Custom «Options for Implementing a Leadership Change» Essay Paper Sample

Gene One was established in 1996 as a privately owned biotech company. It entered the market with a new gene technology that managed to eradicate diseases in potatoes and tomatoes. The technology affected greatly both farmers and consumers where by farmers no longer have to use pesticides during the growth of plants and consumers will enjoy having organic products that are home grown. This groundbreaking technology saw Gene One grew from a $2 million company to a $400 million company. But because Gene One is just like any other company, it needs to go public in order to expand and serve its customers well and also ensure that it grows continuously. The needed capital that will help in the realization of the projected growth of the company can only be obtained through an IPO which be offered within 36 months. In order for this to be achieved, the top executive leader team will develop and implement a complaint plan with the assistance of an external consultant, to offer the IPO's regulatory guidelines. A strategic plan will as well be developed and implemented so as to build the company's brand image via external and internal communication channels that will lay down Gene One's projected growth (Gene One 2010).

To successfully and effectively transform Gene One corporation from a company that is privately owned to one that is publicly traded, the company's management should direct their focus on coming up with a leadership style that avail to the employees the security needed for them to perform better, and also enable them see the amazing opportunities that will come with the IPO. After critically examining the Gene One scenario, my team learned that in order to ensure the success of the company during this period of transition, Gene One needs to change the existing leadership style. To do this the company faces a number of challenges especially when addressing the lack of leadership experience and skills in the top leadership team concerning the IPO, the currently used communication system is ineffective, and team members lack motivation. But the important issue that should be addressed with utmost seriousness is culture change of the company from a small startup company to a big public organization. Because we are operating in a highly competitive and fluid industry where creativity and creation of knowledge and innovation are highly regarded in order to achieve a competitive advantage, the company's leadership needs to be diverse (Wong 2009).

To successfully achieve this, the company must appreciate the efforts of the entire organization; this includes all the employees, senior and junior. The company should first manage its employees well and also enlightened on the importance of going public. There should be put in place strong management with benefits like providing incentives such as meals, medical care, and other allowances. Another thing that the group thought will be vital is to train employees. This will make it easy to transition the employees through the IPO process. Orientation that is followed by reviews and company strategies should be provided through training by Gene One in order to give its employees specific details about the new company's focus and products. Provision of training opportunities to employees will underscore the company's focus and open up communication between employees and trainers. This will also create a new culture that is fundamentally important to the changing structure of the company (Pugliese, Mills, Ralston, shives, & Miller 2008).

It should be understood that that IPO's are not necessarily bought but they are sold, and to successfully sell its shares, Gene One will need to market itself in a way that will make ownership desirable by the would be investors. Many investors only commit if they are confident that their investment will generate profits. This confidence comes largely from information that is sufficient enough such as annual reports and business plans. Gene One is faced with the task of picking the IPO team. All its members have no knowledge with an IPO this therefore means the best option is to assign this role to an external team with an inside person to oversee the IPO process. The company should develop its prospectus as required by the SEC. This includes all the required information about the company and the proposed IPO. The company should then embark on a road show; the performance here will determine to a large extent the success of the IPO and therefore should be done impressively well (Butod 2007).

Because Gene One has faced a few deficiencies in its marketing campaign and financial support, it leadership needs to look into this area. Charles Jones with his knowledge in marketing can greatly help of course with assistance from the other board members. This needs research and coming up with new product goals on the corporate resources that will enable the company to come up with good solutions that will propel the company forward. As part of leadership change, Michelle Houghton can replace Don as the CEO because she has been in the company since its inception and therefore knows it inside out. She has also invested her all in the company and therefore is very passionate about anything that may put the company at risk. She is also the appropriate replacement because she knows how to source for funds from the private sector and also the government. Besides she has earned a very credible reputation with the leadership team, the board, the government and the FDA leadership (Le 2006).

Gene One has four goals it has to achieve and each complements the other. The first goal which the most important, is to go to an initial offering, the second is to create a SEC compliant organization, the third is to realize a 40% growth yearly, and to come up with two new technologies within three years. To achieve the goal of going to an IPO, Gene One needs to hire some additional employees because the company will need an independent Board, some more researchers, and marketing personnel. The second and third option was to replace the CEO which has already been discussed, and other leadership. The current CEO should be placed as an independent board member, who meets the SEC requirements and also the IPO needs by replacing the CEO with one who is experienced, a professional. To mitigate the risk that may come with this change, board members will be entrusted with monitoring performance by put in place milestones and monitoring financial statements on a quarterly basis. Gene One should also hire additional staff to assist the various departments during the company's expected growth. Steps should be taken to ensure that there is no over hiring, again this can be done through monitoring financial statements because over hiring could delay the much anticipated IPO and therefore delay the company's aim of meeting the end state vision (Le 2006).

The above approaches are all good but the best that my group felt should be followed is a combination of securing loans, hiring additional staff, and replace one or two of the leaders that do not want to be part of the IPO. The CEO and the other senior members should be left in their positions because they have the foundation of Gene One and therefore are best equipped to meet the company's needs. Gene One will run the risk of failure if they are replaced, and leaving them will not pose any problem because they are not any worse than when they started the company. They may seem risky but not as bad as losing a job. The leadership should therefore be left as it is and regularly evaluate its performance, replace them if they fail to perform and put them on a board or any other capacity so that they still retain their corporate involvement in the company. After this the company should now move forward with progress. Michelle being the CFO should be responsible for all that involves the IPO and get funding for more research. This will involve coming up with a SEC plan within three months, implementing it within six months, and sourcing for funds needed for research. Greg will deal with any leadership changes, hiring staff, and creating the independent board. This will need to be done within a year to allow for the impact of the changes on the IPO to settle. Teri or if there will be her replacement, will come up with one new technology within a year and the second one within two years to allow for the initiation of the marketing process of the products to generate more revenue. Charles will come up with a strong marketing plan in six months time; this will require that he coordinates with Teri for new marketing technologies and Michelle for funding. Don being the CEO will oversee the whole plan but will assist in the area of leadership changes, the creation of the new board and the compliancy plan (Butod 2007).

Gene One is a biotechnological company that wishes to change its present culture and move to a large publicly traded company. This called for a systematic process so as to reach a viable and useful solution. Many problems were identified and addressed during the statement of the present situation. First there was need for the establishment of the beginning and end points and drawing a road map between them. Here risks were evaluated to assist in reaching a final direction. It was decided that leadership should be left the way it is and hire more employees to assist in the company's future growth, and secure loans to help in research efforts.