The Core Problem Facing King Engineering

The Core Problem Facing King Engineering  
Executive Summary (~200 words)
The core problem facing King Engineering is a lack of a definite structure to assess the company’s performance. With such a problem, the company is unable to track its progress or assess its progress against a set or adopted measures. This problem has been caused by several elements, including the many changes the company has experienced in the recent past and a lack of coherence between corporate managers and group managers. Further, this problem is exacerbated by factors like poor innovation in the company that limits growth, the disconnect between the younger and older employees, and the great emphasis on numbers and hitting targets instead of adopting practical measures. To help avert the core problem, the company could either choose to the alternative of developing company-wide goals. These should be divided into short- and long-term goals to help ease the process of tracking progress and performance. The other solution or recommendation would be to adopt the balanced scorecard system. With this system, the company would be able to develop unit-specific objectives and track its progress using objective-specific KPIs. This recommendation is preferred because, first, it is specific to each business unit, and second, it makes sure that growth is assessed objectively.
Introduction
For a company that has been in existence for more than half a century, one would think that a solid foundation or structure would be the least of its problems. However, this is not the case for King Engineering. King Engineering is a service engineering and construction firm that grew to a powerhouse by the year 2016. Through its three main business units, including the Transportation Group, the Energy & Chemicals (E&C), and the Infrastructure & Technology (I&T), the company was able to make a name for itself and to traverse the business world. However, a number of issues have plagued the company in the recent past, and these have greatly contributed to its stagnation and struggles recently. Provided in this case analysis is King’s main problem, the causes of the core problem, a discussion of the probable alternatives, a recommendation of the apt alternative, and an action and implementation plan to help actualize a turnaround for the company.
Problem Statement (~50 words)
The core problem facing King is the lack of a definite structure to assess the company’s performance. Without a definite structure or management system that allows the company to assess its performance against set objectives objectively, it becomes difficult to actualize rewards, assess the company’s progress, and project the future. Further, it is challenging to implement contingencies that can cater to unforeseen circumstances. This brings about the controllability principle and its influence in determining the influence of actions or inaction that took place over a period of time (Merchant & der Stede, 2017). So, the lack of a definite structure to assess the company’s performance is crippling King’s progress.
Analysis (~900 words)
One of the causes of the core problem identified is the changes the company has experienced in the...