Buro Happold, Chinese Version Case Solution And Analysis, HBR Case Study Solution & Analysis of Harvard Case Studies

Padraic Kelly became Managing Director (MD) of the engineering services firm Buro Happold in 1996. One of his first initiatives was "Aim for Increase," which was meant to assist the business grow beyond its present size where it was constrained by a construction of having each of the firm's founding partners responsible for a group of 25-30 engineers. This initiative was very successful, but the business subsequently found itself at all levels of the organization with a lack of leadership abilities to handle a business of a considerably bigger size, increasing by a factor of 10 over a decade.

A distinctive aspect of Archimedes Academy is that these first programs were urbanized and provided by the cohors who attended them. Rather than associate with a university to develop an accredited plan, the firm decided it would be better off developing the program itself, with the help of an outside consultant who had done something similar at his previous employer, in order to ensure the applications were special enough to Buro Happold's needs and applicable to the firm's tradition. The first two programs were a big accomplishment and the business expanded the training offerings under the Archimedes Banner. The case ends with a customer, a Middle Eastern city authority, requesting a new unit created by Padraic Kelly after stepping down in 2006 as MD, Buro Happold Consulting, to develop a training program in their opinion. This request raise the question of whether this internal training ability should become the basis of an external service offering.

PUBLICATION DATE: April 06, 2009 PRODUCT #: 410C04-HCB-CHI

This is just an excerpt. This case is about ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT