Strategic Management and Business Policy

Read "The Wallace Group,"Case 2 in your text (pages2-1 through 2-10, Appendix 15a) After review, write a 2 to 3 page response to the following question:

1.What is the most important problem facing the Wallace Group?

2.What recommendation(s) would you make to Mr. Wallace, and in what order of priorities?

3.How do you educate a manager to manage an organization as it evolves over time from an enterpreneurial structure to a more sophisticated and complex organizational structure?

1. What is the most important problem facing the Wallace Group?

There a several problems that the Wallace Group is facing but the biggest problem of all is that all of the departments are understaffed.

The employees are upset because there is not enough personal in the departments. The departments itself cannot perform one hundred percent, unless they receive more personal that can take off some of the work load.

The Wallace Group needs to expand as soon as possible and it needs to recognize that many things need to be changed in order to improve the work atmosphere and the performance of employees.

The recent growth of the company caused a promotion of technical people to management positions with no managerial experience. Actions like that can harm the department's atmosphere and productivity. The new manager doesn't know how to treat his team and some managers take advantage of the "power" they received. They might start "barking orders" or not be able to delegate the work load. Either way, those new managers need to learn how to be a manager.

The Wallace Group is receiving rйsumйs for engineering positions from qualified employees but they are being rejected by the Directors of the departments. Also, the company doesn't offer good pay and the job specs are too high. With these two criteria's and directors who reject people, it is really hard to improve the company.

One important department that doesn't get any attention is the Marketing department. It's being neglected and employees from other departments have to help out and provide supporting data for the Marketing Vice President in order for him to prepare a marketing strategy. Team work is great but it is useless if the departments own work load cannot be completed on time.

Another example of neglecting work is when six engineers were lend to the chemicals group to help solve problems with developing a new battery. Now the engineering department is suffering because it doesn't have enough personal for it's own department.

It seems like nothing is balanced right at the Wallace Group. If it continues to work just like it is now, there will be an end to the company.

2. What recommendation(s) would you make to Mr. Wallace, and in what order of priorities?

I recommend using the strategic management model

 Mission

 Objectives

 Situation Analysis

 Strategy Formulation

 Implementation

 Control

"An organization's mission is the purpose or reason for the organization's existence." (Hunger, D.J., Wheelen, T.L., 2006) It doesn't seem that the Wallace Group has a mission statement, so in order to improve the company, I think it is a good idea to start with a mission statement. An example would be "To manufacture and develop technical products and systems in a timely manner and good quality."

"The achievement of corporate objectives should result in the fulfillment of a corporation's mission." (Hunger, et al., 2006) Some of the objectives that I suggest for the Wallace Group are Shareholder wealth, contribution to employees such as employment security, wages and diversity, market leadership, technological leadership, policies and qualified personal.

"Once the firm has specified its objectives, it begins with its current situation to devise a strategic plan to reach those objectives." (netmba) The Wallace Group situation analysis is as followed:

* A management development plan is needed

* A recruiting plan is needed

* The Marketing department needs more personal

* Salaries need to be defined in order to attract Engineers

* Every department needs more personal in order to function 100%

* MIS needs to be user friendly

* A new policy needs to state that the Wallace Group can purchase material from different vendors, instead of the sister company

* Trainings for management need to be available

* Harassment and Discrimination programs need to be available for all employees

Another way to analyze the Wallace Group is to use the SWOT Analysis

Situation Analysis

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Internal Analysis External Analysis

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Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats

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SWOT Matrix

(QuickMBA)

"A strategy of a corporation forms a comprehensive master plan that states how the corporation will achieve its mission and objectives. It maximizes competitive advantage and minimizes competitive disadvantage." (Hunger, et al., 2006)

Now that the Wallace Group knows the situation analysis, it is possible to prioritize the needs and formulate the plan. I suggest doing the following in this order:

1. A recruiting plan is needed

2. Salaries need to