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Empirical evidence demonstrates the value of feedback and ratings for performance. But HR is moving away from traditional performance reviews because managers and employees say they don't like them. It's a mistake that will backfire.

Companies used to spend years clarifying business requirements before they would even think of launching new software. Today, cheaper cloud-based apps mean that implementation decisions are made on the fly -and there's no going back.

Customer relationships can evolve through four stages -they can be transactional, transitional, communal, or damaged. Understanding each of these stages, using them to classify customer relationships, and tailoring CRM efforts accordingly can enable your company to better deploy its limited CRM dollars. Not all outreach efforts work equally well in all stages of a relationship. And without this kind of tailoring, you're likely wasting some of your CRM budget.

IT alignment can produce inertia -unless it's accompanied by the right culture. Sure, closely aligning IT with the rest of a company's strategy can cut costs and improve the ability to collect data, facilitating the creation of early-warning systems and operational dashboards. But a less regimented approach has its place, too, allowing responses to changing business and economic conditions that are swift and creative.

Some leaders have failed to realize that the daily lives of those who work in their organizations will inevitably be transformed over the coming decades. But it's the responsibility of leaders to create clarity about the future of work. That means being engaged with creating a narrative about the future of jobs, actively championing the learning agenda, and role modeling work flexibility -for instance, by taking paternity leave or working from home.

Companies can enhance their employees'creativity and boost innovation by learning from the Maker Movement's emphasis on creative learning, collaboration, fluidity, and novel play.

Donya Brewer, the Director of Human Resources at Stress Engineering Services , was asked to evaluate the firm's peer feedback system and update it to better align with the organization's needs as it continued to grow in the 21st century. Developed internally, the current system had undergone minor revisions over several decades, used cumbersome proprietary software and, increasingly, had not been meeting the needs of managerial and supervisory personnel to provide effective guidance for continuing professional development of employees in all lines of work. Brewer and her project team were tasked to increase the efficacy of the peer feedback system while preserving the system's role in fostering the collaborative culture at SES. Part A describes the organization and its peer feedback system and details the front-end, investigative phase of the project. Data is presented and students are asked to assess utilization of the current system. Brewer's team was particularly interested in learning about employee participation in the program, and the quality of the data that it provided to participants. Was it useful to each employee and to their supervisors to guide further professional development?

Donya Brewer, the Director of Human Resources at Stress Engineering Services , was asked to evaluate the firm's peer feedback system and update it to better align with the organization's needs as it continued to grow in the 21st century. Developed internally, the current system had undergone minor revisions over several decades, used cumbersome proprietary software and, increasingly, had not been meeting the needs of managerial and supervisory personnel to provide effective guidance for continuing professional development of employees in all lines of work. Brewer and her project team were tasked to increase the efficacy of the peer feedback system while preserving the system's role in fostering the collaborative culture at SES. Part B continues the analysis of the peer feedback program at Stress Engineering Services. Rich qualitative data, gathered through structured interviews, is presented. Students are asked to identify issues that must be addressed, and to make recommendations in numerous areas about what would constitute best practices in the new system. Part B also contains material on implementation issues in managing the change process. This case challenges students to redesign a peer feedback system facing major issues regarding employee engagement, the quality of the data, timeliness of feedback, outdated technology, methodological issues in instrument design, program execution, and contributions to employee development, among others.

The city of Flint, Michigan, a previous hub for General Motors auto manufacturing, began to experience budget shortfalls in 2007. By 2011, the city was running a deficit of nearly $26 million, and the state assumed control of Flint through the appointment of an emergency manager. In 2014, immediately after state officials decided to begin sourcing Flint's tap water from the Flint River in order to save money, residents began complaining about the cost, color, and quality of their water. Over the next 18 months, residents reported suffering from various illnesses and an outbreak of Legionnaire's Disease occurred in the area. During this time, state officials continued to assure residents that their water was safe despite three water-boil advisories, the water rusting parts at General Motors' Flint engine plant, and the straightforward warnings from an EPA employee that an unsafe situation existed. Public pressure built as an ACLU reporter broke the story, an outside researcher's tests uncovered unsafe levels of lead in the water, and a Michigan State University pediatrician found elevated lead levels in children coinciding with the switch to Flint River water. In October of 2015, Flint switched back to sourcing water from Detroit; finally, in January of 2016, Michigan's Governor (Rick Snyder) declared a state of emergency and activated the Michigan National Guard to patrol the city and assist the American Red Cross with the distribution of bottled water and water filters. The citizens of Flint had been exposed to poisoned water for 18 months.

Facing operational constraints due to helicopter engines with sub-optimal power during hot weather at high altitudes, the program manager for an air-ambulance operator must plan for a decision process to consider upgrading the engines of any, many, or all of his program's seven helicopters. Long before putting the decision before his parent company's executives or board of directors, he needs to develop lists of relevant quantitative variables and what's known about them, qualitative factors and considerations, and stakeholders and their interests, all in order to methodically structure a process to better advance conversations with his colleagues toward a more efficient and effective outcome. Presented as a qualitative task of decision preparation, this case focuses on the early steps of rational decision-making processes, such as "define the problem" and "identify the criteria," without going further toward a decision recommendation. Intended for the first weeks of managerial-decision making courses, the case distinguishes the value of comprehensively considering the set-up of complex decision processes as pre-requisite to subsequent steps. Especially for students who see "making a decision" as actions taken with calculators and spreadsheets, this case is intended to demonstrate the value of prior steps in decision processes that include complexity, uncertainty, and colleagues who must be "on the same page" along the way. Further, the vivid overlap of the healthcare industry with aviation operations is intended to heighten student interest, with contextual information on how the medical-transport industry operates.

The Locally Laid Egg Company is a family-owned company based out of Duluth, Minnesota. The company was established in 2012 as the first commercial grade pasture-raised egg company in the upper Midwest. In the first two years of operation, the company already had so much demand that it was unable to keep up. The husband and wife ownership team of Jason and Lucie Amundsen held a firm belief that people do business with like-minded people. The Amundsens contended that consumers were warming to the idea that societal values have to be part of your business and that consumers were more willing to buy from businesses that were responsible stewards of our world. The company implemented a number of green initiatives and made efforts to support the local economy. Locally Laid Eggs had partnered with Amish farmers in Iowa, Indiana, and Minnesota. The partnership was mutually beneficial as it leveraged the strong ethical farming standards of the Amish with the marketing expertise of the Amundsens. The Amish farmers were interested in raising eggs to LoLa's pasture-raised standards, distributing them locally, and selling them under the Locally Laid brand. The Amundsens were amused their Amish partners were not deterred by the sassy and unorthodox brand name, but rather saw it as an opportunity. The Amish did the work of sustainably farming eggs from pasture raised hens and Locally Laid helped them get these eggs into stores. Jason was getting concerned he was expanding too fast. In August 2014, on the company's second anniversary, he got a letter from a Pennsylvania Amish farm seeking a partnership. The letter prompted him to consider his strategy. Should he focus on his local Duluth farm and existing contracts or should he add on another contract and explore the Pennsylvania opportunity? What were his best options for longer-term sustainable growth?

In the fall of 2013, Anna and Jack Oleson, the owners of a full-service bridal shop in one of Michigan's Upper Peninsula's small communities were preparing for their annual six-hour drive to Chicago for the National Bridal Market. They would be making merchandise buying decisions for the upcoming season. However, this year's trip would be very different because the Olesons were reevaluating previous suppliers and potentially selecting new ones. In operation for 23 years, the shop prided itself on offering a full range of services, including alterations by a full-time seamstress. Because brides typically placed special orders for wedding gowns - after seeking consultation and trying on samples in the store - rather than buying them "off the rack," receiving timely and reliable deliveries from suppliers was critical. While vendors' corporate headquarters were located in the U.S., their gowns were often manufactured overseas, primarily in China. After incidents of "miscommunication" regarding deliveries, delivery failures, and suppliers' inflexibility regarding minimum order quantities for samples (i.e., unwillingness to grant concessions to smaller shops), the owners needed to re-conceive their buying criteria and sourcing strategies. To add complexity, the growing population of millennial brides (those turning 27 years before 2030) were brand- and quality-conscious, sought unique products, and increasingly turned to online retailers to make purchases. The case provides a general overview of retail operations within a small apparel (bridal and formalwear) shop, as well as insights into its market and suppliers' policies and operations, and challenges associated with online competitors.

At the April 2013 meeting of the Board of the Seacoast Science Center (SSC), the major issues for Board discussion were adoption of a new "elevator pitch" and whether to take on a new responsibility, saving marine mammals. The "elevator pitch" was designed to clarify the SSC's mission statement and make explanation of the SSC easier and more consistent. Marine Mammal Rescue (MMR) would be an entirely new activity for the Center. Marine mammals were protected under federal law. The New England Aquarium had been responsible for evaluating the condition of marine mammals, chiefly seals, that came ashore on New Hampshire beaches, but was not renewing its federal contract as of January, 2014. The SSC was the only organization that could take over. Some SSC personnel had volunteered with seal rescues. Wendy Lull, SSC President, needed unanimous approval from the board before SSC could apply for the federal contract. Board discussion was heated, focused primarily on cost and on mission fit. The case ends late in meeting, without a vote having yet been taken. Students may be asked how they would vote on this new project.

He was drawn to a subgroup in the AmeriCorps program which most of his fellow counselors avoided and warned him away from, young MS-13 gang members who were considered too dangerous and unwilling to change. After earning their trust by teaching them soccer skills, Jon developed a relationship with this group, shattering his preconceptions of their motivations and needs. Jon began to develop a plan to devote his life's work to bringing hope and opportunity to the group of young inner-city men identified as most likely to kill or be killed. He began his prototype operation in Boston. The vehicle was a free gym in the inner city where "student trainees" could begin to develop formal weightlifting training skills as a means to a new livelihood, experience a more positive community of mentors and peers, and through paid weight-training sessions for clients (typically white and wealthy), form a bridge between two very different socioeconomic groups. Publicity, notably through an ESPN video feature in 2012, created national and international awareness and demand for ICW gyms in different cities. Jon wanted to satisfy this demand, but he understood that his high-touch, locally focused, carefully managed program could not be exported quickly or formulaically without significant risk of failure and reputation damage. At the time of the case, Jon had carefully added a second, successful gym whose location straddled prosperous and dangerous neighborhoods in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He had also launched a corporate training program and begun to build out his organization and fundraising to support growth. Seven years after founding ICW, Jon is now ready to contemplate expansion to his first new city, Philadelphia.

How can business analytics be used to evaluate the potential risks of developing and marketing a "unique" product that has been proven to be sustainable, but public opinion about the product may be hindering its acceptance? The unique product is a clothing line made from industrial hemp. Hemp lacks the effects of Tetrahydrocannabinol (cannabis), but it is an extremely versatile, natural, and sustainable product. The case is about a company that consistently and successfully promotes unique products, like apparel made from hemp. It is also about the use of analytical techniques for financial risk assessment. If you are an entrepreneur with an idea for developing a unique product, this case will inform you about enterprise sustainability, enlighten you about hemp products, and provide you with an analytical tool designed for evaluating the financial risks involved with such a venture.

GE Healthcare's strategy was to change the face of healthcare infrastructure in India by making healthcare accessible in all parts of the country and affordable to all sections of the society. After launching its first successful super value ECG machine Mac 400, it launched its twenty-fifth super value product "Discovery IQ" a PET/CT machine in 2014. However, the challenge before the company was to increase the reach and visibility of PET/CT scanners to a large base of diagnostic centers in tier II and III cities. Key issue for customers of PET/CT scanners was of securing finance. Banks were averse to funding such projects in tier II and tier III cities due to various constraints. At the same time, though GE had a financing division, they had very limited exposure to tier II and tier III cities healthcare infrastructure. Another option was to convince Government to invest into creating PET/CT infrastructure. Essentially, the PET/CT segment team was contemplating on devising go-to-market strategy for Discovery IQ. It also wanted to assess the disruptive impact of these products in the International market.

Several white goods companies are grappling with issues such as short product life-cycle and high item obsolescence rates. This case, using the example of a leading white goods manufacturer ─ ULTRON, analyzes several strategies to overcome item obsolescence, standardize put-away and picking operations and overcome challenges with low picker efficiency at white-goods warehouses that are operating without warehouse management software.

In mid-2017, the regional head of Operations and Supply Chain at Sika AG, a Swiss specialty chemicals leader that developed solutions for building and automotive industries, faced a new challenge in the company's epoxy flooring supply chain. She was tasked with identifying a robust solution that would both satisfy a shortened lead time and provide spare capacity to accommodate future growth. How should she proceed with these tasks?

Student spreadsheet for case W18195.