McMaster University Business Questions

You are a group of top managers of one of the big three carmakers. Your company has been experiencing increased competition from other carmakers whose innovations in car design and manufacturing methods have allowed them to produce cars that are higher in quality and lower in cost than yours. You have been charged with preparing a plan to change the company’s structure to allow you to compete better, and you have decided on two main changes. First you plan to reengineer the company and move from a multidivisional structure (in which each division produces its own range of cars) to one in which cross-functional product teams become responsible for developing new car models that will be sold by all the divisions. Second you decided to implement a total quality management program to raise quality and decentralize decision-making authority to teams and make them responsible for achieving higher quality and lower costs.

Questions to be addressed

1. Discuss the nature of obstacles you will encounter in implementing this new structure. Which do you think will be the most important obstacles to overcome? (guideline between 150 – 300 words). – 2pts.

2. Imagine that the introduction of cross-functional teams will result in a significant amount of lay-offs of employees. How will you manage the change process to behave ethically to those employees who will be terminated, and to those who will be reassigned to new jobs and face a new organizational culture? (guideline between 150 – 250 words) – 3pts

3. If you would be in charge how would you tackle/manage the process of implementing this change? Explain in detail and apply at least one theory/framework in doing so. (guideline between 400 – 800 words) – 5pts.

#2 Essay question (10pts)

“Machine learning and HR: Is it the future of HR?” Do you agree or disagree? Discuss. Write an essay (intro, main body, conclusion) between 500 and 800 words in length. Use Times New Roman as font (font size 12 and single spaced).