You are Chief Information Officer (CIO) of a business and authoritatively in the role of co-executive level manager with the company's Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The business currently has eight locations.
Currently, the company's vertical organizational structure is comprised of one accountant and eight location managers who report to you and the CEO. Within each location, reporting to each location manager is a Team Supervisor.
Reporting to each Team Supervisor are four Customer Associates. The strategic goal for the business is expansion into a new geographic region and an increase in the number of products or services offered to clients/customers.
You and the CEO have discussed two possible avenues to grow and expand this business.
One possible strategy would be to franchise locations. Another strategy would be to secure venture capital to finance an internal expansion by opening more company-owned shops.
Your business partner feels that s/he just does not have time to further investigate these options because s/he is spending an increasing amount of time assisting the location managers.
You have noticed that two of the location managers have exhibited a lot of skill in the management of their locations and perhaps a new position could be added to coordinate with the location managers.
This would free both you and the CEO to work on the larger strategic issues.
After reading the scenario above, the assigned readings in the textbook and completing the practice Learning Activities, paying particular attention to the section on authority, compose an interoffice memo from you to the CEO. The purpose of the memo is to describe the impact of creating this new position.
In typing your memo to the CEO, be sure to respond to the following: How would creating a new coordinating management position between the executive level managers (CEO and CIO) and the location managers help the business to grow?
Is promoting an existing manager the best option to fill this position? If not, what is an alternative source to fill the position?
Who within the company should make these decisions? List the levels of authority (management) that the company would have if the new position is created.