Executive Department Management Instructions
Atha Corporation owner, Mary Atha has declared a goal of doubling the company’s current $5 million in sales in the next year. Atha markets its product, unique lighting products (wall, pendant, floor, table, and nightlights) made of 50% recycled materials, through as series of regional distributors and directly online. It is currently the end of the third quarter and you have three months to complete your planning and execute your strategy in order to have your functional areas prepared. There is no time to waste in meeting the goal. Plans have to be developed, current employees retained, and new employees hired. Company communications must be clear and concise and the management cycle must be followed throughout the process.
You will serve as the department manager for two functional areas. One is the human resources department; the other is your choice of one of three other areas: accounting and finance, marketing and sales, or operations and production.
Ms. Atha has assigned specific goals to the vice president of your functional area. The vice president has determined what your department needs to do to help the entire functional area succeed. Those goals are in alignment with the overall company goal of doubling sales. Your responsibility is to break those goals into activities and tasks for your department.
You have one or more supervisors in your department. Each supervisor has several employees to lead and control. Each individual must know what he or she is to do, how or why to do it, what the quality and performance standard is, and how well he or she is doing. It is your responsibility to align the work of your team with the company goal. You will provide your team members with the information they need, and ensure that they complete the work on time while meeting performance and quality standards.
Functional Area Background
Planning: You have been assigned additional employees and (possibly) new assets in order to meet your goals. You must determine what skills, strengths, and talents they must have. How will you retain and motivate your existing employees and attract, hire, train, and retain new ones with the help of human resources? How will you break down your functional goals into departmental activities? How will you measure success? What is the frequency of your activities?
Organizing: You have the old department organizational chart. Create a new organizational chart for your functional area, showing how you will allocate your employees efficiently in order to achieve your department goals. The company has made a decision not to hire based solely on industry experience. Can you identify non-traditional industries or positions in which employee skills can be effectively transferred to Atha?
Leading and Controlling: What are the purpose statements for both of your functional areas? How do these reflect strategic alignment with the organization? What are the performance standards? How will you measure and report the performance and quality standards? How do these support the people in your organization through promoting trust, motivating employees, and supporting collaboration?
Additional Resources Available to Each Department Manager
Additional resources have been allocated to each manager. Below is a list of resources for each department. Include this information in your planning, organizing, leading, and controlling functions.
Accounting and Finance: Three additional employees, one of whom is a financial analyst, have been approved for your department. You have as much technical budget as reasonably needed to support a world-class computer system.
Sales and Marketing: You can hire seven new employees. Position them in your department as necessary to meet the company goals.
Human Resources: You will be helping department managers to hire 30 new employees for the company. Executive management has authorized you to hire two new human resource generalists for your department. They will begin by assisting in the screening, interviewing, and hiring of new employees. Be sure to discuss how their role will transition once new employees have been hired and trained.
Operations and Production: In order to double your sales, you must first increase your production capacity. Therefore, the company will add a third shift to maximize the production capacity of the existing production line. You will need to hire 18 new employees to fully staff the three shifts. Further consideration is under review to purchase a second production line.