Harrison Keyes
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Running head: PROBLEM SOLUTION: HARRISON-KEYES INC.
Problem Solution: Harrison-Keyes Inc.
Problem Solution: Harrison-Keyes Inc.
Harrison-Keyes Inc., an internationally recognized publisher, is going through a period of turmoil. With a lack of clear direction and agreed strategy by the management team, HK has difficulty getting the e-publishing project on track. On top of the recent issues, the company hired a new CEO with opposite visions on the publishing industry compared with his predecessor.
Describe the Situation
Issue and Opportunity Identification
Harrison-Keyes is a well-established global publisher of print products operating in a market with fierce competition, which has led to a decline in sales over more than a decade. One of the key challenges for Harrison-Keyes is to look for new sources of profit that will take the company into the 21st Century. The board recently fired its CEO Meg McGill, who strongly supported e-publishing. Mrs. McGill was replaced by William Guardo, a former president of a competing publisher favoring traditional publishing. Asia Publishing, the outsourcing partner will be out of business for the foreseeable future as a result of being hit by a massive coastal flooding. The new CEO found out that there is no contingency plan to respond to unexpected events.
The offshoring company Asia Digital, responsible for digital design, was hit by a massive coastal flooding and will be out of business for the foreseeable future. HK does not have a contingency plan in place, which the implementation manager failed to create. Here lies an opportunity for HK to have “alternative remedies for possible foreseen events before the risk event occurs and selects the best plan among alternatives.” (Gray and Larson, 2005, pp. 218-219) The company risks missing Critical deadlines and HK is expected to be off schedule for about four weeks. HK has faced situations with a lack of resources and lack of focus on projects. A resource allocation and prioritization policy allows the company to allocate the resources required to complete its projects on a timely manner. The implementation team is still not behind the strategy of the e-publishing initiative and the departmental cooperation lacks integration. HK has an opportunity “to define the interface between the project and parent organization in terms of authority, allocation of resources, and eventual integration of project outcomes into mainstream operations.” (Gray and Larson, 2005, pp. 55)
The last issue relates to communication issues and the lack of short-term objectives. The implementation of short-term objectives provides HK with the opportunity to get operations aligned with the project and to create a better understanding of the e-publishing initiative.
Stakeholder Perspectives/Ethical Dilemmas
Harrison Keyes has several stakeholders in reference to the above overall situation: the CEO, leadership team, sales, the outsourcing company, company customers and competitors. Each of these parties possesses different values that might compete, potentially creating ethical dilemmas. The recently joined CEO is a new and different stakeholder with different perspectives than his predecessor, creating a situation with different ethical dilemmas. A detailed description of the ethical dilemmas can be found in table 2, including the new CEO as a stakeholder.
Frame the “Right” Problem
Taking into account the events within HK and considering the perspective of all stakeholders involved , it is possible to draft the following problem statement:
“Harrison Keyes will become a leading global e-publisher by managing the project plan implementation while mitigating the risks which threaten the project.”
Describe the “End-State” Vision
Harrison Keyes has developed into a leading player in the e-publishing industry. The project is back on track for a number of reasons. The company created a dedicated project team, consisting of experts per discipline. HK dramatically improved the resource allocation and prioritization while having common goals and objectives understood and supported throughout the company. The morale of its employees has improved, because they are better informed and are aware of the usefulness of their role. HK has been able to major authors to digitalize their work by solving the technical issues surrounding DRM techniques. HK has adopted contingency plans as part of its planning process, which means that the company now completes projects on time and within budget. The company focused its marketing efforts and became fully aware of the clients and their behavior. The leading role of HK in the publishing industry is measured by achieving the following end-state goals:
Employees see opportunities within new strategic initiatives measured by decrease in employee turnover by 20% within 2 months
HK has increased its market share in the e-publishing industry by 12% per annum, even outperforming the initial forecasts and planning.
HK has adopted effective project management techniques that allow for timely and in-budget completion of 95% of scheduled deliverables while meeting 100% of the deadlines of the critical milestones
Launch a successful marketing campaign. This end-state goal can be measured by the amount of e-book sales. Target: close the gap and reach 16 million dollar sales of e-books within 6 months.
Identify the Alternatives and Benchmarking Validation
In order to achieve these goals and find a solution to the