As growth has continued, Frontrunner has remained committed to providing dignity and youth development services to all residents in its facilities. The Board of Directors wants to see renewed commitment to the firms mission and core values, not a diffusion of its culture. Strategically, the board would want Frontrunner to be The place to be for youth. Not just ahead of competitors, but also far away ahead. The chairman of the board has emphasized that All plans & strategies have been developed, so there is no reason for not achieving our vision. However, some members express worries that there might be problems to address. Data acquired from interviews with employees suggest there is plenty to worry about.

Shift leader Norman Bibadi has been with Frontrunner for 15 years, he stated that Now that the government keeps a closer eye on our staffing levels, Ive seen management do what it can to keep positions filled, and I dont always agree with who is hired. Some of the basic job skills can be taught, sure, but how to care for our youtha lot of these new kids (employees) just dont pick up on that.

The problem isnt with staffits with Frontrunners focus on filling the centers, says one of the sport trainers. Reed Neyren. When I started here, Frontrunners reputation was still about the service. Now its about numbers. No one is intentionally negligentthere just are too many young adults to see.

A recent college graduate with a B.A. in psychology, David Melon is more stressed than he expected he would be. These arent the sweet youth you see in the movies. Our customers are demanding. They complain about everything, even about being called youth, probably because most of them think they are entitled to be here. A lot of times, their complains amount to nothing, but we have to cater for them anyway.

Nicole Riba has been with Frontrunner almost a year and is already considering finding a new job. I knew there were going to be physical parts to this job, and I thought Id be able to handle that. Its not like I was looking for a desk job; you know? I go home each day with aches all overmy back, my arms, my legs. Ive never had to take so much time off from a job because I hurt. And then when I come back, I feel like the rest of the staff thinks Im weak.

I started working here right out of high school because it was the best-paid of the jobs I could get, says Nancy Gath. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Now I really like my job. Next year Im going to start taking some night classes so I can move into another position. But some of the staff just thinks of this as any other job. They dont see the youth as people, more like inventory. If they want to work with inventory, they should get a job in retail.

Last month, the companys human resources department pulled the following information from its records at the request of the board of directors. The numbers provide some quantitative support for the concerns voiced by staff.

Injuries to staff occur mostly because of lack of good training. Youth incidents reflect injuries due to slips, falls, errors, or other accidents. Certified absences are days off from work due to medically verified illnesses or injuries. Other absences are days missed that are not due to injuries or illnesses; these are excused absences (unexcused absences are grounds for immediate firing).

Year	Youth (members)	Injuries Per Staff Member	Incidents Per member	Certified Absences Per Staff	Other Absences Per Staff	Turnover Rate
2000	21,200	3.32	4.98	4.55	3.14	0.31
2001	22,300	3.97	5.37	5.09	3.31	0.29
2002	22,600	4.87	5.92	4.71	3.47	0.28
2003	23,100	4.10	6.36	5.11	3.61	0.35
3004	23,300	4.21	6.87	5.66	4.03	0.31
2005	23,450	5.03	7.36	5.33	3.45	0.28
2006	23,600	5.84	7.88	5.28	4.24	0.36
2007	24,500	5.62	8.35	5.86	4.06	0.33
2008	24,100	7.12	8.84	5.63	3.89	0.35
2009	25,300	6.95	9.34	6.11	4.28	0.35

The company wants to use some organizational development methods and collect more data on the work environment and the employees, this is to be done in order to take an informed decision on creating change and re-energize its sense of mission. The human resources department conducted focus groups, asking employees to describe some of their concerns and suggestions for the future. The focus groups highlighted several suggestions, although they dont all suggest movement in the same direction.

Many suggestions concerned schedule flexibility. One representative comment was this: Most of the stress on this job comes because we cant take time off when we need it. The licensed practical staff who do much of the services cannot take time off when they need to, but a lot of them are parents or primary caregivers for their own children. When they must leave for childcare responsibilities, the work suffers and there is no contingency plan to help smooth things over. Then everyone who is left must work extra hard. The person who takes time off feels guilty, and there can be fights over taking time off. If we had some way of covering these emergency absences, we would all be a lot happier, and I think the care would be a lot better.

Other suggestions proposed a better method for communicating information across shifts. Most of the documentation for shift work is done in large spiral notebooks. When a new shift begins, staff members say they do not have much time to check on what happened in the previous shift. Some younger staff would like to have a method that lets them document youth development outcomes electronically, because they type faster than they can write. The older staff are more committed to the paper-based process, in part because they think switching systems would require a lot of work. (Government regulations on reporting require that any documentation be made in a form that cannot be altered after the fact, to prevent covering up abuse, so specialized software systems must be used for electronic documentation.)

Finally, the staff believes its perspectives on youth services are seldom given an appropriate hearing. Were the ones who are with the youth most of the time, but when it comes to doing this the right way, our point of view gets lost. We really could save a lot of money by eliminating some of these unnecessary routines and programs, but its something management always just says it will consider. Staff members seem to want some way to provide suggestions for improvement, but it isnt clear what method they would prefer.

Your Assignment

Frontrunner has taken some initial steps toward a new direction, but clearly it has a lot of work left to do. You have been brought in as a consultant to help the company in its efforts to be the leader in the youth development industry. Remember to create your report as if for the Board of Director of a major corporation. When you write your recommendations, make sure you touch on the following points:

1. From the data in the above table? Is there any concern about the company expansion plans? Reflect on the companys capabilities requirements for expansion.

2. Based on the information available in the case above, Analyze the internal & external environment of the company and highlight all the factors in the macro and micro-environments that could affect Frontrunners plans.

3. Reflect on the major elements of good strategy execution and propose suggestions for changes where warranted. Use good elements of strategy execution studied to guide your proposal.

4. The Board of Directors of Frontrunner has an ambitious vision of leading its competitors. Reflect on the readiness of the frontrunners culture for plans & strategies executions.

5. What advice would you provide for creating a leadership strategy? What leader behaviors should each center directors and team leaders demonstrate in order to facilitate good strategy execution?

6. If you are to design a survey to collect the information needed for long term planning and execution for frontrunner, what kind of questions you will ask or data you will gather. (a list will be enough).