Problem Solution: Riordan Manufacturing

Problem Solution: Riordan Manufacturing

External forces for change originate outside the organization. Because these forces have global effects, they may cause an organization to question the essence of what business it is in and the process by which products and services are produced. There are four key external forces for change: demographic characteristics, technological advancements, market changes, and social and political pressures. (Kreitner, Kinicki, 2003). The most important events that led me to identify the issues and opportunities were the events surrounding the declining sales and uneven profits over the past two years with Riordan. Riordan made several strategic changes in the way it manufacturers and markets its products. The issues forced the company to change its sales prices, but prompted them to adopt a customer-relationship management (CRM) system. Customers are now serviced primarily by sales teams rather than single salespeople, with each team focusing on a particular customer segment. Teams typically include a sales person, product engineering specialist and customer service representative. The team hopes that this approach will improve sales. A great investment for companies is the best sales system. The system may have lacked proper external or internal support because the organization failed to develop to the best potential. Issues that should be addressed by the department in a certain business situation relates to the company’s concerns. The answers to these concerns, both at the department level as well as the company level, fall into one of four organizational action categories: building trust, encouraging employee buy-in and commitment, effective communication, and providing leadership. The importance of feedback cannot be overemphasized because effective interpersonal communication is highly dependent on it. Proper follow-up and feedback requires establishing an informal and formal mechanism by...