Acuscan Critical Thinking Case Study
She assumes that this can be accomplished before the August deadline, and for 2/3 of the original cost. She also assumes that Chris is not supporting her and trying to undercut her. She also believes that Kelly does not want to try anything new.
C. Cliff- Fully understand that he needs to reduce the cost of the budget, which may cost him more employees. He also realizes this must be done by the August deadline and assumes that his top management will work together, and make critical decisions to meet the deadline. D.
Chris- Is a lot like Kelly and assumes that the August deadline will be hard to meet.
Chris also assumes that Kelly and Pat can work through the detail without other resources. 2. Explain the arguments made by each of these people. . Cliff O’Connor has the belief that Cancan needs to have a new product to Jump start their market.
The current marketed product has not had any growth, and does not show any real potential of growth. The revenue and economic conditions are not ideal at this time and not promised to make a profit. He also understands that the current budget cannot exceed the $KICK.
As per Pat and Chris they state that another source is in the process to developing some type to retail application. It is only a matter of time before the other company will have their product out on the market which will be the competition.
With this being said the deadline for August has been set in stone. This deadline is based on reaction to the other product since no one really knows the actual release date. B. Pat Lambert is looking at things from marketing prospective , Pat is familiar with what the company needs and realizes they need to find a new product to increase the revenue.
She realizes how important it is for Cancan to have a great prototype by August, this will beat the competitor ND Cancan will be able to establish a better position with their current customers as well as future clients.
Pat also realizes that this prototype needs to be delivered effectively so that they can remain the leader in services, but knows that all the features may not be available when it is delivered to the market. C. Kelly Thomas communicates with his team that the project they are aiming for is impossible. When all the figures are placed down on paper Kelly is not sure and is not comfortable committing to an August deadline.
Kelly feels that there are too many changes that deed to take place by the deadline and that the features that are being proposed needs to be reduced. Kelly also argues that how can he work this deal by August En his staff has been cut by 25% and the current workload would be stressed to complete this goal by that deadline.
D. Chris Martinis sees the new proposed product as the future face of the company. As the Vice president of product development he knows that the company needs a new product to increase revenue. This will also give the upper hand on the competition.
Chris does realize that the turnaround time is a ere small window when you need to research, develop , and market a product.
He is on board with Pat that they may have to deliver the product without all the features. . Evaluate each argument listed above as sound or unsound and why. Indicate Nether they are emotional or logical in nature. A.
Cliff O’Connor has an emotional argument. The emotional argument has been encouraged by the position of the company and the markets current economic state. He is basing his argument on that the competitor will have a new product soon and they need to have something before then. . Pat Lambert argument is based on logic.
As the head of marketing he understands the market the best. He knows what is needed and what it will cost the company by proposing such changes. C. Kelly Thomas argument appears to be emotional. From what was presented he feels that the others are going around him and trying to undercut him. He also feels like he is loosing power.
D. Chris Martinis arguments appear to be emotional as well. He is basing his argument on experience as the vice president and also understanding of the market and the limited product that is being offered. 4.
Describe specific fallacious arguments, and identify the people who hold them. There were a couple different fallacious arguments that were within this company.
There were several employees that believed that the new product would increase the company’s revenue and put them in front of their competitor. Those that are vested in the new product are Chris, Pat, and Cliff. Cliff the CEO has given directions to the others to expand a new product to put out on the market. There are some in the company who are thinking more like Kelly and believe that Cancan does not have a quality product to release to the market.
Cliff also wants to know how Cancan can undid the new product. 5.
Describe all problems in this situation. What appears to be the largest issue is the deadline that has been set to produce the new product. It also brings issues to the lack of funding and staff that they currently have to produce a quality product. 6. For each problem listed above, describe the data, arguments, and reasoning that contribute to the problem.
The communication of the team members appears to be the problem. There are many emails that go back and forth and never a complete meeting with the entire team to discuss what problems or solutions they may have.
There appears to be no real team work and no one really listening. 7. What is the underlying problem that is the base cause of the conflict within Cancan? Cancan appears to be suffering from the current economic conditions.
Because of this issue the competitors appear to have moved pass them with products and services. They are now looking at other markets along with new products to make the company the leading provider. 8. What alternative solutions would you propose for this situation? The two possible solutions would be to keep the current product and enhance it.
This could be a possible reposition in the market and enhance revenue. The other solution would be to reduce the budget for possibly cutting additional staff.
This could free up revenue to start the new product and once there is profit bring the staff back on. 9. State the relative strengths and weaknesses of each alternative solution. If they stay with the current product, there are already known issues, marketplace, and has name recognition as being an established product. The weakness would be that the market feels they are tired of the current product.
They also feel they do not meet the need of the current users.
0. Which solution will you recommend to the CEO and why? In my recommendation the company needs to look at an alternate way to fund the new project. This may include downsizing the current features they have in mind. Communication needs to be revamped and more team meetings need to happen to discuss products and services of any changes. PART TWO: Executive Summary Cancan main issues are the decline of sales and the current economy. Internally there are miscommunication issues and emotional assumptions of evaluating information.
The current team members are definitely having communication reawakens which has caused friction between Chris, Pat, and Kelly. You can see that there is a power struggle with Kelly and he believes that others are trying to undercut him. Chris and Pat were both given directives form the CEO to create the new product and opportunity for the company. Chris and Pat both looked at creating new product with new technology for a possible new market. These two employees believe that if the new opportunity is created Cancan will remain on top of the competitors and have the advantage.
Dealing Witt the conflict involving Kelly, en appeared to nave a nard time immunization through paper and emails. It seemed as if he was okay with an idea in casual conversation but when the conversation became formal the issues began. Neat was surprising was that none of the team members offered a valid solution for any of the issues. Some of the solutions that could have been offered were could the product be scaled back to meet the August deadline? Could the August deadline be extended a few months to get the product the way they wanted it?
Is it possible that other funding streams could be used to fund the project which would allow for more resources to the company? Conflict can cause an enormous amount of separation to any team or group of employees, it is essential that problems are talked out to create an understanding and a clear resolution” (Ruggeri, 2004). Cancan’s executive employees had many emotional challenges as a team.
Kelly felt that his team was trying to undercut him, he was feeling a lot of pressure from the economic market and understanding what the market wanted.
It was also emotional for Chris who know what the market wants and was unable to have the team agree on what was best for the company at this time and keep the consumers river and happy to purchase. Recommendations Cancan will need to follow would be to look at other possible avenues of funding for their new product. They could also look at the possibility of keeping the old product and revising the current system to fit consumer needs better. This would allow them to stick to the budget without losing any addition staff positions.
Another recommendation would be to improve the quality of communication within the company and team.
The company uses a lot of memos and emails to deliver information instead of sitting down as a team to communicate and ear each other’s ideas out without one feeling like they are being cut out of decisions and conversations. When a team member assumes they are being undermined or cut out of conversations it could be detrimental to the team process. Reasoning occurs when the mind draws conclusions on the basis of reasons. We draw conclusions whenever we make sense of things. The result is that whatever we think, we reason whatever we conceptualize the world, or any part of it, we reason.
Usually of course we are not aware of the full scope of reasoning in our lives (Elder and Paul, 2006). Having effective communication may require the entire company to Invest in team building trainings and activities, these types of trainings and activities helps build more cross functional teams. In conclusion many times when problems are identified the company will need to think critically about how to move forward and grow. If the company does not utilize critical thinking which may include thinking outside of the box, the company will become stagnant and unable to move in a positive direction.
