Custom «Utah Symphony Merger» Essay Paper Sample

Financial and Leadership Weaknesses and Strengths of Utah Symphony

Before the merging of Utah Symphony, there were various financial issues which affected its normal operations.  The main financial setback that affected Utah was its inability to arrive at well negotiated employees’ salaries.  Due to its inability to discuss and agree on the workers’ salaries, all the employees are hired on contract.  As a result, Utah Symphony faced a lot of financial constrains and burden in paying salaries without considering the tickets of sales.  In as much as Utah Symphony had financial weaknesses, its strengths were that it was able to operate at endowments above average. In a larger view, Utah Symphony was regarded to be at the upper end of the Group II status.

In terms of leadership, the sole success in leadership of Utah Symphony was dependant on its two leaders. The two leaders were Keith (leader in charge of music) and Scott Parker (the chairman of the board).  However, when the CEO of Utah Symphony resigned, the company suffered from a major setback in its leadership structure.  As far as the operation levels are concerned, it was very difficult to get a competent professional to replace the CEO. The timelines of the resignation process were quite detrimental to the company’s general operation. This was due to the duress time at which Utah Symphony needed not to take more periods incorporating a new management in the business.

Recommendation

In order to make a proper coordination in the management that will ensure that there is a perfect merger, all the contracted employees should be treated equally.  For Anne to come up with a successful initiation of the merger, she should consider addressing all the weaknesses in question as well as improving on the strengths. She should analyze the operational, as well as financial status of the organization through the current ticket prices. In connection to that, she should come up with strategies on how to maintain the prices close to the current selling rates. Anne should also find out the best way to eliminate all the deficits in the organization.

Another strategy that would help Anne to come up with a successful merging is to retain professional employees in the leadership position. In connection to leadership, Keith (the music director) would help it  retain  in the merged business due to his knowledge on the employee issues. After a thorough leadership and financial analysis, an action plan needs to be developed in order to correct the problems as well as improve on the strengths. The best action plan to facilitate the whole merger process is that all the staff members should be placed in their appropriate positions.

Once a workable action plan has been developed, the plan should be adequately implemented. The implementation process would mean that all the workers in leadership position understand their core roles in the organization. For proper coordination of the leaders’ roles, there should be introduction of leaders training programs, such as seminars and workshops. In addition to that, all the workers employed under contract should be confirmed regular. Regular confirmation would empower them with negotiation power within the organization.

In regards to finances, the organization should come up with money saving schemes, such as salaries’ adjustments depending on the budget. In order to escape the continued burden and uncertainties of finding and hiring competent and qualified CEO, the organization can come up with strategies of training its regular employees to the managerial level. In case this is achieved, the organization can then cheaply hire the trained staff to managerial position.

Financial and Leadership Weaknesses and Strengths of the Utah Opera

The Utah Opera were financially affected with large debts extending to $450,000.  At the same time, the endowment funds grew to $5 million thereby increasing the numbers of production, as well as patrons. However, the leadership succeeded under the management of Anne Ewers. In her management, she used donations and fund raising strategies in collecting funds.  Anne raised the finances of the organization to $5 million from $1.5million. Before the merger, Opera did not have the fundraising strengths and therefore suffered financial constrains to an extent. The main leadership problem that affected Opera before the merging was its inability to properly coordinate decision making process. The chairmen frequently disagreed on the decisions made at the organization.

Recommendations

For the successful start of the merger, Anne should come up with a transition plan for joined work force with Symphony. She should also find out means of ensuring financial stability in the merger company. Fundraising strategies and goals should be met so as to boost the financial stability of the merger organization. In addition to the fundraising strategy, the organization should also come up with other models of increasing the capital base. Anne should also ensure that the chairmen have a good environment of working together. Each of the chairmen should be delegated specific roles, so as to alert other employees of the ongoing merger.

Scorecards Analysis

Both the scorecards represent cultures in both the organizations. The scorecard of Symphony shows detailed demonstration on how the organization runs under the clan culture. According to the business model, the organization is more internally focused in its operations. The Opera’s scorecard concentrates more on the market culture and its description. Opera is more focused on the external for revenue generation than internal.

The strengths that were addressed by the scorecards include having the ability to raise higher scale of funds in both companies. The Symphony scorecard demonstrates the financial culture, its weakness and addresses the corrective measures. The organization further ensures the top quality performer selection, so as to satisfy the audience. By ensuring the flexibility within the budget, the organization maximizes the profits achievable. The financial stability of the organization can only be achieved by improving the fundraising efforts. In order to secure the internal status, the organization should only hire the best. The ability to operate at a stable financial ground would attract more talented personnel due to the negotiating power. Periodical reviewing of the performers would ensure high quality production for probability measurements.

Strengths and Weaknesses of the New Proposed Merger Organization

The main strength of the merger is the ability to raise more funds. This is owing to the combined force of the two organizations. This poses a financial challenge of increasing the endowments. The strength, as far as the customers are concerned, is that the merger company would improve the quality of its services by hiring competent performers. The internal processing and negotiating abilities should be improved so as to meet proper operating skills. Another factor of concern in the merger is to facilitate satisfaction of the employees in the organization.

Probable Outcomes of the Merger Process

Financially, the organization would come up with ideas of improving the capital base. In terms of the human resources, there would be the ability to negotiate the payments through unions. The customers would still be able to enjoy free communication with the organization.

Mitigating Actions Recommendations

In order to ensure the successful fundraising ideas, Symphony and Opera should keenly analyze their previous fundraisers and come up with plans of how to improve their strategies. In order to effectively negotiate salaries and contracts, the merger leaders should come up with a strong bargaining unit.