Bussiness Analysis: The Affinity Plus Case

Introduction

In this case analysis the company Affinity Plus will be examined. Affinity Plus recently implemented a new control system. The implication of this new control system resulted in more employee latitude. The consequence of this new system was that resources and time of the organization were used in excess of what was supposed. To solve this problem, MOE (Member, Organization, and Employee) was introduced as a guideline of the chronological sequence that should be taken into account when considering a decision. So, first the member (customer) has to be considered when making a decision, then the organization and after this the employee. In this case analysis, an assessment will be made of Affinity Plus new strategy, its consequences (the tradeoff, high turnover, the commitment of employees), and the relation to Indirect Lending.

The Anchoring of Affinity Plus

Employee latitude beholds the amount of freedom regarding the acting of an employee during his job. Affinity Plus has augmented their employee latitude to a new level with the loosening of controls and the introduction of MOE. The action controls as well as the results controls were less of a focus and eventually more emphasis was put on cultural and personnel control. The adoption was made towards the employee’s assessment skills and empathy regarding the making of the right decisions during their job. There are several reasons why an organization as Affinity Plus would implement the loosening of controls and MOE. According to Merchant and Van der Stede (2012), the increasing of tightness of MCS will lead to a higher probability of employees acting in the best interest of the company. Employees were forced to act and make decisions according to strict controls wh...

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...arkland and his management team showed commitment to their new way of thinking, or in other words tone at the top. Third, if the O of MOE were in conflict with the M, management tried to find an applicable solution. For instance, unplugging the Simon Boards would normal lead to an increasing average wait time. However, the wait time decreased to 30 seconds duo to the introducing of a new phone system, which made every one of Affinity’s Plus employees a potential part of the member relations team.

To sum up, MOE was until now a great success. It brought the company closer to their mission and vision and gave a lot of freedom to their employees. The MOE framework was successful because it was in line with the preferable culture, there was support from the Board of Directors, and it was implemented, executed and maintained in a proper way by managers and employees.