The Reengineering of a Manufacturer’s IT Department*

by Dian K. Castle, CPT

X Corporation is an established and progressive leader in the food production industry. It is the
largest corn refiner in the world and the leading refiner in Latin America. It is also the world’s
leading producer of dextrose and cornstarch. X spans 21 countries and 38 plants, with operations
generating approximately $2.5BN in sales. It further includes joint ventures and allied operations
in an additional 11 countries, with another 19 plants and unconsolidated sales of approximately
$1BN. About 60% of its revenues are generated in North America; the rest comes from Latin
America, Asia, and Africa. They supply products, derived mainly from corn, to more than 60
industries, including food and beverage, pharmaceutical, corrugated paper, and brewing. They
also serve the animal feed markets worldwide.

The company employs nearly 7,000 individuals in its facilities worldwide. Two hundred eighty of
these individuals make up the IT organization. These individuals support a full range of internal IT
needs, including cutting-edge products and services. With the recent reorganization in 2000, it
became apparent that there were a number of people-related issues, the most critical being
employee recruitment and retention. Lured by outside opportunities, long-time employees were
leaving at an alarming rate. Although X was interested in retaining many of these key employees,
they found their hands tied by the following:
• There was no formal career development program.
• They did not compensate to current market value.
• The organizational culture was not supportive enough.

As a result, increased employee turnover and growing discomfort with the current way of doing
things left the IT organization with low morale and with inadequate resources to achieve business
goals and objectives. The president of X contacted New Orleans Consulting (NOC). NOC
conducted an Organizational Capability Assessment. Through intensive interviewing, research
gathering, and analysis, NOC identified career development, reward and recognition programs,
training, and organization structure as the four areas requiring immediate attention. Issues
surrounding culture, work processes, and leadership were cited as problematic. These findings
were significant for the following reasons:
• Career development and compensation were validated as being critical issues for employees.
Career development included training aimed at individual development--for current and future
market needs.
• It was originally thought that culture was an area that needed immediate attention.
• The fact that employees genuinely liked their jobs was something the organization could use
for recruitment and retention purposes.

On the basis of the assessment, NOC took the following steps:

1. Provided executive coaching to leadership and refined mission, vision, and values
statements.
2. Conducted transition planning within the corporate headquarters and plants, involving all
executives, managers, and employees. Action plans resulted with clearly defined activities,
timelines, roles, and responsibilities.
3. Established Project Management and Business Systems Analysis job families. Conducted
Job Analysis and developed performance profiles for these job families.
4. Developed job descriptions for the entire IT organization that reflected CPI’s current state,
future desired state, and Gartner’s best practices.
5. Designed a career development system that involved managerial-employee dialogue for
development and individual development planning.
6. Developed and conducted a skills assessment of IT employees based on the performance
profiles. Results were used to create a training plan for current IT employees. This training
was included in the career development system.
7. Developed a reward strategy that aligned with the overall business and with performance
expectations for the IT organization. This strategy included a new compensation
administration system and reward and recognition program.
8. Outsourced recruitment and facilitated the service level agreement that emphasized client
business goals and objectives. Designed and implemented a staffing process that filled
positions in 20 days.

As a result of the implementation of those eight steps, X’s IT Department realized the following
benefits:
• Turnover of high-performing employees decreased from 40% to 0% within six months.
• Salaries are now competitive, and a compensation plan has been created to reward changing
critical technical skills.
• IT processes have been refined, documented, and communicated; and roles to support these
processes have been established, which allows projects to be completed more quickly and
efficiently.
• A career development system to provide career paths and identify targeted training for all IT
employees has been established for both staff and leadership.
• Internal customer satisfaction has moved from a rating of “below average” to “above
average.”
• A recruitment and selection system that enabled the organization to recruit and select the
most qualified candidates within a 30-day cycle and keep the pipeline filled with appropriate
candidates.

* The names of the Corporation and its employees have been withheld to maintain client-consultant confidentiality.