Harrison-Keyes Problem Solution

Abstract

A company must be willing to change in order to survive in the industry. These changes must be implemented using a detail strategy plan. Although the plan is not error proof, the company must take the risk of making adjustments. Harrison-Keyes used this method to address the issues of vendor ethics, clientele disagreement, and technology update. However, the company must decide the best solution for implementing the strategy.

Problem Solution: Harrison-Keyes Inc.

In order to be successful, organizations must be open to change and have the resources to implement the changes. Harrison-Keyes Inc. (H-K) is “a global publisher of print products that specializes in scientific, technical and business books and journals, professional and consumer books, textbooks and other educational materials for all levels of study” (University of Phoenix, 2007, para. 1). The publication industry had expanded from hard copy to electronic publishing (e-publish). To compete within the current industry, the company must modernize its system to meet the demand of consumers and the market. H-K developed a strategic plan to create an electronic formatting system and restructure production to include electronic publishing. Electronic formatting was decided to be outsourced overseas to Asia Digital Publishing. Through the implementation process, H-K faced several challenges in work ethics and morale, technology, and client relationship. These challenges can hinder the success of the company and even prolong the desire or deadline of producing e-books.

Although all of these issues can not be resolved, there will be individuals who dislike the process or solution. When it comes to making a final decision, the interest of the company will always come first. However to maintain an advantage in the publishing industry, Harrison-Keyes must consider the challenges and determine at what risk is the company willing to take to reach its goal. This report will identify the issues and opportunities at H-K and propose a solution to help Harrison-Keyes move from a standard publishing format to an e-book format.

Describe the Situation

Issue and Opportunity Identification

Harrison-Keyes has faced the challenges of low profits dues to competition from low-cost retailers which forced the company to rethink its strategy of production. During this strategy implementation, H-K realized that it was not fully prepared to make the change in the areas of outsourcing, planning, approvals, and technology.

Harrison-Keyes does not have a company wide implementation strategy for its new initiative. The strategy did not include the approval of authors neither a project plan from IT for upgrading the technology. The implementation plan will need to permeate all parts of the organization. This creates an opportunity for setting short term wins, developing a rewards system and gaining company wide consensus on the strategy. Thus, the relationship between strategic management and project management was poorly strategized. There is a lack of understanding and consensus on strategy among top management and middle-level (functional) managers who independently implemented the strategy; they refer to this as the “implementation gap” (Gray & Larson, 2006, p. 28).

Harrison-Keyes (H-K) did not link the process of producing electronic publications with the company’s current technology. The company has the opportunity to develop a stronger corporation. Linking the strategy and company’s resources will provide the opportunity to lower the involved risks such as finances and workload and update its technology. “Because clear linkages does not exist, the organizational environment becomes dysfunctional, confused, and ripe for ineffective implementation of organization strategy and, thus of projects” (Gray & Larson, 2005, p. 29).

H-K lacks the structure to allocate the appropriate time and cost to develop the project.

H-K has the opportunity to develop a resource scheduling process that will create a productive and well-define strategy. “A good system appropriately balances the needs of both the parent organization and the project by defining 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 & Larson, 2005, p. 55).

H-K is having cultural differences with its overseas outsourcing company, Asia Digital Publishing. H-K has the opportunity to expand globally as well as define job descriptions among different departments. “Once management decides to implement a project, the different segments of the project are delegated to the