Management & Staffing of the Business Plan
(Scholarship Information Services)

Under the management and staffing section, the focal points include; a description of management's (owner's) background, management's philosophy, managerial and corporate culture, labour force and training required, and employee decision and reward systems.

BACKGROUND OF THE MANAGEMENT:

Management will consist of a former university graduate of the University of Toronto, Canada; Josh Peter Johnston. "I have always had the desire to participate in a business related environment where planning, organizing, and monitoring features are present". The requisite knowledge needed to operate a company is present within. "Moreover, I have a clear focus of the company's mission, objectives, and game plan in which these objectives can be achieved." Additional information on Josh Johnston can be obtained by reviewing his resume under the appendices section of this plan. Management will not receive a salary, rather Josh has decided to withdraw a modest amount of cash from the company each month - $500 each month in 200X and $1,000 per month in 200Y. These withdrawals are necessary in order to assist him in paying his personal expenses.

MANAGEMENT'S PHILOSOPHY:

Management's philosophy is to fully satisfy the needs and interests of customers. In the business world, many companies have taken this stand, however, few have fully implemented it. For example, some companies have portrayed that customers are "number one", while at the same time, they do not provide any after sale service. We intend to meet the needs and interests of our customers mainly through our employees. Customer satisfaction is important when offering any product or service, however, it seems even more important with this product. For instance, if a student loses the opportunity to further his or her education due to the lack of financial assistance, society as a whole may lose.

The company will not have a organizational structure per se. We propose a decentralized structure in which a high degree of employee autonomy exists. In other words, we are a team where each member is equal and are united only to achieve a mutual goal - TO SATISFY THE CUSTOMER. This goal must be stressed in the hiring process and carried out by each member throughout the duration of company. We plan to have weekly team meetings to openly discuss the company's performance and provide feedback to each employee. Nothing will be camouflaged or concealed from the team members - NOTHING.

An employee profit sharing plan will play an active role within the organization in year three. Such a program will strengthen the entire concept of cooperation and team spirit, thus, the company as a whole, will prosper. This philosophy will, in fact, insure that all members feel like a major part of the organization and thus increase performance and productivity. If problems arise with any member of the team, "we" will expose it and ask for a solution. For this proposal to be successful, each member must be supportive of one another and must encourage one another. This issue, as well as, the above topics are discussed in greater detail throughout the presentation.

MANAGERIAL CLIMATE AND COMPANY CULTURE:

Managerial climate involves the way company "managers" work with others in the company. In this organization, management and employees are on an "equal level" where all members encourage one other and communicate informally. It is important to establish this sort of base which ultimately provides all team members with a sense of worthiness and, thus, increase productivity.

Company culture is a system of policies, values and beliefs shared by people in an organization. The culture informally guilds the behaviour of people at all levels and departments. We believe that people are central to everything that needs to be accomplished. Thus, honesty, respect, generosity, caring, and sharing should be directed towards our customers, employees and future contacts. A strong company culture will become a major part of strategy formulation and it will also play an important role in any new product ventures. This is because company related values and policies eventually become embedded in the thoughts and actions of all members.

LABOUR FORCE AND TRAINING REQUIREMENTS:

A successful strategy implementation requires human resource planning, for the simple fact, that strategies are implemented by people. The company must fill its structure and systems with people who have the necessary skills, motivation, and personal characteristics. Therefore, our personnel is to be CAREFULLY recruited, assigned, trained and maintained. This entire process will be reenforced by the company's philosophy of its action program, organization structure, decision and reward systems, and managerial climate and company culture. A major corporate objective is to structure the employees to the needs of the strategies that are to be implemented. More specifically, customer service is of prime importance to the company and by obtaining the "correct" people, this objective can be achieved.

Initially, the labour force will consist of two full time employees. That is, one computer operator, and one information gatherer. The computer operator is to fill the orders of customers as they come in. The information gatherer will gather information on further financial assistance programs for areas in the United States and Canada. As demand increases over the normal capacity, further members will be added to the team.

Each employee will be trained thoroughly and given extensive information of their job requirements. The skills needed include a knowledge of Word Perfect, Lotus, and general computer skills. These skills, however, are rather easy to learn and management is willing to provide such services if and when necessary. Note: each employee will receive a salary of $1,300 per month in 200X and $1,516.50 per month in 200Y.

THE ORGANIZATIONAL CHART:

The company's organizational structure will reassemble the following channel of command. Please note, the following structure applies to 200X and seems rather simple due to the number of managers and staff members. The chart will change, however, as the company diversifies.

JOSH JOHNSTON
(Management)
|
________________________________________________

              ________|_______                ________|____________               COMPUTER OPERATOR               RESEARCH DEPARTMENT  

The organizational structure we propose can be considered a semi-decentralized system. Meaning, the system calls for semi-minimum constraints and semi-maximum freedom for each team members. This will allow lower level employees the opportunity to make organizational decisions. The structure will eventually change as a result of changes in corporate strategies, situations and product developments. However, the entire corporate philosophy, mentioned above, will remain in tact.

Decentralization = Satisfied Employees = Creativity = Productivity = Profitability

 
DECISION AND REWARD SYSTEMS:

Decisions and reward systems for this company include a semi formal operating procedure that guides activities such as planning, information gathering, budgeting, personnel evaluation and rewards. In 200X and 200Y, however, these systems are straight forward. In 200Z, however, the company will encourage employees to develop and summit a proposals for any new product ideas in which they might have. Management can openly express his opinion on any new product idea and therefore, reject or accept all or none. Also, all proposals are to be discussed at the weekly meetings so that each team member has the opportunity to critique. If a proposal is accepted, management and the "creative team member" will fine tune it and carry out the necessary market research (Needless to say, the team member's previous position will be filled immediately). The "innovative team member" will feel part of the entire new product development process and more importantly, part of the company. He or she will then "lead" the new venture and have the opportunity to coordinate its daily operations. Before the endeavour (new product idea) is undertaken, he or she must implement the existing corporate culture into the new venture.

Also, in 200Z, the company plans to implement a profit sharing program. The profit sharing program is designed to further encourage and stimulate new product ideas. If an employee knows that he or she can receive a higher monetary reward by presenting an accepted proposal, then he or she is more likely to participate in such activities. Our planned profit sharing program is as follows:

Computer Operators will receive $0.25 on every unit sold. Therefore, if 50,000 units are sold in any given year, than $12,500 will be divided among the computer operators.

New product development "leaders" will receive $0.50 and up to $1.00 for each unit sold. A relevant range is needed and is negotiable depending upon the product and its profitability. Also, more employees will be needed and they will require a profit sharing program as well.

In summary, Scholarship Information Services will striving to be an organization which encourages its employees , at all levels, to participate in all activities. This is reenforced through the use of an informal communication flow and reward system. Also, employees are to form a strong company culture where the norm is to fully satisfy the customers, the company, and themselves. Furthermore, the above decision and reward systems will allow us to achieve these objectives.