The average Pfizer employee was spending 20 percent to 40 percent of his or her time on support work creating documents, typing notes, doing research, manipulating data, scheduling meetings and only 60 percent to 80 percent on knowledge work strategy, innovation, networking, collaborating, critical thinking. And the problem wasn't just at lower levels. Even the highest-level employees were affected.

• sony xperia z2 buy in uae?
• documents to go for windows mobile free download.
• Functional Structure of an Organization;
• Preparing for Business Change.
• smoke a bowl apk download android.
• Case Application 2: A New Kind of Structure.

Take, for instance, David Cain, an executive director for global engineering. He enjoys his job--assessing environ- mental real estate risks, managing facilities, and controlling a multimillion-dollar budget. But he didn't so much enjoy having to go through spreadsheets and put together PowerPoints. Now, however, with Pfizer's "magic button," those tasks are passed off to individuals outside the organization.

Just what is this "magic button"? Originally called the Office of the Future OOF , the renamed PfizerWorks allows employees to shift tedious and time-consuming tasks with the click of a single button on their computer desktop. They describe what they need on an online form, which is then sent to one of two Indian service-outsourcing firms. When a request is received, a team member in India calls the Pfizer employee to clarify what's needed and by when.

The team member then e- mails back a cost specification for the requested work. If the Pfizer employee decides to proceed, the costs involved are charged to the employee's department. About this unique arrangement, Cain said that he relishes working with what he prefers to call his "personal consulting organization. That's the number of work hours estimated to have been saved by employees who've used PfizerWorks.

What about Joe Cain's experiences? When he gave the Indian team a complex project researching strategic actions that worked when consolidating company facilities, the team put the report together in a month, something that would have taken him six months to do alone. Why or why not? What types of organizations might it also work for? However, what if the volunteer assignment was at a for- profit business and the job description read like this: Want a job where you work only a couple of hours a day at your computer answering customers' technical questions, all for no pay.

Many large corporations, start-up companies, and venture capitalists are betting that this new group of talented "volunteer" individuals who are quite knowledgeable about the Web and other technical areas will alter how customer service is provided. Self check-outs. Self check-ins. Pumping your own gas although most of you are probably too young to remember having an attendant that pumped your gas, checked your oil, and washed your wind- shield.

Filling out online forms. Businesses have become very good at getting customers to do free work. Now, they're taking the concept even further, especially in customer service settings, by getting "volunteers" to perform specialized work tasks.

The cognitive foundations of organizational innovation

The role that these volunteer "enthusiasts" have played, especially in contributing innovations to research and development efforts, has been closely researched in recent years. For example, case studies highlight the product tweaks made by early skateboarders and mountain bikers to their gear. Researchers have also studied the programmers behind open- source software like the Linux operating system.

It seems that individuals who do this type of "volunteering" are motivated mainly by a payoff in enjoyment and respect among their peers and to some extent the skills they're able to develop. Now, as the concept of individuals volunteering for work tasks moves to the realm of customer service, can it work and what does it mean for managers?

For instance, at Verizon's high-speed fiber optic Internet, television, and telephone service, "volunteers" are answering customer questions about technical matters on a companysponsored customer-service Web site for no pay. Mark Studness, director of Verizon's ecommerce unit was familiar with Web sites where users offered tips and answered questions. His challenge?

Case Study.docx

Find a way to use that potential resource for customer service. His solution? The experiment at Verizon seems to be working well and these online "volunteers" can be an important addition to a company's customer service efforts. Studness says that creating an atmosphere that these super us- ers find desirable is a key consideration because without that, you have nothing. A company that worked with Verizon to set up its structure said that these super or lead-users are driven by the same online challenges and aspects as fervent gamers are. So they set up the structure with an elaborate rating system for contributors with ranks, badges, and "kudos counts.

He says the companysponsored customer-service site has been extremely useful and cost efficient in redirecting thousands of questions that would have been answered by staff at a Verizon call center. Purchase answer to see full attachment. Tutor Answer. Top Tutor CristinaP.

School: Boston College. Download Completed Work. Studypool has helped 1,, students. Similar Questions. I need about 3 and half to 4 pages to meet the requirements that i need it to be applied on the case. The formulation Describe the level of corporate responsibility this decision reflects, Case Study help.

A textile manufacturer is closing its North Carolina plant and moving the production of its products to a developing natio A Strained Research Team Dr. The Ford Pinto, case study help. Case AnalysisThe Ford Pinto case is a well-known case that is often discussed in the context of business ethics.

To summar Catch by Joseph Heller. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn. Moby Dick by Herman Melville. The Aftermath by Rhidian Brook.

Pfizer Case Study: A New Kind of Structure Essay - Words

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie. Brown University Tutors. California Institute of Technology Tutors. Carnegie Mellon University Tutors. Columbia University Tutors. Dartmouth University Tutors. Emory University Tutors. Harvard University Tutors.

Related Documents

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Tutors. New York University Tutors. They found that the system embodying the most innovative practices produced the highest levels of productivity and quality. The Auto Industry The auto industry also underwent major changes in the s and s, again in response to international competitive pressures. Empirical studies Katz et al. A traditional auto assembly plant might have over different job titles, whereas at the Saturn Corporation, where work is organized around a team system, there is one title for production workers and six titles for skilled trades.

Pfizer Case Study: A New Kind of Structure

But studies done at Saturn and other parts of the industry Katz et al. The Japanese-based plants located in the United States—Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Mazda, and Mitsubishi—have all introduced variants on team-based work systems. Partial or fully developed team systems and related work and human resource. The Apparel Industry The apparel industry epitomizes labor-intensive, low-wage production work. Traditional work organization arrangements in apparel are described as the "bundle system," in which work is divided into narrow individual jobs governed by piece rate compensation systems.

Studies of this industry show that this is still the dominant arrangement Dunlop and Weil, ; Appelbaum and Berg, ; however, in apparel plants that supply retailers requiring rapid replenishment of stocks with the aid of shared information systems , the bundle system has been replaced with a team-based modular production system. Modular systems serve to reduce total costs in large part by reducing work-in-process inventories and allowing more flexible, quicker responses to fluctuation in retail sales and other demands.