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Case Study Essay:
A promising start-up company in San Francisco called, H2o Solutions, has requested onsite
consulting support from your consulting firm called Integer Management and
Leadership Consulting. H2o Solutions, for the last 14 months, has been scaling-up and
expanding their capacity by adding new employees across all departments. The total
number of employees now stands at 131.
The company produces water saving recycling systems for residential use. Though this
has become a crowded space, H2o Solutions has an advantage in that they have
intentionally hired people with engineering expertise coupled with passion and
commitment to the environment. Additionally, H2o Solutions from its inception, hired
people who demonstrated a high level of emotional intelligence. This allowed the
company to bring people on board who were smart, innovative, highly collaborative,
relational, and team-based.
In the distant past, the planning and goal-setting for H2o Solutions was done only by the
senior leadership team which included both co-founders and the vice presidents of
engineering, marketing, sales, service, research and product development, and human
resources. Each vice president had one manager who served as a direct report. With the
growth of the last 14 months, the breakdown of departments by employee size is as
follows:
VP Department Managers Employees
R. Johnson Engineering 2 20
E. Smith Marketing 2 12
K. Redstone Sales 2 17
G. Glades R & D 2 23
P. Indira Service 2 25
R. Zander HR 2 14
As the company has grown, the centralized and top-down planning model originally
used the by leadership team is now ineffective. The very employees H2o Solutions has
hired now need to be integrated into the planning and goal-setting process. The
question is, how?
As the management consultant, you need to design a planning and goal setting process
that uses a flatter, more organic approach. Instead of goals flowing from the top down
H2o Solutions is looking for a collaborative process that involves all employees across
the organization. The executive management team believes that a planning and goal
setting process that is inclusive and which leverages the deep talent of employees in the
organization is the most agile way to engage in planning and goal setting. However, the
H2o Solutions executive management team understands that it must also be involved in
the process and put its final stamp of approval on the planning and goals to ensure that
both support and align with the strategic goals of H2o Solutions.
Questions:
1. Explain why the older, original planning and goal setting process will no longer
work for H2o Solutions.
2. Explain the planning and goal setting approach you will recommend to the
executive management team.
a. Provide the rationale that supports your approach
3. Explain how this approach will be a good fit for H2o Solutions and their priorities
for a more organic, inclusive, and responsive approach to planning and goal
setting.
4. Explain how your approach will be more nimble, agile, and responsive to market
trends.
5. Provide benchmarks to H2o Solutions that will serve as indicators that your new
approach is working.
6. What points of resistance might the executive management team of H2o
Solutions expect when the new planning and goal-setting strategy is
implemented?
