Nerds Galore Case Study

Nerds Galore Case Study

Question 1

Nerds Galore is an information technology (IT) Service Company based in Canada. The company has an employee population of 1000. NG serves small and medium companies across 12 cities in Canada. The company provides services such as security, network setup and support, on-site troubleshooting, help desk, wireless networks, software, and hardware procurement, backup services, and website design and hosting. The company, however, is on the verge of collapsing due to human resources related risks. During the workshop, various issues and solutions were addressed on conducting a risk assessment. The assessment would help in sound decision making. There arose multiple uncertainties regarding this information and risks. To handle the uncertainty, we considered the various types of risks and the available data and information that could help in mitigating the risks.

We dealt with individual risks to ensure all essential details about the risk were addressed. We also agreed to hire more skilled and manageable risk analysts who are open-minded and willing to collaborate with the management to address the risks (Reniers, 2012). Where we had little information and data about specific threats, we considered semi-quantitative analysis methods and models. Further, we had to conduct comprehensive research to seek more information on how to approach the risks as the information shared could not be enough. Amidst uncertainty, no answer can be regarded as perfect. However, the application of the methods mentioned above helps in decision making. Therefore, the workshop was a reflection of real-world examples of managing uncertainty.

Question 2

In the workshop, we addressed the various HR-related risks. The risks include the inability to recruit skilled people at the company, losing employees with crucial internal knowledge, labor productivity, resigning of the skillful technical team, and loss of essential business knowledge. However, it can be noticed that most of the risks were associated with NG’s staff and employees. Ever since a decline in customer satisfaction was reported, the executive identified the high internal staff turnover to be the cause. It led to gaps in customer service and service continuity. NG also faced stiff competition from similar firms that were paying more; hence NG lost its employees to the other firms. The failure to retain the staff contributed to the loss of knowledgeable and skilled staff, which created a crisis at NG.

The firm experienced a blow when one of its key staff was involved and died in a car accident while hastening to attend to a client. According to the other employees, the executive team did not respond well to the incident since it left many employees traumatized. It meant that at that time, the performance of the employees was poor hence leading to customer dissatisfaction. Staff inefficiency also contributed to the downfall of the firm. Specifically, there has been a challenge of scheduling technicians for on-site technical work since the customers demanded a skilled specialist who could take care of their diverse and unique technology needs. This revelation about employees was vital as it was the cause of most of the problems at the company. The team could, therefore, quickly assess the risks and develop mitigation strategies.

Question 3

The risk assessment was helpful as it enabled the executive to gain an in-depth insight into the actual situation at NG. Besides, the assessment allowed the firm to determine the specific source of the risks at the company. The company could, therefore, decide on implementing the new HR strategy. Risk assessment provides for means of creating awareness among the company’s employees, and it can apply as a tool of training the employees to manage their skills (Weekes, 2017). Through a risk assessment, the company can be able to set risk management standards and policies. Legal requirements and acceptable safe practices guide the choice of management standards.

After conducting the risk assessment, the vice president of the human resources (HR) could be able to convince the rest of the executive team based on the findings of the evaluation. The vice president of human resources was also concerned with the management of human resources. The concern on HR management is vital as more often; incidents in the workplace occur due to poor and inadequate management and management controls. HR management should consider training employees, inspecting the attitude of the employees towards the company, and conducting equipment and structure maintenance on a timely basis. As a result, the company could maximize in optimizing the use of employees. As seen, most of the challenges highlighted could quickly be addressed by the new HR strategy as proposed by the NG’s vice president of HR.

References

Fraser, J., Simkins, B., & Narvaez, K. (2014). Implementing enterprise risk management: Case studies and best practices. John Wiley & Sons.

Reniers, G. (2012). From risk management towards uncertainty management. Risk assessment and management/Zhiyong, Zhang, 11-22.

Weekes, J. (2017). Five benefits of conducting a risk assessment. Retrieved from https://www.healthandsafetyhandbook.com.au/5-benefits-of-conducting-risk-assessments/