HRM 587 Week 4 Barriers to Change Scenario 1 and 2

This pack of HRM 587 Week 4 Barriers to Change Scenario 1 and 2 covers:(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/SCs 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. Emotional Intelligence/Overcoming Resistance (Scenerio2)(Note: This case is a work of fiction.) Leftys 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.