Question

Case Study – THE CROWN PRINCESS

Given Facts:  Company: Matrix Systems, Inc., large conglomerate with over 35,000 employees  Competitor Company: Trilinear Systems Inc., small and quite aggressive company outfit  Alice Miller, MBA graduate from Stanford, graduating in the top one percent of her class, capable and hardnosed, ambitious and quite good in her interpersonal relations.  She showed that she was a very high potential employees resulting from putting her to a fast track promotions.  In her third year at Matrix, she was put in charge of a top secret, highly technical government contract  After 3 months, Alice was put in charge of this project and her Boss started to receive 7 resignations from key technical people working on the contract.  If they left, there was no way that matrix could fulfill and worst, all these 7 employees applied for the competitor company Trilinear and the company was seriously thinking of hiring them  Mr. Baker figured out that they were mad not to Alice but to the crown princess problem Questions:

1. What should Mr. Baker do as HR Manager?

2. What should Alice do? Remember, it's hard to stay on the fast track when you are a loser, and she will end up a big loser in this situation.

3. Is it a good idea to have crown princess and fast tracks for minorities and females? Why or why not?

4. Matrix has 10 levels of management in its organization. If it hired talented people at the lowest level and they spent 5 years in that level learning the job, it would take 50 years to get on the top. What besides the track /crown princess option does Matrix have?

Answer 1

1. As an HR manager, he should delegate Alice to understand the problems the employees face by skip-level meetings. So that the concerned personnel problems are unbiased and transparent. This way the issues can be well recorded and prioritized. And the concerned department's heads needs to address these issues. Since the main issue here is fast track promotions.

First, Mr. Baker should do a SWOT analysis on this matter. This is done by identifying the strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the personnel who have put in the resignation. He is supposed to analyze their contribution to date in the organization/ project and his achievements so far.

To understand further, Mr. Baker can conduct a survey from the technical resources on their competency and performance level. This will enhance their need to be in a project/ company.

He should try to talk with the CEO of the company and address these issues and manage to arrange additional funds to ensure their stay in the company. Prepare a budget for the project.

Restructuring the hierarchy level would the prime step. This way many highly talented employees can be allowed to reach their top desired levels by attending a promotion test. So promotions can be based on their merit with an increase in their pay scale making them competitive in the market. Also, perks and allowances also need to be increased accordingly. This can help to retain the best employees without negotiating.

Second, would be to increase the pay scale of the employees who have scored more than 90% in the promotion test with an incentive attractive to them. This way Mr. Baker should intimate the complete authority to take care of the test and manage the examination. Also, Alice should be allowed to coordinate the exams with the staff.

2. Alice can do the following

• Tell them how they can contribute and benefit.

  Assigning special projects can help keep high performers interested and motivated. Don’t forget to tell employees what new skills they will learn by completing the task. Letting people know you’re looking to challenge them with a task can motivate performers to stay.

• Be future-driven. Analyzing the past is important in projecting the future. But focusing solely on employees' progress isn't enough in a fast-paced workplace. Study the future, as impossible as it might sound. Using a management technique like PPP— Progress, Plans, Problems—helps you be aware of your teams' plans.

• Measure satisfaction. All of these tips mean nothing if you fail to measure their success. Although it would be wonderful if it were true that one could assert that 2 pieces of feedback a week increased employee satisfaction by X percent, it is just not the case. Guidelines are only guiding lines. You are responsible for figuring out the exact actions. You can manage only what you measure.

• Ask about emotions and attitudes. Don't mix giving praise and providing feedback by asking about attitudes and emotions. The two are not the same. The first two relate to the result, the other two relate to the journey. You'll be surprised by what you learn about your team when you ask emotional questions.

• Communicate openly. Open internal communication plays a big role in successful teamwork. Share your weekly plans and thoughts; it will encourage an open atmosphere. Only after mastering the skill of sharing openly can you expect the same from everyone else. This way she can get to know about the offers that the competing company has given the employees and discuss with the manager to understand if there is a scope of giving a better payment for them.

3. It is good to have a crown princess because this is a situation where a company knows many of its flaws and risk involved in running the business. This will provide an insight into the problems dealt with by the employees because of company structure and management. Also, it helps to gauge the company's stand on such issues and also manages to come up with many ideas to tackle all that. Risks are always a platform to learn and adapt to a new or a better situation.

Fast track for minorities and women should be allowed on a merit basis or their performance basis. Even if the position is vacant they can only be allowed to take that position once they clear its minimum points. Definitely, there should be relaxation on the points but not in a way to hamper the quality of the institution. Minorities should be maintained in the company as it is necessary as per the law and also this can enhance the company's outlook.

4. Always in a company, the management is a set of resource which doesn't add value to the company's performance. and if it needs to be another way, then the management should possess the technical skills to decipher the problems of each project and support immediately. Also, the management personnel is those who draw a humongous share of a company's revenue and they don't have to work as much as the skilled people are required to.

So instead of having 10 personnel in the management hierarchy would be worthless in such a situation wherein there are already 7 most skilled and wanted individuals who are waiting to work for that company. They are the most required people at this juncture and they need to considered with utmost priority to ensure the delivery of the projects on schedule.

Matrix can do the following apart from crown princess:

• They can divide the project into multiple projects according to the skills of the employees and challenge the employees to take up the work with additional benefits.
• Each management professional can be assigned to take over the project with that skilled personnel leading the technical side. While each management personnel can lead the project and ensure they are delivered on time. This way it would enhance the quality of the management by getting to know about the real scenarios, its adversities, its benefits, map better plans, etc.