Tm-3

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06/26/22

Guest Speaker: Nikolay Dinev

· Venture capital company: name?

· They think about impact: leadership, entrepreneurship, and innovation

· About solving problems and building businesses around those problems

· Cultural mindset: Invest in companies that align with their mission of making the world a better place

Types of business they in invest in

1. Digital health

a. Company: Medflex, doxplexes, doc red

b. 3rd largest doctors network worldwide

2. Additive manufacturing

a. Company: Invision

b. Technology leader in optoelectronics

i. Light engines 3D printing at micron level precision

ii. From shoes, helmets, dental application and now looking at organ printing

3. Space Technology

a. Company: Enpulsion

4. Sustainability

a. Company: Verdeco

b. Recycling

Workproduct 1

Q1 Characterize Verdeco's current org. culture based on today's presentation and available company materials.

Verdeco is more of a packaging company than a recycling company.

· Output = food based plastic

Verdeco focuses on

1. Solution

2. Innovation

3. Science and data

4. Value driven

5. “Sexy industry” (Attracting and inspiring industry)

Currently at Verdeco:

· US-focused company

· Supply chain is international, but jobs are in the US (South Carolina (building HQ there) and ____)

· 60-70 employees (dozen are white collars)

· Future Goal - 1 Billion dollar revenue by ‘27 - increase 5x in size

· Very few consultants

· Allows some employees to work remotely

· No well-defined positions at Verdeco

· Verdeco’s culture is constantly changing

· Does inhouse training - no specific structure to training like a big company

· Compensation structure:

· No formal equity scheme

· Salary based

· Performance-related bonuses (based on personal and company performances)

· Diversity and inclusion at Verdeco:

· Always in the back of their heads when they do interviews

· Took over 2 facilities

· The 2 facilities culture: previous mgmt left; only kept the current CFO

· Now, flies people to different facilities to see how others work (not about beating the other facilities but helping one another be better as one whole organization)

Integrity, innovation, impact, excellence.

Verdeco’s organizational culture is one built on four foundational pillars of values. The foundational values that Verdeco tries to uphold are integrity, innovation, impact, and excellence. What follows will be a deeper dive into each value and outline how the company is trying to achieve the value in question.

The first value is integrity. Here, Verdeco wants to ‘build trust with truth’. (funny how this became a boasting point instead of a standard) We can see this in the company because Verdeco has stated that it has a very strong focus on science and data. This is when it comes to the science behind the product, but we can also see it in the performance based compensation which Verdeco is adopting. Performance related bonuses means that there are very clear KPI’s that are either met or not, which rates performance on data.

Next is innovation. They want to ‘seek the impossible, and accept a challenge’. Verdeco tries to get an edge on the competitor through innovation. This is, once again, obvious from their product itself which does some things different than the competitor. They moved from the simple PET plastic solutions, to RPET sustainable solutions. This is a new technology which is more sustainable than previous PET plastic solutions which uses new technology. But also inside the workforce, Verdeco tries to be proactively innovative by allowing some employees to work fully remote. Now, this is a very new trend and if this a positive or negative one remains to be seen, but what it does do is open up an international talent pool to choose from.

Continuing from innovation, we arrive at impact. Verdeco wants to ‘create positive change & a better world for all.’ This really is the goal of the company, to make a more sustainable use of our plastic, which of course has ripple effects across the globe, mainly into our oceans. But even inside the company, Verdeco tries to have a positive effect. We can see this through them providing inhouse training. It seems that some refining is necessary since it is unstructured as it is, but they want to provide their employees with the tools they need not to only improve in their current job but also beyond. Because you cannot put a price on a peace of mind and once knowledge is given, it can never be taken away. So there is really not a more precious gift. In this way, they improve their employees lives and make the more potent for future endeavors.

The last value is excellence. Verdeco wants to ‘go beyond the expected’. Perhaps it’s least original, Verdeco tries to implement a culture of excellence. This reflects again on the fact that they provide internal training to their employees and also that they offer performance based rewards. In that way, they try to incentivise a high performance culture.

Q2 Then, consider the organization's strategy, goals, values, and vision, as well as the need to promote employee loyalty and motivation, engagement, performance-, impact- and customer- centrism, safety, ethicality, and inclusion and civility that should feature in every sustainable organization's culture, to characterize the target culture for the company's new facility.

Vision for the new culture at Verdeco: last slide on slidedeck

· Nurturing collaboration is key

· Wants to create a place for creativity

· Open lunch time for white & blue collars (more probably for the white collars) - promote informal bonding

In South Carolina - building a new office there for white collars (managers, analysts, etc.)

· Never had a physical office before

· Blue collar (machine, operators, forklift drivers, etc.)

As a company that focuses on sustainable development, innovation, and customer-centricity, Verdeco has to concentrate on creative perspectives, which means it should try its best to motivate employees. According to the situation of Verdeco, we recommend they use the new organizational culture to advance the business from both the internal and external drivers.

Internally, clan culture would be the best match for Verdecos' demand. In clan culture, happy teams create happy careers. There is a positive correlation between employee satisfaction, productivity, and business growth. Office morale will be high when employees feel valued in the workplace. Based on Verdeco's company structure, we recommend they create activities to build relationships between its employees, such as open lunch or afternoon tea to all the white & blue collars or team outdoor activities like city cycling. These activities may not attract every employee because of cultural differences but it is still necessary to build a strong team bond and culture. This can also boost the company’s culture where employees are not afraid to share their opinions. Due to the nature of clan culture, a great employee relationship can improve work efficiency, increase the employee’s understanding of their company's shared values, and aid the human resources (HR) team to operate more flexibly.

Externally, honor culture would match Verdecos' demand. It is an integral part of corporate culture and will extend and deepen organizational value. Honor culture will stimulate employees' sense of responsibility and make them realize the importance of their work to the circular plastics economy. Therefore, we recommend Verdeco build connections with customers and ask customers to show the success and achievement of the production with the support from Verdeco, such as how Verdecos' rPET helps sustainable manufacturing. These achievements can motivate employees and state the value and meaning of their work. After encouragement and motivation from external sources, Verdeco employees will push more on innovation. The construction of honor culture systematically organizes employees' achievements and then, through specific applications, forms a culture that affects every company employee. Employees' pride in the company drives their loyalty to the company at work, creating solid corporate cohesion to push the company's development.

Verdeco is currently looking to hire:

· Data engineer & data analyst

· Smart of their feet

· Take initiative to solve problems

Q3 Remember to consider and integrate the effects of imbedding national culture (or regional sub-culture). Make clear why the organizational culture recommendations you make are ideal.

Topics to think about:

· Verdeco has no HR department or process - needs a framework

· Need a chart on who reports to who

· What kind of culture needs to be developed to create a culture of “nurturing collaboration” and a “workplace where creativity can flourish”?

Even though Verdeco has a department structure, if they want to reach their desired goals adopting Adhocracy and clan culture, hierarchy needs to be less centralized, giving power to staff members for decision making which will enhance collaboration. It is crucial to invest in proper training that will lead new assets to deliver the best for the company. That’s why a hybrid organizational model allows for integrated and flexible behavior, inspiring and fostering new contributions from all personnel while keeping a clear structure.

Verdeco's business strategy continues to support a fairly traditional organizational framework even as it gives employees greater independence, therefore some degree of bureaucracy or meritocracy is still in effect with their hierarchy diagram. Having obvious leaders who can lead by example and speak for Verdeco is beneficial.

Verdeco could think about focusing less on top-down tactics where only the department heads speak out and giving employees greater opportunity to offer their ideas and aid the organization's growth from the ground up.

Q4 Create a set of evidence-based recommendations to help the organization enact and reinforce your envisioned culture. These recommendations should guide the organization in establishing, building, enhancing, and reinforcing the right culture for it.

Good evidence-based recommendations are most useful if they are precise and concise. That’s why, we as a team, have decided to focus on the last core value of Verdeco. To have excellence as a core corporate value is a noble but unoriginal one to have. More important is to find a course of action as to how to achieve or uphold such a standard. We believe than, in order to have excellence inside of your company, the foundation must already be laid when hiring the employees. To have a working environment where ‘no work is too much’ and where you want your employees to go above and beyond the call of duty, is not self-evident and definitely not standard. Some people like to have their specific tasks and don’t want to overtake other people’s work. Others just come to work, do what they have to do and go home. These are characters you don’t necessarily want in your company if you want to establish a culture of excellent performance. So having already those foundational characterists seem crucial to reinforce those values in the future.

What does that mean for your hiring process? It might be wise to focus more on character than hard skills perse. A person who is willing to go the extra mile, but lacks some hard skills when it comes to competing candidates might be the better option to go with. There is a saying in HR that says: ‘You can never coach someone on their character. You can always coach skills.’ If you have a person who is willing and able to learn, you can shape him or her into a great asset. This also seems to fit well into the current culture of the company since they are willing to provide inhouse training courses. Since training employees requires them to have a certain form of humbleness, we suggest to focus on younger candidates who are trying to prove themselves. They tend to be more flexible as well when it comes to teaching and tend to be more open to being shaped into a certain form. If you have a candidate with a good trackrecord on university, it shows that he or she is willing and able to learn and take in new information. So then use their past experiences to dream about the potential future. It is true that this might be a more costly endeavor than hiring someone who has a proven trackrecord (although this is not necessarily the case). But thinking long-term, one shouldn’t focus too much on short-term costs. To become successful and achieve the growth targets the company has put, they shouldn’t think about how much it will costs, but more about how much it is worth. A well invested asset can give a return far exceeding expectations. To materialize those return of course will also require intrinsic as well as extrinsic motivations forces, but it seems the company does have those forces in place.

Leaders and managers are the two primary groups responsible for creating and shaping the work culture ( Quantum Workplace, 2022 ). They need to listen and take action to meet the needs of their employees, and this takes more than presenting a bonus or new microwave in the staff lounge. According to Harvard Business Review (2022) , it is about “leading from the heart”. This includes them taking “ownership of meeting their teams’ physical, emotional, and environmental needs often have better retention, engagement, and bottom-line results than their counterparts” (HBR, 2022).

06/30/22

Workporfoilo 2

Assume a general manager at the company will be hiring from outside the organization and needs employees who can ‘hit the ground running’. Create a recruitment plan for the two focal positions identified by the client.

For each, consider if any restructuring of the position (as it was described by the client) should occur and, if so, provide sound justification when making those recommendations.

Based on the role as described or, if you are recommending changes, your recommended version of the role, create an appropriate job description, determine appropriate hiring criteria, decide on the best way to get the word out to a viable candidate pool about the opening (bearing in mind both the likely viability of the candidates you would reach and the cost of your chosen method).

Be mindful that your chosen modes for spreading the word about the positions can introduce bias into the hiring process. Include a brief analysis of the likelihood of source bias for each of your chosen routes and indicate how to reduce any impact you anticipate. It is important that qualified, diverse candidates know about the positions and feel welcome to apply for them.

RECRUITMENT PLAN

Positions: Data Engineer and Data Analyst

Company: Verdeco

Date: 01/07/2022

Job description

Data Engineer/Data Analyst

Job Overview

We are looking for an experienced Data Engineer to join our growing team of analytics specialists. The person will be responsible for expanding and improving our data and data pipeline architecture, as well as optimizing data flow and collection for cross-functional teams. The ideal candidate is an experienced data pipeline developer and data wrangler who enjoys optimizing and building data systems from the ground up. The Data Engineer will support our software developers, database architects, data analysts, and data scientists with data initiatives, as well as ensure that the correct data delivery architecture is maintained across all active projects. They must be able to independently service the data needs of multiple teams, systems, and products. The ideal candidate will be eager to optimize or redesign our company's data architecture in order to enable the next generation of products and data operations.

Responsibilities for Data Engineer/Analyst

• Design and maintain a suitable data pipeline architecture.

• Assemble massive, complex data sets that meet functional and non-functional business requirements.

• Identify, create, and implement internal process improvements such as automating manual activities, optimizing data delivery, and redesigning infrastructure for increased scalability, among other things.

• Using AWS SQL and 'big data' technologies, build the architecture required for optimal data extraction, transformation, and loading from a wide range of data sources.

EDUCATION

Bachelor's Degree Required: Data Science, software engineering or related field.

QUALIFICATIONS SUMMARY

• Data Visualization Techniques

• Intermediate SQL skills

• Experience with relational database management systems

• Analytical and problem-solving skills

EXPERIENCE

• Four years of relevant work required

RECRUITMENT PLAN

HOW TO FILL THE POSITION:

Ensure the application procedure is transparent and initiate contact with prospective candidates by providing the job description. Consider the budget for ad placement. To attract the proper individuals, you must use the appropriate platforms. Utilize LinkedIn and other social media networks. Utilize our website and job boards to search for a new position or internship.

SELECTION AND PRE-SCREENING APPLICANTS:

The process can begin the preliminary screening process as soon as you receive resumes to evaluate. Prescreening is an essential element of the process. Prescreening could save you time during the interview process. Before scheduling an interview, have the candidates take an online competency test and examine the findings. Engage with individuals and schedule initial interview meetings.

Frequently, the selection procedure begins with an initial screening of candidates to exclude those who do not meet the requirements for the position. Several straightforward questions are posed at this time. While candidates may be unqualified for the advertised job, they may be ideally suited for other open positions. Screening is required to decrease the number of candidates being considered.

INTERVIEW CANDIDATES:

When you have the chance to interview the potential hire, ask intelligent and relevant questions to Observe how individuals and circumstances respond to a specific situation, assess your self-assurance, problem-solving skills, technical experience, and health informatics knowledge, and recognize the applicant's professional objectives and work environment. You must have obtained sufficient information during the final interview with the candidate to extend an offer of employment. After meeting with them, it is essential to understand their expectations, requirements, and interest in the position. Ensure that all credentials and references are in good standing.

Conducting Background and Reference Verifications. The applicant's references are compared to the information he provided in his application. The candidate's personal and professional conduct, attitude, and behavior can be obtained through these reference checks. A background check is conducted to confirm that the information on the application form is correct and comprehensive. Through former employers and references, you can verify the application's details. As part of the background check, education, legal eligibility to work, and a criminal record are examined. A medical examination is undertaken to establish whether an applicant is physically and intellectually capable of doing a job. This test helps the organization pick cognitively and physically fit candidates.

MAKE OFFER:

Before making an official offer to a candidate, you must decide. Also include the job description, salary, perks, and other benefits in writing. In addition to obligations and expectations, the permission signature is also essential. Because this individual is seeking employment, you should contact them as soon as possible. The appointment letters include working hours, remuneration, vacation time, and other benefits. In many instances, personnel are contingent and only become permanent when their performance is deemed adequate. Direct coworkers may also participate in the selection procedure. It is a waste of time to hire someone who appears to be a good fit on paper but is not a good fit in practice. By doing so, I can combine my knowledge of the company's culture with the talents of a team member directly related to the open position. If you seek a solid collaboration, they will provide you with an overview of the essential skills.

For the positions, no restructuring will be necessary because the descriptions and the plan fit the needs of the client.

Tim and Nhi (12:00pm meeting on 06/01)

Create an appropriate advertisement for the position that is appropriate for your chosen dissemination mode for each. You can choose different approaches for the two different positions if merited. Your advertisements should be ready to disseminate; aim for professional quality.

Provide accurate pricing for your plan, for each position, and justify why your recommendations are the best route for the client to take. Remember to assume that you will be hiring from outside the organization and that the need is for someone who is ready to go rather than having to be skilled up.

Be giving thought to how you will select applicants because you will need to indicate if you are soliciting CVs or if people need to fill out an online application or etc. in your recruitment materials.