Create a 4–5-page departmental plan to address the corporate initiative of doubling sales outlined in a scenario.
In this assessment, you will create a departmental plan to address the corporate initiative of doubling sales outlined in the scenario below. The scenario presented here will be applicable to the next assessment as well.
Preparation
You will use the following functional area to base your assessment work: Sales and marketing.
Scenario
Note: Review each of the following resources. You will need them to complete this assessment. (attached)
Imagine that your application to Atha (attached) was successful and have been working as manager for a short time in the Sales and marketing department when the Atha CEO shares the following communications with staff:
Presentation From the CEO. (attached)
CEO’s Sales Goal Announcement [PDF].(attached)
CEO’s Memo to Managers [PDF]. (attached)
Organizational charts (Sales and Marketing Organizational Chart [DOCX]. (attached))
Instructions
Create your department’s response plan (4–5 pages) to the new corporate initiative of doubling sales and the information presented in the CEO’s Sales Goal Announcement [PDF](attached). Make sure to address all requirements.
Additional Requirements
Your assessment should also meet the following requirements:
Format: Submit a professional and well-organized Word document.
Length: 4–5 double-spaced pages.
APA format: Use current APA style and formatting guidelines.
Competencies Measured
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment scoring guide criteria:
Competency 1: Analyze characteristics and behaviors of effective managers.
Analyze a decision and the top consideration in addressing it.
Competency 2: Apply managerial principles to planning, organization, control, leadership, and communication.
Explain how stated strategic departmental objectives or goals support corporate goals.
Explain why identified support activities are critical for achieving departmental goals.
Specify a timeline with realistic milestones that support stated objectives.
Explain how a specified reorganization is an effective response to a business challenge.
Competency 3: Communicate effectively and professionally.
Organize content so ideas flow logically with smooth transitions.
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Assessment Resources
The following resources are required to complete the assessment: (All provided)
Presentation From the CEO.
CEO’s Sales Goal Announcement [PDF].
CEO’s Memo to Managers [PDF].
Sales and Marketing Organizational Chart [DOCX].
Use a minimum of three scholarly sources. All literature cited should be current, with publication dates within the past five years. Some sources you can use are below.
Planning
The following resource focuses on planning, decision making, and managing change.
Robbins, S. P., Coulter, M., & DeCenzo, D. A. (2020). Fundamentals of management: Management myth debunked! (11th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson. Available in the courseroom via the VitalSource Bookshelf link.
Chapter 6, “Managing Change and Innovation.”
Chapter 8, “Organizational Structure and Design.”
Additional Resources for Further Exploration
Writing Objectives
The following resources may help you write your objectives in the upcoming assessment.
MacLeod, L. (2012). Making SMART goals smarter [PDF]. Physician Executive, 38(2), 68–70.
Atkinson, W. (2005). Setting goals & measuring performance. Collections & Credit Risk, 10(8), 32–35.
Solution
Planning and Organization
From experience, working with the sales and marketing team is crucial to achieving the corporate objective of doubling sales from the company’s current $5 million. Atha’s CEO is right to believe that the goal is realistic and attainable. For instance, with proper management, planning, and organizing various operational approaches, it will be possible to double the sales within the next year. The sales and marketing department will engage in concerted efforts to support the corporate goal by creating its objectives and setting strategic plans to achieve them. The program will be implemented at the department level because the management believes in teamwork to improve sales. Actual improvement in the company’s sales will require considerable efforts to change the current sales plans and the sales and marketing organizational structure to ensure that each team member has the most appropriate position and role in the firm.
The beginning step for the sales and marketing team to support the company’s new strategic plan is to create its goals. The SMART goal-setting is a critical step in the planning process because the process leads the organization to the right strategic path (MacLeod, 2012). Goals help the team to remain on course since the teams understand what they want to achieve. Thus, the sales and marketing manager understands why the CEO should inform all managers to create their strategic departmental objectives or goals for the next three months. Besides, the objectives should align with the overall corporate goal to demonstrate support and strategic decision-making. In essence, the sales and marketing manager and the department should be an asset to Atha to create and provide value to the entire firm. The manager will communicate the importance of the planned changes to win the entire sales and marketing team’s support and avoid any resistance.
While the company has the overall goal of doubling sales in the next year, the sales and marketing department will have to formulate goals and objectives to support its achievement. The sales and marketing department’s goals will include: doubling the sales without affecting prices, increasing international sales, ensuring more effective and convenient order delivery, and better planning and organizing the sales and marketing team. The manager recognizes that besides creating the sales and marketing department goals, it is necessary to understand critical roles and assign them to the most suitable talent in the company to complete them successfully. Planning includes creating the list of goals, while organizing entails proper allocation of tasks and resources to meet the set goals. The process involves organizing regular meetings with individuals and groups in the sales and marketing department to plan how to support the company to achieve the overarching goals. Overall, the sales and marketing manager will work with the entire team to brainstorm ideas regarding sales improvement to meet the company’s objective.
The sales and marketing department’s plan entails a significant change to achieve the stated goals to support the corporate strategic plan. The sales and marketing manager understands the fundamentals of change management in the organization. Therefore, managing the change requires innovation in the firm’s sales and marketing team, including technology to improve order processing and delivery and increase international sales (Robbins et al., 2020). Therefore, implementing new sales and marketing information system is one of the support activities needed to achieve each goal. The sales and marketing team requires a system that would help the department understand customers’ needs and meet them adequately and timely. Therefore, the sales and marketing manager will request a new or updated information system to manage sales information. The system will significantly help achieve corporate and departmental goals through active information collection, processing, and use in making sales and marketing decisions.
The second supporting activity is reorganizing the sales and marketing department to ease training, mentoring, and good communication skills development. Notably, the department will retain its current employees but train and develop skills aligned with the corporate and departmental goals. Training and development have proven critical in organizations’ change implementation process (Nwaeke & Obiekwe, 2017). The sales and marketing team will undergo extensive training and mentorship programs to improve their marketing and communication skills and become more effective at addressing local and international customers’ needs. Communication is also necessary to create and maintain trust and credibility, which is a core part of organizational productivity (Ahmad et al., 2017). The sales and marketing department will also have a new organization chart emphasizing diversity, interdependence, coordination, and collaboration. The management will assign specific duties to sales and marketing team members, but in the end, maintain the same focus and perspectives to meet local and international needs. After such crucial initiatives, the reorganization will help the team meet more customers, meet their needs, and sell its products. Overall, the sales and marketing divisions will be integrated to collaborate in all marketing campaigns and actual selling.
The sales and management team requires three months to plan and restructure in time to begin the actual work and meet the departmental and corporate goals. In the next one month, the department should have acquired the new or updated information system. In two months, all sales and marketing employees will have undergone training and mentorship in targeted and effective salesmanship and communication skills. The new organizational structure will be created immediately, but the new sales and marketing manager requires at least two weeks to understand each employee’s abilities and weaknesses. The reorganization process is necessary because the sales and marketing team cannot support the corporate goal in its current nature. Since the entire company is undergoing the change, it is only reasonable that the department should also change to support the strategic plan. Besides, the new manager brings in innovative ideas and novel experience to help the company to improve its sales.
As is evident from the analysis, the change is significant for Atha since its stakeholders depend on its ability to innovate and transform to improve productivity and profitability. However, the new manager faces some difficult decisions and priorities to support the change and achieve the corporate and departmental goals. The most challenging decision is the type of technology that will assist the firm in achieving the goals. The new sales and marketing manager will research the most suitable system to implement. Notably, the manager’s most important consideration involves the new leadership in the sales and marketing department. The manager should also study employees, including the current leaders, and determine the necessary changes in the reorganization process. The most critical assumption in the decision-making process is that other departments will also make effective changes and move at the same speed to support the corporate goal.
References
Ahmad, M. H., Ismail, S., Rani, W. N. M. W. M., & Wahab, M. H. (2017, October). Trust in management, communication and organisational commitment: Factors influencing readiness for change management in organisation. In AIP Conference Proceedings (Vol. 1891, No. 1, p. 020019). AIP Publishing LLC.
MacLeod, L. (2012). Making SMART goals smarter [PDF]. Physician Executive, 38(2), 68–70.
Nwaeke, L. I., & Obiekwe, O. (2017). Impact of Manpower Training and Development on Organizational Productivity and Performance: A Theoretical Review. European Journal of Business and Management, 9(4), 153-159.
Robbins, S. P., Coulter, M., & DeCenzo, D. A. (2020). Fundamentals of management: Management myth debunked! (11th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
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