Executive summary
The case revolves around the problematic situation related to the functioning of The Nuance Group, a successful management consulting company that is focused on the provision of its services to different organizations and agents. At the moment, the company promotes its services by saying that is employees are experienced workers who have an outstanding competence in the sphere of marketing, economics, and finance (Zaremba, 2010).
The company remains highly competitive and wants to acquire new clients. For this reason, it explores the strategy that is aimed at the promotion of the great power of its staff, workers outstanding experience, and their ability to solve any complex situation using the unique approaches. The Nuance Group creates a glossy brochure that includes the description of the main services provided by the company, contact information, and brief bio or every employee who could consult an organization or any other client (Zaremba, 2010). However, this creates the ground for the appearance of the problematic situation.
One of the potential Nuance Groups clients, Dorfman Associates, wants to use the companys services. However, considering the fact that there are many other agents suggesting similar services, Randy, one of the Dorfman Associates workers, looks through the above-mentioned brochure and notices some allegations related to workers experience. She knows for sure that Jack Pattens profile was a grand fabrication. In such a way, the Nuance Group faces a great problem as its image is deteriorated and it has to perform some actions to preserve the client base and be able to assure potential partners that this case is just a misconception and its workers really have an outstanding experience and knowledge.
For this reason, Nuances problem of its image deterioration caused by the embellishments found in the brochure and companys desire to attain a competitive advantage by emphasizing the power of its staff can be solved if the true data is presented and Dorfman Associates can admit the companys great efficiency.
Stakeholders
The investigation of the case demands a comprehensive analysis of the main factors and stakeholders that might impact the situation and precondition one or another result. For this reason, there is a list of the most important stakeholders:
The Nuance Group – the main actor in the case. The company tries to obtain a competitive advantage by emphasizing the competence and skills of its workers. However, the brochure that contains workers bios turns out to be a grand fabrication because of the false information presented about Jack Patten and his experience (Zaremba, 2010). Moreover, further investigation demonstrated that several more bios were embellished to make these profiles look more attractive. The given problem might have a great negative impact on its functioning as the potential clients could choose other agencies because of the embellishment and data manipulation.
Dorfman Associates is the potential client who wants to uses the Nuance Groups services because of its reputation. It is also attracted to workers unique experiences. Considering the fact that there are many rivals in the sphere, it looks through the brochure and finds false information about one of the workers (Zaremba, 2010). For this reason, Dorfman suspects the Nuance Group in falsification and wants to stop the partnership. The Nuances activity and further actions will obviously impact this company and either reassure it in the necessity of further cooperation or distract it.
Randy is a Dorfman Associates worker who discovers the falsification of data presented in the brochure. The employee used to study with Jack Patten, and she knows for sure that he has not attended Yale as an undergraduate (Zaremba, 2010). This information could become the major concern that will determine the character of relations between Dorfman Associates and the Nuance Group.
Jack Patten is another important factor related to the case. He could be considered responsible for the embellished information presented in the brochure. His desire to make his profile look more solid and attract potential clients attention results in the discovery of this falsification and significant deterioration of the companys image (Zaremba, 2010). The result of the investigation and the strategy accepted by the company to alter the situation will obviously impact his position and future career.
Problem Statement
Nevertheless, analyzing the given case, several important problems could be outlined. First of all, it is a significant deterioration of the Nuance Groups image. One should perfectly realize the fact that reputation is one of the main aspects that impact the functioning of a company and its perspectives. For this reason, it might take years to establish a good image and assure that it will serve as a good attraction to all potential partners.
Thus, the deterioration of the Nuance Groups image due to the discovered embellishment of facts could be considered a significant and long-term problem that could result in the companys collapse in case it is disregarded. Another problem is the loss of potential partners and revenues related to a possible deal. It is a short-term problem; however, the cancellation of partnership might trigger the vigorous debates related to the real causes for the given outcome and factors that preconditioned the refusal.
For this reason, it is crucial to restore the trustful relations with Dorfman Associates and assure that the information about the above-mentioned misunderstanding will not become available for other companies. Nevertheless, the main player, the Nuance Group, has to accept the only correct decision on how to restore the companys image and preserve potential clients.
Causes of the problem
There are several main causes for the appearance of the given problematic situation. First of all, it is the companys obvious desire to empower its position by emphasizing the great competence its workers possess. Trying to obtain a competitive advantage and become a leader in the market, the Nuance Group created the brochure that provided the attractive but false information about its workers. It is obviously one of the main causes of the appearance of the problem.
However, the root cause of the given embellishment is the informal order to “put his best foot forward” (Zaremba, 2010, p. 233) that was given by the companys top managers. It means that the given embellishment was cultivated and accepted as one of the parts of a strategy aimed at the promotion of the companys main services and empowerment of its position. Moreover, Jack Patten is also sure that all consultants provide false information about their experience to attract the attention of potential customers (Zaremba, 2010).
That a problem might have a systemic character as some other employees could have a similar idea about the embellishment in their profiles. For this reason, it is possible to conclude that the above-mentioned problem comes from the attempts to win the rivalry and acquire a significant competitive advantage by creating the model that outlines an outstanding character of the suggested services.
Suggestions
At the moment, the company has to create a specific solution that should take into account such factors as the time needed for its implementation and costs as these are crucial for the Nuance Groups survival. For this reason, the brochures should be re-edited, and the false information should be corrected. Moreover, it is crucial to cooperate with Dorfman Affairs and explain the details of the problem. The company could be suggested to use some services for free to note the great competence of the Nuances workers and assure that the given embellishment was just a misunderstanding.
At the same time, if Dorfman Affairs admit the Nuances ability to accomplish complex tasks, the information will not become so crucial, and the image will not suffer too much. Besides, there is another possible solution that includes a new advertising campaign aimed at the promotion of the companys great character and restoration of its image. However, it could be too costly. These solutions could be considered appropriate enough as they are rather costly and timely.
Recommendations
Altogether, the Nuance Group should edit its brochures and provide only credible information about workers bios. Moreover, all employees should be explained the fact that it is crucial to provide only true information about their past experiences. In case some embellishment is present, no penalties should be applied as it was cultivated by the companys officials. The same deals with Jack Patten. He should not be punished. Only under these conditions, the companys image could be restored.