CONSULTING SERVICES

Case Studies
Names and specifics, in the following Case Studies, have been changed to ensure the confidentiality of our clients.

CASE STUDY 1 
Mediation. Training. Group Facilitation

CLIENT:  XYZ, Boston USA            
A multi ethnic education services organization had serious internal conflicts between senior staff

INDUSTRY: Education

CONTEXT: A multi-cultural educational center catering to Chinese immigrants.
         
CHALLENGE: 
The organization Director (female, Caucasian) had serious disputes with other senior staff members:
A female immigrant from mainland China
A male immigrant from mainland China
A male Caucasian who was a longtime employee
Their complete inability to function as a team destroyed organizational morale and performance.  Their jobs were under threat and there was the very real possibility of harassment lawsuits. 
The Director had lost her authority in the agency. Staff appealed to the board to have her fired and she in turn had sent warning notices to three senior staff.

ACTION & SOLUTIONS: 
Diagnostics uncovered strong cultural differences about authority, life styles, moral values and working styles between liberal US culture;  traditional mainland Chinese culture; Hong Kong Chinese culture and traditional patriarchal work culture. This revealed the need for:

• Cross cultural training and sensitization for the entire teaching and administrative staff
• Facilitated large group dialogues which surfaced disputes and grievances
• Consensus building to address these issues
• Formal Mediation between the Director and the senior staff members from China and also with the long time male Caucasian staff member

RESULTS:

• No resignations or terminations
• Stronger and more sensitive working relationships were created
• Group cohesiveness reached
• Alignment on vital long term growth objectives and strategies

 

CASE STUDY 2 
Diagnostics. Mediation. Group Facilitation. Consensus Building. Conflict Systems design

CLIENT:  EQUS, Boston USA

Conflict at the board level that threatened to put organization into receivership.  This association of 6,000 members organized and regulated equestrian sport in the New England area of the US, and was one of the leading associations of this sport in the world.

INDUSTRY:    Sports

CHALLENGE: 
Six months earlier, the association’s membership had elected a new President.  Conflict arose quickly between the 21 voluntary members of the Executive Board, some who had served over 25 years for this association, and the new President’s management style and organizational vision.  The Board was alienated, as they were used to consensus building in a consultative style, and as a consequence, decisions often took more time than the President was comfortable with. The President tried to change the decision making process and put in place processes that undercut the powers of existing Board members.  The President’s actions were seen by many of the Board members as illegal. This paralyzed the functioning of the agency and pitted the President against the majority on almost every decision. The conflict escalated when the President, introduced a new law that increased her powers and tried to force the appointment of her supporters onto the Board for the next year. The President openly campaigned against existing board members, who retaliated by moving to unseat the President, who subsequently threatened legal action against the whole agency.  This rift between the President and the Board risked putting the organization into receivership, resulting in negative press attention and damage to the association’s long-standing reputation in the sport.  Under these risks, the Board agreed to bring in Ashok Panikkar as the Mediator and Conflict Resolution Consultant to help resolve the issue amicably, if possible, rather than pursue legal action.

SOLUTION: 
Diagnostics was undertaken by hosting a series of interviews with various board members as well as small group facilitations with different groups of stakeholders and also with the entire Board.  This revealed the need for:

• Differences to be surfaced openly and for starting consensus building around them
• Training programs to deliver communication and conflict resolution skills to the Board
• Personal executive coaching for the President and the Vice President
• Mediation between the President and Vice President ;  the President and some Board members
• Development of customized Dispute Management System to allow EQUS to manage and resolve disputes effectively internally

RESULTS:

• The association avoided going into receivership
• A damaging law suit was averted
• Crisis over the election of new board members was resolved
• After the present term was completed, the President resigned and was replaced by one more aligned to the Board’s management needs
• The intervention and mediation brought about long standing changes
• Clear guidelines were given for communication and functioning within the Board
• An agreement clarifying roles and responsibilities was agreed upon, signed off and implemented by the Board.

 

CASE STUDY 3 
Diagnostics. Mediation. Group facilitation. Envisioning. Strategic Planning

CLIENT:  Wind-Boston, MA, USA

A partnership between two established sports promotion agencies, Aqua Inc. and WATER SPORTS Inc. was under threat because one of them tried to affect a hostile takeover of their joint project Wind-Boston.  Serious infighting between these three institutions meant that the thriving project could have been dissolved or at the very least key leaders could have resigned.

INDUSTRY: Sports & Community Development
                                                         
CHALLENGE:  A community based sports program (Wind-Boston) for dis-advantaged adolescent women had been created and initially funded by two sports promotion agencies (Aqua Inc. and WATER SPORTS Inc.).  Despite five years of relative neglect by Aqua Inc., with considerable logistical, technical and financial support from WATER SPORTS Inc. Wind- Boston had established itself as a leading institution in its field and had a multi-million dollar annual budget. 

Almost without prior notice, Aqua Inc. began to aggressively associate itself with Wind-Boston and demanded a major role in its management and sought to integrate it into its own corporate structure. This was resisted by Wind-Boston and WATER SPORTS Inc. since Aqua Inc.’s contribution after co-founding Wind-Boston was minimal. This take-over attempt was also affecting morale of the staff, key managers were threatening to quit because of the instability and it was affecting the agency’s public image and confusing the funding agencies.  When a legal notice was sent to Wind-Boston, telling them they now reported directly to Aqua Inc., the Executive Director of Wind-Boston sought an outside third party mediator and consultant.

ACTION & SOLUTIONS: 

• In-depth diagnostics with the boards and officers of all three agencies
• Conducted conversations with the sports program participants
• Communication and conflict resolution training for stakeholders
• Strategic planning meeting with stakeholders from all three agencies
• Mediation between the Directors of Wind-Boston and Aqua Inc.

RESULTS:

• When they realized that it would not be possible to affect a friendly takeover of Wind-Boston without losing key staff, jeopardizing existing funding and possibly even incurring the costs of a protracted legal battle, Aqua Inc. completely retracted their legal take-over attempt.
• Relationship between the Executive Director of Wind-Boston and other stakeholders was repaired.

• The Boards of all three agencies were able to re-write their working arrangements and clear reporting structures were put in place that respected the integrity of Wind-Boston.
• ‘Ground rules’ were created for functioning between each of the agencies
• The very successful Wind-Boston program is now replicated in other cities across the USA.

 

CASE STUDY 4
Comprehensive Audit. Qualitative and Quantitative Diagnostics

CLIENT- Future Thrust Consulting   (FTC) 
Consulting company applying Six Sigma and other quality process methodologies to the field of information systems
                               
INDUSTRY- IT

CHALLENGE
FTC had been changed from a hierarchical organization into a matrix organization where all the four new verticals were now responsible for selling.  In the process the horizontal and vertical units had become competitive rather than collaborative (not uncommon).  This was having a negative impact on employee utilization, communication, morale, and had begun to impact retention and attrition.  

As the verticals were geographically based (Europe, Switzerland, US, Middle East and Australia) much of their staff was “onshore” – that is, located in their targeted geographies.  Practice personnel were based “offshore” in India except when on projects.  This led to tension between groups that was exacerbated by poor channels of communication beyond India.  The worst-impacted units also failed to meet its revenue targets.  FTC was concerned as it had mapped out ambitious revenue targets over the next several years and needed to build a stronger culture of collaboration in order to reach them. 

SOLUTION
As requested, Meta-Culture conducted a comprehensive organizational communication and relationship audit to study the existing organizational structure and to identify and study the pain points within the organization.

RESULTS
Meta-Culture Consulting successfully completed a very comprehensive diagnostics and analysis. The key challenges were determined to be lack of collaboration, lack of incentive for team work and extreme and damaging internal competition for resources and rewards.

Meta-Culture consultants were able to identify a range of solutions to help increase the level of collaboration within FTC. The solutions recommended included changing the reward system to enable greater collaboration between and within teams and verticals.

 

CASE STUDY 5
Diagnostics, Coaching. Mediation. Training. Group Facilitation

CLIENT: XL GROUP  
Family control vs. outside professional managers

INDUSTRY: Manufacturing Etc.

XL Group is a fifty year old diversified business with investments in apparel manufacturing, IT and pharmaceuticals. While historically a family run business, it has of late been trying to professionalize the top management by bringing in outsiders into senior level positions.  The shift from owner driven management to professional managers has not been easy.  The tension generated between those who wanted professional management versus the old hands who resisted the changes in the system was beginning to seriously disrupt inter-departmental functioning and was creating a toxic atmosphere.

CHALLENGE
Interviews and analysis done across the entire management team indicated that:

• Relationships between the COO and the Head of Marketing were strained to the point of dysfunction.
•  The two teams were unable to work collaboratively, affecting productivity and delivery schedules.
• Top family leadership was unable to completely trust and handle over the reins and power to the professional managers, sending mixed signals across the organization.
• Managers were functioning in ‘silos’ and internal negotiation was both frustrating and team spirit was lacking.

SOLUTION
An in-depth diagnostic was conducted through interviews with the entire management committee comprising the directors and all the function heads.

• Dispute mediation was conducted between sets of managers (including COO and Head, Marketing) whose relationships were seriously affected.
  Facilitated conversations were held between members of polarized teams to help identify interests and develop mutual understanding.
• Executive coaching was given to senior managers and members of the board.
  Training was provided in sophisticated negotiation and dispute management skills across the management team.
• Recommendations were made for putting in place a dispute management system.

RESULTS
Benefits and Outcomes

• Relationships between the COO and the Head of Marketing improved considerably.
• The two teams improved collaboration and were able to present a unified front to clients.
• The leadership developed an appreciation of the need to devolve power to their managers.

4. The entire management team developed a new vocabulary that helped them address difficult conversations more effectively thereby strengthening inner group collaboration and cooperation.
5. After the intervention, the organization’s turnover not only came back to pre-conflict levels, but actually increased.

 

CASE STUDY 6
Diagnostics. Training. Facilitation

CLIENT – QUEUE SYSTEMS                                                                      
US-based technology solutions provider with substantial operations in India.

INDUSTRY-IT

CHALLENGES:

• The executive organizational structure changed three times in one year, creating severe upheaval, loss of trust and loss of morale. There was also a lack of role clarity and poor alignment that existed between Level 2 and 3 executives and the management committee (Level 1)
• A recent economic downturn forced the company to initiate cost reducing measures.
• Level 2 executives were perceived as being unable to adapt to change and not have the capacity or “maturity” to manage difficult situations, resulting in too many escalations.

SOLUTION
Meta-Culture designed and conducted a series of training programs:

• Conflict Management-I   Enabled the group to communicate more openly and effectively, and build confidence in raising difficult issues.
• Conflict Management-2   Taught the group skills for handling workplace conflicts between two or more people in their team.  They also learned the value of being neutral and unbiased when handling team conflicts.
• After completion of the above, a two-day Leadership Retreat was held, consisting of a facilitated dialogue between Level 1 and Level 2 management, in order to surface underlying issues, encourage honest and constructive communication, and create an action plan for moving forward.

RESULTS
According to the Head of Human Resources (interviewed 6 months post training):

• The objectives of the trainings were met and there has been “drastic improvement in internal communication.”
• Complaints and escalations from Level 2 managers have reduced by 80%.  
• Level 2 Managers now effectively handle their problems and disputes on their own.
• Due to improved internal communication, teams are collaborating and able to manage major challenges arising from the economic downturn.
• Senior executives are equipped to take on a greater leadership role in the company.
• There is greater transparency and accountability for decisions that affect the staff and the company. There is consensus about policies and decisions in the recent past, and a greater degree of acceptance and comfort even with policies that were controversial or contentious.

 

CORPORATE EDUCATION

Case Studies

Names and specifics, in the following Case Studies, have been changed to ensure the confidentiality of our clients.

Names and specifics, in the following Case Studies, have been changed to ensure the confidentiality of our clients.

 

CASE STUDY 1
Training. CEO Coaching

CLIENT: XtraSoft                        
Management growing pains at an Indian BPO/KPO

INDUSTRY:  IT Global Outsourcing 

CONTEXT: 700 member BPO working in the insurance space.

CHALLENGE
XtraSoft’s challenge was a proactive one: how to develop very young recruits into a talented and high performing work group?  The explosion in the Indian economy has left all businesses scrambling for personnel.  It also means in growing businesses like Xtra-Soft, middle and even senior management were often under 30.   An overall shortage of workers meant people were changing jobs every few months and earning pay hikes of 20% or more.  Turnover is especially high in the IT and KPO sectors for this reason. 

SOLUTION

Meta-Culture Consulting started its interventions at XtraSoft with diagnostic interviews with the target population and their managers.  What also surfaced during the training were problems concerning cultural subtleties – the heavy reliance on voicemail by Americans, for example, also email protocols.
 
Program designed : Difficult communication training-customized, Leadership training, Mentoring
 
RESULTS
Benefits and Outcomes
Short term

• Increased participant skills in handling difficult conversations
• Potential crisis identified before it exploded
• Employee attrition contained 

Long term

• Stable workplace environment provides a lower turnover than the industry norm 
• Increased external visibility for XtraSoft, making it attractive to top-tier graduates
• Personnel recruitment from multiple profiles, better enabling them to meet specific organizational needs. 

 

CASE STUDY 2
Diagnostics, Coaching. Mediation. Training. Group Facilitation

CLIENT: XL GROUP  
Family control vs. outside professional managers

INDUSTRY: Manufacturing Etc.

XL Group is a fifty year old diversified business with investments in apparel manufacturing, IT and pharmaceuticals. While historically a family run business, it has of late been trying to professionalize the top management by bringing in outsiders into senior level positions.  The shift from owner driven management to professional managers has not been easy.  The tension generated between those who wanted professional management versus the old hands who resisted the changes in the system was beginning to seriously disrupt inter-departmental functioning and was creating a toxic atmosphere.

CHALLENGE
Interviews and analysis done across the entire management team indicated that:

• Relationships between the COO and the Head of Marketing were strained to the point of dysfunction.
•  The two teams were unable to work collaboratively, affecting productivity and delivery schedules.
• Top family leadership was unable to completely trust and handle over the reins and power to the professional managers, sending mixed signals across the organization.
• Managers were functioning in ‘silos’ and internal negotiation was both frustrating and team spirit was lacking.

SOLUTION
An in-depth diagnostic was conducted through interviews with the entire management committee comprising the directors and all the function heads.

• Dispute mediation was conducted between sets of managers (including COO and Head, Marketing) whose relationships were seriously affected.
  Facilitated conversations were held between members of polarized teams to help identify interests and develop mutual understanding.
• Executive coaching was given to senior managers and members of the board.
  Training was provided in sophisticated negotiation and dispute management skills across the management team.
• Recommendations were made for putting in place a dispute management system.

RESULTS
Benefits and Outcomes

• Relationships between the COO and the Head of Marketing improved considerably.
• The two teams improved collaboration and were able to present a unified front to clients.
• The leadership developed an appreciation of the need to devolve power to their managers.

4. The entire management team developed a new vocabulary that helped them address difficult conversations more effectively thereby strengthening inner group collaboration and cooperation.
5. After the intervention, the organization’s turnover not only came back to pre-conflict levels, but actually increased.

 

CASE STUDY 3
Diagnostics. Training. Facilitation

CLIENT – QUEUE SYSTEMS                                                                      
US-based technology solutions provider with substantial operations in India.

INDUSTRY-IT

CHALLENGES:

• The executive organizational structure changed three times in one year, creating severe upheaval, loss of trust and loss of morale. There was also a lack of role clarity and poor alignment that existed between Level 2 and 3 executives and the management committee (Level 1)
• A recent economic downturn forced the company to initiate cost reducing measures.
• Level 2 executives were perceived as being unable to adapt to change and not have the capacity or “maturity” to manage difficult situations, resulting in too many escalations.

SOLUTION
Meta-Culture designed and conducted a series of training programs:

• Conflict Management-I   Enabled the group to communicate more openly and effectively, and build confidence in raising difficult issues.
• Conflict Management-2   Taught the group skills for handling workplace conflicts between two or more people in their team.  They also learned the value of being neutral and unbiased when handling team conflicts.
• After completion of the above, a two-day Leadership Retreat was held, consisting of a facilitated dialogue between Level 1 and Level 2 management, in order to surface underlying issues, encourage honest and constructive communication, and create an action plan for moving forward.

RESULTS
According to the Head of Human Resources (interviewed 6 months post training):

• The objectives of the trainings were met and there has been “drastic improvement in internal communication.”
• Complaints and escalations from Level 2 managers have reduced by 80%.  
• Level 2 Managers now effectively handle their problems and disputes on their own.
• Due to improved internal communication, teams are collaborating and able to manage major challenges arising from the economic downturn.
• Senior executives are equipped to take on a greater leadership role in the company.
• There is greater transparency and accountability for decisions that affect the staff and the company. There is consensus about policies and decisions in the recent past, and a greater degree of acceptance and comfort even with policies that were controversial or contentious.