Case Study - SHARPE DESIGNS

Sharpe Designs is a successful software company operating from modern, futuristic offices in West London, and employs 150 staff.

They have a reputation for being one of the most creative and imaginative IT companies in the UK and have won numerous awards for its innovative product campaigns.

The company is also renowned for creating an individual approach to workplace design, being influenced by the innovative approach to employee engagement pioneered by visionary employers such as Google.

Starting with the basics, employees are paid favourably compared to other businesses in the IT sector, and all staff have permanent contracts. On principle, Sharpe Designs will not employ interns and/or use zero hour contracts.

The workplace has a bright, vibrant, open design. Employee perks include a free restaurant, gym, spa, and there is even a free on-site doctor's surgery.

There are numerous communal areas for staff to interact and chat over new ideas. There is a big emphasis on making work fun and for employees to feel part of a family. The company encourages staff to interact and communicate with each other at every opportunity. Rather than running formal training programmes, they encourage staff to learn from each other and have built in 10% of the working day for staff to pursue any project they want, as long as it is work related and collaborative.

They also run a wide range of recognition schemes, where great work by any employee is rewarded in a range of ways other than by money. The most popular is a scheme run by the employees themselves, where fellow workers can be nominated for recognition, giving them opportunities to learn new skills or attend out-of-work educational programmes of their choice.

Job satisfaction and the level of staff productivity are very high.  It is a highly competitive market and many people outside the organisation wonder what their secret to success is.

Sharpe Design's organisational structure is very flat, and functionally comprises of only three departments;

• Sales and Marketing - 20 people
• Accounting and Finance - 30 people
• Product design - 90 people

There are 3 Directors who lead the above teams, 9 senior managers (3 in each functional team) plus the Managing Director, Charlie Caldwell.

Most of the designers and programmers work in the Product Design department. These teams are largely autonomous, but report progress to their line managers weekly. These teams always include people from the other two departments for their input and expertise. In many ways Sharpe Designs reflect a matrix structure in its approach to work organisation.

This approach seems to work very well as most of the innovative ideas that have kept the company ahead of the pack, arise from these teams, not higher management.

However, it is not all positive news. Due to increasing space constraints because of rapid growth, the Accounts and Finance department has been told by the Senior Management Team that it will need to relocate to a new building in Birmingham, some 120 miles away as the first part of a wholesale relocation for the business. All the other departments will remain in West London for at least another year.

Because of the need to move fast, there was no consultation between the management and the staff, and therefore the decision was totally unexpected. Up until this time, staffs were always consulted before big decisions were announced. Many of the staff have friends in the Accounts and Finance department and this rapid move is likely to have a significant impact on the social dynamics at work. Staff were told that the move would take place within a month, and if they didn't want to, or weren't able to relocatethey would have to leave the organisation.

Charlie Caldwell believes that new facility will provide a muchlarger and therefore better working environment for the Accounts and Finance staff, butmany of them disagree and consider the new building to be cold and dark in comparison with their current location.  It is also awkward to access, with little public transport close by, and no parking facilities. To achieve an appropriate work-life balance, working there means having to either face an exceedingly long commute, or to move house?!

From an operational and social perspective, senior management have reassured accounting staff that email would enable regular contact to be maintained with other staff in the other departments in West London.

It is clear that many of the accounting staff are not happy about this change and therefore many have sought an urgent meeting with their line manager, Samantha Brown.

Samantha hadonly recently been promoted to the position of Accounts and Finance Manager and this is her first management role. She is keen to be effective.

She was recruited into this role because she showed an ability to engage other staff and to coach and develop them.  Likewise she showed strong technical and professional knowledge and competence. Sometimes it appears that Samantha's biggest weakness is a lack of self-belief, her assumption being that she is too young to take on this position.

The Accounting and Finance Director, Steve Linford, has been very supportive of Samantha in this role, particularly at the beginning when she was very insecure.  Her confidence has grown quickly and she has begun to become more effective.  She is gradually taking on more leadership responsibility.  However the proposed relocation has proven to be a major challenge and has shaken her confidence.

Up until now, Samantha has been held in high regard by her fellow workers. Members of her team often commented that they would love to be able to emulate Samantha's approach to work and that they are always happy to work with her. During her three years at Sharpe Designs, she has been a major positive influence on their working lives and has established herself as an effective role model and someone who everyone seems to admire.

However, her promotion just before the move has made others suspicious of the part she has played in this.

Some at Sharpe Designs worry that Samantha has too much influence with the senior leadership team and are suspicious of Steve Linford's motives. Rumours have started to spread about their personal relationship. For the first time, the proposed move has sparked off a general concern and uneasewithin the company. There are concerns that there might behidden agendas and other important matters that employees are not being told about. The senior leadership team are aware that this situation couldseriously undermine the internal coherence of the business in the future.

Rumours of discontent have reached the ears of Charlie Caldwell, the Managing Director.   He is most concerned about the impact of this situation on employee engagement, innovation and productivity.

Questions-

You have been brought in, as part of an Organisational Behaviour team, to help Charlie Caldwell to review the impact of the move.  He wants to find out whether these or any other issues within the organisation might be compromising the balance between innovation and productivity and the employees' engagement with their work.

You have been asked to write a 1,500 word management report that covers the following specific requirements. Each answer should be around 500 words each:

1. With reference to one appropriate organisational culture typography model, identify the type of culture that was in evidence at Sharpe Designs prior to the proposed relocation of the Accounts and Finance Department and the basis on which you think this. Explain how the culture might be changing as a result of the proposed move?

2. With reference to one appropriate theory of motivation, assess the level of staff motivation at Sharpe Designs and explain your reasoning.

3. How useful is Hersey and Blanchard's model (1999) of Situational Leadership in explaining Steve Linford's approach to leading Samantha Brown?