ASSIGNMENT 1 .

INDEX
• Introduction -
• Assumptions -
• Discussion
1- Existing structure -
2- 3 Legged stool theory -
3- New proposed structure –
4- Prince 2 -
5- Bee
• Recommendations -
• Conclusion -
• Bibliography -

Introduction
LiJo data systems has appointed me in order to assist in the restructuring of the company in such manner that their growth, productivity as well as profit could increase while decreasing the management issues/problems within the company structure/organisation.

In order for this to be achieved we need to have a good understanding of the current set up of LiJo, how it is run, who is responsible for what , the current obstacles being faced and what the cause of those is. Once the above has been dissected and we have managed to get a clear understanding of all the current methods/processes being used to run the company we need to look at how we can restructure the company in such manner that we can eliminate the production/conflict/ lack of communication and other problems currently faced by LiJo, this needs to be done in a manner which would not simply help resolve the current issues but to also be adopted and used as the company grows. This process will need to be done in such manner that we minimize any disturbance that might be caused while implementing/introducing the new proposed structure.

A brief overlook at who LeJo data Systems is, what they do and what had taken place within the company prior to our appointment.
LiJo Data Systems was established in 2008 it had operated domestically and was involved in IT – they supplied hardware as well as software to both the corporate as well as general market. Lijo had six owners who all had equal shares, since only one of those was white the company was over 83% black owned thus they had a good BEE rating.
LiJo was growing steadily and increasing profits up until the last quarter of 2010 when their sales revenue as well as profits began to decrease, there were a number of factors contributing to this - to mention a few.
• Competition – a number of other companies offered similar products at a more competitive price.
• Economic downfall – LiJo had operated in SA where currently the value of the rand is weakening – making it more difficult to determine future expenditure ( material costs) as well as future sales.
• Internal conflicts – a number of the staff within the company did not agree on a number of issues
• Lack of communication – the line departments did not communicate amongst one another.
Subsequent to the decrease in sales the management decided that in order to keep up with the market and their clients needs they had to add a number of new products ( GPS, access control software, educational software and more) to their existing products and also decided to open branches internationally ( Germany and the Middle east – NB – both of those countries have a strong currency)
One of the benefits they had was their BEE rating and this amongst a number of other factors allowed them the opportunity for the company to work with the Education Department ( Public).

A few months after the new products were introduced to the market and branches were opened in the middle east as well as Germany Dr Rich realised that the existing organisational structure ( being the hybrid structure) would no longer be effective as the company had grown, new products were introduced ( product orientated),the internal issues such as conflict and communication had started having a “”snowball effect” and this led him to think that if he started two new departments being E- commerce ( to manage the internet sales- this was also a new addition to the marketing side of the company as they previously did not do online sales) as well as PM department that this would iron out the problems currently faced by the company and steer the relevant departments in the right direction.
Dr Rich had thought that by adding the above two departments that his companies problems would be sorted out – unfortunately opening them was a step in the right direction but was not enough ( we will look at this into more depth at a later stage). When he realised that the above changes were not enough he thought about implementing the “Prince2” methodology but after consulting with myself we agreed that this would not be the right thing to do and decided to stick with my proposed structure being the Matrix ( to be discussed into more detail at a later stage).
At the end of this assignment the reader will have the necessary understanding of how the existing structure worked, why it crumbled ( what caused this), they will also have an understanding of the new proposed structure and how it would eliminate the existing problems and improve the overall flow of work within the company, we will also cover the reasons why Dr Rich should not make use of the Prince two methodology as well show how this can be implemented in the least disruptive manner.

Assumptions As shown in the current dynamics of the company there is a number of internal conflicts resulting in loss of productiveness, loss of respect and leading to the brake down of internal communication between the marketing and technical manager, needless to say the outcome of the above issues will impact LiJo negatively. ( For example – we start off with an issue where the technical manager does not get along with the marketing line manager leading to negative vibes between the two, the marketing manager has also been in the company for a good period of time and is capable of reading the feelings the tech manager has towards him and he then decides he would not divulge information which he often gets directly from the clients on how the technical side of the company could improve their product. This leads to the technical manager wasting a lot of valuable time trying to research and establish what the marketing mngrs already knows). We have also been informed that the marketing and technical line mngrs do not have the full backing of their employees due to the ways and means in which they operate ( one mngr being type X - work and task orientated and the other type Y- more socially orientated )

One of the ways in dealing with issues such as the above is to get a project sponsor to assist the PM in resolving this sort of internal conflicts/disputes. Looking at the information made available to us on the current set up of LiJo and the availability of staff and their relevant functions/duties we can safely assume that Ms Euro can in a sense be used as the project Sponsor, meaning she can be the person who assists the P.M when issues with the staff arise by conveying the concerns to the MD who would in turn approach the relevant affected party and attempt to resolve the issue by means of motivation, assistance and guidance.

With regards to the products offer locally and the existing ownership structure of the company we can also safely assume that LiJo has a good BEE rating and is offered the opportunities to bid for public tenders where they would have a fare chance of securing those – I believe this is one of the reasons why the NED had shown interest in the educational software made available by LiJo. The beauty of this situation is that LiJo offers a number of other products which could easily be introduced/implemented into this sort of sphere ( for example they also offer antivirus products which could be offered to tertiary institutions as well as high schools and could be used to protect the thousands of machines this sector uses on daily basis. They could also offer their GPS systems to a number of the vehicles the education ( and other) department makes use of. This is just a few of the things I believe we can safely assume, they will however be discussed in more detail during at a later stage.

Discussion
1- Existing structure
Prior to my appointment LiJo data Systems was operating under a hybrid organisational structure.

This is basically a mixture between line staff and departmental structure. Although this structure could have worked if all the employees bought in on it –it did not as LiJo was already experiencing a number of internal conflicts which had broken down the relationship between a number of the line managers and their respective employees further braking down the communication between this parties.

Looking at the Hybrid structure into more detail we would have to point out the following:
An internal project manager had been appointed, he was previously a line manager and thus had insight into the company as well as had formed relationships with his fellow colleagues/ employees . this had positives as well as negatives. Positive being that he had been with the company for a while and new the objectives and what the final goal was as well as the dynamics. On the other hand it would be negative as a number of his colleagues would have already gotten to know him and could have negative feelings/experiences towards him leading, this attitude would be brought forward and further complicate his job as a PM as the other departments might take him as a joke and not adhere to his requests.
Before going into more detail about the problems experienced by LiJo lets have a look at a simple example of the company’s current set up.