Running head: PROBLEM SOLUTION: COASTAL COUNTY CLERK OF COURT.

Problem Solution: Coastal County Clerk of Court
University of Phoenix

Problem Solution: Coastal County Clerk of Court A competitive situation within Coastal County Clerk of Court’s offices has created animosity and distrust between employees and new Clerk Stan Accord. The organization has the opportunity to make the changes necessary to meet the desired end-state goals through mediation, scheduling changes, and outsourcing of computer data and storage. The organization can realize these changes with minimal emotional response by employees and management through careful meditation of the situation that has not occurred to this point. County residents will find the new organization provides more services than before in a more flexible format.
Describe the Situation
Issue and Opportunity Identification Throughout the scenario the idea of discrimination comes into play with multiple parties. Discrimination is perceived between Stan and Dennis, Stan and Dan, as well as perceptions of female employees. The next issue is Dennis taking a competitive stance against Stan believing he can perform the functions with a better understanding of the needs of the community. The final issue at hand deals with the lack of mediation or arbitration used between the parties. Instead the parties decided to handle issues publicly and with high emotional tolls on both sides.
Stakeholder Perspectives/Ethical Dilemmas The stakeholders in the scenario each have unique situations they are faced with and ethical considerations based on those situations. Stan Accord for instance believes that modernization and a greater physical presence in the county offices is the solution when dealing with Dennis Munger. While Dennis on the other hand believes that the county should maintain the hands- on approach used for years. Dennis sees Stan’s desire for more accountability as a means to discriminate among employees at the office. Stan’s concern with the office at this time is abuse by the employees in taking time off. His ethical dilemma is based on the county paying employees for time they may not have earned. His desire to have employees present more in the office than outside is a necessity of increasing accountability to the residents of the county. Dennis’s ethical dilemma deals with the perceived age discrimination Another stakeholder in the scenario is Dan Bodkin. Dan believes that Stan is partial to employees based on age and gender and points out key differences between `them. He states that pregnant female employees are allowed more time for medical issues than the older men in the organization. Stan points out that the layoffs of personnel was not based on any age, race, religion, or gender factors, but instead was based on the need to modernize and eliminate those personnel who had become redundant.
Frame the “Right” Problem Coastal County Clerk of Court will become a more accountable public office through standardization of roles, duties, schedules, and outsourcing of computer data and storage.
Describe the “End-State” Vision The desired end-state for Coastal County Clerk of Court is to provide increased functions and flexibility to the county constituents with increased accountability of employees. The ability for any county user to research forms necessary will streamline the processes of the county and minimize the time constituents have to invest in visiting the offices. Increasing the accountability of employees ensures the customers have someone to handle their issues while also providing efficient use of county resources.
Identify the Alternatives and Benchmarking Validation When dealing with discrimination in the workplace companies must be aware that there are protected criteria that must be considered. Age discrimination is protected by the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (20 U.S.C. 623, et cet.), which prohibits discrimination of employees who are at least 40 years of age (Employment Discrimination). While not age discrimination, Starbucks has had its own share of discrimination issues around the globe. One such discrimination happened in El Paso, TX and dealt with a person’s stature. Elsa Sallard who identifies as a dwarf (a person with height less than 4’10”) had her employment terminated after three days while training as a barista (Abik, 2011). The reasoning of the manager was that her need to use a stool or stepladder would create an unsafe situation for employees. While the manager’s concerns may be valid they do not meet the ADA standards for acceptable termination. As a result, Starbucks was forced to pay $75,000 to the former employee as well as provide diversity training to managers around the country. Starbucks took this opportunity to train personnel on disabilities and how to handle these situations in the future. Coastal County Clerk of Court should take the same opportunity to provide training on diversity. Understanding the protected areas as well as how to avoid future issues of discrimination. Neither party in the scenario has used mediation and arbitration, and as a result the ability to remain detached and more logical was lost. Coastal county Clerk of Court should take a lesson from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The IRS was faced with creating standards for Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) measures for internal and external customers. Mandatory mediation from an independent mediator was implemented. This Fast Track method provided an Appeals Officer who would act as a neutral party and is used to promote resolution within 30 to 40 days (Robinson, 2010). This fast track resolution method would serve the office well for both internal and external customers and provide quick solutions to all parties involved.

Evaluate the Alternatives The alternative solution, which provides the greatest opportunity to meet the desired end goals of the office, is a mixture of two alternatives. By creating a schedule based on duties, positions, and outsourcing the computer data and storage the office addresses the accountability of employees as well as modernizing the office with greater flexibility for constituents. This solution creates opportunities for new processes and procedures that can provide better customer service and solutions to customers.
Narrowed List of Alternatives Other solutions to the scenario incorporate multiple changes to the office as a whole. One solution requires a new schedule based on duties and positions with retraining of personnel who lose positions by the modernization. Unfortunately this solution does not provide for outsourcing of positions that does not meet the desires of Stan to modernize and reduce overhead. The next alternate solution incorporates outsourcing computer data and storage with the retraining of employees. This solution does not provide accountability of the employees desired when Stan took over the office. For the employees to be more accountable for their actions they must first understand their role and duties.
Identify and Assess Risks Creating a new schedule based on duties and positions stands the chance to upset the existing employees who feel the change is not necessary. Depending on the extent of the changes some employees may feel the need to leave the office and seek employment elsewhere. While this could create a loss of knowledge in the interim, this will not severely impact the office. A way to minimize the impact of this strategy is to hold employee meetings and address the changes as well as integrate employee feedback into the new standards. This helps to create ownership of the changes and reduce the amount of emotional response. Outsourcing the computer data and storage runs the risk of losing control over the data and complete loss of data due to multiple factors. The impact on the organization of even the smallest amount of data could be severe and mitigation techniques must be used. The most obvious means of reducing the impact is to have multiple storage locations of the data. Creating a local backup which mirrors the information found in the 3rd party data reduces the impact of one location being lost. Retraining employees for new positions creates employees who know multiple aspects of the job and can work in multiple positions throughout the company. This training will increase the costs of the office and could lead to more employee overhead. To mitigate this impact the use of personnel in specific spots would be the ideal solution while still maintaining cross training when possible.
Make the Decision Taking the opportunity to create a new schedule based on duties and positions along with the outsourcing of the computer data and storage, Coastal County Clerk of Court stands the chance to reach the desired end-state goals. Those goals being a complete modernization of the office, more flexibility for county constituents, and increased accountability of county employees each are met through the primary solution. Outsourcing of the computer data and storage is increasing in popularity according to TheInfoPro to approximately 20% of Fortune 1000 companies in 2007 (Connor, 2007). Using this trend as a benchmark the county office can benefit from reducing personnel necessary for internal IT, free up long-term capital and move to a pay-as-you-go expense type system. Reduced technology costs, managing software, and providing increased uptime percentage. For these reasons the ability of Coastal County Clerk of the Court to handle the changes necessary to modernize, provide accountability, and increase product offerings is increased in this situation. The office will succeed with an implementation plan that is well thought out and organized to minimize impact on employees and constituents.
Develop and Implement the Solution The first deliverable to be implemented within the office provides greater accountability of personnel. The revision of schedule and duties for all employees is a key piece of information necessary for Stan to properly assign personnel and move forward with the remaining changes. For this reason Stan must have a working solution within 30 days to move forward with the outsourcing of computer data and storage. Stan must first workout the necessary employees to provide the desired services now and into the future. This outline will include positions, duties, and shifts for each person employed at the office. Within 90 days Stan should finalize the outsourcing of computer and data storage for the county. Stan has selected Recordation Services as the company with the necessary experience to handle this outsourcing. Within the timeframe selected the company must take over control of all county data in a secure manner that provides the greatest usability and flexibility to employees and constituents. Once Recordation Services is handling the computer and data storage within 90 days more the release of online forms and requests should be released. This allows for the increased flexibility desired by Stan while allotting time for security issues to be adequately handled. The greatest fear for any company is the loss of key data and this is doubly true when it contains personal data of a sensitive nature.
Evaluate the Results Coastal County Clerk of Courts offices will be more modernized through the use of computer data and storage outsourcing by Recordation Services Inc. Recordation Services Inc. provides specific knowledge and expertise not provided by current employees in the office. This modernization reduces overall IT costs, reduces IT personnel necessary to support local data, and supports two of the desired end-goals of the organization. Once the modernization has taken place the ability to add online access and document retrieval provides greater flexibility for constituents than previously seen. The ability for someone to download forms and documents prior to coming to the office reduces the time necessary to file documents, and reduces the time necessary for someone to assist them personally. Creating a schedule for employees, which outlines specific duties, shifts, and roles in the organization is the first step to meeting the goal of accountability. These specific duties and roles will help to address discrimination issues and reduce confusion based on protected criteria.
Conclusion
Coastal County Clerk of Courts office has the unique opportunity to make changes to the organization that will increase accountability, functionality, and impact the county constituents for years to come. This opportunity with the correct solution stands to provide the least resistance to change, modernizing the computer systems, and providing new solutions for county residents. The organization can avoid future discrimination claims through standardized roles and duties based on position in the company. These changes will help to address employee wishes and provide long term solutions for the organization while building employee loyalty and ownership of processes within the organization.

References
Abik, 08/23/2011. Should Dwarfism Preclude Working at Starbucks?, Lawyers and Settlements, Retrieved from: www.lawyersandsettlements.com/blog/tab/starbucks-discrimination
Connor, D. 01/22/2011. Storage outsourcing on the rise, Network World, Retrieved from: www.networkworld.com/news/2007/012207-storage-outsourcing-rises.html
Robinson, P.H. (2010). Alternative Dispute Resolution Procedures with IRS Appeals.

Utah Bar Journal, 23(2), 18-23. Retrieved from EBSCOHost database.
Wilmot-Hocker, Interpersonal Conflict, Seventh Edition, Conflict Components, The Nature of Conflict, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Retrieved from EBSCOHost database.

Table 1
Issues and Opportunities Identification
| | | |
|Issues |Opportunities |Reference to Specific |
| | |Course Concept |
|Age Discrimination – There is the belief of |Stan should work to ensure that all |“ADEA prohibits discrimination in the employment of |
|age discrimination being identified in the |employees regardless of any protected |workers who are at least 40 years old” (Employment |
|scenario. |status are treated fairly and equally |Discrimination). |
| |according to the law. | |
|Competition – Stan is the newly elected |Stan can take this opportunity to show |Competition “is characterized by aggressive and |
|County Clerk, but Dennis believes he |that he is the decision maker regardless |uncooperative behavior – pursuing your own concerns at |
|understands the current county climate |of his experience. |the expense of another” (Wilmot-& Hocker, 2007, p. |
|better. | |145). |
|Mediation or Arbitration – In the scenario |Stan and Dennis had one meeting that |Mediation or Arbitration helps with the following: |
|it seems that Arbitration has already taken |provoked actions by both parties. Instead |Avoids destructive behavior escalating, provides time |
|place in direct view of the public. |of jumping to a hasty decision mediation |to explore individual goals and needs, provides |
| |or arbitration should have been used to |alternate views, prevents hasty decisions (Wilmot-& |
| |address specific issues without hostility.|Hocker, 2007, p. 215). |

Table 2
Stakeholder Perspectives and Ethical Dilemmas
| |
|Stakeholder Perspectives and Ethical Dilemmas |
| | | |
|Stakeholder Groups with Competing | | |
|Values |The Interests, Rights, and |The Ethical Dilemma Based on the Competing |
| |Values of Each Group |Values |
|List: Group X | | |
|versus Group Y | | |
|Stan Accord versus Dennis Munger |Stan – Believes in modernization and greater physical |Stan – As the newly elected official is working|
| |presence in county offices. |to modernize the county office as well as avoid|
| |Dennis – Believes the hands on approach used in the |gross abuse of the system. |
| |county for years is the better solution. Also sees |Dennis – Desires the return of normal |
| |differing standards used for employees based on age and|operations that have happened for years. He |
| |gender. |also sees different standards used when |
| | |deciding who may take time off from work. |
|Stan Accord versus Dan Bodkin |Stan – Holds that the layoffs only affected certain |Stan – Desires the modernization of the county |
| |personnel based on the need after modernization. |office to increase flexibility for the county |
| |Dan – Believes that employees are given certain |constituents. |
| |privileges based on age and gender. |Dan – As an aging and chronically ill employee |
| | |believes younger female employees specifically |
| | |have advantages over older male employees. |

Table 3
Analysis of Alternative Solutions [Click Twice on Table to Change, see instructions on next page] [pic]

Table 4
Risk Assessment and Mitigation
|Risk Assessment and Mitigation |
|Alternative |Risks and Probability |Consequence and Severity |Mitigation Techniques and Strategies |
|Create a schedule based on |Employees upset at new hours/duties |Employees may leave due to changes|Hold employee meetings to address |
|duties and positions. |- Minimal |in expectations. - Moderate |changes. |
| | | |Take employee feedback and integrate |
| | | |into new standards. |
|Outsource Computer Data and |Loss of control of data. - High |Critical data not locally storage |Local backups to mirror data from 3rd |
|Storage. |Loss of data due to storage errors -|could be compromised. -Severe |party. |
| |Medium | | |
|Retrain employees for positions|Loss of specialization - Low |Decreased specialization of |Maintain roles as possible to specific |
|necessary after modernization. |Costs of training - High |employees with less need for |employees with cross training |
| | |specific roles. – Moderate |available. |

Table 5
Pros and Cons of Alternative Solutions
|Alternative |Pros |Cons |
|Create a schedule based on roles and duties |More accountable for time away from work. |Less flexibility for employees. |
|with outsourcing of computer data and storage. |Fewer personnel required maintaining computer |Loss of control of critical data. |
| |storage. | |
|Outsourcing computer data and storage with |Fewer personnel required maintaining computer |Loss of control of critical data. |
|retraining of employees for alternate |storage. |Increased costs of training. |
|positions. |Flexible employees able to fill any role in the|Decreased specialized understanding of key |
| |office. |aspects. |

Table 6
Optimal Solution Implementation Plan
|Action Item Deliverable |Timeline |Who is Responsible |
|Computer and data storage outsourced. |90 days |Stan Accord |
|Online forms |90 days |Recordation Services |
|Employee Schedule and Duties |30 days |Stan Accord |

Table 7
Evaluation of Results
|End-State Goals |Metrics |Target |
|Modernize county office. |Outsourcing of computer records. |3rd party company (Recordation Services Inc.) |
| | |to handle all data storage. |
|Increase flexibility and options for county |Increased online usage capacity and records |Forms and documents necessary can be downloaded|
|constituents. |retrieval. |and emailed to the office at all hours of the |
| | |day. |
|Increase accountability of county employees. |Set times and duties depending on role in the |Specific times and duties to avoid |
| |office. |discrimination based on protected criteria. |