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THE EXCELLENT CONSULTING GROUP (C)

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COMMUNICATION FROM ART:

Onward to the next project: Outputs of Palm, Inc. As I indicated before, this is a follow-up using the Nadler-Tushman Congruence Model.

We need to analyze how Palm, Inc., has been doing in terms of its performance, how it stacks up against its goals. And we need to do this at three levels: the overall org level, the groups level, and the individual level. The Congruence Model really explains this very well. If you are not up to speed on this model by now, you need to get there.

The execs want to know how congruent the outputs across the three levels. So given your analysis of performance at each of the three levels, are the interactions of these outputs congruent - highly, somewhat, or very little? I need you to make this determination and support it with a good logical argument using the information that you obtain about Palm's goals and performance.

So start with the Org Level. Identify the Outputs - what does it produce and sell? What are its goals? How has it been performing? Then go the group level. What are some groups that Palm identifies, and the goals and performance of these groups. Finally, discuss the Individual level. Here you will find it difficult to get much detailed information, so identify five to seven key jobs and their outputs. How can the performance of these jobs be measured? Finally determine the congruence of the outputs and make a strong argument for your case. After this we will be close to done. I am looking for a well researched and well written report.

Case Expectations: First you need to identify the outputs of the organization at each of three levels. Also identify the goals that it has set and its current performance. Include the following:

* Outputs at the organizational level are the products and/or services that it provides to its customers. What are these and how does the company categorize them? How does it measure its organizational performance (e.g., sales, net profit, return on sales, return on assets, market share, customer satisfaction, etc.) Provide some specific performance data.
* What are some ways the company identifies groups? For example, are there geographic groups (or divisions), functional groups, etc. What are the outputs of these groups? How does it (or how might it) measure performance of these groups?
* What are some of the key individual functions, and what are their outputs? How do these outputs contribute to the group outputs? How do they measure individual performance?
* Evaluate how the outputs at the different levels interact with each other. Determine if you think the congruence of the outputs is high, medium, or low. Then Make a strong Case. It is very important that you support your position with evidence and information that you have discussed earlier in the report.

Be sure to include references. Turn in the 3 page paper, APA style and word doc.
Read:

Nadler, D.A. & Tushman, M.L. (1980) A model for diagnosing organizational behavior. Organizational Dynamics, 9 (2), 35-51.

For Case 4, you should focus on the Outputs aspect of this model. Read pages 43 to 51.

Outputs are not complicated to understand. At the Organization level, they are the products and services that are provided to its customers. (It can also be the value provided to its owners, but we are not going to consider this here.) The primary way that a company measures its performance is financially: Sales, Profit, Return on Sales (ROS), Return on Assets; and also via market share.

The organization is made up of various groups. One way to look at groups is by functional area: marketing, operations, purchasing, etc. Another way, if the company is large, is by its various divisions or by its product groupings. Here it becomes a little more complicated to measure performance, but it is possible by defining the goals and objectives of each group.

The bottom level of the organization is the individual. Each person has a job description and is responsible for specific outputs for that job. The main method of performance measurement here is individual productivity: Outputs / Inputs. e.g. widgets / hour, or reports / day. This is more difficult to quantify and for a specific company is difficult to obtain, since this data is not generally reported. Sometimes you can infer some individual measures, for example, by dividing Profit by the number of total employees, to get a measure of overall profitability per person.

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Communication from art is examined for The Excellent Consulting Group is determined.

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Running Head: ORGANIZATION

Level of Organization

Organization Level
Palm, Inc. is a mobile handset, Handhelds produce company that is the business divisions of HP. To provide value for customers, it uses innovative and new technology in its products & services (About HP's Palm Global Business Unit, 2011). At the organization level, according to the customer's interest and market scenario, Palm, Inc. provides different innovative mobile handset and other accessories. Palm, Inc. provides Touch pad that has unique features like Front-facing 1.3-megapixel webcam for live video calling, Audio formats: DRM-free MP3, AAC, QCELP, AAC+, in Video formats: MPEG-4, H.264, H.263, light sensor, accelerometer, compass, gyroscope etc. (About HP's Palm Global Business Unit, 2011).
Palm, Inc provides a seriese of phones like HP Pre3, HP Veer, Pixi plus, Pre plus etc. to its customers (Phones, 2011). Palm, Inc. also provides accessories like Palm Pixi Touchstone Back cover, Palm Touchstone Charging Dock etc. (Heknandez, 2009). On the basis of features and facility, Company categorizes its entire product portfolio. For example, battery capacity is one of the features through which it categorize its product as the battery capacity of HP veer mobile is 910 mAH and HP Pre3 is 1230 mAH (Bergveld, Kruijt & Notten, 2002). Memory, sensor, connector, email, camera, processing, GPS4 etc. are some other features that are helpful in product categorization and in determining the price of its products (Phones, 2011).
To enhance customers' satisfaction, Palm, Inc. focuses on R&D. R&D expenditures of Palm Inc have increased from $70 million in 2003 to $177 million in 2009. This data shows that Palm is more conscious towards innovation that brings advancement in its products & services and consequently ...

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