HADM 4125

April 11, 2019

HEC Case Questions 1-10
Group 4: Alisha Mithal, Chris Wang, Matthew Bell, Nolan Gray, Tom Stelle
http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781526459770

1. Using the Idea Model, evaluate George’s ideas in terms of people, customer, value
proposition, offering, and distinctive competencies. Which tools are available for
assessing the validity of his ideas? Specifically, use the Critique Pad and Feasibility
Model to assess George’s ideas. [​https://www.straightupbusiness.institute/toolkit/​]

George’s plan of attack was to start where Trina left off - with the app and mobile site. His focus
was to generate value by establishing a two-way connection between students and guests (i.e.,
the customers). His app enables students and guests to easily connect with one another. Using
the Really Big Idea Critique Pad, the validity of an idea can be assessed by determining the
idea’s impact and feasibility. If both impact and feasibility are high, then the idea falls into the
“really big value” zone. If George were able to fully implement his idea, the impact would be
great. Providing a means of two-way communication between HEC students and guests,
promoting HEC, and helping HEC guests stay organized during the weekend would do a lot to
increase the value and impact of the event. Because he got off to an early start, the feasibility of
his idea is relatively high. Because George is open to integrating technology solutions from
outside vendors into the technological tools he is developing for HEC, his plans for the weekend
are much more feasible.

2. Brainstorm recruitment strategies George could use to identify students with IT skills.
What would be an appropriate place to start in terms of brainstorming? Use Gallup’s
BP10 top talents to describe Trina and George. What talents and skills typify their
respective roles? [​https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/EP10/en-US/About​]

George could use the available resources that cornell already has and host an app building
competition within Cornell’s Department of Computer Science. Since George has a good sense
of what he wants, he can start by communicating his needs to the staff at the CS department.
George’s top talent could be seen as profitability, as he has a clear strategy that he is working
on and it can been seen in how he tackles the obstacles set by Trina. Trina’s top talents are that
she is determined and goal-driven, although she did not have the know-how to make the
product she set out to make, she worked extremely diligently to produce something to show at
HEC. Although the product may not have been perfect, she was able to pull off a somewhat
working website and tech demonstration for HEC even though she did not have much
knowledge in the area.

3. Describe Trina’s approach to incorporating the technology goals. How do you think
they aligned with the mission of HEC? Are there areas of focus that seemed misaligned?
What contributed to her success moving the project forward?
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Trina was caught up in learning about the IT aspect of her project, and seemed to lose sight of
who the website was truly for: the guests of HEC. Although her website may have gotten good
feedback in a classroom setting, HEC is a professional setting with higher standards and
expectations. Therefore, she should have developed her website more and waited to launch the
site until it was more refined. In this way, her focus was misaligned. Her actions also reflected
her misaligned focus. She wasted time acquiring iPads when she should’ve spent that time
perfecting the mobile website. Trina also knew that her funds were limited, but she didn’t spend
any effort looking for more funding. Her ultimate goal was to incorporate technology more into
HEC, which the website was a start towards, but, in her eagerness to show results, she
launched a subpar site. If Trina had spent more time and money on the site, it would’ve been
much more successful. Nevertheless, she did try her best to accomplish her mission to bring
technology into HEC.

4. What value did Trina bring to HEC? How can this be carried forward to the next year’s
HEC? Would you consider what Trina accomplished to be innovative?

Trina set the bar for future HEC years by pushing for the incorporation of technology that would
be relevant to industry leaders. This was above and beyond her responsibilities as
Communications Director, and her vision for a mobile website and determination was extremely
valuable. Student leaders running HEC in future years could learn a lot from Trina’s experience.
She inspires a mindset where it is important to continuously adapt and change HEC as
developments in the world arise.
As the case states, Trina’s work that year was not innovative enough: the site was
suboptimal, the number of visitors was not what they wanted, and the guests were not
impressed by the iPads. With that in mind, though, Trina set the stage for HEC to incorporate an
IT Director for next year and focus on delivering easy mobile solutions for industry leaders.
While her work might not have been innovative, by causing HEC to look inward and restructure,
her vision forced a lot of innovation in future HEC events.

5. How could Trina deal with the IT assistant director’s struggle to execute based on what
he originally agreed to perform? What do you think of the approach of reaching out to
Paul to help the project move forward? What role do the iPads play from a leadership
perspective?

Although the director was overwhelmed by the project, Trina could have assigned him with other
tasks such as optimizing the desktop website since content required lots of scrolling. By
delegating to the IT Assistant Director using simple day-to-day programming tasks, she would
alleviate some of the pressure she faced on her end as well as mitigate the problems the IT
director was facing (not knowing where to begin, etc.). Because of their limited budget, it made
sense for Trina to reach out to her friend Paul as he had a strong background in website
development as a PhD candidate. Her friend had more experience than those currently on the
team, and he provided valuable insight. It was also a struggle to find those well-versed in IT
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given the limited budget for technology and communications, but there were also many student
volunteers she could have reached out to.
The iPads would allow the attendees of the conference to view the mobile website if they
didn’t choose to do so by themselves. Giving the attendees an open opportunity to critique the
mobile version of the website was bold, but great in that Trina could get the most useful
feedback for next year. As a leader, she was thinking beyond herself.

6. What is needed to accomplish George’s objectives? How can the task list Trina created
(Tables 1 and 2) be updated to align with those objectives?

Initially, George’s objective is to design the app before maintaining the mobile site. To do this,
George needs someone with app design experience and potentially a way to hire them rather
than find a volunteer, which Tina struggled with. Next, George needs to get approval to use it
and think about user privacy. Most app development technologies come with access to many
built-in security features, but George has to make sure his team follows their documentation and
uses them appropriately.
Trina’s list can be updated to help George with these tasks. For example, the
Communications Director could research how HEC can hire an outside party for the app design,
as well as the approval process for using it. A list of attendees would also be helpful for George
to get the personal information for the mobile application. The list should be adapted, however,
to reflect the new goal of completing the mobile app before the website, as the website takes
priority in the current list.

7. Explain George’s goals. What is success for George? What factors will contribute to
George’s success?

George’s main goal is to streamline the customer experience by using technology to make the
conference as accommodating as possible to the attendees. Success for George would be a
successful app that HEC can use to anticipate the needs of attendees, as well as make every
aspect of the conference itself, such as registration, finding venues, and networking, feel
smooth and seamless. George could measure this through the number of attendees that sign
up for the app, app usage metrics, and a satisfaction survey about the app experience following
the event. Success for George would show a high sign-up rate, a high retention rate of app
users during future events, and a high satisfaction rating. The road ahead is difficult, so
George’s dedication to the task and ability to find people to help him through the process will
determine his success.

8. What is the difference between the mobile website and mobile application? Why did
George decide to create a mobile application instead of updating Trina’s mobile website?

The purpose of the mobile app is to promote the event and make the attendee experience a
breeze by facilitating communication between students and guests. The mobile app has a few
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major desired functionalities: helping guests stay organized, providing a calendar of events,
sending updates throughout the year, and receiving guest feedback.
The mobile website has a different purpose- purely to make accessing the original HEC website
from a phone much more accessible. This would involve mainly formatting and accessibility
changes, rather than a complete reorganization of information. Guests would be able to access
the information that is already online in a quicker, more convenient way.
George decided to pursue the mobile app first, instead of the mobile site. George
analyzed what guests actually wanted from their mobile experience: a way to make the
conference experience smoother. To do this, guests didn’t need access to all of the information
on the website. Instead, George would consolidate and package the relevant information
(schedule, updates, networking, etc.) and present it in a digestible way to the guests. If they
needed further information, they can still access the website, it just might take a few seconds
longer to find what they are looking for than if the mobile site were updated further.

9. What were the differences in the leadership styles of Trina and George, and which of
these would you rather work with at HEC? If Trina had been IT director instead of
communications director, what would have been different?

Trina was an extremely ambitious leader. She wanted HEC to go smoothly, but she was more
focused on “leaving a legacy” as a communications director. While she set lofty goals, she was
very motivated and driven to attain them, exhausting any resource she could find. When she
wanted to learn more about mobile technology, she traveled to a conference and sought out
individuals at Cornell for more help. She even reached out to Apple for iPads. She also utilized
her people skills and was capable of working with a variety of individuals.
Meanwhile, George was much more focused on managing the operations of the event.
He had a lot of ideas, but he spent the majority of his time worrying about the task at hand and
ensuring the event goes smoothly.
Personally, I’d rather work with George at HEC. I would want to work for someone who
cares more about the attendees experience than someone trying to leave a personal legacy,
mainly because an event run by an operationally-focused leader goes much more smoothly.

10. What suggestions do you have to incorporate into HEC moving forward? Make a
recommendation for what the next year’s director should add to HEC to continue the
incorporation of technology.

We would suggest forming a partnership with engineering student groups that are focused on
mobile and web development, e.g., Cornell AppDev or Cornell DTI. We think George recognizes
that it’d be much easier to outsource the development of the website and mobile app. Leaving
the technical challenges to a Cornell group is cheaper than hiring a consultant, and it also
continues the tradition of student volunteers.
Another way to incorporate technology is through the promotion of student technical
work, be it entrepreneurship or other projects. We think HEC would be a great environment to
host a project showcase, where students are able to present the technical hospitality projects or
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startups that they’ve been building over the past year. Handing out awards for the best projects
would also be a fantastic opportunity to bring in more sponsors.
In general, we would also recommend forming a larger presence on social media.
Engaging attendees through social media will not only help grow the event, but it will make the
conversations that take place at HEC continue even after the weekend is over.