Decisions in Paradise (Case Study Sample)

Running Head: Discussion Paper
Discussion Paper
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Introduction
The firm Chevron wants to own a division in nearby island of Kava where it intends to have the organization under the team of Alex, Nick and Chris so as to have a greater presence in the region. The division intends to support the Chevron firm’s lubrication business and bring out the leadership in this product category. The firm is known for advanced process called Isodewaxing commercialized in 1993. It breaks down the feedstock as opposed to removing the wax with solvents. The end result is a cleaner, clearer base oil with higher viscosity and strong resistance to oxidation. The base oil is good in fuel economy and lower emissions. The firm expects to undertake new production and new market opportunities in the region. Nick has obtained permission from Alex to work ahead on improving divisional success in region while also assessing possible changes in market segmentation and mapping. The island is brimming with business opportunities while the company also feels that the political and environmental issues could pose a major threat to its growth. Therefore for Nick the challenge is to enhance market readiness, implement future goals and develop the organizational capability to increase the market range, market share, leadership position and product positioning.
1) Defining the issues that appear in this business scenario.
The issues developing within the scenario are the setting up of an office complex and greater presence within the new division for company Chevron in Kava. The problem areas have become concern areas within few months. This indicates lack of effective implementation. The argument that planning has been weaker is negated by Alex based upon the relevant experience over difficult situations. The knowledge regarding the division and being positioned such that the head office is informed about the stage wise progress of the division is available. The implementation of plans has come to a difficult situation where many new activities must be strategically alleviated to a higher than expected efficiency and accuracy. The other additional problem with this has been the development of bridge connections and growing antagonism with local dealers (Abareshi, 2010). The problem of bridge connections has indicated the telephone and communication volume growth has increased heavily while the tapping and secrecy of transactions has increased. The level of complexity within few decisions has increased with similar departmental and horizontal increases in the organization capability. The issue with horizontal organizational structure is that the communication becomes more elaborate and decision making is time consuming. The more lateral the platforms of communications, the greater the need for planned implementation to become heavily accurate and relevant. In other issues, documentation and review of similar job activities becomes laborious, time consuming, greater interference with other activities.
2) Discussing the forces that are involved in formulation of the problem.
Thus the issues pertaining to the problem definition have become the necessary and essential part of solution. The forces thus are diverse from organizational planning, organizational structure , strategic information and planned delegation. The forces of organizational planning must have included the organizational communication, effective monitoring of task planning, and also for organizational commitment to resource utilization. The strategy for managing diverse information about the problem areas and co effects with related measures of standard solutions imply that the MIS and decision support systems have to become the best within the standard that must be achievable from the firms or divisions own capabilities and competitive advantage (Bentley & Clarke, 2011). The ability of divisional capacity in planning effective delegation of authority standards and usual impacts within the domain selected by the division must be planned for (Monk & Wagner, 2009). Thus the problems and problem identification is a new force that is positive and abundant at the division. The negative forces of weaker structure and information handling procedures make the problem bigger and the consequent delegations of the authoritative stand in this regard allow most of the maneuvers to backfire occasionally.
3) Using problem formulation tools and techniques, describe the organizational and environmental obstacles in a way that considers various key stakeholders that will be impacted by decisions.
Ans 3. The problem formulation technique (Soft Skills for Public Managers, 2011):
Means End Analysis
In means-ends analysis, the problem solver compares the present situation with the goal, detects a difference between them, and then searches memory for actions that are likely to reduce the difference. By the means ends analysis, the present situation is chaos and information while the desired goal is order and MIS. The obstacles then are the information overloads, decisions pending, difficulty in separating level of communication between division and head office from divisional strategic needs. The key stake holders are the decision maker Alex and HeadOffice.
Backwards Planning
The strategy of working backwards entails starting with the end results and reversing the steps you need to get those results, in order to figure out the answer to the problem. The end results for the technique here are the order, diversified product range, effective implementation of decisions. The key decision makers are Alex ,Nick ,Chris and Head Office.
Plus-Minus-Interesting (PMI)
It involves considering the positive, negative, and interesting or thought-provoking aspects of an idea or alternative using a balance sheet grid where plus and minus refer to criteria identified in the second step of the problem solving process. The alternative for PMI is the MIS, added authority, marketing, executions of decisions real time.
Positive –> efficiency, resource planning, positioning. Negative -> frequent decisions, additional work or overtime. Interesting -> develop marketing in region, increase authority. The key decision makers are the Alex, Chris and Nick.
4) Apply Critical Thinking in the Decision - Making Process.
The Decision Making Process for the implementation of an MIS project, planning for organizational structure, enhancing efficiency, diversifying product range, marketing planning, and overall workload smoothing has to be effectively envisaged before the activities are carried through (Guffey & Loewy, 2010). Although the measurement of activity and project details may take longer yet the critical details for maintaining requisite standards of efficiency must be well thought out. The development of an MIS project is the most essential in priority of activities and maintaining the goal of increasing presence at Kava.
The critical aspect of timing the delivery of information system, making the database valid and utilizing the resource to advantageous decision might become complicated. This is so since the other relevant activities of the division namely – planning of marketing and structural conflict and delivering on mechanisms for effective decision making might render the available resources weak in proper and effective planning. The ability of the decision maker here Alex and the head office in communicating large information’s and marketing essentials within a period are both made difficult. Usually the firm in being helped by environmental stability can devise innovation (Williams, 2001). The firm here has lower presence and has to report to Head office. Therefore the available marketing tools have become weaker due to the political problems and inadvertent misuse of office space by not having any security systems. The stage for developing and maintaining the marketing must be decided with the problem identification and marketin...