Robin Hood’s band is facing a lot of problems regarding the movement of his campaign, outlook of his people, and the new ways of the Sheriff. Robin Hood needs to access every aspect wherein he can develop a plan to arrange the band and lead the campaign properly. Robin Hood’s campaign started to be a one man team. He believed that if he would be able to encourage people to join him, it would be easier for him to revolt against the Sheriff. During the second year of his campaign, the number of people who has joined him grew in numbers.
This was of course favorable but has developed different problems along the way. Increase in number has directly affected the increase in camp space and food supply. The cost of buying food has also increased which results to declining of the funds of the band. Also, the increase in number resulted to a harder way to lead the members since Robin Hood does not know half of the men in the band. Discipline is running low on which caused these men to play around during raids. The Sheriff was able to increase his range of power by being funded by Prince John which is a big threat to Robin Hood’s band.
The Sheriff is becoming stronger and he is beginning to turn tables against the band. The question is how can Robin Hood handle these internal and external problems? II. Background of the Case Robin Hood always had a thing for justice – in fact, he had a motto, “Rob the rich and give to the poor” which would explain why he raised a revolt against the High Sheriff of Nottingham when a conflict arose between them. Robin Hood then looked for people, men to be with him and back him up. In the first year, he disciplined the group called the “Merry Men” and united them for his common purpose.
Robin was the boss, and they had a centralized type of organization wherein he made all the major decisions, but tasks were delegated. Word spread of his band, and it rapidly increased in size. It was getting harder to train and discipline his men, and their financial reserves were quickly being depleted. Robin Hood then thought that instead of confiscating the goods of the people that entered the forest, they should tax them instead and receive steady income. The merry men however opposed this idea, worried that their allies may leave them in the middle of their fight against the Sheriff.
But the Sheriff was growing stronger and was becoming better organized and there was no way Robin could see that the Sheriff could be removed from office, especially since he had friends in high places, including the regent Prince John. Prince John was not popular with the people because they favored and wanted back King Richard who was in prison. Prince John was scared of the barons who made him regent but are now beginning to regret that decision. These barons are now planning to collect ransom that would release King Richard from jail, and Robin was invited to join the conspiracy.
Robin found it to be extremely risky. III. Objectives 1) To organize the band (BASIS: Robin Hoods band have increase its number due to popularity, as a leader he has to make a strategy that will help organize its members. ) 2) To increase financial revenue and food stock (BASIS: Robin Hoods increasing number of members have scarce their resources, thus he must find a way to strategically increase their supply to provide for the band. ) 3) To prevent further advancement of the sheriffs men BASIS: Robin Hood’s number one enemy the Sheriff has been training and improving its men and resources for the past year, He must find a way to stop its advancement before they get struck down by the Sheriff. ) 4) To sustain their belief (BASIS: Robin Hood’s band have lost track of their ideals, he must find a way to encourage everyone to achieve their goal “Rob the Rich, Give to the Poor”. ) IV. Industry AnalysisNew Entrants- Determined to be a low threat New Entrants- Determined to be a low threat Buyers- Determined to be low threat Buyers- Determined to be low threat
Suppliers- Determined to be a high threat Suppliers- Determined to be a high threat Rivalry- Determined to be a high threat Rivalry- Determined to be a high threat Substitute Products- Determined to be low to moderate Substitute Products- Determined to be low to moderate The two main threats facing Robin Hood are the intensive threat of competitive rivals and threats to suppliers. Prince John and the Sheriff are Robin’s main rivals and pose a definite threat to his operations. They are in direct competition with each other, and their actions have to constantly be monitored.
They pose a high level threat, because of the threat of an attack, taxations to the residents of the forest, and their persistent efforts to capture Robin Hood and his Merrymen. Suppliers are high level threat, because at any point those who support Robin Hood could be captured by Prince John and the Sheriff, thus cutting off supplies. Also, the bargaining power of the suppliers is high simply because of the business Robin is involved in. His business is legal and therefore a high level threat to anyone who supplies to him. Threat from buyers is currently a low evel threat because an objective of Robin’s is to give to the poor. They have no reason to pose any threat unless Robin would tax them. The threat of new entry is also low. Individuals will likely to be more willing to join Robin, which has now also become a problem of Robin’s. V. Areas of Considerations/ Assumptions OPPORTUNITIES: * Robin Hood has the opportunity to run a successful campaign if they manage properly their increased band. ( Basis: Increased man power) * It is also an opportunity for the increased band to penetrate different jobs at the same time.
Basis: Increased man power) * With the increased man power, strategy and campaigns will be easier to execute because of the different qualifications and expertise the men can offer thus increasing the flexibility of the group. ( Basis: Increased man power) * The increased band has the opportunity to finish campaigns faster. ( Basis: Increased man power) * Robin Hood has the opportunity of receiving a future amnesty for the Merrymen if they on the other hand pursue the dangerous campaign. ( Basis: Risk and Return) * Opportunity to finance the band with the proposed transit tax. Basis: Political) * Inability of Sheriff to collect tax can remove the Sheriff to his position. (Basis: Political) THREATS: * With the continuous increase in the number of Robin Hood’s merry men, he found it increasingly difficult to control them all and instill discipline. Most of which are also unknown to him and so this will also affect the camaraderie of the whole group. * Their group of bandits has also grown too big for their hiding place. They can now be easily seen since they can no longer use the forest as an advantage in hiding.
The group has grown too big for each member’s potential to be maximized. Only a selected few are the ones doing all the tasks while the others go about their business. In effect, their image has suffered. * The Sheriff’s personnel’s was steadily growing, becoming more powerful and better of organized. * Most of the money they were stealing from the rich was no longer being distributed to the poor. * If the provision of tax were implemented by Robin Hood, the tendency is that most of his merry men may leave the group and their goal which is “Rob the Riches and Give it to the poor” will be worthless. If Robin joins the conspiracy, the barons might possibly remove the amnesty they offer once the King is already released. * The Sheriff has a strong political connection through Prince John which gives him reinforcement. * The Sheriff is studying the weaknesses of the Bandits. If Robin Hood does not act or make immediate plans, then they will be caught in time. * Prince John has spies everywhere and might bust the plan for rescuing the King. VI. Alternative Courses of Action ACA 1: Improve the recruitment process
Just letting anyone a member of the group has been the source to several issues plaguing the Merrymen. Candidate should have a particular set of skills to allow entry. For example, farming. The lack of food and provision can first be solved by recruiting farmers and hunters to the group who solely focus on these issues. ACA 2: Aim for a better management system Departmentalization is recommended. Since the largest internal issue facing the group has stemmed from its size, identify the candidates who can help manage the discipline, resources, provisions and intelligence gathering.
Since the largest resource the group has is its manpower, utilization can yield great results. ACA 3: Distribute merrymen to different parts of the forest and have a leader Due to the increasing size of the band, Robin Hood can distribute evenly the merrymen to different parts of the forest and would be ruled by a leader. The leaders would have a meeting with Robin Hood every week at Sherwood Forest and would report the different raids that each group has done. In this way, Robin Hood can rule the group without having to go through knowing every member of his band. VII. Recommendation/ Conclusion
In every conflict, the first one that should be prioritized to be solved is the internal problem. In this case, Robin Hood’s internal problem lies with the increasing number of his band. This has dealt a good result because it increased the manpower of the band but has also given a negative result because the management of the people got out of hand. Our group chose ACA 2 since this would solve the problems of Robin Hood internally and externally. If he would be able to improve his management system, he would be able to monitor his band properly and also the Sheriff’s company.
Departmentalization would improve the administration of his band since he would be able to gauge the different capacities and abilities of every member of the band. Each member would be placed according to what they are good at. Members can be distributed evenly from those who are good at cooking, farming, financing, attacking camps, monitoring the camp etc. If this has been implemented properly, problems regarding food capacity would be solved since food supply can be gathered from those members who are good in farming which would also decrease the financial costs of buying food from other villages.
Also, this would be able to answer the problem regarding the Sheriff’s recent moves. If the merrymen are sorted out, Robin Hood can know which members have analytical and technical skills which can help of tracking down and taking down Sheriff’s men. Only the finest members would be taken into raids and sack resources while others do their different duties at the camp. This would improve not only the campaign of Robin Hood but would help them be back in line with their motives of helping the poor.
