Case Study # 5

MGMT 5000 Case Study #5

Loyalty goes a long way with most people, customers and employees alike. I would not “sit tight and ride out the storm” as Howser suggested. (Brasfield, p. 342). While I would not change everything that Howser has implemented over his first year I would change a few key things. The first would be to try to repair the damage caused by the letter Howser sent out to the firm’s clients. “A closer look showed that 30 percent of the clients paid their bills in 30 days or less, 60 percent of the clients paid their bills 30 to 60 days, and the remaining 10 percent stretched it out to as many as 120 days” (Brasfield, p. 341). Since most of the firm’s clientele paid within 60 days, I would have the partners personally call these clients to try to smooth over the attitude towards the firm and try to win back some of those clients. Sometimes all people want is an apology. I would let the letter stand for the 10 percent of clients that paid over the course of over 60 to 120 days. “Law firms are “people intensive” organizations” (Freedman, p. 6). The business of practicing law is a business that requires customers and most of the time loyalty and word of mouth go a long way. I feel like the clients may have responded better to a phone call or a visit in person, while this may have taken more time and effort, it may not have upset as many clients. Lauren Moak and Nicholas Gaffney of Law Practice Today discussed some of the good qualities a law firm should look for when hiring an operations manager, “Other important skills that respondents noted were a tactful style, capable of gently persuading different factions to a similar point of view” (Gaffney and Moak, p.1). The key words from this quote are tactful style, Howser should have thought more clearly when sending out that letter, he should thought about upsetting 60 percent of the firm’s client base. The other action I would take immediately is to discuss with Howser how he is handling some of the...