ABC Incorporated Case Study
Randy Carlson
COMM/215
December 10, 2012
Kimberly Mitchell

ABC Incorporated Case Study
ABC Incorporated has hired 15 new trainees. These trainees were hired in early April by campus recruiter Carl Robins. The trainees will report to Operations Supervisor Monica Carrolls. Monica expects Carl to handle all of the necessary onboarding arrangements. She expects the trainees will be working by July 1st. Several problems have been identified that will prevent this from happening. Solutions to these problems have been identified by this case study. Carl must act immediately and carry out the proposed solutions, if he wants the trainees to start work on or before the July 1st deadline. This study indicates that Carl Robins was not proactive enough during the onboarding process of 15 new recruits.
Background
Operations Supervisor Monica Carrolls is expecting 15 new employees to be working in her organization by July 1st. Monica is counting on recruiter Carl Robins to make all the arrangements for onboarding the trainees. The central issue is onboarding 15 new trainees by a July 1st deadline. This case study addresses several problems associated with the onboarding process for these 15 trainees. If left unresolved, these problems will prevent the successful onboarding of the trainees by the desired July 1st date.
The problems are: * Incomplete applications for some trainees * Missing transcripts for some trainees * None of the trainees has completed the required drug screening * The training room is booked for the entire month of June

Key Problems Several key problems have been identified and must be addressed if 15 trainees are going to start work by July 1st.
Incomplete applications Some trainees have incomplete applications on file. Although it was the trainee’s responsibility to complete his or her application, I believe that Carl is mostly to blame. The incomplete applications are an oversight by Carl. Carl should not have hired people with incomplete applications. Carl should have checked on the completeness of each application when the trainees were recruited in April. Carl did not re-check the completeness of the applications until Memorial Day weekend had passed. Carl had almost two months to make sure that each trainee completed his or her application properly.
Missing Transcripts Some trainees do not have their transcripts on file. Each trainee could have checked to make sure Carl received his or her transcripts, but the chief responsibility falls on Carl. I believe that the missing transcripts are another oversight by Carl. Carl had from the beginning of April until the end of May to confirm the receipt of all transcripts, which was more than enough time. Carl was not proactive enough to make sure that this requirement was fulfilled.
Incomplete Drug Screening Drug screening is mandatory for all new hires. None of the trainees were sent to the clinic for drug screening. If the trainees knew about the drug screening and were not sent to the clinic they could have let Carl know. In this case, the trainees may be partially responsible, but the major responsibility belongs to Carl. Carl had approximately two months to make sure the trainees completed and passed their drug screening. Carl should have noticed over the course of two month that no drug screening results were received. If the drug screening is not completed, none of the trainees will start work by the July 1st deadline.
Training Room - Orientation The training room that Carl intended to use for trainee orientation on June 15th is double booked. Joe from technology services has booked the room for the entire month of June. During the month of June, the room will be used for database training seminars. Carl should have checked his reservation for the training room sooner. Carl had approximately two months to confirm his June 15th reservation for the training room. The new trainees will not be able to start working before July 1st, if they do not receive orientation before then. A lack of ownership, thoroughness, and follow-through on Carl’s account is the root of each key problem above. Carl’s lack of follow-through affects the trainees, the Operations Supervisor, and his own career in each case. The affected trainees will not be able to start work until their applications are complete, their transcripts are received and their drug screening has been completed. Operations Supervisor, Monica Carrolls’ department will not be fully staffed by July 1st if these trainees miss their start date, because of unfulfilled onboarding requirements. Carl’s ability to successfully onboard employees will be called into question by ABC Incorporated, Monica Carrolls, and the trainees he has hired. Because of Carl’s inability to reserve a training room, Joe in Technology Services will also question Carl’s abilities.

Alternatives There are several alternative to solve each of the key problems identified above.
Incomplete applications Alternative 1: Carl should contact all the trainees with incomplete applications as soon as possible. Carl should set up individual or group meetings with each of these trainees and help them complete their applications. This is a good alternative and Carl has approximately 20 business days before July 1st to complete this task.
Alternative 2: Have the trainees complete their applications on their first day of work. This would give Carl the opportunity to work with the trainees and complete the missing portions of their applications. This is not a good solution. The employees who did not complete their applications may have left them incomplete for reason. They may be trying to hide derogatory information that may make them ineligible for hire at ABC incorporated. This would leave Monica’s staff incomplete, if any trainees were rejected for employment
Missing Transcripts
Alternative 1: Carl should contact all the schools that have not provided transcripts as soon as possible. Carl should check to see if these schools have received transcript requests for his trainees. This is a good alternative. If Carl contacts the schools immediately, there is enough time for the schools to send him the required transcripts.
Alternative 2: Allow the trainees to start work before their transcripts arrive.
Incomplete Drug Screening
Alternative 1: Carl should contact each new employee immediately. Carl should provide them with all the necessary information to complete their drug screening. Carl should contact the screening clinic and see if the process can be expedited for his 15 new trainees. This is a good alternative. Carl has approximately twenty business days to make sure this task is completed by the fifteen trainees.
Alternative 2: Have the trainees complete their drug screening after their first day of work. This is not a good alternative. If an employee fails the screen, the company could be responsible for that employee’s treatment.
Training Room - Orientation Alternative 1: Find another training room within ABC Incorporated. This is a good alternative. There is enough time remaining for Carl to find and schedule a room.
Alternative 2: Find a training room in a local convention center or Hotel. This is an acceptable alternative. The negative consequences are minimal. ABC Incorporated will be charged for the room, and the trainees will need directions to the training site.
Alternative 3: Have Joe in technical services reschedule one day of the database training, so Carl can use the training room for new hire orientation. This is not a good alternative. The training seminars important to the company, and they effect a large group of people. Rescheduling any of these seminars is not a practical solution.
Delay the Start Date Delay the start date for all new trainees until the second week of July. This alternative applies to all four problems listed above. This alternative may ensure that the trainees, the schools, and the drug-screening clinic have a chance to provide the required documentation before the trainees start work. Delaying the start date will provide Carl the opportunity to schedule the training room for the first week of July. This alternative will have a negative impact on Monica Carrolls the Operations Supervisor. She will not have the required staff in place on July 1st.
Proposed Solutions Fifteen trainees are required to start working for Operations Supervisor Monica Carrolls by July 1st. For that to take place, four problems must be resolved. The best solutions for these four problems are listed below:
Incomplete applications
Carl will contact all the trainees with incomplete applications immediately. Carl will set up individual meetings with each of these trainees and help him or her complete the applications. This is the best solution to the incomplete application problem because all applications will be completed by the required date, and Carl has enough time complete this task.
Missing Transcripts
Carl will contact all the schools that have not provided transcripts immediately. Carl will check to see if these schools have received transcript requests for his trainees. Carl will request that the schools send him the requested transcripts as soon as possible. This is the best solution to the missing transcript problem because all the schools involved have time to respond to Carl’s request, and the trainees can start on or before July 1st.
Incomplete Drug Screening
Carl will contact each new employee immediately. Carl should provide them with all the necessary information to complete their drug screening. Carl will contact the screening clinic and see if the testing process can be expedited for his 15 new trainees. This is the best solution to the incomplete drug-screening problem. Carl has approximately 20 business days to make sure this task is completed by the 15 trainees. Completing this task will enable all fifteen trainees to start work before the July 1st deadline.

Training Room - Orientation Carl will find another training room for new trainee orientation within ABC Incorporated. This is the best solution to the training room – orientation problem. There is enough time remaining for Carl to find and schedule a room, database training will not be interrupted, and ABC Incorporated will not have to pay for and off-site training room.
Recommendations
Carl has not been proactive during the onboarding process of 15 trainees. Carl’s failure to be proactive has created various problems. These problems will prevent the 15 trainees from starting work on or before a July 1st deadline. This case study has identified solutions to each of these problems. Carl must react quickly and carry out these solutions, if he wants the trainees to start working by the July 1st deadline.
Carl is a new recruiter and needs some coaching and training. Carl lacks the skills or knowledge need to be proactive. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, being proactive is “…creating or controlling a situation by taking the initiative and anticipating events or problems, rather than just reacting to them after they have occurred.” Regarding proactivity Covey (1989) stated “Act or be acted upon.” Carl clearly failed to act and now he is being acted upon.
If Carl learns to be proactive, problems like the ones he is experiencing now will be less likely to occur in his future.

Bibliography
Covey, S. R. (1989) The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. New York, NY: Free Press
In Oxford English Dictionary online. Retrieved from http://oup.com.ezproxy. apollolibrary.com