Reference no: EM133886748

Case: Heating and Cooling Supply Company (HCSC) is a wholesale distributor of equipment and parts for the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) trades that was established three years ago by Lee Chan. The company employs over 200 employees working across the United States and has five sales locations and two distribution centers. HCSC sells HVAC supplies to both retailers and repair companies. They sell parts to repair HVAC equipment as well as several popular brands of heating and ventilation systems and air conditioners. Since the company is privately owned by Mr. Chan, he serves as owner and CEO.

The HCSC leadership team consists of five people who report directly to Lee Chan.

Maria Williams is the Chief Fiscal Officer (CFO) and was hired about one year ago. She worked as a Fiscal Manager with Chan in a similar organization. She is hard working and skilled in financial management. She is, however, an introvert who prefers to work alone and has difficulty working on a team and will not offer ideas or suggestions when the team meets. Chan has asked her to share more of her ideas and make suggestions to the leadership team, but she is uncomfortable doing this.

Jeramiah Robinson is the Chief Operating Officer (COO). He has worked for the company since its inception. He was hired initially as a distribution center manager after working in a similar role in another industry. He was recently promoted to his position. HCSC and Mr. Chan have made a significant investment in Robinson as the company paid for him to obtain his master's degree at the University of Arizona Global Campus. He is well-respected and considered very outgoing and a people person but has difficulty getting along with Williams because she is not a team player. Robinson spends 50% of his time traveling throughout the country to meet with the sales directors and distribution center managers. He is responsible for the overall operations of the organization and the distribution centers.

Abel Liu is the Human Resources Director. He has worked for the company since its inception. He has a master's degree in human resources and was in a similar position for over 20 years. Liu has been resistant to any changes in his department. He prefers to keep paper files on all employees. His staff consists of a Benefits Manager and a Human Resource Specialist who assist Liu, but these positions turn over frequently. In the past year alone both of his direct reports have been replaced due to resignations. Rumors in the organization are that staff get frustrated due to Liu's resistance to convert to electronic record keeping.

Jerry Salas is the most recent leadership team hire. He was hired by Lee Chan after Chan discovered a recurrent issue with distribution errors. Jerry is currently the Chief Quality Officer. He has been in his position for three months and has expressed frustration over a lack of systems and processes throughout the organization.

Barbara Russell is the Vice President of Sales. She has worked with the company for one year after a career in sales and sales management in similar organizations. She oversees all efforts of the sales managers in the five remote locations. There are two sales managers in each location who report directly to Russell. Russell is well liked by her staff and she has created a strong team but has difficulty getting along with Robinson. She gets frustrated when he tries to tell her sales managers what to do and when he is unable to get the distribution centers to deliver products on time. Unlike Robinson, Russell manages her team remotely. They meet frequently during the week using Microsoft Teams. The sales team has been exceeding their goals.

Distribution center employees are responsible for delivering the products ordered by the sales department to the retailer or repair shop. Each distribution center has a manager who oversees the operation of the center. These managers work directly with the supervisors and center employees to fulfill orders. The organization has not adopted a singular approach to handle sales and distribution. There is no clear system to communicate to distribution centers when products have been sold, nor is there an easy way for sales managers to determine if products are immediately available. Each location has their own method of tracking inventory and sales.

Despite center employees being paid higher than the national average, there is high turnover. Exit interviews indicate confusion over the orders, lost orders, and a lack of coordination between the sales department and the distribution centers as some reasons why employees leave. Chan has noticed a downward trend in orders lately and has received some complaints from customers that orders are not delivered on time. He is frustrated that communication and information sharing between the divisions is inconsistent and undependable.

The hiring and onboarding process can take a great deal of time. The current process of communicating when someone is leaving involves first reporting to one of the Sales Managers or Distribution Center Managers. This is then reported to either Russell or Robinson. Liu will not begin advertising until Mr. Chan approves. Liu is averse to using modern hiring methods, preferring to work with temp organizations, local employment organizations, and trade schools and colleges to fill positions. Applicants must report to distribution centers or sales offices to fill out an application which is then faxed to Liu's office for screening. Liu will then contact directors or managers to indicate who they should interview. The ultimate approval for hiring is made by Lee Chan. Distribution managers are frustrated that they are often understaffed because it takes so long to fill open positions. Get professional assignment help service now!

Sales Directors and Distribution Center Managers are not involved in the financial management of their divisions. Very little financial information is provided to them and requests to receive financial reports have been ignored by Williams. Both Russell and Robinson have complained about this.

In the past three months, two serious accidents have occurred in distribution centers. When Lee Chan asked Salas for the safety reports from previous years, he was provided a folder with over 30 incident reports. Salas was unable to produce any trend reports and address whether safety improvements had been made because of the incidents. Salas stated the lack of cooperation from managers as the primary reason for the lack of information.

Mr. Chan has hired you as a consultant to help him develop a strategy to address the critical issues facing the company. He wants a clear change management strategy and would like help in identifying gaps in the organization as well as suggestions on what he can do to improve communications throughout the company.

Question

what can be the appropriate ways to evaluate if the changes should be made and what will be the effectiveness of the changes being proposed?