1. Write a SWOT Analysis

2. Identify the key problems & why they exists

3. What could be the best solutions from management concepts to solve the problems?

CASE STUDY 7.1 A TYPICAL DAY FOR JOE HANSEN, MANAGING DIRECTOR By Hazel Bothma, University of Cape Town, South Africa. Meet Joe Hansen, managing director of Magical from his work are the culprits. It's now 7:15 and Connections, Cape Town, South Africa. Shadow Joe needs to get to the office. No time for break- him for a day and see the challenges and stressors fast. Instead he gulps down his second strong cup he faces in his daily work. of coffee, promising himself that starting tomor- Buzz. Joe turns over and switches the alarm off. row he will make time to eat before work. It's 6:00 a.m. and he tosses with the idea of going As Joe starts driving to work, the early morning for a run. However, last night, like many nights traffic beginning to grow, he thinks that at least he before that, he stayed up working til late in the is not on his way to the airport for one of his fre- evening, so he decides to postpone the run and quent business trips, which leave him exhausted catch another 30 minutes sleep. Fate intervenes and with piles of work to complete once back. within five minutes as he hears his 18-month-old Hardly ten minutes into the drive to work, his cel- daughter start to cry. Joe looks over at his wife, lular phone rings. It's Justin, one of his team man- and decides to let her sleep. She had to take care agers, requesting a meeting with him today to of their daughter last night, as he had to work discuss why some of the teams are not reaching until 11:00 p.m. Dragging himself out of bed, he their targets. Joe thinks back to his first job at one fetches his wailing daughter and goes to the of the major banks. Teamwork was non-existent kitchen to prepare her bottle. While in the kitchen and being then at the bottom of the managerial he balances his daughter on his lap, turns on his rung, he was hardly ever consulted or asked to laptop, and grimaces as his machine shows him make decisions. All this has changed, especially 42 new e-mails. He thinks back to the time before within the informational technology sector. Joe's e-mail and cellular phones were popular. Although company, Magical Connections, where he is man- he would be the first to admit that he couldn't do aging director, has very few managers, and most of without these new technologies he realizes that in the 22 staff work in teams. A far cry from his days ways the division of boundaries between work and in the bank, when he was one of 500 employees, nonwork have become blurred. Joe realizes that faceless in a hierarchical company. Many of the like many of his colleagues in the IT sector, he people Joe worked with in the banking industry finds it hard to separate work life from home life are still there. For Joe it remains a constant chal- His daughter now feeding quietly in her cot gives lenge to keep competent staff who leave almost Joe the opportunity to start responding to the every two years for other IT companies, or even to e-mails and deleting much of the junk mail he seek work elsewhere in South Africa. Despite this receives. At 6:45 he jumps in the shower, still feel challenge of people constantly moving in the ing tired, preparing himself for a day of work. As industry. Joe does not miss the way work used to he combs his hair he notices the first touch of be organized in the bank, and likes the way his grey-38, he thinks wryly to himself, and starting company is structured. The division of labour to show. He wonders if his late hours and pressure within Magical Connections helps its progress, tasks are divided logically, and the frustration of a do. Justin is still angry about poor team perform- huge bureaucracy is something he does not miss ance, and Joe knows he needs to deal with this As Joe walks into the office, he is met with Alan, issue as soon as possible. Dan laughs back at him who is pacing up and down the reception floor. and tells him that as M.D. he should be delegating Their company is urgently waiting for new parts more and enjoying some time off. He has a point from Taiwan to arrive. Alan explains that although Joe thinks. Empowerment is still a relatively new the parts have landed at the port in Durban, cus-concept in South Africa, but Joe knows that if he toms are holding them up, as some document delegated more of his work to younger staff and seems to be missing. The companies that have allowed them to make more decisions, it would been promised the various parts have been ringing free up more of his time to think about long-term Alan to find out where they are. Alan looks near strategy for his company. But today is not the day the breaking point as he explains heatedly to Joe for a lunch-break, so a hamburger and chips from the pressure of having to deal with irate customers the canteen will have to do who want everything now. Joe is empathic with At 2:30 p.m. Fiona walls into his office and tells Alan as he too constantly faces pressure from all Joe she intends to leave the company. Joe's heart sides. After a brief meeting with Alan brainstorm- sinks. She is one of the brightest employees they ing solutions to this crisis, Joe eagerly helps him have. This means that again their company will self to his third cup of coffee, hoping the caffeine have to try and attract a new person, and of course will perk him up, and although it's only 10:00 in retain them. The recruitment and selection of a the morning, he finds a cigarette in his desknew person will be time consuming and joe makes drawer, and goes outside to smoke. He is well a mental note to start this process aware of the health risks, not to speak about the At 4:00 pm. Joe finds himself lying on a massage wrath he would face if his wife found out, but as table having a massage in his office. It is a relatively always the day seems packed with obstacles and new idea that the company brought in a month ago Joe uses this five minutes to be on his own. on recommendations from some employees. All At 11:00 Joe sits down with one of teams to dis- employees are entitled to a 30-minute massage once cuss their targets. Justin, one of the team mem- a week. With gentle music floating in his office, the bers, starts the meeting off by accusing Sharon of smell of aromatherapy oils lingering in the air, Joe not performing adequately and thereby jeopardiz- feels his knots being worked under the masseur's ing the team's target. Justin rants on that he is able hands and feels the release of his tension. What tired of having to work even harder to make up a great idea this has turned out to be for Sharon's poor performance. As Joe listens, he With a bulging briefcase Joe manages to leave the realizes that Justin's antagonistic nature is not office at 6:00 p.m-aware that his wife has been helping the meeting, and Joe is aware that without looking after their daughter all day and will now be good interpersonal skills from all team members exhausted and desperate for him to come home and the effective working of the team is only hindered help. He has six new computer journals he needs Added to this he is going to have to ascertain what to read, and a page of Web sites that he needs to is causing Sharon not to meet her targets. Joe explore. The almost constant pressure to keep makes a mental note to try and organize some abreast of the flood of information within this indus- training on interpersonal skills for all teams. It is try is an overwhelming feature of Joe's life. Added to imperative for Magical Connections that teams be this Joe realizes that next week he needs to under- effective, as this also translates into remaining take a vendor computer-training course, which will competitive at both a national and global level of keep him out of the office. For Joe the constant need their company is to stay afloat in this highly com- for retraining is a necessity to stay abreast. petitive environment, remaining competitive is the As Joe starts his 20-minute drive home he puts cornerstone of their survival a new CD on and starts humming to his favour- Dan, Joe's old school friend, phones him up at ite track. The humming soon changes to a full- 1:00 to see if he would like to join him for lunch. throated bellow as he sings the chorus out aloud Joe laughs down the phone and reminds Dan that and makes drumming noises on the steering he has not had a lunch break in the past two years. wheel. However, a phone call with another work- He thinks longingly of a quiet lunch, good food related issue interrupts this pleasant interlude. As and company, but knows that he has too much to he ends the call, Joe thinks to himself that this weekend he is going to take his wife and daughter away for a weekend. Perhaps to the mountains where they can relax as a family, and he can spend some time talking to his wife. He grins to himself, no cell phone and no laptop. With that comforting thought he thinks about the challenges he faces tomorrow and in the future. Magical Connections needs to stay fast, flexible, responsive, resilient, and creative, and Joe looks forward to being one of the people doing just that. Despite the chal- lenges of his job, Joe loves his work and finds it challenging and rewarding