Gap Analysis: Harrison-Keyes

Running head: GAP ANALYSIS: HARRISON-KEYES

Gap Analysis: Harrison-Keyes

Gap Analysis: Harrison-Keyes

The advent of the internet has spawned a great deal of opportunities for individuals and companies alike. Shifts from traditional methods of purchasing consumer goods like music, videos and goods have reshaped the market, and those that are able to adjust to these shifts have not only survived, but also flourished. Harrison-Keyes (HK) stands at the threshold of this opportunity, but before it can rise to the top, it must identify the underlying issues and effectively implement change processes for it to improve the company's overall situation.

Situation Analysis

Issue and Opportunity Identification

Harrison-Keyes is a global publisher of print products specializing in a plethora of books ranging from scientific, technical and business books and journals, to professional and consumer books, textbooks and other educational materials for all levels of study. Over a century old, HK's success was anchored by publishing the works of literary giants, and as time progressed, adjustments towards publishing business, scientific and technical works have allowed the company continued success. In recent years however, HK, as with the entire publishing industry, has been experiencing dips in profits. The advent of low-cost retailers have driven prices down, thus profitability, even mere survival, has become a challenge for this once-industry leader.

Harrison-Keyes started its venture into e-publishing through the leadership of its former Chief-Executive-Officer (CEO), Meg P. McGill. Meg McGill comes from a technical background, thus found it elementary for the company to align itself with the global trend of digitalization. Setbacks during her term ranging from technical difficulties to problems with HK's formatting partner Asia Digital Publishing had the board crying, "Enough!" and sent Meg McGill packing. The newly appointed CEO, William Guardo has a background and a set of vision that markedly contrasts the former chief officer's. William Guardo is a firm advocate of traditional publishing stemming from his three-decade stint with a competing publishing house. This change in directorship has created some confusion within the company, especially because the direction of the company has not been thoroughly established. An effective leadership team that is focused and share common objectives towards the realization of the organization's goal(s) drives a successful corporation. HK's senior management, especially its CEO William Guardo, should set the tone and develop the company's vision, mission and values (VMV) congruent to the company's code of ethics. From here, the other senior managers should align their own objectives that will meet the company's set VMV. They should share a dream and direction that other people want to share and follow. The vision of HK's senior leadership team must permeate the workplace and be manifested in the actions, beliefs, values and goals of the entire organization. This is not to say that senior management members should agree all the time. "CEOs must actively encourage dissent among senior managers by creating decision-making processes, reporting relationships, and incentives that encourage opposing viewpoints," (Kreitner and Kinicki 2004). HK's senior management team therefore, has to set the company's vision and direction first before it can go forward with any activity pertaining to the HK's future direction.

One of HK's difficulties stems from its information technology (IT) Department's lack of organization. Led by CIO Mack Evans, the IT has experienced much difficulties setting up the new sales website, which was projected to give the company a much needed revenue stream. Mack Evans has been with the company for a decade, but the recent developments in IT has made his skill set obsolete, thus, his whole department has failed to come up with effective tactics to avoid failure, and has even overlooked the need to develop a contingency plan in cases of emergency. This lack of planning, coupled with Asia Digital's unforeseen closure due to a calamity has further compromised HK's financial position. Information technology has been the evolving at a tremendous pace during the past decades. The past decade has seen major increases in the complexity of IT systems and infrastructures, spawning inefficiency, inflexibility, and mounting costs (Techworld 2007). IT departments must always stay abreast of these various changes to assure its company of continued competency to keep up with the changing times. The CIO must increase his personal knowledge to become a more effective leader. His department should always be informed on new processes, and a contingency plan should always be formulated alongside the inception of the company's vision because the availability of a contingency plan can significantly increase the chances for project success (Gray & Larson 2006).

The exodus of key employees has also contributed to HK's continuing woes. Due to various write-ups about the company's outsourcing activities, workers now fear for their jobs. People have certain needs that drive them to act or perform in a certain way. Kreitner & Kinicki (2004) states that needs arouse behavioral patterns that pave how an employee might do his or her job, particularly the amount of focus, intensity, quality and duration. One of the most common needs of employees is job security. If an individual is happy and content with his present position in the company, it allows him to become more efficient, hence also increasing productivity of the entire organization. HK should employ employee satisfaction surveys, or ESS, to identify and address issues within its workforce. Early detection and prevention of worker anxieties will deter bigger human resource issues from developing.

HK has missed its sales projection by more than 400%, garnering only $3million, far from earlier estimated $16 million sales for the first six months. The misaligned marketing plan has contributed greatly to this failure. Although marketing research has shown wide adoption by business and technology users towards digitized publishing, sales figures did not reflect this. Since e-publishing is new to HK, Marsha Goldfarb and the rest of the marketing team should have consulted with experts and studied different companies who have had previous success in the field of sales and marketing of e-books. Benchmarking and adaptation of best practices as well as being under the direction