Examples of previous work

A long term restructuring

We devised and implemented a briefing, training and communication plan for a major financial services company which was planning a radical, two-year restructuring. Our efforts ensured a smooth transition - with minimal impact on morale, attrition or business effectiveness - winning praise from both management and unionsl.

Selection strategies and union endorsement

We created a totally original selection process for a bank whose management realised that its existing union-negotiated scheme was not appropriate for taking the organisation forward. We guided implementation, avoiding alienating the workforce or triggering legal action, while fully achieving business objectives and complete client satisfaction.

Business transformation and restructuring

We assisted the transformation of a traditional plc by taking the role of interim HR Director and guiding the restructuring. We planned the process of selecting and training the new management and staffing teams, consulted and negotiated changes with the union, and trained the management in managing the change process. All targets were achieved and the organisation is now functioning effectively in its new cultural environment.

Reviewing the governance of HR

We carried out a detailed review of the HR function in a major financial services company whose Board had concerns about the Governance of HR. We showed that their concerns were fully justified: a number of relatively minor and apparently unconnected factors were combining to produce outcomes that put parts of the company at serious risk of public censure by its auditors and regulatory body. We proposed a number of remedial actions which would combine to address the different factors and provide an integrated solution to the problem.

Three contrasting examples of Organisation Effectiveness Reviews

1. A very large financial services / consultancy business was concerned that post-merger benefits were not being realised. We demonstrated that the company tended to under-plan and under-measure. Thus many worthwhile initiatives lacked real clarity, were under resourced and lacked adequate progress reviews. In consequence a culture of under achievement and blame was beginning to undermine the company's performance targets. Management were able to introduce a number of operational and cultural change programmes designed to eliminate these deficiencies and set the organisation on an upward path.
   
   
2. This concerned a specialist company whose design work, manufacturing and distribution were handled by third parties. The organisation's overall ability to succeed was totally dependent on the relationships with these three suppliers. We reviewed the effectiveness of these relationships and identified key steps to improving and sustaining them. Feedback was also given to the suppliers who had enthusiastically contributed to the study.
   
   
3. The Management Group of a major national charity had been concerned that their highly focused initiatives to improve leadership through the organisation were proving less effective than expected. Using Insight we demonstrated that, while the powerful culture of the organisation and its staff produced an enviable focus on the charity's beneficiaries, the sheer day to day pressures on front line staff reduced the impact of management's initiatives. We identified a number of low cost actions to more effectively align the staff's energy and good will in the desired direction and help the charity to evolve and grow and more effectively compete for available funds.

Support for an international HR team

A world wide manufacturing company was planning its first ever global HR conference for fifty HR professionals. While much of the extensive agenda would focus on internal matters and exchanging best practice, a need was also identified for some external input. Our brief was to lead the team through exercises designed to illustrate how best to sponsor change management and to provide a culturally diverse team with a set of common tools that each could use in their home country.

At an IoD conference

An audience of about eighty MDs and FDs attending the conference heard a session by Andy Andrews on "Managing the People Issues" when buying or selling private companies.

The conference heard that some 60-70% of M&As fail to meet their objectives, virtually never for legal and financial reasons. We argued that the element missing - and now being recognised as critical - is proper attention at an early stage to issues such as cultural fit of the target company, and clear strategies for the retention of key people and effective integration. Acquirers are often exhausted by the acquisition process with the result that staff in the target company can be neglected during the first critical days and weeks, during which morale and motivation can plummet. The audience was given a comprehensive acquirers' action plan to ensure a significantly higher success rate and commercial return.

These examples illustrate the range of organisation change activities we have undertaken but many organisations still face the need to downsize or undertake major restructuring and reorganising, with consequent reductions in staff.

ARA consulting has probably guided more businesses safely through this particular minefield than anyone else in the UK, giving us unique experience in the field of downsizing. In addition, a number of these assignments have been carried out in South America, Africa and the Far East. European examples include:

A restructuring / downsizing across nine European countries.

Our specialist input was used to coordinate country activities and establish common principles of best practice. We provided a mixture of hands-on and advisory services that acknowledged the differing cultures, practices and legal frameworks operating in each country. For example, we coordinated the communications of vacant positions, integrated cost information and, in one country, led the consultation and separation process. By maximizing the effectiveness of local teams we were able to demonstrate our value for money philosophy. Further, skills were transferred to members of management, who gained key experience for working together on future challenges.

Relocation, restructuring and culture change

We advised and project-managed the relocation of a leading financial services company out of London. The project included making some 90% of staff redundant and recruiting and planning new training for all the surviving and replacement staff in the new location. An interesting side project was to design and win approval for a novel, tax-efficient severance payments scheme.

Engineering integration

A large engineering company had, hitherto, operated as seven legal entities with strong rivalry between them. We advised the management on how best to plan the phased integration of the businesses and achieve an improved climate of cooperation and trust. Against some expectations the downsizing component of the project was achieved without litigation or significant trauma.