Stand-Alone Project

Strategic Cultural Change

Stand-Alone Project: Strategic Cultural Change (300 points)
You are the Assistant Vice President of Carpetbagger's Chemicals, a sixty-year-old company that provides
chemicals used to create and install indoor and outdoor carpet. Your company has thrived on a good old boy
network based on relationship selling and personal delivery using a fleet of company-owned, light-utility trucks
driven by members of your sales force.
Recently, your competition is threatening from several directions. Other chemical companies, using national and
regional transportation carriers and Internet sales, are offering faster turn-around and lower prices. In addition,
carpet made in Asia and Australia is gaining in popularity in the United States. Sales have been down for three
years, and costs continue to rise.
The board of directors of Carpetbagger's Chemicals recently hired a new president to help turn the company
around. He has determined that it is necessary to create radical change to make Carpetbagger's Chemicals
profitable again. These changes will ultimately affect the very culture of your organization. There are three (3) top
priorities for the new president.
1. Retool the sales force to be more aggressive.
2. Move delivery of products from the sales force to independent national transportation carriers (which will negate
the need for the fleet of light utility trucks for the sales force).
3. Create a new, international sales division to explore marketing Carpetbagger's Chemicals to carpet makers in
other countries.
Develop a plan to support this new strategy through human resources.
This Stand-Alone Project is comprised of four (4) parts. Your Stand-Alone Project responses should be both
grammatically and mechanically correct and formatted in the same fashion as the project itself. If there is a Part A,
your response should identify a Part A, etc. In addition, you must appropriately cite all resources used in your
response and document them in a bibliography using APA style. (300 points) (A 10-page report, organizational
chart, and 20-slide MS PowerPoint presentation are required for the combination of Parts A, B, C, and D.)
Part Write a report
A
1.

detailing how each of the following will support the change. (120 points)

HR Strategy

The new president of

Carpetbagger's Chemicals

has communicated his three

priorities. Now, you must
decide how human resources
will support those three
priorities while staying within
your current budget. What,
specifically, should you start
now, to support the change
in your own department?
Which HR functions will
need to change to support the
new priorities? Would it help
to outsource any HR
function or any portion of an
HR function?
2.

Recruiting

a)

You may recall that

the three priorities of
your new company
president are as
follows.
1.
Retool the sales
force to be
more aggressive
2.
Move delivery of
products from
the sales force to
the fleet of light
independent
national
transportation
carriers
3.
Create a new,
international
sales division to
market
Carpetbagger's
Chemicals to
other countries

b)

As you develop your

plan, think about the
following questions.
1.
What new
staffing and
recruiting efforts
will have to be
made?
2.
Will you need
updated job
descriptions?
3.
Will you need
new Job

4.

Begin the planning

process now for the
employees in your
recruiting
department. List
specific deliverables
that you will need
from them before
your company can
move ahead. Also,
consider the costs
associated and how
new staff will fit into
the organizational
chart.
3.

Compensation and

Benefits

Consider how your

compensation and benefits
teams will help support the
new strategic initiatives of
Carpetbagger's Chemicals.
Specifically consider the
following.
1.

2.

3.

4.

Should you
implement a new
salesforce pay plan?
Since
Carpetbagger's will
be taking
salespeople out of
the delivery
business, should you
adjust their
compensation?
How will the
international sales
division be evaluated
differently from the
current national
sales force?
How will in-country
vs. international
managerial jobs be
priced?

Analyses?
Will you need to
hire/replace
existing
employees?

Also, think about the costs

associated with the above
considerations and make
notes of them for your
Stand-Alone Project.
4.

Training and

Development

The new initiatives from

upper management are going
to require all sorts of training.
The old sales force will need
new sales training.
Employees will need to
know how to support the
independent national
transportation companies
through Bills of Lading,
Safety Information, and
general expectation
management. In addition, the
new sales division will require
product knowledge training
and sales training. Create a
proposal to provide training in
all of the pertinent areas.
Include plans for measuring
training effectiveness.
5.

Employee Relations

Change can be tough.

These may be stressful times
for employees at
Carpetbagger's Chemicals.
This is especially true for the
sales staff. What will you do
to help relieve the stress? Will
your initiatives be formal or
informal? Required or
voluntary? Will you offer
special contests or
incentives? Consider how you
will communicate the
upcoming change to
employees. What medium will
you use? How will you handle
grievances after the change?
Prepare now for the massive
changes soon to come.

6.

Global HR

One of your corporate

priorities is to create a new,
international sales division to
market Carpetbagger's
Chemicals to other countries.
Consider the following.
1.
How would you
recommend this new
division operate?
2.
Would you outsource
the sales to overseas
companies, move
existing employees
overseas, or move
key managers
overseas and hire
locals to sell the
product?
3.
What challenges will
you face?
4.
What country should
you begin your
international
business in?

Part Create a new organizational chart for the company. (Both MS PowerPoint and MS Excel have functions that
B allow users to create organizational charts. You may also download organizational chart templates from
http://www.office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/ ). (30 points)
Part Since this initiative is new and not within scope of the current budget, you will need to provide a detailed
C proposal highlighting additional human resource department costs for communication, new staff (if necessary),
training (design and delivery), employee relations, pilot programs, consultant fees, etc. By the way, the new
Company President is a tightwad, so keep your costs low. (50 points)
Part Prepare a 20-slide MS
D points)

PowerPoint presentation to communicate your plans to the board of

directors. (100

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