Pasadena company group health insurance smallCase 1 In just two years in the mid-1908s, Engcon, a global engineering construction firm, faced a major downturn, moving from more than $250 million in profit to more than $500 million in losses. This downturn led to the decision to place a new executive team at the head of the firm. The new CEO worked vigorously to restructure the company, to refocus its efforts, and to return it to profitability, and by 1990, the firm was again profitable. The board of directors at this point asked the CEO to assess the firm strategy; specifically, its global focus and mix of products, services, and customers. During a year-long audit, the strategy was reassessed, after which adjustments were made. The board then asked the CEO to determine whether the Pasadena company group health insurance small firm had the right technology and systems in place to support and sustain its strategy. Following a technology audit, systems were upgraded to better align with strategy. The board members then asked the CEO for a third audit to implement and sustain its strategy. To accomplish this organizational audit, the executive committee turned to the senior vice president of human resources, who was asked to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the organization, to assess whether the organization in place was the right one to implement strategy; and to recommend Pasadena company group health insurance small improvements. The HR senior vice president led this effort by creating an assessment advisory team of senior managers, which in turn created an assessment process using input from employees, customers, and suppliers. The resulting recommendations were given to the board, and organizational changes were made and implemented. Case 2 Frontier Communications, formerly Rochester Telephone Corporation, found itself in the unenviable position of having a number of large competitors (for example, AT&T, MCI, and Sprint) enter its Pasadena company group health insurance small local telecommunications market. Without a cultural transformation, which would involve adjustments in its products, services, and management practices. Frontier would be unlikely to survive in the changing telecommunications marketplace. To advance this transformation, Ronald Bitner (chairman, president, and chief executive officer) proposed the following plan: become the “premier telecommunication company in the world” through high-quality products and customer focus. He has stated that “No vision can be achieved without an able and dedicated employee body… we’re undertaking a fresh, critical assessment of the skills and competencies each our employees must have to move forward. Where we lack that Pasadena company group health insurance small expertise, we’re committed to move it in from the outside.” To help facilitate the necessary cultural transformation, Bitner hired a senior HR executive, Janet Sansone, who was given the explicit task of championing the change effort. Sansone’s responsibility was to make sure that culture change was part of the discussion, that models for culture change were created and implemented, and that executive attention to culture change remained high. Sansone was to create a process whereby the company’s organization could be continually realigned with changing business requirements. In the local markets, for example, Frontier’s organization had to become much more cost competitive. (In the long-distance markets, Frontier acquired other firms to become the fifth largest long-distance carrier in the United States.) To accomplish this goal, Sansone worked to construct cost-competitive local organizations within the context of evolving organizational processes necessitated by Frontier’s acquisitions/mergers. As a member of the Pasadena company group health insurance small executive committee, Sansone developed a disciplined process for assessing and aligning organization practices with business strategy.
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