Running head: RISK 1 RISK6 Risk Analysis Mark Lasky MGMT 495 American Public University Professor Davis March 29, 2018 Organizations face a lot of problems during their operation. Communication problem, performance, and interpersonal relations are among the problems that face many organizations. The proposed solution for these problems includes conducting the biweekly meeting and setting up training programs. An organization could be in a dilemma of deciding which solution to implement, therefore, assessing the possible risks of every solution and deciding which solutions could yield the best results is very important. It is also important to evaluate the possible risks to predict what could happen if the organization implement the solution. The following information will enable the leader to make the final decision for every proposed solution. Conducting Biweekly Meeting Conducting a biweekly meeting may sometimes be very overwhelming and confusing. Therefore, employees should need the following new skills to benefit from the meetings; willingness to share their goals with the manager and the rest of the members. By telling the manager what specifically they are working on, or what they are aspiring to work on so they can get help and get wherever they want. Another new skill that employees need is the readiness to describe their achievement in the organization. Communication of goals to the members of the meeting will enable the members to take the initiative to help the employee. Willingness to ask for advice and input is also an important skill for an employee. It is important for employees to come to the meeting prepared with many questions that will require the manager to offer advice and take the role of mentorship. The other new skill is a readiness to discuss other issues connected to career development. Employees should be ready to discuss other issues connected to career development. After an employee has shared his/her direction and focus with the rest of the members, it is important to enrich the meeting in other ways. That is a good time for employees to ask about their strengths or weakness and where they need to improve. The financial cost of conducting a biweekly meeting will be economical. There will be no financial costs for hiring conference rooms because they will conduct the meeting in a social room owned by the organization. This will enable the organization to save the money and spend it on other issues. If the organization will implement this solution communication barrier will decrease. This kind of meetings will encourage employees from different sections to interact. The interaction among workers will make them free with each other and enable them to communicate in a freer manner. This form of meetings will improve the flow of communication in both directions. This strategy will enable workers to communicate their challenges and give the organization a chance to completely understand their i.

1. Running head: RISK 1
RISK6
Risk Analysis
Mark Lasky
MGMT 495
American Public University
Professor Davis
March 29, 2018
Organizations face a lot of problems during their operation.
Communication problem, performance, and interpersonal
relations are among the problems that face many organizations.
The proposed solution for these problems includes conducting
the biweekly meeting and setting up training programs. An
organization could be in a dilemma of deciding which solution

2. to implement, therefore, assessing the possible risks of every
solution and deciding which solutions could yield the best
results is very important. It is also important to evaluate the
possible risks to predict what could happen if the organization
implement the solution. The following information will enable
the leader to make the final decision for every proposed
solution.
Conducting Biweekly Meeting
Conducting a biweekly meeting may sometimes be very
overwhelming and confusing. Therefore, employees should need
the following new skills to benefit from the meetings;
willingness to share their goals with the manager and the rest of
the members. By telling the manager what specifically they are
working on, or what they are aspiring to work on so they can
get help and get wherever they want. Another new skill that
employees need is the readiness to describe their achievement in
the organization. Communication of goals to the members of the
meeting will enable the members to take the initiative to help
the employee.
Willingness to ask for advice and input is also an important
skill for an employee. It is important for employees to come to
the meeting prepared with many questions that will require the
manager to offer advice and take the role of mentorship. The
other new skill is a readiness to discuss other issues connected
to career development. Employees should be ready to discuss
other issues connected to career development. After an
employee has shared his/her direction and focus with the rest of
the members, it is important to enrich the meeting in other
ways. That is a good time for employees to ask about their
strengths or weakness and where they need to improve.
The financial cost of conducting a biweekly meeting will be
economical. There will be no financial costs for hiring
conference rooms because they will conduct the meeting in a
social room owned by the organization. This will enable the
organization to save the money and spend it on other issues. If
the organization will implement this solution communication

3. barrier will decrease. This kind of meetings will encourage
employees from different sections to interact. The interaction
among workers will make them free with each other and enable
them to communicate in a freer manner. This form of meetings
will improve the flow of communication in both directions. This
strategy will enable workers to communicate their challenges
and give the organization a chance to completely understand
their issues. This will, therefore, improve interpersonal
relations and reduce communication barriers.
Conducting meetings will also improve the brand of the
organization. Employees from different sections will be able to
relate with each other during the meeting and create good
relations. A good relationship between employees encourages
collaboration and teamwork. Creating a conducive environment
that promotes teamwork and collaboration foster good
performance, since the employee from different sections can be
free with each other and decrease unnecessary competition.
Good performance will improve the brand of the organization.
Setting up Training and Development Programs
The organization faces many challenges during its operation.
Sometimes, the owner of the organization or a key member of
the management team retires becomes incapacitated or dies. It is
important to identify and train new leaders to take over the
organization in the future. Therefore, training programs such as
a leadership training program are essential for coaching future
leaders of the organization. Having top employees credited
leadership training programs can be a great move for an
organization. The purpose of these programs is to help future
leaders acquire a wide set of skills and knowledge that they will
help them guide the firm and gain a complete understanding of
how the organization operates. Setting up training and
development programs will, therefore, make succession
planning easier (Schepker et al, 2018). The most important new
skills that the employees need to gain from training programs
include the following: be flexible, willingness to ask questions
and be confident.

4. Setting up training and development programs will be quite
expensive. The organization will require capital to pay for
professional training and will also need to acquire additional
equipment for carrying out online training. As a result of the
training cost, there will be some changes in the finance
department. The head of the department will increase the budget
of the month to accommodate the cost of training.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the proposed solution for these problems
includes conducting the biweekly meeting and setting up
training programs. An organization could be in a dilemma of
deciding which solution to implement, therefore, assessing the
possible risks of every solution and deciding which solutions
could yield the best results is very important. Communication
of goals to the members of the meeting will enable the members
to take the initiative to help the employee. Therefore, training
programs such as a leadership training program are essential for
coaching future leaders of the organization. Having top
employees credited leadership training programs can be a great
move for an organization. The most important new skills that
the employees need to gain from training programs include the
following: be flexible, willingness to ask questions and be
confident. The organization will require capital to pay for
professional training and will also need to acquire additional
equipment for carrying out online training.
Training and development programs will concentrate on
creating good relations through improved and better
communication and better performance through collaboration
and teamwork. Training and development programs will build a
positive reputation for the organization.
To add on the employees of an organization are the brand
representatives, therefore, when they attend conferences and
seminars they replicate and represent all that is good about the
organization (Frost, 2019).

5. References
Frost, S. (2019, February 5). The Importance of Training &
Development in the Workplace. Retrieved from
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-training-
development-workplace-10321.html
Schepker, D., Nyberg, A., Ulrich, M., & Wright, P. (2018, April
20). Planning for Future
Leadership: Procedural Rationality, Formalized Succession
Processes, and CEO
Influence in CEO Succession Planning Journal. Retrieved from
https://journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5465/amj.2016.0071?af=R&
Maryland Technology MTC
Case Study
12/
5
/2018
1
Maryland Technology
Consultants, Inc.Maryland TechnologyConsultants (MTC) is a
successful Information Technology consulting services firm that
utilizes proven IT and management methodologies to achieve
measurable results for its customers. Its customer base includes
small to mid-tier businesses, non-profit organizations and
governmental agencies at the local, state and federal levels.
MTC feels strongly that its success is dependent on the
combination of the talent of
itsIT consultants, the best practices MTC employs, and a
dedication to delivering truly beneficial IT solutions to their

6. clients.
Corporate Profile
Corporate Name: Maryland TechnologyConsultants,Inc.
Founded: May2008
Headquarters: Baltimore, Maryland
Satellite Locations: Herndon, Virginia; Bethesda,
Maryland Number of Employees: 450
Total Annual Gross Revenue: $95,000,000
President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO):Samuel Johnson
Business Areas
MTC provides consulting services in the following areas:•
· Business Process Consulting -Business process redesign,
process improvement
• IT Consulting -IT strategy, analysis, planning,
systemdevelopment, implementation, and network support
• IT Outsourcing Consulting –Requirements analysis; vendor
evaluation, due diligence, selection and performance
management; Service Level Agreements
Business Strategy
MTC's business strategy is to provide extraordinary consulting
services and recommendations
to its customers by employing highly skilled consultants and
staying abreast of new business
concepts and technology and/or
developing new business concepts and best practices of its
own.
Excerpt from the MTC Strategic Business Plan
While the complete strategic plan touches on many areas, below
is an excerpt from MTC’s latest Strategic Business Plan that
identifies a few of MTC's Goals.

7. Goal 1: Increase MTC Business Development by winning new
contracts in the areas of IT consulting.
Goal 2:
Build a cadre of consultants internationally to provide remote
research and analysis support to MTC’s onsite teams in the U.
S.
Goal 3:
Continue to increase MTC’s ability to quickly provide high
quality consultants to awarded contracts to best serve the
clients’ needs.
Goal 4: Increase MTC’s competitive advantage in the IT
consulting marketplace by increasing its reputation for having
IT consultants who are highly skilled in leading edge
technologies and innovative solutions for its clients.
Current Business Environment
MTC provides consultants on-site to work with its clients,
delivering a wide variety of IT-related services. MTC obtains
most of its business through competitively bidding on Requests
for
Proposals issued by business, government and non-profit
organizations. A small but growing portion of its business is
through referrals and follow- on contracts from satisfied clients.
MTC
anticipates it will win two large contracts in the near future and
is preparing proposals for several other large projects.
MTC, as a consulting company, relies on the quality and
expertise of its employees to provide the services needed by the
clients.
When it is awarded a contract, the customer expects MTC
to quickly provide the consultants and begin work on the
project.
MTC, like other consulting companies, cannot afford to carry a
large number of employees that are not assigned to contracts.
Therefore, they need to determine the likelihood of winning a

8. new contract and ensure the appropriately skilled consultantsare
ready to go to work when needed. MTC relies on its Human
Resources(HR)
Department to find and hire the personnel that the line managers
need for upcoming contracts. It is very much a "just in time"
hiring situation.
The Headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland, houses
approximately 350 employees. Satellite offices have been
opened in the last two y
ears in both Herndon, Virginia and Bethesda, Maryland to
provide close proximity to existing clients. It is anticipated that
new pending
contracts would add staff to all locations. The management team
believes there is capacity at all locations, as much of the
consultants' work is done on-site at the customers' locations.
Strategic Direction
As a small to mid-size business (SMB), MTCrecognizes that it
needs to carefully plan its future strategy. Considering the
competitive environment that contains many very large IT
consulting firms, such as Hewlett-Packard (HP), Booz Allen
Hamilton (BAH), and
Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC)
, as well as numerous smaller companies with various skill sets,
market niches, and established customer bases, MTC
will be evaluating how best to position itself for the future and
recognizes that its ability to identify its core competencies,
move with
agility and flexibility, and deliver consistent high quality
service to its clients is critical for continued success. One area
that is critical to a consulting company is the ability to have
employees who possess
the necessary knowledge and skills to fulfill current and future
contracts. Given the intense competition in the IT consulting
sector,

9. MTC is planning to incorporate a few consultants in other
countries to provide remote research and analysis support to the
on-site U. S.
teams. Since MTC has no experience in the global marketplace,
the Director of HR has begun examining international labor
laws to determine where MTC should recruit and hire
employees.
Challenges
The two contracts that MTC expects to win very soon will
require the hiring of an additional 75 consultants very quickly.
The Director of HR is concerned that the current manual process
of recruiting and hiring employees will not allow his department
to be responsive to these needs as well as the demands of future
growth and increased hiring requirements. He is looking for a
near-term solution that will automate many of the manual hiring
process steps and reduce the
time it takes to hire new staff. He is also looking for a solution
that will allow MTC to hire employees located in other
countries around
the world.
Management Direction
The management team has been discussing how toramp up to fill
the requirements of the two new contracts and prepare the
company to continue growing as additional contracts are
awarded in the future.
The company has been steadily growing and thus far hiring of
new
employees has been handled through a process that is largely
manual. The HR Director reported that his staff will be unable
to accommodate the hiring of the 75 new employees in the
timeframe requiredas well as continue to handle the expanded
hiring projections. The Chief Information Officer (CIO) then
recommended that the company look for a commercial off-the-

10. shelf software product that can dramatically improve the hiring
process and shorten the time it takes to hire new employees.
The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) wants to ensure that all
investments are in line with the corporate mission and will
achieve the desired return on investment. She will be looking
for clear information that proposals have been well researched,
provide a needed capability for the organization, and can be
cost
- effectively implemented in a relatively short period of time to
reap the benefits. The CEO has asked the CIO to work with HR
to recommend a solution.
Your Task
As a business analyst in the CIO's department, you have been
assigned to conduct an analysis, develop a set of system
requirements, evaluate a proposed solution, and develop an
implementation plan for an IT solution (applicant tracking
system
or recruiting system) to improve the hiring process.
The CIO has set up a series of interviews for you to collect
information about the current hiring process and the
requirements for a system. He has asked you to produce a
Business Analysis and System Recommendation Report
(BA&SR) as your final deliverable.
Interviews
In the interviews you conduct with the organizational leaders,
you hear the comments recorded below.
CEO: Samuel Johnson
“While I trust my HR staff to address the nuts and bolts of the
staffing processes, what is critically important to me is that the
right people can be in place to fulfill our current contracts and
additional talented staff can be quickly hired to address needs
of future contracts we win. I can’t be out in the market

11. soliciting new business if we can’t deliver on what we’re
selling. Our reputation is largely dependent on having
knowledgeable and capable staff to deliver the services our
clients are paying for and expect from MTC.”
CFO:
Evelyn Liu “So glad we’re talking about this initiative. As
CFO, obviously I’m focused on the bottom line. I also recognize
it’s necessary to invest in certain areas to ensure our viability
moving forward. I recognize that the current manual hiring
process is inefficient and not cost-effective. Having technology
solutions that improve current processes and enable future
functionality is very
important to MTC’s success .We must consider the total cost of
ownership of any technology we adopt.
MTC is run as a lean-and-mean organization and support
processes must be effective but not overbuilt. We do want to
think towards the future as well and don’t want to invest in
technology with a short shelf-
life. Along those lines, we currently have a timekeeping and
payroll system; and to help support our bottom line financially,
any new solution should effectively integratewith, but not
replace, thatsystem.
CIO:
Raj Patel “As a member of the IT Department, you have a good
understanding of our overall architecture and strategy; however,
let me emphasize a few things I want to be sure we keep in mind
for this
project. Any solution needs to be compatible with our existing
architecture and systems as appropriate. Obviously,we have
chosen not to maintain a large software development staff so
building a solution from the ground up does not fit our IT
strategic plan. Our current strategy has been to adopt Software
as a
Service (SaaS) solutions that can be deployed relatively quickly

12. and leverage industry best practices. In addition, our distributed
workforce means we are very dependent on mobile computing –
this brings some challenges in term of portability, maintenance,
and solutions that present well on mobile devices.
We’ve been expanding at a rapid rate and are seeking to expand
internationally so any solution will need to be viable
Globally And last, but certainly not least, MTC’s success is
largely dependent on our ability to satisfy the requirements of
our clients and maintain a reputation of high credibility,
reliability and security.
Any security breach of our applicants’ data could have a
devastating effect to our ability to compete for new business as
well as maintain current clients.I recognize that MTC can no
longer rely on a manual hiring process to meet these needs.”
Director of HR:
Joseph Cummings
“Thanks for talking with me today. I see this effort as very
important to the success of MTC. The rapid growth to date and
future plans for expansion have pushed our recruiting staff, and
we recognize we can no longer meet the hiring and staffing
demands
with manual processes. I’m also interested in solutions that are
easy-
to-use and can interface with our existing systems and enhance
processes. I’m willing to consider a basic system that can grow
as
MTC grows and provide more capabilities in the future.
I’m sure Sofia, our Manager of Recruiting,
can provide more specifics.”
Manager of Recruiting:
Sofia Perez “You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting to
begin the process of finding a technology solution to support
our recruiting processes. In addition to myself, there are 2-3
full-timerecruiters who have been very busy keeping up with the

13. increased hiring at
MTC. It goes without saying that a consulting company is
dependent on having well-qualified employees to deliver to our
customers.
We’re in a competitive market for IT talent and want to be able
to
recruit efficiently, process applicants quickly, and move to
making a job offer to the best candidate before the competition
snaps him/her up. When I talk with my colleagues in other
companies, they mention
applicant tracking systems that have enabled them to reduce
their
hiring time by 15-20%. I’m so envious of them and look
forward to having our new solution in place before the next set
of contracts are won and we need to hire 75 (to as many as 150)
staff in a 3-month
period. I do not think my team can handle such an increase in an
efficient and effective manner. On-going growth at MTC will
continue to increase the demands to hire more consultants
quickly. It really seems like there would be a rapid return on
investment in a technology solution to support and improve the
hiring process.”
Recruiters:
Peter O’Neil (along with Mike Thomas and Jennifer Blackwell)
“This project should have happened 2 years ago but glad it’s
finally getting some attention. As a recruiter, I’m sort of the
middleperson in this process. On one hand, we have the job
applicant who is anxious to know the status of his/her
application and fit for the advertised position. It’s important
that the recruiters represent MTC well, as we want the best
applicants to want to come to work for us.
Then we have the actual hiring manager in one of our business
areas who has issued the job requisition and wants to get the
best applicant hired as quickly as possible. Obviously recruiting
is not

14. the hiring manager’s full-time job, so we’re always competing
for time with other job responsibilities, so we can keep things
moving as quickly as possible. They look to us to screen
resumes and only forward the best qualified applicants to them
so they can quickly identify their top candidates. Working with
Tom, our administrative
assistant, we need interviews to be scheduled to accommodate
everyone’s calendars. After the hiring managers make their
final selections of who they would like to hire, it is our task to
get
the job offers presented to the candidates -hopefully for their
acceptance. Everything is very time sensitive,and the current
process is not nearly as efficient as it could be. Applications
and resumes can get lost in interoffice mail or buried in email;
and,when
a hiring manager calls us, we often can not immediately provide
the
status of where an applicant is in the process.
This can be very frustrating all around. Speaking for myself and
the other recruiters, I have high expectations for this solution.
We need to really be able to deliver world-class service to MTC
in the recruiting and hiring areas to meet the business goals.”
Administrative Assistant: Tom Arbuckle “I support the
recruiters in the hiring process. After the recruiters screen the
resumes and select
the best candidates for a position, my job is to route those
applications and resumes via interoffice mail to the respective
functional/hiring manager, receive his or her feedback on who
to interview and who should be involved in the interviews,
schedule the interviews based on availability of applicants and
the interview team members, collect the feedback from the
interview team and inform the assigned recruiter of the status of
each candidate who was interviewed. Then, after a job offer has
been made and accepted, I coordinate the paperwork for the new
hire with HR and

15. Payroll to ensure everything is ready to go on the first day. As
you
can imagine when hiring volume is up, I’m buried in paperwork
and trying to keep all the applicants and their resumes straight,
track their status in the process, and ensure everyone has
what they need is very challenging. Any tool that would help
the workflow and enable many steps in the process to be done
electronically would be wonderful.”
Hiring Manager (in functional area; this person would be the
supervisor of the new employee and would likely issue the job
requisition to fill a need in his/her department/team):
“While it’s a good problem to have–new business means new
hires --the current method for screening applications,
scheduling interviews, identifying the best qualified applicants,
and getting a job offer to them is not working. My team is
evaluated on the level of service we
provide our clients, and it is very important that we have well
-qualified staff members to fulfill our contracts. Turnover is
common in the IT world and that along with new business
development, makes the need for hiring new staff critical and
time-sensitive. I confess that
sometimes I’m not as responsive to HR as I should be,but this is
only one of several areas I’m responsible for. I look to the
recruiters to stay on top of this for me. In the ideal world, I’d
like an electronic dashboard from which I can see the status of
any job openings in my area, information on all qualified
candidates who have applied and where they are in the pipeline.
Electronic scheduling of interviews on my calendar would be a
real time saver. It’s important that we impress candidates with
our technology and efficiency –after all we are an IT consulting
company—and using manual processes makes us look bad. And
,this system must be easy to use –I don’t have time for training
or reading a 100-page user’s manual. Just need to get my job
done."

16. For this assignment you will prepare the first section of a report
that will ultimately analyze the organization described in the
case study and recommend a system solution. In this section you
will analyze the organization and explain how an IT system
could be used to support its strategies and objectives and
support its decision-making processes. Your report should not
exceed four double-spaced pages, and must include at least two
references. Prior to beginning this assignment, be sure you have
read all of the materials,
Running head: SOLUTIONS1
SOLUTIONS6
Providing
Solution
s
Mark S. Lasky
MGMT 495
Professor Davis

17. American Public University
March 23, 2019
Organizations are faced with problems in daily operations. This
problem needs to be the approach in a manner which should not
bring any further damage to the organization. This requires
carefully designing solutions that are effective in dealing with
the problem. In coming up with an effective solution, one must
be able to fully understand the problem. This means to conduct
thorough research on the course and scope of the problem. The
business is faced with the problem of communication,
performance, and interpersonal relations. This has affected the
business in a great way and needs to be addressed with the most
effective solution. Comment by Will Davis: approached
The communication problem arises due to the model of
communication used in the organization. Workplace
communication in the organization is down from top to down.
This means that the flow of information is from the top to down.
This approach of communication reduces that chance of juniors
participating in a decision that concerns their task. In vertical
communication, juniors only take orders from above without
having the opportunity to give feedback or any response. In
order to eliminate communication problem in this organization,
they must be an environment which healthy fosters an
engagement between various department members and managers

18. (Bucăţa & Rizescu, 2017). Comment by Will Davis: there
One of the strategies in dealing with the communication
problem is having a biweekly meeting between members of the
different department. This meeting will serve the purpose of
bettering communication in the workplace. These gatherings
will accommodate the utilization of both vertical and flat
correspondence modules, enabling each representative to have
the capacity to air their considerations with respect to business
and working environment undertakings. The meetings will be
conducted in the conference hall in the organizational premises.
Also once a month meetings will be held in a less constrictive
environment. This means that engagement will be conducted in
an environment which is out of office and therefore reduces the
perception of seniority of power. Again, this approach makes
financial sense since the meeting will be conducted in the social
hall owned by the organization. There will be no expenses for
hiring conference halls in hotels. This will ensure that the
organization saves money and utilize it in other ways. Having a
biweekly meeting will also encourage members of the different
department to interact. This will improve interpersonal
relations. It has been brought up to have the meetings at the
local state park where families can be off until the conclusion of
the meeting where everyone can participate in a cookout. This
will make the employees free with each other and communicate
in a more freeway.Comment by Will Davis: monthly

19. This means that engagement will be conducted in an
environment which is out of office and therefore reduces the
perception of seniority of power. Again, this approach makes
financial sense since the meeting will be conducted in the social
hall owned by the organization. There will be no expenses for
hiring conference halls in hotels. This will ensure that the
organization saves money and utilize it in other ways. Having a
biweekly meeting will also encourage members of the different
department to interact. This will improve interpersonal
relations.
Meetings will enhance the communication flow in both
directions. This approach will enable employees to
communicate their problems and give management an
opportunity to fully understand their concerns. Employees from
different departments will be able to interact with each other
and create good relationships. Having a good relationship
among employees fosters teamwork and collaboration.
Performance can be improved by creating a conducive
environment that promotes teamwork. The biweekly meetings
will increase performance since the employee can be free with
each other and reduce unhealthy competition.
The other solution is setting up training programs for employees
to be aware of ways to identify, to address and solve business
environment issues. Training is very important especially when
changes happen to an organization. It enables employees to be

20. aware of the changes and ways to deal with issues that may
arise as a result of the change. In the organization, merging two
departments training will be very essential to eliminate
unnecessary competition. Making a pool of broadly trained
workers allows the organization to be prepared in filling vacant
positions when a person leaves the organization or on the off
chance that they receive transfers or promoted to other roles.
Workers can be prepared from the other department which will
increase productivity and efficiency. The training program in
this organization will enhance the employee’s qualities of
cooperation and be able to handle challenges from different
angles.
Training will be conducted via various methods. They will be
online sessions where employees will receive training materials
via emails. These online training sessions will also provide the
user to offer their own solutions and to have interaction with
the trainer and others in the class. They will also use
professional trainers. Training will be conducted at different
locations outside the organization premises. This is very
important to ensure that employees change the environment.
Training programs will focus on creating good relationships
through better communication and improving performance
through teamwork and collaboration. This solution is financially
viable for the organization since productivity will be improved.
This means that the organization will improve its productivity

21. and hence increases its profits.
An effective preparing program gives laborers consistent data
and experience. Access to preparing materials ensures that all
specialists have a solid experience and unsurprising data of
endeavors and methodologies, something which is particularly
basic concerning fundamental association courses of action and
techniques. Ensuring that all specialists have unsurprising
learning ensures that tasks are done on time and without issues.
Representatives can most likely structure groups that assistance
each other in doing their every day exercises. This for the most
part joins administrative philosophy and ethics in the midst of
execution of commitment. With this preparation, leaders of the
distinctive offices can probably team up with one another to
make the running of the association effective. Most specialists
have a couple of inadequacies in their workplace capacities.
This preparation program will empower to fortify those
aptitudes that each laborer needs to enhance. These
shortcomings incorporate relational aptitudes which may
adversely affect efficiency (Carol, 2002).
In conclusion, this has affected the business in a great way and
needs to be addressed with the most effective solution. The
other solution is setting up training programs for employees to
be aware of ways to identify, to address, and to solve business
environment issues. In coming up with an effective solution,
one must be able to fully understand the problem. This solution

22. is financially viable for the organization since productivity will
be improved. One of the strategies in dealing with the
communication problem is having a biweekly meeting between
members of the different departments. The communication
problem arises due to the model of communication used in the
organization. In order to eliminate the communication problem
in this organization, there must be an environment which fosters
a healthy engagement between the various department members
and their managers. The business is faced with the problem of
communication, performance, and interpersonal relations.
Employees from different departments will be able to interact
with each other and create better relationships. Again this
approach makes financial sense since the meeting will be
conducted in a less constrictive environment.
References
Bucăţa, G., & Rizescu, A. (2017, April 22). The Role of
Communication in Enhancing Work
Effectiveness of an Organization : Land Forces Academy
Review. Retrieved from
https://content.sciendo.com/view/journals/raft/22/1/article-
p49.xml
Carole, W. (2002). Developing Effective Training Programs.,
Journal of Research

23. Administration, 2002. Retrieved from
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ657642
Running head: NEEDS1
NEEDS5
Needs Assessment
Mark S. Lasky
American Public University
MGMT 495

24. Professor Davis
March 16, 2019
Objectives of the Needs AssessmentComment by WillieTDavis:
Bold font and center
The problem that the business is facing is due to the merger
between the Sales department and the marketing department.
The merger was formed with the aim of enhancing efficiency in
the two departments. However, this has not been the case
because the merger has brought about conflicts between
members of the two departments. The problems include
communication problems, performance problems and
interpersonal conflicts. This has, in turn, decreased the
productivity of workers in the two departments. The needs
assessment is therefore aimed at improving the productivity of
workers by determining the causes of the conflicts between the
Sales department and the marketing department and developing
strategies to address them (Björnerstedt, 2016). The focus is on
employee productivity not increasing profits because reduced
profits are as a result of poor employee productivity.
Data CollectionComment by WillieTDavis: Level-one headings
should be in bold font
To effectively understand the conflict, questionnaires were
distributed to the employees in the two departments through
email. The completed questionnaires were sent back through the

25. method and various participants from the questionnaires were
invited for an interview which was conducted through Skype.
The questionnaires had fifteen open-ended questions related to
the conflicts between the two departments. The interviews
entailed six brief open-ended questions that were designed in a
way that seeks to discuss the major causes of the conflicts and
how they can be addressed.
Methods of Data Analysis
Thematic analysis was incorporated to evaluate the results from
the questionnaires. Statistical software such as STRATA was
not used due to the diversity of the questions and a qualitative
research approach was adopted. The results of the interviews
were manually analyzed in order to find common words that
could be put together to determine common trends from
employees.
Findings
Majority of the employees who participated in the questionnaire
and interviews associated the conflicts between the two
departments with the management. The mode of communication
in the workplace is vertical communication which means that
communication is from the top to the bottom. Employees are
therefore not given a chance to communicate their views on
various issues because communication from the alternate route
(from the bottom to the top) is not encouraged (Hovenkamp,
2017). Performance problems also enhanced the conflicts

26. between the two departments. The inappropriate competition
was created when managers openly praised the departments that
performed well.
Recommendations
To address the conflict between the two departments, it is
important to evaluate the needs of the business. The business
needs to conduct its operations effectively in order to ensure
that the customers are satisfied. This can only be achieved by
maximizing the productivity of workers. It is therefore
important to develop strategies to address the conflicts between
the two departments which are affecting their productivity. First
and foremost, the business needs to adopt diagonal
communication which will enhance communication between the
employees and the managers. This will improve employee
productivity because the views of employees will be listened to
which will make them feel worthy. Secondly, managers should
provide a framework for the departments which will be used to
determine their performance. This will reduce the inappropriate
competition created because each department knows what it has
to do to perform better than the other (Bettig, 2018). Finally,
the business should consider the advantages and disadvantages
of the departments working as a singular unit or as two units
just as they previously did. In case, the business determines the
departments will be much more efficient when working as two
units, it should do away with the merger.

27. Conclusion
The problem that the business is facing is due to the merger
between the Sales department and the marketing department. To
effectively understand the conflict, questionnaires were
distributed to the employees in the two departments through
email. Thematic analysis was incorporated to evaluate the
results from the questionnaires. Statistical software such as
STRATA was not used due to the diversity of the questions and
a qualitative research approach was adopted. The majority of
the employees who participated in the questionnaire and
interviews associated the conflicts between the two departments
with the management. To address the conflict between the two
departments, it is important to evaluate the needs of the
business. It is therefore important to develop strategies to
address the conflicts between the two departments which are
affecting their productivity.
References
Bettig, R. V. (2018). Copyrighting culture: The political
economy of intellectual property. Routledge.
Björnerstedt, J., & Verboven, F. (2016). Does merger simulation

28. work? Evidence from the Swedish analgesics market. American
Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 8(3), 125-64.
Hovenkamp, H., & Shapiro, C. (2017). Horizontal mergers,
market structure, and burdens of proof. Yale LJ, 127, 1996.
Running head: IDENTIFY1
IDENTIFY5
Identify the Problem
Mark S. Lasky

29. Professor Willie Davis
American Public University
MGMT 495
March 5, 2019
The Problem, Management of the Problem and Possible