Question

Feasibility Report (Please do not attempt to solve if you can not fulfill all the requirements)

After reviewing my cover page, table of contents, introduction, purpose and overview report please complete the BODY part.

Purpose       

Feasibility reports are a yardstick to measure solutions which lead to a recommended course of action. These through investigations, to determine the viability and practicality of the proposal, are necessary to minimize organizational risk and minimize risks. When proposing a product, service, strategy, initiative, program, process, or change. Feasibility reports are critical to identify roadblocks to implementation and to maximize the chances for success. All business professionals must understand how to use through research to make decisions and communicate findings.

Your Task

You will explore the feasibility of a product, service, strategy, initiative, policy, program, process, or change. An individual may explore an aspect of the persuasive multimedia presentation topic if desired. A senior management or board of directors will be the recipient of the feasibility report. You will present this information as an analytic report.

Cover Page

Change of Budget Feasibility Report for National Project Systems

Table of Contents

Introduction

Purpose and overview of an organization

Problem Statement

Background of Problem

Cause of Problem

Solution

1. Introduction

This feasibility report has been prepared for the National Project System, to assess the chances of approval of the change in the budget submitted to the treasury department by the ministry of finance. This document details out the need for change in the budget proposal, the purpose of such a change and also will talk about the cause of the problem. National Project System manages multiple projects in and around the state of Texas and California. Its annual budget is $100 million. The change in the budget proposal has been asked by the ministry of finance for NPS, keeping in mind the increasing need for modern facilities and infrastructure. The ministry wishes to expand the operation of National Project system to other states and increases its footprint at a global level.

2. Purpose and overview of an organization

National Project system is an implementation arm of the ministry of finance. It undertakes multiple projects across various domains such as health, agriculture, defense, etc. Its annual budget has seen a growth of more than 20% in last 5 years. Recently, a need for modern infrastructure and processes has been realized by the members of National Project System. Hence, a budget change plan has been submitted to treasury department by a ministry of finance, to study the feasibility of such a change request.

3. Problem Statement

Need an increase in the annual budget of National Project Systems for the proper implementation of various schemes running under its multiple projects. Current budget stands at $100 million. Treasury Department is already under a lot of financial burdens due to a decrease in funds from the world bodies which support it for such projects. In such a case a feasibility report has been prepared for the national project system.

4. Background of Problem

The projects being executed by NPS is running in costs of more than $200 million. Current budget stands at $100 million. The infrastructure and the process used to implement projects are quite outdated and need an urgent up-gradation to deliver projects on time. Treasury department which approves any budget changes is under tremendous pressure as it has lack of funds due to shortage of fund supply from world bodies. If the budget change doesn't get approved, many projects under NPS will get shut down.

5. Cause of Problem

Cause of problem is the increase in projects without the increase in resources. Faulty planning for operational needs and execution. Budget forecasting not accurate. Over-commitment by a ministry of finance.

6. Solution

Explain the need for change in a budget to treasury department in an analytical manner. Address the pain points. Talk about operational costs. Discuss faulty forecasting issues and the urgent need for modern infrastructure.

*******Body (approx. 2 pages and minimum 2 references required)*******

1) Solutions and Alternatives - explain the solutions/alternatives you have selected (must have at least 3).

2) Establishing Criteria -establish at least 3 criteria selected for making comparisons. Tell how and why you selected criteria to use as a yardstick in evaluating alternatives.

3) Discussion/Evaluation – thoroughly discuss and evaluate the alternatives based on the criteria. Be sure to offer advantages and disadvantages of each. Refer to the graphic in the Appendices.

Answer 1

Introduction:

The St. Joe Company a publicly traded company which is headquartered in Jacksonville is one of Florida's largest real estate development companies. This company’s chief business is in real estate development and sales, and contributes much to the timber industry. The organization is thinking of diversifying into making furniture and is contemplating bringing about a change to its business model. .The change has been visualized as adding to the extended business of the home department of JOE’s .To bring about this change JOE’s has to strategize its vision and accelerate its mission to accommodate this change. . Their mission is to create places that inspire people and make JOE's Florida an even better place to live, and work. There has been fear among the employees working at Joe’s that with the new division of the business ,workers will either have to relocate to different jobs or to look at developing new skills. They also feel threatened that new skills at workplace may hamper their performance. It was decided to look at the change perspective and how to manage this change with least disturbance. Joe’s was already a market leader in Florida and it did not have to do any drastic changes to its market penetration because it was a household name. The need for a change was visualized because the real estate market was dipping and almost all real estate businesses were looking for diversification of their services. Majority of them had gone into logistics and civil construction but Joe’s thought differently. (Kotter and Cohen, 2002)

Thesis statement:

A change is an initiative which is brought about by an organization to become dynamic and sustainable. In a competitive environment change is a must in any organization. Changes are always initiated to bring in a win win situation for an organization so it has to change to remain in the macro view of success. Change is inevitable in a growing environment and so change has to be initiated very carefully and thoughtfully. Change always brings in new ideas and new innovation and so change has be implemented very carefully and strategized with utmost clarity so as to invoke the correct response from all stakeholders.(Weick and Quinn, 1999)

Change at Joe’s:

The imminent change of Joe’s business model of starting furniture outlet was viewed by all stakeholders with great uncertainty. There were issues like new organizational structure .reporting heads, new culture, new job descriptions and the greatest change that was envisaged was employees of Joe’s real estate now had to learn new job descriptions. The problem was to understand if employees were ready for a shift and if so how many of them would be willing to learn new techniques of trade.

         Factors necessitating change were felt immediately and so JOE’s designed a platform which would not only be a pilot project and an indication of change but would also put to ease the workers who were to take up shifting roles. As Kotter and Cohen, 2002 put it this is called ‘adaptive reorganization’, they write that the firm’s ability to redesign their structures more frequently, which is now an important factor as part of the organizational performances is change management. Joe’s having decided to start out a furniture division definitely needs an organizational change in terms of organization structure and organizational alignment of goals. People have to be intimated about the change and the impending reshuffling of roles and functional levels that will be introduced. The divisions of JOE’s would now be working parallel and it had to meet the needs of horizontal integration. This was the problem and it was decided that a broad communiqué of the same be directed upon so as to intimate people about the change. Organizations have felt changes happening within their purview and also externally, organizations have downsized expanded, got new heads have reorganized strategies, accepted new technology and made changes so that they could grow. All this affects the employees emotionally.

           It also depends on the way the company implements the program, and the impatience of the company to stick with the program long enough for it to yield results, and also the unrealistic expectations on the part of the company. The more common reason for failure is that companies mistake surface, secondary causes of pain for underlying, primary causes.      Joe’s new business line needed a dynamic leadership and so it meant that employees would be seeing new leadership in force. It was not known whether the new leader would be able to deliver the results that Joe’s was looking for as it was a critical success factor. The challenges that arose out of a new leadership was new work orders, new reporting techniques and group dynamics changing along with team compositions   The look of Joe’s was going to change. Joe’s never knew showroom challenges and promotional designs. With the new furniture retail outlet expected to open soon, it was going to be a paradigm shift in communication    techniques and selling concepts. Employees had to learn new aspects of furniture from experienced furniture sellers and salesmen and also from new entrants. Were the employees willing to accept this?

Kotter’s change management principles:

Change has to be first ordained as a management strategy and then management has to announce the change. Implementation of changes involves an influx of three important parameters culture of the organization, processes involved in the organization, and the synergy that is exhibited by the employees and management to bring about the change. Change implementation requires a macro view of the organization and an agent to makes the changes happen. He is called the change agent and this can happen either internally or externally.

1.      The need for a change and the urgency of bringing in the change: the change has to be felt as urgency and only then can be implemented. The necessity for a change should be felt spontaneously and change should be acted upon instantly.

2.      The change agent has to be identified with a person who can lead the change. He is called the change leader and he should be an expert in initiating the change. Change has to be announced to all concerned with the change and awareness about the change should be felt all through the organization.

3.      The vision and strategy of change has to be discussed with people and perceptions and concepts. The final destination of change has to be announced.

4.      The vision of the change has to be shared with all in the organization and there should be organization wide discussion on the change strategy. This will bring about the necessary effectiveness in the change process and will allow for feedback on the change thought. It is said that if employees do not accept the changes there will be stiff resistance to change.

5.      The vision of change makers has to be shared. Every aspect of change has to be communicated in its entirety to all concerned so that the people who initiate the changes, people who carry out the changes and people who are affected by the changes know the change process and the thought for changes as visualized by the top management.

6.      Hindrances to changes should be nipped in the bud. It should be communicated that any obstacle that comes in the way of changes will be totally eliminated as it is the vision of the organization to bring in changes and resistance to change will be dealt with in the appropriate manner.

7.      Change initiatives that happen early on show the success rate of change and winning change strategies happen only when the early victories of change are celebrated.

8.      Early victories of change cannot be change makers unless and until the change is followed by people relentlessly. Change initiatives should not be abandoned half way and it should be purposefully followed till the vision is reached and realized. Changes should produce more changes.

These are some ways in which change can be envisioned and implemented. There should be a task force to implement the changes and there should be an audit of changes that happens.

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Conclusion:

Organizations generally think of change only when old processes suffer from irrational and changed forms. Processes slowly die out and people suffer from stagnation and outdated ideas and customer base slowly loses its vigor. This is the time when change   should be thought of and initiated by a team of visionary experts who are called the change agents. Organizations that do not change die a natural death. Creativity and innovation fosters changes and success of organizations. Buy in From Key Business Stakeholders can happen only when changes are implemented and organization show growth both horizontally and vertically.

References:

Argyris, C. (1993). Knowledge for action: A guide to overcoming barriers to organizational change. Jossey-Bass San Francisco, 11.

Ben Whitmore, (2003 ‘American management association year issue,’. Journal of management studies) Dean Management Studies (2006 ‘seminar on management change’. Journal of management engineers

Bencivenga, J. (2002). John Kotter on Leadership, Management and Change. School Administrator, 59(2), pp.36—40

Kotter, J. and Cohen, D. (2002). The heart of change. 1st ed. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press.

Weick, K. and Quinn, R. (1999). Organizational change and development. Annual review of psychology, 50(1), pp.361--386.