IE 513 Human Resources Management

Case Study Analysis: A Systems Migration to New Skills

Background Information

Looking across the rows of men suits, Bob Williamson spots Pat Dekkar working withone of his employees, a sales associate. They are trying to complete a sales transaction on thenew WIZARD information system. Bob watches as Pat again fumbles his way through another transaction. Almost instinctively, he rolls his eyes and shakes his head.

Bob Williamson manages the Mens Furnishing Group for the Northridge Mall store of

the Dukes and Noble Department store chain. As one of the younger Group managers, Bob hascharge of over 20 full-time and part-time sales and service representatives in four units: suitsand outwear leisure, clothes, shoes, and accessories. Bob has been with Dukes and Noblesince joining their Management Associates Development program after graduating from college.Pat Dekkar is about 15 years older than Bob, with about that many more years experience inthe retail trade. Pat began his career in a floor sales position and, after years of hard work, waspromoted to supervise the Leisure Clothes Unit.

Beginning about six months ago, Dukes and Noble began a systems migration (as the

Data Processing staff called it) of replacing the somewhat antiquated computer and informationprocessing system with one that was more streamlined. Under the new, integrated system, allthe retail functions

inventory, sales and customer tracking, returns and adjustments,accounting and profitability calculations

would be joined together and operated out of thesame data base. Further, all stores would be linked together, giving headquarters better ongoing control of the company as a whole and of stores and departments in particular.

As a result of this migration, virtually every job in the company was changed in some

way. The jobs of the sales associates changed most: virtually every product, customer, or financial transaction was to be done differently. While the complexity of any one task might besmall, the combined weight of all the changes resulted in major learning stresses on employees.They had to learn how to operate the system, access it, complete all transactions through it, andmake any need corrections directly on the point of sale terminal

all while the customer waitedacross the counter. As the kick-off date for the conversion to the new system neared, all employees werebrought in for a comprehensive four-day training program. Managers and supervisors weretrained first so that they could serve as aides and coaches to the other employees once theWIZARD was operational. Bob and Pat attended one of the early programs together.Bob was impressed by how much the program covered. The trainers went through everyconceivable transaction and procedure, demonstrating and explaining them. Each participant inthe class was able to practice some of the procedures on the demo terminal. The notebookprovided in the program was reasonably thorough, even if it was poorly organized. As was characteristic, Pat Dekkar approached the training with gusto and enthusiasm.Pat had never worked much with computers before, and his anxiety about learning how to usethe system was more than offset by his strong motivation to learn. Bob was particularly pleased

with this matter because he was concerned that Pats strong people orientation might not havea corresponding technical aptitude.

It has now been more than a month since the new system started up. All the associatesin the store completed the system training shortly before the conversion date and by now, mostare operating fairly well with it.

Indeed, thats what is so troubling to Bob. In spite of the training and the time on

the

system, Pat just hasnt made satisfactory progress mastering it. Bob sees Pats problems in

various ways, like the instance he has just witnessed. There was Pat, working with one of hissales associates, trying to complete a distinct, but not that unusual, procedure. It was clear thatthe associate actually could complete the procedure better than Pat. Pat was following a trial-and error process of running through different key combinations to see if any worked. Thecustomer was growing annoyed.Bob thought about other instances. For example, Pat had asked Bob about how tocomplete the same procedure on four different occasions in the course of a ten-day period. Attimes, Bob would watch Pat refer a customer to another sales station or have the customer waitwhile he asked another associate to process a complicated transaction. At one point, Bob asked

Pat to check his manual, but Pat could only say it didnt help him that much, and besides, hewasnt sure where he had left it.

On top of it all, Bob is now sensing that Pat is becoming more frustrated and stressed bythe situation. He now thinks that Pat is trying to hide from Bob his discomfort with the system. In

a way, this is Pats method of signaling to Bob that Pats knowledge of the new system ca

nnotbe discussed.Bob wonders how much longer he can go without taking action. Already, there are somegrumblings from the other associates that Pat cannot be counted on to help them with their

problems. Bob has noticed how Pats unease with the process is putting some addi

tionalburdens on the other employees, as well as the customers. Bob knows that Pat is smart enoughto learn this material, but cannot understand why it is so difficult. Bob wants to help but alsofeels that Pat needs to show some progress

and fairly soon

or else Bob may be forced totake some actions he would rather not take

questions to answer

1. What should bob expect of Pat performance in conducting and completing his own learning?
2. How should bob respond to Pat in the next few weeks?