A small government contractor, ABC Consulting, contacted the staffing company, Strategy for Human Resources (SHR), to seek help with the extraordinary staff acquisition challenge it faced. Challenge ABC Consulting received a contract for a part of the national border security rollout, which required extensive additional temporary human resources for success. With less than 4 weeks' notice and thus no time for planning, the contract required the immediate hiring and training of a large temporary staff. The human resource director started the hiring process immediately but was not confident about his ability to successfully fulfill the agreed-upon contractual obligations. Constantly fluctuating staffing requirements, rollout locations were changing on a daily basis, and the hiring operations requiring constant extensive coordination and prime contractor/government client interaction posed a huge challenge for ABC. Human resource management was feeling totally exhausted after 1 month of intensive round-the-clock work. The company's structure was not capable of supporting the extensive growth in such a short time-period. The company needed to hire 15 times its current staff for this temporary project; 75 percent of these temporary hires were first-level managers, technical and finance staff, and logistics experts. Also, all locations across the United States needed to be staffed. Action ABC engaged SHR to help with the unusual staff acquisition challenge it encountered. SHR took over management of the human resources acquisition effort and

 • Created a temporary recruiting function and human resources staff.

 • Hired 2,000 people in less than 7 weeks. 

• Developed and communicated specific human resource management (HRM) policies and practices for the project. • Trained managers on employee discipline and relationship issues. • Established guidelines for all these temporary employees. 

• Established a human resources call center to address employee needs. 

• Developed effective, frequent communications with all locations and employees.

• Developed an incentive compensation plan. 

• Created a template for future efforts. 

• Provided extensive coaching and counseling to existing management to mitigate stress. 

• Completed a benefits review, chose a new broker and benefits plans, and communicated to employees. 

• Coached managers on disciplinary actions and terminations. 

• Interviewed hired several executives. 

• Established a new human resources organization for future needs and interviewed candidates for human resources director. 

Conclusion With the help from SHR, ABC Consulting met the challenge and met the staffing needs, which ensured its success on this project. The prime contractor and the federal government commended the company for its excellent services.

Questions

1. Pre-assignment, negotiation, and acquisition are tools for acquiring the project team. Which of these tools has been used in this case?

2. Was ABC Consulting's decision to procure the services of SHR a wise move? 

3. What are the key staffing challenges discussed in this case? Explain.

4. Which of the triple constraints of the project (schedule, budget, and scope) was most unstable in the project mentioned in this case?

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

1 The tool that has been used in this case is acquisition Acquisition involves seeking external resources to fulfill staffing needs In this case ABC C... View the full answer