4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the Boomerang Water Corporation buying an offthe shelf integrated HR database system? Jack Newman had recently been appointed regional direc-tor of Boomerang Water Corporation, a major service utility in Australia. Jacks previous appointment was with alarge manufacturing company in the United States, where he had made a reputation for himself as a visionary specializing in customer service and performance management. Jack was the youngest person and only non-Australian ever to be appointed as a director at Boomerang Water Corporation.

This particular region of the utility employed approxi-mately 2000 workers engaged in the customer service and maintenance provision side of the business. These employ-ees operated in groups of about 30 workers. Onesupervisor managed each work group. These groups were located in five departments across the region, with each department specializing in a particular customer service or maintenance function. The region serviced about 500 000 customers.