sales and Marketing to ensure the two divisions are working as a team. Patel and Bryant could report to him/her. Cahill seems to be overwhelmed with dealing with four Directors. This would enable him to deal only with two. This could facilitate some of the communication and coordination.
As for the development process, one the product development creates a new product; a procedure should be put into place to ensure that approval is required before manufacturing spends time, money and resources creating a prototype that is not viable.
How does the division??™s culture play a role in the discord What has shaped this culture
A culture that exists within an organization is no different than the culture that exists within a society. This organisation is ultimately working toward the same goals, but they all have different ideas and purposes. BoldFlash is flawed and unorganized. Employees are following a submissive culture. They are on guard and feel that they need to protect themselves and their territory. In order to foster a better culture, they need to feel a sense of security and trust so they are able to communicate freely and begin working as a team. Perhaps, it could have been Harrison??™s management style that may have steered this existing culture.
5. What is the role of the business head, Cahill, in leading change
As the sponsor of change in BoldFlash, Cahill has a key role in the team and the organization at large. He has the role of providing organizational support for change by guiding change and at the same time demonstrating executive commitment to move fast in the idea. His role is critical especially with resource allocation and shifting in order to support change. Additionally, the leader has an essential role in maintaining and sustaining change (Russell and Russell, 2006, p. 130). Focus is needed -for the business head- to focus on the issues in the organization before initializing organizational change.
6. Should one particular group (marketing, manufacturing, etc..) Or individual bear more of the responsibility than any other for fostering cross-functional coordination Why or why not
With the assignment of responsibilities in the organization, individual specialist groups should have the responsibility of specific key objectives and goals (Gole and Hilger, 2009, p. 155). This should include having a key and leading position to accomplish a task, come up with findings to the objectives and make recommendations. Having this ensures that each group involved in a task does it according to the requirements. Lack of clearly defined group responsibilities has caused the manufacturing and the sale heads in BoldFlash to frequently butter over the selling price of products.
7. Were all Roger Cahill??™s changes necessary
Not all Cahill??™s changes were essential. Having the sales and marketing departments split was necessary. However, the fact that each group??™s responsibilities were not clearly defined was a significant problem. The result of this was counter-interaction with performing the required jobs for each group and a poor product development. Most of the resulting effects of the changes Cahill made to BoldFlash are productive conflict between functional departments, and especially with the product development process. Additionally, with change in customer preferences the mobile division has to identify customer needs, which change quickly. The company??™s new products in the past have reduced considerably.
8. How would you improve the organization??™s design to enable better coordination and collaboration between functions Are people changes needed to enable the new design to be effective
Creation of a leading change in the team design involves integration of others ideas, behavior and energy. According to Russell and Russell (2006, p. 130), there is the need to involve other people in all phases of the change process in order for a successful introduction of change. A leading change team may be necessary for Boldflash. Cahill needs to be aware that no one can move the organization by themselves. It is essential to have individuals aware of the forces working within and outside the organization under change. The change team should also involve individuals concerned with the future of the organization and ones who believe in the organization??™s success. They should also be devoted, and flexible enough to confront tough issues faced by the organization.
9. How would you improve the product development process
Yan, Eynard, and Ion (2008, p. 261) suggest that improvement of product development process involves re-engineering the process to shorten the development cycle and improve the product quality. Product development process improvement and reengineering are concurrent events involving in-depth research to manage the process of product development mostly in process modeling. Improving intercommunication between the departments such as marketing and sales would ensure the process flows systematically. The management in the organization does not consult with the team before proceeding with their task such as before sending proposals. This shows lack of goodwill extension to the lower level staffers. The lacks of formal coordination within the departments result to unfinished tasks or tasks done by individuals and not the team.
10. Discuss the upcoming meeting. What should Cahill do to increase its productivity
Cahill??™s meeting involves evaluation of the changes made in the organization and the effects they have had on the organization??™s performance in terms of product development and its ranging in the market. The meeting is aimed at developing solutions to the collaboration and the coordination problems in the product development process. Otherwise, more changes in the organization would be essential. Boldflash??™s future will be at a risk if the organization does not continue to bring up successful products. The groups??™ aim is to come up with solutions to the current product fail. To increase productivity, Cahill should enhance good working teams in the company especially dealing with product development for the product success. He should also consider having qualified individuals for the right jobs in the organization. He also has a role to boost the product development team morale through such means as incentives to make them work to their best.
CONCLUSION:
This case demonstrates that the implementation of how changes are made is crucial for every company. Another thing this case demonstrates is the importance of structure and communication within a company. It is the difference between effective and ineffective. In this case Cahill was thrown into a position he had no previous experience with. He knew he had to make changes in order to keep the mobile division operational. One change he needs to make is a cultural one. The employees need direction, and need to understand the importance of communication. Cahill challenge will be to build an engaged team which will hopefully foster a great morale.
References
Russell, J. and Russell, L. (2009). Change Basics. Maryland: American Society for Training and Development.
Yan, X. T., Eynard, B. and Ion,W. J., (2008). Global Design to Gain a Competitive Edge: An Holistic and Collaborative Design Approach based on Computational Tools. London: Springe.
Gole, W. J., and Hilger, P. J., (2009). Due Diligence: An M&A Value Creation Approach. Canada: John Wiley & Sons.
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