Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict

Conventional wisdom, together with the weight of published management advice, recommends that management teams engage task conflict directly but avoid relationship conflict. Implicit in this advice is the premise that it is indeed possible to separate the task and the relationship aspects of a business conflict. Argues that this separation is not always possible for management teams. When teams discuss "hot topics," substantive disagreements (task conflicts) tend to trigger negative attributions about others' motives or abilities (a key element of relationship conflicts). When this happens, most managers suppress their true thoughts, thus avoiding genuine discussion. Yet, when interpersonal attributions are suppressed, they tend to leak into the business conversation anyway, such as in the form of implied accusations or aggravated tones of voice. These dynamics are virtually inevitable, even when managers try hard to avoid them. Making a distinction between "hot" and "cool" topics can help clarify when avoiding discussion of relationship conflict in management teams is feasible and when it's not. In addition, management teams facing hot topics need to learn to handle relationship conflicts productively, despite the heightened emotions and interpersonal tensions associated with them.

Authors :: Amy C. Edmondson, Diana McLain Smith

Topics :: Leadership & Managing People

Tags :: Communication, Conflict, Human resource management, Leading teams, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict" written by Amy C. Edmondson, Diana McLain Smith includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Hot Conflict facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Communication, Conflict, Human resource management, Leading teams and Leadership & Managing People.

Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, geopolitical disruptions, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Hot Conflict, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Hot Conflict 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Hot Conflict
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 Hot Conflict

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Strengths Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Hot Conflict in Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict Harvard Business Review case study are -

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Hot Conflict in the sector have low bargaining power. Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Hot Conflict to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Analytics focus

– Hot Conflict 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 Amy C. Edmondson, Diana McLain Smith 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 lead change in Leadership & Managing People field

– Hot Conflict 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 Hot Conflict in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Hot Conflict is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Organizational Resilience of Hot Conflict

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Hot Conflict does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Training and development

– Hot Conflict has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict 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.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Hot Conflict are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Hot Conflict 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 Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Diverse revenue streams

– Hot Conflict is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict 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.

Strong track record of project management

– Hot Conflict is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Hot Conflict has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Hot Conflict has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict 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.

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Weaknesses Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict are -

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Hot Conflict is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Hot Conflict needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Hot Conflict to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict, is just above the industry average. Hot Conflict 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.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Hot Conflict 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. Hot Conflict 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.

High dependence on existing supply chain

– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Hot Conflict supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Hot Conflict vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Hot Conflict, firm in the HBR case study Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict HBR case study mentions - Hot Conflict takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.

Need for greater diversity

– Hot Conflict 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.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict, in the dynamic environment Hot Conflict has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Hot Conflict has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Lack of clear differentiation of Hot Conflict products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Hot Conflict needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Hot Conflict has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.

Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy

– From the instances in the HBR case study Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict, it seems that the employees of Hot Conflict don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.

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Opportunities Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict | 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 Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict are -

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Hot Conflict can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Buying journey improvements

– Hot Conflict can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict 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.

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 Hot Conflict 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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Hot Conflict 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 Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Hot Conflict to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Hot Conflict can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Hot Conflict operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Hot Conflict has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Hot Conflict to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict case study. Hot Conflict can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Hot Conflict in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Leadership & Managing People segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Hot Conflict can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Hot Conflict 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 Hot Conflict to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Hot Conflict to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.

Loyalty marketing

– Hot Conflict 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.

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. Hot Conflict 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. Hot Conflict 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.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Hot Conflict to increase its market reach. Hot Conflict will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.

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Threats Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict are -

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Hot Conflict is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

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.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Hot Conflict 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 Hot Conflict

– 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 Hot Conflict.

Environmental challenges

– Hot Conflict 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. Hot Conflict can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.

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. Hot Conflict 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.

Backlash against dominant players

– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Hot Conflict business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Hot Conflict 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.

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 Hot Conflict in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Hot Conflict 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.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Hot Conflict 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.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict, Hot Conflict may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .

Capital market disruption

– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Hot Conflict.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict 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 Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict 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 Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict 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 Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict 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 Too Hot to Handle? How to ManageRelationship Conflict 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 Hot Conflict needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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