1. What types of decisions must Chad Thomas make daily for his company’s operations to run effectively? Over the long run?
To be best serve external customers, the types of decisions Chad Thomas must make daily for running the company’s operations effectively that are including capability planning, process improvement, managing production and project, managing and scheduling resources and quality control.
It is exciting to have the business expansion and increasing sales in order to gain profit. However, in this case, Chad’s Creative Concept does not have the capability to meet the soaring customer demand. Thus, identifying the company’s capability and production bottleneck are most important and must be considering at first. Secondly, design new processes to optimize the firm’s capability and maximize the production level thereby to shorten the lead time in order to lower inventory warehouse and handling cost. The third, project production plans in monthly, weekly and daily basis. The next, since the company’s resources are limited, therefore, Chad must make decisions on managing and scheduling the limited materials, equipment, other facilities and human resources. Allocate resources effectively to optimize the production process. Finally, to be best serve and satisfy customers, avoid defected products from the mass production process, the performance and quality control must be tracking. In addition, Chad might to think about to hire more staffs and rent a cheaper warehouse to handle the current problems.
Over the long run, Chad must make visionary corporation strategy and the following production strategy. Maintaining the company’s existing capabilities and develop new capabilities to best serve customers. Expand the business by hiring another production team to concentrate to the standard line of furniture. Expand the company’s facilities and managing resources, scheduling staff and make work plan. Measure the product quality, control the lead time and ensure to meet delivery schedule and customer satisfaction.
2. How did sales and marketing affect operations when they began to sell
standard pieces to retail outlets?
Due to limited capabilities of the company in the resource-poor setting, the operation of the company was affected by the sales and marketing when Chad Creative Concept began to sell standard pieces to retail outlets.
The company’s production capability cannot meet the increasing sales and marketing expansion. This result has been leading the company’s product lead time increase by both the custom and standard line furniture. In addition, the company has to deal with the in process materials, and unfinished products by renting the expensive public warehouse. This also will increase the company’s cost. Another factor that would affect the operation are the performance and quality control. This would be happened because the huge work load, tight production schedule and poor human resources, and this resulted in poor product quality and defected products.
3. How has the move to producing standard furniture affected the company’s financial structure?
Since the limited production capability is difficult to handle the increasing sales, order and huge customer demand. Many of the production plans cannot meet the schedule due to the shortage of experiences workers. There are more and more in process products and materials overstock in the plant and rented public warehouse which cannot meet the schedule to delivery to the customers. This result in a diminishing turnover of capital and therefore affect the company’s finance structure.
4. What might Chad Thomas have done differently to avoid some of the problems he now faces?
In order to avoid the current problems he facing right now, Chad might identify the plant’s production capability first and therefore to make an effective sales, order and production plan in the existing capability setting. The other alternative is to expand the business by purchasing more facilities, equipment and hiring more employees. Separate the custom and
standard line furniture by funding another production team to concentrate on the standard line furniture. Hire an independent consultant in the plant to make wise advice for him. Find an cheaper warehouse therefore to cut the cost.
Hammurabi’s Code: Just Or Unjust?
Mesopotamia, known as “the Land between Rivers,” was a highly significant civilization in world history. Its prosperity began around 3000 B.C. in the fertile region now called Iraq, situated between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers.
In 1790 B.C.E., King Hammurabi gained dominance over Mesopotamia’s ancient city-states, leading to the establishment of a Babylonian empire. Under Hammurabi’s rule, he established law and order by engraving around 300 laws on stone pillars for public display that same year.
These laws covered family matters, criminal punishments, and civil law. However, due to their influence from social hierarchy and excessively severe nature, they were seen as unfair and unjust.
In essence, Hammurabi used fear instead of justice to maintain control over society in Mesopotamia.
Hammurabi’s laws implemented a severe “eye for an eye and a life for a life” philosophy, frequently leading to the imposition of the death penalty for minor offenses. One example is found in the twenty-first law of Hammurabi’s code, which mandated execution and burial at the crime scene for anyone who unlawfully entered a house with theft as their intention. Consequently, even if an individual attempted but failed to break into a residence and was apprehended, they would still be subject to capital punishment. This approach lacks fairness since no actual crime occurred and no property was stolen; alternative penalties could have been employed instead.
Accordingly, Hammurabi’s Code demonstrated an unjust treatment towards society, as evident in law twenty-three. Specifically, law twenty-three states, “If the robber is not apprehended, then the victim may declare under oath the value of their loss; subsequently, the community and those responsible for the land where the theft occurred must repay the victim for the stolen goods” (King). This is an inequitable practice as innocent individuals should not be held accountable or burdened with compensating for stolen property solely because the perpetrator evaded capture.
Hammurabi’s Code had varying effects on individuals in society depending on their social status. Those with more power were able to avoid harsh consequences for their actions. For example, law one ninety-nine states, “If he put out the eye of a man’s slave, or break the bone of a man’s slave, he shall pay one-half of its value.” This reveals that Babylonian society did not treat all people equally. The presence of slaves itself is proof of this inequality. While there was still some punishment, it was much less severe compared to what others may face. This unequal treatment is unjust towards both the slave who experienced physical harm and the owner. Merely paying half of the value does not adequately address the issue at hand.
King Hammurabi brought about a significant change in the Mesopotamian government, introducing laws that aimed to maintain social order and justice. Nonetheless, these laws were highly biased and unjust as they favored specific social classes. The consequences for wrongdoing varied based on one’s societal status, often resulting in harsh and cruel punishment. Hammurabi’s Code marked the commencement of a new era focused on law enforcement and penalty.
How Did Domtar’s Strategies Align With Its Mission?
“Royer knew that to be effective in any competitive industry, an organization needed to have a strategic direction and specific goals. He decided to focus on two goals: return on investment and customer service…The competitive strategy had to focus on being innovative in product design, high in product quality, and unique in customer service…When Royer took over at Domtar, he explained to the executive team that there were three pillars to the company: customers, shareholders, and ourselves” (Blanchard & Thacker, 2007, p. 2).
Domtar simply introduced two strategies which are return on investment and customer service. To make this strategy successful Royer aligned the strategy with three sections of the company, the customer, shareholders, and ourselves. The mission is to meet the ever-changing needs of our customers, provide shareholders with attractive returns, and create an environment in which shared human values and personal commitment prevail (Blanchard & Thacker, p. 2, 2007). How the strategy and mission aligns is by focusing on return on investment and customer service, to meet or exceed the mission. The impact created by the mission statement is also being carried out by the strategy.
Given the difficulty of organizational change, what factors contributed to the success at Domtar? How did Domtar’s management at all levels contribute to reducing resistance to change? What else might they have done? Royer noted that it is only “ourselves” that are able to have any impact on changing the company. Royer hiring a Kaizen guru, which gave Domtar a process of getting employees involved by using their expertise in the development of new and more effective ways of doing things.
Royer knew that for the new strategic direction to be successful, everyone needed to understand the changes being proposed and have the skills to achieve them (Blanchard & Thacker, p. 2, 2007). “This last point reflects the belief that it is the employees’ competencies that make the difference. The “Domtar Difference,” as it is called, is reflected in the statement, “tapping the intelligence of the experts, our employees.” Employees must be motivated to become involved in developing new ways of doing things.
Thus, Domtar needed to provide employees with incentives for change, new skills, and a different attitude toward work. The introduction of Kaizen was one tactic used to achieve these goals” (Blanchard & Thacker, 2007, p. 2). The factors that contributed to the success were the strategies used to reshape the internal structure and the fact that everyone got involved in changing the working environment. The actions of hiring Kaizen lead the firm towards the achievement of goals and objectives. Management at all levels got involved by being empowered, they were able to get involved and come up with different ways to help and also empower employees.
The role of the mangers in this process is to reduce the burden of change from employees by involving them into the doing things better process. In this case I think they did everything right and I cannot see anything else that they could have done. They empowered management and employees, offered incentives, new skills, and a different attitude towards work. They even communicated the change and what needed to be done to make it happen. They possibly could of asked employees for their input.
What were the major HRD challenges associated with Domtar’s acquisitions and joint partnerships? How were these challenges addressed and what were the risks associated with these approaches? The challenges associated with Domtar’s acquisitions and joint partnerships were the attitude towards cultural change, innovative use of technology/skills, and new information and knowledge.
These challenges were addressed by focusing on training the employees to make them realize that they are the real assets of the organization and that success was in their hands. The risks were resistance to change and employees not accepting the change or valuing the training. Take the critical facts in the Domtar case and place them into the appropriate phases of the training model presented in the chapter. Begin with the triggering event and provide a rationale for why each fact belongs in the phase in which you have placed it.
There are 5 phases in the training model:
- Needs analysis phase – “An effective training system begins with the identification of the organization’s training needs” (Blanchard & Thacker, 2007, p. 7). Strategic direction and specific goals. I put this here because Royer knew that to be effective in any competitive industry, an organization needed to have a direction and goals. He knew this is what Domtar needed.
- Design phase – “The training needs identified in the Analysis Phase, in addition to areas of constraint and support, are the inputs to the design phase” (Blanchard & Thacker, 2007, p. 8). Innovative in product design, high in product quality, and unique in customer service. I put this here because it gives the needs analysis a direction.
- Development phase – “Program Development is the process of formulating an instructional strategy to meet a set of training objectives” (Blanchard & Thacker, 2007, p. 8). Hiring Kaizen guru. I put this in this phase because it was a process of getting employees involved and help come up with a strategy to meet training objectives.
- Implementation phase – “All the aspects of the training program come together during the implementation phase” (Blanchard & Thacker, 2007, p. 8). Making training a key part of Royer’s strategy. I put this in this phase because they made this a part of the strategy by creating a set of training objectives.
- Evaluation/Outcome phase – “is the evaluation conducted at the end of training to determine the effects of training on the trainee, the job, and the organization” (Blanchard & Thacker, 2007, p. 8). “A performance management system was put in place to provide a mechanism for employees to receive feedback about their effectiveness.
This process laid the groundwork for successfully attaining such objectives as improving employee performance, communicating the Domtar values, clarifying individual roles, and fostering better communication between employees and managers. Tied to this were performance incentives that rewarded employees with opportunities to share in the profits of the company” (Blanchard & Thacker, 2007, p. 2). I put this here because it is the evaluation phase. It is intended to review the performance of the change.
Reference
- Blanchard, P. N., & Thacker, J. W. (2007). Effective Training: Systems, Strategies, and Practices (3rd ed.). Retrieved from Effective Training: Systems, Strategies, and Practices.