Introduction
Every company, including start-ups and giants in their business industry, is likely to face certain risks related to different aspects of its activity. Therefore, an effective risk management strategy is essential to ensure the successful performance of an organization. Risk management can be described as the process of identifying and assessing risks and developing strategies aimed to eliminate them. Therefore, an important task of the management and employees is to timely detect and address possible business threats. The example of the Global Green Books Publishing company proves that even a successful and growing enterprise may face certain financial, organizational, or other difficulties. Therefore, this paper aims to address the company’s challenges, suggest possible solutions, and discuss skills and competencies that might be needed to implement risk management strategies effectively.
Disorganization
To start with, it is necessary to provide an overview of the organization and its business activity. Global Green Books Publishing is a growing company in the sphere of publishing and printing. It provides services to three large customers and has the potential for further development. The company’s business is connected with project work, and in particular, creating eBooks for the local college. Although the rapid growth of the company contributes to its development and popularity, it may also cause problems connected with task management, schedule, and other organizational issues.
Since the company hires many part-time employees, who are mainly students and are not experienced enough, it is necessary to ensure that their work is fully organized. The problem is that every worker does a part of a project and hands it to another employee, which may create misunderstandings connected with the status of work. The solution may include the development of an internal communication system, such as work chat, where employees could share information about the project and consult with each other. Moreover, it would be appropriate to improve the system of reporting; for example, after completing the task, every employee can report about what exactly has been done. When the company attracts more customers and becomes more successful in its business industry, organizational problems become likely. However, the effective management of this threat may lead to the company’s further growth.
Conflicts
The disorganized work of the company is likely to become a cause of another threat –conflicts between employees. Due to technical issues and the inability to complete projects in time, scheduling changes may take place. Therefore, the probability of tension between workers increases, and conflicts mostly occur between part-time employees and more experienced full-time workers. The management of the company needs to find a solution for improving the relationships between workers and eliminating the causes of the risk by carefully organizing work processes.
To regulate interpersonal conflicts, it is necessary to ensure a positive atmosphere in the company. Special attention should be paid to teambuilding activities and management personnel training. For example, team leaders and managers need to develop knowledge about conflict theory, patterns and causes of disagreements, and strategies to deal with them (McCorkle and Reese, 1). Moreover, effective listening and the ability to critically evaluate different aspects of the conflict are considered essential skills for a manager (McCorkle and Reese, 88). Finally, a positive attitude and overall respect should become a part of the company’s corporate culture. If all these aspects are taken into account, the company will be able to ensure a favorable working atmosphere.
Demand for Good Leaders
The risks mentioned above are interconnected and are likely to occur at the same time. Since the disorganized work and consequent conflicts between employees may negatively influence the company’s performance, it is necessary to pay special attention to leaders‘ and supervisors’ training. Moreover, as the company is constantly growing, more experienced managers and supervisors are needed to deal with large amounts of work. Therefore, another risk that the company is likely to face is supervisors’ insufficient leadership skills and their poor team management.
The responsibility of supervisors is to interact with customers and ensure the organized work of the whole company. Therefore, they need to be properly trained to take a leading position in the company. First, they are required to have essential research and development skills and contribute to improving support systems, policies, and procedures within the organization (Masuba, 24). Moreover, they should be taught to engage and motivate other workers and support them in their work (Masuba, 24). Finally, good leaders do not only plan their actions but also implement their skills in practice. Moreover, the establishment of a project management office would allow project management staff to help supervisors and solve some of the current issues, such as schedule problems. Therefore, comprehensive training of supervisors and organizing a project management office may contribute to the successful performance of the organization.
Necessary Skills and Competencies
Risk management is a difficult task for the company’s leaders, and certain skills and competencies are required to deal with business challenges. First of all, team members need to understand the peculiarities of the company’s market and conduct a comprehensive risk analysis to identify possible threats (Information Resources Management Association, ix). In the case of Global Green Books Publishing, such activities may include the evaluation of the company’s competitors in the sphere of publishing to predict financial risks. The analysis is vital in risk management since the early identification of the threat may avert its possible negative consequences.
Secondly, risk managers need to be able to address existing problems and suggest strategies for recovery. Therefore, strategic thinking is a second skill that risk managers and company leaders are required to develop. Team members need to pay attention to different opportunities and solutions and to look at the problem from a long-term perspective. This approach would allow avoiding similar problems in the future.
Finally, risk management is always associated with stress, and a skillful leader needs to be able to work under pressure. Since business threats often lead to unsuccessful performance and financial difficulties, it is important to stay optimistic and think strategically. Sticking to the company’s business direction and following the risk management plan may reduce the overwhelming pressure and facilitate the process of the company’s recovery.
Conclusion
The present paper is an example of how a successful growing company may face difficulties connected with its development and increasing production. Since the growth is often associated with new customers and a larger amount of work, organizational problems may occur. Consequent inconsistencies and disagreements may become the cause of another risk, namely, conflicts between employees. Finally, it is important to provide training for supervisors to make sure that business activities are regulated and controlled. Therefore, to deal with the challenges, team members need to analyze the situation, think strategically, and be able to work in stressful conditions.
References
- Suzanne McCorkle and Melanie Reese. 2016. Personal Conflict Management: Theory and Practice. Web.
- David Masumba. 2019. Leadership for Innovation: Three Essential Skill Sets for Leading Employee-Driven Innovation. Web.
- Information Resources Management Association. 2017. Risk and Contingency Management: Breakthroughs in Research and Practice. Web.