The Perfect Organization - Assignment Example

An organization I would like to work for Background I would like to work for the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). This is the fastest growing consultation firm in management, globally. The organization has over 80 offices in more than 40 countries. The organizations creative approach in tackling modern day issues has separated itself from the other competitors in the market. The organization was founded in 1963; it later gained relevance at its field in 1970 when it started challenging the veteran in the industry, McKinsey (WetFeet 1). Technological advances in the past decade have highly contributed to its rampant success more so on e-commerce. BCG has been consistently maintained a top five positions over the years as the best organization. Recently they were ranked third by the fortunes magazine’s 2014 list of “top 100 companies to work for” (12). There is a lot that goes on before one gets hired at BCG since the expectations are always high, but the experience is just phenomenal. The organization may be small in size, but it casts a relatively large shadow amongst its competitors, mainly McKinsey. This has in turn attracted many admirers in the business world who tend to compare themselves to BCG even though it is a consulting firm. The competition is intense at the organization; an insider says that the organization hires approximately one candidate in over 200 applicants for an associate position. The main secret to the rampant success at BCG has been mainly gaining good strategy projects that require planning and hard work as compared to implementation only. New ideas are highly appreciated in the company. This gives the organization varied approaches to tackle business hurdles. The organization had its downfall in business; in 2001, the global revenue hit a downfall as technological explosion ventured in the business. The event resulted to layoffs, and the organization had to reduce its support staff as well as consulting by 12 percent (WetFeet 38). The strategies employed by BCG may be seen as small, but they have long term solutions to business problems. This has enabled the organization to stay top of its competitors like McKinsey and Bain, even if BCG has less staff compared to the two. Culture Analysis Intellectualism has always stood up as the best culture for the organization over the decades. An insider describes the company’s growth as just incredible. At one point, he says he used to know almost everyone in the offices but now there are very many people that he can hardly identify with (WetFeet 36). Despite having all the success and growth, the organization culture has not faded any bit. The number of excellent scholars at BCG is enormous. There are many individuals that have always emerged the best in whatever they took part in, be it in academics or even the extra-curricular activities. BCG has taken the creativity issue to a whole new level; the North American staff has embraced a business – casual in all of its working days. BCG uses a matrix to weigh in on their decision making process, the matrix helps the company decide on which products it should invest in at the perfect time. The matrix has always enabled BCG stay ahead of its competitors.. Fig.1 BCG matrix Consultancy in general is expected to fuel a lot of competition. BCG tries as much as it can not to encourage competition amongst its staff. This it achieved by not comparing someone to any other consultant in the organization. The superiors always praise an employees success; this promotes a respectful, supportive and congenial environment for all to work without problems. An unnamed insider says she appreciates the working environment that she had to turn down offers from other two organizations that had an even larger compensation plan compared to BCG. The non-hierarchical environment created at the organization gives the staff confidence to work at BCG. This gives them a feeling of acceptance and valued, and their creativity is highly appreciated. The meetings are set to hear other people’s ideas and opinions; it is highly unlikely for someone’s ideas to be shut down at any given time. WetFeet was gathered information that, a summer intern is given all the priorities subjected to all the other hired staff (), one intern recalls being introduced as a consultant and not just a “summer intern”. Fig.2 order of hierarchy at BCG The realities of the workplace often unfold in the organization. The anonymous nature of assessing performance and filing complaints to the managers is not as effective as one would wish it to be. At times politics gets the better of them when projects slow down, things a seen to be normal when projects are flowing in good numbers. Diversity at Workplace Various consulting firms have struggled to be diverse in all aspects, over the years the results have not been impressive. In terms of ethnicity, the organization falls short in comparison to the other sectors such as law firms and the medical field. The main reason for these failures is the expensiveness and difficult nature of establishing consultancy firms in a field that is highly competitive. Office location contributes a lot on the diversity expected in the organization. In New York for instance, it boasts of having more than 30 percent of the insiders as being international insiders. The same has been extended to other offices globally; this does not in any way warrant the organization to refer themselves as racially diverse company. Opportunities to Women Over 30 percent of total staff at BCG is women. They are evenly distributed in consultancy, managers and even as project leaders. Some insiders note that there are a lot of women in junior ranks as compared to the higher ranks. There is a “female community," as one insider shared her perspective with the WetFeet (42). This builds confidence to them as they can easily learn from each other and share support. The organization has been fully supportive of the female community, and it gives maternal breaks and they still get a chance back. The favor has been extended also to their male counterparts; sometimes they attend half the allocated time so that they create time to spend with their family. Compensation There have not been any complaints from any end in financial issues in regard to the BCG staff. The classes start off with similar salaries in an incremental way as one advance through promotions. The end of year bonus is given in relation to the individual performance. An insider told WetFeet that the bonus may range from getting nothing to 40 percent of your salary (43). In addition, BCG guarantees a good health care system to its staff; it also offers a unique retirement fund which is shared. This means it is 15 percent of your total compensation. Vacation and Perk Three weeks, vacation, are allocated to consultants and the associates. This time is further increased to four weeks after two years at work. BCG sponsors various activities outside the office. The activities are mainly social functions where people meet up and have fun. For those individuals who opt out on BCG, there is a center set aside by the organization to help an individual through the transition (WetFeet 43). Training Case assignments contribute a lot to the learning process in the organization. If you a new associate, you need not worry as you will be able to partake in an orientation in the offices where you will get to meet with the key players and the major stakeholders in the business. The training for new consultants it carried exhaustively for four months (Wetfeet 47). After the training, consultant is expected to tackle all the issues that are at his/her disposal, but if the challenge is posed he/she can still seek advice from the other experiences workmates. From the above research, I still think this is an organization I should work for in future. I would like to be a consultant when I graduate; BCG seemed to be the best place for me. It was listed as the fastest growing consultancy firm globally by the fortune magazine. Despite all the praises it has accumulated over the past, I have got a chance to, clearly understand what makes them stand out from the rest of its competitors. Here are some of the questions I would ask the head of Human Resources at BCG. 1. What’s the criteria; you use to higher personnel and be convinced that he/she can be creative enough over a long period after being hired? 2. What impact has all official-casual dress code had compared to the all official dress code? 3. Other companies have greater compensation plans than BCG, but you are still the fastest growing consultancy firm, where is the secret? 4. As the head of Human Resources at BCG what are some of the problems that you think the employees are faced with? 5. What are the challenges that you are faced with as the head of BCG? References A BCG Senior Management Survey. Innovation 2008: Is the Tide Turning? Boston Publishing Press. August 2008. Andrew, James, P. and Harold, L. Sirkin. Payback: Reaping the Rewards of Innovation. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007. Text. Senior Management Survey. Innovation 2009: Making Hard Decisions in the Downturn A BCG. Boston Publishing Press. April 2009a. Senior Management Survey. Measuring Innovation 2009: The Need for Action A BCG. Boston Publishing press. April 2009b. WetFeet. "“The Boston Consulting Group.”." WetFeet Insider Guide: The fortunes magazine 2005. Document. Read More