Question

Please follow instruction attached as well as below. The Memorandum needs to be wrote in a manner as if being presented to a CEO of a company. It must follow the outline attached. Writing instructions — Open with professional memo style heading — First section identify the context for the memo, what is it related to and what is the reason (issue) giving rise to the memo. Be clear and concise. When the reader finishes the first section (paragraph they know what you are going to address and what the potential issue / problem is within the memo — Second section clearly identify all the facts both supportive and contrary to the reason for the memo. This should be factual and agreed upon by reasonable people. Be sure to identify all facts whether they support your position or not. At the end of this section the reader should have an understanding of the context of the situation and the facts — Third section discuss the problem and issue with complete thoughts and make sure you present a balanced approach. At the end of this section the reader should understand the problem/issue and all the possible alternatives and potential problems. — Fourth section make your recommendations including specific actions, more research, and/or additional questions. At the end of this section, the reader should have a clear understanding how you want to proceed. — Close with asking for agreement to take action or proceed as appropriate. — If you do not follow this approach points may be taken off unless you come up with a better approach.

Answer

MEMORANDUM

Contents

Introduction. 2

Context of the Memo. 2

Identification of Facts. 3

Analysis. 3

Recommendations. 4

Introduction

MEMORANDUM

TO: C.E.O of Creighton Auto Parts

FROM: Southwest Regional Manager

DATE: 17^th October, 2016

SUBJECT: Transition to Leadership

Context of the Memo

The transition from one leader to the next in a company is a very sensitive period both for employees and the new leadership. It is worthwhile to note that that most leaders are usually unable to build their teams and as such have to take on existing ones. Michael Collins, the new southwest regional manager at Creighton Auto Parts was called to evaluate the effect of the transition process on trends and product innovation through interactions with the outgoing southwest regional manager and current employees and to identify the best practices.

ORDER A SIMILAR PAPER NOW

This memo examines the core processes that tend to unfold during the transition to leadership. Interviews conducted with the employees reveal an in-depth analysis of how the employees viewed their employment at the corporation, whether positive or negative. Moreover, the outgoing regional manager was instrumental in providing input on the current state of the company in terms of business, strengths and weaknesses, as well as short- and long-term goals.

This memo serves to bring to lay out the facts and provide an in-depth analysis of the issues that arise regarding the best practices for managing change and to provide recommendations on the same. The analysis shows that three important research areas entail exploring customer satisfaction, customer complaints, and customer demographics.

Identification of Facts

Conducting interviews and formal meetings is an important part of the process of transition to leadership. By interviewing employees, one is able to understand the culture of the corporation, what drives it and how its various aspects are viewed by members. Accordingly, interaction with the outgoing leadership is a very instrumental undertaking. Such interactions are highly likely to be honest, and normally provide an easy way for the new manager to understand the company’s shortcomings and strengths as well as its short- and long-term goals.

Additionally, focusing on the marketing staff during the transition was of utmost benefit to the transition process. Exploring customer satisfaction levels is not only crucial in determining the progress of the company in terms of sales but also in coming up with ways in which to retain customers. This part of the transition process helped narrow down the process to three research areas: customer satisfaction, increased customer numbers, and the ever-important issue of demographics.

Nevertheless, despite the positive impact of the transition process, it is worth noting that on-site visits are rather time-consuming. Moreover, whether or not the employees were truthful in answering the interview questions is unclear since they had enough time to prepare for the interviews and meetings. Overall, this is a critical part of the transition and cannot be ignored or skipped.       

Analysis

During leadership transition, many factors have to be considered and a lot of information absorbed in a short time. This is why interviews and formal meeting with front-row long-term employees and outgoing leadership are of great value. They enable the incoming leader to learn as much as he/she can about the company within a short time. After all, these employees have seen the company grow over the years, and thus, they feel obligated to serve it like it is their own.

ORDER A SIMILAR PAPER NOW

Besides, the three thematic areas of customer satisfaction, growing customer numbers and demographics factors typically form the backbone of product innovation. Customer satisfaction determines whether or not customers will be retained. It also determines whether or not the company will be able to attract new customers. Lastly, demographics factors offer insights for determining the best target market which in turn affects the number of customers.

Lastly, a deeper look into the three areas helps in determining the reasons behind the acquisition and retention of customers during leadership transition. Analyzing relevant data will help the new leader to understand the company better in terms of ways for achieving the goal of product innovation should the need arise.

Recommendations

Following the analysis of the case study, two things are evident. First, interviews and formal meetings with the employees and outgoing leadership is important in the transition. Second, special emphasis should be put on the company’s marketing staff and the customer-related aspects. As such, the following recommendations are made:

1. Random, unscheduled interviews tend to provide more reliable and truthful answers especially since they depend on individual views regarding the company as opposed to the data collected. Therefore, instead of scheduling interviews, leaders involved in the transition should interact randomly with employees for a specific period of time to best understand the company’s organizational culture.
2. Focusing on customer satisfaction lays the foundation for product innovation. Thus, the transition to leadership process should focus more on the marketing department and its staff. This way, the leaders are able to know what to expect in terms of sales and marketing, the strategies involved when assessing demographic factors and the effect of focused marketing and price breaks on increasing customer numbers.
3. Lastly, preplanned on-site visits should be keep at the very minimal if at all in preference for spontaneous, informal interactions. This is because they are very time-consuming, and members tend to behave differently in the presence of a leader. This means that most of their reactions or behavioral attributes of employees during the visits may not reflect the true picture of the culture of the organization.