Interclean Inc: Research And Benchmarking

InterClean Inc: Research and Benchmarking

InterClean can become the institutional and industrial cleaning and sanitation industry leader by implementing a business model that includes a new solutions/sales model, merging with EnvioTech, and increasing revenue by 40% annually. To reach these goals InterClean must consider their current corporate culture, additional training programs from their staff, and marketing/recognition considerations. Additionally they should explore a benchmarking strategy to provide insight into opportunities while initiation their solutions/sales model.

Situation Background (Step 1)

InterClean is an $8 billion dollar institutional and industrial cleaning and sanitation company. They are currently seeking to bundle their products and sell packages. This will have a large impact on the way they currently do business. InterClean has just bought one of their major competitors. This company will need to be integrated very carefully with all the changes that are going on.

In this paper, we will look at employee motivation, handling mergers, employee training, organizational changes, employee training, and changing strategies for InterClean. Let us start with employee motivation.

Employee Motivation

InterClean, Inc. can make an easy transition towards a solutions-based selling by successfully motivating their current employees in the sales and marketing departments by studying and applying motivation principles.

"In spite of enormous research, basic as well as applied, the subject of motivation is not clearly understood and more often than not poorly practiced" (accel-team, 2005). "To understand motivation one must understand human nature itself, and there lies the problem" (accel-team, 2005). With InterClean headed towards a solutions-based selling, there will be extensive reviews of the current staff to determine if the skills they have in place will enable them an effective transition. If InterClean wants to successfully motivate their employees, then they must be able to study and apply employee motivation principles. Some of those include approval, praise and recognition, trust, respect and high expectations, good communication and financial incentives.

Summarization of Reference

Starbucks is a company that employees like to work for and it is evident as they are ranked number 29 on Fortune's top 100 companies to work for 2006. In the terms or trust, respect, and high expectations, Starbucks meets this because they are devoted to, "Investing in, supporting and engaging our partners in the constant reinvention of Starbucks" (Starbucks). Employees at Starbucks are all considered partners, and not team-members or associates as other companies refer to their employees. To further meet trust and respect, Starbucks, "Strives to create a diverse workplace in which every partner's voice is heard and in which all our partners will succeed while learning from one another" (Starbucks). In the form of high expectations, Starbucks offers their partners training and education in the forms of coffee education, learning to lead courses, and business and communication classes.

Relevance of finding, validation by academic literature

InterClean, Inc. has recently decided to change their sales method to a solutions-based selling method. Since this will require extensive and at time grueling training sessions, total employee motivation seems to be decreasing. With the recent acquisition of EnviroTech, InterClean, Inc. competitor, it seems that more of InterClean, Inc. employees feel threatened about losing their jobs. A good way for InterClean, Inc. to motivate their employees would be through incentives. "Incentives tie pay increases directly to performance" (Milkovich & Newman, 2004).

Specific Action-Based Recommendations

Some specific solutions for InterClean, Inc. may include:

1. Have training courses for managers and supervisors that teach showing approval, praise, and recognition towards employees.

2. Having diversity classes that teach trust, and respect.

3. Having HR and management discuss various financial incentives for employees.

Summarization of Reference

Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart has been placed in Fortune's top 100 companies to work for many years until 2006. Recently Wal-Mart was removed from the list because, "America's largest employer fails to deliver the benefits that their associates deserve for making Wal-Mart the largest corporation in the world" (UFCW). This is a problem for many employees, because it completely takes away any motivation to work for an organization that has many disputes with their associates in this matter.

Some reasons why Wal-Mart was left off the list of top 100 companies to work for include:

1. Fails to provide affordable health care coverage to its workers, leaving them to forgo health insurance because they cannot pay the bills; (UFCW)

2. Faces continuous legal problems, from discrimination cases to violations of the National Labor Relations Act; and (UFCW)

Relevance of finding, validation by academic literature

InterClean Inc. also needs to make sure that they provide decent financial incentives to ensure that employees are not left out to fend for themselves. "Compensation decisions and practices should be designed to increase the likelihood that employees will behave in ways that help the organization achieve its strategic objectives" (Milkovich & Newman, 2004). Wal-Mart is failing to meet these decisions, and InterClean Inc. needs to take note of that as well. By failing to make sound compensation decisions and practices, employees of InterClean Inc., will not perform the way they would if they were properly motivated.

Specific Action-Based Recommendations

Some solutions for InterClean, Inc. may include:

1. Making compensation decisions and practices that increase employee motivation

2. Handing out surveys to ask employees what benefits are most important to them

Now let us look at handling mergers, and what this means for InterClean and EnviroTech.

Handling