Case Study: Going Digital - Where to go from here? This case study

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Case Study: Going Digital - Where to go from here? This case study...

 

Case Study: Going Digital - Where to go from here?

This case study is used for the HRM5505 Business Capstone project course. The case has been adapted from the book by Karin Potting (2018). The supplementary material has been added to enrich the business situation.

Going Digital

Going Digital (GD) has existed for almost 20 years. GD is a company that develops software for organizations that want to develop a digital learning environment (Learning Management Systems) for their employees. The company operates out of Toronto.

GD had experienced some lean years during its existence. The company struggled to survive the financial crisis of 2008 and the subsequent recession. The banks even threatened to cut off the credit flow and management had to lay off some employees to reduce costs. In recent years however, GD has seen an upsurge; the company is growing, revenues and profits are increasing and the results are promising. Management has succeeded in tapping into a new market and seems to have sufficient orders for the coming year to be able to provide work for the talent base within GD. With the COVID- 19 pandemic raging, most companies are investing in online solutions to keep their homebound employees' skills and knowledge up to date.

Nevertheless, the new clients appear to be not very satisfied with the service and the talent supporting the products/projects. This is a point of concern for management since in order to keep growing the company needs to maintain its client base and build on that success by keeping its current and future clients satisfied. The company also needs committed and passionate employees, and in this respect, GD does not seem to be wholly successful.

A client satisfaction survey conducted recently indicated that in the clients' opinions, the training, which is offered as part of the software acquisition package did not fully support the implementation of the software. It also indicated that workload pressures at the clients' companies appear to have increased significantly after software deployment, which is surprising and the opposite of the expected effect of a learning management system LMS.

During a recent management meeting, one item on the agenda was addressing the survey findings. One of the marketing department managers expressed an opinion that the decrease in client satisfaction is primarily due to the "quality" of newly hired trainers. The manager believes that the trainers do not have the needed knowledge/experience to support software deployment for the clients. As a cost-reducing measure, many of these trainers are on short-term contracts and are hired once a new contract is signed with a client or shortly afterwards. Having special certification for trainers is not listed as essential on job ads. The marketing department head suggests that only certified trainers should be hired and allowed to deliver trainings, but management is unsure whether this will be a sufficient solution to the problem. Shouldn't the trainers and consultants improve

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customer relations? Consultants determine with the client how the software implementation is conducted. Alternatively, don't the account managers have a responsibility to support the trainers?

As the HR Director, you point out that employees who have direct contact with clients constitute just one of many influences on the organization's performance. Even the most qualified trainers cannot guarantee satisfied clients, particularly if the clients notice that the implemented software does not meet their expectations. Hence, the way that the software systems are developed and the internal communications taking place must also be considered. Everyone working for the company must be instilled with the notion that the client is central (customer first).

The second item on the agenda during the management meeting was to hear a proposal from the marketing department. The head of the Marketing and Business Development Department sees growth possibilities for GD abroad. Market research has shown that in several countries there is demand for a software development company such as GD. Management is open to expansion and plans to initiate such a project within one year. However, the company has not yet decided on a country for their expansion plans, nor did it decide on the type of business expansion best suited for the business needs.

You have a reservation: doing business abroad is different from operating in Ontario. Other than economic issues, there can be socio-cultural, political, legal, and other differences. In spite of your reservations, management believes that the time is right to seize the opportunities in the market, both in Canada as well as abroad. Among the countries under consideration, management is seriously looking into the United States. Management thinks that human resources must develop a compatible HR policy in order to bring GD's ambitions to fruition in the US.

You were hired as an HR Director 6 months ago to the HR department and advise on an integral, comprehensive and implementable HR policy.

Additional Information

 The clients are overall satisfied with the software especially developed for their organization. The clients expect GD to be able to incorporate the latest technological insights in their products and services.

 There is nothing to suggest that clients abroad will require other products or services than the especially designed software for their companies.

 Although there are ample orders for the coming year, it is still a challenge to deliver everything on time. The various orders are not evenly spread throughout the year. Nevertheless, management would like to accept all the orders and will expect the managers to deliver them on time.

 In an employee satisfaction survey, employees indicated cooperation among the departments is not always ideal. They also indicated that heads of departments primarily focus on the results of their own departments.

 Comparing absence due to sickness reveals that sick leave days at GD are on average 10% higher than the average within the industry. Employees feel little appreciation for their efforts to enable the company to obtain positive results again. They also say that their managers

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show little interest in them, that they are specialists who at a given stage were simply

promoted to managerial positions.

 There is no formal HR policy. In practice, there are performance reviews only when something

goes wrong. Your predecessor considered this important in order to have a record in the event that performance did not improve. Training activities are primarily offered in order to raise performance to the desired level.

 From the employee satisfaction survey, it appears that employees consider themselves well motivated in their work at GD. However, they also realize that with their qualifications they can easily find another job in the current labour market.

 GD is a unionized company. The union regularly discusses the issues within GD with management and expects you as an HR director to consider the outlined issues in the new HR policy. The union is willing to play a role in strengthening the company's future, but also considers itself to be the legal representative of the employees and has their interests at heart.

 Each new client is assigned:

o An account manager: Works on preparing an offer for a new client based on the clients

general requirements. Once a contract is signed, the account manager becomes responsible for setting up an implementation schedule and coordinates the assigned consultant's and trainer's efforts

o A consultant: The consultant is responsible for understanding the technical needs of a client. He/she works with their client to customize the software to fit those needs and is responsible for the initial setup of the software

o A trainer: Delivers the contractually agreed upon training hours clients, depending and level of package a client acquires. A trainer also delivers any additional trainings included in support plans, and trainings for any customizations or modules added by clients later on.

 Customer after-sale support plans:

 

    

TO DO :

Part I:

• How will the hiring policy and actions support the expansion efforts? Propose a position you believe will be essential for the project expansion. Create the job description for the position.
• State your complete recruitment plan for the filling of the new position. Give compensation structure for the new position. List any assumptions you make.
• Training and development within the company seems to be conducted haphazardly. Propose a more structured approach.

 

Part II:

• Present your plans to senior management (CEO, CFO, COO and VPs) during a meeting where a final decision on whether to expand into the US market or not will be taken. Your plan will be a big factor in making that decision. The CFO will be presenting the financial feasibility study, the COO the operations plan, and you and your team will be presenting on the human resources aspect.
• You will present an executive summary to senior management prior to the start of the meeting. This one-page document summarizes the major points from your presentation.
• Your presentation should be in Power Point format. The presentation will not exceed 15 minutes since other departments are also scheduled to present.
• The presentation is intended to convince senior management of the soundness of your analysis and plan.