Preview

Valve Steams Ahead Essay Example

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1887 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Valve Steams Ahead Essay Example
111IBA

Assessment 2: Report

Report: The Management Problem at Valve Software

Prepared by:

Due Date:

Word Count:
1913

The Management problem at Valve Software

1. Introduction and Problem Identification

Value is a software company that views it’s day-to-day business structure in what only can be described as organic and flat. No planning, procedures or organizational structure is claimed by the company to be “A barrier against codified decisions of labour” (Valve Corporation, 2012), which leads to no long term business goals and no clear path of succession for the business. It would also possibly lead to division amongst staff due to lack of control and planning and poor organizational behavior.
Strategy Implementation is a fundamental role in business success and is defined by Schermerhorn, Davidson, Poole, Simon, Woods and Chau as ‘the process of putting strategies into action” (Schermerhorn, 2011) Valve’s Strategy implementation and poor strategic planning appears to be one of lack of direction and poor strategic planning. Without strategic plan Value is losing results in “Stronger inter-functional and interdivisional alignment throughout implementation – and critically – rapid and effective adaptation to a rapidly changing environment (Rader, 2012) Continual reviewing and revisiting of the assumptions that are made within the organization about its purposes and functions (Gray, 2005)
Forecasting and future developments would suffer whether they are global or idiosyntric. For the time series analyst, this means recognizing that forecasting means more than computing the conditional expectation as the optimal one-step-ahead forecast. For the forecaster, it means recognizing that the time series literature has much to offer and that time series can provide many insights and solutions to current problems. (ORD, 1988)
2. Identification of theories
Strategic implementation and Strategy and Leadership for Valve –

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Organizations structure their policies, practices and culture based on their company’s strategic plan from top management. At Cintas, our corporate culture is the single most distinguishing factor between greatness and mediocrity. Our strategic planning begins at our corporate office. They decide where we are as an entire company and projects where we should be at the end of the fiscal year. Each individual Cintas location across the United States has goals and specific strategies that their location is trying to reach. Within each location, there are different departments. Each department is responsible for choosing specific strategies to help the location reach success, which will ultimately make the entire company successful. Evaluations…

    • 241 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Warren Buffet once said, “Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.” With a company that has over five hundred employees, four locations worldwide, and $50 million in annual sales, placing the value on the organization is simple; look at the bottom line and see the profit. This is the situation at Riordan Manufacturing where the price it paid to do business was less than what it made, defining a clear value in what Riordan provides. Riordan’s Sales and Marketing department has a clear value; $50 million is sales to show of it. But how do we show the value for other departments within the organization such as Information Systems (IS) and Information Technology (IT) solutions? While the IS and IT costs and what Riordan pays for it are clear from looking at the financials, the value is not. This brings us to the question of what value does Riordan Manufacturing get out of its IS services and IT department.…

    • 7000 Words
    • 28 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Strategic Planning at Valve Introduction A global leader in the software and computer gaming industry, Valve maintains a very unique internal operating environment. The company operates without any managers, instead relying on all employees to manage themselves. Grouped into project teams, the employees of each team are collectively responsible for the success of their respective project. While it could no doubt be argued that there are certain benefits to Valve’s distinctive operating style, it is evident from the case study that there are also substantial problems with the operational ecosystem within Valve. One of the major issues for Valve is the lack of strategic planning within the organisation. All of Valve’s employees work in project groups, and their goals, tasks, and deliverables are all project-specific. As such, there is no employee group specifically focused on longer-term, strategic planning for the organisation. Valve’s flat organisational structure also means that there is an absence of management personnel, who would usually be charged with driving the strategic planning process. This lack of strategic planning at Valve has left the organisation without clear goals, objectives, and plans for the future. An absence of strategic planning also exposes Valve to the risk that it will be in a weaker position to respond to future changes in the operating environment. Schermerhorn, Davidson, Poole, Simon, Woods, and Chau (2011, p. 166) define planning as ‘setting objectives and determining how to accomplish them’, and stress the importance of planning as one of the four functions of the management process. Strategic planning maps out the company’s future goals and objectives, and allows the employees to see the direction the company wants to take. Without strategic planning, Valve cannot hope to be successful…

    • 2554 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    7HDP 0HPEHU *XLGH  ® Capsim Management Simulations, Inc. 1 Introduction 1 1.1 The Industry Conditions Report 1 1.2 Management Tools 1 1.3 Company Departments 2 1.4 Inter-Department Coordination 3 1.5 Practice and Competition Rounds 3 1.6 Company Success 3 8 Plug-Ins 21 8.1 Corporate Responsibility and Ethics 21 9 Situation Analysis 21 10 Forecasting 22 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 Basic Forecasting Method 22 Qualitative Assessment 22 Forecasts, Proformas and the Worst Case / Best Case 23 2 Industry Conditions 3 2.1 Buying Criteria 3 2.2 Buying Criteria by Segment 5 3 The Customer Survey Score 5 3.1 Buying Criteria and the Customer Survey Score 6 3.2 Estimating the Customer Survey Score 8 3.3 Stock Outs and Seller’s Market 9 December 31 Cash Position 23 11 Balanced Scorecard 23 11.1 uiding Your Company G 23 4 Managing Your Company 9 4.1 Research & Development (R&D) 10 4.2 Marketing 4.4 Finance 15 11 4.3 Production 13 12 Six Basic Strategies 24 Broad Cost Leader 24 Broad Differentiation 24 Niche Cost Leader (Low Technology) 24 Niche Differentiation (High Technology) 24 Cost Leader with Product Lifecycle Focus 24 24 Differentiation with Product Lifecycle Focus 5 The Capstone Courier 17 5.1 Front Page 17 5.2 Stock & Bond Summaries 17 5.3 Financial Statements 17 5.4 Production Analysis 17 5.5 Segment Analysis Reports 8 1 5.6 Market Share Report 19 5.7 Perceptual Map 19 5.8 Other Reports 19 Support Tickets…

    • 17539 Words
    • 71 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Pearce, J. A., II & Robinson, R. B. (2011). Strategic Management: Formulation, Implementation, and Control, Twelfth Edition, p. 42-79. Retrieved on January 27, 2011, from University of Phoenix, Week Two, rEsource. STR/581—Strategic Planning and Implementation.…

    • 943 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Riordan Manufacturing

    • 1971 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Strategy implementation is the sum total of the activities and choices required for the execution of a strategic plan. It is the process by which objectives, strategies, and policies are put into action through the development of programs, budgets, and procedures (Wheelen, T. L., & Hunger, J. D. 2010). Riordan Manufacturing has a lot of resources that can be used to branch out to others and competitors internationally that are being implemented in the business plan. There are many departments within the company that plays a big part as well and every department and person has their own action plan to obtain to make sure there is success and goals are being accomplished. Following the mission, vision, values are necessary to contribute and abide by to know and understand the purpose and the outcome of what is being giving by the company as a whole. With the company wanting to increase client base they can implement new products, technology, and new market segments to clients by taking that first step to reach out and voice the changes of products and services to innovate new and improve materials to make connection to different people in the industry, and how the outcome can change for the future of the…

    • 1971 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The case of The Well Paid Receptionist shows introduce the benefits of working for a startup company then a one that is already made. Cathy took a chance to work for a man with only a vision and limited resources at a difficult time in her life. As mentioned in the case, the company turned into a major million-dollar business. Cathy ends up having the second largest salary in the company, which is becoming a problem for Mr. Harvey Finley, the owner. In this paper will go into more detail about the case and discuss the Value Over Time (VOT) of the company Troupville Business Systems (TBS). This paper presents the issues in the case as well as the solutions to these issues. We will also talk about how to establish Value Over Time and the positive and negative impact on these value drivers.…

    • 424 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Chapter 2

    • 2726 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Even with all of the advances in recent years, forecasting is typically considered more of an art than a science and it is of little use in generating accurate predictions.…

    • 2726 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    For more than a decade, new forecasting techniques have theoretically helped managers evaluate these varied factors. Much of the promise of these techniques has been unrealized, however, even as a quickening…

    • 6086 Words
    • 25 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Rowe,G., Wright,G., 2001,’Expert Opinions in Forecasting. Role of the Delphi Technique’. In Principles of Forecasting: A Handbook of Researchers and Practitioners,Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston.…

    • 2550 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Literature Review

    • 4720 Words
    • 19 Pages

    The literature research reviewed in this paper attempts to address the topic of strategy implementation. The paper tries to establish an academic case for previously researched material on this subject by reflecting on the diverse views published in the literature. The different views expressed combine to formulate research to establish relevance as well as importance in this step of the Strategic Management Process. In order to identify and discuss existing data and developments in strategy implementation, over twelve articles in scholarly academic journals containing “strategy implementation” or “strategy execution” as the key words were selected from various internet sources. The articles chosen are those that have identified themselves with major discussions on factors that influence strategy implementation.…

    • 4720 Words
    • 19 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Historical and forecast economic data can be obtained from various locations. The Internet grants access to several sites that provide tools for the individual to collect the data. One must choose which site provides the required information needed to support the facts. In the following paragraphs, team B has supplied various resources where historical and forecast economic data can be obtained and a summary explaining what each site has to offer. The team will also explain what areas of week two’s readings they were comfortable with, struggled with, and how it pertains to their chosen field.…

    • 709 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    References: Pearce, John. A., & Robinson R. B. (2011). Strategic management, formulation implementation, and control (12th ed. pages 140-159). New York, N.Y: McGraw-Hill Irwin…

    • 1383 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the article “Office of Strategy Management”, Kaplan and Ditto reveal that there is a disconnection amongst companies between strategy formulation and strategy execution. On average, 95% of a company's employees are unaware of, or do not understand, its strategy. They say that there is a gap in many large organizations between strategy formulation and execution, between ambitious goals and actual performance. The authors submit that if employees are unaware of the strategy, they cannot help the organization implement it effectively. Kaplan and Norton say it doesn’t have to be like that. They have studied companies that achieved performance breakthroughs by adopting the Balanced Scorecard and its associated tools to help them better communicate strategy to their employees, and to guide and monitor the execution of that strategy. While some companies have achieved better, longer-lasting improvements than others, the organizations that have managed to sustain their strategic focus have typically established a new corporate-level unit to oversee all activities related to an office of strategy management (OSM). The OSM coordinates an array of tasks. The function of the OSM is to create and manage the scorecard, align the organization, review the strategy, develop strategy, communicate strategy, manage strategic initiatives, and integrate strategic priorities with other support functions. They assert that the OSM does not do all the work, but it facilitates the processes so that strategy is executed in a more integrated way across the organization. They say that an OSM is applicable with every organization whether it is used or not. I agree with the authors the OSM sets the framework to ensure good communication throughout the company. An OSM can improve a strategy execution, and the communication of that strategy, and to ignore any of the process that an OSM seeks to achieve for an organization could lead to its failure. If…

    • 351 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    ASWM 13th Edition

    • 358298 Words
    • 2879 Pages

    Copyright 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).…

    • 358298 Words
    • 2879 Pages
    Powerful Essays