BlackBerry was designed and developed by RIM ( Research in Motion) in 1999.

It was a Canadian company. BlackBerry established and shared a good market

share in the mobile market. BlackBerry encountered problems with its
management, so it suffered many unfortunate consequences

First, the problem that BlackBerry faces was the lack of understanding among
the company's members, which leads to many conflicting opinions, and
conflicts between opinions. For example, we can see in the case study that
Michael Lazaridis had spoken with Mr. Heins's newest executive recruits, chief
marketing officer Frank Boulben and chief operating officer Kristian Tear. Mr.
Boulben and Mr. Tear had dismissively told Mr. Lazaridis that the market for
keyboard-equipped mobile phones – RIM's signature offering – was dead. There
were mutual misunderstandings between them that lead to inconsistencies in
product launch decisions. And also just some of the fellow directors agree with
the warning of Mr. Lazaridis was to turn away from a product that had always
done well with corporate customers, and focus on selling yet another all-touch
smartphone in a market crowded with them.
In the function of management, we can see the direction function which is that
part of the managerial function which actuates the organizational methods to
work efficiently for achievement of organizational purposes. Leadership may be
defined as a process by which a manager guides and influences the work of
subordinates in desired direction. In this case, we see the inability to understand
each other, leading to arguments and disagreements among key members of the
company.
The CEO must become a student of effective communication in all of its
applications, including one-on-one, small groups, large groups, email, remote
working, and social media. Good managers realize that the most important
aspect of communicating is listening. We can see in detail that but one of RIM's
directors was frustrated by what he saw, and spoke out, according to one person
who was in the room. He felt helpless when he saw the product the company
launched.
In addition, below the top executives, however, the two sides of the company
didn't always get along. The structure sometimes made it difficult to get
definitive decisions or establish clear accountability. In theory we know that
organizing is the process of bringing together physical, financial and human
resources and developing productive relationships amongst them for
achievement of organizational goals. In the case of BlackBerry, we see that
internally there is no consistent, comfortable and productive working together.
An organizational structure outlines how certain activities are directed to
achieve the goals of an organization. Successful organizational structures define
each employee's job and how it fits within the overall system. BlackBerry uses
functional structure. Even though functional units often perform with a high
level of efficiency, their level of cooperation with each other is sometimes
compromised. Such groups may have difficulty working well with each other as
they may be territorial and unwilling to cooperate. The occurrence of infighting
among units may cause delays, reduced commitment due to competing interests,
and wasted time, making projects fall behind schedule. This ultimately can
bring down production levels overall, and the company-wide employee
commitment toward meeting organizational goals.

As a result, the second big problem that BlackBerry was facing was that
BlackBerry suffered the loss of many key figures in management, during its
attempts to revive its market share. Jim Balsillie, the co-CEO in 2012, quit the
board of directors. BlackBerry suffered the loss of many key figures in
management, during its attempts to revive its market share. Jim Balsillie, the
co-CEO in 2012, quit the board of directors. Mike Lazaridis was against Jim’s
idea to shift BlackBerry’s focus to its instant messaging app (BBM). Founder
Mikie Lazaridis was against the launching of BlackBerry’s touchscreen phone,
BlackBerry Z10. As we know from our earlier definition, job satisfaction refers
to a person’s general attitude toward his or her job. A person with a high level of
job satisfaction has a positive attitude towards his or her job. A person who is
dissatisfied has a negative attitude. When people speak of employee attitudes,
they usually are referring to job satisfaction. That's why when a team feels that
the work at BlackBerry is no longer valuable, they will get bored and leave.

In addition, the management in researching and launching new products,

BlackBerry has not been thorough. After new rivals redefined the market, RIM
responded with a string of devices that were late to market, missed the mark
with consumers, and opened dangerous fault lines across the organization.
We know that planning is the basic function of management. It deals with
chalking out a future course of action & deciding in advance the most
appropriate course of actions for achievement of pre-determined goals. But in
the case of BlackBerry, we have not seen a thorough analysis of the product, the
market, especially the competitors in the industry.

Eventually, the decision was made: BlackBerry 10 would be built from scratch.
The problem with that approach was that a new team was being entrusted to
recreate the BlackBerry. Those who had created the original system were still
working on devices for the BlackBerry 7 platform. Once again, the company
was split. It is the function of manning the organization structure and keeping it
manned. Staffing has assumed greater importance in the recent years due to
advancement of technology, increase in size of business, complexity of human
behavior, etc. The training of employees and making decisions that are
appropriate to the qualifications and working conditions of employees at
BlackBerry was not appropriate. Nearly every initiative in an organization turns
into a project. And, projects can become complex and unwieldy. Today’s CEOs
understand and leverage formal project management practices to ensure timely
completion and proper control of initiatives. But we can not see in the
BlackBerry case.
About the solution for this case, BlackBerry should have a suitable
organizational strategy. At its most basic, an organizational strategy is a plan
that specifies how the business will allocate resources (e.g., money, labor, and
inventory) to support infrastructure, production, marketing, inventory, and other
business activities. We know that functional level strategies are the specific
actions and benchmarks you assign to departments and individuals that move
the business toward the goals created by the corporate level strategy. They are a
direct offshoot of the business level strategies. Because the structure of the
company was not effective at all. Functional level strategies, by nature, will be
very detailed. So if one of the business level strategies is to rebrand the product,
a functional level strategy might be for the marketing department to investigate
which color the product should be so that it appeals to the target audience.
Those three strategies together — functional, business, and corporate — make
up the very broad, very general organizational strategy that every company
needs to be successful. Therefore, allocating everything, especially human
resources was a must. The work between the two sides needs to have a
consistent combination to understand each other to be successful. Members who
work for Mr. Lazaridis's side of the shop made the phones knowing the job of
technology expertise, to make products with the best features. And the member
working for Mr. Balsillie's sold the phones, they know their customers well and
how to market their products. Both parties must have proper communication,
then Mr. Balsillie’ side told the other party about customer needs, the Mr.
Lazaridis’s side offers the right phone technology ideas. The job of CEOs is to
create activities to increase the connection between employees between the two
sides so that they understand each other and easily work together. This is a
function of management.
In addition, BlackBerry also needs to pay more attention to the corporate level.
Corporate level strategy is the main purpose of your business — it's the
destination towards which your business is moving. They need to determine
how the product they produce will be in order to highlight the brand. Because
they are having a problem that they turn away from a product that had always
done well with corporate customers, and focus on selling yet another all-touch
smartphone in a market crowded with them. And BlackBerry was probably its
unwillingness to let go of its key successes such as its signature keyboard
devices and also the lack of innovation and failure to anticipate how the
smartphone revolution was going to carry forward.
BlackBerry had problems with communication between members of the
company, which led to undesirable incidents and caused many important
members to leave the company. Working with countless leadership teams like in
BlackBerry in which the number-one problem was a lack of honest,
constructive, and open dialogue about the team members’ practices, styles,
skills, or behaviors. Without a culture of openness, feedback, and coaching,
organizations will struggle to grow. To solve this problem, Connecteam’s
communication app is trusted by thousands of companies from various fields
and sizes. With one central app, the CEOs and all teams have direct access to
team chat, one-on-one dialogue, real-time updates, in-app directory, feedback
surveys, a virtual suggestion box, live polls, voice messages, sharing materials
(video, GIFs, pictures, files, etc.), and more. Maybe the CEOs can have
one-on-one meetings to provide the employees with a safe and positive
workplace environment where employees feel heard.
Building a solid organization takes hard work and a keen awareness of the
culture and environment that exists in a business. Most executives are very busy
people; a lot of things vie for their attention. We see that BlackBerry's culture is
really unclear to be able to link employees together. For that reason, the role of
the CEO is extremely important, and must strive to promote more.
The underlying problem with conflict in the workplace is its effect on
productivity, performance, workplace stress and especially motivating
employees. Workplace conflicts are the kiss of death for employee motivation.
The inconsistency among BlackBerry's board members caused conflicts so
strong that some people were disgruntled and had to quit their jobs. And at the
same time, the employees are also disgruntled. The CEO may take part in a
compromising style. This style consists of developing solutions that will at
some point satisfy everyone. The compromising style is often compared to
concessions. Concessions are the giving up of one thing to get another. You will
often find this practice in negotiations of contracts.

In conclusion, The main reasons for the demise of BlackBerry were probably its
unwillingness to let go of its key successes such as its signature keyboard
devices and also the lack of innovation and failure to anticipate how the
smartphone revolution was going to carry forward. And of course that comes
from the management of the company, which was not effective in making the
right business decisions. The structure of the company was not effective for
good communication and the leader was not brave enough to make decisions
that show his foresight

Reference:
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Isabel de Jong-Fatal (2022). Common Workplace Communication Problems &

How to Fix Them: A Full Guide. Retrieved from
https://connecteam.com/overcome-communication-problems-workplace/

Lighthouse Blog. The Common Source Of Your Organizational Problems.

Retrived from
https://getlighthouse.com/blog/organizational-problems-root-cause-fix/

Mary McMahon (2022). What Are the Most Common Organizational Culture
Problems?. Retrieved from
https://www.smartcapitalmind.com/what-are-the-most-common-organizational-
culture-problems.htm
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Will Kenton (2021). Organizational Structure. Retrieved from

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/o/organizational-structure.asp