HRM-4103 Case Study: Critical Analysis of PwC's Ulysses Program

This case study critically analyzes the PwC Ulysses program, a leadership development initiative by PwC. The report explores the program's objectives, which include fostering cross-cultural leadership and developing versatile employees capable of addressing global challenges. The analysis covers the competitive challenges that motivated PwC to implement the program, its alignment with business goals, and its effectiveness in developing leadership abilities. The study highlights the advantages, such as enhanced creativity and the formation of dedicated teams, as well as disadvantages, like the high resource investment. The report also considers the program's impact on employee skills, networking, and the application of creative solutions in diverse environments. The conclusion emphasizes the program's success in creating future leaders and the importance of adapting to various cultural contexts and communication styles.

Running head: EMPLOYEE TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
EMPLOYEE TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

Introduction
The aim of the report is to critically analyze the Ulysses program of PwC and its significance in
attainment of business goals and objectives. PWC Ulysses program is an ambitious program for
leadership development which aims to improvise and enhance the leadership potential of the
talented employees thereby creating a diversified team of professionals with versatile skills and
abilities.
Answer to question 1
The competitive challenges which motivated PwC to incorporate a Ulysses program were the
need to inculcate a new form of leadership training which will help the personnel to cut across
cultural, social and political barriers and provide creative solutions in an unfamiliar
circumstances. The need for multicultural orientation for employees to work in a diversified
environment like that of poor or developing nations in order to produce some challenging
workforce who can work in dynamic and meet challenges more promptly. In order to provide an
idea on wider spectrum of issues, developing interpersonal skills by communicating with
personnel across the globe and develop an international perspective in a cut-throat competitive
world, PwC, through this program formed a leading professionals to excel in every domain and
instill values such as community development which forms a fundamental basis for corporate
culture (McCallum, Schmid & Price, 2013).

Answer to question 2
Ulysses program was a quintessential element and fundamental to PwC strategy to achieve its
business goals and objectives. This program added an element of flexibility as the personnel
which were a part of the program could undertake their role more efficiently. This has not only
improved the productivity and performance thereby achieving the goals of organization more
promptly. Further, the missing geographical and multicultural context in the organization
ensured that this program imbibed the essence of diversity and expand its leadership base
(Mirvis, Thompson & Gohring, 2012). This not only enabled the personnel to adopt unique
practices in solving organizational issues but also infused a vigor and zeal among the employees
to work towards their goal efficiently.
Answer to question 3
Ulysses was an effective program as it reinforced creativity, flexibility and created a dedicated
team who can work in dynamic environment and meet the challenges more actively. The
program was undertaken in poor and technologically limited nations which was new for the
personnel to work in such a constrained environment. The personnel built capacities as one of the
individual created a business plan for eco-tourism in Belize which helped the economy to revive,
thus enhancing the creative abilities of the workforce. Recognizing and building future leaders
was an essential outcome as many of the personnel who were a part of this program went on to
hold senior responsibilities in leadership roles at domestic and global levels (Pless, Maak &
Stahl, 2011). Working in technology deficient environment, the employee understood the
essence of verbal communication over e-mail communication as it helped them to infuse trust
and confidence among the employees.

Answer to question 4
Ulysses program has been both advantageous as well as disadvantageous in developing the
leadership abilities of the professionals. In a short span of time candidates were exposed to
unique challenges which encouraged them to hold the baton to solve some complex social
problems like health and education in poor and developing nations. It helped the employees to
form good networks internationally within a short period of time to recognize their abilities to
explore leadership skills in a diversified group of people. Compared to traditional ways of
training, Ulysses project was an on field project in a new and unknown environment and apply
creative solutions to some real life problems absent in traditional programs. The program brought
NGOs and several intergovernmental organizations to collaborate in order address some complex
social challenges a developing nation is facing (Oddou & Mendenhall, 2013). The active
involvement to PwC in East Timor with an UN Project to provide ex-combatants a new
livelihood means in their struggle for independence brought efficiency in the program. It not
only brought stakeholders together but also led to evolution of various business models and
benefit to form an enthusiastic team of future leaders. One of the major disadvantage of this
program was that it sucked huge amount of resources thus the whole process though ambitious
was an expensive procedure.
Conclusion
It can be concluded that the program was par excellence in creating future leaders and led to
form networks with other future leaders across the world. The exposure to personnel to handle
unique problems like in Namibia where the personnel had language and cultural barrier with the
village community. The personnel had to wrap up their power-point presentations and gather

community participation for a discussion to combat a disease like AIDS. This helped them to
understand the essence to discussion over technological communication and remove biases
thereby enforcing a mutual understanding among them.

References
McCallum, S., Schmid, M. A., & Price, L. (2013). CSR: A case for employee skills-based
volunteering. Social Responsibility Journal, 9(3), 479-495.
Mirvis, P., Thompson, K., & Gohring, J. (2012). Toward next‐generation leadership: Global
service. Leader to Leader, 2012(64), 20-26.
Oddou, G. R., & Mendenhall, M. E. (2013). Global leadership development. In Global
Leadership 2e (pp. 227-251). Routledge.
Pless, N. M., Maak, T., & Stahl, G. K. (2011). Developing responsible global leaders through
international service-learning programs: The Ulysses experience. Academy of
Management Learning & Education, 10(2), 237-260.