Question

In the scenario below, What assumptions will you need to make, what is your strategy and how will you structure your solution as proposed. Finally, describe what needs to be done and who in the organization is to do it and when.

The scenario for Final Paper.

Amanda Smiley became president and CEO of Purest Medical about two months ago. Prior to that, she was vice-president of marketing and sales at Ferraro Products, a smaller medical products company. Amanda has a Ph.D. in chemistry and an MBA with a specialty in marketing. She and her husband Dustin do not have children. Dustin is a professor of philosophy at the U of M and the author of several books on the philosophy of mind. In their spare time, they play a little golf, travel to Italy, and participate in road rallies. Amanda is honest, open, demanding, and fair. She is a good coach and is always offering encouragement. When you are talking with Amanda, as soon as she senses that you have not done your research and thinking, she cuts off the discussion and sends you on your way. You don’t want to come unprepared a second time.  

Purest Medical is a company that designs and sells a variety of medical products. Performance at Purest has slipped the last two years, mostly due to the prolonged ill health of the founder, Dr. Nathan Dooley. The Board hired Ms. Smiley and she has replaced 75% of the senior management team, most of whom were very close to, or past, retirement age, and had lost motivation. The situation: sales have increased only 2 – 4 % per year over the past three years, below the industry average. Manufacturing waste has also lagged behind industry averages. Inventory levels of raw materials and finished products are too high, tying up much-needed capital. The company has to become much more efficient and effective. Manufacturing technology is strength. On the employee side, job stress levels seem to be climbing, based on a recent employee satisfaction survey taken just before Ms. Smiley’s arrival. However, employee turnover is still at a low level.  

Amanda (she demands everyone call her by her first name) has set some aggressive goals to improve the overall performance of the 305-person firm. Her goals:

Increase sales by 15% this year and at least 20% next year

Reduce manufacturing waste by 20% this year and an additional 20% next year

Increase the number of viable ideas in the product pipeline by 66%

Improve order response rate by at least 85%

Improve communication across the company to convey a sense of urgency

You were hired as Purest’s HRD specialist two weeks ago. You are learning a lot quickly about the company, but there is much more to learn since this is the first time you’ve worked in the medical products (or any health-related) field. You recently completed your BS at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, and after a short vacation to Europe, you were able to land this job. You haven’t even had the time to join a professional association yet, although you have that as a goal for this month. You did keep your Human Resource Development textbook.

Just the other day you and your boss, Genna Hamilton, the vice-president of HR, had an informal discussion with Amanda over pizza in her office. Amanda asked you to help her put in place a training program to improve performance across all areas of the company. She knows something has to be done. She expects you to lead this critical project. She mentioned that she feels some across-the-board training for all supervisory positions, including herself, needs to be a part of the program. She even wondered if the senior management team needs some extra attention. Further, Amanda is concerned about getting people to change their behaviors after training – she expressed that this has frustrated her throughout her managerial life. Amanda also emphasized that she always wants to see a strong business justification for any investment of people and money. She asked Genna if it is easy to calculate ROI for a comprehensive HRD program, and Genna didn’t know. You didn’t want to show up your boss in front of Amanda, so you simply said yes; later you explained it in detail to Genna. Amanda also suggested that one of your recommendations be a thorough communication plan, detailing exactly what she and others in supervisory positions need to do to encourage all employees to participate with passion and urgency in this program. As you were leaving her office, Amanda said that getting something done very quickly was an absolute necessity. She asked for a plan to achieve her goals through training, and she added that maybe training isn’t always the solution. She hinted strongly that maybe there are other types of HRD interventions. In any case, she expects a prioritized list of activities. And then she said: “Let’s meet next Monday at 9:00 a.m. to review your plan and suggestions. I don’t expect you to cover every detail, especially with the ROI, and I assume you have some kind of process that we’ll need to follow. I’m really excited about getting started on this pronto. See you then. By the way, I hope you’re settling in here. Genna has spoken well of you and I have high expectations. Let me know if you need anything. You can’t do this alone.”

What are your recommendations and plans to address all the goals of Amanda’s

Answer 1

Findings of the scenario given:

Company Name & Nature of business :Purest Medical , which deals in selling and designing of medical products.

Incorporated by : Dr. Nathan D.

CEO and President of the company   : Amanda Smiley has become the president and CEO of the company just 2 months back.Prior that she was associated with Ferraro Products as a Vice President (sales and marketing ) a smaller company compared to purest medical .She holds a Ph.D. in chemistry and an MBA with a specialty in marketing.She is a woman with opinion and honest,open and fair in nature.She is a positive thinker and like to encourage people.

Description of scenario :This case is about a company named Purest Medical whose performance has declined in last two years mostly due to ill health of the founder.amanda has been hired as a CEO to bring in some changes and help to reposition the company.Now in order to do that she has to face many challenges like increase in manufacturing waste,dip in sales,demotivated workforce,higher inventory levels etc.Also according to recent employee survey done at the company it was found that employees stress level has climbed up which will automatically lead to less productivity by them.However as she is a optimistic kind of woman she sets up some Goals to achieve like:

• Increase in sale by 15 % and an additional 20% in coming year.
• Increase in number of viable ideas by 66%
• Improve order response rate by 85 %
• Communication process to be improved to convey a need of urgency

Plan for improving and repositioning the Company :

As a HRD specialist Amanda has reached out you to implement a Training and Development program across the company for all levels of management employees to improve there overall performance and that include Amanda as well.The program should be designed in such a manner that it should change the behaviors of employees and they become more responsible and accountable for there role.There should be proper business justification of anything done in the name of investment be it people or money.She has also asked for a ROI for this HRD program and other HRD interventions if any.

She insisted that a proper communication plan to be formulated with details which will guide all supervisory positions as well as Amanda about how to encourage all employees to participate with passion and urgency in program.

Training and Development Plan and suggestions to be presented to Amanda :

Training and Development is a key HR function of any orgnisation.It may be described as an endeavor which focuses on to improve or develop any additional skill in an employee in order to increase its productivity and growth.While creating a training program a correct balance should be strike between individual goals and organizations goals.A training program is only successful when right type of trainings are imparted at the right time and proper analysis is done before that about the employees and problems they are facing.Keeping in mind the current scenario following trainings will be designed for employees:

1. Instructor-led classroom training :The most important and traditional way to train employees is a classroom training model .Firstly, a problem is identified and then an instructor or expert is choose within the company or outside to give a classroom session on that particular problem.How to solve that problem,what needs to be done in that situation is well guided by the expert which will help employee to reach to a solution when stuck in crisis.The reason to choose this training is that it gives trainees the right environment and resources to interact with trainers as well as with fellow colleagues which helps in forming a bond between them.

2. Interactive methods:Another way of training will be usage of interactive methods for trainings.Classroom sessions have there own importance but then using interactive means is also necessary to keep employees motivated and engaged.Interactive activities can be Small groups discussions,Case study discussions quizzes,games,contest about process knowledge. which will bring out the best of employees and later can be used to achieve organizations goal as well.Fpr eg in this scenario employees are stressed and demotivated then this training will keep them engaged and a health contest and competition always keeps you at the edge of your seat.

3. Hands-on training:Until and unless you wont dive in the sea you wont know how to swim.This training is like jumping into the sea meaning gaining practical knowledge by participating on what they are learning.However it can be trouble for some but it shows results quite effectively because it boost knowledge recollection and improves information retention.

4. Computer-based and e-learning training: There will be a special software platform designed for Purest Medical named Purest medical tools which will consist of all the information related to trainings on that.Each employee will be given a password to access that in there free time or whenever they feel to learn on there own.It will consist of motivational videos,articles,tips and many more to give a feel to employees that anytime they feel demotivated or are facing some challenge, simply click on this platform and help is there.Not only motivational but also industry experts will help people to solve day to day problems with the help of podcasts,webinars ,live sessions etc.

5. Video training:Over the years videos have emerged as a game changers for the training modules.Videos help the employees to gasp faster and more efficiently as it develops an instant connection with minds.Video sessions are quite effective as it creates connection.In this case Video training can be a Speech on "How to remain motivated" by Amanda for the employees through live video feed or recorded one in there emails.This will give employees a feel that there CEO is concerned about them and loves them which will lead to loyalty and efficiency in them.Animation can also be added as part of video trainings.

6. Coaching and Mentoring:A coach is someone who is always there for you.without a coach no team can win a baseball game or basketball tournament.Coach keeps you connected and motivated and helps you to achieve your goal with proper guidance and training.In Purest medical we will assign a team of ten people of each department a coach or a mentor who will be immediate point of contact for them in difficult times.Coaches will report directly to Amanda which will eliminate multi level management and delay in decision making would not happen.This will help Amanda to understand the core issues faced by employees as they might not feel comfortable in discussing directly to her.

7. Motivational seminars or sessions at regular intervals :This will be one of the main aspects of training module in Purest medical as people are not interested or are stressed while performing there tasks.Motivation sessions are a lot of help to people who will depressed ,it keeps them motivated and helps them to deal with problems rather running from them.

8. SAP ERP and Lean trainings : These are technical trainings which are much required to be implemented in Purest Medical.The manufacturing waste is a big trouble for the company and it is tying up the capital of the company. Also the inventory levels and finished products stock level have increased which is leading to decrease in sale .Lean and SAP trainings consists of several models and plans to curb waste and utilize the available resources in the best possible ways.These training are much required at higher level of management.Third party will be hired initially to train people and then then trained ones will train at lower levels.

ROI on the comprehensive HRD Program :

ROI measures the financial return on an investment made.We will use ROI metrics to analyze the value of almost any of the services or training.In the current scenario improvement in employees behavior and performance will be the key parameter to calculate the ROI on the comprehensive HRD Program.After these trainings data will be collected and collated across the organization of sales and marketing,research and development,employees satisfaction etc to calculate ROI.Also a survey will be conducted on Employee satisfaction with the help of questionnaire to mark the benefits of trainings imparted.

Who will do what :

Forming a plan is easy but implementing that is not always an easy task . A lot depends on how the tasks are assigned to people and how they complete those tasks.So in this case there will be proper teams made for implementing the HRD program.As a HRD specialist project will be led by me with guidance of  Genna Hamilton, the vice-president of HR.Mentors and coaches will be aligned according to the discussion and experience people have.

Conclusion:

If these training program is implemented properly then the goals of Amanda stated above will definitely be achieved and company will regain its marked position and leadership once again.The sale will increase by 15% or more than that and the waste will also be curbed and optimum utilization of the resources will be made.