Interclean Problem Solution

Problem Solution: InterClean, Inc.

Andrew

University of Phoenix

Problem Solution: InterClean, Inc.

InterClean (IC) is an $8 billion dollar company built on industrial cleaning supplies that is in the process of changing the strategic direction. The CEO hopes to grow the company by selling cleaning solutions and services on top of the products already being sold. Merging with EnviroTech, a company already selling solutions based cleaning allows InterClean to move the organization more quickly towards the new strategic vision of the CEO. In this paper the human resource (HR) impacts of these issues as related to other companies in similar situations will be discussed.

Situation Analysis

Issue and Opportunity Identification

Industrial cleaning and sanitation includes more than just products in business today. Companies are expanding the need for services because of how cleaning maintenance affects processes in a client business. Companies like InterClean must minimize or prevent downtime to assist clients in maximizing the business profits. Thus as InterClean changes the strategic direction all internal departments must understand the business of the companies they are trying to sell to and execute carefully planned industrial cleaning projects.

"Industrial machinery mechanics and maintenance workers held about 306,000 jobs in 2004. Of these, 220,000 were held by the more highly skilled industrial machinery mechanics, while machinery maintenance workers accounted for 86,000 jobs." (US Department of Labor, 2006). InterClean sees the opportunity to expand beyond just selling products to customers especially as higher margins are available through complete solution selling. This will require a transformation from products based selling to solutions and consulting selling of new consultative services resulting in a cultural shift for InterClean.

A cultural change process has at least for components: vision, communication, action and rewards according to Zoltners, Sinha and Zoltners (2001). As a result of this paradigm shift set forth by the CEO David Spencer, critical issues for InterClean include to be resolved within 90 to 180 days due to the release of a marketing blitz to occur at that time for the services:

Ð'* Communication

Ð'* Training and Development

Ð'* Skills Based Solution Sales Teaming

Ð'* Better Team Work between Departments

Ð'* Resource Optimization

Ð'* Integration of new business partner

Communication across the company appears to be an issue due to the secretive way HR , Vice President Janet Durham requests the InterClean HR staff to be delicate and discrete with the sales organization. Tactically this is understandable due to the nature of the upcoming merger with EnviroTech. There is an opportunity to meld the organizations into a positively functioning team moving forward. In particular between the compliancy organization, the sales, IT, marketing and HR teams shift towards a solutions based sales environment this requires each department to work together to be successful in the new strategic direction.

Training and development appears to have been lacking due to the non-success of the past IT solution for client tracking application. Additionally, as new regulatory requirements and the conversion from product selling to solutions based selling is being asked of the employees, it is critical for future success that training occur surrounding these issues for all teams and not just the sales organization.

Solutions sales requires a different mindset in particular for the front line sales organizations. There is a longer sales cycle, thus deeper relationships with the customers, the marketing teams, and the cleaning teams will be essential for optimal solutions to solving business problems. "Traditional strategies of how to sell just don't work in the fast-moving and complex environment of today's major sale. Many of the things that help you in smaller sales will hurt your success as the sale grows larger. Major sales demand a new and different set of skills." (Rackham, 1998).

Team work has to become stronger for the new solutions based strategic direction to work. In particular HR guiding the compliance efforts together with marketing to work as a single coordinated sales effort will greatly enhance the change in strategic direction resulting in a more profitable company.

Resource optimization has been an issue in the past for InterClean, based upon employees not meeting sales targets in the past year. Why were the sales goals not met, and as a result why were changes not made? As the shift to solutions based sales occurs, these efforts require different resources, some of which may be developed from existing employees but others may have to be hired externally. Thus HR partnering with each department has an opportunity especially with the merger to cut duplication and poor performing resources from the company.

Mergers always create morale, systems, communications and people issues for the companies involved. There are already efforts by several of the EnviroTech team members to seek positions of greater power based on the ability of that team to use solutions based selling which has been in place prior to the merger. This gives the EnviroTech team a lead for moving towards the strategic direction change, but creates several integration and morale issues for the InterClean team who may lose positions of power.

Stakeholder Perspectives/Ethical Dilemmas

The InterClean executive management team has new business opportunities placed before it by the CEO of the company. Yet some of the group worked up through the ranks based on successfully using product selling solution efforts, and some are wondering if these people can transform from one direction to another. Obviously this creates a dilemma as to whether a given individual including those in sales, marketing, or HR can make the shift to the new direction. If not, they will have to be replaced to make room for getting the proper resources in place to do the given job effectively. Careful monitoring of these issues must be properly managed across the entire company. Therefore, it is critical for the management team to be prepared to for a change of position for Janet, the VP of HR and the InterClean sales team,

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