Question

0. We Merged...Now What?

   Earlier this month, your company, a running equipment designer and manufacturer called Runners Paradise, merged with a smaller clothing design company called ActiveLeak. Your company initiated the buyout because of the excellent design team at ActiveLeak and their brand recognition, specifically for their MP3-integrated running shorts. Runners Paradise has thirty-five employees and ActiveLeak has ten employees. At ActiveLeak, the owner, who often was too busy doing other tasks, handled the HRM roles. As a result, ActiveLeak has no strategic plan, and you are wondering if you should develop a strategic plan, given this change. Here are the things you have accomplished so far:

   • Reviewed compensation and adjusted salaries for the sake of fairness. Communicated this to all affected employees.

   • Developed job requirements for current and new jobs.

   • Had each old and new employee fill out a skills inventory Excel document, which has been merged into a database.

Questions:

1. Determine human resource needs.

2. Determine the recruiting strategy.

3. Select employees.

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Answer 1

Answer 1: Human Resource Needs:

• · Development of new HR policies of compensation and incentives.
• · To identify the key performers of the acquired or merged firms for awarding appropriate roles.
• · Justified placements and roles of the new employees.
• · An orientation program for employees, to understand the work culture, job requirements, and become familiar with the teams.
• · To provide on-job training and skill-building workshops for employees.
• · Earlier HR Promotion Policies of the merged firm and manage it with current merger terms and conditions.

Answer 2: Recruiting Strategy

• · A key factor of a merger for being successful is to communicate.
• · The recruiting strategy of new employees should match missions and visions of the merger.
• · Make sure that the recruitment process is well communicated and transparent.
• · Recruitment is a time-consuming job, therefore, HRs should focus on employee retention strategies.
• · Aligning skills and talents of the merged firm for the growth of own firm.
• · Defining the new hierarchy of the firm and accommodating the best possibilities.
• · Deciding the employees whether to fire or to retain based on the skills mappings of the employees.
• · Take the benefits of job referrals and networks of the merged firm.
• · Learning and adapting the positives from the HR policies of the merged firm.

Answer 3: Select employees

• · Selection of right employee for management and executive roles.
• · Deciding the leader’s role and the hierarchy of the new merged firm.
• · Segregating the employees based upon skills and talent pool.
• · Simplification of team roles and inter-team work scope defining.
• · The decision of defining new team as separate R&D entity of different product or adopting and including the team’s earlier strategies into existing products R&D.
• · Firing the redundant or less efficient employees with appropriate justifications.
• · Promoting the employees based upon loyalty, dedication, hard work and work experience.
• · Valuation of employee skill pools and projecting the requirements of skill upgrade.