Can you please help me summarize this case study.

Understanding Business
12th Edition
ISBN:9781259929434
Author:William Nickels
Publisher:William Nickels
Chapter1: Taking Risks And Making Profits Within The Dynamic Business Environment
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Can you please help me summarize this case study.
3:07 03:45 W
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ON<% 60%
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MGT 429-CASE STUDY 2(1).pdf - Read-only
On October 9, 2012, Hurricane Sandy slammed into the coast of the northeastern United States.
At that time, it was the largest Atlantic hurricane on record and assessments of its damage have
been estimated at $53 billion. Perhaps the one company to receive the most press (both good and
bad) during that time frame was Verizon, since most of the area the hurricane hit was the wireless
carrier's territory and people in the area were scrambling to communicate both during and after
the storm. According to Mike Haberman, Verizon's vice president of network support, not only
did the company's infrastructure have to withstand the storm, it also had to withstand a large
increase in traffic as more people than normal were trying to use texts and cell phones given that
power was out for many in the area. Haberman says, "We run to a crisis. When something hits,
myself, other members of the team, we're singularly focused on that."
Dick Price, Verizon's chief business continuity officer, stated that "Verizon uses an allhazards
approach to emergency management, which allows us to prepare for almost any type of event that
could impact our business operations. No matter what type of catastrophic event occurs, we must
be prepared to facilitate immediate recovery so we can continue serving ourconsumer." Verizon
not only prepares for these types of situations with regular "disaster recovery exercises” which
allow employees to practice their decision-making skills under ambiguous situations, but it also
has a 30-member Major Emergency Response Incident Team, or "MERIT.” MERIT members
consist of communications specialists, building engineers, and health and safety professionals.
Although diverse, they are considered experts in disaster management who train consistently to
keep up their skills.
In the end, only 6 percent of Verizon's cell sites were knocked out while most other carriers had
far higher numbers. Haberman says his role is to provide support to field technicians to ere that
employees have the correct information to make the best decisions in a time of crisis. H
Copy
the effectiveness of Verizon's network during Sandy to the company's big bet on genera
of the reasons Verizon bet big this way (including locking up contracts with fuel suppliers in the
South) was through the lessons learned in other areas of the company. Knowledge that had been
learned by employees through hurricanes in the South and Gulf Coast had been applied to the
Northeast.
Sources: Anonymous. "Computer Networks; for Second Consecutive Year, Verizon's Employee
Training Programs Ranked Top in U.S." Telecommunications Weekly, March 6, 2013, p. 127;
Anonymous. "Verizon MERIT Hazmat Team Celebrates 20 Years of Service in Protecting
Assets." PR Newswire, April 15, 2013; Anonymous. "Verizon Prepares for Mother Nature and
Man-Made Events with an All-Hazards Approach to Emergency Management." PR Newswire,
September 13, 2012; Carew, S. "Hurricane Sandy Disrupts Verizon, Cablevision Service in
Northeast U.S." Reuters, October 30, 2012; Cheng, R. "How Verizon Kept Wireless Service
Going after Sandy Hit." CNET News, November 1, 2012; Cohen, J. “Business as Usual."
Training, February 2010, pp. 46-50; Freifield, L. "Verizon's #1 Calling." Training.
January/February 2013, pp. 26–32; Freifeld, L. “Verizon's New # Is 1." Training,
January/February 2012 pp. 28-31; NOAA. "Hurricane/ Post-Tropical Cyclone Sandy," June 13,
2013, http://www.nws.noaa.gov/os/assessments/pdfs/Sandy13.pdf; Svensson, P. "Verizon and
2 of
GO
III
О
Transcribed Image Text:3:07 03:45 W ✓ ON<% 60% LTE MGT 429-CASE STUDY 2(1).pdf - Read-only On October 9, 2012, Hurricane Sandy slammed into the coast of the northeastern United States. At that time, it was the largest Atlantic hurricane on record and assessments of its damage have been estimated at $53 billion. Perhaps the one company to receive the most press (both good and bad) during that time frame was Verizon, since most of the area the hurricane hit was the wireless carrier's territory and people in the area were scrambling to communicate both during and after the storm. According to Mike Haberman, Verizon's vice president of network support, not only did the company's infrastructure have to withstand the storm, it also had to withstand a large increase in traffic as more people than normal were trying to use texts and cell phones given that power was out for many in the area. Haberman says, "We run to a crisis. When something hits, myself, other members of the team, we're singularly focused on that." Dick Price, Verizon's chief business continuity officer, stated that "Verizon uses an allhazards approach to emergency management, which allows us to prepare for almost any type of event that could impact our business operations. No matter what type of catastrophic event occurs, we must be prepared to facilitate immediate recovery so we can continue serving ourconsumer." Verizon not only prepares for these types of situations with regular "disaster recovery exercises” which allow employees to practice their decision-making skills under ambiguous situations, but it also has a 30-member Major Emergency Response Incident Team, or "MERIT.” MERIT members consist of communications specialists, building engineers, and health and safety professionals. Although diverse, they are considered experts in disaster management who train consistently to keep up their skills. In the end, only 6 percent of Verizon's cell sites were knocked out while most other carriers had far higher numbers. Haberman says his role is to provide support to field technicians to ere that employees have the correct information to make the best decisions in a time of crisis. H Copy the effectiveness of Verizon's network during Sandy to the company's big bet on genera of the reasons Verizon bet big this way (including locking up contracts with fuel suppliers in the South) was through the lessons learned in other areas of the company. Knowledge that had been learned by employees through hurricanes in the South and Gulf Coast had been applied to the Northeast. Sources: Anonymous. "Computer Networks; for Second Consecutive Year, Verizon's Employee Training Programs Ranked Top in U.S." Telecommunications Weekly, March 6, 2013, p. 127; Anonymous. "Verizon MERIT Hazmat Team Celebrates 20 Years of Service in Protecting Assets." PR Newswire, April 15, 2013; Anonymous. "Verizon Prepares for Mother Nature and Man-Made Events with an All-Hazards Approach to Emergency Management." PR Newswire, September 13, 2012; Carew, S. "Hurricane Sandy Disrupts Verizon, Cablevision Service in Northeast U.S." Reuters, October 30, 2012; Cheng, R. "How Verizon Kept Wireless Service Going after Sandy Hit." CNET News, November 1, 2012; Cohen, J. “Business as Usual." Training, February 2010, pp. 46-50; Freifield, L. "Verizon's #1 Calling." Training. January/February 2013, pp. 26–32; Freifeld, L. “Verizon's New # Is 1." Training, January/February 2012 pp. 28-31; NOAA. "Hurricane/ Post-Tropical Cyclone Sandy," June 13, 2013, http://www.nws.noaa.gov/os/assessments/pdfs/Sandy13.pdf; Svensson, P. "Verizon and 2 of GO III О
Case Scenario
Verizon Wireless is a company that believes strongly in learning. In 2013, for the second year in
a row it was number one in Training magazine's ranking of companies that have the best training
programs for their employees. Verizon's training lineup has a plethora of options and styles to
meet the needs of the various types of learners the company has. For instance, many new
employees are sent through rotational programs that allow them to experience as much of the
business as possible so that they have the ability to make decisions with the bigger picture in mind.
Training even extends to Verizon customers as the company has found that helping its clients learn
creates loyalty and fewer problems in the long run.
Verizon spends over $300 million a year on the training and development of over 180,000
employees. As a company, if you make the decision to spend that much money on learning, you'd
better make sure you get a strong return on your investment. Lou Tedrick, vice president of human
resources for Verizon, says that at the beginning of every training initiative, "we work with key
stakeholders and business partners to define what success will look like in terms of employee
knowledge, behaviors and targeted business results. Then, we ideally get a pretraining snapshot of
knowledge, behaviors, and/or business results to compare with a post-training snapshot."
In addition to traditional training, Verizon is at the forefront of social learning, which is something
many companies are starting to see the benefit of. Verizon's "My NetWork" social networking
platform allows for peer-to-peer collaboration on all kinds of issues where the transfer of
knowledge among employees needs to happen more quickly than traditional training can typically
handle, such as during a time of crisis or an extremely rapid rollout of a new product. Verizon
employees with subject matter expertise post videos and podcasts that become viral within the
organization, with employees recommending them to others in a manner of minutes. These
learning initiatives allow the company to deliver content and knowledge that is hard to convey
through different methods.
Transcribed Image Text:Case Scenario Verizon Wireless is a company that believes strongly in learning. In 2013, for the second year in a row it was number one in Training magazine's ranking of companies that have the best training programs for their employees. Verizon's training lineup has a plethora of options and styles to meet the needs of the various types of learners the company has. For instance, many new employees are sent through rotational programs that allow them to experience as much of the business as possible so that they have the ability to make decisions with the bigger picture in mind. Training even extends to Verizon customers as the company has found that helping its clients learn creates loyalty and fewer problems in the long run. Verizon spends over $300 million a year on the training and development of over 180,000 employees. As a company, if you make the decision to spend that much money on learning, you'd better make sure you get a strong return on your investment. Lou Tedrick, vice president of human resources for Verizon, says that at the beginning of every training initiative, "we work with key stakeholders and business partners to define what success will look like in terms of employee knowledge, behaviors and targeted business results. Then, we ideally get a pretraining snapshot of knowledge, behaviors, and/or business results to compare with a post-training snapshot." In addition to traditional training, Verizon is at the forefront of social learning, which is something many companies are starting to see the benefit of. Verizon's "My NetWork" social networking platform allows for peer-to-peer collaboration on all kinds of issues where the transfer of knowledge among employees needs to happen more quickly than traditional training can typically handle, such as during a time of crisis or an extremely rapid rollout of a new product. Verizon employees with subject matter expertise post videos and podcasts that become viral within the organization, with employees recommending them to others in a manner of minutes. These learning initiatives allow the company to deliver content and knowledge that is hard to convey through different methods.
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