human resources case study

Ericsson BUGS-BUSS
Human Resource Management [The characters and events in this case associated with the BUCS and BUSS projects
have been modified for teaching purposes and in no way represent people or events at LM Ericsson]
History of LM Ericsson
In 1876, 30 year old Lars Magnus Ericsson founded a small telegraph repair shop in Sweden. He incorporated
LM Ericsson in 1918. The company then went on to make history as one of the world’s leading innovators of
telecommunications products and services. Presently, LM Ericsson is amongst the largest global producers of
mobile telecommunications equipment and is the world’s largest telecommunications services provider.
Ericsson has a long history of initiating takeovers, mergers and acquisitions, downsizing, and upsizing, and
has survived numerous financial difficulties during economic downturns and has thrived during economic boom
times.
LM Ericsson, still based in Sweden, currently operates in approximately 175 countries, with a major presence
in China, the USA, the UK, Finland, Brazil and Ireland. In the 1990s, Ericsson held a global market share of
approximately 35-40 percent of ‘installed cellular telephone network systems’. In the early 2000s, with the
telecommunications crash, Ericsson let go tens of thousands of employees. The company then became profitable
again in the mid 2000s. In 2001, Ericsson entered into a joint venture arrangement with Sony, making Sony
Ericsson one of the world’s main suppliers of wireless infrastructure technologies and a primary provider of
the world’s cellular handset cores. LM Ericsson is also engaged in upgrading copper lines around the world
to offer up-to-date broadband services to homes and businesses.
Since 2001, Ericsson acquired British telecom manufacturer Marconi, acquired technology for smartphones from
Symbian, sold Ericsson Microwave (radar) Systems to SAAB-AB, and merged it’s subsitiary Maxwell Acquisition
Corporation with Redback Networks Inc. In 2007, Ericsson also acquired Entrisphere, gaining its fiber optics
technology and a major interest in the German software company, LHS Telekom Inc. Current Ericsson
competitors include: Alcatel- Lucent, Huawei, Nokia Siemens Networks, Nortel, Cisco, IBM, EDS, Accenture,
Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, LG Electronics, NEC, Sharp and Apple Inc.
BUGS
Gunter Habzig is a 55 year old senior Ericsson executive based in Stockholm Sweden. He is responsible for
strategically integrating Ericsson products and services worldwide. He gained most of his international
experience working in Central America and throughout South East Asia during his earlier years in the
company. Habzig has just been asked by the Vice President of Ericsson International, Dr. Casper Bru, to
assess and upgrade Ericsson’s Business Unit Global Services (BUGS) division.
The BUGS division provides telecommunications-related services to global partners, other Ericsson divisions,
and diverse corporate and government clients around the world. BUGS also designs, operates, and provides
ongoing support and assessment for cellular networks,
infrastructures and related services. The key component of the BUGS division is its consulting services,
which includes providing expertise in systems integration, network deployment and integration, education,
training, and ongoing systems support. Ericsson’s BUGS division is essentially an outsourcing agent designed
to provide companies with worry-free telecommunications solutions and platforms so that its client companies
can focus on their core businesses. BUGS operates in more than 175 countries and has approximately 30,000
employees.
In 2009, Bru appointed Habzig as the project leader in Ericsson’s drive to increase its presence in China
and compete with Huawei, China’s telecommunications giant. China remains one of Ericsson’s largest and
fastest growing telecommunications service markets. Between 2009 and 2012, Habzig and his team led a 17%
expansion of Ericsson’s operations in China amongst its new and existing government and private sector
telecommunications clients. Habzig’s primary directive was to increase dependence on the use of Ericsson
technology support services amongst client organizations that utilized Ericsson telecommunications products
and services. Although the 2008 and 2009 global credit turmoil and market fluctuations decreased the
company’s liquidity considerably, Bru, with the support of the Board, was cautiously determined to expand
BUGS presence in China. The Board felt it was strategically important to expand further into China, while
the opportunity still existed.
Habzig had been asked by Bru to appoint, or hire, a team of new BUGS representatives to oversee the
expansion program in China. The initial stage of the program was expected to last only 18 months. Nearly
four years later, the initial stage of the program in China is still ongoing. At the beginning of the
project Habzig was given only two weeks to hire his China team, based on limited background information and
no personal interviews. Instead, he was asked to select three experts from amongst a group of nine
highly-skilled and highly-recommended candidates that were provided by Bru. Habzig protested the fact that
he was given limited time and information on which to hire the China team. However, Bru assured him that any
combination of the candidates would be effective. Habzig chose the team members that he felt would be most
suitable for the project and was assured by Bru that any future projects would allow for a much more
rigorous recruitment and selection process.
During the China BUGS expansion, Habzig was required to eliminate various redundant, ‘non- essential’
positions that were filled by Chinese technicians, managers, and support staff. Due to labor laws and
existing long-term employee and service contract agreements, however, Habzig found it extremely difficult to
substantially restructure the BUGS China division. Preferring to avoid cultural and legal issues, Habzig
suggested to Bru that Ericsson minimize the BUGS presence in China and open a new division called Business
Unit China Services (BUCS) and gradually replace BUGS with BUCS. Habzig was particularly cautious due to his
own past difficult experiences managing BUGS in Central America and South East Asia, which he described as
both a wonderful experience and a terrible nightmare. Habzig strongly suggested that the BUCS strategy would
enable him and his new team to advance Ericsson’s interests in China more effectively.
Bru and the LM Ericsson Board members agreed with Habzig’s proposal and the Ericsson BUCS division was born.
Over the following three years, the BUCS project was considered an effective
strategic use of Ericsson resources. After three years, however, Habzig was growing anxious about the
direction of his life and career and the health effects of living in the extreme weather conditions of
China. He was now 58 years old, and felt that he had accomplished everything he had strategized to do in
China. He emailed Bru with a tentative resignation statement and a declaration that the BUCS China team were
effective enough to carry on the project without him.
Bru responded the next day to Habzig’s email as follows: Dear Gunter Habzig,
Thank you for your email. I understand your desires to move on, after achieving such great success with the
BUCS project. I agree completely that the BUCS team can manage China from this point forward. Your value to
Ericsson is enormous. Of course, the entire organization would suffer such a great loss if we were to lose
your leadership. Therefore, I have an offer for you that we hope you will seriously consider. As you know,
BUGS is thriving around the world, as is BUCS in China. At last month’s Board meeting, we discussed the
importance of increasing our Middle-East presence, with an emphasis on Saudi Arabia. As expected, your name
was short-listed among a core of highly talented Ericsson project managers. This morning, I was given
permission by the Board to offer you the role of Executive Project Manager for the LM Ericsson Business Unit
Saudi Services (BUSS) project (modeled after the effective BUCS project). You will receive a 7% raise from
your current salary and attractive housing, relocation, and living allowances. Upon request and upon
receiving your ‘notice of interest’, we will send you the particular contract details.
Gunter Habzig spoke with his wife, Gerta, also 58 years old, and the two decided to accept one more position
before retirement. Gunter and Gerta hoped to retire to Southern France by Gunter’s 62nd birthday. Habzig
informed Bru of his interest in the BUSS position.
Three days later, Bru sent Habzig a list of instructions for preparing the BUSS project. Bru also informed
Habzig that the Ericsson Board had compiled a list of recommended candidates for the BUSS team but that
Habzig was under no obligation to select any of them (See Appendix 1). Habzig was given six months to
prepare the BUSS project before arriving in Saudi Arabia.
Habzig is still quite busy with the BUCS project, so he asks you and your team to prepare a detailed (but
succinct) plan for managing Bru’s list of instructions for the BUSS project.
Bru’slist of instructions are as follows [This is your group’s assignment]:
1. Investigate: Who are the main telecommunications services and solutions providers in Saudi Arabia and the
region that would be direct competitors of the BUSS project. [up to 1 page]
2. Investigate: What are the legal regulatory processes for registering the BUSS project in Saudi Arabia.
[about 1 page]
3. Investigate: What are the labor-law requirements in Saudi Arabia regarding the hiring of
highly-skilled expatriate technicians and managers. [up to 1 page]
4. Create a clear plan for how you will recruit qualified managers for the BUSS project (including an
advertisement that clearly lists the requirements for the job and the minimal requirements of each
candidate). [about 2 pages]
5. Create a clear plan for selecting three BUSS project managers from amongst the candidates that you
recruit. Your selection plan must include a clear criteria list, a clear testing process (and a rationale
for why you chose those testing processes). Using your selection criteria, select three candidates from the
list of twelve short-listed candidates provided in Appendix 1 that your group believes would make the best
team for the BUSS project. Provide a clear rationale for why certain managers are selected and others
rejected (Bru is particularly strict about having clear selection criteria, due to past legal troubles
experienced by Ericsson’s BUGS projects in other regions). [about 3-5 page]
6. Create a total compensation plan for each of the three BUSS project managers. Provide a clear
rationale for each compensation plan. [about 1page]
7. Create a skills-training plan and a career-development plan for the three BUSS project managers while
they serve in Saudi Arabia. [about 2-3 pages]
8. Create a plan for assessing and evaluating both the effectiveness of the project and the effectiveness of
each of the three managers on the BUSS project. [about 1-2 pages]
9. Create a plan for ensuring that Ericsson can retain the three individual managers for at least the
initial stages of the BUSS project (estimated to be approximately three years). This plan must include
consideration for the managers’ well-being. [about 1-2 pages]
10. Create a plan for ensuring that each manager has a clear ‘voice’ within the BUSS team [up to 1 page].
11. Create a plan for how each of the three managers could be utilized by Ericsson after they have completed
their service with the BUSS project. [up to 1 page]
12. Create a presentation that explains: A) which three managers you selected for the BUSS project; B) how
you selected those managers (what criteria and testing techniques did you utilize); C) Why you selected
those managers; and D) why you believe they will work together well as a team.[12-15 minutes, to be
presented to the class]
Total report pages: About 15-20 pages (excluding title page, table of contents, reference list if any, and
appendices if any). Reports must be single spaced, use Times New Roman 12 font and 1” (2.5cm) margins.

APPENDIX 1
The following lists of candidates includes: A) seven candidates that were short-listed by you and your team
after your initial recruitment drive that attracted more than 700 applicants; and B) five candidates that
were provided by Casper Bru as ‘recommended’ and whose CV’s were on file with the Ericsson BUGS
International office.
The seven candidates short-listed by you and your team, following your initial recruitment drive, include:
RohanLal
Age: Gender: Family: Nationality: Education:
Work history: Interests:
29 M Married/Children aged 3, 6, and 7 USA BA – Telecommunications Infrastructure Engineering (Washington
State University) Ericsson (2 years); Motorola (3 years) Social networking; Facebook; Linked-In; Twitter;
disco dancing; Trying new restaurants and foods.
Lal is a hardware systems analyst and telecom networks hardware engineer. After graduation, he served for
two years as a contracted assistant trainer for the BUGS Systems Integration Certification Program offered
in Stockholm, Sweden. He then served as a hardware systems analyst for Motorola in California. He left
Motorola after three years to spend two years helping his father-in-law establish a
telecommunications-integrated logistics consulting company in Los Angeles. He is now looking for a
‘long-term stable career’ according to the cover letter attached to his CV. His wife is from India and she
has a Masters degree in software engineering from Stanford University. Lal’s references were contacted and
they characterized him as a ‘hard worker’ who sometimes ‘talked too much during working hours’ and ‘enjoyed
the nightlife a little excessively’ but was otherwise a ‘top-rate employee’ who always scored high on his
technical evaluations. He and his wife speak English and Hindi. His wife also speaks intermediate Arabic,
having spent five years as a child in Iraq due to her father’s work as a diplomat.
Abdullah M. Kafan
Age: Gender: Family: Nationality: Education:
Work history: Interests:
26 M Single Iraq BA – Finance (University of Baghdad); Certificate – Telecommunications Network Design
(Higher Colleges of Technology, UAE) None Attending international telecommunications conferences; writing
editorial and research articles about telecommunications software systems; online gaming.
Kafan is trained as a telecommunications software systems analyst and telecom networks designer. He received
awards throughout his studies for continually having the highest GPA amongst his classmates. He also
received three best-paper awards at international conferences while a student in the UAE. Mr. Kafan has no
practical work experience and currently lives with his retired parents in Dubai. He speaks fluent Arabic,
English, and is proficient at French.
TruptiRamanada
Age: Gender: Family: Nationality: Education:
Work history: Interests:
32 F Divorced / Teenage children (3) India BA – IT Systems Engineering (Ryerson Polytechnic); MA – IT
Project Management (Ryerson Polytechnic) Ericsson BUGS/BUCS International (4 years) Studying Arabic; Indian
traditional dance; making traditional Indian artwork; Indian musical movies; Indian cooking.
Ramanada is an IT Integrated Systems Engineer. She received a BUGS Systems Integration Certification in 2008
and has since worked as a systems support technician and team leader for the Ericsson BUGS/BUCS
International call centre in Bangalore, India. She lives with her three teenage sons in Bangalore.
Ramanada’s references from Ericsson indicate that she is consistently a ‘top-performer’ in the call centre
and ‘always punctual’ but that she ‘tends to share her strongly-held ideological views with unwilling
colleagues in the workplace’. She speaks fluent Hindi, near fluent English, two Indian dialects, and has
been studying Arabic part-time for six months with the hope of eventually working in the middle-east.
Khan Rajna
Age: Gender: Family: Nationality: Education: Work history: Interests:
26 M Single (‘but looking’, according to the cover-letter attached with his CV) Bangladesh BA, High
Distinction – History (Oxford); MBA (London School of Economics) None.Learning languages; cooking; studying.
Rajna received the highest graduating GPA from his MBA program at the London School of Economics. His GMAT
score was 740. He has no technical or telecommunications-related experience, training, or education and has
no work experience. However, his overall education and managerial potential were very impressive amongst the
nearly 700 CV’s received through the BUSS recruitment process. Mr. Rajna speaks fluent English, Bangladeshi,
and intermediate- level Arabic.
Ms. Haifa A. Al-Lamar
Age: Gender: Family:
Undisclosed F Married / Young children (4)
Nationality: Saudi Education: BA – Software Engineering :University Work history: Telus, Riyadh (3 years)
Interests: International travel; international food; collecting Saudi art; fashion design.
Al-Lamar is a Software Engineer, focusing on telecommunications network infrastructure services and
solutions. She is a recent graduate MBA program, where she received a GPA of 3.87. She worked for Telus in
Riyadh as a divisional women’s manager and network systems analyst. Al-Lamar’s husband is a Senior Huawei
representative for Saudi Arabia, based in Riyadh. She would not reveal her age. She speaks fluent Arabic,
English, and basic French.

Jamal M. Twari
Age: Gender: Family: Nationality: Education:
Work history:
Interests:
54 M Married / Adult children (3) Libyan PhD – IT Management (University of Queensland); MSc. – IT Project
Management (Michigan State University) IT and Telecommunications consultant for the Libyan Government (17
years); Director, Telecommunications Infrastructure Development Board of Libya (6 months) International
travel; cooking; providing for family.
Twari is an IT Engineer and Telecommunications consultant. His PhD thesis was titled ‘Effective Management
of IT and Telecommunications Systems Integration across the Middle- East’. He graduated from the BUGS
Systems Integration Certification Program in Sweden. Six months ago, he was appointed as the volunteer
Director of Libya’s Telecommunications Infrastructure Development Board. Performance reviews and records of
his work are not available, as they were destroyed during recent military activities in Libya. Twari speaks
fluent Arabic and English and basic Italian.
Winthrop L. Farthington III
Age: Gender: Family: Nationality: Education:
Work history: Interests:
42 M Divorced / Adult children (1) British PhD – Telecommunications Infrastructure Services Management
(Rushmore University, USA); MA – Telecommunications Services Project Management (Rushmore University); BA –
IT and Telecommunications Project Management (Georgia East University). Nortel (3 years); NEC (3 years);
Motorola (4 years); Samsung (2 years); Huawei (1 year); Cisco (1 year) Middle-East history and culture;
studying Middle-East cultures; studying Arabic.
Farthington’s CV identifies him as an ‘International Business Consultant and Cross-Cultural Negotiator.’ His
CV lists an extensive work history with Ericsson’s competitors. Only Samsung has responded to requests for
reference and work reports for Mr. Farthington (The Samsung HR Department simply indicated that “Mr.
Winthrop Langston Farthington III was employed with Samsung Customer Services from July 1, 2009 to June 1,
2011.” No other information was provided). Farthington’s cover letter with his CV indicates that he speaks
fluent English, French, and Russian and is currently studying Arabic at intermediate levels.
The five candidates provided by Casper Bru (whose CV’s were on file with the BUGS International office)
include:
Thor Linquist
Age: Gender: Family: Nationality: Education: Work history: Interests:
31 M Married / School-aged children (5) Swedish Bachelor of Software Engineering (University of Bern,
Switzerland) Ericsson (4 years); Siemens (5 years) Collecting Chinese calligraphy; stamp collecting; coin
collecting; digital photography; hiking; family bike-riding; 19th century Russian literature; playing
guitar; model car building; making and eating ice-cream with his family.
Linquist is a systems analyst and telecom networks software engineer. He worked for Siemens as an on-site
hydro-electric communications systems engineer and analyst for five years in Brazil before joining Ericsson
in Stockholm. He is married to a Chinese-Swiss accountant. He has repeatedly requested a transfer to a
foreign posting to give his family an international adventure. Linquist was personally recommended by Casper
Bru, who is related to Linquist indirectly through marriage. Linquist is known for being a conscientious
worker who does not complain and does what is expected of him on time and according to expectations.
Linquist speaks Swedish, German, English, and beginner Mandarin. His wife is fluent in Swedish and English,
and nearly fluent in Mandarin.
Lars Jansen
Age: Gender: Family: Nationality: Education: Work history: Interests:
39 M Single Finnish Bachelor of Electrical Engineering (Helsinki University of Technology) Ericsson (17
years); Viking Disco and Karaoke (1 year) Languages; travel; cultures; online social networking; karaoke;
health and fitness; windsurfing; movie collecting; disco dancing; telecommunications infrastructure design
(he holds various systems, router, and integrated circuit-board patents that he has developed on his
own-time).
Jansen is an electrical engineer for telecom network infrastructures. He has worked with Ericsson’s telecom
infrastructure design and testing programs in Finland for the past seven years and is in charge of quality
assurance for Ericsson networks in Finland, Russia, Latvia, and Estonia. He lives at home with his parents
in a hobby-farm outside of Helsinki. Jansen’s performance reviews indicate that he is a meticulous worker
and always scores top grades on his yearly evaluations. He was recommended three years ago for the BUGS/BUCS
position by his supervisor who suggested Jansen could benefit personally and professionally from a job
change. When contacted by the BUCS recruitment team three years ago, his supervisor, a 56 year old Finish
woman, indicated that she and Jansen did not agree on many issues and that she felt he was not a
‘team-player’. However, she also gave him the highest performance evaluations in Ericsson Finland for five
consecutive years. In Jansen’s first five years at Ericsson, he was disciplined numerous times for what was
noted as ‘inappropriate conduct towards female colleagues’. There have been no such reports in the past 12
years, apart from rumors. He has won various international telecommunications network infrastructure
engineering competitions for his innovative designs. He speaks seven languages nearly fluently (German,
Swedish, Finnish, French, Russian, Dutch, and English).
Ping Tan
Age: Gender: Family: Nationality: Education: Work history: Interests:
27 M Married / Infant child (1) Swedish Limited. Some in-house Ericsson training Ericsson, Helsinki
Headquarters (10 years) Family; career at Ericsson; Toastmasters; teaching karate to his colleagues; Chinese
Cooking; organizing social events, tours, and dinners for colleagues.
Tan is an office manager and occasional Ericsson spokesperson. He worked his way up in Ericsson from the
mail-room to becoming the office manager of the main Swedish headquarters. His Ericsson performance reviews
indicate that he is ‘a tireless, meticulous, energetic, conscientious, hard worker and perfectionist’. Tan
has earned a series of merit-based promotions. Although he has no formal education or technological
expertise, he is well-liked and respected for his hard work and positive attitude at the Ericsson
headquarters. He was recently married to a Swedish-born Lebanese woman who speaks Swedish, Arabic, and
English. They have one infant child. Tan speaks fluent Swedish, English, and Mandarin and has been studying
Arabic for the past 18 months (he indicates that he is proficient at ‘conversational Arabic’).
Sally Smith
Age: Gender: Family: Nationality: Education:
Work history:
53 F Divorced / Adult children (3) American / Canadian (dual citizen) Diploma, Software Engineering (British
Columbia Institute of Technology); Diploma, Computer Programming (Ryerson Polytechnic) NEC (7 years); Nortel
(7 years); Rogers Communications (7 years); Ryerson Polytechnic (3 years); Motorola (1 year); Shaw Cable (6
months); 7-11 (1 year)
Interests: Chinese, European, and Middle-East history; small dogs; fitness; dieting; mathematics;
designing cell-phones for pets; collecting early computer programs and vintage circuit-boards; online
virtual dating; Chinese kung-fu movies.
Smith is a software systems analyst and engineer, focusing on integrated telecom systems and networks. She
has been divorced from her husband for seven years and has three adult children. She spends most of her
spare-time working and has indicated on her CV that her ‘devotion to work’ was the main cause of her
divorce. Smith worked for Rogers Communications and Nortel in Toronto for seven years with each company. Her
husband was a senior Vice President at Nortel before its decline in the early 2000s. They maintain a cordial
relationship according to her CV. She is currently working at NEC in California but has inquired with
Ericsson about gaining a position in a foreign posting for ‘something new’. Her references indicate that she
is an ‘exceptional’ and ‘consistently top-performer’ in each of her previous jobs. Smith has extensive
experience working with Ericsson’s competitors. During her initial interview with the Ericsson BUCS team
three years ago, she mentioned that one of her life-long goals was to ride a camel across North Africa with
an Arab Prince. She then laughed and said that she was ‘just joking’. Smith speaks fluent English (her CV
also indicates that she speaks ‘intermediate American’). She has expressed a strong willingness to learn any
language if it helps perfect her performance at work.
Sue Mei
Age: Gender: Family: Nationality: Education:
Work history: Interests:
25 F Single USA MBA, Specializing in Cross-cultural management/General management (Wharton); BA, Political
Science / Women’s Studies (Stanford) Ericsson – Business Analyst (3 months) Asian-American history; online
social networking; fashion; foreign films; political debate; member of improvisational comedy team;
political campaign volunteer; classical violin; photography; volunteers for Ericsson gala-dinner charities;
volunteer member of San Francisco Asian-American Chamber of Commerce; volunteer junior board member for
Toastmasters USA.
Mei is a business analyst for Ericsson’s San Francisco office. Her area of focus is cross-cultural
management. She has no technology background apart from recently completing Ericsson’s in- house
‘Technology-introduction Course for Non Technical Staff’. Her CV is sparse, although she has very strong
letters of recommendation from Victor Wong, one of Ericsson’s recently retired Board members and Dr. Jon
Johansen, a senior VP with Ericsson USA. Mei is fluent in English and nearly fluent in Mandarin.

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