Structuring the Unstructured Startup Adventure Tours is out to disrupt the travel industry

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Structuring the Unstructured Startup

Adventure Tours is out to disrupt the travel industry. It offers "authentic" small group adventures around cultural immersion, ecology tourism, spiritual wellness, and international volunteerism. For a premium price (almost double industry standards) you get a guide, pre-planned travel package, and 3 to 12 weeks of unconventional tourism. Excursions are available for families, inter-generational, and age-related groups.

Bookings have doubled year-over-year for the past 3 years and the strain is starting to show. The advisory committees in Adventure Tour's 23 regional offices are proposing local excursion packages too quickly. The quality is amazing but amenity contracts, licensing, and regulatory approvals are often incomplete. Even though local employees network regularly around the globe, some committee members still lack an understanding of their target markets in North America.

Human Resources has reinvented itself several times now. The Director has had to manage a large group of paid staff, interns, honoraria, retirees, and volunteers—all from head office in Toronto. HR managers in the regional offices are complying with local labour laws but the public is raising ethical concerns about the practices of other countries. This creates a public relations issue for customers on the excursions. In addition, there is a shortage of expedition leaders holding up the sale of excursion packages.

Expedition leaders are the backbone of the organization. They come from all ages and walks of life. The only thing they have in common is their knowledge of the local, culture, customs, and geography. To date, paper qualifications have been a poor predictor of competency. So when an excursion works, the organization is reluctant to demand proper accounting and reporting. KSAs are highly specialized and job analysis has shown no consistency from country to country.

The Director of Service has brought you in to develop new accountability and oversight mechanisms for the Human Resources department. The company has a culture of nurturing global citizenship through responsible and sustainable travel. This has led to unconventional practices such as recording business processes using personal reflection, consensus-based decision making, and problem solving through "mastermind" sessions that don't stay focused.

You are responsible for recommending a set common practices and consistent standards that can apply across the whole organization. Your need to respect the current culture and business climate while providing practical boundaries that make the process manageable. Your biggest challenges will be dealing with the regional offices remotely and proposing organizational changes in a fish bowl.

 

 

1. What knowledge, skills, abilities, (KSAs) should team members have to participate on this committee?
2. What functions, departments, or levels of the organization need to be represented?
3. What are the roles, responsibilities, and time commitments required of each team member?
4. What knowledge and training should be provided about the business problem being solved?
5. How will the team hold each other accountable for their work?