Acme Corporation Case Study

Hartzell, S. (2014, April 27). Lewin, stage model of change unfreezing changing refreezing
animatedpart5 [Video]. YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kerDFvln7hU
Hartzell, S. (2014, December 15). Explaining Kotter’s 8 step change model [Video]. YouTube.

Center for Education Innovation. (n.d.). Stages of an action research project. Retrieved from
http://cei.ust.hk/files/public/ar_intro_stages_of_an_action_research_project.pdf
Scenario
Acme corporation has had recent problems with increased turnover of employees and decreased
profitability. However, leadership is not sure exactly what the problem is or what to do about it. Senior
managers have been arguing for many months about what to do, but it is clear that leadership does not
have a strategy to get the company back on track. The company (prior to organizational changes) had 24
sales associates that averaged $423,000 in combined sales each month with a profit margin of 32%. This
breaks down to a monthly sales average of $17, 625 per sales associate.
Since the changeover, the employees are stretched thin and have become demoralized as management
has been slow to respond to the turnover and has increased pressure to exceed monthly goals. The
average monthly sales have steadily decreased for six months after the new Chief Executive Officer
(CEO) replaced the vice president of sales, two sales directors, and six sales managers with employees
from another organization. The Vice President, directors, and managers have yet to establish
relationships, are not very engaging or motivating, have more of a transactional style of leadership, and
micro-manage every detail of the sales associates performance. The following table shows company
sales performance since January of this year and includes month, number of staff, average sales, profit
percentage and total profit.
Month Sales Staff
Sales
Profit % Profit $
January 20
$322,800
32%
$103,296
February19
$321,100
32%
$102,752
March 18
$318,500
32%
$101,920
April
18
$267,900
32%
$85,728
May
15
$260,500
32%
$83,360
June
12
$247,700
32%
$79,264
Please use the scenario and the table above to answer the following questions (support each section
with sources from the required and optional readings list):
Introduce your paper with your thoughts on the scenario and why it happened. Explain which
organizational change model (Kotter’s Eight-Step, Lewin’s Three-Step, or the Stages of an Action
Research Project) would be most suited for this scenario supporting your decision and response with a
source from the required or optional readings list.
Provide a solution to the scenario and build a plan of action for this organization using the individual
steps of your chosen change model.
Use and fill in the table below with your expected forecast potential to show growth in sales staff, sales,
and total profit from July through December. Use the formula below the table (New Month Sales x 32%
= ______), to calculate expected sales and profit percent for an increase in profit dollars for Acme
Corporation.
Provide a discussion on how your proposed change model associates with your completed monthly
table below.
Table 1: Expected Sales and Profit Forecast
Month
Sales Staff
Sales
July
32%
August
32%
September
32%
October
32%
November
32%
December
32%
Profit %
Total Profit $
New Monthly Sales X Profit Percentage = Total profit
Conclude your paper to align with your introduction, a summary of findings from each section, and wrap
up in a final thought.
Assignment Expectations
Case Assignments are to be prepared in Microsoft Word 12 pt font, be at least 4 pages in length
(excluding title and references pages) and include 3 scholarly sources from the required or optional
readings list.
The paper should include the following:
Title Page formatted per APA.
An Introduction, Body of Work, and Conclusion.
Report content should include a brief introduction to the assignment, background information about the
organization being studied, and your discussion of organizational structure in terms of the concepts or
theories being applied in the assignment. Use subtitles, bullets, and tables to improve presentation
values. References page (double-spaced, 12 pt. type, Times New Roman font) should be formatted par
APA Style- See APAstyle.org. The paper should be written in third person; this means words like “I,”
“we,” and “you” are not appropriate. For more information, see Differences Between First and Third
Person.