Case Study Description of RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams
When students have the English-language PDF of this Brief Case in a coursepack, they will also have the option to purchase an audio version.Key topics include team design, team management, job design, employee empowerment, implementing change, and high performance workforces. In 2004, John Amasi, the director of production for a manufacturer of plastic pipe, introduced the concept of self-directed teams into a newly rehabbed plant in Corpus Christi, Texas. This was a major departure for RL Wolfe, whose other plants were unionized and rigidly hierarchical. By 2007, Corpus Christi is significantly outperforming the other plants in productivity, and Amasi tours the plant to identify remaining barriers to even higher productivity. Although the tour makes clear that many things are going right, it also reveals specific elements of the SDT concept that are not working optimally; some of these are communicated from the perspective of the workers themselves. At the end of the case, as Amasi sketches out ideas for increasing productivity at Corpus Christi, he also considers how he can persuade the unionized workforces at the other Wolfe plants to accept the SDT model. Topics Include: Designing Teams, Implementing Change, Self-Directed Teams, Workforce Management, General Management, Managing Teams, High Performance Workforce, Employee Empowerment, Motivation and Mid-size Plastic Pipe Manufacturing.
Swot Analysis of "RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams" written by David A. Garvin, Elizabeth Collins includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Amasi Wolfe facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Labor, Motivating people and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, geopolitical disruptions, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , technology disruption, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Amasi Wolfe, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Amasi Wolfe operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Amasi Wolfe
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Amasi Wolfe
Strengths RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Amasi Wolfe in RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams Harvard Business Review case study are -
Analytics focus
– Amasi Wolfe is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by David A. Garvin, Elizabeth Collins can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Amasi Wolfe is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Diverse revenue streams
– Amasi Wolfe is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Amasi Wolfe in the sector have low bargaining power. RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Amasi Wolfe to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Learning organization
- Amasi Wolfe is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Amasi Wolfe is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Training and development
– Amasi Wolfe has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Organizational Resilience of Amasi Wolfe
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Amasi Wolfe does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Amasi Wolfe is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Amasi Wolfe in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Amasi Wolfe has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Amasi Wolfe to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Amasi Wolfe to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Amasi Wolfe has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams, is just above the industry average. Amasi Wolfe needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Amasi Wolfe has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Amasi Wolfe has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Amasi Wolfe even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Amasi Wolfe has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Amasi Wolfe is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Amasi Wolfe 's lucrative customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, David A. Garvin, Elizabeth Collins suggests that, Amasi Wolfe is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Need for greater diversity
– Amasi Wolfe has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Amasi Wolfe has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Amasi Wolfe needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Opportunities RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams are -
Loyalty marketing
– Amasi Wolfe has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Developing new processes and practices
– Amasi Wolfe can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Amasi Wolfe in the consumer business. Now Amasi Wolfe can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Amasi Wolfe can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Amasi Wolfe to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Manufacturing automation
– Amasi Wolfe can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Amasi Wolfe has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Amasi Wolfe to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams case study. Amasi Wolfe can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Amasi Wolfe to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Amasi Wolfe to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Amasi Wolfe has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Amasi Wolfe to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Buying journey improvements
– Amasi Wolfe can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Amasi Wolfe can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Amasi Wolfe can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Amasi Wolfe can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Amasi Wolfe can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Leadership & Managing People segment.
Threats RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams are -
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Amasi Wolfe will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Amasi Wolfe needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Amasi Wolfe can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Amasi Wolfe can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Amasi Wolfe in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Amasi Wolfe demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Increasing wage structure of Amasi Wolfe
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Amasi Wolfe.
Regulatory challenges
– Amasi Wolfe needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Amasi Wolfe high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Amasi Wolfe can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Amasi Wolfe is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Amasi Wolfe in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Amasi Wolfe needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.