Kristian Lightbourne HW#1 Rosalyn Santos Hongze Liu Runye Zhang Jones and Shephard Accountants, INC Case

Study 1) What should the new organizational structure look like? Where should I put each person, specifically managers?

Director ISD

Operations MGR. Admin. Manager Services

Sup. Customer Service Sup. Acct. Services

MGR. Comp. Systems

MGR. Project X

MGR. Project Y

Sup. Gen Ledger Sup. Procedures

Internal Operations Manager

Secretary Pool

Sup. Cost Accounting

Sup. Tech Writing Sup. Internal Audit

Kristian Lightbourne HW#1 Rosalyn Santos Hongze Liu Runye Zhang 2) When should I announce the new organizational change? Should it be at the same time as my appointment or at a later date? The announcement of new organizational changes should be made at the same time as your appointment. This action would depict your appointment as more than a symbolic change. The employees should be told that structural change is imminent, but they should also be assured that their input on changes would be taken into account. Employees will begin to recognize that with a change in leadership, there will also be an immediate change in the way operations are ran. Another benefit of making both announcements simultaneously is that employees will view it as a single change instead of multiple changes being forced on them. The earlier the announcement is made; the sooner employees can begin to make adjustments. 3) Should I invite any of my people to provide input to the organizational restructuring? Can this be used as a technique to ease power plays? Yes, fellow employees should be brought in to discuss the impending changes. This tactic will encourage employees to embrace the changes. By having input in the restructuring debate, employees will feel like they have a personal connection to the actual change and will have more incentive to see the changes come to successful fruition. This would also promote team building and trust. Employees would have input into changes that will directly affect them, and ergo, reduce power plays because the decisions will not be made solely by an individual, but by a group. 4) Should I provide inside or outside seminars to train my people for the new organizational structure? How soon should they be held? Seminars should be held for all employees, as well as the ISD director, prior to the implementation of the organizational changes so that employees will know what to expect. They can me made aware of the possible kinks before they happen. This will prevent them from being blindsided from unexpected complications. The seminars can be either internal or external as long as the experts involved know how to properly guide employees through transitional organization changes, but external seminars would be preferable. External seminars would give employees a break from work and provide opportunities for them to build their knowledge, trust, and bonds with each other.

Kristian Lightbourne Rosalyn Santos Hongze Liu Runye Zhang

HW#1

10-15) When does project management turn into over management? Project management begins to turn into over management when the PM places a priority on managing instead of accomplishing the goals set out for the project. Specifically, over management begins to occur when the project manager focuses more on managing personnel and not managing the overall project. An example of this could be a PM inviting employees to speak to him about low-level problems, when it would be more efficient for the line manager to resolve it. This could cause a conflict between a PM and a line manager because the line manager may feel undermined. Such authoritative conflicts could negatively impact the overall project more so than problem the PM was getting involved with. Specific Examples of over management are listed below: The project manager promises employees with rewards or promotions after exceptional work without taking into account the promotion process standardized by the company The project manager is directly involved with low level employee assignments and conflicts, which could lead to a functional manager being undermined The project manager dictates instead of discussing issues with the line manager The project manager makes changes without consulting line managers or executives.

Kristian Lightbourne HW#1 Rosalyn Santos Hongze Liu Runye Zhang 10-17) Brainstorming at United Central bank (Part II): After reading the inquiry committee report, President Keith decided to reassess his thinking about brainstorming by listing the advantages and disadvantages. What are the arguments for and against brainstorming? If you were Joseph Keith, would you vote for or against the continuation of the brainstorming sessions? Advantages: - The brainstorming committee spurs communication between upper and lower level employees - Technical employees may have unique ideas never considered by the managers that could improve overall operational efficiency - By communicating with lower level employees, managers can get a better grasp of everything, including menial operations, that make up the entire project - Employees will feel personally vested in the project if they believe that their ideas are helping to direct the project, and ergo, give the employees a greater incentive to see the project culminate successfully Disadvantages: - It is possible that the upper level employees on the committee dismiss ideas from their subordinates, and thus discourage the lower level employees from giving their input - If the ideas from the lower level employees are only negatively criticized, then good ideas could be overlooked - Because the committee selection is random, creative employees could be left out, where as left creative employees could be included

Conclusion: The brainstorming sessions should still be conducted, but with some changes. A reward system should be put in place for employees with ideas that actually come to fruition. This could encourage more employees to want to get involved. A system should be setup where all employees can have input so that all possible ideas are taken into account. After committee meetings, not only ideas that passed the criticism test should be sent to management for review, but also ideas that were shot down along with the reason why. This would allow for some accountability, and could limit the amount of ideas shot down just because of the lower level position of the person proposing it. If all proposals are treated equally, the brainstorming committee could become a great success for the company.