Riordan Manufacturing Service Essay Example for Free

Riordan Manufacturing Service Essay Riordan Manufacturing is a global plastics manufacturer employing 550 people with projected annual earnings of $46 million. The company is wholly owned by Riordan Industries, a Fortune 1000 enterprise with revenues in excess of $1 billion (Riordan Manufacturing, 2013). The plastics that Riordan produced include beverage containers, custom plastic parts, and plastic fans which are made in three different facilities in Albany, Georgia, Pontiac, Michigan, and Hangzhou, China. Their corporate headquarters resides in San Jose, California where they conduct research and development. Riordan’s customers include automotive parts manufacturers, aircraft manufacturers, the Department of Defense, beverage makers and bottlers, and appliance manufacturers. Stakeholders There is always room for improvement and in order to improve Riordan’s existing Human Resources department, they need to update their system. By identifying the key stakeholders, Riordan is able to better improve their HR system. The key stakeholders for Riordan include the following: Dr. Michael Riordan (President and CEO) – Determine and formulate policies and business strategies and provide overall direction of private sector organizations. Plan, direct, and coordinate operational activities at the highest level of management with the help of subordinate managers. Jane McCall (Executive Assistant) – Provides assistance to a senior executive, including board activities, publications, volunteerism and special events planning, to create and maintain favorable public image. Kenneth Collins (SVP – RD) – Directs and coordinates activities of R D and aids Chief Executive Officer in formulating and administering organization policies. Hugh McCauley (Chief Operating Officer) – Directs, administers and coordinates the activities of the organization in support of policies, goals and objectives established by  the chief executive officer and the Board of Directors. Information-Gathering Depending on what information needs to be gathered, more than one type of gathering technique might need to be used to obtain said information. TechRepublic.com lists ten different gathering techniques which include the following: 1. One-on-one interviews – this technique involves sitting down with a client and asking what they need. However, this type of interview needs to be planned ahead of time. Certain aspects of what is required need to be known before asking any questions. 2. Group interviews – Similar to a one-on-one interview, group interviews usually have two or more clients. Since more people are involved in this interview, information can be gathered quicker and more efficiently since the same information most likely won’t be repeated. 3. Facilitated sessions – Much like the ladder, this technique involves five or more people in which you are trying to gather a set of common requirements from the group. 4. Joint application development (JAD) – Much like facilitated sessions, JAD sessions groups stay together until the original objective is complete. 5. Questionnaires – Questionnaires are a great way of gathering information from users who aren’t local. They’re also great for when you need to gather information from hundreds of users when an interview or JAD just won’t work. 6. Prototyping – This type of technique is much more modern in which something is built based on your individual needs. You then present this prototype to someone to gather more information. You’ll be able to gather whether you need to add or remove something as well in addition to what needs to be improved on. 7. Use cases – Use cases are somewhat different in the fact that you tell stories of how something works, usually told by actors. They may be easier but more detailed information will need to be gathered. 8. Following people around – When explaining something is hard to do, following them around and see what they do helps much more. You’ll begin to learn what becomes a habit and how they can improve their duties. It is also helpful to participate in the work to experience what the user is experiencing. 9. Request for proposals (RFPs) – If you are a vendor, you may receive requirements through an RFP. This list of requirements is there for you to compare against your own capabilities to determine how close a match you are to the client’s needs (T. Mochal. 2008). 10. Brainstorming – When an idea is brand new, solutions  needs to be laid out and discussed. This type of technique is best for when uncovering information isn’t really going to work; it’s best to discover new ideas and talk about them in a group. Key Factors Every business needs to closely manage the decisions they make as it can make or break them. By managing their decisions and investments, they will be able to determine if it’s a good time to move forward or focus on what needs to be completed. To ensure that Riordan’s HR department is being updated and improving, meetings need to take place to discuss any issues that might come up. There will be a meeting once a week to discuss whether goals are being met and to see what stages are being worked on. At the end of every month, there will be another meeting to discuss the weekly meetings and see if issues are being resolved. Key performance indicators (KPIs) are at the heart of any system of performance measurement and target-setting. The priority of a KPI is to focus on quantifiable factors that are clearly linked to the drivers of success in your business and your sector (Info Entrepreneurs. 2009). However, just because something can be quantifiable, it doesn’t mean that it is financially beneficial to the business. The stakeholders of Riordan will be interviewed when decisions need to be made. Once the information is gathered, it will be discussed in the meets mentioned above. Solutions will be discussed and based on what was gathered during the interviews, a final choice will be made that is best for Human Resources. To ensure that decisions are being made and information is gathered in a timely manner, there will be due dates. This will help in tracking the progress of any changes that are to be made. One of the many challenges that a business faces is time, and it needs to be managed appropriately if a system is to be improved on and working correctly. Project Scope A project scope pertains to the work necessary to deliver a product (Project Scope. 2014). There are key concepts of a project scope that need to be known and they include the following: Scope planning does not occur after only one planning sessions. The scope baseline consists of the project statement, WBS, and WBS dictionary. A collaborative approach is the most  effective method of scope planning. All stakeholders must understand the scope baseline to minimize scope creep during project execution. Scope planning is an important step as it sets a baseline of deliverables in the analysis phase. It helps lay out a plan for the future and analyze what needs to be done to a current system. It is helpful to collaborate some of the gathering techniques from previous phases to help breakdown requirements needed. Reference Riordan Manufacturing. 2013. Employee Site. Riordan Manufacturing. Retrieved from: https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/secure/aapd/cist/vop/Business/Riordan/index.asp Riordan Manufacturing. 2013. Job Descriptions. Retrieved from: https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/secure/aapd/cist/vop/Business/Riordan/HR/JobDescriptions.asp T. Mochal. 2008. TechRepublic.com. 10 techniques for gathering requirements. Retrieved from: http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10-things/10-techniques-for-gathering-requirements/ Info Entrepreneurs. 2009. Measure performance and set targets. Retrieved from: http://www.infoentrepreneurs.org/en/guides/measure-performance-and-set-targets/ Project Cope. 2014). Project Scope. Retrieved from: http://www.projectscope.net/