Question: DocuSign, Inc., is the leading provider of fully automated electronic signature services, offering several different software products that allow companies to transmit documents online for e-signature in a fast, secure, and cost-saving way. DocuSign numbers companies in the financial services, e-commerce, mortgage, real estate, travel, and insurance industries among its customers. Founded in 2003 in Seattle, Washington, the firm recently passed the 14-million mark in terms of the number of electronic signatures it has executed. Not long ago, however, DocuSign's executives faced a big problem. Many of its major customers at that time were mortgage lenders and college loan companies, which relied heavily on its e-signature services to speed the loan-approval process for their customers. But poor economic conditions and increased regulation threatened to slow or even shut down these companies' spending, imperiling DocuSign's revenue stream. "We were faced with large market shifts in two of our top segments," said CEO Matthew Schiltz, "both out of our control, and both within a 60-day period."
Instead of closeting themselves in a conference room to work out a solution to the crisis, Schiltz and his top managers called a townhall style meeting of the entire company, gathering their 40 employees together to explain the situation. They described the new market conditions they faced, outlined what it meant for DocuSign, and asked everyone for input to help come up with a strategy to solve the problem. "We went straight to the people that deal with these customers on a daily basis, and that's our employees," said Schiltz. Schiltz's dramatic approach to decision making in the company's moment of crisis worked. The firm began holding monthly companywide meetings in which employees brainstormed new ways to measure the effect of changing market conditions. Schiltz also created subcommittees, smaller groups of employees charged with coming up with specific solutions like new products. "Dramatic positive change" happened in less than a year as employees rose to the challenge.
New clients like lender Wells Fargo Funding and the online travel firm Expedia were signed. A new marketing program was developed to focus potential clients' attention on the environmental benefits of saving large amounts of paper each year, as well as the high costs of overnight shipping of documents, with digital transactions and e-signatures. The company came out of the crisis with a secure enough financial future to obtain more than $12 million in new venture capital to enable it to continue its growth. Schiltz is happy with the more active role his employees now have in formulating DocuSign's business strategy. "You empower these people by telling them the truth and being open and honest with them," he said, but on the other hand, "we don't always want to get into a situation where our employees think that our senior management team doesn't have any input or doesn't have options. There's a balance there." For more information about the company, go to www.docusign.com. 16
1. How closely did DocuSign's top managers follow the stages of management decision making as outlined in the chapter? Explain your answer.
2. Do you think Schiltz's move to share top management's decisional role with employees was an effective solution for his firm? Why or why not? Do you think it will be a good choice for the company's future?
3. Have you ever participated in a group decision-making situation, whether at work or in any organization to which you've belonged? Did it follow the stages of decision making outlined in the chapter, and how effective was it in solving a problem or resolving a crisis? What would you do differently, having read the chapter?