MGT 30152 Southern New Hampshire University Focus Group Analysis Paper

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Business Finance

MGT 30152

Southern New Hampshire University

MGT

Description

Competency

In this project, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following competency:

  • Evaluate trends in business for their potential impact on operations and personnel

Scenario

You are a project manager in the human resources department of a domestic airline, Clear Sky Air. Your manager recently shared that Clear Sky Air will be acquiring a small international airline, Intercontinental Airways. Your manager explained that Clear Sky Air was interested in acquiring Intercontinental Airways in order to further penetrate the market and increase their international flight options. While this is an exciting acquisition for many customers and employees, some are resistant to change and have concerns about this process. In order to make the transition as smooth as possible, your manager has asked you and your team to analyze focus group results and make recommendations based on these results.

People walking through a busy airport terminal.

Your team has been assigned two major issues associated with the merger—one related to operations and one to personnel—to help your company better manage change and make sound decisions as a result of this acquisition. Your manager has provided you with a summary of results from two focus groups. The first is a focus group of 1,000 customers and employees—half from Clear Sky Air and half from Intercontinental Airways—regarding marketing and public relations concerns. The second is a focus group of 1,000 employees—half from Clear Sky Air and half from Intercontinental Airways—regarding compensation and benefits concerns. You will use these results to identify trends related to each focus group, and then you will make recommendations to effectively manage this change.

Two people walking away from the international and domestic departures in an airport terminal.

Directions

Your manager has provided you with focus group results: the Marketing and Public Relations Focus Group Summary of Results and the Compensation and Benefits Focus Group Summary of Results. As you examine these results, provide an analysis of trends followed by a recommendation based on these trends. In order to do that, you must complete the following:

  • Introduction: To begin your analysis, explain the importance of conducting environmental scans to identify trends inside and outside of an organization. Environmental scanning is a process that surveys and interprets relevant data types to identify and analyze internal and external opportunities and threats. Some examples include SWOT, PEST, interviews, and focus groups. Your manager wants you to set the stage for your analysis by supporting your points with an overall perspective of the importance of this type of analysis. Be sure to answer the following questions:
    • Why is it important to understand trends in business that may impact operations and personnel?
    • Why is it important for businesses to respond preemptively to potential changes inside and outside the organization?
  • Analysis of Trends: In this section, you will think critically about the focus group results that your manager provided. Include the following:
    • Operations Trends: The specific operations piece that you have been assigned is marketing and public relations. Identify and describe at least two operations trends within the focus group results that may be impacted by the change. You are given broad trends in the results. You will need to explain how these trends may have both positive and negative impacts on operations.
    • Personnel Trends: The specific personnel piece that you have been assigned is compensation and benefits. Identify and describe at least two personnel trends within the focus group results that may be impacted by the change. You are given broad trends in the results. You will need to explain how these trends may have both positive and negative impacts on personnel.
  • Recommendations: For your final section, you will need to provide recommendations to your manager based on your analysis of the focus group results. Be sure to include the following:
    • Operations Recommendations: Make at least two recommendations regarding operations that will help manage the change. Be sure to justify your recommendation with specific citations from the focus group results and external resources.
      • Note: Examples of recommendations might include a specific communication plan regarding a proposed change, the recommendation to move forward with a particular change including a detailed rationale, reasons to avoid a particular change including a detailed rationale, etc.
    • Personnel Recommendations: Make at least two recommendations regarding personnel that will help manage the change. Be sure to justify your recommendation with specific citations from the focus group results and external resources.
      • Note: Examples of recommendations might include a specific communication plan regarding a proposed change, the recommendation to move forward with a particular change including a detailed rationale, reasons to avoid a particular change including a detailed rationale, etc.

What to Submit

Every project has a deliverable or deliverables, which are the files that must be submitted before your project can be assessed. For this project, you must submit the following:

Focus Group Analysis
You will submit a focus group analysis to your manager that includes identification of trends and recommendations for operations and personnel based on focus group results. It should be 1,500 to 2,000 words in length.

Reference List For each source that you cite, you need to include the author’s name, the publication year, the title of the source, and the location of the source in a References section at the end of your work. Cite all sources appropriately.


Supporting Materials

The following resource(s) may help support your work on the project:

Document: Marketing and Public Relations Focus Group Summary of Results- see attached

Document: Compensation and Benefits Focus Group Summary of Results- see attached

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Explanation & Answer

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1
Operations and Personnel in Change Management: Outline
This paper discussed the manner operations and personnel management should occur amidst
upcoming acquisition of the Intercontinental Airlines by Clear Sky Air. It begins by explaining
the significance of pre-change assessment on these domains before effecting the change itself.
Then, it moves to analyzing the operations trends provided with regarded to how the change may
influence public relations and marketing. Three points are discussed under the operations trends.
Then, the paper proceeds to analyze the personnel trends that would impact the new organization
after the change. Again, it discusses three areas of concern under the compensations and benefits
category of personnel management. Finally, the paper provides recommendations under both
personnel and operations categories. It provides three recommendations that match the identified
concerns under personnel and operations sub-sections – a total of six recommendations; one for
each issue analyzed. In other words, each recommendation addresses the corresponding concern
under given analysis. Each recommendation comes with rationale to justify its implementation in
new firm. Thus, the paper follows the clear structure given with headings for clarity.


1

Operations and Personnel in Change Management: A Case Study

Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Course Number and Name
Instructor Name
Assignment Due Date

2
Operations and Personnel in Change Management: A Case Study
Any organizational change requires comprehensive and official scrutiny of possible
effects on critical areas of operations and personnel. While the operations involve the sphere of
the firm’s productivity and public image, the personnel aspect includes the manner it treats its
workers (Brown et al., 2018). Various tools and methods exist for completing this noble exercise
upon a change. Some of these tools include assessing the internal characteristics of the firm
through a SWOT analysis. Alternatively, external assessment trough a PEST provides a means to
understating the environment. However, one of the soundest approaches is to use simple primary
research using focus groups to gain first-hand opinions and experiences of industry stakeholders.
In the current analysis, the case of acquisition of Intercontinental Airlines by Clear Sky Air
provides a means of using focus groups to assess the possible impacts of change. This analysis
proves that the changes that come with the acquisition would have influences on the operations
and personnel of the new firm; thus, the merged firm must observe specific steps to avoid the
detrimental consequences and reap benefits of proper change management.
Trends Analyses
Operations Trends
The common concern that the culture of one organization would become dominant and
affect productivity and operations of the merged entity proves significant. Since 32% of one firm
and 75% of the other business view so, the management should note that a culture clash may
occur and one of the organizations would dominate. The possibility of the dominant culture
becoming unfavorable for the employees and clients are high since. This case is true as the
organizational culture affects both the employees and customers alike (Brown et al., 2018). For
instance, possible cultural incompetence in the staff would introduce intolerance to customers

3
from given backgrounds. However, the possibility of positive cultural practices overweighing the
negative ones also exists. If this case occurs, the resultant organization would experience
improvement in employee work habits, productivity, and commitment. As a result, the clients
will also experience services satisfaction in ways that would benefit the business in the long run.
Moreover, the resultant organization needs to appreciate the effect that the move would
have on the brand’s image in the eyes of the customers. Up to 230 out of 385 employees in one
of the organizations consider the attaining successful branding following the merger is valuable
but challenging. The same view remains among up to 120 out of 285 employees of the other
firm. This latter group views a possible negative impact of failed branding to consumer
confidence in the services of the merged organization. These adverse outcomes would hurt the
profitability of the merged firm in the long run. The inability to further positive image among the
clients after the merger means that the customer base would reduce as the consumers opt for rival
airlines (Bratton & Gold, 2017). In case this erosion of brand reputation does not occur, which is
slim due to the majority opinions of study group members, the original airlines would enjoy
positive consumer rating as a result of combining brand strengthens of both firms.
The new firm will also have abandoning or maintaining features and benefits impact their
operations. Majority of customers from the first organization indicate that they would hardly
accept stopping of these gains to them in the merged firm – 385 out of 465 participants. This
implies that the new organization would lose critical proportion of customer base if they end the
features and benefits enjoined in the firm. Indeed, the level of customer satisfaction would
reduce drastically (Bouchoux & Chung, 2017). As a result, the firm may struggle to remain
profitable in the long run as revenues dwindle. Indeed, the majority of customers, 120 out of 280,
from the other firm also cite their optimism that the merger would not take away th...


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