Question

Scenario

Janet is the newly appointed HR Representative with Global Plastics, Inc. This organization operates in the United States, Europe, and Asia and has fared worse than its competitors during a recent economic downturn. Janet’s predecessor retired after leading a major reduction in force, causing a significant exodus of key talent. With revenue, quality, and productivity down, management set several goals to address the human resources component of the company’s strategic plan:

• quickly re-invent the Human Resources function
• reposition it as a strategic partner to the business
• improve employee perceptions of her department
• retain top talent and develop a steady but highly-qualified stream of candidates to fill regular as well as critical positions

In her first month on the job Janet discovered the following issues:

• The recent departure of several mission-critical employees disclosed no systematic means of capturing expertise from employees; when they left, their knowledge left with them.
• HR's participation in the onboarding process of new employees was limited to having them attend a half-day orientation session where, between a video and a slide presentation about the company, they filled out benefits-related, payroll, ID and other paper forms. The new employees departed the session with little understanding of the mission and the respective role they each play in supporting and moving the mission forward.
• Aside from providing a coordinating function, human resources had outsourced recruiting to third parties who presented candidates based on their internet postings and other sources. No matter the level of the open position, human resources rarely conducted interviews or assessments before or after handing over the resumes from the outsourced recruiter to the appropriate hiring department. Human Resources would get involved again only when a candidate was selected.
• Training and Development (T&D) had largely been outsourced to several companies that provided generic on-line courses. The assessment of these courses added little value to the employee’s respective position.
• Job titles didn't reflect the work people did, and were used instead as a framework for budgeting and compensation. Many employees were doing unique work requiring different knowledge and skills.
• Job descriptions were inconsistent, long but vague lists consisting of high level duties, responsibilities, and qualifications.
• The Performance Employee Evaluation Program didn't align with anything, was viewed by managers and individual contributors alike as a burdensome annual chore that interfered with people's "real jobs."
• Attracting the top talent remains a continual challenge especially in its overseas operations. The turnover rate remains 20% higher than at Global Plastics US divisions.
• OSHA violations continued to increase over the past 24 months even after the organization committed to reduce the number of workplace safety incidents.

1. You are acting as a HR Consultant. Develop a strategic plan for Global Plastics, Inc. Human Resource department to address the issues Janet discovered and achieve the goals outlined in the scenario. Your strategic plan should include all elements of a strategic plan and address the following:

a. Align each of the issues with the goals in the company’s strategic plan.

b. Establish metrics to measure attainment of each of the goals.

c. Evaluate how the strategy will address each issue identified in the scenario.

Answer 1

We suggest following four steps that are simple, but time tested:

1. Set appropriate goals.

Goal setting is essential. It helps employees to prioritize their activities and focus their efforts. When setting goals with employees, it is critical that they be SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Action-oriented, Realistically high, Time and resource bound). The goals must also be meaningful to the employee. There should be sufficient rewards for goal achievement and consequences for failure. This will ensure that achieving the goal will rise to the top of the employees “to-do” list.

Near the end of his life, H. L. Hunt, the self-made oil billionaire, was asked to name the requirements for success. He answered, “There are only two real requirements for success in life. The first requirement is deciding exactly what you want (setting goals). Most people never get to that point. The second requirement is determining the price that will have to be paid to get it and then resolving to pay that price.”

2. Develop a plan to achieve the goals.

After setting goals with the employee, put together a plan to achieve them. To accomplish a goal, the employee will need to commit to a set of actions. A goal without an action plan is just a dream. It’s not real and it’s not likely to happen. It’s equally important to agree on a date, and possibly a time, by when the employee will complete each action step. This will create the urgency necessary to get the work done in a timely manner.

3. Empower the employee.

To maximize the probability that your employees achieve their goals, you must empower them. Empowering employees means three things. First, you must properly train your workers to do the tasks necessary to achieve their goals. Then you will need to motivate your people. There should be rewards for success and consequences for failure. Finally, you should remove roadblocks that are within the company’s control. Following these steps will result in your employees more consistently achieving their goals.

4. Assess performance and make adjustments.

Once the three steps above are complete, you have to assess performance and make any necessary changes. We’re not talking about annual performance evaluations. A formal write up may only happen once a year, but effective management requires assessing performance much more frequently. For employees that are new to the organization or learning a new task, you may need to assess performance daily or perhaps even more frequently. Employees who have demonstrated competence may only require weekly, bi-weekly or even monthly meetings to discuss performance.

Managing people is difficult. It’s not an exact science and there is no magic wand that will ensure you always get it right. In fact, you won’t always get it right. Even outstanding managers make mistakes. The good news is that managing people well is a learned skill. With work, you can improve your capability in this area. Doing so will take a concerted effort on your part, but if your company is going to thrive, your skills as a manager will be of paramount importance.