Terri Lau and Lesley Morobe completed their MBA studies together at Wits University. They worked well together on their group assignments and during the year became firm friends. After graduation, they decided that they would do well to start a business in the HR software development field because Terri and Lesley's expertise lay in HRM and software development, respectively. They decided to call their company GetGlobal HRIS because they could see the potential for growing internationally into the future. 

After a slow start in business, eventually they landed a contract to develop customised Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) software for a large retail organisation. During the first year, their employee complement rapidly grew from just the two of them to over 40 employees, mostly technically specialised software developers who Lesley managed as lead IT developer. Terri took on marketing and customer liaison duties. The HRIS managed their HR requirements. HRM and company finances seemed to take care of themselves and were not actively managed. Unfortunately, due to a change in ownership, the organisation disinvested in South Africa and Terri and Lesley were left without a client and some excellent, retail customised HRIS software. Not to let the setback affect the business, the two of them put on their best smiles and went knocking on the doors of the HR Directors in South Africa's larger retail organisations. Not only were they almost immediately successful, they landed the top five retail organisations in the country. Their software did what the large IT companies' software did, but in a customised version and at two-thirds of the cost. And Terri and Lesley were charismatic business people.

The employee complement grew from 44 to 189 over the next year and many employees were permanently based at the clients' premises. Terri continued to manage marketing and customer relations and recruited technical specialists to manage the widespread workforce and interact with key clients on their technical solutions. Terri also recruited you as theHR Manager at this time. Lesley's software designs were way ahead of the market, and as legislation changed and trends emerged, the product was almost always ready and available for installation. Things were going well for Terri and Lesley.

And then their wildest dreams came true. Datamatrix, the largest global supplier of HRIS software approached the GetGlobal organisation and offered to buy 51% of the organisation for an enormous sum of money. Terri and Lesley accepted the offer readily and then met with you to plan the company's new global strategy and to plan how best to manage this corporate change. GetGlobal was to retain its name and build its brand globally while "piggy-backing" on the Global Data matrix brand.

As HR manager (that means you!) you were tasked to facilitate the many sessions that needed to be held to launch the company on their new strategy - the primary strategy being to have fully-fledged, independent but interdependent GetGlobal offices on five continents, within the next 24 months. The challenge was to create an organisation with the right people, with the right competencies, with the right policies, procedures and processes throughout the five continents.

The three of you agreed to meet every day for two hours to plan and implement the change management strategy. You decided that local MDs should be appointed to the five offices for their business acumen, leadership and management competencies. The MDs would need to be trained in strategic thinking skills and the company's financial model. Also, you are worried about the impact of a distinctly South African HQ culture on the diverse global management and workforce which could create conflict.

Technical specialists needed to be trained in project management and software development skills based on the company's innovative software products, before being transferred from the parent company in Gauteng to head up the technical solutions functions. Five country sales directors were to be appointed, reporting to Terri.

A standardised solutions sales interaction process was decided after considerable research, based on the well-established SPIN model.

Refer to the following link (and especially pages 3 to 6) for important information on the SPIN sales process.

Marketing efforts were designed to support the SPIN solution sales process. SPIN consultants are available in all continents to train and develop the consultants, and a policy was planned that formalised everyone being required to use the SPIN model. You have heard that some of the newly appointed country sales directors are not too supportive of the SPIN system because they preferred other sales approaches that they had previously used.

All staff, in every department, needed to be coached on client satisfaction skills that formed the backbone of the organisation's culture and approach to client service and internal teamwork. You see this training initiative as an initial chance to get all members of the company aligned to a single approach in a relatively short period of time. Additional training programmes were to be launched later to develop employees' skills in identifying and resolving client needs and problems.

The organisation created the position of "Traffic controller" on each continent to manage the all-important process management function that supported the work of the company, that is to ensure the sales promotion, technical development, system installation, client training, troubleshooting, etcetera were realistically in sync with each other and allowed the company to deliver on their promises. Overselling without technical support could cause havoc with client expectations.

With some persuasion from you, Terri and Lesley realised that their organisation would only be successful if they attracted, engaged, developed and retained the right talent in the business. Talent management needed to be proactively managed and formally structured. Talent management committees would be established in each office to support the employees' career development aspirations. Terri and Lesley would chair these meetings personally so that they were "in-touch" with the talent of the organisation and could satisfy themselves that people could be retained. As the HR manager, you are the custodian of the talent management process. Lesley seemed reluctant to support the formal talent management process and you heard him voice his concerns when he said that real talent should be able to look after themselves and do not need this "formal assistance".

A company-wide leadership and management development programme was designed and planned for implementation across the globe to develop a clear management philosophy as a part of company culture development. Managers were to be specifically trained in selection interview techniques, onboarding, career development and how to conduct motivational performance reviews, in support of the recently published company policies on recruitment, onboarding and performance management. Delegation skills were also an important content area in the training programmes. A company policy would be issued that tasked managers to hold a career development discussion with all staff members, twice yearly, to maintain turnover figures at less than 8%.

One of Data matrix's strengths was their unique multi IT language offering that allowed clients to broaden their use of Data matrix products without needing to change too many of their existing IT systems. Their use of Cloud technology too was new to GetGlobal technical employees.

Technical specialists were to be educated in three programming languages over the first six months to ensure competitive advantage for their modular, multi-language, Cloud-enabled software offering. The early introduction of Cloud technology by the company was seen as an opportunity to impress the market and capture some new clients.

Lastly, the company was expanding rapidly, so Terri and Lesley knew there was a real danger of people "burning out". They asked you to appoint a training officer whose primary role would be to provide all company employees with skills and techniques for work-life balance, health and wellness, as well as effective time management skills.

Question 1

Using the table below, clearly and briefly define the area for change, its importance and provide reasons for it.

General guidelines for change:

Your ideas as the HRM Specialist:

Create a sense of urgency and briefly describe what should change (and what should not) in the company. Provide reasons why change is needed. Ensure the intended change is relevant and there is a good chance it will work. Focus primarily on process improvements or enhancements rather than on cost reduction. You are unlikely to get commitment from people if they suspect that change will threaten their job security. Don't be tempted to give too much information at the initial launch of the change. Categorise the type of change in terms of its size and impact, e.g. fine-tuning, incremental, modular or corporate transformation.

How would you best communicate the initial introduction of the planned changes to all 189 employees, and what would you include in your initial address? Use bullet points. You are not required to write the dialogue. Refer to the guidelines in the left-hand column and use only those that you see as relevant to the case study. List six points and be brief. Too much information at this early stage may lead to confusion. Start writing here: