Challenges Faced By CEO Of Lakeland Wonders: Alternative Solutions And Implications

a.What reasonable alternatives would you consider to solve the primary challenges? Try to come up with more than one or two!!

b.Look at different perspectives, as indicated above

a.What is the best solution that you would recommend?

b.Justify your viewpoint – explain WHY this is the “best” strategy/recommendation

a.How will you execute your solution?

b.What difficulties do you expect & how will you overcome these?

c.Review the “implications” of your decisions from perspective of organisation, management, workers, others.

d.Review the “implications” of your decision for short term & long term.

The case study is based on the issues that were being faced by the CEO of the company named Lakeland Wonders in the process of executing the vision that she had held for the future growth of the company. The CEO of Lakeland Wonders Cheryl Hailstorm was facing major issues with the senior Vice President of the company Mark Dawson. The CEO had some views and plans for the future operations of Lakeland Wonders in the industry (McNulty 2002). The vice president of the company was quite ready to move fast with the various thoughts and vision that the CEO had in her mind for the company. Therefore, Cheryl decided to take on the issue and solve it for the purpose of the providing the customers of the company with best products. The company has more than 5000 employees in the various facilities and the other areas of its operations (Brewster 2017).

The primary stakeholders in this case are mainly the CEO of the company, the vice president of the organization and the various other top management based employees who were a part of the entire decision making process. These executives are being considered as the major stakeholders of the company as they are the main part of the decisions that will be taken for the company. The decision that is taken by the will help in deciding the future operations of the company in the industry (McNulty 2002).

The major challenge that was being faced by Cheryl in this case was the implementation of the plans and the vision that she had for the growth of the company. The main point of discussion in this case is the order that has been received and the ways by which it can be fulfilled easily. The deal was of high importance for the successful growth of the company. The organization can also gain huge amounts of revenues from the market with the help of the order that has been placed (Brewster, Chung and Sparrow 2016). The main suggestion that was given by Cheryl in the meeting that was held with the team was related to the outsourcing of the production based activities so that the company can reduce the costs that are related to the production of the toys. The area which was selected for the outsourcing activities was China (Shields et al. 2015). The main reason behind the choice of this country is low cost labour that is available which can further help in the reduction of entire production based process. The vice president of the company however rejected the proposal. The reason that was given for the rejection of this proposal was also not acceptable for the processes of the company (Albrecht et al. 2015). The process of offshore manufacturing was proposed by the CEO which is a process used by many organizations in the current environment. The ways by which Mark and some of the other employees rejected this proposal was not fruitful for the future vision of the company (Kramar 2014). The CEO did not receive enough support for the process that was being thought to be implemented. The lack of appropriate support and collaboration from the employees was quite frustrating for the CEO who had huge plans for the future of the company (Jackson, Schuler and Jiang 2014). In the next meeting that was held by the CEO the other managers came up with more issues that were based on the operations of the organization according to the plans suggested by Cheryl. It was quite evident from their behaviour that they were not at all ready to enter into an arrangement that was different from their regular operations (Conway et al. 2016).

Stakeholders Involved

The alternatives that can suggested to the CEO is based on the ways by which she can take one to one sessions with the managers and try to make them understand the process which can help the company to gain a strong position in the market. The employees are a part of the organization for many years and thereby Cheryl needs to deal with them in a patient manner. The entire work process can be communicated to them along with the vision that the CEO has for the future of the company (Guest 2017). The ways by which the implementation of the plan can help in the development of the employees also needs to be communicated by Cheryl to the managers and the other employees as well. The improved communication of the employees and the CEO will thereby lead to increase in the cooperation and collaboration with the managers. Cheryl will thereby be successful in creating a positive and dynamic environment for the working of employees (Rees and Smith 2017).  

The ultimate solution that can be implemented by Cheryl is based on the ways by which the managers of the company can be taken into confidence by increasing the levels if communication between them. The meetings with the employees needs to be held every week so that they can made aware of the trends in business in the modern environment and the ways by which this can affect the growth of the employees in the market.

The plan that has been suggested to the CEO can be implemented easily in the daily organizational processes. The employees need to join the sessions with the CEO and they can come to know about the benefits of the plan and the contract that has been received by the company. The confidence of the employees in the decision is important for creating trusting environment within the company. The employees who are being considered in this case are the top level managers. The opinions of the managers in the organizational process is important for the purpose of taking a unanimous decision. This will help in the reduction of the hindrance that can occur in the production based process of the company.

Conclusion

The report can be concluded by stating that the organizations and the employees need to change their thinking styles for the purpose of the implementation of changes in the various areas. The CEO of Lakeland Wonders had huge visions for the company. However, she was not able to convince the top level managers of the benefits of the plans that have been made by her for the future of the company. This has caused hindrance in the implementation of these plans. The CEO thereby needs to win the trust and the confidence of the employees and further try to operate the decisions with the help of their valuable opinions. This process will be helpful for the proper operations of the company and the implementation of the changes in a successful manner. On the other hand, Cheryl is also quite new to the company. She thereby needs to give time to herself and try to understand the organizational processes. This will be helpful for the success of Cheryl in the process of winning the trust of the employers in an effective manner. The CEO can thereby try to understand the nature of the company and then further decide on the ways by which her decisions can affect the organizational operations. The main duty of Chery as the CEO of the company is to understand the employees and create a welcoming culture. This will be helpful for CEO to create a position of the company in the industry. The vision that has been created by the CEO for the company can be fulfilled with the help of the managers and the employees.

References

Albrecht, S.L., Bakker, A.B., Gruman, J.A., Macey, W.H. and Saks, A.M., 2015. Employee engagement, human resource management practices and competitive advantage: An integrated approach. Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance, 2(1), pp.7-35.

Brewster, C., 2017. The integration of human resource management and corporate strategy. In Policy and practice in European human resource management (pp. 22-35). Routledge.

Brewster, C., Chung, C. and Sparrow, P., 2016. Globalizing human resource management. Routledge.

Conway, E., Fu, N., Monks, K., Alfes, K. and Bailey, C., 2016. Demands or resources? The relationship between HR practices, employee engagement, and emotional exhaustion within a hybrid model of employment relations. Human Resource Management, 55(5), pp.901-917.

Guest, D.E., 2017. Human resource management and employee well?being: towards a new analytic framework. Human Resource Management Journal, 27(1), pp.22-38.

Jackson, S.E., Schuler, R.S. and Jiang, K., 2014. An aspirational framework for strategic human resource management. The Academy of Management Annals, 8(1), pp.1-56.

Kramar, R., 2014. Beyond strategic human resource management: is sustainable human resource management the next approach?. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(8), pp.1069-1089.

McNulty, E., 2002. Welcome aboard (but don't change a thing). Harvard Business Review, 80(10), pp.32-5.

Rees, G. and Smith, P. eds., 2017. Strategic human resource management: An international perspective. Sage.

Shields, J., Brown, M., Kaine, S., Dolle-Samuel, C., North-Samardzic, A., McLean, P., Johns, R., O'Leary, P., Robinson, J. and Plimmer, G., 2015. Managing Employee Performance & Reward: Concepts, Practices, Strategies. Cambridge University Press.