Instructions
Stand-Alone Project:
Strategic Cultural Change (300 points)
You are the Assistant
Vice President of Carpetbagger’s Chemicals, a sixty-year-old company that
provides chemicals used to create and install indoor and outdoor carpet.
Your company has thrived on a “good old boy” network based on
relationship selling and personal delivery using a fleet of company-owned,
light-utility trucks driven by members of your sales force.
Recently, your
competition is threatening from several directions. Other chemical
companies, using national and regional transportation carriers and Internet
sales, are offering faster turn-around and lower prices. In addition,
carpet made in Asia and Australia is gaining in popularity in the United
States. Sales have been down for three years, and costs continue to rise.
The board of directors
of Carpetbagger’s Chemicals recently hired a new president to help turn the
company around. He has determined that it is necessary to create radical
change to make Carpetbagger’s Chemicals profitable again. These changes
will ultimately affect the very culture of your organization. There are
three (3) top priorities for the new president.
1.
Retool the sales force
to be more aggressive.
2.
Move delivery of
products from the sales force to independent national transportation carriers
(which will negate the need for the fleet of light utility trucks for the sales
force).
3.
Create a new,
international sales division to explore marketing Carpetbagger’s Chemicals to
carpet makers in other countries.
Develop a plan to
support this new strategy through human resources.
This Stand-Alone Project
is comprised of four (4) parts. Your Stand-Alone Project responses should be
both grammatically and mechanically correct and formatted in the same fashion
as the project itself. If there is a Part A, your response should
identify a Part A, etc. In addition, you must appropriately cite all
resources used in your response and document them in a bibliography using APA
style. (300 points) (A 10-page report, organizational chart, and
20-slide MS PowerPoint presentation are required for the combination of Parts
A, B, C, and D.)
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Part A
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Write a report
detailing how each of the following will support the change. (120 points)
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1.
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HR Strategy
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The new president of
Carpetbagger’s Chemicals has communicated his three priorities. Now, you must
decide how human resources will support those three priorities while staying
within your current budget. What, specifically, should you start now,
to support the change in your own department? Which HR functions will
need to change to support the new priorities? Would it help to
outsource any HR function or any portion of an HR function?
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2.
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Recruiting
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a)
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You may recall that
the three priorities of your new company president are as follows.
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1.
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Retool the sales force
to be more aggressive
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2.
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Move delivery of
products from the sales force to the fleet of light independent national
transportation carriers
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3.
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Create a new,
international sales division to market Carpetbagger’s Chemicals to other
countries
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b)
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As you develop your
plan, think about the following questions.
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1.
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What new staffing and
recruiting efforts will have to be made?
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2.
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Will you need updated
job descriptions?
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3.
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Will you need new Job
Analyses?
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4.
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Will you need to
hire/replace existing employees?
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Begin the planning
process now for the employees in your recruiting department. List
specific deliverables that you will need from them before your company can
move ahead. Also, consider the costs associated and how new staff will
fit into the organizational chart.
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3.
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Compensation and
Benefits
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Consider how your
compensation and benefits teams will help support the new strategic
initiatives of Carpetbagger’s Chemicals. Specifically consider the
following.
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1.
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Should you implement a
new salesforce pay plan?
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2.
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Since Carpetbagger’s
will be taking salespeople out of the delivery business, should you adjust
their compensation?
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3.
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How will the
international sales division be evaluated differently from the current
national sales force?
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4.
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How will in-country
vs. international managerial jobs be priced?
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Also, think about the
costs associated with the above considerations and make notes of them for
your Stand-Alone Project.
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4.
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Training and
Development
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The new initiatives
from upper management are going to require all sorts of training. The
old sales force will need new sales training. Employees will need to
know how to support the independent national transportation companies through
Bills of Lading, Safety Information, and general expectation
management. In addition, the new sales division will require product knowledge
training and sales training. Create a proposal to provide training in all of
the pertinent areas. Include plans for measuring training
effectiveness.
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5.
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Employee Relations
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Change can be
tough. These may be stressful times for employees at Carpetbagger’s
Chemicals. This is especially true for the sales staff. What will
you do to help relieve the stress? Will your initiatives be formal or
informal? Required or voluntary? Will you offer special contests or
incentives? Consider how you will communicate the upcoming change to
employees. What medium will you use? How will you handle
grievances after the change? Prepare now for the massive changes soon to come.
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6.
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Global HR
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One of your corporate
priorities is to create a new, international sales division to market
Carpetbagger’s Chemicals to other countries. Consider the following.
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1.
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How would you
recommend this new division operate?
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2.
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Would you outsource
the sales to overseas companies, move existing employees overseas, or move
key managers overseas and hire locals to sell the product?
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3.
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What challenges will
you face?
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4.
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What country should
you begin your international business in?
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Part B
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Create a new
organizational chart for the company. (Both MS PowerPoint and MS Excel
have functions that allow users to create organizational charts. You
may also download organizational chart templates from
http://www.office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/). (30 points)
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Part C
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Since this initiative
is new and not within scope of the current budget, you will need to provide a
detailed proposal highlighting additional human resource department costs for
communication, new staff (if necessary), training (design and delivery),
employee relations, pilot programs, consultant fees, etc. By the way,
the new Company President is a tightwad, so keep your costs low. (50
points)
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Part D
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Prepare a 20-slide MS
PowerPoint presentation to communicate your plans to the board of
directors. (100 points)
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