An Analytical Report Exploring Decision Making at Ademark
Question
Task:
- This analytical report requires you to organize a conference in the institute you are working to discuss the decision making at the strategic and operational levels.
- Discuss the characteristics of the problems encountered at every stage of the business processes in this analytical report. Check whether they are curable or not?
- Recommend various approaches to tackle the obstruction you have identified in the process mentioned in this analytical report. Also, provide whether the methodology you have recommended is qualitative or quantitative characteristics. Evaluate whether the methods suggested are apt for the issues and obstructions you have identified.
- After conducting all the aforesaid tasks in this analytical report, provide a note on how the decision-making process is carried out. Scrutinize whether it holds with William’s rational problem-solving approach which was introduced in 2002.
- Provide some suggestions for some officials working in various departments of your organization to follow the decision-making process ethically and systematically by keeping in mind an appropriate theoretical framework in this analytical report.
Answer
Background Summary
In the institute of Ademark Business Training and Consulting, the meetings regarding the strategic and operational decision making are being organized every month which comprised of seven members with 2 bodies. The first body would consist of three members i.e. chairman, vice-chairman, and the secretary and the second body comprised of operation head, Head of the Finance, Marketing Head, and Managing Partner.
What Features and Character are explored on this analytical report?
The meetings conducted by the company every month are to deal with the problems concerning the strategic management and business process which could affect the daily business of the company. The main challenge before the management team is to make the decisions regarding whether to decide on whether to revamp or cancel the contract with its franchises. Since the company has long past and brand relationship with this franchise, a larger faction supports the renewal of the contract. It is also considered that the relationship with the franchise would help the company in its revenue generation and its long run. While the facet which argues for the cancellation of the franchise by analyzing based on cost-benefit by keeping in mind the impact on the overall performance of the company on both long term and medium scale of time. If considered the drawbacks based on business operations in this analytical report, the efficiency and performance are being very dull for a while and also the reliant and loyal customers have been lost because of the poor client satisfaction and customer service. Since the institute has very strict operational policies, the issue should be analyzed by the company very seriously.
As per the observations of the renowned business specialist and researcher Ritchey (2005, pg. 2), if observed the issues prevailing in the organization, it may seem very pointless and frivolous issue but they are the problems bearing a lot of importance, have major repercussions, balanced problem statement. It could be evident when a proper solution is devised out and then there would be a detailed analysis would be conducted on it to ascertain whether it is relevant or not. By evaluating further, it was being identified by the board that the issues are very deep tooted and may have very negative after-effects because of the reason that the revealed issues are very vague, evasive and detrimental. The issues mentioned in this analytical report are very potent and are causing a lot of communication problems between the departments of the company and creating a lot of confusion and enmity among the staff. These irregularities are making it very hard for the manager to find a relevant solution to the existing problem.
What are some approaches adopted on this analytical report?
I recommend the address of all the opinions raised in the board meeting and thus provide a proper address to both aspects of the proposed issue in this analytical report. The implementation of the SMART tools would bring an inclusive and appropriate approach towards addressing the problem mentioned in this analytical report. As per the theory put forward by William S.W. in 2002, four steps should be followed to conduct the decision-making processes in a very efficient way, they are: -
- Recognizing the major issue- The business processes of the company in this analytical report need to be scrutinized thoroughly to point out and characterize the problems prevailing in the environment of the institute. A very systematic and efficient process is to be conducted by keeping in mind the primary objective of the company to identify the detrimental problems. Aligning the targets of all the stakeholders would help in conducting this stage very effortless manner.
- Delineation of the standards- The process of recognizing the problems in this analytical report is followed by the identification of the present method of processes and the substitute method of procedure to eliminate the existing problem. In this process, the standard followed in the business is given large significance in this step, and hence it is reckoned while devising out new strategies.
- Evaluating by referring to evidences- The new or the substitute plan recommended in the previous test of this analytical report is being checked for its practicality and viability by referring to various theories and experiments conducted by the researchers. This step would further ensure the standard and success of the strategy or substitute plan to be implemented.
- Application- By checking the viability of the proposed plan, the next step should be concerning with the application of the plan. The company policies, ethical aspects, and various academic theories should be reckoned while implementing the idea so that any hidden or potential risk should be evaded. As the company needs to focus on both its short term and long-term goals a very out-and-out analysis of all the possibilities while implying it.
Weightage allotted for arriving at the strategic decision and delineation of Franchise Criteria
Criterion |
Weight (1-10) |
Price |
7 |
Cost-effectiveness |
8 |
User friendly |
10 |
Performance driven |
10 |
Structural modification |
8 |
Revenue enhancement |
9 |
Evaluating the substitute in this analytical report
Alternative |
Price |
Cost effective |
User friendly |
Performance driven |
Structural modification |
Revenue enhancement |
Renewal |
6 |
3 |
8 |
7 |
6 |
7 |
Internal development |
2 |
3 |
8 |
9 |
6 |
5 |
Alliance/Partnership |
9 |
2 |
9 |
9 |
8 |
7 |
Cumulative assessment alternative
Alternative |
Price |
Cost effective |
User friendly |
Performance driven |
Structural modification |
Revenue enhancement |
total |
Renewal |
42 |
24 |
80 |
70 |
48 |
63 |
327 |
Internal Development |
14 |
24 |
80 |
90 |
48 |
45 |
301 |
Alliance/Partnership |
63 |
16 |
90 |
90 |
64 |
63 |
383 |
Decisions to be applied on the operational aspect of Customer Service
Standard set for the weightage
Criterion |
Weight (1-10) |
Employee attitude |
8 |
Flexibility |
6 |
Standard delivery |
7 |
Corporate safety |
7 |
Revenue generation. |
8 |
Examining the Substitute
Alternative |
Attitude |
Flexibility |
Standard Delivery |
Corporate Safety |
Revenue generation. |
In-house training |
7 |
5 |
7 |
8 |
6 |
On-line training |
6 |
8 |
9 |
9 |
8 |
Out sourcing |
3 |
6 |
8 |
5 |
10 |
Cumulative evaluation of the Substitute
Alternative |
Attitude |
Flexibility |
Standard Delivery |
Corporate Safety |
Revenue Generation |
Total. |
In- house training |
56 |
30 |
49 |
56 |
48 |
239 |
On-line training |
48 |
48 |
63 |
63 |
64 |
286 |
Out sourcing |
24 |
36 |
56 |
35 |
80 |
231 |
Company’s subservience in Problem Solving
- It is the matter of primary concern mentioned in this analytical report that the existing issues in the firm is of very detrimental nature and could directly impact the goodwill and status of the company. The risk is very evident in front of the management team. The company is facing any problems because of the decrease in customer satisfaction thereby losing a lot of clients. As per the observations by Williams (2002, pg. 14), in situations like this, a very balanced approach should be taken so that the taken decisions should not be partial in any nature. A very holistic approach should be taken by looking into all relevant information regarding the context which would help in making balanced decisions.
- This is a very typical issue that prevails in most of the companies and it is apparent that the method of structural modifications would be very effective in making advancements in the operation section from providing quality services. The guidelines provided under William’s theory in this analytical report are to abide by a specific and distinct objective that should not prove to be a hindrance to the previously set goals.
- The whole aspects and the factors involved could be recognized and arranged according to their relevance while contemplating the future effects it could make on the business processes. The actors associated with the process of making strategic decisions are efficiency, easiness, worth to the money, the price offered by the franchise, customary alterations, profit generating capacity. The factors comprised in devising the alternatives would rely on the factors like interior growth, collaboration, and restoration. Similarly, the factors that affect the interior operations and its decision making are adaptability, approach, quality of products, sustainability in the environment, outsourcing, and various training programs.
- Since there is a lot of preciseness and replacement in the given case along with the facet of both qualitative and quantitative approaches the respective sources and the available time could be put aside for implementing the possible outcomes and examining various probabilities of the result.
- The approach or the solution should be mentioned in this analytical report comprise of all theoretical values relevant to the process of making decisions. The drafted decisions should be inclusive, practicable, adaptable, efficient, and cheaper.
Limitations
Although the delivered solution covers both the qualitative and quantitative aspects, it possesses some notable limitations. They are: -
- Defective Models: The quantitative aspect of the tool would cease to work if the manager who is handling it would miss to note down ore calculate any of the relevant elements or variables. If taken an instance, the custom of allotting the sources according to the profit generating capacity of the departments is very immature and unscalable in manner. The sections like financial departments would be contributing more to the company but providing them with more resources is not going to help in achieving more output. Hence the allocation of resources would not bring a direct proportionality to the output since the efficiency and the speed of an employee is restricted to a certain limit.
- Supervising: The absence of logic and rationality have the potential to sabotage both the qualitative and quantitative approach. Although the quantitative approach is the one which is more susceptible to the irregularities and hence it is highly reliant on the theoretical interpretations. Hence if taken a practical example a manager could be deluded while looking at table 3 provided in this analytical report that maintaining the bond with the franchise would be the best option to follow since the data like the cumulative value and the alternative matrix supports for it. Thus, very meticulous scrutiny of the consequences is important for the interpretation behind the qualitative analysis. The officials who majorly rely on the process of the qualitative approach expect a very good result.
- Involvement of the Staff: Different members of the staff possess different sets of individual skills and hence it would be a daunting task for the management to streamline all their efforts towards achieving a better performance level for the company. It is also the possibility that because of the highly competitive environment in the office the employees have developed a very aggressive attitude towards each other making even tougher the jobs of the managers to streamline the efforts of the human resources in bringing the firm to new heights in the operative market (Pasulka, 2013). It could be observed from this discussion that the negative approach was taken by the staff members then would become a very challenging task for the managing team to get a positive contribution from them.
Recommendation
The corporate field and its reach of information are widening to greater limits day by day and different modern techniques for training have been evolved in the field. Whatever decisions should have been taken by the management, there could be a likewise impact on the underlying units, departments, and production of the company. The Ademark Business company should major strategic changes in the various sections and business processes to maintain its position in the market. It is recommended in this analytical report that the management of the company should implement the processes which could resemble the amalgamation of both the quantitative and qualitative approach. Every section and department in the institution which if cordially works together could bring maximum efficiency into the business processes and would provide a very efficient solution to the uncalled-for risks Pasulka pg. 2 (2013).
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Reference List
Tom Ritchey (2005), Wicked Problems Modeling Social Messes with Morphological analytical report, Swedish Morphological Society (© 2005, revised 2013)
Williams, SW 2002, Making better Business Decisions: understanding and improving critical thinking and problem-solving skills-an analytical report, Thousand Oaks California; Sage Publications – Chapter 1
Pasulka, S 2013, This Changes Everything. Mobile Analytics and the Future of Business. Tableau Software, Seattle Tableau - whitepaper_this-changes everything- analytical report 2. pdf