In: Operations Management
Finally, recommend a way that Dionysus can implement the transactional process from entrepreneurial style to managerial style during the growth stage. (Based on a 'A Case of Growing Pains',)
When he first opened his own business, Dionysus loved it. He
went to work early in the
morning and did not leave until after 9.00P.M. To spend time with
his family, he would take off
a few hours in the afternoon and then return to the store after
supper, staying until closing
time. When he was away from the store in the late afternoon,
part-time personnel handled the
operation.
That was five years ago. Since then, Dionysus’s business has grown
tremendously. Now
he employs eight full-time people and sells seven times as much as
he did originally. With this
increase in business, however, have come a lot of headaches. In
particular, Dionysus has to
make many more decisions than he did before. Additionally, although
he wants to get his
employees involved in the decision-making process and not do all of
the work himself, he feels
he must do many tasks on his own. He does not believe he can
delegate much authority. For
example, Dionysus still makes all of the decisions regarding
purchasing, pricing, advertising,
hiring, and merchandise display, and he still sells goods in the
store.
Recently, Dionysus went to the doctor for his annual physical. The
doctor told him he
was working too hard and had to start slowing down. “You’ve been
running that store singlehanded for as long as I can remember,” the
doctor said. “You’ve got lots of help in the store.
Start relying on them to help you out.”
Dionysus did not disagree. The doctor offered good advice, and
Dionysus knows the has
to start delegating more authority and getting out of the actual
hustle-bustle of daily activity.
However, this worries him. A few months ago, he tried turning over
more work to his
employees and staying in the background. During that time, he
concerned himself with the
overall operation of the store and left the minor day-to-day
business to the staff. But Dionysus
was bored with this side of the operation. He wants to be
active-active role in the business, not
just to sit in the sidelines. Second, he wants to be in the
forefront of the action, like he always
has been.
Dionysus does not know how to resolve this dilemma. He would like
to maintain his level
of involvement at the shop but realizes that, for health reasons,
this is inadvisable. However, to
be a manager in the true sense of the word seems boring to
him.
Source: Adapted from Kuratko, D.F & Hornsby, J.S. (2009). “New
Venture Management: The
Entrepreneur’s Roadmap”. New Jersey: Pearson International
Edition.
(1)
Key unique challenges of growing a venture and how important delegation is for growth :
Nothing great can be achieved by business owner without delegating their work with other staffs .In this given case Dionysus fully engaged on his work all the time and He is not delegating the work to their staffs. First Dionysus should understand the importance of Delegation .Those factors are listed below.
Delegation importance
So Dionysus should consider above facts to develop his business growth path. Also there are certain things need to clear in the Delegation to work better. Lets see the Essential factors in Delegation
In order to become a successful business person, Dionysus should know above essential factors to succeed in his business. Also he should take care of his health and he need to motivate other staffs to share his workload, Also he need to encourage delegation in advertising, purchasing, pricing, hiring in these areas. This will help him to reduce his work and also he can have a better time management. Delegation of work doesn’t mean that all the authority given to the staffs, still boss will have more control on these staff by continuous monitoring and Evaluation.
So it’s important for Dionysus to encourage the Delegation of work in this business venture to taste the success in his Business.
(2)
Key elements in the growth stage that Dionysus should understand :
The growth stage is where the business model is clear and so is the customers. It is a stage which has elements like a long term business that is secured, a few high-level team members who can be delegated, In this step, the profits are generally strong as the company is gradually coming out of the struggle or startup phase. In this stage, it becomes important to have effective management in times of increasing growth. Thus, it is necessary to develop managerial skills and a growing team and adopting the skill of delegating the authority and empowering the employees.
Thus, a differentiating factor when compared to the startup phase is that the owner or the manager should now gradually take up the back end role, start delegating the non-crucial tasks or decisions. This is essential to progress well to the maturity stage. In this case, Dionysus's business is growing tremendously. He has full time and part-time employees. With the increase in business, he must understand that every task from selling to purchasing cannot be done single-handedly, and thus its time to take more crucial roles in hand and trust team members with other tasks. While he may not like the role as according to him it's not active-active but occasional hopping between the roles is fine to have an overall understanding. But for growing to next stage maturity, a more concentrated effort to expand the business needs to be thought upon and executed, which cannot be done by a single person.
(3)
Recommendation for a way that Dionysus can implement the transactional process from entrepreneurial style to managerial style during the growth stage:
A number of problems can occur during this transition especially if the enterprise is characterized by factors such as a highly centralised decision-making system and over dependence on one or two key individuals and and inadequate reporter of managerial skills and training. These characteristics although of an effective in the new venture start-up and initial survival pose a threat to the firm's development during the growth stage.
In order to bring about the necessary transition the entrepreneur must be carefully planned and then gradually implement the process the following are the steps are suggested - The entrepreneur just want to make the change and must want to strongly enough to undertake major modifications in his or her own task behaviour. The day-to-day decision-making procedures of the organisation must be changed specifically and participation in the process must be expanded. The two or three key operating tasks that are primarily responsible for the organisation success must be institutionalized. this may involve the selection of new people to supplement or replace individuals who have performed these tasks in the past. Middle level management must be developed. specialist must learn to become functional managers while function managers must learn to become General managers. Deform the strategy should be evaluated and modified if necessary to achieve growth. The organisational structure and its management and procedures must be slowly modified to fit the company's new strategy and senior managers.