DRW Technologies Harvard Case Study Solution & Online Case Analysis

DRW Technologies study case analysis

In 500-550 words, keeping the DRW case in mind, respond to the question/statements listed below. Please ensure that your submission is in a word doc format.

Q. Was communication effective: Yes/No Why?

Q. Make a contextual analysis of DRW and elaborate on any one context.

Q. Communication effectiveness is a product of correct decision-making which is impacted by the framing effect, expectation effect and experience effect. Justify, this statement keeping DRW in mind.

Q. Bring out all the barriers in DRW.

Q. Senders and Receivers are complex beings that hamper a smooth communication flow. Yes/No, why?

Q. Debby was the cause of all problems in DRW. Justify.

Q. Ed’s communication was perfect and very appropriate. Justify.

Q. Ed’s communication was the real cause of the problem in DRW. Justify

Q. It’s the nature of the industry in DRW which was the real cause of the problem in DRW. Justify.

Apt Titles for Your Answers

• Importance of writing an email communication at the workplace
• Make the message clear in your written communication
• The right way to communicate with your team

Q. Ed’s communication was perfect and very appropriate. Justify.

Dagmar Hilgard, the CEO of DRW technologies was concerned about the need to cut costs and say an opportunity to cut cost in procurement, for which Ed Claiborne was hired. Ed, the new Vice President of DRW technologies, had been a procurement executive in the past. Immediately, after joining and meeting the CEO, he was given the urgent task to look for cost cutting measures, and he started working on it earnestly.

There were several things that Ed Claiborne did right in his email to the plant and procurement managers.

Ed was very clear about what he wanted all the managers to do. It clearly said that all contracts that were valued at $250,000 and more had to be sent for approvals two weeks before its due for signing. The email also highlights the urgency of the matter, as it says it’s effective immediately, which means all new contracts worth the amount have to be sent for approvals.

The e-mail communication also focuses on only one thing so there is no ambiguity in the message and the instructions are very clear to the intended recipients, so not much change had to be done from the local offices in order to make a bigger impact to the organization.

Ed’s mail was concise and to the point, which means anybody who opened the mail would quickly get the gist of what Ed was trying to say through his mail, which is very important considering the busy schedule of people at work.

Ed is aware that the plants work more or less in an autonomous manner and doesn’t want to interfere a lot with their working, so he has only listed high value contracts for approval. He also mentions that the matter has already been discussed with the CEO and it had the backing of the CEO so that the managers would know that they had to abide by it. His choice of using an authoritative tone was also important since he wanted the managers to take the content of the email seriously.

Ed has recently joined the organization, and he has joined at a senior position; he was thrown in the middle of a crisis situation and asked to suggest cost-cutting measures urgently. He set out to work straight away and did come with several measures, with help from his assistant Debby Lopez.

Ed’s secretary Debby did recommend to Ed that he should visit the plant and meet the procurement and plant managers to take their feedback because it was a busy time and they may not respond. And in most likelihood, that is what may have happened. It’s also possible that DRW has a different work culture that Ed did not take into account, and Ed just assumed that like his previous company, even DRW follows a strict chain of command. Perhaps, Ed could have discussed Debby’s suggestion with the CEO and taken his opinion on the matter.

Employees in any organization are expected to listen to their bosses. However, in this case, after the email was sent out, no contracts were submitted for approval over the next few weeks. While Ed’s written communication on the email was perfectly alright, there could be several reasons why no contracts were submitted, and it was not necessarily because the managers have a bad attitude.

In this case, Ed clearly demonstrates his knowledge about procurement and his ability to come up with quick solutions based on his experience, and he also displays his excellent written communication skills, which is concise, to the point, and highly effective.