Running head: MANAGERIAL ANALYSIS
Managerial Analysis
Name
Institution
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Introduction
An interview was conducted to Ellen Dwyer who is the current Director of Business
Development & Sales Federal Programs of Flour Corporation. The aim of this interview was to
understand her job in the business organization. The major role of Dwyer in the organization is
the responsibility to ensure developing and winning business programs in the Federal
marketplace. Fluor Corporation is an international engineering and construction company that
has its headquarters in Irving, Texas. Some of the services that the corporation provides include
the supply of gas and oil, power, infrastructure, and industrial services. The company considered
the largest construction and engineering company according to the Fortune 500 rankings. It was
founded by John Simon Flour in 1912 and quickly expanded through building facilities such as
pipelines and oil refineries for the gas and oil companies in California before expanding globally
to the Middle East in the 1960s. The corporation extensively diversified its business in 1967
when other companies amalgamated to form a division called Coral Drilling that opened up for
the expansion of the company.
Some of the notable projects done by the organization are the construction and grading of
roads, building industrial complexes in the 1920s and serving gas and oil to California. The
company built a rail line in Arizona and Europe and also constructed the Aladdin Hotel in Las
Vegas. The organization’s Board of Directors entails the CEO and twelve “independent
directors” as well as other business directors. The company is also considered a major corporate
citizen which supports local groups as well as charity organizations both in the US and across the
globe. This success across America and the world resulted to the organization being presented a
$3.14 billion contract to construct a bridge over Hudson River. It is through hard work and
commitment of the employers and employees including Director of Business Development &
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Sales Federal Programs, Ellen Dwyer, which led to the organization's great success. However,
there exist certain challenges that the manager face and has to be properly addressed to avoid
inconveniences.
Issue
According to the interview, Director of Business Development & Sales Federal Programs
of Flour Corporation stated that the major challenge that she faces as the director is expanding
the company’s sales team, measuring the outcome and implementation of a sales process. This is
a challenge to the company since the fast growth of the organization requires the inclusion of
contemporary products and spreading out to other vertical markets. As the company introduces
new products to its customers, Dwyer is likely required to refine the company’s sales funnel
practice in order to account for the diverse sales cycles. If this is not done, it becomes impossible
to forecast the company’s financial future.
Measuring cost sales and other vital metrics such as churn, customer satisfaction, sales
cycle, conversion rate, customer acquisition rate and other metrics could also pose a great
challenge to the director. “It is mainly during the rapid growth period of an organization where
any given product returns of the company turn to real business,” said Ellen Dwyer during the
interview. The manager can, however, utilize the four business functions to solve the issue.
Planning Methodologies
Proper planning is a vital business responsibility that plays a big role in eradicating
several business problems both in small organizations and multinational companies such as
Flour. The primary reason for this oversight in many organizations is always the result of lack of
proper planning techniques of the management. This challenge can be addressed by utilizing
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proper planning methodologies and understanding the business’s components and goals to come
up with effective plans using the best planning techniques.
Strategic planning is a business methodology that involves the company’s management
or the owners coming up with effective strategic plans. The plans should be conceptual rather
than based on historical data. The organization should come up with strategic plans such as
clearly defining the goals of the organization; in this case, the management should clearly
identify its goal which is to expand the company’s sales team. Identifying the options available
to attain the company’s objective as well as taking into consideration new short-term
opportunities will enable the company to address the challenges (Bryson, 2008). The
organization can also employ universal techniques to address the issue such that it has to employ
the basic universal practices. The manager can utilize this function by setting measurable and
realistic goals that will ultimately aid in measuring the desired outcome of the company. The
company could also communicate with its customers and understand them as well as attracting
and retaining the best-qualified employees. This will enable the company to solve the issue of
implementation of the sales process.
The company should employ marketing plans as a planning methodology to solve the
challenge since marketing and selling the products will ensure gross income is archived and the
set goals. There are no stakeholders that affect the issue at hand since it is only the company’s
managerial team that is responsible for the issue.
Organizational Structure
Flour’s organizational structure helps to solve the problem and other challenges that the
organization is facing. This is done through the board members employing the basic problem-
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solving techniques even though the problem requires a great effort and time to be solved. The
organizational structure began by identifying and defining the issue so as to determine how the
issue could be solved. In this case, different possible solutions were raised depending on how the
members defined the problem. The organization then determined the cause of the problem and
used a fishbone diagram to enable them to execute a cause and effect analysis. Even though a
solution had not been found yet, the company’s organizational structure was generating creative
possible solutions to some of the issues that the company is facing.
Due to the constant flux created by the organization’s response to the rapid external
business environment, continuous change is evident. Change in the organization’s strategies and
systems are vital in order to cope up with the current trends. Therefore, the organization manages
change through clearly defining the change and aligning it to the company’s goal. This vital step
enables the company to determine the significance of change. The organization also manages
change by establishing the expected impacts. This is done by reviewing the effects on every unit
of business and how it flows through the company’s organizational structure. The company does
this through reflecting on key questions like what are the change impacts? Who is greatly
affected by the change? The company also manages change by providing effective training either
structured or informal to the employees and employers as well. This training aims to impact the
organization’s workers the desired skills to operate efficiently. The organization also provides
and implements support structures which are fundamental to enable employees to practically and
emotionally adjust the transition. This is done through mentorship with the organization’s
management. Through measuring the change process, the organization ensures continued
opportunities and reinforcement that is essential to building proficiencies.
Managerial Skills
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According to the manager, the basic managerial skill that could assist in solving the issue
is the manager’s transparent communication. Since problem-solving requires open
communication every individual’s concern and views are to be expressed freely. Open discussion
of expanding the organization's sales will open up avenues for every board member to air their
concerns which will result in better possible solutions to the issue at hand. When all individual
views are accounted for, the manager and the entire management board together can then find
sustainable solutions to the issue. Open-mindedness as a managerial quality enables one to view
risk and see beyond the obvious. This skill enables Dwyer to tackle the issue of measuring the
outcomes and implementation of head-on.
According to the interview, Ellen Dwyer acquired her managerial skills through defining
her vision and broadcasting it. Shean attained this through having a clear vision of the Flour
Corporation as well as the company’s purpose. Dwyer had a clear mental picture of the impact
that she opted to have on the company which enabled her to acquire her managerial current
skills. The manager also acquired her managerial skills by recognizing the power of influence
which is obtained through personal branding. This enabled her to have a clear image that she
ought to project to her employees and workmates. The manager also acquired her managerial
skills though admitting her mistakes which enabled her to earn respect from her workmates. It
developed her managerial skills because it portrayed the strength of character which greatly
influenced her team members to admit their mistakes too and stand corrected.
Organizational Controls
It is crucial for any Corporation to develop a control system that is designed for the
resources and goals of the organization. Fluor Corporation has engaged a number of
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organizational controls which have been implemented to aid the manager in making critical
decisions. The organization implemented an information control system whereby sales trends are
analyzed critically, the ability of a given employer and employee to track public relations and the
economy. The organization implemented the focus on crucial points which assists the manager to
make critical decisions. Critical points involve all areas of a corporation’s operations that affect
key operations of the organization (Brito, et al, 2008). Focusing on such points enables the
manager to have the best implementation of the sales process. More organizational controls can
be implemented to ease problem-solving in the organization. Human control could be used to
solve organizational issues; it may involve training personnel and appraisals. The financial
resource can be used since it includes avoiding debts and proper management of cash reserves.
Recommendations
Ethical Dilemmas
The manager faced ethical dilemmas as a result of the issue at hand whereby the manager
faced two options that had definite impacts on the organizational stakeholders and profitability.
One of the ethical dilemmas that the manager faced was the issue of accounting practices that
required the manager to maintain precise bookkeeping practices without violating business
ethics. At the same time, the manager was to make proper decisions on the expansion of the
company’s sales team and implementing the sales process without affecting the income revenue
of the organization. The manager had to ensure correct financial records so as not to cripple other
sectors of the company such as employee profit sharing or paying taxes. These two issues
presented a dilemma to the manager which forced the inclusion of the member of the board to
help make a proper decision that will not interfere with other sectors.
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Management Theories
Management theories include different overviews that express visions of diverse ways of
managing an organization or a business basing on varying assumptions about how organizations
operate. The scientific management theory developed by Frederick Taylor could help the
manager to device a solution on the issue at hand. The theory emphasizes the use of data and
measurements to effectively manage organizations. Through observing and evaluating
arithmetical terms the manager is able to distill data that enables them to solve business issues
and run profitable business organizations. This approach could work effectively on the issue at
hand since it will guarantee the importance of keeping the employees engaged and satisfied. This
factor would allow implementation of the sales process as well as expanding the company’s
sales.
Bureaucratic management theory was developed by Max Weber on scientific
management theory takes on the principles of scientific management theory and uses them to
human resource. The theory is effective in solving the problem since it emphasizes on designated
responsibilities of the management and the employees as well making it certain who is in charge.
This will promote the expansion of the organization’s sales team and effectively measuring the
outcomes. The theory could also help to check the inherent dangers in unimpeded hierarchical
bureaucracy and also emphasized the function of emotion in business.
Changes to be implemented
Managers in any organization should view change as an organizational strategy and
structure. To overcome the issue facing the Federal Flour Government Group for Fluor
Corporation, the manager should consider changing the corporation’s organizational structure
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such as acquisitions and mergers. Minor changes like establishing a new team to handle the sales
process and monitoring the outcomes of the sales could help to solve the issues affecting the
company. Training new individuals and assigning new responsibilities in the company could
present a critical factor to problem-solving and quality improvement in the organization.
Modification to the organization’s knowledge assets will assist the organization to
identify information as a vital asset required for problem-solving (Kotter, 2008). Adequate
knowledge will enable the organization to understand more on sales issue and how to effectively
implement the sales process basing on the gathered information. The manager could also
implement legal agreements and policies that could change the entire management system and
adopt legal agreements that could have a big impact on the organization’s policies and help
expand the company’s sales.
Considering the interview with the director, coaching skill is the one skill that the
manager seems to lack. Coaching is often misunderstood with supervision; it does not involve
directing the employees on what to do and when to do. Managers should focus on coaching since
it creates a friendlier environment for the employees to do a quality and productive job. The skill
could help solve the issue at hand and ensure profitable returns for the corporations. The
manager also lacks intellectual curiosity that could help resolve the challenge faced by the
company. If the company’s employers focused more on understanding the thought process of
others, it would provide avenues to solve the issue at hand.
Conclusion
From the information obtained from the interview with the Director of Business
Development & Sales for the Federal Flour Government Group for Flour Company and the data
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obtained from research, a clear connection is drawn between business experiences and
theoretical management principles. The information provides us with insights on how to
approach the problems that managers face in business currently.
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References
Bryson, J. M. (2018). Strategic planning for public and nonprofit organizations: A guide to
strengthening and sustaining organizational achievement. John Wiley & Sons.
De Brito, M. P., et al,. (2008). Towards a sustainable fashion retail supply chain in Europe:
Organization and performance. International journal of production economics.
Kotter, J. P. (2008). Force for change: How leadership differs from management. Simon and
Schuster.
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