Joline Godfrey and the Polaroid Corporation Essay

Executive SummaryThe critical problems Polaroid faced in the Jo origination Godfrey and the Polaroid Corporation (A) case are the wishing of structures to actualise innovations and the absence seizure of mechanisms to develop talents. Polaroids condescension revolved around a single product category, which had been under the threat of emerging technologies. The company had retrenched to a narrow focal point on profit through cost-cutting and short- termination sales promotions instead of avocation innovations for strategic repositioning. The companys applied science orientation and respect for rising-through-the-ranks made it unvoiced for innovative endeavors and talents from a different background (particularly females) to bring active strategic changes. The organizational deficiencies at Polaroid manifested themselves through a series of unorthodox choices and manoeuvres of Jo enclosure Godfrey and her mentor Jerry Sudbey, which time-tested to circumvent internal limitati ons to obtain financial and human resources for the exploration of a strategic alternative. With limited trust and regards for imposing processes, Joline turned her Odysseum project into a undercover experiment and failed to compromise tactically with key corporate s make waterholders to garner back down and legitimacy.The project gradually lost its counsel and internal support and the failed initiative cumulated in Jolines derailment as an agent of change and a young talent with promising creativity. To prevent adversitys like Joline and her Odysseum project from repeating themselves, we recommend from Polaroids organizational survey to 1)Introduce a project care office to provide guidelines, assess viability, prioritize resources and establish milestones and deliverables to materialize innovative ideas 2)Introduce a mentorship program to provide advanced potential staff with structured training, line exposure, project exposure and strategic guidance for them to flourish.Th e Problems and How They AroseThe critical problems Polaroid faced in the Joline Godfrey and the Polaroid Corporation (A) case are the lack of structures to support innovations and the absence of mechanisms to develop talents.Polaroids business revolved around a single product category, which had been under the threat of emerging technologies. After the seclusion of its founder, the company had retrenched to a narrow focus on profit through cost-cutting and short-term sales promotions instead of business innovations for strategic repositioning. The companys engineering orientation and respect for rising-through-the-ranks had built a collection of like-minds which reinforced this lack of openness, making it difficult for innovative endeavors and talents from a different background (particularly females) to bring ab erupt strategic changes.The Negative ConsequencesThe organizational deficiencies at Polaroid manifested themselves through an unorthodox mentor-apprentice relationship bet ween Jerry Sudbey and Joline Godfrey. In an attempt to explore a strategic alternative to carry on with external changes, they took a series of choices and manoeuvres that circumvented Polaroids internal limitations. Jolines Odysseum project took on a private experiment flavour and gradually lost its direction and support from Polaroids corporate structure. To Polaroid, the failure of the Odysseum initiative not only cumulated in the derailment of Joline as a young talent with promising creativity, but excessively spelled an opportunity missed perhaps for a critical corporate change.What Went Wrong?While Polaroids senior management claimed to embrace innovation, they did not walk the blabber. As much as Jerry saw the need for Polaroid to evolve with its environment through Jolines Odysseum project, the initiative lived on a patch release budget. Financial support needed to be solicited from different functions, most of which through personal relationships rather than formal autho rity and endorsement. The project team had been assembled from volunteers who worked during private hours. Without stand-alone budget and resources, Jolines drive for innovation faced tremendous pressure and took a hit in times of cost-cutting. The strategic instinct and personal rapport that Jerry had with peers and top management could only carry the initiative through a short distance, but not to the end where a fundamental change in the way Polaroid does business might have come about. Jolines career at Polaroid had revolved around ad-hoc projects initiated by senior management (e.g. corporate downsizingand the Spetra launch).Through these passing unstructured opportunities, Joline had developed a knack for thinking out-of-the-box and taking on challenges at her own initiative. Joline was creative, energetic and highly driven. She had the charisma not only to take up followers but also elicit the best out of them. However, without well-structured training and guidance from Pol aroids hierarchy, Joline remained a dreamer with no hand-on experience in line functions that are essential for creditability and respect in Polaroids conservative culture. With few opportunities to work through and appreciate the formal structures and processes in Polaroid, she had developed a drift to go her own way, unimpeded and even to a degree of stubbornness that she simply refused to compromise tactically with key corporate stakeholders (e.g. the marketing department) to garner support and legitimacy for her Odysseum project (see Exhibit 1).What Can Be Done to Avoid a Repeat?While it may be convenient to pin the failure of Odysseum, the mentor-apprentice relationship, and Jolines derailment on the personal ineffectiveness of herself and Jerry, it would be far more meaningful rather for Polaroid to address innovation and executive development from an organizational perspective (see Exhibit 2). Firstly, we suggest the introduction of a project management office (PMO) to conso lidate, support and control innovative endeavors. Individuals and teams are encouraged to formulate ideas into structured proposals with put on objectives, benefit and cost assessments, milestones, deliverables and adoption and cut-loss thresholds. The PMO will evaluate the proposals in terms of strategic fit, potential impacts and viability, prioritize the chosen ones, and procure resources and support for their incubation. The PMO will take projects with promising interim results to line departments for critique and validation, then formalize them as corporate initiatives and monitor their implementation progress.The cost of a PMO would likely be a couple of executives with good knowledge of organizational structure and business and financial processes to keep new ideas moving a extensive. The key benefits of a PMO are the pronounced loading to and structural support for intrapreneurship, which would foster innovation while keeping initiatives practical and realistic to yield pr ofits for the organization over bothshort and long terms. Secondly, to protect talented but inexperienced executives from failing through derailment cracks, we recommend the establishment of a training and mentorship program. Staff with potentials will each be assign to a mentor from senior management, who will provide strategic guidance and help the staff develop key networks.The mentorship will be coupled with short-to-medium term assignments to business and functional lines to help the staff acquire hard-skills conforming to company standards and values. This balance of top-down and bottom-up approaches will help the staff understand business processes from strategic planning through to procedural execution. Cost of the program will likely be extra time spent by senior managers (as mentors) and line managers (as trainers). But rewards will be long and plentiful it will help the organization establish talent pipelines and solidify succession plans, which will enhance its long-t erm sustainability.1. The market (external environment) is changing evolving from film to electronic photography. 2. Sudbey as a corporate leader had a vision for Polaroid to reposition to a service orientation. 3. Project Odysseum was carried out mostly through informal structures and lost track in the end. 4. Polaroid lacked the formal structures to support innovation (e.g. financing, human resources, strategic guidance, etc.). 5. Changes are needed in formal structures(introduction of Project Management Office and Mentorship Program). 6. The new formal structures would trigger changes in how different components of the organizational architecture interact with each other (e.g. leadership involvement, work process for incubation of innovative ideas, etc.). 7. Polaroid would benefit as an organization and its staff would have venues to materialize their innovative ideas and develop skills to evolve into competent executives.