The Six-Box Organizational Model and the Problems That Boeing Is Facing - Assignment Example

Academic Case Report Contents Contents 2 Introduction 4 Discussion 5 Question 5 Relationships 6 Purpose 7 Structure 7 Leadership 7 Rewards 8 Environment 8 Helpful Mechanism 8 Question 2 9 Purpose 10 Structure 11 Rewards 11 Helpful mechanisms 11 Relationships 12 Leaderships 12 Environment 13 Recommendations 13 Conclusion 15 References 16 Introduction In 1903, Boeing was been formed by William Boeing. He formed it as a small aircraft manufacturing company in association with northwest timber industry. Since the time the company was formed it looked to have a continuous growth in its business process and as a result of which the company got huge growth percentage every year in its net revenue. Boeing had kept improving its process on yearly basis (Boeing, 2013). But the company in 1997 started to face problems as the demand of the aircrafts did increase and the company started overproduction as a result of which the resources are not been utilized in good way. The company started to bring about few changes in the company business policies which has brought many problems in the company’s culture and has reduced the morale of the employees (Boeing, 2014). It did face many problems in implementing the latest technology in the business operations and mainly in its production process thus struggled in huge way to maintain the efficiency of the employees and also the productivity of the company has gone down by huge percentage. In this case analysis the Six-Box Organizational Model is been used to get the exact cause of the problems that Boeing is facing based on which certain recommendations are been given to the company so that the company can improve it its operations. The model will help the company to understand the right cause where it needs to concentrate and improve upon to make sure that they don’t face the same problem again in future. Discussion Question 1 The model used to analyze this case is the six-box organization model. The organizational diagnosis for the change is done by defining the problem and using a particular pattern for correctly analyzing the problem in the company, collection of the data, than analyzing the particular data based on which the right problems can be understood. This will help the company to understand the exact things that are to be done to solve the problems and improve the current situation. Marvin R. Weisbord developed the Six-Box model for analyzing the problems in the organization. This model has six main categories which are been used to conduct the diagnosis of the organizations current scenario. These six categories are relationships, helpful mechanisms, rewards, purpose, structure and leadership. To perform this model it is very necessary to know the exact reason behind the diagnosis and what is really to be diagnosed. The identification and solving of the problem is been done in a systematic manner and by the same people thus allowing the company to understand their problem and also bring about the necessary improvements that are needed to be made (Beech and MacIntosh, 2012, pp. 45-52). The diagrammatic vie of the Six-Box model is been shown below. This clearly shows in the way the six-boxes which are related to the main practices of the company are been interlinked to each other. These six categories do affect in the way the company performs and in the way it either increases the efficiency or reduces the efficiency of the company. Problem caused in any of the six categories des affect each of the other category as well as a result of which the entire business process is been affected in a huge way. (Source: Nolan, 2004, p. 30) Thus looking at the diagram each of the categories are been explained one by one below. Relationships This category is related to the type of relationship that the company has maintained with the suppliers, customers and shareholders who play important role for allowing the company in having smooth and successful business operations. It is related to the way the relationship that is been maintained in the organizations culture among the employees which does impacts the company’s operations in a huge ay and it is very important for any company to have a healthy and good relationship among all the employees making sure that there is no quarrel and they are highly motivated to work efficiently. Purpose It is used to define the reason for which the company is in business. This category helps in understanding and defying the exact business in which the particular company is and towards the way in which it should focus more (Raoprasert and Islam, 2010, pp. 123-126). Focusing more on the core side will help the company to have a good and efficient business process and good profitability and productivity in long run. Structure This category refers to the organizations hierarchical structure in which the work is been assigned and divided among the employees based on their hierarchical positions. This does helps the company in assigning the exact role of the employees and thus the employees feel good as they know the exact work that is to be done. This does also help in making the right decision at the right time as the correct person is there in the right position to choose make the right decision. Leadership Leadership refers to see whether there is a right person there who can take control of the entire process and all the six boxes in correct way making the company work in an efficient way. Having a proper leader in the organization is very important as it does help the company in working in an efficient way and also in concentrating in a proper direction. The decisions are been made in a better way in this competitive global market allowing the company to have a continuous growth in their business operations. Rewards This category is basically a method of motivating the employees so that they can increase their skills and enhance their efficiency working in a better way allowing the company to grow at a good rate and have a good rise in its percentage of productivity. It is related to deciding which all the tasks done by the employees are to be given rewards so that they can increase their efficiency level. Environment This category is related to the human needs that are needed by every employees working in the company. The organization needs to see that all the needs for the employees are been achieved and the employees are well satisfied working in the company which will allow them to retain the employees and also get more efficiency from them. Helpful Mechanism It refers to the additional mechanism in terms of the technology etc. that the company has in its business operations which allows the company to have a smooth business process without any problems. This category helps in analyzing the point whether the company has got enough of the additional stuff which will allow the company to perform well and also increase its productivity. Companies need to have the latest technology in their business process to make sure that the flow of information is proper and the company is able to reduce the amount of wastage by a good amount. These mechanisms are the value additional services for the company that helps a lot to the company to have a proper business operation. The process of diagnosing the organizational process is to determine the gap between where the company wanted to be and where it is now in the present situation. This will give a clear idea of where the company has been lacking behind and the areas where the company needs to make the improvements to make sure that it can increase its productivity and efficiency. Using the six box model the problems in the particular company is been analyzed and based on that the improvements related to the quality and also process are been made making sure that the problems are been removed from the business process (Krogerus and Tschäppeler, 2013, pp. 56-63). Thus Six-Box model created by Marvin R. Weisbord, is one of the best models that can be used for analyzing and for diagnosis of the problems that are been caused in the particular company after brining about a changed in its business process. Changes are generally not been accepted so easily and thus it does creates a lot of problem for the company. Thus knowing the exact reasons for the problems is very much essential to make sure that the problem does not causes much effect to the organization. Question 2 In this case of Boeing where the company has started to face the problems since 1997 when the market demand for the aircrafts increased. The company decided to produce more as a result it started overproduction thus it was a big wastage for the company. To inculcate this they tried to stop the production for 20 days and also tried to bring the new technologies to implement the lean manufacturing process but it also failed. Boeing went in an alliance with McDonnell Douglas to enter the market of defense did bring a lot of problems related to the organizational culture in the company. The company did face many problems because of the type of decisions which were made were not in line with the business process thus they were not able to help the company to get benefit an instead Boeing started incurring huge loss. It has failed over the years to face the external pressure from the surrounding market competition and demand as a result of which the company has underperformed and has not been able to deliver the amount of products that have been promised by the company. The analysis to understand the current scenario and the problem for the company the Six-Box Model is been used. Based on this model each of the category is been studied and analyzed and thus the problem related to the company’s practice is been understand on a clear way (Jones, 2006, pp. 34-38). Each of the category is been analyzed one by one below. Purpose The company s into manufacturing of commercial airline industry and the company is known for its high level of quality that it maintains in it production process. It provides the best quality airline to the customers which can be used for commercial airline purpose over the years since the time it was started. The main purpose of the existence of the company is into production of commercial airlines but when the company decided to diversify itself into manufacturing of defense use airline and space industry by merging with McDonnell Douglas did start affecting the company in a huge way as its focus got diverted towards other category and thus the employees lost lot of morale as their skills didn’t matched the requirements for production of the defense use airlines. Thus the company faces problem in keeping its focus on the main business side and thus it is not able to meet the exact demands of the customers. It also lost its competitive advantage by merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997 and in 1994c with Airbus which were its main competitors. Structure Every company has a particular structure based own which the company is known in the market. The structure for Boeing is not clear as after it got merged with McDonnell Douglas the company lost its brand name in the market as a commercial airline manufacturer and customers started to confuse with the brand as whether it is specialized in commercial or defense airlines. Boeing did not give a clear division of this target market as a result of which the customers where not clear about the products. This did affect the company in a huge way as it lost lots of customers because of wrong target segmentation of the market (Lewis, 2011, pp. 52-64). Rewards The employees working in the company lost their morale and their motivation level was very down when the company diversified itself into defense and space industry. This strategy was a big demoralizing factor for the employees as they were not able to accept the cultural change that was been brought in after Boeing got merged with McDonnell Douglas. There was lot of difference between the culture that was been followed in both the companies as in Boeing a family oriented culture was been followed while in McDonnell Douglas they followed a very strict culture and also had their links with government. This cultural change was not been accepted by the employees in a positive way and thus there was a huge decline in their morale value. Helpful mechanisms Boeing did make attempts to bring in the latest technology to improve their production process and bring in the lean manufacturing system thus allow better utilization of the resources and also reduce the wastages. But these technologies that were been brought in the process by the company were not in line with the production process or the business process. Thus the company lacked in a huge way as the technology implemented was not able to help Boeing in improving its efficiency and productivity rather it turned out to be a waste for the company as it was not in line to the business operations. Relationships Relationships is related to the type of relations that is been maintained in the company’s organizations and the relationship that the company maintains with the suppliers. In case of Boeing when the company stopped its production process for 20 days and also when the demand was not known exactly than the relations with the suppliers were hampered in a huge way. Apart from this Boeing needed to have a strong and rejuvenated corporate culture in the company which it is lacking in a huge way as the employees in the company are lacking motivations and their morale has gone down thus the corporate culture in the company is highly disturbed (Palmer, Dunford and Akin, 2009, pp. 34-36). With the increasing amount of diversification in the work environment and employees losing their morale can thus affect the company in a huge way as it will lead to many quarrels among the employees and thus the team work in the organization will be affected. Leaderships This is one of the most important factors for the business process getting successful and thus increasing the productivity of the company. In Boeing the once the Phil Condit was replaced as the CEO by Harry Stonecipher, there was a huge problem for the employees of Boeing as they were not able to accept the change so easily. It led to decrease in the stock price and also increased the competitive pressures in the global market. The decisions made by Boeing leader to merge with McDonnell Douglas did create a lot of problem for the company and the company didn’t accept the change at all. Thus the leadership skills do impact in the way a particular company operates and once it is changed the process also changes and in general for human beings it is very difficult to accept the change easily and thus they tend to revolt against the change and so the employees have lost their morale and there is a huge lack of motivation among the employees (Anderson, 2011, pp. 28-36). Environment It is related to see that the employees needs are been fulfilled in the right way. Boeing as an organization needs to make sure that the employees needs are been fulfilled and thus they feel satisfied working in the company. With the merging the employees feel not getting involved and thus the morale has gone down in a huge way. Boeing doesn’t have an idea about the exact needs of the customer thus it commits into overproduction. Recommendations Looking at this case and analyzing the problem that Boeing has been facing over the year with the help of Six-Box Models the main reasons behind the company facing such problems is been understood and based on this analysis certain recommendations can be suggested to the company so that they can improve upon their business operations and increase their efficiency level and also productivity. The recommendations based on the analysis that is been done is been listed below. Boeing needs to make sure that the employees understand clearly the objective behind the company getting merged and they should also find their individual goals been achieved along with this decision. This will help the company to increase the morale among the employees. It needs to increase the involvement of the employees in the business process so that the employees find themselves more involved and motivated to work more efficiently for the business process. The technologies that are been implemented in the business process must be in line with the production process, products and also with the business process to make sure that the company get help from the technologies that are been implemented and thus the resources are been utilized in the best way making the production process and the business operations more modernized and systematic reducing the level of defects. The company needs to understand the exact demand of the customers based on which the production has to be done. Based on the demand the production must be done such that the company is able to eradicate the problem of overproduction thus reduce its cost and also utilize the resources in the best possible way. The company should conduct the Quality Functional Deployment to understand the needs of the customers and their requirements and based on which if the production is been done than the company will be able to meet those needs and satisfy the customers in a good way. Conclusion Thus this case shows a clear indication of how a company faces problem in bringing about a change. There are various ways in which company’s business process gets hampered because of the changes. The changes in the culture do affect the employees a lot as they are used to a particular culture and suddenly when a new culture is been brought in it does affect the lifestyle of the employees. This does affect the motivation level of the employees and their morale does go down by a good amount. The technologies implemented in the business process should also be good and must be in line with the company’s policies and practices to help the company improve its efficiency and productivity. Thus the changes that are brought in a particular company should be brought after a proper research been done over the impacts that the change can create on the business and only if it’s worth than the change should be implemented. References Anderson, D. 2011. Organization Development: The Process of Leading Organizational Change. London: SAGE. Beech, N and MacIntosh, R. 2012. Managing Change: Enquiry and Action. London: Cambridge University Press. Boeing. 2013. Current Market Outlook 2013 –2032. [pdf]. Available at:< http://www.boeing.com/assets/pdf/commercial/cmo/pdf/Boeing_Current_Market_Outlook_2013.pdf>. [Accessed on 3 May 2014]. Boeing. 2014. About Us. [pdf]. Available at:< http://www.boeing.com/boeing/history/index.page?>. [Accessed on 3 May 2014]. Jones, P. 2006. Things Change. America: Bloomsbury Publishing. Krogerus, M. and Tschäppeler, R. 2013. The Change Book: Fifty models to explain how things happen. London: Profile Books. Lewis, L. 2011. Organizational Change: Creating Change Through Strategic Communication. America: John Wiley & Sons. Noolan, J. 2004. DIAGNOSTIC MODELS: AN INTRODUCTION. [pdf]. Available at:< http://www.donblake.com/module3/DiagnosticModels.pdf>. [Accessed on 3 May 2014]. Palmer, I. Dunford, R and Akin, G. 2009. Managing Organizational Change: A Multiple Perspectives Approach. Australia: University of Technology. Raoprasert, T and Islam, S. 2010. Designing an Efficient Management System: Modeling of Convergence Factors Exemplified by the Case of Japanese Businesses in Thailand. Australia: Springer. Read More