Decisions_in_Paradise

Decisions in Paradise Elaine Becker MGT 350 Bob d’Alessio May 26, 2008 Kava is an island country, in the South Pacific, that has had many natural disasters occur in a very short period of time. Unity Bank is planning to create a stronger presence in Kava and the CEO, Chris, has charged Alex, the director of strategic planning, and Nik, the new project coordinator, with this accomplishment. The current issues in Kava are major disorganization and debris cleanup. The island has had two hurricanes, a fire sparked by volcanic eruption and a tidal wave in the period of about 6 weeks. While the tidal wave took care of putting out the fires, the enormous amount of water has destroyed many homes and crops. This has put a strain on the economy and diverse culture that is Kava. Because cleanup resources are not abundant, the islanders have no idea where to start and what to do to get back to normal before the next disaster. This is where Unity Bank comes into play. We believe that by spreading to this part of the world, we will be better fulfilling our plan to continue to grow because of the valuable role Kava plays in supplying the world with crops and other exports. Unfortunately, we are unable to do business in this area before cleaning up the debris. First, the people of Kava need to get organized. Types of debris need to be placed into piles. Trash needs to be carted away. Anything salvageable needs to be safely put aside. An additional inventory of supplies and tools needs to be taken. Any shortages on anything need to be replaced instantly. Nik will be in charge of keeping track of that information and the reordering process. Centralizing supply control will help to avoid further errors. Part of the problem that caused the lack of organization is one of the things that makes Kava so unique; its diversity. The language barriers are so great that complete confusion has only escalated the cleanup process. Miscommunications have made items be sorted incorrectly, materials to be thrown away and created an overall bigger mess. Next, the environment and location inhibits resolve because of the high likelihood of more disasters hitting Kava. Translators should be brought in to take care of the communication problems among all the people. Furthermore, the people of Kava will be educated and trained on how to properly cleanup and rebuild some of the island; not to mention they will get a general education. This will include spelling, math, and science. This is all knowledge that will help them to prevent these disasters from completely destroying the island. Additionally, Unity Bank is making it clear that our presence in Kava is not a strictly business, profitable venture. We are a community bank and feel that improving the quality of the community we serve better serves everyone as a community. We are planning to rebuild the community to be stronger than ever. Logically, the first choice of picking our crew for the job would be to use those individuals that are already available. This would be the residents of Kava and Chris, Alex and Nik of Unity Bank. This proves to be time consuming due to the lack of experience in cleaning up from natural disasters but would be less costly. Part of the education we provide to the residents could include specific reconstruction methods to properly rebuild Kava’s structure however; this could delay us to the point of getting hit by another hurricane or tidal wave when we are not prepared. A learn as you go approach would save some time but may not be the most efficient method. Another option could be to outsource the job to a company specially trained in cleaning up from natural disasters which could be very expensive but efficient. This could prevent further destruction of Kava from the imminent storms and natural disasters. Another benefit to training the people of Kava would be they are not feeling so infiltrated by the continuous flow of strangers to the island. It would increase the sense of community and help to unite the very diverse cultures. Additionally, the residents would gain valuable knowledge they could apply to future situations and parts of the world. If Unity Bank were to outsource to another company and bring in more people, the residents could resist and rebel. Would the people be tolerant of a large number of new people in Kava for the sake of getting cleaned up quickly' Could further destruction be prevented' The people of Kava were consulted greatly for this solution and it is a community wide decision that we will bring in an outside group to clean up and rebuild Kava. Nik will be the project manager making sure all parties are staying organized. For additional help, the people of Kava that have experience in rebuilding will contribute to the efforts in any way they can. Allowing professionals to rebuild Kava to the point of being strong enough to withstand the brunt of these natural disasters can allow the people to overlook the “intruders” to their way of life. *NOTE* This plan was modeled after Unity Bank’s Commandments of always doing the right thing and providing the highest level of service to our customers. References MGT 350 Decisions in Paradise: How To Be, or Not To Be. Business Scenario