Business Project

Purpose: 

In the first assignment, students are given a scenario about Global Delivery Direct (GDD), a Norfolk, England medium-sized global delivery company that was started in 1968 by four college friends.  In this project, students will demonstrate an understanding of the broad role of a leader within an organization.

Outcome Met by Completing This Assignment

• develop and implement methods for establishing a constructive organizational structure and culture that fosters positive employee and employer relationships
• evaluate the culture and policies of an organization to recommend and implement improvements that support its vision, success, and sustainability
• assess the interactions between the external environment and the organization to foster responsible and effective leadership and organizational practices

In Part One students will explain the executive leader’s role in creating an organizational structure and learn to distinguish the different organizational structures and how decision making plays a role in the organizational structure.  Students gain an understanding of the challenges related to organizational structure and organizational culture that a leader faces when merging two companies to create a competitive advantage. 

In Part Two students have the opportunity to research the merger of two well-known companies with the goal of assessing what happens when two very different organizational cultures are joined as one.  Taking what is learned from the merger, students apply concepts and ideas to Global Delivery Direct (GDD). 

Instructions

Step 2:  Create a Word or Rich Text Format (RTF) document that is double-spaced, 12-point font.  The final product will be between 4-6 pages in length excluding the title page and reference page.

Step 3:  Review the grading rubric for the assignment.

Step 4:  In addition to providing an introduction, students will use headings following this format:

• Title page with title, your name, the course, the instructor’s name;
• Background;
• Part One;
• Part Two.

Step 5:  In writing a case study, the writing is in the third person.  What this means is that there are no words such as “I, me, my, we, or us” (first person writing), nor is there use of “you or your” (second person writing).  

Step 6:  In writing this assignment, students are expected to support the reasoning using in-text citations and a reference list.  If any material is used from a source document, it must be cited and referenced.  A reference within a reference list cannot exist without an associated in-text citation and vice versa.  View the sample APA paper under Week 1 content.

Step 7:  In writing this assignment, students will use resources from the course material and no more than 4 external source documents.  NOTE:  The expectation is that students provide a robust use of the course material.  Students may use external resources to address the research for FedEx and Kinko’s but other material should come from the course readings.

Step 8:  In completing the assignment, students are expected to use the facts from the case study paired with the weekly courses readings to develop the analysis.  The case study is not cited or referenced.

Step 9: In writing this assignment, students are expected to paraphrase and not use direct quotes.  

Step 11:  Read and use the Global Delivery Direct (GDD) Company Profile.

Step 12:  Read critically and analyze the following scenario:

Part One

Scenario:

Andrew Rockfish is looking for a competitive edge in the North American market that will translate well to the other divisions.  After talking to the other directors, they have decided to focus on business only and stop their individual services.  While they will lose 10% of their sales, this change will allow the company to offer “boutique” services to its business customers, thereby increasing prices.  Catering to business only will also allow them to provide personal services that Fed Ex and UPS cannot offer.  It was decided that the initial roll out of this idea would start in the US where the most imminent threat from competition lies.  Rockfish was on board with this idea and began a campaign among the rest of the company to find ideas that would help to encourage the new ‘Business First” strategic plan.  

In response, a sales manager from his mid-west sales team brought this idea from their brainstorming session for his consideration.  He proposed creating several mobile packing stores to bring customer service to business directly.  GDD would not just pick up and deliver but they would package as well. This model could be viewed as an UPS store on wheels.  The team got the idea from a local delivery service that started a similar business as a Mail Store on Wheels and it seemed to be doing well.  This company has five “Mail on Wheels” trucks and focuses on taking small business, not individuals away from the three local UPS and Kinko stores.  After a financial review of the company, Rockfish decided to buy the business.  

The business was started by a young entrepreneur, Adrian Cheng, who ran the business with the philosophy that “customers always get the best of our time and service”.  Personal service, friendliness, and as much time as it takes to make the customer happy, was part of the mission statement.  Employees were casually dressed and had no deadlines except those given by the customer.  Cheng had about 45 employees and ran both day and evening shifts. He had one van which was on call twenty-four/seven. Cheng oversaw the whole operation with two assistant managers, one for the day shift and one for the evening.  

Rockfish liked the idea that personnel had been trained in giving personal service and had a boutique attitude when it came to customers.  He thought it was a perfect fit as the new face of GDD. The merger of these two companies seemed ideal. He decided to buy the existing business, expand it and have the new personnel trained by the current personnel.

Part One: Below are a series of organizational structures that exemplify the potential structure that Rockfish will consider in putting the two companies together.

• Explain the executive leader’s role in creating an organizational structure, the purpose of a structure, and why the leader, not the manager, is the best person to determine the organizational structure;
• Identify each structure below and discuss the associated decision making flow and the advantages and disadvantages associated with the structure;
• Select the structure from those below that best blends the two companies (GDD and Mail on Wheels) and explain why the type of structure best fits the purpose of the merger. Discussion should include the decision making flow, the alignment of people to the selected structure and how the two companies would interface to create a competitive advantage.

Model 1

Model 2

Model 3

Model 4

Model 5

 Model 6

Model 7

Model 8

Part Two

Scenario:

Part Two:  Rockfish knows that in addition to a possible new structure, he will have to revisit the company culture as well as that of the new business acquisition.  Anxious to avoid the problems of Fed Ex and Kinko, Rockfish decides to review their problems and the existing culture to determine just how to go about blending the cultures and structures together. 

• Research the Fed Ex and Kinko merger. Identify the organizational cultures of the two companies and the problems that resulted from the attempt to blend the two cultures.
• Explain how the problems that Fed Ex and Kinko faced might parallel those for GDD’s merger. Be sure to include in the analysis the existing cultures at GDD and Mail on Wheels as well as how the structure relates to the culture.
• Discuss how Rockfish can avoid the same mistakes as Fed Ex.

Step 13:  Create the introductory paragraph.  Within this paragraph, provide a brief overview of the scenario.  Then, provide a thesis statement and tell the reader the main topics covered in the paper.  The introductory paragraph is the first paragraph of the paper but is typically written after writing the body of the paper (Questions students responded to above).  View this website to learn how to write an introductory paragraph:  http://www.writing.ucsb.edu/faculty/donelan/intro.html

Step 14:  Respond to the questions in Part One and Part Two following the format provided.  Be clear and concise in the writing and make sure the questions are comprehensively answered.

Step 15:  Using the grading rubric as a comparison, read through the paper to ensure all required elements are presented.

Step 16: Proofread the paper for spelling and grammatical issues, and third person writing.