Struggles of Lakeland Wonders - Essay Example

Lakeland Wonders Introduction: Lakeland wonders is a company run by CEO Cheryl Hailstrom. Cheryl is new at her job (she has been performing her position for six months) and has noticed that many changes need to be implemented in the company for overall improvement. However, the company has been resistant to change. Therefore, Hailstrom is attempting to find ways to resolve this issue. Strengths: Company goal to always be one step ahead of the competition Their desire to increase and explore their growth potentials Their long standing reputation They are Financially Strong While working in marketing their new CEO Hailstrom was always known to be one step ahead of the rest which was a big factor in increasing the companies growth and financials. The company ability to implement and execute a planning & development strategy has allowed them growth from a small chain of stores to operating over 150 stores. Weaknesses: CEO is very new to her position. She has little support-none of the owner's children were interested in the business. She is the first person not related to the family to take the job. The CEO Cheryl Hailstrom is relatively new to the company. She was brought in only six months ago when Walter Swenson IV wanted to retire, and none of his children showed interest in his business. Thus, she has become the first person not related to the family to hold this high position. Opportunities: New leadership should allow the business to grow. Hailstrom is introducing several bright, new ideas. The opportunities of a new CEO allows for new opportunities and changes within the company. This should hopefully help the company change some of the things that need to be fixed. Threats: The company needs to expand and change, but the concepts do not seem to be successfully taking hold. Hailstrom has tried several different ideas. Sales are only slowly rising. Hailstrom's expansions ideas, however, do not seem to be successfully taking hold. She has tried several different proposal ideas in order to help the company, but the sales force has only been slowly increasing the calls it had been making without her, and her concept of a bonus plan was received indifferently from union officials. Hailstrom feels that the employees and management in the first are focused on doing things the old way, which means slow production, and not the new way she wants to do things, which focuses on fast production. Furthermore, customers have only shown interest recently in large chain stores, not specialty stores. When Hailstrom first came on board, she experienced several problems within the company. These included self-interest, mistrust, difference perception, and low tolerance. In order to handle the feelings of mistrust and self-interest, difference perception, and low tolerance she used several ideas to brainstorm with her company and her employees. Many of these concepts are reflected in the business strategies of Proctor and Gamble and have worked quite well for that company. She was able to resolve many of these issues by using communication, facilitation and support, negotiation, and sometimes resorting to threats and intimidation. Organizational Diagram: Operations Department: Marketing Overall project Goal: Leland wonders overseas expansion-mid market Major Task Sub-tasks Sub-tasks Sub-task duration As a leader in the toy industry Lakeland wonders marketing department should continue working toward maintaining their highly respectable reputation and work Quality products at an affordable price Continue to use magazines, televisions and internet Through-out company life cycle Expand increase marketing of their logo and brand name Advertise Safety of their products Through-out company Life cycle Operations Department: Procurement Overall project Goal: Leland wonders overseas expansion Major Task Sub-tasks Sub-tasks Sub-task duration Lakeland needs to implement three different external drives for change. The first internal driver is senior management, and Hailstrom is showing that initial drive. This is done through the implementation of a series of action plans over 3 quarters with specific targets set for each quarter. Strategies will need to be adopted to keep a watchful eye on the market place and adapt to various changes as they arise. Through-out company life cycle This time period presents the business a good opportunity to take advantage of the changing trends. The Third a bi-product of the second is to decrease absenteeism and overall productivity Through-out company Life cycle Operations Department: Sales Overall project Goal: Leland wonders overseas expansion Major Task Sub-tasks Sub-tasks Sub-task duration Internal and external drivers although important to recognize are preliminary concerns in that they provide insight into how best to effect the strategic plan against the forces of resistance that are inherent in any change plan. The first is retrenchment. Some employees will feel that this change will not be in the best interests of themselves, but change must be but forth to increase sales. People tend to block actions that result in higher direct costs or lower benefits than the existing situation. The best strategy to account for this resistance will be to show how the direct costs will be budgeted and reward systems will be implemented if the direct costs can be offset with profits. One Year Employees may fear the unknown as far as the new sales approach is concerned; sales must make them familiar with new approaches. Another type of resistance could be resistance-based on incongruent systems. Increase sales by giving employees rewards. One Year Operations Department: Operations Overall project Goal: Leland wonders overseas expansion Major Task Sub-tasks Sub-tasks Sub-task duration Internal and external drivers although important to recognize are preliminary concerns in that they provide insight into how best to effect the strategic plan against the forces of resistance that are inherent in any change plan. . This time period presents the business a good opportunity to take advantage of the changing trends. Things must be monitored and taken slow. One Year These factors include forming a timeline. Training and increasing the skill set of all employees is also a factor that must be analyzed-based on the given timeline. One Year Operations Department: CFO Overall project Goal: Leland wonders overseas expansion Major Task Sub-tasks Sub-tasks Sub-task duration A carefully organized team approach should be the remedial plan while increasing incentives for productivity. This time period presents the business a good opportunity to take advantage of the changing trends. Strategies will need to be adopted to keep a watchful eye on the market place and adapt to various changes as they arise. Two Years Finally, the market represents the major external driver for change. Things must be monitored and taken slow. Two Years Read More