A functional structure can adopt lateral processes and, “becomes capable of forming new product teams” (Galbriath, 2006, p. 44). Excessive lateral processes can however be costly according to Galbraith. Use of intranet for employee information access and the data access can provide additional lateral process achievement. Providing field technicians access to office data can be time-saving and empowering.
Sherman Computers’ rewards systems for the new business model will have a different set of motivational tools. High skill levels demand selective recruitment tactics for creative innovative skilled talent. Skilled employees need a balance of pay structures and employee recognition system. Previous rewards polices may have supported individual achievement. However, the new business model needs to support team-based achievement as well. Rewards policies must reflect some form of variable and bonus pay to direct desired behaviors and boost productivity.
Final star component of people relates to Sherman Computers’ human resources policies and how they employees are treated.
Sherman Computer Repair External Environment
Synergetic Solutions Inc is about ten times the size of Sherman Computers. Synergetic is growing its network solutions business at a rapid clip. Vacating the computer assembly market by the larger corporation provides significant opportunities for Sherman barring other factors.
Sherman Computers market, like most has grown more competitive. Discerning customers demand higher quality and lower prices. Sherman Computer repair therefore needs to be a boundary less organization with increased process flexibility. Additionally they need to have a cadre of degreed and certified professionals to ensure competitiveness.
Increased competition and new entrants may start a pricing war and spur innovation activity. According to Thomas L.G, “Innovation is seen as powered by intense rivalry and by strong related transfactors” (Thomas, 1996, p. 82). Sherman computer repair can make concurrent efforts at efficient processes e.g. shorter cycle times and reduced process bottlenecks. Therefore, Sherman Computers need to invest in cost cutting and efficient processes. Ability to lower prices in response to changing demand yet maintain margins will be crucial in the coming years as market share declines.
Sherman Computer Repair Talent Recognition
Sherman Computer repairs consist of technicians mostly skilled in computer repairs. Providing computer assembly services will require additional employees with new technical abilities. Sherman Computers can pursue a strategy of seeking Industry certifications and professional credentials on their technical staff. Further tactics include adding variable pay structure that ties pay to performance. Strategic addition of variable pay can be effective in motivating teams to ownership. Training and development can be effective motivation tools because they provide learning and prepare employees for promotions. However, these initiatives need be complimented by career pathing policies. Pay is important for skilled workers, and researchers found, “monetary incentives produce the largest most reliable increases in job performance” (Milkovich & Newman, 2004, p. 18). More important is the combination of pay, work-life quality, and benefits for these category of employees. Benchmarking pay across industries will help Sherman Computers consistently provide competitive packages to avoid possible loss of talent. Staffing plans forecast future needs and identify potential skill gaps occasioned by retirement or attrition. Technology work can be repetitive, therefore creative analysis and design of workplace can be a source for improved productivity.
Non-monetary tactics for managing talent include days off work, opportunities for telecommuting where applicable and offsite holiday -training organized by corporate.
A good mix of team and individual recognition programs can help achieve employer objectives for recognizing and rewarding talent. Sherman computers will also need to review its performance management system for each of its business models. Performance management system reflects strategy as well they should reflect desired employee actions and behaviors. Performance plans need to be fair, uniform measurable, and relevant to the job descriptions. The process of designing new job functions need to be complimented with new performance management standards. Tailoring Team-based bonuses and unit- based bonuses can help specific productivity or innovation goals. Simple but effective tools to use are Employee satisfaction surveys and employee innovation surveys. Surveys are effective means of identifying internal sentiment of employees and can reveal opportunities to change working environment. Enacting mentoring systems to complement training and development is smart business strategy. Empirical research shows, “job satisfaction and intentions to
stay with their current organization was higher among mentored individuals than among those not mentored” (Spitzmuller et al, 2008, p. 405). Sherman Computers can train middle level management to be mentors and nurturers of ideas. Manager compensation should factor effective mentoring. Managers need to be trained and motivated be mentors. Use of variable pay component for non-sales staff can pay dividends in terms of changing employee behavior. Rule of thumb is to structure pay by relating to specific performance and reviewing it periodically. Quality control system, as part of organizational improvement can be a source of measuring and improving processes. Leadership would require middle managers to promote employee creativity and responsibility. Additionally employee relations programs can provide motivation. Employee relations plans are programs for fostering teamwork and rapport among employees. Office parties or joint community volunteering, gym memberships are examples of employee relations programs. For instance job design could be reviewed to provide motivation to employees who perform high skilled but repetitive work. Because new skill sets will be required, employee staffing plans should be made with future business needs in mind. Staffing Plans, when incorporated into strategic plans can ensure business continuity by anticipating future service levels and required resources. Planning today for the staff requirements of tomorrow will ensure business continuity. Loss of talent can affect business continuity and raise costs of replacement. Job rotation allows employees to build varied skill sets potentially making them versatile across many functions. Documenting certain standard processes ensures those with minimal skill and experience can perform with certain degree of success. Decentralizing authority can be practiced to allow faster decision making and responses to customers. More importantly lower- level employees feel empowerment. Budgets too can effectively be decentralized as was the case with Synergetic Solutions. Self- controlling budget system empower lower priority determination and but still within the confines of allocations.
Sherman Computer Repair Barriers to Change
Hostile Internal organizational culture can present barriers to change. Donate and Guadamillas describe culture as an,” broad concept” (Donate & Guadamillas, 2010, p. 85). Others describe organizational culture as, “a set of rules, values, and beliefs that are shared by a firm’s members and which conditions their behaviors” (Guerras & Navas, 2007: p. 620). Poor management of the change process can affect productivity and cause turnover problems, as the Synergistic Solutions Inc simulation proved. Mitigation of turnover involves managing the structural changes and providing open sessions for employee management communications. Lack of human capital development strategies can affect organizational capabilities. For instance lack of trained technicians can affect service levels. Mentoring, training, and employee development efforts by human resources can help manage human capital. Structuring teams around tasks is good strategy because it promotes learning exchange. Lack of clear job descriptions and poor workplace designs can be another source of problems for Sherman Computer Repairs. Redesign of workflow and workplaces can be useful for productivity and accommodate ergonomic needs. The workflow should be flexible to allow production changes. A clear conflict resolution policy could help foster workplace harmony. Effective handling of conflicts should be encouraged for constructive gain. Galbraith says companies skilled, “at conflict resolution can lower costs and time needed to reach decisions” (Galbraith, 2004, p. 45).
Vertical integration strategies with suppliers are critical for success. Managing supplier relations could confer strategic advantages. Effective managers of such relationships leverage use of shared technology like Wal-Mart and its suppliers. Sharing data with suppliers can to reduce quality and stocking problems. Wal-Mart and J.C Penny use, electronic data interchange (EDI), “thus improving productivity and reducing the need for administrative staffs” (Johnson, 1996, p. 10)
Market and technology risks include possible obsolescence and changing customer tastes. Innovation failure could result from any of a number of inadequate attentions to these forces. Economic risks beyond the control of Sherman Computers can affect customer demand for products.
Another possible barrier to change includes failure to balance creativity with commercialization or value capture. Galbraith states most large established corporations overly pay attention to value capture and not enough on creativity. On the flipside small corporations tend to focus on innovation and not enough on commercialization or value capture. Sherman Computer repair need to determine the appropriate levels of the organization's creativity and value capture. Balance ensures neither is overdone at the expense of the other.
Detrimental effects can result from failure to promote the change message and convert organizational antibodies. Buy in by employees is important to, as Galbraith says, “internal markets risks” (Galbraith, 2006, p. 115). Internal market refers, as described by Davila et al, to an organization’s levels of acceptance of creative ideas and ability to nurture innovation. Firms need to guard against organizational antibodies’ that limit creativity.
Slow response to technology and market risks. Technology risks refer to the potential for the new innovation not to strike a chord with end users. Market risks refer to the potential rejection of a new innovation by the consumer community. Market surveys, consumer data and benchmark data can be valuable sources of information. Speed is of the essence in the technology industry. Sherman Computer’s organizational design need take into consideration ability to respond swiftly to competitive change.
Further having a learning organization policy can be a mitigating force. Learning organizations can improve employee knowledge skills and abilities through encouragement and fostering the gathering and sharing of knowledge. Learning ought to be, “aimed at identifying and analyzing appropriate processes detect anomalies and provide directions to realign the present policies to maintain the effectiveness” (Akhtar & Khan, 2011, p. 259).
Lack of uniform or appropriate performance measures can be a source of frustration and employee disillusionment. Davila et al demonstrated how larger organizations tend to use return on investment (ROI) and discounted cash flows (DCF) which limits their ability to justify radical innovations. Galbraith argues that using ROI and DCF makes harder to transition to radical transformation projects because it is not an appropriate basis for it.
Sherman Computer repair can guard against lack of motivation for the change processes. Synergistic Solutions measured employee absenteeism and productivity data changes to gauge employee reactions toward structural changes. Encouraging organizational behaviors entails providing motivational tools and reward systems such that, " market risk and technology risk" are not inadvertently amplified” (Davila et al, 2008, p. 116)
Over use of integrating process can be a barrier. Over use creates,” increased costs” (Galbraith, 2066, p. 46) Create cross-functional teams of innovation centers. Cross functional teams help bring down subunit silos and allow collaboration and integration across the organization. Effective collaboration has been shown already by Galbraith to be critical for innovation project success.
Failure to harness technology to achieve lateral processes effectiveness can be a barrier. Technology according to Galbraith is one of the key lateral processes. Davila et al argue use of such tools can speed collaboration, especially if speed of market entry is critical.
Conclusion
Sherman Computers reorganization effort will see development of a new business model. Success of the new computer assembly business model shall be a departure from traditional value capture and commercialization characterizing the computer repair business. Sherman Computers will therefore need to develop innovative and creative mindsets. The new business model requires speed, flexibility, and porous organizational boundaries. Additionally the new business model must thrive under the force of market and technology risks. Nonetheless, it is incumbent upon Sherman Computer repairs existing business unit to buttress and uphold the new business model operating alongside it. These two business models by dint of different strategies will have different structures. The challenge for Sherman Computers is therefore twofold in the sense they must manage internal changes, and their external environment.
The importance for managing lateral processes and providing leadership navigating through change will be critical in the coming days as Sherman seeks to develop a robust and versatile workforce.
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