Problem Solution: Interclean Inc.

Problem Solution: InterClean Inc.

Ralph Strano

University of Phoenix

Human Capital Development

MBA530

Bob Hozian

May 30, 2006

Problem Solution: InterClean Inc.

Introduction

"It takes a deep commitment to change and an even deeper commitment to grow." --Ralph Ellison

InterClean Inc. is an institutional and industrial cleaning and sanitation company in an $8 billion industry. The CEO knows success is no longer about selling products that clean dirt and grime, but the future is, which companies can solve problems and create solutions to industrial sanitation and cleaning issues. This solution paper looks into the issues involved with InterClean's strategy to implement this new course of commitment, opportunities, stakeholder perspectives, alternate solutions, risk assessment, and a final plan to achieve this new direction for InterClean.

Describe the Situation

Issue and Opportunity Identification

The President and CEO of InterClean, Inc., David Spencer has announced a bold strategic change to grow his company and be a market leader in a new systems based sales of cleaning products and services. In a memo written about a new strategic direction to all the InterClean employees it was announced that in six months a media blitz will begin to publicly advertise this new strategy.

The commitment needed to change the management process should have been planned

before this strategy was implemented. The two main departments, the sales force, and HR were never approached by David Spencer prior to the company announcement. The two departments were informed by memo at the same time as all the employees.

There are five issues that need to be addressed before this strategy can be achieved in the next six months. They are as follows:

1) Training and Development-the skills and competency of the existing employees of InterClean and the acquired employees of EnviroTech.

2) HR Skills Sets and Gap Analysis-HR has not set a strategy for dealing with the results of the assessment of skill sets or decided what further skills are needed to perform this new strategy. A budget for this training was only mentioned as being tight with no concrete figures.

3) Organization Restructuring-Lack of a plan to merge the two sales forces, job assignments not clarified, and two CEO's with two agendas.

4) Selection and Recruitment-There is no current policy for recruiting in place. There has not been a determination of the qualifications and skills needed for the new sales force strategies, and the current HR department lacks expertise in this field.

5) Forecasting Future Sales and Profitability- InterClean has not forecasted the impact of this new direction with hard figures, only to say an increase of 40% is desired. There has been no mention of the amount of people needed for this operation to be successful.

Stakeholder Perspectives/Ethical Dilemmas

David Spencer, President and CEO of InterClean Inc. - Some of the values that David has includes being very ambitious, competitive, and a risk taker. One of the dilemmas that David has is because of his aggressiveness he made a strategic direction change in selling strategies without consulting other stakeholders. Sally Lindley, CEO of EnviroTech, has a dilemma of having insider information of political connections; this might lead to unethical behaviors when lobbing for the cleaning industry. Janet Durham, VP of Human Resources has the dilemma of having a bias for the InterClean employees, and this might make Janet not look objective enough when it comes to choosing the best people for the job. Tom Jennings, VP of Marketing, his dilemma lies in having a close and long relationship with Mr. Spencer, and might not state his objective opinions when it comes to MR. Spencer's direction. The employees also have a dilemma of not sabotaging the training and development of new and acquired sales people, spreading rumors, and aiding in the decline of employee morale.

Frame the "Right" Problem

InterClean will become a market leader in the sanitation industry, by utilizing a solution-based sales force, which strives to be the best sanitation company in the industry. They will accomplish this by establishing a solid change-management process, having a restructuring plan, implementing a training and development plan, and address the competitive advantage that this will achieve.

Describe the "End-State" Vision

InterClean will achieve 100% increase in sales revenue, within one year. InterClean, will be the market leader within six months. Customer satisfaction will increase to above 90% or better after one year. Third party surveys show InterClean leading the industry in customer satisfaction. InterClean's training and development policies will be the envy of the industry, by promoting 100% of its people from within the organization. The employees of InterClean will be fully committed to the company goals and objectives, turnover will be less then 10%, and InterClean will be one of the top 100 Fortune most admired companies to work for.

Identify the Alternatives and Benchmarking Validation

Recruitment and Selection

CEO of Southwest Airlines, Herbert D. Kelleher stated "We look for attitudes. We'll train you on whatever you need to do, but the one thing we can't do is change inherent attitudes in people" (Sunoo, 1995). At Southwest Airlines the core culture is having fun; they believe that a person who is recruited and trained in a friendly environment will treat their customers in the same manner. Southwest Airlines has been so successful in recruiting its employees that it does not have to rely on headhunters or employment agencies for its job candidates. Southwest accepts applications all year long. This allows Southwest to be more selective and proactive in its recruitment process. Southwest