Assignment RIM Managing Explosive Growth

Question1 .) How important is it for RIM to grow its pool of software developers and why? Answer 1.) It is very important for RIM to grow its pool of software developer resource. Below are the points which will help us to understand the significance: 1.) Continue innovation in a rapidly changing technology: RIM needs to continue to innovate in the dynamic changing environment where even the backbone technology is not constant. Any progress ranging from wireless to electronics world can very rapidly change the product features or may even result in a new product development and hence people versed in upcoming technologies will be a basic requirement. 2.) Keep up with the competition: Huge possible growth in the industry has attracted competition. Company needs to keep proving its edge over the competition by maintaining its image through new and better products. There should be a sector of people who would watch the competing product technologies including new features/products introduced and reaction of market towards them. This will help to direct R&D goals as well as explore the various available technologies. 3.) Future growth forecast: Keeping the R&D well fed with both monetary and human resources will keep the investors and market calm and assured that organization will maintain its growing spree in the time to come. 4.) Meet the demands: In addition to the new products research, more workforce will be need to meet the demands of the existing products. This will include enhancement, maintenance and tech support. More sales will increase the existing work in all of these areas and hence more talents would be needed. 5.) Resources reserve: In order for an organization to keep up in such a dynamic industry there is always a chance of an opportunity which would need immediate resources to work on and hence capacity to meet such requirements should also be considered. Question 2.) What are the different options for hiring an increasing number of software deveopers? Answer2.) Due the centralized nature of the organization, there have been limited number of options available in order to hire new talents. The various options available are as follows: 1.) Formulation of a new strategy if needed a new department which deals with various processes of hiring. This will include predicting the number of people needed, locating the resources and finally hiring them. This would not be department based and hence all the requirements will be collectively taken and then all the resources will be appropriately selected and distributed.

2.) There is already a good coop plan existing where students after their coop duration are often hired. This can be made more lucrative by providing various facilities like housing, travel etc in order to attract talents from outside Canada. 3.) Expansion in regions rich in resources is also a good idea to grab both new and mature talents. There are various regions where such atmosphere exists. 4.) Collaboration with good universities in terms of providing financial and adding value to institution from the industry experience of the organization will also be helpful. 5.) Creating resources from potential resources through a well laid training program can prove useful though it will take some in the beginning but once started can be very beneficial in the future. 6.) Hirings from developing and transitional nations is also a very good option.

Question3.) Which options should RIM pursue and why? Answer.) I will suggest RIM to go with three options below: 1.) Expansion in other regions: This is the need of the hour; we have already seen that almost all the options to lure resources to the already existing establishments mainly in Canada have already been utilized. A careful plan should be laid to select locations of new centers to meet companys resource needs in the best possible way. Places rich in good technical universities and where there is already some presence of similar companies which can provide mature talents. Expansion will not only help find resources but will also bring cultural diversification which will help in understanding the market well. 2.) Strategy to hire: Personal and professional referrals can no longer meet the demands of the resources and hence there is a need to create a team of professionals which will first laid down the plan of recruitments based on the types and number of requirements in consideration. There are then various ways in which the hiring can take place. This team should not be centralized at one place, the more the geographic coverage the more advantage can this structure will be able to bring. 3.) Collaborations with universities: Recruiting fresh talents early will help in having an edge with the competitions in the hiring market and hence RIM should work towards arranging various programs with the top technical universities where the universities can be benefitted by providing financial aid as well as the industry knowledge can be imparted to the students by the professionals of the organization.

Question4.) How would you recommend Yach begin to implement the options that you recommended? Answer4.) As till date, the hiring is predominately referral based hence there is no official team set up to take the work of recruitment. I would suggest having a professional approach and have a team with an experienced lead in this area. Proper planning in terms of predicting the requirement, finding the resources and hiring them should be done first. Keeping the current demand of talents, options taking the least time should be considered first like targeting locations/universities in vicinity. The long term goal can also be actually setting up a training program to create talents from potential talents for technologically less intensive roles like testing, tech support and documentation. The expansion cannot be avoided and hence there should be a plan to locate hot spots where there are already resources available like good technical universities and mature skill set due to the presence of similar companies. The recruitment team can also work towards various campus connect programs for top universities and hence provide a platform to grab talents early.