dq 1
WEEK
4: EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE/OVERCOMING RESISTANCE
2323 unread replies.3636 replies.
(Note: This case is a
work of fiction.) Lefty’s BBQ is a U.S. national restaurant chain which
serves beef, pork, and chicken barbecue along with Pepsi products, thin-cut
French fries or slaw as sides, and offers biscuits or garlic bread as well. The
restaurant operates as a drive-up only, with parking lots available at most
locations for people to sit and eat in their cars, as well as picnic tables
outside in some southern locations. The “average” customer is white male and
about 35-45 years old. Many of the workers in the chain are high school
part-time, hourly workers who operate the registers, clean-up, and cooking.
Managers range from the age of 18+. Lefty’s BBQ senior management has
implemented a change plan to introduce alcoholic beverages to its menu (beer
and wine only). This is going to impact quite a bit of the operations, and
certainly is going to impact the employee base, as in most states, to serve
alcohol will require employees to be a minimum of 21 years of age. Due to some
licensing issues, Lefty’s is also going to switch from Pepsi products to Coke
products along with introducing the beer and wine to its new menu. Unfortunately,
the press got a hold of this change in plan before senior management had
communicated the change to the rest of the employees throughout the country.
Identify, discuss, and begin to address the many resistances, emotional
intelligence issues, and unintended consequences which the management will face
and need to overcome and handle throughout this change.
dq 2
WEEK
4: BARRIERS TO CHANGE
1515 unread replies.3232 replies.
(Note: This case is a
work of fiction.) Addition/Subtraction Company (A/SC) is a textbook
publisher for math education, including 1st grade through graduate school
levels. The company has been supplying textbooks to public education schools
(grade – university level) for 55 years. The company has always prided itself
on the loyalty it shows to its employees in that almost all of its authors are
full-time employees, and very little of the work done in the organization is
farmed out to independent contractors. However, over the last 10 years, the
earnings of the company have taken a huge hit, partly because of the No Child
Left Behind Act, which caused some of A/SC’s textbooks to fall out of print
before they made a profit, and partly because of the increase in costs due to
the company’s health insurance premiums when a large number of their employee
base (and their families) contracted serious illnesses requiring lengthy and
expensive treatments which has impacted the bottom line of the company. The HR
Vice President has reviewed the business practices of their two main
competitors, and realized that they are making their profits because they rely
mainly on independent contractor authors, paying them only royalties on sales
versus the salary/benefits packages which A/CS employees make. Further, because
the other companies have a wide open subject matter expert pool by using
independent contractors, they are much more nimble at reacting to changes in
need of the market, and they can offer more math areas in their textbooks,
giving them a larger market share. In fact, the last projection which was done
by the marketing team showed that A/CS was going to be out of business in two
years if they don’t change something quickly. The HR Vice President is going to
recommend to her CEO that the author group of employees (numbering 510) be
downsized out of the company and replaced with independent contractors.
Further, because of certain employment laws, none of those who are downsized
will be invited back as independent contractors. The publishing team will be
expected to work with independent contractors and manage all book writing
projects using less human power as well. That team will be downsized by 15%
over the next year. Choices of “who” will be downsized will be based on a
review of the last two years of performance evaluations, seniority, and roles.
This week, discuss the barriers that will exist to successful implementation of
this change. Along with discussing how the change itself will be perceived by
the employees, talk about risks to the company, internal and external factors
which will create barriers, and challenges to overcome them.
