The first thing I would like to do is describe what kind of organization that IM runs with Deluxe Tool. Looking at Deluxe Tool, it is easy to see that this company operates under a bureaucratic control. This organization is very formal. Clearly IM has rules and regulations that are expected of his employees. These formalities have allowed the organization to be successful and to grow. Mr. Tycoon practices the art of Gemba Walking, because as stated in the case details he is very involved in the day to day operations of the company. Now, with the responsibilities of Safe Buy Insurance and MicroAge Software, he must now look at those organizations and figure out a way to manage them under his style of leadership. We first review the Safe Buy Insurance Company. (Brasfield, 2013 p. 347)
Safe Buy Insurance is the actual name of the company, however according to the details of the case none of the agencies up under Safe Buy carry the Safe Buy brand. It was mentioned that many of the agencies are not making the profit that they made in the previous years. It was mentioned that there are issues with the processing of paperwork. IM’s first point of business is to establish a mission statement, vision, and goal for this company. Right now, it is stated that this business is market controlled. There needs to be a standard through the agencies under Safe Buy. The company needs to know what they stand for, where they are at, and where they are going. Providing a standard, with what is expected and a goal will provide a benchmark for performance assessments . IM will need to brand those other agencies as Safe Buy Insurance, so there is unity amongst the organizations. There needs to be some type of commonality to say “Hey we are Safe Buy Insurance”. From here IM can start using feedforward control. Although the definition of feedforward control states that it is “the control process used before operations begin, including policies, procedures, and rules designed to ensure that planned activities are carried out properly”, this still needs to happen for this organization (Brasfield, 2013, p. 572). The organization currently is out of control we need to implement these items to get it back on track, so that the other agencies can be in the same league as the parent company. During feedforwarding control we need to look at the training of the employees and see if they are qualified for their positions and do they need more training. Feedforwarding will also help us to prevent future issues. Once we get through that process, because it will take time however we will have to move into the concurrent control. Concurrent control takes place while plans are being carried out; this is where supervisors are observing the employees. Here we will need to perfect and fine tune the changes we have made. Meaning, now that we have the staff trained properly has the processing of paperwork improved? Do we need to provide more training? Do we have the right people in the right position? These are things we look at so that we can ultimately meet the goals of the organization. Once we review we are going to need feedback.
Feedback control focuses on the use of information about previous results to correct deviations from the acceptable standard. It is known that Safe Buy Insurance had little to no control in place, and that the other agencies were not bringing in the profit that they use to bring in from past years. That is our benchmark. We know that the processing of paperwork was inefficient. Now we need to look at are we improving based on our data? Have we increased our profits? Are we maintaining our current customers, and are we gaining new customers? Those are things we would look at for this company. Bottom line is that even though we are providing a service, we need to turn this company into a machine bureaucracy. Aligning this company and conducting it in the same manner as Deluxe Tool, I feel would give IM the success to manage. However, these steps would not work for MicroAge Software.
MicroAge Software is very successful. This organization has a flat hierarchy. IM would have to understand that this is a boundaryless organization, and there is an unstated chain of command. This is working for this organization because they are dealing in software, and it is necessary to be creative and innovative in this particular industry. IM should allow this organization to continue to run as it is, making sure to understand that he needs to place a person in charge over there that understands the culture of the organization. IM needs to also recognize that the morale in this company will be very different from Safe Buy Insurance, because here at MicroAge their President worked right with them. There are no formalities in this organization, thus making everyone empowered in their own right. So the loss of Jane, who is more than just a President, but considered an extended family member, will affect them tremendously. The person that is put there to manage needs to understand this and cater to the human needs of these employees.
Overall IM’s challenge will be the Safe Buy Insurance Company. Here he will need to do a detail make over, and do it at a pace that will not cause too much resistance from the employees. He needs to appoint someone that is a great fit in a boundaryless organization and sensitive to the human needs of the employees at MicroAge. The divisional structure will be the best way to get all three companies under the same parent company, which will be Deluxe Tool.