Atha Corporation Executive Plan

Executive Summary

Atha Corporation aims at doubling its sales. Achieving this goal demands the use of an effective executive plan. The plan involves both the human resources and sales and marketing areas of the firm. The CEO, Mary Atha, has provided checklists of the overall organization goals for both sections of the firm. The checklists are the basis on which the executive plan is built. The plan first describes the two functional areas and their purpose statements. The section summarizes the relevance of the management roles in the new organizational structures.

The second section explains the goals of both areas and their supporting activities.  The third section explains the organizational structure of both the human resources and sales and marketing departments. The fourth section explains the interview questions, concerning their intent, as used in the recruitment of new hires into both departments. The fifth section gives an overview of the performance standards to be used in both departments. The last part explains the insights gained from this project.

 

Atha Corporation Executive Plan

Description of Functional Area and Functional Statement

Human resources area

The human resources area is characterized by a hierarchy of several persons.  At the top of the hierarchy is the Vice President. The position is essential to the executive level of leadership (Sousa et al., 2015). The person who occupies the position provides guidance and leadership in several activities. They include evaluating the best practices and procedures, evaluating and enforcing legality of policies, and setting strategic management goals in the human resources department. Below this position is the manager of human resources. He/she is responsible for determining and enacting the activities that meet the needs and demands of the workforce management as well as solving problems in recruitment.

Under the human resource manager are four human resource generalists. The current administration has two of them.  Two will be added to the new plan. They have different duties but also assist each other in performing some roles. The first two human resource generalists are in charge of hiring, interviewing, screening, training and development, employee relations, and risk management. The additional persons will improve the efficiency of the human resources department by engaging in activities related to workforce planning and employment and compensation and benefits. One of them will assist in hiring, interviewing, and screening of new employees.

The purpose statement of the human resources area is the commitment to be the best place to work for employees. The department is committed to taking of the best interest of its employees, just as they take care of the customers’ best interest. It is in line with this goal that the additional human resource generalists will assist in screening and hiring new employees. They will then engage in activities of ensuring the employees benefit from the company, just like the company will benefit from them. Doing so will create an extrinsic motivation for the employees to deliver as expected (Bratton & Gold, 2017).  They will also create cohesion in the department to enable collaboration and teamwork. The new human resource generalists will also engage in activities that will ensure the safety and health of the workers. By so doing, they will enable the department to earn trust from the new hires. Creating a safe working environment is part of building the workplace culture of trusting in each other and being trustworthy.

Sales and marketing area

The sales and marketing area will also be adjusted to ensure the effective achievement of the set goal. The organizational chart of the functional area resembles that of the human resource department in the top positions. At the top is Sales and Marketing Vice President. The purpose of the position is to have a person who oversees the sales and marketing team as well as the profitability of the company.  Below this position is the manager of sales and marketing. The relevance of this position is to ensure the smooth planning and implementation of a new sales plan (Sousa et al., 2015). The manager is also responsible for the research and development of marketing opportunities for the organization.

Below the sales and marketing manager are several sales representatives, associates, and managers who will be in charge of different sales and marketing activities.  The current system has a customer service manager, market research manager, market research associates, and customer service representatives. In addition to this team will be a sales manager who will head a team of field sales representatives.  The three additional field representatives in the team will be responsible for enacting and aggressive sales strategy. In addition will be two customer service representatives who will take on additional customer resolution escalations. One of the additional market research associates will be in charge of analyzing the online market research and another will be responsible for researching for the regional distributor.

The purpose statement of the sales and marketing areas is to serve the regional and online communities by providing unique lighting solutions. It will stand by customers’ purchases while also being environmentally friendly. Engaging in environment-friendly activities will motivate the employees to be aggressive at their work (Bratton & Gold, 2017). It will give them a sense of responsibility to the environment. The ability to serve people with the enthusiasm derived from the responsibility will enable them to create trust between them and the organization. The employees will easily reach the targets and deliver on the expectations that the company has about them. Having the right leaders for the sales and marketing teams will enhance the spirit of teamwork and collaboration within and amongst the teams.

Goals and Activities

Human Resources area

The human resources area has several goals that will be achieved through various activities. One of the main goals is to retain the existing employees.  Employee retention reduces employee turnover. It is by so doing that the organization can decrease costs of recruitment and training as well as reduce the loss of talent (Rousseau, Olivas‐Luján, 2015).  Atha’s human resource department aims to achieve the goal of employee retention by engaging in several supporting activities. One of them is to reward employees every time customers leave comments of admiration. The functional areas also aims at adding two human resource generalists. It will achieve the goal by engaging in the activities of posting job responsibilities and experience requirements, receiving feedback from the candidate’s manager, and seeking a 5-minute video description of who the person is.

The firm also aims at assisting department managers in the hiring process and improvement of the performance of employees. It aims at achieving the goals of creating a new organization chart for the human resources area, establishing a fair pay system, and driving a culture of diversity and inclusion. The supporting activities of sending surveys to all employees regarding additional tools and holding round table discussions with the human resource manager and selected employees will support the firm in its goal of determining the correct tools to do all the jobs it has.

The goals are well directed towards the achievement of the firm’s plan. The rewarding activities, for example, will see to it that the company benefits from the employee retention plan. Rewarding the employees who receive compliments will ensure the recognition of those who work hard (Bratton & Gold, 2017). Formulating a bonus structure will be part of the company sales performance. Doing so will ensure that the workers who remain in the company for long will receive incentives while they implement their skills for the benefit of the company. The goals of establishing an equivalence in payment, giving the correct tools for the job, and having a suitable organizational chart will ensure the organization of the human resource department in such a way that all its activities will be allied towards the set goals.

Sales and marketing area

The goals of the sales and marketing department are similar to those of the human resource department. Both departments are geared towards the achievement of the set goals within the set periods. Among the most significant goals are to retain the existing employees, add 7 new employees, and improve employee performance. The department will also aim at creating a new organization chart, increasing customer satisfaction, improving the department’s culture, and creating a promotion acceleration program. Each of the goals has individual supporting activities that are commensurate with the plans to achieve the goals.

The goals are well crafted to reflect the planning and decision-making process. Retaining the existing employees, for example, will contribute towards the minimization of training costs. The company will, for this reason, maintain its costs while gaining from the expertise of the experienced employees by having a high number of sales (Madhani, 2016). The goal of adding seven new employees will support the firm’s decision of aggressive growth by increasing the sales a hundredfold. Similarly, the goal of creating a new organization chart for the sales and marketing area reflects the plan to align the leadership of the company with the right positions for efficiency of service. The goal of increasing customer satisfaction is in line with the plan to increase the sales of the company and the development of a positive culture.

Influence of Planning and decision-making on manager’s roles

Planning and decision-making influence the roles of a manager in numerous ways. A major influence is the guidance of decisions.  Planning and decision-making enable managers to make the right decision when faced with situations that present risk and uncertainty (Rousseau, Olivas‐Luján, 2015).  The two processes involve careful evaluation of the situation. It is from the evaluation that the manager gets deeper insights into the demanding issues and look for effective alternatives. Doing so diverts the roles of the manager to major in risk assessment. Then two also affect the roles of new managers. Managers who are new in the job seekers the guidance of the already available strategic plans to get insight into the roles that they are supposed to undertake. The planning and decision-making activities of the firm, in this sense, dictate the roles of the managers.

Explanation of Organizational Structure

Human resources area

The revised organizational structure of the human resource department considers the chain of command. In one perspective, the structure considers the people to whom each person reports. The additional human resource generalists are well aware that they are supposed to report to the human resource manager since there is a clear indication of that in the hierarchy (Ahmady, Mehrpour, & Nikooravesh, 2016). Also, the new structure well defines the roles of the additional persons. It provides for ease of access to information about each of the persons and the roles that they are expected to perform in the organization.

The additional roles to be performed by the new hires support organizational functions. The organizational goals demand the performance of the additional roles by the human resource department. It is only through the additional effect of the department that the organization can achieve the newly set goals (Ahmady, Mehrpour, & Nikooravesh, 2016). The newly hired human resource generalists will be responsible for the performance of additional roles that have previously not been performed.  The new activities of the department will assist in the improvement of the performance of the organization.

Sales and Marketing

The new sales and marketing organizational structure has a well-defined chain of command. An important aspect of the structure is that it does not displace or replace the existing structure.  Instead, it seeks to work with the existing teams as opposed to disrupting them and their leadership.  For this reason, it respects the chain of command in the sales and marketing department.  Also, it has a well-defined hierarchy. The new employees will easily know their seniors. The knowledge will assist them to know the persons to whom they shall be reporting regarding specific matters.

The new hires added to the organizational structure will be of service to the organizational functions. They are well aware of their roles in working toward the goal of increasing the sales of the firm.  It is with this knowledge that they will support the department in fulfilling its mandate to the organization (Ahmady, Mehrpour, & Nikooravesh, 2016).  Also, they will use their positions in the structure to perform the specific roles that will help the organization in planning and decision-making. The organization needs the new hires to contribute information in their positions. It is from the information from the various levels of management that will assist in making comprehensive and informed decisions.

Influence of Organizing on manager’s roles

Organizing influences the roles of managers in both the human resource and the sales and marketing departments. In the area of human resources, guides the manager on how to distribute the human resource across all the departments (Bratton & Gold, 2017). For this reason, organizing gives the human resource manager the role of making equitably distributing the available manpower according to the needs and demands of each department.  Organizing also influences the roles of the sales and marketing managers. It adds to them the roles of assigning work and providing direction to the juniors. Organizing, for this reason, becomes part of the manager’s job in planning the work of each person in the functional area.

Interview Questions

Human resources area

Each of the interview questions has a specific goal.  The first question seeks to find out how the applicant would strike a balance between the employee and business needs. This question intends to find out whether the interviewee has the right mind-set regarding being an employee.  The second question seeks an example of a time when the candidate overcame challenges.  The question intends to assess the level of the candidate’s ability to undertake difficult tasks. The third question inquires about the candidate’s most successful team and their contribution to the same. It intends to find out about their ability to drive a winning culture on the teams in which they are involved.  The fourth question asks about the perfect leadership time of the interviewee. It aims at ensuring that the candidate is well aware of the right leadership traits. The final question asks about the applicant’s biggest weakness. It intends to assess the self-awareness of the person.

Sales and Marketing Area

The interview questions of the sales and marketing department aim at gaining an in-depth understanding of the candidates.  The first question seeks to know the candidate’s history of inability to achieve the set targets and how he/she overcame the obstacles and improved. The question intends to learn how the candidate deals with failure and their bounce-back strategies. The second question asks about the interviewee’s actions in closing leads. It seeks to gain more insight into the candidate’s ability to manage their businesses and pipelines.

The third question asks about the history of the candidate about a time when their feedback was rejected and how they overcame the difficulty. The question intends to learn more about the candidate’s communication abilities. The fourth question asks about the interviewee’s history about working on tight deadlines and how they did it.  It seeks more about the person’s ability to work under pressure or within short deadlines. The final question asks the person about their actions of keeping track of business and future pipeline business. The question intends to give more information regarding the person’s plans to hit their goals.

Supporting planning and organizing activities

Both sets of interview questions support the planning and organizing activities of the organization. The questions enable the human resources department to learn more about the strengths and weaknesses of the person. It is through this knowledge that the department decides whether the person is the right candidate.  The questions also help the interviewer to know the best candidates according to their abilities to handle the demands of the job and deliver accordingly (Krush et al., 2015).  The interview questions administered by the sales and marketing department give insights regarding the right place to which he/she should place specific candidates according to their skills and abilities. Some are better fitted to be in specific positions than others (Madhani, P. M. (2016).  The questions also tell more about the ability of the candidates to help the organization achieve its goals according to how well they can handle they are suited for the sales and marketing job.

Performance standards

Human resources area

Three performance standards will be used to control the activities of the executive plan.  The first will be ensuring that the thirty newly hired employees are onboarded efficiently. Failure to do set the proper expectations with the employees will lead the firm away from the set goal of doubling revenue.  The second standard is declaring the performance management process to leaders to ensure the betterment of the bottom performers. The third standard will be to ensure the attainment of a 90% engagement score on employee experience. Having a happy and engaged employee experience will enable them to engage wholly for more success.

The performance standards will support the goals and activities of the firm by ensuring that the department of human resources consistently meets its goals. They will also support the organizational structure by driving productivity and accountability of the persons who are in charge of various activities at different levels of the organization. They will support the purpose statement of the human resources area by creating a good experience for the employees to ensure their happiness for full engagement.

Sales and marketing area

The sales and marketing area will also be governed by three performance standards.  They include having a 90% customer satisfaction score, doubling the sales by managing pipelines, and placing bottom performers on the action plan. These performance standards will support the goals and activities of the firm by enticing the return of customers. Doing so will increase the sales (Krush, 2015). The standards will also support the organizational structure by improving the performance of the bottom performers for better cooperation with their seniors.  They will support the purpose statement of the sales and marketing department by enabling the business to be there for the new customers who will come through the establishment of new business.

Influence of controlling on manager’s role

Controlling influences the roles of managers of both the human resource and sales and marketing departments. It enables the human resource managers to guide how the employees perform their roles. For example, the managers easily manipulate the performance of the employees by recognizing and rewarding the most hardworking. By so doing, it sways the roles of the managers towards assessment of performance (Rousseau, Olivas‐Luján, 2015). It also helps the sales and marketing managers to direct the activities of each person according to their roles in the department. By so doing, it directs the energies of the managers towards the achievement of the goals of the organization.

Personal Insights

The project has several lessons regarding the formulation and enactment of business goals. A major lesson is that goals need a well-defined course of action for them to be achieved. Some of them include the partnership of the relevant departments, the involvement of the necessary resources, and the presence of a proper organizational structure. Also, the achievement of goals is only possible if each of the parties of interest takes individual effort to uphold their part of the whole action. The presence of performance standards is an added advantage in ensuring that all the parties perform in the best interest of the firm.