...1. Critique the prioritizing process at D. D. Williamson. D.D. Williamson (Williamson) is the world leader in caramel coloring and natural coloring for foods and beverages with global operations on five continents since founded in 1865. Over the years, the company has managed to be successful in many business endeavors, as well as withstanding the test of time by being in existence almost 150 years (DDW, 2013). In this time, Williamson has experienced many difficulties but yet has managed to overcome them all and their problem with prioritizing was no different. In this case study, Williamson had trouble managing projects that were successful, so they took a step back and pinpointed the cause of this issue. They found the cause to be the lack of project prioritization. There were projects of great importance being pushed to the side while meaningless project were being started. As a result of this, projects were gone over budget and there were probability many missed opportunities due to their disorganization. So they took time to devise a plan that would help them better select the projects that were more useful to the organization. The process took about three years to settle on a strategy that would bring success to their critical projects. With management being one of the essential tools needed for project management, Williamson’s first approach was where senior management worked together to select a maximum of two projects per senior sponsor by a set of criteria and resource...
Words: 1013 - Pages: 5
...Prioritizing Projects at D.D. Williamson Jessie Bruswick July 18, 2014 Introduction What are the key components that keep a business or company afloat? Most business owners and CEOs would suggest a business plan, budget, qualified and experienced workers, goals for the business, great leadership, and maybe even trial and error. All of these suggestions are sure contributions to the success of any business, but we must not forget prioritizing. This case study will help us to see and understand that D. D. Williamson Company made prioritizing very crucial and necessary in the building, growth, and success of the company. Many companies have all the previously mentioned attributes, but without having a since of priority, the company will soon fail. After realizing some failed projects, D.D. Williamson began taking a closer look at what was really important. Prioritizing allows companies like D.D. Williamson, the opportunity to step back and see what’s important, very important, and least important. With that knowledge, the company can take its best managers or leaders and put them on projects that require more attention, skill, and knowledge, while other sub-projects can be seen after by others with not as much experience. Literature Review Critique the prioritizing process The process previously used by D. D. Williamson Company in 2004, caused a weakness that was two-fold. The company had too many projects that were considered as high importance and the projects...
Words: 1007 - Pages: 5
...Prioritizing Projects at D.D. Williamson 2014 October 20 HRM 517/ Professor Stephen Castellese Prioritizing Projects 1 Introduction Keeping any organization above water takes a few key components. These components are not limited to strategic planning, goals, budgeting, qualifications, leadership and loyalty. These components will make for a successful organization as long as they remember to prioritize. A case study has been conducted on the business of D.D. Williamson. The D.D. Williamson Company has not been one to lack success, but has lacked the ability to manage projects. Because of its lacking ability to manage projects they have missed out on opportunities and have exceeded budgets. After reading the case study we see that there has also been a clear breakdown in the communication when dealing with projects assignments. It took nearly three years before investigating and upper level management to figure out that there were no precise systems put into place for marking projects level of importance. Prioritizing is necessary and crucial to an organization for growth, planning, and success. According to Kloppenborg, Nkomo, Fottler, and McAffee (2012), D.D. Williamson would have benefited from utilizing a project management team, whom would have identified the scope of the project, cost, and taken ownership of the schedule from start to finish. Critique the prioritizing process at D. D. Williamson. This company would have benefited more...
Words: 1041 - Pages: 5
...The 9 Essential Skills of Human Resources Management - How Many Do You Have? Human Resources Management Key Skill #1: Organization Human Resources management requires an orderly approach. Organized files, strong time management skills and personal efficiency are key to the Human Resources function. You’re dealing with people’s lives and careers here, and when a manager requests a personnel file or a compensation recommendation that lines up with both the organization and the industry, it won’t do to say, “Hold on. I’ll see if I can find it.” Human Resources Management Key Skill #2: Multitasking On any day, an HR professional will deal with an employee’s personal issue one minute, a benefit claim the next and a recruiting strategy for a hard-to-fill job the minute after. Priorities and business needs move fast and change fast, and colleague A who needs something doesn’t much care if you’re already helping colleague B. You need to be able to handle it all, all at once. Human Resources Management Key Skill #3: Discretion and Business Ethics Human Resources professionals are the conscience of the company, as well as the keepers of confidential information. As you serve the needs of top management, you also monitor officers’ approaches to employees to ensure proper ethics are observed. You need to be able to push back when they aren’t, to keep the firm on the straight and narrow. Not an easy responsibility! Of course, you always handle appropriately, and never divulge to any...
Words: 579 - Pages: 3
...Case Study 1: Prioritizing Projects at D.D. Williamson HRM 517 – Managing Human Resource projects Strayer University June 21, 2013 What was the Prioritization Issue at D.D. Williamson? In the case study of D.D. Williamson, it appeared the organization was successful in many ventures, but lacked the ability to manage certain projects. In fact, critical projects that required attention were left to the waste side, and as a result lead to missed opportunities, or resulted in going over the allocated budget. Within the organization of D.D. Williamson, there appeared to have been a breakdown in communication, which blinded the organization in determining projects that needed the most attention. Through the process of the organization’s investigation, which took approximately three years, leaders realized the they had no accurate system in place for marking the level of importance in each of their projects. In researching the writings of Kloppenborg, Nkomo, Fottler, and McAffee (2012), D.D. Williamson would have benefited from utilizing a project management team, whom would have identified the scope of the project, cost, and taken ownership of the schedule from start to finish. D.D. Williamson would have benefited from having developed a well-rounded project team, or several teams could have managed each project independently. Furthermore, each team could have managed the project based on the urgency of each project, the cost, and the practical details concerning...
Words: 1197 - Pages: 5
...Case Study 1: Prioritizing Projects at D.D. Williamson Crystal D. Dr. Donny Bagwell Managing Human Resources Projects: HRM 517 October 27, 2013 Introduction D.D. Williamson implemented a new process for project prioritization that included focusing on the vision and impact of projects and narrowing down projects by selecting the ones of high importance and assigning them to senior management teams. I will attempt to critique that process, recommend an improvement for the process, provide a scenario of why the process could possibly not be successful, and project if the process will still be successful in five years. Critiquing D.D. Williamson Project Prioritization The prioritization process at D. D. Williamson is a great improvement opposed to the previous prioritization process that was implemented. I believe that D.D. Williamson was able to finally overcome challenges after years of not having a successful process in place. Cutting down the amount of projects from 60 to 16 was a smart plan that in return helped D.D. Williamson not to go over budget, increase the success rate to over 60 percent of projects finishing close to the expected completion date, and earn better results. This process also helped to move forward the most critical projects of high importance. Simplifying the criteria ratings also helped to narrow down projects and prioritize them. By selecting a new criteria rating and focusing on the Vision Impact Projects (VIPs), it made...
Words: 809 - Pages: 4
...Small Town (2006) is a nonfiction book written by John Grisham, and his first outside the legal fiction genre. The book tells the story of Ronald 'Ron' Keith Williamson of Ada, Oklahoma, a former minor league baseball player who was wrongly convicted in 1988 for the rape and murder of Debra Sue Carter in Ada and was sentenced to death. After serving 11 years on death row, he was exonerated by DNA evidence and other material introduced by the Innocence Project and was released in 1999. Contents * 1 Synopsis * 2 Book edition * 3 References * 4 External links | Synopsis Ron Williamson has returned to his hometown of Ada, Oklahoma after multiple failed attempts to play for various minor league baseball teams, including the Fort Lauderdale Yankees and two farm teams owned by the Oakland A's. An elbow injury inhibited his chances to progress. His big dreams were not enough to overcome the odds (less than 10 percent) of making it to a big league game. His failures lead to, or aggravate, his depression and problem drinking.[1] Early in the morning of December 8, 1982, the body of Debra Sue Carter, a 21-year-old cocktail waitress, was found in the bedroom of her garage apartment in Ada. She had been beaten, raped and suffocated. After five years of false starts and shoddy police work by the Ada police department, Williamson—along with his "drinking buddy", Dennis Fritz—were...
Words: 18140 - Pages: 73
...1. Kelly would be entitled to the 20-foot strip if that was agreement stated in the contract and if Brown knew that Kelly’s main goal was to eventually regain possession of his 20-foot strip of land. However, if Kelly and Brown just orally agreed that the 20-foot strip would be reconveyed to Kelly than Kelly is not entitled to get his 20-foot strip back because it was a sale of real estate and it needed to be in writing. All contracts to sell land, buildings, or interests in land must be evidenced by a writing. The ethical issue is that Brown knew that Kelly wanted his 30-foot strip back but he doesn’t legally have to give it back to him because it was written down in their contract although they orally agreed to it. Brown is unethical for not giving Kelly’s 20-foot strip back. But, Kelly might be able to get his land back because this is an issue involving promissory estoppel and Kelly relied on the promise made by Brown in order to validate his decision to sell to Brown under the terms defined in the written contract. 3. Lawrence does not have a defense. The statute of frauds requires a contract for the promise by the executor or administrator of a decedent’s estate to pay a claim against the estate from personal funds to be written in a contract. Moore’s widow may have promised to pay the debt that her deceased husband owed Lawrence but without a written contract stating that she would pay her husband’s debt the promise cannot be enforced. The promise cannot be enforced unless...
Words: 540 - Pages: 3
...related to the economic theory existing at that time. The differences between the perception of a firm or company and its correspondence in the real world have been assessed, making an empirical analysis of possible attributes that can influence their development in close relation to its internal factors and, and the market interactions as well. Following Coase’s study “The Nature of The Firm”, many other economic papers and theories have emerged in the next decades, leading to the development of different concepts like TCE, vertical boundaries of a company, interactions between company and market and optimal decision for the “make or buy” dilemma as it is mentioned also by (Lafontaine and Slade 2007). Contributions of Coase and Williamson The basics for TCE development have been defined by Coase (1937), making an argumentation in favor of lower possible cost of assessing some activities within a company rather than acquiring them from the market by a set of more costly transaction. Also, he has argued that preferential treatments a firm can get from external environments (like governments), combined with the possibility of reducing the market exchange transaction costs (by directing some resources through a defined organization) can be seen as the main reason for a firm to exist and grow. The dilemma of efficiency versus variable size of a company was also mentioned in his studies with respect to the monopoly avoidance. Clarifying also the differences between initiative...
Words: 1971 - Pages: 8
...Analysis of the Case R&R Date: September 28th, 2011 Bob Reiss was an entrepreneur. He saw an opportunity in the market to make a profit and he succeeded. The following describes his market transactions and whether they were right or wrong using transaction cost economics theories. I will use Oliver Williamson’s theories and rules to decide whether the transactions were correct. At the end I will have enough information to decide if every opportunity needs a firm and if there is room for entrepreneurs who depend on the price mechanism. Reiss’s first major market transaction was designing the game. He took this to the market and found a professional inventor, whom he knew. This was the right decision. This game only needed to be designed once. The frequency was low. Therefore there was no point in wasting time and incurring the costs of creating it. Also this product was unique. He would not have been able to create it as simply as the market, which had more experience. Since Reiss knew the designer the uncertainty of him defaulting on the contract was very low. He also knew that the designer would be motivated to complete the project because he aligned their interests together through a sales motivated contract. Next was Reiss’s responsibility to set up operations to take the game to market. He didn’t have the cash flow to do this. Instead of raising the money himself he established a partnership to create the firm Trivia Inc and went to the market...
Words: 1146 - Pages: 5
...Analysis of the Case R&R Bob Reiss was an entrepreneur. He saw an opportunity in the market to make a profit and he succeeded. The following describes his market transactions and whether they were right or wrong using transaction cost economics theories. I will use Oliver Williamson’s theories and rules to decide whether the transactions were correct. At the end I will have enough information to decide if every opportunity needs a firm and if there is room for entrepreneurs who depend on the price mechanism. Reiss’s first major market transaction was designing the game. He took this to the market and found a professional inventor, whom he knew. This was the right decision. This game only needed to be designed once. The frequency was low. Therefore there was no point in wasting time and incurring the costs of creating it. Also this product was unique. He would not have been able to create it as simply as the market, which had more experience. Since Reiss knew the designer the uncertainty of him defaulting on the contract was very low. He also knew that the designer would be motivated to complete the project because he aligned their interests together through a sales motivated contract. Next was Reiss’s responsibility to set up operations to take the game to market. He didn’t have the cash flow to do this. Instead of raising the money himself he established a partnership to create the firm Trivia Inc and went to the market to gain the funding. His new partner...
Words: 1129 - Pages: 5
...Question: How would you justify spending time and money on a business analysis of your company? Can such an exercise really pay off in ways that make it worth the effort? Analysis, as summed up from my readings, can be regarded as a clinical and structured decomposition of a subject into its constituent parts with the aim of acquiring salient information and deeper understanding of the said subject and to offer robust solutions for improvements. It is thus a process that is inherently iterative and involves, as proffered by Williamson et al., (2004), lots of research to gain deeper insight into the business which encompasses all aspects of the business and its environment. In short, it is a holistic process that unearths the secrets of the business and identifies areas needing attention. It thus seeks to find answers to questions like where is the business now, what does it do and how does it do it, where does it want to go and how can this be achieved (Williamson et al., 2004). Yes, it consumes time and money but insights so garnered from the analytical process leading to formation of strategies will give the business a favourable competitive position and superior profitability. To reduce time and money spent, analytical tools are used to aid in the process, besides bringing structure to it. Note here that only the right necessary tools are used, as a few too many tools might derail and probably bring the process to nought. One cannot overemphasize the value of undertaking...
Words: 784 - Pages: 4
...Sloman et al, (2010: 35) defines firms as ‘An economic organization that coordinates the process of production and distribution’. In addition, ‘Firms are arranged frameworks relating people, things, knowledge, and technologies, in a design intended to achieve specific goals’ (Clegg et al, 2011). The main concept behind firms is to transform the input into outputs (Sloman et al, 2013). To give out a few examples of firms in different production lines for instance as clothes, cars, phones and others such as Apple and Samsung, H&M and Gucci, BMW and General Motors. According to Coase (as cited in Formaini, R and Siems, T, 2003) the firms are responsible for production and distribution of goods and services and firms are of upmost importance because they reduce the transaction costs which would usually cost a lot more if carried out by an individual compared to the firm. We will discuss transaction costs in greater details; however, it’s also important to know how firms are organized and how they operate. Firms are organized and they operate in different manners and ways for instance, goods and services they produce, the industries they are located in, the size of the operating firm, and the legal structure of the firm. The legal framework of the firm is very important and will have an impact on its performance, production and operations and thus we will be concentrating on it in order to exemplify the classification of firms in different ways. In the UK, there are several...
Words: 2963 - Pages: 12
...Prioritizing Projects at D.D. Williamson HRM 517 October 23, 2011 Prioritizing Projects at D.D. Williamson This paper will critique the prioritizing process at D.D. Williamson; suggest one recommendation to improve the prioritizing process, a scenario to discuss where the implemented process at D.D. Williamson would not work, and a long term goal of five years from now speculating whether or not D.D. Williamson will be using the same process. D.D. Williamson has nine natural coloring operations on five continents since founded in 1865. With that said, it took D.D. Williamson three years; two iteration to reconcile on an approach that significantly increased the company success rate with critical projects they now call VIP (Vision Impact Projects) (.Kloppenborg, 2012 p 48) D.D. Williamson began its first approach to prioritize the company senior management team, being that it is the company major management support system. With this, the senior management teams would have a limit of two projects per senior management totaling 16 projects. According to D.D. Williamson, the company thought it was a great move ahead because the year before, the senior management teams had been challenge to monitor over 60 improvement projects (Kloppenborg, 2012, p 48). Although the company improved to well over 60 percent, there were still some problems. Some projects were not moving forward as planned and came to be a critical investment for D.D. Williamson. The company realized...
Words: 1008 - Pages: 5
...Critique the prioritizing process at D.D. Williamson D.D. Williamson was founded in 1865 and has grown into a multi-billion dollar global organization. It has nine natural coloring operations in five continents. With that being said this means that nothing but quality and execution is expected out of D.D. Williamson. According to Case Study 2 “Prioritizing Projects at D.D. Williamson”, D.D. Williamson uses Outlook to database to keep track of much of its project and daily work. Outlook is a great tool depending on the nature of the project because it enables D.D Williamson when using the tools in Outlook to break their many complex projects into manageable sub-projects, assign roles and responsibilities as well as break down the structure of the project. Using Outlook for their projects also can help them focus on highest-priority items and ensure that all of their resources are used to its fullest as well as help them develop and complete the project plan. This is only half the battle is using Outlook. Suggest at least one (1) recommendation to improve the prioritizing process. Successfully prioritizing the project required D.D. Williamson to have a method in which they would decide how many projects will be assigned and in which order of importance. According to D.D Williamson they had a hefty 78 projects. So far I would say that D.D. Williamson understands that prioritizing is key and they already knew the value in establishing criteria for prioritizing the project on the...
Words: 748 - Pages: 3
