Abc Solutions Inc. Organizational Audit

Contents

1. Introduction

1. Company Description
2. Issue Description
3. Approach
4. Hypothesis

1. Methodology

1. Data Collection Method
2. Survey Details
3. Survey Questions

1. Analysis

1. Non-Transparency in the Performance Appraisal Process
2. Lack of Recognition

1. Conclusion
2. Plan of action

1. For Transparency in the Performance Appraisal Process
2. For Lack of Recognition

1. Limitations
2. Appendix

1. Introduction

1.1 Company Description:

ABC Solutions Inc. is an India based startup providing software development services for large and small companies to maximize their brands across multiple channels. Further, the company provides a range of web solutions including website development, flash design, custom web programming for complex solutions and e-commerce solutions. XYZ Web Solutions Inc. headquartered at Texas, United States is an international provider of e-commerce solutions and is a leading Business-to-Business and customer service provider. XYZ Web solutions Inc. acquired ABC Solutions Inc. in the year 2016 to enable better client support on a global level.

1.2 Issue Description  

A team of 12 employees at XYZ Web Solutions Inc (former ABC Solutions) report to two different managers, an Infrastructure Manager who sits with the team in India and a Technical Manager who oversees the team from the client location in US. The performance of employees is appraised by both the Infrastructure Manager and the Technical Manager. The feedback from the technical manager is a deciding factor for project allocation, salary hikes and on-site travel opportunities. The employees work in shifts and because of working in different time zones (IST & CST), the technical manager gets to interact and collaborate more with the employees that work in the night shift. As a result, the employees who work in regular day shifts, having very little interaction with their technical manager, feel that their contributions are not being recognized at par with their peers. Lack of recognition, non-transparent and occasional review processes and unequal growth opportunities have caused the employees to feel unmotivated and not being able to perform to their full potential.

1.3 Approach:

To understand the issues faced by the team, we interviewed a point of contact (POC) and collected data by sending surveys to other employees in the team. We used the data from the surveys and interviews to analyze the focal problem. Further, we used different course concepts to analyze these problems and arrive at solutions.

1.4 Hypothesis:

Understanding what motivates an employee is critical to team performance. For most of the employees of the team at XYZ Web Solutions Inc., recognition, rewards and growth opportunities seem to be a major factor for motivation. The ignorance of these factors by the management has left the employees feeling dissatisfied and unmotivated at their job.

2. Methodology

2.1 Data Collection Method

The data collection methods used for the organizational audit of this company were both qualitative and quantitative in nature. The qualitative method includes exploring the issues faced by interviewing our point of contact from the company. The quantitative method used was collection of data by sending out a questionnaire to the team.

2.2 Survey Details

The questionnaire included a total of 20 questions which were both multiple answer type and open-ended questions. 12 questionnaires were sent out to 2 Lead Engineers, 2 Senior Engineers, 2 Associate Engineers & 6 Engineers and we received responses from all of them. Each respondent took about 10 to 15 minutes on an average to complete the questionnaire anonymously. The survey questions were designed to understand employees’ sentiments about job satisfaction, motivation, appraisal systems etc. after the acquisition and detection of potential problems.

2.3 Survey Questions

After we received the responses, we analyzed the answers, we created graphs (in appendix) to enable us to interpret the results correctly.

Some of the research questions that were asked in the survey are as follows:

1. What do you think is the most important factor for motivation? Why?
2. Do you think you are being paid fairly?
3. Do you think your manager is transparent in the performance appraisal process?
4. Would you like to suggest any changes to your company’s performance appraisal process?

3. Analysis

The survey responses collected suggest that 8 out of 12 employees are highly dissatisfied at their job (Appendix A- Fig 1).

Scrutinizing the survey responses and by relating them with the interviews conducted, we understood that there is lack of motivation among the employees after acquisition and this problem stems from:

1. Non-Transparency in the Performance Appraisal Process
2. Lack of Recognition
3. Lack of Collaboration in the team

3.1 Non-Transparency in the Performance Appraisal Process

The interviews we conducted gave us an insight into the Performance Appraisal Process. The managers use Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) set by XYZ Web Solutions Inc for each employee along with yearly one-on-one feedback sessions. The combined ratings from the two managers are used to decide the employees’ overall performance and corresponding rewards & opportunities. The employees expressed that the process was relatively new to them and they do not have a clear understanding of the appraisal process to its minute details.

Another concerning issue with the appraisal that the employees working in day shifts expressed was that the feedback process conducted by the technical manager appeared to be non-transparent in nature. The reasoning behind this opinion was that the technical manager was unable to provide detailed reviews for these employees due to minimal and non-frequent interaction with them owing to different time zones. This in turn resulted in low ratings of those employees.

Theory used to analyze the problem: From our analysis of this problem, we infer that employees working in day shift feel that they are not being rewarded fairly for the time and efforts that they put in when compared to their peers working in night shifts. (Refer Appendix-A fig 2)