Assessment of Strategic Human Resource Management for Leaders

(SUBJECT TO EXTERNAL EXAMINER APPROVAL)

DEBT BUSTERS UK - A Story of Growth and Challenge

DEBT BUSTERS UK is a Debt Purchase company, started by an entrepreneur named Antony Brown who was specialised in tracing and surveillance activities, predominantly around the debt management services sector. Antony had identified that the services he provided helped the financial services recover debt, was worth significantly more than the rates he was charging and the idea to create a new breed of a debt purchasing company was born. Anthony, along with close friend and financially savvy John Cromwell, started DEBT BUSTERS UK in 2010 with the financial backing of private equity investors, along with a small team of analysts and  l.T technicians.

Within 4 years, the company had grown from a headcount of 14 to 350, demonstrating the achievements and confirmed through industry awards for best in class. At this stage of the company journey, the entrepreneurial spirit was central to the organisational culture. DEBT BUSTERS UK was fast paced and as Chief Operating Officer, Antony ensured new ideas and strategies were implemented quickly and with little consultation. However, a further 4 years into the future of DEBT BUSTERS UK saw a different picture. The company had continued with success and had evolved in a multi-site organisation, through acquisition and organic growth. Interdepartmental relationships were integral to implementing change and the business could no longer function through a solo decision maker. This resulted in tensions and employee demotivation, clearly identied through the annual employee survey results but also observed through behaviours.

As company CEO, John Cromwell was keen to ensure DEBT BUSTERS UK represented the company values and culture that helped win business from clients` time and time again. The company goal was to retain the leading position as best in class within the industry sector, through the company image of better systems, better practices and better people. The outward projection of the company`s organisational culture was how DEBT BUSTERS UK worked and the service delivery was better than the other competitors in the sector.

DEBT BUSTERS UK were proud of the company image and branded the "better" slogan across artefacts such as promotional material, in additional to office interior designs. Client visits to the company offices became ceremonies, where the clients were walked through departments, showcasing the working practices of the conscientious and hard-working, striving for results. Employees were forewarned of visits and the code of conduct was issued, in order to ensure the observed culture represented the company image.

The company`s hero was Antony Brown, founder of DEBT BUSTERS UK and responsible for all operating activities carried out on behaW of clients. It was essential he was held in high esteem during any external conversations and that he was a role model for the company`s standards. The legend around how the company had begun was the starting point to external presentations and widely known throughout the industry.

During the early years of trading, the core business DEBT BUSTERS UK values were;

• Take risks
  • Drive results
  • Rapid change
  • Respect authority

Underpinning these values were a set of basic assumptions. These were often unspoken but provided guidance on how actions are carried out within organisation. During those eariy days, DEBT BUSTERS UK consisted of a small team of like-minded individuals, with more or less a flat organisational structure. Aside from the key senior management positions, The CEO, The COO, The CFO and The Sales and Marketing Director, were responsible for the key decision making in the organisation. Work was task focussed and individuals were closely managed to ensure they were delivering exactly what was requested. Unplanned detailed progress discussions occurred regulariy with senior management and if errors occurred or timescales slipped, DEBT BUSTERS UK operated a public name and shame policy. Communication was open, but often abrasive and the selection criteria would filter out the more sensitive individuals, who were seen to be a bad fit. Fast paced and aggressive, employees would carry out work as quickly as possible, often to the detriment of documentation. The question of "why", or challenging an idea was not thought of. On questioning an l.T. technician years later to enquire why a system change had occurred, the response given was, "Because Antony wanted It and he was stood over my shoulder whilst I programmed the change there and then. That is how we did things back then. IIdidn`t make sense to me to have changed ii, but who am I o argue.".

Centralised control was directed through the leadership of Anthony Brown. As the main influencer he acted as the "head of the family``, pulling in those close to them, such as the senior management team and ensures decision making resides only with them. Others had little to no influence on goals or procedures and change was defined and controlled through only those with a position of power. In order to operate in this environment, employees needed the confidence in the individuals emanating the power or, if there is failure to adapt quickly, ii is likely they would leave the organisation. This was evident in the high turnover in management resources during the periods of growth.

DEBT BUSTERS UK`s strategy was to grow from being a small to medium sized enterprise, to a large organisation capable of managing 15 million customer accounts by 2022. DEBT BUSTERS UK had undergone the business transformation programme in order to deploy process improvement and change management control. The directive for this initiative came from  John  Cromwell,  CEO, who was  informed  through the wider  board of directors  that

regulatory compliance was essential for any business to survive in the debt purchase market. There was a significant business need for the success of this programme and business buy­ in was evident amongst most, but not all, of the senior management team.

In 2016, the senior leadership team identified the need for more managers in order to provide adequate conlrollership, leaving themlo focus on the more significant business decisions.

It was determined in that in order to support the growth of the business, there required greater emphasis on structure and control, creating more departments and teams. DEBT BUSTERS UK initiated a recruitment drive that resulted in a large number of the new employees and managers joining the organisation. The managers had been specifically selected and touted based on the multinational company they had previously bean working for, General Electric (GE). This was a credential sought after due to the global reputation GE had earned

throughout the history of the company, for being worfd class and a benchmark for business excellence. On assessing GE`s organisational effectiveness; there were a number of values GE used to performance manage their employees;

Goal Specification: All goals were aligned to the key business objectives, cost control, growth, customer centricity and stable processes. GE set goals were deployed from the top down during the same annual planning cycle and were clearfy communicated business wide.

Clarity and communication of goals: GE set goals using the SMART model (smart, measurable, attainable, realistic and time bound). By using this model, employees understood how to achieve high performance and how to provide evidence. It created accountability that resulted in employee motivation to succeed.

Awareness of/and ability to function in commercial environment: GE had strong credibility and as a brand, were able to attract clients easily. The company`s reputation gave confidence that performance and financial rewards would be delivered.

Facilitative management structure: The emphasis on management at GE was around coaching and mentoring. Networks were developed to support diversity in the workplace and mentoring relationships existing at all levels.

Motivated, valued and appropriately able workforce:  GE rewarded for performance and managed those unable to perform into more applicable roles or out of the business required. Thus, ensuring the workforce were a highly capable set of achievers.

It was these qualities that attracted DEBT BUSTERS UK to recruiting GE employees, it was perceived they would be a good fit, given the company vision to create a similar organisational environment. InIha years 2016 and 2017, DEBT BUSTERS UK recruited 9 ax-GE employees into management positions, resulting in 46% of the management team from a GE employment background by the end of 2017. However, GE is a corporate organisation with standards, procedures and policies that reflect a large multinational organisation, a different organisation to DEBT BUSTERS UK which was born through entrepreneurial spirit and "do it quick now",

rather than "do it right later". It was during this phase in DEBT BUSTERS UK`s history that two

cultures would join. The in surge of ex-GE employees into managerial roles at DEBT BUSTERS UK during the later period of growth could virtually be treated as a merger, albeit through choice, as managers had willingly joined DEBT BUSTERS UK`s workforce. Results from employee surveys revealed the attraction of joining DEBT BUSTERS UK was the growth

prospects of the organisation and the promise of high rewards through equity shares. Nonetheless, two different organisational cultures were merged, which could potentially be the root cause of conflict and tensions.