Read the Hefty Hardware Case Study on pages 76-79 in the textbook.Answer the Discussion Questions at the end of the Case Study.Your responses must be complete, detailed and in APA format. See the samp

Hefty Hardware Case Study

Hefty Hardware has identified communication issues between their IT department and their business department. An analysis was performed and uncovered that Hefty Hardware had two core issues, the first issue identified was a disconnect between the IT Department and the Business department. Two solutions that were suggested to help bridge the gap between the two units were team building training and additional personnel. The recommended solution is to provide team building training to each department individually which will allow them to work as a team to and build their core business structure to improve how they do their jobs, which will eliminate the need for additional personnel.

The second core problem that was identified was actually found to be two-fold, there were issues with communication between the IT department and the Business department and the business department complained of the IT department taking too long to complete a project which uncovered a time management issue within the IT department. After the analysis was completed it was recommended that the IT department and the Business department undergo training for effective communication. The effective communication training will teach the units to listen effectively and provide value and useful feedback to not only their teams but to the other teams as well, this will help clarify what is being and what needs to be so that everyone involved is completely aware of what is going on or going to happen. It was also further recommended that the IT department complete training in time management to allow them to improve their performance and turn-around time on job completion which will keep the business departments from having any unnecessary down time, thus allowing the Business department to continue expand the Hefty Hardware business.

Hefty Hardware Case Study

One of the main core problems faced by Hefty Hardware was the lack of a relationship between the company’s IT and business divisions. The four components needed for a foundation on which a solid relationship could be built; competence, credibility, interpersonal interactions, and trust, were not in place between the two divisions (McKeen & Smith, 2012). First, the business division felt IT lacked competence when dealing with business needs since the IT division did not have knowledge of Hefty Hardware’s business concerns, goals or processes.

The business division also had the perceptions that IT was missing credibility, and could not be trusted to perform business projects successfully. The IT division missing these two components was further reinforced by the perception that it took IT a long time to install new, business required technology, which often did not work as expected, and that Hefty Hardware had a high CIO turnover.

Lastly, the interpersonal interactions between the two groups during meetings usually failed. During meetings the business team members often felt lost, confused, and would even tune out while listening to IT describe technology details. Whereas IT team members when listening to business discussions on broadcasting cycles, have found it hard to stay focused on the speaker’s presentation (Hoffman, 2011). Hefty Hardware’s lack of a solid foundation and a strong relationship between the business and IT divisions has become a main core problem in current dealings, and in building future growth for the company.

The second core problem faced by Hefty Hardware is lack of communication between the IT and business divisions, due to neither understanding the functional or technical language of the other. The IT division does not take the time to explain what they’re doing to support the business functions, and enable the organization to meet their goals. In meetings, the IT team talks to the business team in an overtly technical language, which they cannot understand. There is confusion in the chain of command, which could contribute to the lack of communication. There is not a clear path of communication in the organization; it is all over the place.

Communication is the sharing of information between two or more individuals, or groups, to reach a common goal, which helps a company, stay efficient and productive. Communication is essential for effective functioning in every part of an organization, and both managers and employees must be effective communicators. When all members of a team, department, or organization are able to communicate effectively with each other, and with people outside their group, they are more likely to perform well (fmlink.com, n.d.).

One of the more important forms of organizational communication is interdepartmental communication, whose importance becomes evident when that communication is nonexistent, or breaks down. Hefty Hardware lacks interdepartmental communication. This lack of communication between the departments has failed to build trust within the organization. Without the two departments trusting each other to deliver accurate and understandable information, finger pointing, arguing, and conflict occurs, with a breakdown in interdepartmental communication, as you can see in the Hefty Hardware Case Study. When departments engage in conflict, the productivity of your entire organization is affected (Anderson, n.d.).

In addressing the first core problem of the relationship disconnect between the IT and business division, it is apparent that the root of Hefty’s first core problem lies at the top of the organization, or the C-level. According to The Retail Owners Institute, companies like Hefty Hardware only averaged between a 0.8 - 2.0% net profit margins from 2006 to 2011. Even retail giants Wal-Mart and Target had net profit margins of only 4% (Unknown, 2012). This spells out a business environment characterized by fierce competition. In order for the company to succeed in this environment, they must be unified to increase value in the eyes of their customers.

By representatives from the two departments going together on the trip which Mr. Vogel suggested, progress could made in building the relationship between the departments. A better choice would be to invest in professional seminars aimed specifically at building the skills of working in unison and understanding others. This is an approach that could potentially yield dividends to help Hefty Hardware get the Savvy Stores project launched on time.

In order to establish and grow the culture needed to foster a relationship across departments, Hefty Hardware could invest in team building exercises for departments at every level. To create and maintain a culture characterized by harmony, which in turn creates synergy for the business, management could invest in their “bright” IT professionals, who are having trouble connecting with the business folks. In-house training could increase the IT division’s business understanding and help develop their soft skills. The business division could learn basic network knowledge. This training would increase understanding and communication when the two divisions would need to work together.

The downside to this approach, or risk, is that they may have what Jim Collins wrote about in Good to Great, “the wrong people on the bus.”

Another alternative Hefty Hardware could implement to alleviate intradepartmental frustrations, is to implement an IT Portfolio Value Management Process (IT-PVMP), where sufficient resources would be allocated to tactical, strategic, and infrastructure projects. These IT resources would have the soft skills to adapt their communication skills when working with non-technical co-workers, and also have understanding of the business division’s processes, projects, and goals.

Based on the sentiments of CIO Farzar and chief architect Sergei Grozny, who are “up to [their] wazoos in alligators”, from the IT department’s perspective they are understaffed and underfunded. The IT division has been able to successfully support the day to day tactical business needs cost effectively, but strategically they seem to be frantic. By implementing a robust IT Portfolio Value Management Process (IT PVMP), when Mr. Vogel requests a cross-functional business trip to a store, he will know exactly what it will cost his business team. The IT department would also know via the IT PVMP their cost, and what will have to be sacrificed.

One of the keys to the success of implementing this process is buy-in by top management, but the benefits they will reap are worth the investment, as research has shown. Ginzberg wrote in his article, Achieving Business Value through Information Technology, “Research has found that the quality of the IT-business relationship is central to the delivery of IT value. Mutual trust, visible business support of IT and its staff, and IT staff who consider themselves to be part of a business problem-solving team all make a significant difference in how much value technology is perceived to deliver” (Ginzberg, 2001).

Both of these proposed solutions would positively contribute to laying a firm foundation of competence, credibility, interpersonal interactions, and trust that the organization can strategically build a solid relationship between the departments on.

In addressing the second core problem, effective communication can play a prominent role in developing long lasting motivation at Hefty Hardware. A positive benefit that can be gained from establishing a well-organized communication plan would be to improve the relationships between Hefty Hardware’s IT and business divisions. Improved communication between the IT and business teams will help everyone in understanding goals, and along with face to face interactions, will help improve the workplace culture at Hefty Hardware.

Time management of the teams is also important, especially since the business team at Hefty Hardware thinks the IT team takes too much time to complete a project. Time management skills can have unlimited positive effects on both divisions at Hefty Hardware. Productivity and motivational improvement is just a couple of the realized effects (Effective Communication In The Workplace For Motivation, Solutions And Success, 2009). Time management will help the IT division to set goals and prioritize projects. This will allow the IT division to meet the needs of the business division, and also minimize down time, which will improve Hefty Hardware’s productivity.

Although effective communication is a good way for the IT team and the business team to gain productivity and meet the needs of the organization, there are some barriers that could make communication less effective. Two of these barriers are making assumptions and conflicting messages. Making assumptions cuts corners to save time by ignoring the path of communication, making the team to possibly miss important information (Unknown, 2009). Conflicting messages can cause the communication process to breakdown, including the other division to ignore the message altogether.

Communication at Hefty Hardware should always be a work in progress. As long as the IT and business divisions work together in removing any communication barriers, the two teams will be successful in keeping communication going (Gartenstein, 2012).

To build a foundation so that the IT and business divisions can grow a solid relationship, I would recommend Hefty Hardware invest in an ongoing team building training program. Team building programs would allow the two teams to interact and bond together, in a fun way. The benefit of a team building program is that it would allow the existing IT and business division personal to build a trusting, functional, and cooperative environment using team building exercises (Baum, 2011).

The first task of building the relationship using team building exercises is to determine what the problem is between the two divisions, and what outcome the company wants as a result of the team building program (Choosing the Right Team). In Hefty Hardware’s case, the two divisions don’t understand each other’s goals, processes, or technology. There is animosity between the two division’s team members. The goal for the IT and business divisions would be a better understanding of each other’s roles within the business, and for the team members to interact on a friendlier, professional basis.

With the relationship problem and goal defined, Hefty Hardware could now implement a team building program customized on their needs. Dependant on time schedules, and budget, Hefty Hardware has several options available to implement their program. One option is to bring in training with a team building professional, where employees spend a select number of hours, or days in a classroom setting. In addition, ongoing scheduled short meetings can occur where team building exercises can be performed around a conference table. This would ensure the IT and business division’s relationship remains solid.

Developing a communications plan for Hefty Hardware would improve the way departments communicate between one another, and the way communication runs down the chain of command. Communication is the most important component within any project. The success of most projects, whether handled by a dedicated project team or a cross-departmental team, depends upon a set of crucial communication skills and techniques (Charvat, 2002). Developing clear, measurable objectives is critical to the success of a company’s communication plan.

A communication plan includes specific recommendations and cost estimates for the numerous tactical applications that are required to launch and sustain a new product, brand organization or event. A good communication plan clearly identifies objectives, target audiences, key messages, tactics, projected timeline, estimated costs and success measures (artsincubator.org, 2012). One of the benefits of providing a communication plan is that you really can’t over communicate. Not everyone processes information in the same way, so you can’t communicate one way and expect everyone to get it. You have to use every means possible, especially on really important messages. Therefore, using newsletters, blogs, email blasts, one-on-one meetings, department meetings, divisional meetings, and all other employee meetings, is a good way to get the communication across in an accurate manner (Hyatt, 2007). Such means, as what communication methods will be used in your organization, will be described in the communications plan.

One of the biggest challenges faced when implementing a communications plan is the limited time and human resources available for carrying out communications activities. Departments have limited time to do communications activities, despite strong commitment to, and enthusiasm for, communications. Many companies have found it critical to have a person with strong communications skills champion the communications within the company. This person would coordinate the overall communications strategy, and support the organization in implementing the communications plan (South, 2011). When implementing a communications plan it is imperative to ensure that the correct information gets across without overloading employees with reams of documents that are irrelevant, or contain repetitive information.

Skilled managers know how to plan their communications, understand what type of information each team member needs, and utilize a wide range of communication methods (Charvat, 2002). When implementing a communications plan into your organization you should strive to achieve balance in the communication process. The key factor is that managers should facilitate project communications, encourage openness, and allow the departments to be “empowered” with the right information to do their tasks. The correct balance is needed within a department when it comes to communications. Sending too much communication can hamper the amount of work that gets done; too little communication and there may be misunderstandings and confusion. The important factors involve communicating how the project will be managed, including how information will flow into, and out of the project. When implementing a communications plan you should provide a clear and concise plan as to how you will address project responsibilities and the types of communication that will take place (Charvat, 2002).

Anderson, A. (n.d.). The importance of communication between different departments in an organization. Retrieved from Chron website: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-communication-between-different-departments-organization-11901.html.

Baum, J. (2011, March 18). Team building exercises in the workplace. Retrieved from Livestrong website: http://www.livestrong.com/article/221732-team-building-exercises-in-the-workplace/.

Charvat, J.P. (2002). Project communications: A plan for getting your message across. Retrieved from TechRepublic website: http://www.techrepublic.com/article/project-communications-a-plan-for-getting-your-message-across/1061894.

Gartenstein, D. (2012, January). Solutions for effective communication. Retrieved from eHow Family website: http://www.ehow.com/way_5765631_solutions-effective-communication.html.

Ginzberg, M. (2001). Achieving business value through information technology: The Nature of High Business Value IT Organizations. Retrieved from Chicago: Society for Information Management Advanced Proctices Council Report.

Hoffman, J. (2011, March). IT skills: Breaking down the IT/business divide. Retrieved from Technet Magazine website: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/gg703766.aspx.

McKeen, J. D., & Smith, H. A. (2012). Delivering value with IT (II ed.). Retrieved January 20, 2012, from Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

South, A. (2011). Designing and implementing a communications strategy: Lessons learnt from HIV and Sexual and Reproductive Health Research Programme Consortia. Retrieved from Health Research Policy and Systems website: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1478-4505/9/S1/S15.

Unknown.(n.d.). Choosing the Right Team. Retrieved from Team Technology website: http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/team-building.htm.

Unknown. (2012). Creating a communication plan. Retrieved from Virtual Arts Incubator website: http://www.artsincubator.org/marketing/communication-plan.

Unknown. (2009). Effective communication in the workplace for motivation, solutions and success. Retrieved from Employer Motivation Skills website: http://www.employee-motivation-skills.com/communication-in-the-workplace.html.

Unknown. (2012, January 22). Sporting goods stores. Retrieved from The Retail Owners Institute website: http://www.retailowner.com/StoreBenchmarkRatios/RecreationLeisureActivitiesStores/SportingGoodsStores.aspx.