Refer to the Case in the textbook for detailed information. Your completed case study should consist of: Case summaryIdentify the problemPresent several alternatives or scenariosIndicate their best r

Case Study 3: A Talent and Rewards Strategy at EZP Consulting

Discussion Questions

What is the strategy of EZP Consulting, and how is it changing? What is driving the change in the strategy?

How are the current people and rewards practices out of alignment with the changing strategy? How do the existing roles need to change? What will be the important changes to the people and rewards aspects of the organization design?

What recommendations will you make to Sam in your next meeting to describe the job requirements of the two new roles? How will you define rewards for these roles?

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“Here’s the conundrum I have been investigating. How can we complete 96 percent of our consulting projects with our clients on time and below budget, and yet also have just a 66 percent client satisfaction rate?” Sam Warner was pacing the room, deep in thought. It seemed to Desiree Morris, the talent management consultant at EZP Consulting, that Sam’s question was expressed as half rhetorical, half in disbelief. The two were meeting in a glass-walled conference room on the 23rd floor of the downtown office building that comprised EZP Consulting headquarters.

EZP Consulting is a small boutique professional services consulting firm. It is much smaller than the Accentures or Deloittes in the management consulting industry, but has generally been well-respected until a recent downturn. They specialize in implementing video collaboration software for medium-size global businesses that have a virtual workforce and need the ability to connect employees via video streaming in major office locations. EZP works with clients on projects to install video software and equipment and to manage the complex information technology requirements of the implementation. EZP Consulting does not design or sell the video equipment. Clients turn to EZP after they have bought the equipment from the original manufacturer and they need a third-party professional firm to install it.

Not long after Sam arrived 6 months ago he made an immediate impact. Unlike many other senior vice presidents that had come before him in his role, Sam managed several consulting projects on his own as a way of understanding EZP’s processes, infrastructure, products, and talent. After the first few of these projects were completed, Sam began making changes to his organization. He streamlined the standard implementation protocol, eliminating unnecessary bureaucracy. He reduced the number of approvals required on client project change orders to put more control in the hands of the implementation team. Recently, he also restructured the organization into four functional departments: client partnerships, project management, technology engineering, and change management.

“I’ve made some important discoveries in my work on actual project teams,” Sam continued. “I found that project managers are burdened by red tape in our outdated processes. A minor change request that added only 6 to 8 hours of project time came all the way to me for approval, frustrating our teams and delaying the project. They should have the authority to make those changes on their own. We added three layers of quality checks on every step of the process, even when there had never been an error requiring so much infrastructure on the project. We would fly someone from Denver to Charlotte just to check that basic cables were plugged in correctly,” Sam said, exasperated.

“That sounds time consuming and expensive,” Desiree agreed.

“It is, but to be truthful, those were practices that only affected us. Clients did not really notice. Our profits were impacted by the increased expenses on our consulting projects. No, what causes client dissatisfaction is our inability to establish an effective client partnership and help them improve their business practices. We approach our consulting projects as technology implementations. We install, plug in, test, verify. We make sure the video equipment is functioning. When we leave, the power is on and a clear video image shows up on the screen,” Sam began. “That is all important. But it cannot be enough.”

“Back in the days when video equipment was extremely complicated, the average client required our help. It wasn’t like putting together an IKEA bookcase with easy to read written instructions. There were software bugs and a maze of cords and cables to run. But today things have changed. Our clients are more sophisticated and knowledgeable. The products are more intuitive and easier to use. The projects are still complicated, and clients do want our help,” Sam added, “but they also expect us to help them use the products they have purchased to improve collaboration in their organizations.”

“In addition, one trend I see is that more of our clients are renting equipment instead of owning it. Part of this trend is because they do not want the huge initial expense of a large equipment purchase, but the bigger benefit to them is that they also gain the ability to upgrade the equipment much more easily. When they do that, ideally they will call us back to help them with the upgrade. We get repeat customers. We also want to expand our services into other kinds of technology implementations beyond video, but we can’t continue to grow our business unless we have customers who are loyal and turn to us again and again,” Sam offered. “They will only do this if they are highly satisfied with their experience with us.”

“Our organization was designed for a kind of project that was focused on one thing—a quick and inexpensive technology implementation—but our organization in the future needs to be focused on customer satisfaction and a client-partnership mentality that encourages repeat business. We need to instill this mindset in our project teams, and today we have defined the project work on just a small part of what the teams need to do. All of the work today stops after the implementation is completed. We leave the client site and they never hear from us again because we don’t follow up with clients to answer questions or resolve any problems that have come up.” Sam paused. “The reason we have such low client satisfaction scores is because we are only meeting a small portion of their needs.”

Desiree summarized. “You are saying that our project teams are doing what we have asked, but what our clients need and expect from us is starting to change. I can see a ton of implications for how our teams work with our clients and how our project teams are structured and rewarded.”

“That’s right,” Sam continued. “From our clients’ perspective, we are missing the point. They want help training their employees and explaining why video collaboration tools will help their employees work together more effectively. Our role should be much more than plugging in equipment.”

“Tell me more about how the project teams work,” Desiree responded.

“Currently we have only two roles on a project team: the project manager, who maintains the budget and project timeline, and the technology engineers that do the implementation work. The whole team gets a 5 percent salary bonus at the end of the project if they come in under deadline and under budget. This reward system also has to change,” Sam answered.

“I created two new departments because I also want to add two new roles to our projects. First is the client partner, who has the responsibility for client satisfaction and the client relationship. That person should be able to identify other ways that we can work with our clients in the future and generate repeat business. The client partner should understand the client’s business and advise them. Second, I also want a change management consultant added to the team, to help create training programs and help the client with a rollout plan for their employees. The change consultant will create communication packages so that our clients can effectively use the technology and increase collaboration among employees in their organizations. I still want to provide a bonus plan for the team, and project budgets and timelines are still an important way for us to measure our success, but the bonus plan also needs to be based on client satisfaction. Somehow we also need to reward for ongoing work with a client and growth of future business.

“Here are the job descriptions that we currently have.” Sam handed Desiree a sheet of paper with both job roles explained.

Sam summarized, “I need your help in updating these and creating new ones for the new roles on our implementation teams. More than that, however, I need your help in outlining our talent strategy. I want you to develop a talent program that explains changes we need to make in these areas:

Write the job descriptions for client partner and change management consultant. Research how other professional services organizations (like Accenture and Deloitte) describe these roles and list the main 5 to 10 activities we should expect them to perform.

Job Description: Project Manager