Situational Analysis
To open our meeting, could I recap some of the details on how management came to the decisions regarding the Jackson plant, and my appointment as General manager so that I can verify my understanding of the situation. As technology and competitors have advanced in our industry, the need to address the poor operational performance at the Jackson plant, which has been unsatisfactory for several years, product quality is down, and it’s affecting our competitive edge. Failure to act and respond to the situation promptly, could place our company at a market disadvantage. I understand that the Board of Directors has recently approved construction of a new plant, which will also be in Jackson, but in a different part of the city. This new facility will also unveil newly designed production and material-mixing methods designed to lower manufacturing and labor costs. There should be reasonable expectations set as these designs have not been previously tested at any other of our existing facilities, making this combination of rapid and sweeping change to be quite an undertaking. Our company has long operated its manufacturing facilities as a very centralized and functional organization, leaving the decision-making process in the hands of key employees here at corporate. Currently, there are no general plant managers at any of our manufacturing facilities, all department managers of each plant report directly to corporate. Each managerial category at plant level (Production, Accounting, Quality, etc.) has a corresponding vice-president level executive that they report to at the corporate offices and that will prove to be challenging, as they will now be reporting to someone without those same credentials and level of experience.
I also understand that upper-management has been questioning the suitability of the centralized control of manufacturing, and specifically its effect on the new Jackson plant. So, it has been decided to test the decentralization of this new plant, thus promoting me as the General Manager. I understand that have been working as an Accounting Executive in the corporate Controller’s office for some time now, and my lack of line experience and the learning curve will be challenging with the plant staff, so I am excited and nervous regarding this new opportunity. I appreciate the confidence you have in my capabilities to perform this new function. I am aware that I have been described as an efficiency expert by some or as an aggressive perfectionist by others. Therefore, I plan to put my technical skills to work on implementing these new processes. However, I understand the need to balance my technical ability and be cautious of my “aggressive perfectionist” tendencies while building relationships during the implementation process. In addition, it will be a test to maintain those relationships while reducing the staff levels and retaining the best candidates. I have owned power in personal technical strengths, bu...
