Essay on Management Problems That Faced GovWorks.com at Startup.Com

In the 2001 Startup.Com documentary, we are introduced to a small company named GovWorks.com whose main goal was to become an online venue that lets citizens access some services for the local government and thereby becoming an online revenue collector. The company sure makes millions from the onset but soon fails to grow to maturity. This paper looks at some of the problems that faced GovWorks.com, the sources of the problems as well as how fixable the problems were.

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The time span for most businesses that flop is approximately five years. Within this time frame, there is a a key turn around activities that need to be done in order to keep the business running. Some of these factors are mostly assumed by managers who run a startup organization contributing to the downfall of such businesses. The problems that faced GovWorks.com within the short time that it existed are as a result of assumptions the two managers made.

To start with, as an online company, GovWorks.com faces the problem of not being able to write the software (Startup.com (2001, Full Documentary), 2016). The company's objective was to develop a platform that would enable the local government collects parking fees, by online means. Even though this seemed like an ordinary task, it was not a walk in the park. No efficient method of achieving this milestone was in sight. The company lacked programming skills to collect parking fees. Moreover, all 200 employees they had at that time could not figure this out too.

Secondly, the two main leaders of the company deviated greatly from the main goal of the company to satisfy their craving to achieve money. The personal desire to make money at the expense of delivering better services to both the government they were working for and the citizens prevailed. This was a major problem in that they could not focus on delivering services that would automatically make them more money.

In addition to the menaces facing GovWorks.com, a major setback is witnessed as their offices are broken into and files, as well as equipment, stolen. The business lacked a system that would not have to depend on human skills. The security was lux, showing the inability of the managers to run the organization even though they had the technical skills.

Some of the sources of these problems came from the leadership of the organization itself. For instance, attributes of the personal lives of the two managers came to disrupt their business (Startup.com (2001, Full Documentary), 2016). A case example is where one of the manager's girlfriend pleads to be given more attention. To make matters worse, there was a communication problem between the company's directors and their lawyers. Due to this, the company loses a multi-million deal that could have enabled them to get more profit.

Interestingly, most of the problems facing GovWorks.com were fixable. By simply becoming the manager, technician, and entrepreneur, the two lead directors could have salvaged the company. First of all, they should have focused on the goal instead of letting their own greed get along the way. Employing qualified employees who could have come up with a way of collecting parking fees for the local government could have easily solved the problem of a systems failure.

Summarily, GovWorks.com faced problems that arose mainly due to managerial issues. For the short time that the business was running, the managers failed to make the business what they wanted it to be. In addition, having the technical skills to start up a business does not necessarily mean you can manage the business, as was the case in GovWorks.com.

References

Startup.com (2001, Full Documentary) [Video file]. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fd8pdniJZk