Fitness and Health Software Solutions, Inc (FHSS): Reorganization

Business plans is part and parcel of every business, this it to ensure that the particular business achieves the goal that has been set. At times businesses managers are forced to come up with re-organization business plans to ensure that in the course of the re-organization the business continues to run as usual. But before a manager embarks on a re-organizing the business some questions need to be asked. The questions that whoever is in charge of restructuring the business should ask himself is why the restructuring is being carried out and how is the restructuring going to be carried out.

Most Re-organizations are carried out in response to the reduction in the work load, to undertake budget reductions, and to make more efficient procedures. Reorganizations in firms and layoffs are not aimed at on individual staff; it should be directed on the roles that the employee plays. It therefore important to note that lay offs are not directed on performance of the employee.

Firms Background

Fitness and Health Software Solutions, Inc. (FHSS) is a firm based in Louisville Colorado, the firm was established in 1988 and currently has 52 employees in all departments in the firm: Finance, Administration, Technical services, and also sales and marketing. As a result of the financial recession the firm has recorded an eleven percent decrease in sales. The recession led to the president and also the CEO to call for an urgent meeting to deal with the situation. The firm’s vice president in charge of technical services was able to render his resignation thus calling for the restructuring of the management.

After much deliberation it was decided that the post of the vice president will not be filled but instead the technical services department will be amalgamated with that of the Sales and Marketing. The aim of such a move is to make sure that the firm grows in both sales and also services. The job functions of some employees will also be affected by the amalgamation of the two departments. The number of staff will also be affected in most of the other departments apart from Sales Representatives. The vice president of Sales and Marketing by the name of Joyce Masters has been given the responsibility of coming up with the reorganization plan.

Reorganization plan

In the intended plan by Joyce quite a number of positions will have either to be reduced or increased. Product Implementation will experience a decrease in the number of staff from 7 down to 4, Sales and Account development will experience an increase in the number of staff from 12 up to 14; Customer service will experience a decrease from 16 staff members to 12, and sales and Service Support will experience a reduction of staff from 4 down to 3. In the face or reduction in some areas and the need for more staff in other areas, recruitment will have to be carried out. The restructuring will see 10 employees loosing their jobs while the only department that will need more staff will be Sales and Accounts which will need two employees. As the restructuring will not need a lot of new staff lateral reassignments can be used instead of recruiting new staff (Abrams, 2003).

The staff to be laid off have to be considered in terms of compensation, thus it will be very vital that Joyce seconds a labor and Employee Relations to the HR to assist in the process of laying off the workers. A benefits expert should also be part of the team so as to ensure that the workers are adequately compensated so that legal issues do not surface later as a result of wrong procedure of lying off the workers or inadequate compensation (Abrams, 2003).

Some of the compensation issues that may arise might include, the management will have to decide whether the laid off employees will be compensated according to their respective departments or the number of years that they have worked in the firm. This is because various workers in different departments are entitled to different levels of salary. Some departments are entitled to very large amounts of incentives while others are subjected to very low compensation a point in case is the compensation that the sales representative takes home about $76,951 while the customer service takes home $35,644. The worst compensated employees are the administrative support who gates about $11.92 (McKeever, 2002).

The difference in the amount of money paid as compensation is too big; the management should try and adjust the compensation rates such that the employees who will remain in the firm still working in the departments will not feel as if they are not playing a crucial part in the firm. That might in turn affect the employees mental and they might not do their best as they were doing before (McKeever, 2002).

Some of the things that might concern the management is whether the restructuring will indeed be helpful in cutting losses for the firm or the firm will experience low sales even after spending colossal amounts of money in paying the laid off employees as compensation. Changes may cause some stress on some workers this is because generally changes in any aspect of life. Changes in places of work or in any profession are bound to cause some anxiety. In such a particular time such restructuring, it is very important that the person in charge of the process is transparent and gives the correct information as it is. The person in charge should also be available to respond to questions that some of the employees might have. The most important part is hoe the laid off employees will be treated. The employees to be laid off should be thanked for their contribution and their efforts acknowledged (Rogovsky, 2005).

The process should be as humanly as possible as this will ensure a good relation ship between the remaining workers and the person who is overseeing the process. The attitude and also the behavior of the person in charge of the restructuring will play a vital role in either increasing the level of trust among the employees one is in charge of or decreasing the level of trust (McKeever, 2002).

The restructuring will need a lot of training of staff due to some paramount issues, some departments have to merged to become one, this may cause a strain on the employees as each department had specific duties to carry out. The bringing together of the two departments will therefore means that new roles have to be assigned to the employees. The two departments need different skills and qualifications thus the employees who have no skill in the field that now falls inside their domain have to undergo in house training to make them competent. As all employees can not attend to training lessons outside as the firm may come to a stand still. The management might have to organize in house training where the workers can be trained as they continue dispensing their services (Rogovsky, 2005).

In the implementation of the reorganization some very crucial issues have to be pit in place or considered. The employees being laid off are not redundant they still posses the skills that gave them their current jobs thus it is vital that before lying off an employee they should be told in advance and if they have any questions they should be given answers. The employees must also be given the compensation package that befits them. The employees that have been laid off should also have families thus the firm should put that into consideration and lay them off with respect by giving them all their compensation in time or as agreed between the two parties so as to avoid inconveniencing the laid off employees (Rogovsky, 2005).

Conclusion

A well planned and implemented business plan will always bear fruits if the manager ensures that all the plans are followed to the latter. A reorganization business plan is however very different as it involves changing the functions of the firm as well as some of the departments. The reduction of employees in one department and increasing the number in another department needs a lot of skills, thus it is very vital that the person in charge of the restructuring is able to analyze the current structure very well, know its advantages as well as the disadvantages before making a decision. Reference

Rogovsky, N. (2005). Restructuring for corporate success: a socially sensitive approach. Geneva: International Labour Office.

McKeever, M. P. (2002). How to write a business plan (6th ed.). New York: Nolo.Abrams, R. M., & Kleiner, E. (2003). The successful business plan: secrets & strategies (4th ed.; Deluxe binder ed.). New York: Planning Shop.