On December 1, HCM students in Dr. Edna Chun’s Effective Partnership Strategies graduate course offered their team-based projects based on a case study to a panel of distinguished leaders. The two student teams, Clarity and Progressive Consulting, represented internal consulting groups vying to implement a comprehensive HCM strategy for a corporate merger by a private equity company.
Members of the Clarity team were:
- Grant Bennett
- Alex Castillo
- Maria Guglielmo
- Meredith Wingate
Members of the Progressive Team were:
- Scott Choi
- Ali Shaikh
- Amber Thomas
The panelists were:
- Dr. Rose Razaghian, Dean of Academic Planning and Governance, Columbia University Arts and Sciences
- Dr. Bryan Cook, Vice President of Data and Policy Analysis, Association of Public Land-grant Universities (APLU)
- Dr. David Chu, President Emeritus, Institute for Defense Analyses and former Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness
The two teams took distinctly different and highly creative approaches to the case study. Innovative solutions offered by both teams drew extensively on research findings and practical solutions honed through work in the course and their own experiences as HR professionals. The panelists’ questions particularly focused on ways to effect cultural change in the newly merged corporation, the operationalization of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and the implementation of the performance management system.
Dean Razaghian noted, “Everyone did a fantastic job….I’m really impressed.” Dr. Chu remarked: “I thought these were superb presentations. I would be happy to have any of these people on my team, a very impressive group of individuals;” adding, “both panels presented very clearly, with a polished commentary.” And Dr. Cook remarked, “In a perfect world, I would have taken the two [teams]….of them combined; they would have been a phenomenal winning combination. Kudos to both groups, really well done.” Advice from the panelists included:
- Cultural change is the hardest change to implement and it is rarely well done
- Nimbleness is key in effecting change
- Remember what the stakeholders are motivated by and what their incentives are
- Think about short-term, medium-term, and long-term approaches
The team presentations built on the integrated HCM strategies offered by guest speakers in the course during the semester who discussed the role of leadership in:
- Organizational transformation (Dr. Robert Nelsen, President of California State University, Sacramento);
- Stakeholder engagement (Dr. Robert Sellers, Vice Provost for Equity and Inclusion, Chief Diversity Officer, and Charles D. Moody Collegiate Professor of Psychology and Education at the University of Michigan);
- Vision and mission (Dr. Dennis Mitchell, Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement and Professor of Dental Medicine at Columbia University);
- Consulting skills development (Dr. Steve Safier, Interim Program Director, HCM),
- Consulting skills and methods of inequity (Dr. Jeff Pon, former Director of the United States Office of Personnel Management and former Human Resource and Strategy Officer at the Society for Human Resource Management)
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of any other person or entity.