Gap Analysis: Riordan Manufacturing

Gap Analysis: Riordan Manufacturing

Riordan Manufacturing, a Fortune 1000 enterprise and global plastics producer, creates custom plastic parts for customers primarily in the automotive industry, aircraft manufacturers, the Department of Defense, bottlers and beverage makers, and appliance manufacturers. Recently however, declining sales and uneven profits have forced Riordan to make several strategic changes in the way it manufactures and markets its products, and management is working to address motivational issues within its workforce (University of Phoenix, 2007).

This following will cover aspects of Riordans' issues, opportunities, and stakeholder perspectives and ethical dilemmas that are present. This paper will also cover Riordans' desired end-state goals as a result from implementing new strategies.

Situation Analysis

In response to declining sales and uneven profits, Riordan has been forced to change its sales process and has adopted a customer-relationship management (CRM) system. Customers are now served by sales teams rather than a single sales person. In addition to the sales person, the team typically includes a product engineering specialist and customer service rep. Riordan has also implemented a Six Sigma quality approach and is ISO9000 certified. These measures were adopted with the hope that sales would improve. Internally however, a recent employee survey revealed that employee motivation, satisfaction and retention are down.

Issue Identification

Riordan is experiencing a number of issues which include but are not limited too; a decline in sales, employee motivation, satisfaction and retention; however, due to the various functional specialists, there are different issues within the company. R&D employees are not satisfied with compensation and decreased satisfaction. The IT group feels they are not being adequately recognized for their contributions.

Due to the decline in sales Riordan has had to revise its sales approach and process to better serve customers, however, with the changes came more issues. Employees are concerned about the fairness of incentives and compensation and do not understand how that will translate effectively into the CRM system. Riordan has a very diverse workforce with a plethora of motivational needs, from valuing interesting work to larger paychecks. Riordan is not effectively communicating to all the various demographic groups within the company. Employees have revealed in the annual survey that many are not satisfied or challenged by their work, and do not feel adequately compensated for their efforts. Motivation is low, and employees do not feel they have sufficient opportunities for development or promotion. These issues have culminated to the point that many employees are actively looking for opportunities outside of Riordan (University of Phoenix, 2007).