Case Study:

Going Digital HR Business Capstone Project This case study is used for the HR Business Capstone project for 2nd semester postgraduate HRM students. The case has been adapted from the book by Karin Potting (2018). The supplementary material has been added to enrich the business situation. Going Digital: What is Next? Going Digital (GD) has existed for almost 20 years. GD is a company that develops software for organizations that want to develop a digital learning environment (Learning Management Systems) for their employees. The company has had good years with high profits. However, GD has also experienced some leaner years. The company struggled to survive the financial crisis of 2008 and the subsequent recession. The banks even threatened to cut off the credit flow and management had to lay off some employees to reduce costs. In recent years however, GD has seen an upsurge; the company is growing, revenue is increasing and the results are promising. Management has succeeded in tapping into a new market and seems to have sufficient orders for the coming year to be able to provide work for the talent base within GD. However, the new clients appear to be not very satisfied with the service and the talent supporting the clients. This is a point of concern for management, since in order to keep growing, the company not only needs satisfied returning clients but also committed and passionate employees and in this respect, GD does not seem to be wholly successful. The client satisfaction survey indicated that the training, which is offered as part of the software purchase package did not fully support the implementation of the software. It also indicated that work pressures at the clients companies appeared to have increased significantly after software deployment. One of the Marketing and Communication Department managers suggests that the decrease in client satisfaction is primarily due to the quality of the newly hired trainers. The manager believes that the trainers do not have the needed knowledge to support software that is being installed for the clients. Many of these trainers are on short-term contracts as they are hired once the software is implemented for a client. The head of the Marketing and Communication Department suggests that only certified trainers should give the training, but management is unsure whether this will be a sufficient solution to the problem. Shouldnt the trainers/consultants improve customer relations? Consultants determine with the client how the software implementation is conducted. Alternatively, dont the account managers have a responsibility to support the trainers? As the HR manager, you point out that those employees who have direct contact with clients, such as account managers and trainers/consultants are just one of many influences on the organizations performance. Even the most qualified trainers cannot guarantee satisfied clients, particularly if the clients notice that the implemented software does not meet their expectations. Hence, the way that the software systems are developed and the internal communications taking place must also be considered. Everyone working for the company must be instilled with the notion that the client is central (customer first). 2 | P a g e The head of the Marketing and Communication Department sees growth possibilities for GD abroad. Market research has shown that in several countries there is demand for a software development company such as GD. Management is open to setting up an office abroad and plans to initiate such a project within one year. However, the company has not yet decided on a country for their expansion plans. You have a reservation: doing business abroad is different from operating in Ontario. Other than economic issues, there can be socio-cultural, political, legal, and other differences. In spite of your reservations, management believes that the time is rightto seize the opportunities in the market, both in Canada as well as abroad. Among the countries under consideration, management is seriously looking into the Netherlands. Management thinks that human resources (your group being the lead) must develop a compatible HR policy in order to bring GDs ambitions to fruition in the Netherlands. You were hired as an HR Manager 6 months ago to advise on an integral, comprehensive and implementable HR policy. Further information You may make use of secondary resources to do extensive industry research to establish trends and pattern. The clients are overall satisfied with the software especially developed for their organization. The clients expect GD to be able to incorporate the latest technological insights in their products and services. There is nothing to suggest that clients abroad will require other products or services than the especially designed software for their companies. Although there are ample orders for the coming year, it is still a challenge to deliver everything on time. The various orders are not evenly spread throughout the year. Nevertheless, management would like to accept all the orders and will expect the managers to deliver them on time. In an employee satisfaction survey, employees indicated cooperation among the departments is not always ideal. They also indicated that departments managers primarily focus on the results of their own departments. The sick leave days at GD are on average 10% higher than the average within the industry. Employees feel little appreciation for their efforts to enable the company to obtain positive results again. They also say that their managers show little interest in them, that they are specialists who at a given stage were simply promoted to managerial positions. There is no formal HR policy. In practice, there are performance reviews only when something goes wrong. Your predecessor considered this important in order to have a record in the event that performance did not improve. Training activities are primarily offered in order to raise performance to the desired level. From the employee satisfaction survey, it appears that employees consider themselves well motivated in their work at GD. However, they also realize that with their qualifications they can easily find other jobs in the current labour market. 3 | P a g e The union regularly discusses the issues within GD with management and expects you as an HR manager to consider the outlined issues in the new HR policy. The union is willing to play a role in strengthening the companys future, but also considers itself be a representative of the employees and has their interests at heart. For requirements, read the Project Guidelines document.

The recordings are part of the course deliverables o It is up to each team to manage meetings with SU teams, including timing, frequency and tools used for meetings (Zoom, BB Collaborate, Panopto, etc.). Just make sure that the tool you use has recording capabilities. It is recommended however, that only two students from each team meet with the Netherlands counterparts to minimize communication noise (remember there are only two of them per team) o Number of meetings/interviews you have with SU teams is dependent on your need and on your agreement with your counterparts. o Be professional in your dealings with SU teams. Remember that you represent Humber College, the Faculty of Business and the HRM program You will have the chance to evaluate yourself and your peers in the team at the end of the semester. Individual members of each team might end up with different grades. Evaluations are optional. Part I Deliverables Identify the companys corporate strategy To understand the external environment the company is doing business in fully, you should conduct an environmental scan using tools such as PESTEL You should also conduct a SWOT analysis (at least 3 points per factor) to make sure you grasp the various aspects and factors affecting the company It is always a good idea to know whom the stakeholders are to keep their interests in sight. Provide an exhaustive list of these stakeholders. 5 | P a g e Part I Format and Must-haves Page limit: 3 - 6 pages; Font: Arial/New Times Roman; Font size 11; spacing :1 Must be in point or outline form Must support each point/conclusion with facts or inferences from facts Citations and references required (APA) Part II Deliverables: How can the HR department support the corporate strategy and operations? The company is unionized and the union is the legal representative of the employees in the bargaining unit. Will you be working with the union? How? What can the union bring to the table? How to involve them without giving up your management right to run the company? One of the main issues to deal with is the HR Policy. Will you expand on any existing policy or create a new one and why? Your policy should cover at least three human resources functions relevant to the case. Practical implementation of HR policy, what needs to be put in place for the HR policy to be applicable? Part II Format and Must-haves Page limit: 4 - 7 pages; Font: Arial/New Times Roman; Font size 11; spacing :1 Must be in point or outline form Must support each point/conclusion with facts or inferences from facts Citations and references required (APA) Part III Deliverables: How will the hiring policy and actions support the expansion efforts? o Propose a position you believe will be essential for the project and the expansion. Create the job description for the position. o State your recruitment plan for the filling of the new position. 6 | P a g e o Create a compensation structure for the new position. List any assumptions you made. Training and development within the company seems to be conducted haphazardly. Propose a more structured approach. Part III Format and Must-haves Page limit: 3 - 6 pages; Font: Arial/New Times Roman; Font size 11; spacing :1 Must be in point or outline form Must support each point/conclusion with facts or inferences from facts Citations and references required (APA)

Part IV Deliverables: Present your plans to senior management (CEO, CFO, COO and VPs) during a meeting where a final decision on whether to expand into the Netherlands or not will be taken. Your plan will be a big factor in making that decision. The CFO will be presenting the financial feasibility study, the COO the operations plan, and you and your team will be presenting on the human resources aspect. You will present an executive summary to senior management prior to the start of the meeting. This one-page document summarizes the major points from your presentation. Your presentation should be in Power Point format. The presentation should not exceed 15 minutes since other departments are also scheduled to present.