Beijing EAPS consulting Inc. Case Solution And Analysis, HBR Case Study Solution & Analysis of Harvard Case Studies

Beijing EAPS consulting Inc. Case Study Solution

The case illustrates the approach of the BEC consulting company towards stream lining the processes of the company and to manage the high demand in the market. BEC consulting is a consulting company that offers the service of employee’s assistant program (EAPS) that deals with the employee’s mental health and offers the solution to manage the stress in workplace which may ultimately sustain the turn over rate and improve the productivity of the business. Since the idea of EAPS has been at infancy stage in China, it faced the scarcity of human resource to run the operational needs of the company. However, over the period of time, the company employed 20 new individuals with 5 new departments in the organization to deal and manage the market demand which has suddenly increased. Doing this, Mr.Zheng, the CEO ofthe company has developed a matrix system in the organization in which individuals are offered to work on multi-tasks. In addition, he has also introduced the project management structure in the organization,with the power position equal to departmental mangers. Though this has improved the deadline meeting of the projects and has resulted in the increase of profits, however internally, the bi-directional hierarchal system has created much conflict, in which employees are unaware of the direct supervisors and are unable to manage the dual task directions, leading to the ineffective management of task. In addition, due to the equal hierarchical position of the project managers and the departmental mangers, there has been lack of communication and dissemination of task, since it has led to the delicate relationship between the two parties, hindering the performance of the company to meet the high market demand.

Keywords: Conflict management, Project management, Matrix system

Introduction

BEC consulting is a consulting firm that offers the EAPs program services to the businesses that allows them to manage the turnover ratio along with the management of the employee stress in the workplace leading to high performance and management of the operation.From the BEC initiation, the company offered the services of EAPS which has currently taken hold of the Chinese market as well.The company started with 6 employees each performing the multiple task in the organization.However, with the first successful hit to the Chinese mobile company, BEC faced tremendous demand for its EAPS services. In order to deal with the surge of demand, Mr. Zheng the ceo of the company hired 20 more employees each having masters or graduation psychology, also he introduced the matrix system in the organization which made the employees to perform the multi-tsk on the organization.

Beijing EAPS consulting Inc. Harvard Case Solution & Analysis

In the recent time, Mr. Zheng has introduced the project management system in the organization by planting the project managers in the organization with equal authority and power to departmental mangers. This has improved the employees’ skills and motivation in a way that this enabled them to work on their strong are as while managing a project, however, on the other side, under the given scenario, the dual system of organizational structure has created conflict, ambiguity in chain of command and the communication barrier between the managerial employees leading to intense confusion among the employees in deciding the immediate boss. Also, this has led to the development of conjunction between the project managers and the departmental managers since both can assign the tasks to the other teams and since there are two direction of orders, the functional employees face the confusion to follow the direction, making the prioritize project themselves.

Lastly, since there is a scarcity of human resources in the organization and the demand is increasing, making the schedules of task tighter for the employees to meet, the sudden request to meet the urgent client demand also creates the conflict among the employees and leading to extended working hours which on one point may develop the de-motivational factor among the employees.

Though the project management approach has many advantages to the business, however, Mr.Zheng along with his core team has to face the challenge of dealing with the multi-directional line of command, along with the maintenance of effective open communication, which if not achieved may create hurdles in implementing the change structure in the organization.

Problem Statement

The company faces the issue of maintaining a direct chain of command in the organization to develop a strong clear hier archal structure. Since in current situation, each project manager and departmental mangers have rights and authority and can assign task to any employee in an out of the project team, it has created conflict managing the two top managerial posts along with the burden of management employees with work, leading to the ineffective handling of projects and deadline meeting.
Zheng has implemented the project management system in the organization which he believes is beneficial for the company, however this has not proven to be successful for internal culture of the organizations, in certain situation, the Company has to develop strong plan of implementing change in the organization to mitigate the resistance from employees’side,leading to the effective management of resources ad functions................

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