Marshall Jewelry Manufacturing Company, Business Proposal Example

Development according to Capital Strategies Advisory Group (2012) is defined as a broad, ongoing set of activities that are done to bring an organization or an individual to another threshold of performance, especially as it relates to a new job or a new role in the future. With respect to Organizational Development, Paradigm Group Consultants (2012) informs that it is a response to change, a complex educational strategy intended to transform the attitude, beliefs, values, and structure of an organization, in order for it to better adapt to new technologies and challenges.

Consultant Objective:

The objective of this project is to utilize Beckhard’s (1969) model, which is an effort, planned, organization-wide, and managed from the top strategy to develop Marshalls Jewelry Manufacturing to the stage where its effectiveness and health through planned interventions using current behavioral-science knowledge, will enable it to become a major competitive force locally and globally within a specific time horizon.

Critical Variables

Critical Variables that will be utilized to ensure the organization becomes competitive, profitable and sustainable in its operating environments are its human resources, emphasis on the changing nature of the workplace, embracing the impact of global markets, and the utilization of the accelerated rate of change concept expounded by Rouda and Kusin (1995).

Current Status

Marshalls Manufacturing is currently a small size privately owned limited liability manufacturing entity, with a workforce of 50 personnel, annual sales of $12 m, current assets listed as $20m, fixed assets $25m and an overhead at 25% of its operating expense.       The company because of its scale of operation, and technology has only 5% of the jewelry product on the local market, although the environment is conducive to rapid growth, due to the high demand in the population and the limited number of competitors at the moment

Organizationally, Marshall Manufacturing can be described as a traditional bureaucratic organization, in that decisions are made from the top and transmitted down without any input from supervisors and employees at the lower level.

Management has been change resistant until recently, and the fact that the company has no union, no human resource manager, and utilizes its sales manager to also function as its marketing manager, all combined to make the entity not strategically positioned to gain the greater market share and profitability desired by its stakeholders, who has been seeing declines in productivity that could have serious negative repercussions in the future.

Research by the consultant has shown that Marshalls Manufacturing have two major competitors, both of which are more advance structurally and technologically, and hold dominant position in the market, with revenue from sales to distributors in excess of $100 m annually.

Additionally it was discovered that all the market overall has a demand for approximately $ 2b, so in essence there are room for more players and for the present competitors to maximized their productivity as well as profitability and to increase their market share.

Fortunately for Marshalls Manufacturing, there are a number of colleges and universities in the area that are providing training programs that equip graduates for entry positions within the organization, and the level of unemployment in the overall economy has climbed to 12 % in recent months.

Strategically, Marshalls Manufacturing distribution plan for its products encompass the services of a middle men across the country and this has led to the company products being sold at higher process than its major competitors, and a lack of information regarding the structural components of customers demanding its products.

Should the company embrace an appropriate development plan, it could reduce its product process across the board by as much as 10%, and this would no doubt generate higher sales volumes as well as greater market shares individually and collectively.

Management Perception and Vision for the Future

Feedback from the leadership of the company after consultative meetings and individual interviews has revealed a general desire for the company to become more productive, hire workers that are more highly skilled, innovative and motivated.

There was also the desire to acquire higher levels of technology to facilitate the level of productivity needed to compete with its more advanced competitors, and a realization that the current marketing and sales programs has to be restructured organizationally and strategically in order to reduce the level of dominance achieved by the oligarchy now in place

In terms of vision, Marshalls Manufacturing desire to become the jewelry manufacturing company that delivers the highest quality products at the most competitive prices to customers in different markets at the appropriate time and places, so that enduring relationships can develop to enable optimum profit consistently.

Additionally, the company desire to employ the highest caliber of employees, people oriented managers and supervisors, working under an organic organizational structure which will be able to adapt to al the changing need in the global market as well as in the workplace.

The Need for a Development Plan

Marshall Manufacturing Jewelry Company needs a development Plan for the following reasons:

1. The company organizational structure is a traditional bureaucratic one and is not conducive to the current demands of a global market, where change is the only constant
2. Marshall Jewelry Manufacturing only has 5% of the market and there are only two other major competitors in a $2b dollar market
3. The local and global consumer needs are known but unmet due to the limited number of players and the low level of technology employed by the company in comparison to its competitors
4. The workforce of the company has not the level of knowledge, skill and ability to compete, but the company has the financial assets to recruit and train persons to fill entry positions from the pool provided by local colleges and universities
5. A strong marketing program is necessary to develop transmit the vision and strategies the company will need to become competitive, and this is currently not in place.
6. Marshalls Jewelry Manufacturing has no information on the market segmentation of its customers and as such cannot develop production and marketing strategies that will maximize sales and increase revenues at the same time.
7. Base on the current technology available, direct marketing would be a vital asset to Marshalls Jewelry Manufacturing in that it would reduce the middlemen in its distribution program and enable its online customers to benefit from lower prices. The company needs to make this change.
8. The absence of a union within the working environment is an advantage for the company to introduce its own motivational program, using the services of a qualified human resource manager.
9. Marshalls Jewelry Manufacturing can improve the morale of its workforce by providing incentives to employees whose suggestion has been used to improve the company productivity.
10. The company is ideally positioned to use its current financial assets as leverage to acquire the necessary financing to expand its production facility for the medium and long term, so that it can become more competitive locally and globally in all areas.

The Recommended Action Plan

1. Human Resource according to Rouda and Kusy (1995), can certainly make the difference between organizational success and failure, hence feedback from the employees of Marshalls Manufacturing should be the first move by the company to gather information. Interviews, surveys, staff meetings and the use of suggestion boxes should be utilized to capture the feeling of employees who may be very loyal to the company and have suggestions that may prove crucial to the desired development plan
2. The information generated from the above exercise should be followed by the conducting a need assessment of the company, in terms of the number of current employees, their training, experience and skill levels, the need for additional training, the capacity required to meet local and global demands, the type of machinery needed to match the competition, the nature of the organizational structure required versus the present one, the cost of introducing direct marketing and the resources necessary for the establishing global offices, the need for recruiting a human resource research and development and marketing managers and the costs, development of budgets for all three departments, and the total cost the development plan will incur against the benefits to be gained.
3. A marketing program to develop direct marketing and the recruiting of marketing officers to conduct research and surveys, as well as securing marketing intelligence necessary to enable the company to remain sensitive and proactive to changes in the market place.
4. The company through its human resource should then develop an incentive program as well as standard performance appraisal system, so that employees can be motivated to grow and develop with the company at the same time by receiving benefits, having their performance assessed, and be trained in relevant areas.
5. Regular meeting monthly and weekly where necessary; should be instituted across all departments to ensure collaborative communication takes place, as the company strives to develop.
6. A deadline should be set by the project manager for all activities to be completed, after responsibilities have been assigned
7. Feedback and monthly assessments should then be conducted by the project manager to measure the progress be made and the need for intervention measures to accelerate the rate of change required at any point in time.

Conclusion

Marshalls Jewelry Manufacturing in the opinion on the consultant will be well positioned to achieve the development needed, as long as it pursues the recommended in the action plan. However, the company should be mindful that the global environment is not static, and a particular strategy if not implemented as soon as possible may become obsolete, especially as the number of competitors increase and the taste of consumer changes.

The development plan is unique to Marshalls Jewelry Manufacturing in that it was based on research done within it at a specific point in time, and as such it is inadvisable for other companies to replicate the operation without making adjustments that may be culturally significant

It is the firm belief of the consultant that the need for the development plan has been justified, base on the position the company was in, the threat pose by its competitors, and the benefits that will accrue over the long term, especially in terms of employee stability, growth in productivity, increase in market share, and continuous profitability.

Reference

Beckhard, R. (1969) “Organizational Development Strategies and Models” Addison-Webley, Reading MA p.9

Capital Strategies Advisory Group (2012). “Organizational Development and Human Resources” www.cstratadvisors.com/organizational.asp, 09/23/12

Paradigm Group Consultants (2012). “Organizational Development” www.paradigmgroupconsultants.org/organizational.htm , 09/23/12

Rouda, R. & Kusy, M. (1995). “Needs Assessment- the first step” Tappi Journal 78 Issue 6 p.255