Case Study Organizational Design and Strategy Apply Your
Case Study Organizational Design and Strategy Apply Your
Case Study
Organizational Design and Strategy
Apply Your Skills: Ethical Dilemma
Crowdsourcing
Last year, when Ai-Lan Nguyen told her friend Greg Barnwellthat Off the Hook Tees, based in Asheville, North Carolina, was going toexperiment with crowdsourcing, he warned her that she wouldnâ€t like theresults Now, as she was about to walk into a meeting to decide whether toadopt this new business model, she was afraid her friend had been right
Crowdsourcing uses the Internet to inviteanyone—professionals and amateurs alike—to perform tasks such as product designthat employees usually perform In exchange, contributors receiverecognition—but little or no pay Ai-Lan, as vice president of operations forOff the Hook, a company specializing in witty T-shirts aimed at young adults,upheld the values of founder Chris Woodhouse, who, like Ai-Lan, was a graphicartist Before he sold the company, the founder always insisted that T-shirtsbe well designed by top-notch graphic artists to make sure that each screenprint was a work of art Those graphic artists reported to Ai-Lan
Over the past 18 months, Off the Hookâ€s sales had beenstagnating for the first time in its history The crowdsourcing experiment wasthe latest in a series of attempts to jump-start sales growth Last spring, Offthe Hook issued its first open call for T-shirt designs and then posted theentries on the Web so people could vote for their favorites The top fivevote-getters were handed over to the in-house designers, who tweaked thesubmissions until they met the companyâ€s usual quality standards
When CEO Rob Taylor first announced the companyâ€s foray intocrowdsourcing, Ai-Lan found herself reassuring the designers that theirpositions were not in jeopardy Now Ai-Lan was all but certain she would haveto go back on her word Not only had the crowdsourced shirts sold well, but Robhad put a handful of winning designs directly into production, bypassing thedesign department altogether Customers didnâ€t notice the difference
Ai-Lan concluded that Rob was ready to adopt some form ofthis Web-based crowdsourcing because it made T-shirt design more responsive toconsumer desires In practical terms, it reduced the uncertainty thatsurrounded new designs, and it dramatically lowered costs The people who wonthe competitions were delighted with the exposure that it gave them
However, when Ai-Lan looked at the crowdsourced shirts withher graphic artistâ€s eye, she felt that the designs were competent, but noneachieved the aesthetic standards attained by her in-house designersCrowdsourcing essentially replaced training and expertise with public opinionThat made the artist in her uncomfortable
More distressing, it was beginning to look as if Greg hadbeen right when heâ€d told her that his working definition of crowdsourcing was“a billion amateurs want your job†It was easy to see that if Off the Hookadopted crowdsourcing, she would be handing out pink slips to most of herdesign people, longtime employees whose work she admired “Sure, crowdsourcingcosts the company less, but what about the human cost?†Greg asked
What future course should Ai-Lan argue for at the meeting?And what personal decisions does she face if Off the Hook decides to put thecrowd completely in charge when it comes to T-shirt design?
What Would You Do?
1 Go to themeeting and argue for abandoning crowdsourcing for now in favor of maintainingthe artistic integrity and values that Off the Hook has always stood for
2 Acceptthe reality that because Rob strongly favors crowdsourcing, itâ€s a faitaccompli Be a team player and help work out the details of the new designapproach Prepare to lay off graphic designers as needed
3 Acceptthe fact that converting Off the Hook to a crowdsourcing business model isinevitable, but because it violates your own personal values, start looking fora new job elsewhere
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