Ryan Brown

Bus 470

Beverly Williams

11/11/2022

Data Collection

The job satisfaction rating for business partners working with sourcing analysts for Unknown

Company, Inc. (UC) is below 75%. As sourcing’s primary responsibility is to help facilitate and process

purchases and new suppliers for business partners for them to meet the company’s goals it is imperative

that this percentage increase. Delays in service are being created that can be resolved. Research is

necessary to identify what is causing these delays. It is estimated that with the delays in onboarding

suppliers and missing key windows for discounts the company has already missed out on $15 million in

savings. “A project that runs beyond its planned completion date costs more than the amount that is

budgeted for the project. To determine the additional cost per day, you must consider the hourly labor

rates for resources assigned to the project, as well as material, supplies and equipment costs and

indirect costs.” (Nordmeyer, 2022) The lack of consistency among the teams and enforcement to adhere

strictly to the process in place are some of the many variables that are resulting in poor satisfaction from

colleagues.

Part 1

Once the initial research was completed among the interviewed team it became clearer as to why the

delays in service were occurring. Results can be observed in the graph below.
 Sourcing Team's Delays resulting from:

Standardized process not followed

Overwhelming Workload

Lack of training

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

When reviewing the graph, majority of employees stated the lack of training resulted in delays with high

workloads and process not being followed came up soon after. With lack of training being the number

one issue that would require additional research with management to understand what has already

been done.

Part 2

After interviewing the executive director of sourcing previous solutions were discussed. These previous

solutions were additional training to better learn the systems and how to streamline our workload. The

training focused on developing sourcing employees’ knowledge of our software systems. By doing so

they could resolve issues themselves with the onboarding process instead of opening tickets for admins

teams. The other training was on time management and how to balance the complex workload while

meeting objectives. The Executive director also shared it is unclear how much of the training has stuck

since the employees still are experiencing delays in service. This is most likely due to the failed concept
of academically training out a learned behavior, ““Training” for companies throughout the world —

especially big companies with tens of thousands of employees — rarely involves doing. Instead, it’s all

about seeing and hearing and simply exposing employees to information.” (Belch, 2018) This did not

result in project timelines being reduced. The following graph details project timelines for the last

month and days until completion.

Days Project was in process

6
5
4
3
2
1
0 50 100 150 200 250
Days to complete

Part 3

Additional research must be conducted to obtain potential solutions to this ongoing issue. The research

states when training employees fails this is very common in a corporate environment. A possible

solution is to implement a project management tool to help assist the team with managing of workload

and timelines. “Project management software applications allow the entire project team to participate

in the project planning process by allowing real-time collaboration on project planning artifacts.

Planning can be accomplished for complex projects or simple projects using a smaller team.” (Sookram,

2022) This would allow the company to provide training for the employee while giving them tools to
help with their workload. One of the other solutions the company should take to improve the delay in

service is have management take a harder stance on following the standardized process. With multiple

members of the team managing their business partners and deals in different ways it causes delays and

inconsistent outcomes among the team. Lastly workload should be balanced so that everyone on the

team is not straining to maintain work balance. Employees should have sessions where they collaborate

and discuss techniques on improvement. Sharing of ideas will allow the members to also balance the

workloads and assist where they can to meet goals for the organization.

References:

B. Nordmeyer, 2022. How Do Delays in Projects Cost Money? Azcentral.com

https://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/delays-projects-cost-money-20766.html

D. Belch, 2018. Employee “Training” in Corporate America Doesn’t Work. Here’s Why. medium.com

https://medium.com/@STRIVR/employee-training-in-corporate-america-doesnt-work-here-s-

why-497739f05e0e

C. Sookram, 2022. Project Management Software For Beginners: Best Tools & Top Use Cases

https://thedigitalprojectmanager.com

https://thedigitalprojectmanager.com/projects/what-is-project-management-software/