thesis merged- dana dobson
TRANSCRIPT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ClIAPTER ONE: IN"TRODUCTION 1
Background 3Overview of the Quantum Energy Management System 4Overview ofProblem 10Research Hypothesis 13Research Objectives 14Benefits of the Study 15
CHAPTER TWO: PROBLEM CONTEXT AND LITERATURE REVIEW 16 e
A Brief Overview of the WorkplacelEmployee Mindset During the Past Century 16Is Business Ready to Embrace Spirituality? 19Employees Want More Than a Paycheck 26"S . ituali " "R I" " 29pm ity versus e 19lon .."Tying Spirituality to Profitability 33The Critical Role of Leadership in a Spiritual Organization 37Definition ofTerms 41
ClIAPTER THREE: RESEARCH DESIGN & METHODOLOGY 43
Research Design 43Research Methodology 44Survey Respondents 45Survey Questions for HR Professionals 46Limitations of Research 49
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS & FINDIN"GS 51
Revisiting the Research Hypothesis 51Raw Data Analysis 52Vendor Selection Process / Buying Behavior 55Workplace Trends , 51The Spirituality Debate 58Conclusions , 59
ClIAPTER FIVE: BUSINESSIMARKETING PLAN 62
Company Overview 62Vision 62Mission 63Keys to Success 63Objectives 63Services and Product Implementation 64
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The QEMS Kit 66Operational Issues for QEMS Kit 66Situation Analysis , 67Market Summary 67Market Segmentation 67Target Market Segm.ent Strategy 70Competition and Buying Patterns 71Competitive Edge 72SWOT Analysis 73Barriers to Entry 75Pricing , 77Product Benefits gOMarketing Strategy 80Implementation Outline 83Risks and Contigencies 88Conclusions 88
REFERENCES 90
APPENDIX 93
Interview request letter (via email) 93Transcripts of Interviews 94Raw Survey Data 129Timeline: Pilot Testing Phase 135Timeline: QEMS Launch Plan 136
LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS
Table 1: Market Analysis - Companies (by # of employees) in Georgia 69Table 2: Market Analysis 70Table 3: Fee Structure 77Table 4: Sample Revenue Scenario - 500 Employees in Company 77Table 5: Sample Revenue Scenario - 200 Employees in Company 78Table 6: Sample Revenue Scenario -100 Employee in Company 78Table 7: Sample Revenue Scenario - 50 Employees in Company 79
Chart 1: What is your job title? 53Chart 2: Gender 54Chart 3: Industry by number of employees 54Chart 4: Market Analysis 69
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Connie RobinsonVicePresident, Human Resource ServicesGideon GroupPhoenix,AZ
What is your job title: Vice President, Human Resource Services
Gender: Female
Age: 49
# years inHR: 26
# years in current position: 6
Company statistics:
Industry: (areas of expertise): HR Consultant, specifically diversity sourcing andrecruitment, helping companies (high tech and non-technical) increase the number ofwomen and minorities in critical positions.
# of employees: all - varies
Annual revenue: nJa
Q: Describe HR's role in selecting training and development programs/ororganizations:
A: Decision-maker, gatekeeper and purchase influencer. All of these.
Q: Do training vendors generally contact you first in your organization?
(does not apply)
Q: How do organizations (HR departments) select vendors?
A: In smaller companies (100 employees or less), the person managing HR doesn'treally have a human resources background and many times is a good manager thatthey've moved into the spot. What those managers have done is immediately subscribe toHR magazines, SHRM so that they can start to get information and network, and thenthrough those sources try to identify a vendor. Or, they seek referrals.
Q: What kinds of salespresentations do organizations expect to see/rom vendors?
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A: Demonstrations specific to the company's needs. For instance, if an organizationwants to fill an executive assistant position, they want that person to demonstrate whatwork experience they've had before, etc., and of course, want to know what it's going tocost them.
Q: Are companies setting aside budgets for employee development or trainingprograms?
A: Less and less. What I'm finding is that the value at companies placed on employeesis becoming less of a priority, yet I don't have a reason why they're doing that. They willgrab an HR professional, but usually at being at a point where they're so overwhelmed orthey have a compliance issue. ,-
Q: Have budgets fluctuated over the years?
A: When the economy is doing great and there's money being made by the respectivecompanies, they will put many dollars into HR, marketing and advertising. But when theeconomy is not well, it's known they cut back on those very dollars. It does fluctuate, butit appears that it's coming back at a much lesser rate. It's becoming less and less of apriority.
Q: What professional organizations do you belong to?
A: SHRM, World at Work.
Q: From a human resources perspective, what trends have you observed in today'sworkplace?
A: One trend as it relates to staffing is that companies will tend to 1) hire a lessexperienced and less qualified individual in order to pay less, another is that companieswill go without specific workplace guidelines unless they have a compliance issue.Companies are more interested in workplace dress guidelines because of the relaxednature of employee dress, and assistance and perks are less. Sign-on bonuses aren't asprevalent as they once were.
Q: How would you describe your spirituality?
A: High.
Q: How open to tJ,.econcept of "spirituality" do you think the American workplace is?
A: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest, individual spirituality is around 6.And it's talked about a little bit more, but there's still a lot of caution around talkingabout it openly. A catastrophe or something may trigger it, and you can kind of see andfell who wants to talk about it but otherwise it stays close to the vest.
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Q: Do you know 0/ any other companies that offer a program similar to QEMS?
A: Integrity Systems (Ron Willingham). They're based here in Phoenix.
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Jeri RoyceDirector of Human Resources & Office AdministrationPantheon ChemicalPhoenix,AZ
Job title: Director of Human Resources and Office Administration
Gender: Female
Age: 45
How long in HR? I was in HR and personnel early on in my career. I then moved onto ~more executive positions, and although my responsibility was personnel I really didn'twork in it. I'm not what you'd call an HR professional- I'm an executive who's been inthe business world for a very long time and who knows a little about HR The culture atPantheon Chemical is very important for us, so our CEO really wants HR to be run out ofthe executive office. That's why my title has HR init, but I do a lot of other things, too.
How long in current position? 4 months
Company statistics:
Industry: Manufacturing
# of Employees: 30
Annual Revenue: WND (start-up company operating at a loss)
Q: Describe your role in selecting training or employee development programs foryour organization.
A: I am the decision-maker.
Q: Do vendors generally contact you first in your organization?
A: Yes. Mostly we get calls after our CEO speaks at conferences, and that's when theystart hounding us. I take the calls, but generally we don't have enough money to spend.We also outsource our HR to AdminiStaff, and they provide free training, so part of ourtraining program is through them.
Q: How do you or your organization select vendors?
A: What's important from our regard is that there be a good cultural fit. Most of theprograms I've seen are cookie-cutter. They have a book and 20 clients and exactly thesame book for all of them. We're looking for something that's more specifically gearedfor us and that is a better cultural fit - not just "one size fits all."
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Q: What kinds of training programs does your organization currently use:
A: Not any right now.
Q: What kind of sales presentation do you generally expect from your vendors?
A: I would expect some good hard data, success stories, and would be able to expect tocall references. Iwould expect that they've done a fair amount of work in the Valley.And in terms of the sales presentation, I really like them to listen to what my needs areand then tell me how they think they can help with that.
Q: What isyour company's annual budgetfor employee training programs?
A: We don't really budget things that way. We're zero-based.
Q: What professional organizations doyou belong to?
A: SHRM, National Association for Corporate Boards.
Q: From a human resources perspective, what trends have you observed in today'sworkplace?
A: I have seen an insurgence of a change of focus in terms of culture and soft skills inthe workplace. Twenty years ago, it used to be that we all talked about "management."Now, we talk about "leadership," and not leadership that you can define with five points,but with sort-of an intuitive kind of leadership. And the right people making the rightcultural fit, not necessarily having the right skill sets.
Q: How would you describe your spirituality?
A: Iwould describe my spirituality as "inclusive," based on universal principles. I'mdefinitely "spiritual," but not "religious."
Q: How open to the concept of ffspirituality" do you think your employees would be?
A: Iwould say not very.
Q: Do you know of any other companies that offer a program similar to QEMS?
A: No.
Q: Do you think QEMS would be valuable to you?
A: Yes. It's very interesting. In a very real sense, the culture at Pantheon, a lot of it,underneath it, are spiritual principles. But we use a different context for how we talkabout that. But to try to get people to understand it, like, one of the goals on our strategic
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plan is, "Visualize our success every day." Well, "visualization" is a very strong spiritualpractice. But to try to get people to understand that in terms of their own energy andwhat energy they put forward in their visualization is hard. So you say, "visualize yoursuccess," but to have the tool to help people learn to do that ... would be really great. Inour work place, spiritual principles are very much a part of our culture. We just don't talkabout it that way. It's interesting - at my previous job, I worked at Unity of Phoenix asthe director of education and community outreach. I've grown up in Unity. In fact, mymom was a Unity minister. So, my spiritual principles have always been rooted in that.At Unity, we developed what we called, "Commitment to Living Love." One of our goalswhen we created it was that it would be a tool that we could take into the workplace,because what you can always teach people is the universal principle of love. What we ~found, though, is "love" is like "spirituality." It's a word that makes people go"AAAHHHH!" It's just not a hard-core business word. Our focus group research said,"Don't use the word, "love," use something else, like ethics or something, anything otherthan "love." But we weren't willing to get off of that "love" bandwagon. Our vision wasto go into businesses, but I don't think that's ever happened. Some people did take"Commitment to Living Love" principles into their workplaces and did use it, but withlimited results, because obviously, the language of it pushes people's buttons - and itcame from a church! That was a big problem. The integration of spirituality withbusiness is so very important! When I came here from Unity of Phoenix (where it was inmy face every day), I had a conscious conversation about what parts of myself could Ibring here. I am careful about my language here, where I didn't have to be careful in theUnity environment. I do have prayer beads hanging offmy computer, though. They hangfor me. We don't leave part of ourselves at home. All of us needs to come with us,whatever that practice is.
I would love to hear what your work is and about the QEMS product, so please stay intouch with me.
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Ginny McMinnPresident, OwnerMcMinn & Associates, Ltd.Gilberl,AZ
(McMinn and Associates, Limited provides afull range of human resources consulting,services, customized training and individual learning tools to businesses and individuals.Questionnaire was completed via email by respondent.)
What isyour job title? President, Owner
How long in HR? 33 years
How long in current position? 18 years
Gender: Female
Age: 57
Industry: Consulting
Company statistics:
Number 0/Employees: 3
Annual Revenue (if able to disclose): WND
Describe your role in selecting training/development programs/or your organization:
Decision maker - for my organizationGatekeeper - for client organizationsPurchase influencer - for client organizations
Q: Do training vendors generally contact you first in your organization?
A: Yes; for clients, they often have networked into the organization is some otherlocation.
Q: Do you take those calls, pass them off, or please describe how you handle them.
A: I take them, and seek to take on the role directly for the client as well.
Q: How do you or how does your organization select vendors? What qualifications doyou look/or?
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A: Experience with similar programs. I also look at a sample of their work, theirbio/resume, and conduct an interview.
Q: What kinds of training programs/consultants does your organization cu"ently use?
A: HR. I don't cover soft skills.
Q: How did they get selected]
A: Sample or experienced a program they delivered; bio/resume, interview.
Q: What kind of sales presentation do you generally expect from your vendors?
A: Problem-solution focused is my preference; brief, to the point.
Q: Is there anyone or anything that really sticks out in your mind as particularlygood?
A: Focus, clarity, brevity, customization - with a clear understanding of the issue orproblem.
Q: What is your company's annual budgetfor employee rainingidevelopmentlweUnessprograms?
A: n/a
Q: Has this fluctuated over the years?
A: Yes
Q: What professional organizations doyou belong to?
A: Society for Human Resource Management, local affiliate chapter (active ascertification instructor); Arizona Small Business Association - Board member, boardsecretary, facilitator ofHR Roundtable; National Association of Women BusinessOwners, Phoenix Chapter - program chair.
Q: From a human resources perspective, what trends have you observed in today'sworkplacet
A: Lean staffing, stress, change.
Q: How would you describe your spirituality?
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A: I have a strong belief in a divine presence and believe those who are connected thisway have inner peace and strength of character others may lack.
Q: How open to the concept of "spirituality" doyou think your employees would be?
A: Varies by employee. With rare exceptions, would be seen as the "Woo-Woo" or "wayout" approach, not business like.
Q: Do you know of any other companies that offer a program similar to QEMS?
A: No
Q: Do you think QEMS would be valuable to you?
A: Don't know - would need more specific information; possibly.
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Raw Survey Data
1. What is your job title?
Human Resources Manager (2)Senior Vice President, Human Resources (1)Human Resources Consultant (3)Vice President, Human Resources (1)Director of Human Resources (2)Manager of Employee Training and Development (1) .'
2. How many years inHR?
10,13,18,22,23,25,26,30,33
Average:Median:
20 years23 years
3. How long in current position?
.3,2,4,4,6,6, 7, 10, 12, 18
Average: 6.93 (7) years
4. Gender:
Male: 1Female: 9
5: Age:
33,35,45,45,47,49,52,54,55
Average: 41.5Median: 47
6. Company statistics:
6a. 6b. 6c.Industry # Employees Annual RevenuesAerospace 6,000 $ 1 billionEnergy 4,400 $ 2 billionGovernment 1,950 n/a
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Healthcare 95 WNDfIR Consulting n/a n/aHR Consulting 100-250 ** $ 50 millionHR Consulting 3 WNDLaw Finn 285 WNDManufacturing 30 n/aPublishing 1,000 $ 550 million
7. Describe your role in selecting training programs for your organization.
Decision-Maker Gatekeeper Purchase InfluencerHuman Resources Manager X X XHuman Resources Manager X X XSr. VP, HR XHR Consultant X XHR Consultant X X XHR Consultant X X XVP,HR XDirector of HR X X XDirector of HR XMgr. Training & Development X X X
8. Do training vendors generally contact you first in your organization?
• Yes, and others in the organization• Sometimes me, sometimes training & development person• I don't know if they contact me first, I think they hit everybody they can get a
name on.• Yes.• Yes.• I don't know if they contact me fust. I think they hit everybody they can get a
name on.• I don't know if I'd say "first."• Yes.• They do contact me, but they also are on a state bid list.• Yes.
9. Do you take these calls, pass them off, or please describe how you handle them.
• Take them.• Typically I pass them along, usually to the person in charge of that particular
function.
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10. How do you select vendors? What qualifications do you look for?
• Experience with similar programs.• Sample of work• Company background• Qualifications• Good interview• Pricing• Whether they'11 mesh with corporate culture; good cultural fit• Track record• Credentials of management team (background, education, personal history)• Caliber of client service team• Overall service offering• Practical experience in the field• Experience with similar types of companies. Pricing. Whether we think they'll
mesh with our corporate culture.• Financials• Program can be tailored to their organization; not cookie-cutter
11. What kinds of training programs/consultants does your organization currentlyuse? Bow were they selected?
• Performance Management System• Diversity Training Program• Programs developed internally• Cultural Competency Training• Executive training• Sexual harassment training• Web-based for HIPPA, Standards of Conduct, Information Security
12. What kind of sales presentation do you generally expect from your vendors?
• Problem-solution focused.• Brief, to the point.• Powerpoint• Summary document• Demo of product• Demonstrations specific to the company's needs.• Good, hard data• Success stories• References• Listen to the client's needs
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13. Is there anything that really sticks out in your mind as particularly good?
• Focus, clarity, brevity, customization with clear understanding of our issues• Only the bad: lack of content and breadth of knowledge• Negative: Sales people couldn't answer questions; couldn't go "off script"• Hard-core selling is a turn-off
14. What is your company's annual budget for employee programs?
Industry Budget Per employeePublishing $300,000 $ 300Law Firm $ 3,500 $ 12Manufacturing $0Manufacturing $0Energy $0Healthcare $ 23,750 $250Municipality $0
15. Has this budget fluctuated over the years?
Yes: 6 No: 4
• For the past few years, many of my clients haven't put any money into training.• Size of budget is tied to the economy.
16. To what professional organizations do you belong?
• Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM)• Arizona Small Business Association• National Association of Women Business Owners• World at Work• American Society for Training & Development (ASTD)• Western Pension Institute• Association for Psychology Type (APT)• Others specific to industry (e.g., manufacturing trade)
17. From a human resources perspective, what trends have you observed in today'sworkplace?
• Lean staffing• Stress• Change; pace and scope of change that drives the need for continuous learning.
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• Need for more flexible programs: telecommuting, more balanced lives, moretailored programs
• Compensation in line with the marketplace.• Generations X and Y; 30-somethings want true workplace effectiveness, balance.
They're not willing to work as hard as baby boomers. More benefits, fewer hours.• Rise of the "sandwich generation:" workers taking care of children and parents.• Want to know how to achieve balance.• Issue of decreasing the management level, shrinking the hierarchy; managers now
supervising larger amounts of people in diverse functions.• Managers being spread thinner, supervising areas not in their skill sets.• People afraid to request flexibility for fear oflosingjobs ~• Rising cost of benefits, particularly healthcare and pensions.• Rising number of employees retiring, and need to capture their knowledge before
they leave the company. Need for succession planning. Need to develop nextgeneration of leaders.
• Globalization, e.g. offshoring of initiatives, transferring jobs overseas and staffingfor different kinds of jobs in the U.S. .
• Changing demographics of the workforce (young versus older and resultingdifferences in perspectives). Different generations communicate, collect andprocess information differently. Affinity with technology differs betweengenerations. Need to teach people how to get along and understand inger-generational values.
• Increased diversity of workforce.• Continuing costs of human capital related to the human element (learning and
development, health care, etc.).• Issues related to ethics and integrity in the workplace because of Enron and
Worldcomm scandals.• People want higher level of engagement and connection, the feeling of being a
part of something important.• Some employers beginning to want to fully engage their workforces in order to
get the maximum contribution out of the workforce.• Web-based training becoming more popular.• Shrinking budgets for employee enrichment programs.• Tendency for companies to hire less experienced/qualified employees in order to
pay less.• Failure of companies to act on behalf of employees unless there is a compliance
Issue.• Shift in corporate conversation from ''management'' concepts to "leadership"
concepts.• Growing interest in hiring people based on the right cultural fit.
18. How would you describe your spirituality?
• I would describe my spirituality as "inclusive," based on universal principles. I'mdefinitely "spiritual," not religious.
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• High.• I think I am a very spiritual person. I think if you're in training" you have a
certain desire to share information with other people and help them learn beyondjust the technical things. I wouldn't describe myself as a religious person, butdefinitely a spiritual person.
• Not work related.• I feel good about it. I don't know. Do I feel good about my work and how it fits
into my life? I'd say yes.• That's an odd one! I would say I have a very open perspective. I believe in a
higher power, I am not (although I'm a Catholic) highly rigorous as far asfollowing the beliefs and practices of the religion.
• Personally, I'm very religious. I'm Catholic, I practice - go to church. Thetraditional Catholic thing.
• I am a Christian.• I think we've got a caring kind of company. We try and do the best thing for our
employees.• I have a strong belief in a divine presence and believe those who are connected
this way have inner peace and strength of character others may lack.
19. How open to the concept of spirituality do you think youremployees/management would be?
• Varies by employee. With rare exceptions, would be seen as the "woo-woo" or"way out" approach, not business-like.
• I think they would be confused as to why it would be in the workplace. I thinkthey see it as more personal.
• I think that it's just something that you have to be careful with.• Probably not very many of them would be very open to that.• I think they're not uncomfortable with the concept, if you're careful about the use
of the word.• Not work related.• I think a lot of it depends on the different work groups and the different age
groups. I think a lot of the people, because they have gotten a little bit older andhave gotten to know themselves better and are more comfortable discussing that.Some of the younger folks may not be so comfortable, maybe do't understand thevalue of it yet. The other part of that is you certainly have a difference in jobclassifications and educational levels. If I went in and started talking about thatwith some of our people who work on the streets, they'd probably get up and walkout. But if!went out and talked to the people who work in community housing orsome of the employees in HR - just depends upon people and the types of jobsthey go into.
• On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest, individual spirituality is around 6.And it's talked about a little bit more, but there's still a lot of caution aroundtalking about it openly. A catastrophe or something may trigger it, and you can
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kind of see and feel who wants to talk about it, but otherwise, it stays close to thevest.
• I would say not very.
20. Do you know of any other companies that offer a program similar to QEMS?
Yes: 2 No: 8
(Companies Mentioned: Integrity Systems, Embody, Wellness Works)
21. Do you think QEMS would be valuable in your organization?
Yes: 2 No: 6 Need more info: 2