Royce Consulting case analysis End of chapter case analysis based on the attached overview of Royce Consting company. This assignment should be 3 complete

Royce Consulting case analysis End of chapter case analysis based on the attached overview of Royce Consting company. This assignment should be 3 complete pages. CASE FOR ANALYSIS It Isn’t So Simple: Infrastructure Change at Royce Consulting67
The lights of the city glittered outside Ken Vincent’s twelfth- Newly promoted managers were assigned an office, a
floor office. After nine years of late nights and missed major perquisite of their new status. During the previous
holidays, Ken was in the executive suite with the words year, some new managers had been forced to share an of-
“Associate Partner” on the door. Things should be easier fice because of space limitations. To minimize the friction
now, but the proposed changes at Royce Consulting had been of sharing an office, one of the managers was usually as-
more challenging than he had expected. “I don’t understand,” signed to a long-term project out of town. Thus, practically
he thought. “At Royce Consulting our clients, our people, and speaking, each manager had a private office.
our reputation are what count, so why do I feel so much ten-
sion from the managers about the changes that are going to
be made in the office? We’ve analyzed why we have to make Infrastructure and Proposed
the changes. Heck, we even got an outside person to help us. Changes
The administrative support staff are pleased. So why aren’t
the managers enthusiastic? We all know what the decision at Royce was thinking about instituting a hoteling office
tomorrow’s meeting will be-Go! Then it will all be over. Or system-also referred to as a “nonterritorial” or “free-
will it?” Ken thought as he turned out the lights.
address” office. A hoteling office system makes offices
available to managers on a reservation or drop-in basis.
Managers are not assigned a permanent office; instead,
whatever materials and equipment the manager needs are
Back round
moved into the temporary office. These are some of the
features and advantages of a hoteling office system:
Royce Consulting is an international consulting firm whose
clients are large corporations, usually with long-term con- No permanent office assigned
tracts. Royce employees spend weeks, months, and even Offices are scheduled by reservations
years working under contract at the client’s site. Royce Long-term scheduling of an office is feasible
consultants are employed by a wide range of industries, Storage space would be located in a separate file room
from manufacturing facilities to utilities to service busi- Standard manuals and supplies would be maintained
nesses. The firm has over 160 consulting offices located in in each office
65 countries. At this location Royce employees included Hoteling coordinator is responsible for maintaining
85 staff members, 22 site managers, 9 partners and
offices
associate partners, 6 administrative support staff, 1 human A change in “possession of space”
resource professional, and 1 financial support person. Eliminates two or more managers assigned to the same
For the most part, Royce Consulting hired entry-level office
staff straight out of college and promoted from within. Allows managers to keep the same office if desired
New hires worked on staff for five or six years; if they Managers would have to bring in whatever files they
did well, they were promoted to manager. Managers were
needed for their stay
responsible for maintaining client contracts and assisting Information available would be standardized regard-
partners in creating proposals for future engagements. less of office
Those who were not promoted after six or seven years gen- Managers do not have to worry about “housekeeping
erally left the compa! for other jobs.
issues”
.
.
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Chapter 1: Organizations and Organization Design
39
The other innovation under consideration was an up- Training
grade to state-of-the-art electronic office technology. All New hires at Royce Consulting received extensive training
managers would receive a new notebook computer with up- in the culture of the organization and the methodology em-
dated communications capability to use Royce’s integrated ployed in consulting projects. They began with a structured
and proprietary software. Also, as part of the electronic of- program of classroom instruction and computer-aided
fice technology, an electronic filing system was considered. courses covering technologies used in the various indus-
The electronic filing system meant information regarding tries in which the firm was involved. Royce Consulting
proposals, client records, and promotional materials would recruited top young people who were aggressive and who
be electronically available on the Royce Consulting network. were willing to do whatever was necessary to get the job
The administrative support staff had limited experi- done and build a common bond. Among new hires, cama-
ence with many of the application packages used by the raderie was encouraged along with a level of competition.
managers. While they used word processing extensively, This kind of behavior continued to be cultivated through-
they had little experience with spreadsheets, communica- out the training and promotion process.
tions, or graphics packages. The firm had a graphics de-
partment and the managers did most of their own work, Work Relationships
so the administrative staff did not have to work with those
Royce Consulting employees had a remarkably similar out-
application software packages.
look on the organization. Accepting the culture and norms
of the organization was important for each employee. The
Work Patterns
norms of Royce Consulting revolved around high perfor-
mance expectations and strong job involvement.
Royce Consulting was located in a large city in the Midwest.
By the time people were made managers, they were
The office was located in the downtown area, but it was aware of what types of behaviors were acceptable. Man-
easy to get to. Managers assigned to in-town projects often
agers were formally assigned the role of coach to younger
stopped by for a few hours at various times of the day. Man- staff people, and they modeled acceptable behavior. Behav-
agers who were not currently assigned to client projects were ioral norms included when they came into the office, how
expected to be in the office to assist on current projects or late they stayed at the office, and the type of comments they
work with a partner to develop proposals for new business.
made about others. Managers spent time checking on staff
In a consulting firm, managers spend a significant people and talking with them about how they were doing.
portion of their time at client sites. As a result, the office
The standard for relationships was that of profession-
occupancy rate at Royce Consulting was about 40 to
alism. Managers knew they had to do what the partners
60 percent. This meant that the firm paid lease costs for
asked and they were to be available at all times. A norms
offices that were empty approximately half of the time. survey and conversations made it clear that people at Royce
With the planned growth over the next 10 years, assigning Consulting were expected to help each other with
permanent offices to every manager, even doubled-up job problems, but personal problems were outsid
al rangements, was judged to be economically unnecessary of sanctioned relationships. Personal problems
given the amount of time offices were empty. The proposed interfere with performance on a job. To illustrate
changes would require managers and administrative sup- were put on hold and other kinds of commitment
port staff to adjust their work patterns. Additionally, if a aside if something was needed at Royce Consulting.
hoteling office system was adopted, managers would need
to keep their files in a centralized file room.
Organizational Values
Organizational Culture
Three things were of major importance to the organiza-
tion: its clients, its people, and its reputation. There was a
Royce Consulting had a strong organizational culture, and
strong client-centered philosophy communicated and prac-
management personnel were highly effective at communi-
ticed. Organization members sought to meet and exceed
cating it to all employees.
customer expectations. Putting clients first was stressed.
The management of Royce Consulting listened to its clients
Stability of Culture
and made adjustments to satisfy the client.
The culture at Royce Consulting was stable. The leadership The reputation of Royce Consulting was important
of the corporation had a clear picture of who they were and to those leading the organization. They protected and
what type of organization they were. Royce Consulting had enhanced it by focusing on quality services delivered by
positioned itself to be a leader in all areas of large business quality people. The emphasis on clients, Royce Consulting
consulting. Royce Consulting’s CEO articulated the firm’s personnel, and the firm’s reputation was cultivated by
commitment to being client-centered. Everything that was developing a highly motivated, cohesive, and committed
done at Royce Consulting was because of the client. group of employees.
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40
Part 1: Introduction to Organizations
Management Style and Hierarchical Structure
Partners acknowledged that current levels of informa-
The company organization was characterized by a direc- tion technology at Royce Consulting would not support
tive style of management. The partners had the final word the move to hoteling offices and that advances in electronic
on all issues of importance. It was common to hear state- office technology needed to be considered.
ments like “Managers are expected to solve problems, and Partners viewed all filing issues as secondary to both
do whatever it takes to finish the job” and “Whatever the the office layout change and the proposed technology
partners want, we do.” Partners accepted and asked for improvement. What eventually emerged, however, was
managers’ feedback on projects, but in the final analysis, that ownership and control of files was a major concern,
the partners made the decisions.
and most partners and managers did not want anything
centralized.
Current Situation
Interviews with the Managers
Royce Consulting had an aggressive five-year plan that was
Personal interviews were conducted with all ten managers
predicated on a continued increase in business. Increases in who were in the office. During the interviews, four of the
the total number of partners, associate partners, managers, managers asked Schrean whether the change to hoteling
and staff were forecast. Additional office space would be offices was her idea. The managers passed the question off
required to accommodate the growth in staff; this would as a joke; however, they expected a response from her. She
increase rental costs at a time when Royce’s fixed and vari- stated that she was there as an adviser, that she had not
able costs were going up.
generated the idea, and that she would not make the final
The partners, led by managing partner Donald Gray decision regarding the changes.
and associate partner Ken Vincent, believed that something The length of time that these managers had been in
had to be done to improve space utilization and the pro- their current positions ranged from six months to five
ductivity of the managers and administrative personnel. years. None of them expressed positive feelings about the
The partners approved a feasibility study of the innova- hoteling system, and all of them referred to how hard they
tions and their impact on the company.
had worked to make manager and gain an office of their
The ultimate decision makers were the partner group
own. Eight managers spoke of the status that the office
who had the power to approve the concepts and commit gave them and the convenience of having a permanent
the required financial investment. A planning committee place to keep their information and files. Two of the
consisted of Ken Vincent; the human resources person; the managers said they did not care so much about the status
financial officer; and an outside consultant, Mary Schrean. but were concerned about the convenience. One manager
said he would come in less frequently if he did not have
The Feasibility Study
his own office. The managers believed that a change to
hoteling offices would decrease their productivity. Two
Wiin two working days of the initial meeting, all the managers stated that they did not care how much mone
eners and managers received a memo announcing the Royce Consulting would save on lease costs; they wantı
heing office feasibility study. The memo included a brief to keep their offices.
description of the concept and stated that it would include However, for all the negative comments, all the man
an interview with the staff. By this time, partners and man- agers said that they would go along with whatever the
agers had already heard about the possible changes and
partners decided to do. One manager stated that if Royce
knew that Gray was leaning toward hoteling offices. Consulting stays busy with client projects, having a perma-
nently assigned office was not a big issue.
Interviews with the Partners
During the interviews, every manager was enthusiastic
All the partners were interviewed. One similarity in the and supportive of new productivity tools, particularly the
comments was that they thought the move to hoteling of- improved electronic office technology. They believed that
fices was necessary, but they were glad it would not affect new computers and integrated software and productivity
them. Three partners expressed concern about managers’ tools would definitely improve their productivity. Half the
acceptance of the change to a hoteling system. The conclu- managers stated that updated technology would make the
sion of each partner was that if Royce Consulting moved change to hoteling offices “a little less terrible,” and they
to hoteling offices, with or without electronic office tech- wanted their secretaries to have the same software as they did.
nology, the managers would accept the change. The rea- The managers’ responses to the filing issue varied. The
son given by the partners for such acceptance was that the volume of files managers had was in direct proportion to
managers would do what the partners wanted done. their tenure in that position: The longer a person was a
The partners all agreed that productivity could be im- manager, the more files he or she had. In all cases, manag-
proved at all levels of the organization: in their own work ers took care of their own files, storing them in their offices
as well as among the secretaries and the managers. and in whatever filing drawers were free.
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Editorial teview las deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall laming experience. Cetgage leting reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictis quite 2
Chapter 1: Organizations and Organization Design
41
0-1 year
2-3 years
As part of the process of speaking with managers, offices over hoteling, and managers believed their produc-
their administrative assistants were asked about the pro- tivity would be negatively impacted. The challenges facing
posed changes. Each of the six thought that the electronic Royce Consulting if they move to hoteling offices centered
office upgrade would benefit the managers, although they around tradition and managers’ expectations, file accessi-
were somewhat concerned about what would be expected bility and organization, security and privacy issues, unpre-
of them. Regarding the move to hoteling offices, each said dictable work schedules, and high-traffic periods.
that the managers would hate the change, but that they
would agree to it if the partners wanted to move in that
Control of Personal Files. Because of the comments made
direction.
during the face-to-face interviews, survey respondents were
asked to rank the importance of having personal control
Results of the Survey
of their files. A five-point scale was used, with 5 being
A survey developed from the interviews was sent to all “strongly agree” and i being “strongly disagree.” Here are
partners, associate partners, and managers two weeks af-
the responses:
ter the interviews were conducted. The completed survey
was returned by 6 of the 9 partners and associate part-
Respondents Sample
Rank
ners and 16 of the 22 managers. This is what the survey
showed.
Partners
6
4.3
Managers:
Work Patterns. It was “common knowledge that
5
4.6
managers were out of the office a significant portion
5
3.6
of their time, but there were no figures to substantiate
this belief, so the respondents were asked to provide
4 years
6
4.3
data on where they spent their time. The survey results
indicated that partners spent 38 percent of their time in
the office; 54 percent at client sites; 5 percent at home;
Electronic Technology. Royce Consulting had a basic net-
and 3 percent in other places, such as airports. Managers
work system in the office that could not accommodate the
reported spending 32 percent of their time in the
current partners and managers working at a remote site.
office, 63 percent at client sites, 4 percent at home, and
The administrative support staff had a separate network,
1 percent in other places.
and the managers and staff could not communicate elec-
For 15 workdays, the planning team also visually tronically. Of managers responding to the survey, 95 per-
checked each of the 15 managers’ offices four times each cent wanted to use the network but only 50 percent could
day: at 9 A.M., 11 A.M., 2 P.m., and 4 P.M. These times actually do so.
were selected because initial observations indicated that
these were the peak occupancy times. An average of six Option Analysis
ofices (40 percent of all manager offices) were empty at
A financial analysis showed that there were significant
ny given time; in other words, there was a 60 percent differences between the options under consideration:
occupancy rate.
Option 1: Continue private offices with some office sharing
Alternative Office Layouts. One of the alternatives out-
Lease an additional floor in existing building; annual
lined by the planning committee was a continuation of
cost, $360,000
and expansion of shared offices. Eleven of the managers
Build out the additional floor (i.e., construct, furnish,
responding to the survey preferred shared offices to hotel-
and equip offices and work areas): one-time cost,
$600,000
ing offices. Occasions when more than one manager was
in the shared office at the same time were infrequent. Eight Option 2: Move to hoteling offices with upgraded of-
managers reported 0 to 5 office conflicts per month; three fice technology
managers reported 6 to 10 office conflicts per month. The
type of problems encountered with shared offices included
Upgrade office electronic technology: one-time cost,
not having enough filing space, problems in directing tele-
$190,000
phone calls, and lack of privacy.
Option 1 was expensive because…
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