Strategic Management Unit IV -Questions and Answers

Published by gudwriter on

Looking for ways to tackle your case analysis task? Leave that to our case study writing service. With our professional experts we help you achieve great results in the wider academic field. Contact us today and put all your worries aside.

Elevate Your Writing with Our Free Writing Tools!

Did you know that we provide a free essay and speech generator, plagiarism checker, summarizer, paraphraser, and other writing tools for free?

Access Free Writing Tools

Question 1: Describe at least five issues that may require a management policy as a component of its strategic management process.

Your response should be at least 200 words in length. All sources used, including the textbook, must be referenced; paraphrased and quoted material must have accompanying citations.

Answer

The running of the organization largely depend on management policy (Williams, 2004). Some of the issues, which may require management policy as a component of strategic management process, include changing organization structure to reflect the new organization strategy. The policy on the organization concerning the structure of the firm would affect the success of the firm. Thus, a change in organization structure would require management policy because the latter determine the functions within the organizational structure. Second, managing change may require management policy as a strategic management process because it affects the routine of doing the organizational activities. As such, a section of the employees may resist the move.

Third, allocation of the organization resources requires a management because it affects the success of the firm. The departments within the organization largely depend on the allocated resource to achieve their respective missions or objects. Effective resource allocation policy is likely to produce effective result to the firm than a poor crafted resource allocation policy (Sekhar, 2009). Fourth, introduction of new system of rewarding or motivating the employees touches on the company as a strategic process management. Here, the organization would rely on its management policies in order to come up with a new measure of rewarding its employees. Lastly, leadership style greatly touches on the management policy of the firm and it significant determines the performance of the organization.

Question 2: What are the three commonly used strategies or approaches for implementing changes in an organization? Give an advantage and/or disadvantage for each type of approach.

Your response should be at least 200 words in length. All sources used, including the textbook, must be referenced; paraphrased and quoted material must have accompanying citations.

Answer

The three commonly used strategies to effect change stem from Kurt Lewin’s model of change process (David, 2011). The first strategy is to create the need for the change process. This strategy dictates the management to identify the threats and scenarios that could crop in future then proceeds to examine the opportunities that would come as result of change. Afterword, the management should begin honest discussion with the entire organization on why change is necessary. The advantage of this approach is that it makes the process inclusive thus limiting the chance of resistance. The demerit of this strategy is that it require time to convince the parties involved.

The next strategy is to create an environment that favors change. This strategy entails creation of alternative approaches where the organization can choose. The options available to the stakeholders and the interested parties would enable them to choose the most favorable option. The main advantage of this approach is that the involved parties would be part of the change, which in turn would affect its success (Sekhar, 2009). Additionally, this strategy would help the stakeholders to acknowledge the consequences of choice made concerning change.

The last strategy is creating a positive or safe ground for acknowledging the change process. The change implementation process should always motivate the employees and stakeholders about the positive outcome of the intended result. The main advantage of this approach is that it bridges the gap created by uncertainty about change. The assurance helps the involved parties to pursue the change process.

Explore more on case study definition and ultimate guide to pass.

Question 3: Unit IV Case Study

Complete the four elements of the McDonald’s organization chart exercise in the Assurance of Learning Exercise 7A on page 248 of the textbook. Once the organizational chart recommendation is completed, create at least one high-level objective for each functional group in the organizational chart. State your rationale for each and briefly state how each would be measured. Compile your work into a minimum two-page APA formatted paper.

What type of organizational chart illustrated for McDonald’s?

McDonald’s has a matrix type organizational chart. According to this chart, people with similar skills are grouped for work assignments and they report to more than one manager. Matrix organizational chart provides that employees of a given department, for instance sales department, may be assigned to different projects and report to the respective project managers.

What improvements could you recommend for McDonald’s organizational chart? Give your reasoning for each suggestion.

I think I would recommend the position of chief operation officer in the four regions where the company operates. The role played by the operation department is critical; therefore, it requires more emphasis. Presently, the organization has a single head that run the activities of the four regions. Arguably, due to bulk work, operation in some regions may not be effective.

What aspects of McDonald’s chart do you especially like?

McDonald’s organizational chart provides that all the respective heads of operation report to the executive vice president and chief operating officer of McDonald USA. From this arrangement, the vice president and chief operating officer plays the major role of supervising the activities or operation of the company in the United States. Moreover, this arrangement reduces the work of the functional supervisors in that, they work is to concentrate on their respective regions (Carroll & Buchholtz, 2014). As such, McDonald is capable of measuring the progress of its activities in the respective regions.

What type of organizational chart do you believe would best suit McDonald’s? Why?

I think Matrix organizational structure would suit McDonald’s because the company operates in numerous regions, which exhibit similar operations. For example, the activities of McDonald’s USA and McDonald’s UK are similar, but the regions are different. On the account of this similarity and complexity of the company’s activities, the matrix organizational chart offers a suitable mechanism of monitoring the activities of the company (Carroll & Buchholtz, 2014). The head of various departments find the management of their departments easy because managers from other departments pooled together by the same skills have a chance of monitoring the activities of the firm. In other words, line managers can supervise the activities of the organization and report their observation to the same head of operation.

Objective for Functional Group

McDonald’s organizational chart has the rank of chief executive officer as the highest rank. The objective of this post is to oversee all the activities of this organization. The organization chart provides that six departmental heads report to the chief executive officer. The posts are executive vice president –chief restaurant officer – the objective of this post is to control all the activities of the restaurant. Corporate executive vice president – the objective of this post is to address all corporate affairs. Executive vice president and chief human resources officer- the objective of this post is to handle all the human resource functions of the company. President and chief operating officer- the objective of this post is to run all the operations of the firm. Executive vice president and chief financial officer – the objective of this post is to manage the finances of the company. Executive vice president and global chief marketing officer – the main objective of this post is to handle all issue related to marketing of the company and its product.

References

Carroll, A., & Buchholtz, A., (2014). Business and Society: Ethics, Sustainability, and Stakeholder Management. New York: Cengage Learning.

David, R. F., (2011). Strategic Management Concepts and Cases. London: Prentice Hall.

Sekhar, S. V. G. (2009). Business Policy and Strategic Management. New York: I. K. International Pvt Ltd.

Williams, K., (2004). Cooperative Agreements for Corridor Management. London: Transport Research Board.

Usefule resource you might be interested in; Process improvement to hotel management – question & answer.

Gudwriter Custom Papers

Special offer! Get 20% discount on your first order. Promo code: SAVE20