Description
12 – 15 pages with a minimum of 10 citations or references on each page.
Case of Company ABC
Overview
Company ABC is like many other businesses. It is in the business of making money and delivering great value to its clients. This company operates in the financial service sector. It was started in the spring of 1984 by three financial advisors and an expert who specialized in wills, trusts, estate planning, and inter-generational transfer of wealth.
It started off with $33m of assets under management. Today, assets under management are $3.7b. Over the years, it has grown to 97 employees of which 2 identify as non-white. The employee make up is 79 male and 18 females. The latter is primarily employed to do administrative and support work. The highest paid administrative assistant gets a salary $93,000. The lowest paid financial advisor or lawyer gets a compensation of $125,000. The number of clients is 1975, primarily of couples and a few individuals. In the company’s early beginnings, it took on clients with $50,000 to invest. Over the years, this has grown to $500,000 as an initial transfer of funds to manage.
Client Services
The founders of this company see it as a financial concierge business. Upon joining, clients get free wills, trust, living directives, etc. done for them. Five year reviews are also free. They also provide summer education seminars for the children and grandchildren who will inherit lots of money or already have lot of money in their brokerage accounts. One of the popular events for teenage kids is the stock market game which lasts 3 to 5 days.
Fee services include the procurement of a car, house, medical coverage, etc. They coordinate yearly retreats for their clients all over the world. They have hosted events in Asia, Australia, Africa, South America, and Central America. In looking at the pictures from past retreats not one client looks like a person of color.
CSR
From a CSR perspective, they do projects all over the world. They generally combine retreats with service projects. They have sponsored the digging of wells, building of clinics, schools in various parts of the world. In the US, they have done projects in South Dakota, and Louisiana. They do have a fun time visiting these places and seeing the difference they make in people’s lives.
Diversity
From a diversity perspective, they see themselves are very diverse. They have a wide cross section of expertise within house, employees enjoy various hobbies such as fishing golfing, skiing, hunting, fishing, playing chess, bridge, mahjong, etc. Their clientele come from various industries such as medical, construction, manufacturing, agriculture, transportation, etc.
From a financial perspective, this company is doing just fine. Clients rate of returns over the decades are 18 basis points higher than average. The higher than average return added to all of the other services results in a client turnover that is less than 2%. Yes, they are in a competitive market, but this company does not foresee any great headwinds. Clients’ referrals keep them busy.
Presenting Issue
The owners were approached by a director for a state’s pension plan. They could have as much as $500m additional funds to manage. The biggest obstacle is the lack of ethnic and racial diversity in the employee workforce. If they are going to do business of this magnitude with a government entity they would have to comply with Affirmative Action guideline.
The company was given a 2 year period to develop and implement a DEI plan. As an OD consultant how would you approach changing this organization’s culture.
Develop a framework for bringing about change.
Develop a timeline with various interventions.
Develop a rough budget outline.
Develop assessments to see whether you are making progress.
Assess factors that may contribute to the failure or success of this initiative.
Feel free to add information and interventions you believe would be helpful.
