Negros Oriental State University

MBA 617A: Leadership and Managerial Skills

Submitted to: Dr. Ildefe Villanueva
Submitted by: Christina Caplis
December 14, 2020

A Case Study Analysis on Ultimate Office Products

Introduction

One of the most important and difficult leadership responsibilities is to guide and facilitate the process of
making a major change in an organization.

This case study analysis focuses on guidelines managers may consider in leading change and innovation in
their respective organization.

Background

Richard Kelly was the director of information systems, a newly created position in the Ultimate Office
Products. The company is challenged by new competitors more willing to cut prices and use technologies
favored by the superstores, such as electronic orders and billings. Richard prepared a plan to automate the
system which could improve order processing, billing and inventory control. The plan was approved by the
CEO but managers from different departments could not agree, reason why Richard could not get the new
system operating. The CEO was becoming impatient about the lack of progress. Richard took a different
way of resolving the challenge the company was facing. He gathered more information about the
challenges faced by each department to track the root of the problem. After getting approval from the CEO,
Richard made sure to include all departments in the change process. As people began working together to
understand the system, they began to realize how serious the problems were and they started to put aside
their functional biases and instead cooperated in finding ways to improve efficiency and customer service.
Within a year, the company eliminated many of the steps formerly required to process an order, and the
average number of days to fill an order was reduced by nearly half.

Alternatives

a) Richard should strictly impose his plans.

b) Richard should ask the CEO to help him in implementing the changes since the CEO has the
more power to have the managers from the departments cooperate in the changes.

c) Richard should have all the people feel involved in the process so they can understand the need
of changes and have the urge to cooperate in the change process.

Proposed Solution and Recommendations

Richard failed in implementing the changes on his first attempt. It is because the people in the company are
used to the traditional method and was not involved in the process of creating the first plan. Thus, the
people do not understand and do not share the same vision of resolving the challenges. When Richard
involved all the people in the process, they got a better understanding on the need of changing
most of their traditional methods into technological processes. Hence, they became very motivated
in cooperating and helping Richard and the company in implementing the changes effectively and
efficiently. As a result, the company succeeded in adapting to technological advances.