Assignment - Case Study - Compound

Compound UK is a division of a multinational pharmaceuticals company, and their primary focus is to sell products to hospitals and General Medical Practices in the UK. Following a massive restructuring of the National Health Service (NHS) in the 1980s/1990s, Compound UK had to react quickly and follow suit by reorganising its commercial function to adjust for various changes in the market. In 1993, Compound UK was split into eight regions each consisting of a regional manager, area managers and 150 sales representatives which led to the introduction of the software package, Lotus Notes. While Notes has been a relatively successful software package for Compound UK, there are a number of ways in which its introduction and use could have been managed more effectively and efficiently by the company which will now be discussed in greater detail.

The timing of the introduction of Lotus Notes should have been managed differently. Compound UK introduced Notes six months after the restructuring took place in 1993. This meant that employees would have had time to settle into a new routine and get used to a new structure before Notes was even introduced to them, which would have caused even more upheaval and unrest among the workforce following the restructuring of the Company. Lotus Notes should have been selected and implemented by Compound UK in parallel with the restructuring of the organisation to avoid added confusion and stress for the employees. This would mean that the employees were not given time to get used to a system that would change in six months, which would be extremely frustrating, and in addition Compound UK would benefit from an enthusiastic workforce who are excited by the prospect of a change.

Prior to the introduction of Notes, it appears that there was no training given to current staff members. New additions to the company are sent on a six week training course to introduce them to Notes and meet other people from the company. During the introduction of Notes to Compound UK in 1993, all staff should have been given extensive training on how to use Notes and it's purpose within the company. More specifically, staff should have been trained on the technical side of Notes and they should also have been trained on the principles behind Notes. This would include the details that it's purpose is to encourage the sharing of information and knowledge across the company, and not to increase competition among the reps. This is to ensure that employees do not abuse the system in any way by false or creative reporting.

Finally, during the introduction phase of Notes, the reward structure should have been revised. Obviously rewards are a great motivational tool, however when used in the wrong way, they can have the opposite effect. The reward scheme should have been made standard for everyone instead of being at the discretion of one area manager, to ensure a fair system which is healthily competitive. The reward system should have been set at a particular level, for instance, a contract target should be set for each rep which should be rewarded equally across the company if attained. This ensures that no favouritism is shown and the morale amongst the workers is high.

Although the introduction of Lotus Notes caused problems, the package was not being used for its intended purpose. Within Lotus notes there is a contact recording system. Although this can be useful for recording visits made by staff, this tool was used in the wrong way by Compound. Management implemented a “league facility which would indicate centrally” the contacts achieved by each employee. This was then used by management to assess employees. However, using this to assess employees had a negative affect on the workforce as being at the bottom of a league table could create low morale. Further it also detracts from the true purpose of the function which was a method for employees to share knowledge. Therefore, management should rethink this table and revert to the intended purpose of the recording system.

The second problem associated with the use of this contact recording system is the way that it was used by employees. The idea behind the recording system was that employees should be ‘only recording relevant calls". However, in order to manipulate their place in the league tables, employees would "register a large number of contacts". Therefore, again the use of this league table was causing further negative implications, as Compound would not be receiving an accurate picture of sales. Therefore, the use of this recording system should be scaled down and Compound should remove the league table so that the business is gaining affective use of the system.

There were further problems with the use of the email-system and discussion databases introduced by Lotus Notes. These were misused by employees with a political agenda. Firstly, with this email system, management would receive emails from employees which were non relevant or urgent or simply employees attempting to make themselves look good. Management have high level priorities to deal with, and these sort of issues should be delegated to lower levels. Therefore, this email system was not effective for Compound, as these types of emails should be filtered before they reach management so they only have to deal with issues that concern them.

Further, the discussion debates were also used by employees with agendas to impress management. These debates were used by employees “to make political statements” in order to further their career. However, some employees did not wish to take part in these debates as they saw it as a tool for career furtherance rather than sharing ideas and asking questions . Therefore, management should not use these debates as a way of assessing employees and should ensure that employees use them in the correct way.

Although the implementation of notes was not a complete failure for Compound, but it could have been used and introduced more effectively. Management could have limited some of the uses of Notes so that it was being used for its correct purpose. If they had considered its effect in more detail then they could have had a more successful system.

This assignment was prepared in collaboration with Katherine Keane.