Work Redesign Pilot Evaluation for Large Consumer Products Company

Accomplishments: Measured the behavioral and productivity impacts of a work design change that created new roles and interdependent teams in customer-facing settings.

Key insights: Before-and-after measurement of customer impacts, and linkage to both internal group dynamics and change management effectiveness.

Human Capital Value for Large Multinational Professional Services Firm

Accomplishments: Identified labor market return to skills developed on the job. Identified job design elements driving motivation, productivity and turnover for critical talent pools. Company used the results to change the work system and lower turnover.

Longitudinal component: Repeated the study design seven years later to measure changes in the factors driving motivation and engagement for the Millennial Generation versus Generation X

Key insights: The monetary and career development value which professional employees and their managers derive from a job. The role of job factors versus compensation as drivers of retention. Management techniques and processes for managing the new generation of workers.

Role Optimization

Accomplishments: Assessed role design and business unit structure for multiple layers of management for third largest pineapple plantation in the world.

Key insight: How to structure roles, responsibilities, competencies and organizational processes to increase efficiency of decision making and organizational effectiveness.

Compensation Pilot Evaluation for Large Multinational

Accomplishments: Designed measurement framework to evaluate new sales compensation program, identifying the drivers of and barriers to increased sales. Company used the results to optimize the compensation program and evaluate whether to institutionalize it.

Key insights: Deep understanding of the role of compensation in driving behavior that is aligned with the company’s strategic objectives.

High Performance Teams for Multinational Professional Services Firm

Accomplishments: Identified levers with greatest impact for improving business unit effectiveness. Company used the results to optimize team performance.

Key insights: Organization and job design choices can have very different impacts on business unit, client and employee outcomes. Interdependencies between business unit, client and individual factors can amplify the importance of policies and processes designed to improve performance.

Maximizing Route Sales Effectiveness for Multinational Foods Company

Accomplishments: Identified job components that contributed differentially to the bottom line, which the company used to redesign the role, better target customer segments, improve performance, and increase compensation.

Key insights: Deep understanding of the drivers of performance and motivation in a frontline role that is critical for the organization’s success.

Measuring the Impact of an Operating System Model Change for Global Company

Accomplishments: Measured the extent of process and cultural change in a large global company that changed its operating model away from decentralized decision making, including introducing stronger central functions and centers of excellence

Key insight: Using behavioral and business measurements to evaluate the bottom line impact of an operating model change.

Customer Teams Optimization for Large Consumer Products Organization

Accomplishments: Designed organization diagnosis framework to evaluate the organization design for division-spanning sales teams that serve the company’s largest customers. The company used the results to restructure the teams and their support systems to improve performance.

Key insight: Ways to optimize customer-facing teams that are embedded in matrix structure that crosses divisions.

Decision Making Optimization for Global Pharmaceuticals Company

Accomplishments: Designed organization diagnosis framework to evaluate the structure of decision making and decision rights throughout the organization and across all functions and divisions globally. The company used the results to clarify roles and responsibilities, realign decision making processes, and improve two-way communication throughout the corporate structure.

Key insight: How to achieve the right balance between top-down vs. bottom-up and center-led vs. geographically dispersed decision making.

How Companies Achieve Success in Times of Adversity for Global Management Consulting Firm

Accomplishments: Identified organizational structures and processes that companies adopt in good times that enable them to weather both macroeconomic and industry tough times.

Key insights: How companies translate strategy into decisions about restructuring, growing and/or eliminating work and lines of business that enable corporate survival and growth in difficult economic environments.

Category Management Optimization for Multinational Food and Beverage Corporation

Accomplishments: Designed organization diagnosis framework to evaluate the job and organization design for roles that provide key analytic support for sales.

Key insights: The value that functional support roles play in driving bottom line performance, and paths to maximizing that value.

Helped Design and Train Human Capital Analytics Group for a Large Canadian Financial Institution

Accomplishments: Consulted on the design, mission and processes of new analytics group focused on employee behaviors. Designed measurement models for analysts and provided coaching on their implementation and interpretation.

Key insights: Organizations’ ability to fully capitalize on their employees’ data often requires the building of significant analytical capabilities both internally and externally.

Linking Managerial Competencies to the Bottom Line for a Large Food Products Organization

Accomplishments: Created measurements to demonstrate bottom-line impact of managerial competency system. Company used the results to validate the design of the competency system.

Key insights: Managerial competency systems that evaluate, develop and reward specific skills that are essential for organizational performance and effectiveness can contribute directly to the bottom line.

Productivity of Globally Distributed Software Development for Fortune 200 Technology Company
Sponsored by Sloan Foundation

Accomplishments: Company used the results to evaluate cost-benefits of moving software development to lower cost labor markets worldwide.

Key insights: Salary costs comparisons alone are insufficient to manage the ROI of spreading work around the globe. The costs and benefits of differentiating and integrating work across time and space are just as important and may dominate labor cost differences.