Hector Gaming Company Hector Gaming Company [HGC'J is an educational gaming company specializing in young children's educational games. HGC' hasjust completed their fourth year of operation. This yeai' was a banner yeai' for HGC. The company received a large influx ofcapital for growth by issuing stock privately through an investment banking rm. It appears the return on investment for this past year will be just over 25 percent with zero debt! The growth rate forthe last two years has been approximately SO percent each year. Parents and grandparents ofyoung children have been buying HGC's products almost as fast as they are developed. Every member ofthe 56-person rm is enthusiastic and looking forward to helping the rm grow to be the largest and best educational gaming company in the world. The founder oftlte rm. Sally Peters. has been written up in Young Entrepreneur; as "the young entrepreneur to watch." She has been able to develop an organizational culture in which all stakeholders are committed to innovation. continuous improvement. and organization learning. Last year. [0 top managers ofHCiC worked with McKinley Consulting to develop the organizations strategic plan. This year the Page 61 same ID managers had a retreat in Aruba to formulate next year's strategic plan using the same process suggested by McKinley Consulting. Most executives seem to have a consensus ofwhere the rm should go in the intermediate and long term. But there is little consensus on how this should be accomplished. Peters. now president ofHGC'. feels she maybe losing control. The frequency ofconflicts seems to be increasing. Some individuals are always requested for any new project created. When resource conicts occur among projects. each project manager believes his or her project is most important. More projects are not meeting deadlines and are coming in over budget. Yesterday's management meeting revealed some top HGC talent have been working on an international business game forcollege students. This project does not t the organization vision or market niche. At times it seems everyone is marclting to his or her own drummer. Somehow more focus is needed to ensure eveiyone agrees on r'totr strategy should be implemented. given the resources available to the organization. Yesterday's meeting alarmed Peters. These emerging problems are coming at a bad time. Next week HGC is ramping up the size ofthe organization. number of new products per year. and marketing efforts. Fifteen new people will join HGC next month. Peters is concerned that policies be in place that will ensure the new people are used most productively. An additional potential problem looms on the horizon. Other gaming companies have noticed the success HGC is having in their niche market: one companytried to hire a key product development employee away from HGC'. Peters wants HGC to be ready to meet any potential competition head on and to discourage any new entries into their market. Peters knows HGC is project driven; however. she is not as condent that she has a good handle on how such an organization should be managedespecially with such a fast growth rate and potential competition closer to becoming a reality. The magnitude ofemerging problems demands quick attention and resolution. Peters has hired you as a consultant. She has suggested the following format for your consulting contract. You are free to Lise another format if it will improve the eectiveness ofthe consulting engagement. What is our major problem? Identify some symptoms ofthe problem. What is the major cause ofthe problem\".I Provide a detailed action plan that attacks the problem. Be specic and provide examples that relate to HGC