Reference no: EM132898544

Structuring the Unstructured Startup

Adventure Tours is out to disrupt the travel industry. It offers "authentic" small group adventures around cultural immersion, ecology tourism, spiritual wellness, and international volunteerism. For a premium price (almost double industry standards) you get a guide, pre-planned travel package, and 3 to 12 weeks of unconventional tourism. Excursions are available for families, inter-generational, and age-related groups.

Bookings have doubled year-over-year for the past 3 years and the strain is starting to show. The advisory committees in Adventure Tour's 23 regional offices are proposing local excursion packages too quickly. The quality is amazing but amenity contracts, licensing, and regulatory approvals are often incomplete. Even though local employees network regularly around the globe, some committee members still lack an understanding of their target markets in North America.

Human Resources has reinvented itself several times now. The Director has had to manage a large group of paid staff, interns, honoraria, retirees, and volunteers-all from head office in Toronto. HR managers in the regional offices are complying with local labour laws but the public is raising ethical concerns about the practices of other countries. This creates a public relations issue for customers on the excursions. In addition, there is a shortage of expedition leaders holding up the sale of excursion packages.

Expedition leaders are the backbone of the organization. They come from all ages and walks of life. The only thing they have in common is their knowledge of the local, culture, customs, and geography. To date, paper qualifications have been a poor predictor of competency. So when an excursion works, the organization is reluctant to demand proper accounting and reporting. KSAs are highly specialized and job analysis has shown no consistency from country to country.

The Director of Service has brought you in to develop new accountability and oversight mechanisms for the Human Resources department. The company has a culture of nurturing global citizenship through responsible and sustainable travel. This has led to unconventional practices such as recording business processes using personal reflection, consensus-based decision making, and problem solving through "mastermind" sessions that don't stay focused.

You are responsible for recommending a set common practices and consistent standards that can apply across the whole organization. Your need to respect the current culture and business climate while providing practical boundaries that make the process manageable. Your biggest challenges will be dealing with the regional offices remotely and proposing organizational changes in a fish bowl.

Audience

• Who is the target audience for this message?
• What are the needs, priorities, and special interests of the audience?
• How can you best frame the message so that it addresses the audience's interests?
• Would need to tailor a special message for each segment of the audience?
• How might they respond to the message and if the response may be negative or open to misinterpretation, what else needs to be said?

Delivery Date

• When should the message be delivered?
• Does the message need repeating? How frequently?
• What is the negative impact of communicating too soon or too late?

Reasoning

• What are you trying to achieve as a result of this communication?
• What do you expect the target audience to do, say, think, or feel as a result of this communication?

Risk

• What is the worst thing that can happen if you communicate this information?
• What is the worst thing that can happen if you chose not to communicate this information?
• How badly can this information be misinterpreted? What are the potential spillovers?
• What can you do to minimize the misinterpretation and negative perceptions?

Activities

• What method and medium would you use to announce this message?
• What communication network would you use - informal or formal?

Message

• What are the essential elements of this message?
• What is the most positive way someone will respond to this message?
• What is the most negative way someone will respond to this message?

Generally

• What are the resource implications for your strategy? (direct costs, time, lost productivity)
• How do you gain your sponsor's buy-in to the communication plan?
• Are there any restrictions on who can receive this message?
• How will you deal with anger about restricted communications or confidentiality considerations?