business project
315476
project.docx
OBJECTIVES PHASE ONE STEP ONE:
FastCat is a small to medium sized company that provides medical software to healthcare establishments to assist them with the ease of accessing information for the office staff as well as their patients. Since FastCat is competing with much larger companies and the industry is experiencing increased demand due to government regulations they must be aware and fulfill their objectives to ensure success. FastCat must improve the flow of information and data reporting to be certain patients are receiving the correct treatment.
The first objective is to improve the care of patients and make sure that doctors and patients have the information they need when they need it. To do this they will need to focus on the patient-physician interface, provide web and mobile services, ensure the ease of communication between physicians and patients, provide privacy to users, and make their systems error free.
Supporting this objective is the objective to make sure they keep cost down; not only to help them increase revenue but to make their software affordable to customers. To help increase revenue FastCat will try to shave off or better train customers who are requiring a lot of resources and making the company little to no profit. Implementing training programs for medical staff,physicians, and patients will be important to make sure they know how to properly use the products on their own. This is also related to the company objective of efficiency. FastCat will try to move some of their support and manufacturing offshore in hopes to lower cost, but not quality. FastCat wants to be cautious that lowering cost will never lower quality or efficiency; two things they believe the company is established off of.
Keeping cost down for the customers will be extremely important in retaining current customers and acquiring new customers because the demand is increasing.
This leads me to another major objective of creating a competitive advantage that is sustainable. FastCat wants to offer their customers customized packages while their competitors only offer standard packages. Right now the demand is at its peak but when everything settles down FastCat hopes to have created an advantage that they can sustain and drive out competitors who entered the industry during the growth.
The HITECH Act provides FastCat with an incredible opportunity to grow their customer base and increase profits in a short period of time. In order for FastCat to compete in the health information technology boom, they need to attract many more quality employees to their company. With the $30 billion dollars the government is investing into the HITECH incentive program, Fastcat will be able to spend more on human capital, in order to keep future employees from going to other competing companies.
Another staple objective is the goal to grow the company. FastCat wants to acquire new customers as well as retain old ones. They hope to create new features and products, take them nationwide, and explore international potential. The company also understands that without the talent of its employees, growth is not possible. FastCat wants to ensure that they have enough employees to allow them to take advantage of growth opportunities. They want to promote from within for upper level positions hoping this will help them retain talented and quality employees; another objective of the company. FastCat wants their employees to not only be satisfied but also engaged in the company. They know that this will also help support their objective of sustaining a competitive advantage. In addition to retaining employees FastCat wants to make sure that their compensation strategy will help differentiate them. They want to provide employees with a strategy that will attract, retain, motivate, and comply with company values. They know that in the upcoming time it will be especially important to retain and maintain quality software engineers and marketing people.
Although the company wants to fulfill all of their objectives, it is also extremely important to them that the values of the company, the environment, employees attitudes, and customer care is not jeopardized. It is a number one priority when making a decision to ensure that it is the best thing financially, meets or exceed customer expectations, and is up to their high quality standards. In order to be the best medical software available they must operate efficiently, be consistently reliable, and have high quality standards.
B.) How detailed/tailored? AND C.) Hierarchical versus flat?
*Based on Cases in Compensation book
We recommend a tailored structure along with hierarchical. One of Fastcat’s objectives is for current employees to feel engaged. One way to do that is by providing clear expectations through detailed job descriptions that specify the tasks of each job. A tailored structure would allow for stream lining policies and procedures in order for all employees to be aligned with the companies objectives and mission. This also encourages teamwork among various departments which will create stronger sense of commitment.
We recommend a hierarchical pay structure because it would help the company retain talent and create a positive and collaborative environment. If we have many levels in our structure employees will feel there is a greater opportunity for growth within the company and will be able to see clear career paths. This structure will help to identify the difference in the levels of all jobs. Also, this structure is more transparent for employees because they will be able to see they are compensated based in their contribution to the company. This will be viewed as an equitable process.
PHASE ONE STEP TWO:
· job based structure -
· one structure - means it includes all job families as one and uses the same plan to evaluate them all
A. DESCRIBE THE PROCESS USED TO DESIGN THE PLAN:
B. SPECIFY WHETHER YOU RECOMMEND A SINGLE VERSUS MULTIPLE STRUCTURES.
We decided to use a single plan for our internal structure which will include all job families and use a point based job evaluation method. Point based evaluations communicate a common value system and will allow us to evaluate employees equally which is what this company needs in order to retain good employees. We want to be as transparent and fair as possible. This evaluation system also aligns with our hierarchical structure.
Compensable Factors: reflect how work adds value to the org. They flow from the work itself and the strategic direction of the business.
Define it, how were they chosen? How are they scaled? How are they weighted?
3 CF From Exercise 16:
1. Skills (knowledge, experience, special training)
2. Relationships (with peers, with superiors and subordinates)
3. Responsibility (latitude/scope, for product output, control exercised over others, for safety of others)
CF selected on own:
4. Complexity of duties (decision making, judgement, innovation- standardized vs nonstandardized duties)
Bus strategy, work and values
CF #1:
Preparation and Training:
The compensable factor of preparation and training relates to the minimum level of skills one needs to fulfill a position. It is assumed that these skills and knowledge are either acquired through formal school and experience. The software industry is constantly changing and FastCat must recognize this and be sure to update the training of their employees in order to help them stay one step ahead of their competitors. Most of the jobs require either education or experience and it is really important that employees have an understanding of the industry to help the company move forward and innovate new products. FastCat wants to be able to promote from within and to do this they must give the employees experience and the proper training in low level jobs in order for them to progress within the company. Since most employees are involved with customers they must be well prepared to answer questions and provide quality service while resolving the issue. Hiring and firing can be costly to a company so perhaps instead of firing employees they just need more training on the task.
they want to have an error free software and they want to hire within the company. They had hired a lot of employees and the productivity went down.
CF#2: Contact with others: customer relations, presentations, helping co workers, interpersonal skills needed for most jobs
Contact with others involves meeting with, dealing with, and influencing other people internally and externally. It is important that the employees recognize this factor and be held accountable for it in order to make the company to provide excellent customer service and have accurate flow of communication. If all jobs had this responsibility customer relations would become more personable forming a loyalty from customers resulting in better reviews, referrals, and high retention rates. Most of the jobs require teamwork and customer service. Even for lower level jobs such as entry level technicians who can be hired with little to no work experience must possess the quality of strong interpersonal skills. This could also help improve productivity because communication would be increased and employees would have a better understanding of the company and the products.
CF#3: Responsibility/Accountability: to help them feel a strong sense of commitment to the org.
CF#4: Productivity/Results
Productivity and results can be related to and defined as the quality of the output of work and service to customers. We selected the compensable factor of productivity and results because FastCat has recently hired more people but yet are less productive than they have ever been. It is important we know how to measure productivity or results for each position to ensure that money is not being wasted on unnecessary positions. The whole company is working to fulfill the objectives and have the same goals in mind. The company wants to emphasize the importance of cutting cost but not quality. Making sure each employee is productive and producing quality results would result in not only saving money and creating quality but also creating a sustainable competitive advantage. FastCat jobs range from administrative, customer support, marketing, management, technicians, consultants, and engineers. With so many different positions it is easy for unproductive workers to go unnoticed, a problem we hope this compensable factor will solve.
Compensable Factors:
Preparation and training - 20%
· Skill level - 5%
· education - 5%
· experience - 5%
· goal and standards setting - 5%
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Experience |
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Goal setting |
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contact with others - 30%
· Internal - 5%
· external - 5%
· teamwork/collaboration - 10%
· communication: verbal and written skills - 5%
· conflict resolution 5%
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Communication: Written/Verbal |
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responsibility and accountability - 30%
· Quality of service/work - 5%
· Number of errors/complaints - 5%
· impact internally/externally - 10%
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Number of Errors/Complaints |
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Impact Internally/Externally |
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productivity and results - 20%
· job complexity - 5%
· development skills -5%
· decision making - 10%
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Development Skills |
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Decision Making |
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Implementation Plan
Develop recommendations for how your internal structure plan is to be administered and maintained over time:
In order for the new compensation plan to be implemented and maintained over time we must properly implement our new internal structure. We know that by ensuring proper training for employees and hiring qualified candidates we can improve the overall quality of the company’s products and services. Although implementing new training programs can initially cost money in the beginning, we will be saving money in the long run. If we can train current employees and create less errors, this can save us the cost of a lost customer or complaint and ensure employee knowledge. Having an employee who is confident and comfortable with the company values and products will help increase sales and satisfaction levels. In addition, it is cheaper to invest in the growth of promoting current employees rather than to hire from external sources. If we remain invested in our employees and their success we will profit from higher retention rates.
Ensuring the communication internally and externally, will help us fulfill the value of outstanding customer service and productivity. In addition, we will maintain an open environment that will ensure employee satisfaction and involvement, encouraging them to share creative ideas or make suggestions on improvements without fear of punishment. The people performing crucial roles within the company everyday often have solutions to things that others do not even know are a problem. This would only benefit the profitability of the company and would cost little to nothing to implement, it is simply a shift of internal culture. This would allow us to spend money on other areas of the plan that may be more costly.
Responsibility and accountability is one portion of the plan that could increase cost but would benefit the company as a whole. We want to be a company that pays employees well, allows them growth, and provides attractive benefits but at the same time we cannot do that unless we operate effectively. Hiring new manager or training current ones to identify and manage this factor could increase our cost but will be necessary. We are confident that by holding employees accountable and responsible they will feel a sense of commitment to the organization, benefiting not only FastCat but our employees as well.
A recent survey showed that FastCat's productivity was on the decline even though there was an increase in employees. This correlates with the results of the “Employee Engagement” survey in which employees felt there was a lack of commitment and the organization was not well managed. It is crucial to a successful organization that they consistently have high productivity levels outputting quality results. The key to maintaining a competitive advantage are the people involved in sustaining high quality and affordable products with superior customer service behind it. In order to complete this, we have to be one step ahead of the competition, and part of doing that is by ensuring that our employees are productive. Quarterly reviews and clearly assigned tasks and checkpoints will be necessary along the way. Having a company compiled of unproductive employees will only discourage others to operate in the same way. If employees are successful at achieving this factor, it is only fair that we compensate them to show our appreciation and respect for their commitment. Increasing expenses in compensation can only be justified if we can assure that the company is meeting objectives and values.
Implementing the plan is equally important to maintaining it over time. With that being known, the whole company will be involved in the implementation process and must understand why these changes are being made and how it will benefit them. The plan will be flexible enough to handle new jobs. Employee training or development programs will be clear. Having the employees involved in determining the knowledge, skills and abilities to be learned will help achieve success in the jobs. In addition, new employees that join the company will need an understanding of how these decisions were made. Communicating the plan verbally is important to us because we want an environment that welcomes employee feedback. Releasing updates and surveys periodically is also important to ensuring the plan continues to work and evolves with the industry. Human resource managers are able to adjust the plan if employees feel as though it is failing them due to its flexibility. Employee training or development programs will be done frequently to keep up with new skills needed or changes being made. We will also ensure that the training was successful by gathering feedback from employees and observing how they use the information. We will ensure managers make decisions consistent with the plan by providing constant guidance and training for decisions that are made. We feel that surveys have proved to be a great tool to ensure the company is on track.. Also, we definitely want to encourage employees to provide feedback on how to grow the company and how to improve the work environment.
What about the appeals procedures and legal compliance?
