Q2- Describe the purpose and the primary objectives of Coca-Colas H.R.department.The Coca-Cola H.R. department provides associates with the opportunities to develop knowledge and skills that lead to more effective job performance. The developmental process is a joint responsibility between managers and associates. This process includes determining development needs, agreeing on the development methods, and coaching. Methods of development may include on-the-job experiences, specific training programs, or other developmental approaches. Development, coaching, and feedback are extensions of the performance appraisal process, and prepare associates for current and future business needs.To enhance the performance of individuals and departments to meet business needs, a combination of internal and external resources may be utilized.Coca-Cola operates in a pay for performance business environment. The companys total compensation programs are structured to drive value creation, to provide cost-effective rewards that are meaningful to associates, and to encourage continuous learning, making the company as successful as it can be. Integral to the success in the nearly 200 countries where they do business are the people of the Coca-Cola business system who remain intensely focused on creating long-term value for their share owners. Such value creation depends on the people ability to consistently identify new growth opportunities and to develop innovative ways to convert opportunity to value. The company institute processes to enhance skills and capabilities.Q7- As director to H.R. department with Coca-Cola, what are the main reasons behind expatriate failure in his/her international assignment?The company uses expatriate for many reasons, including their competence to fill positions, their need to foreign experience, the need to refine their business skills, and their ability to control operations according to headquarters preferences.Some candidates face problem during their international assignment. Some of these problems are the following:Technical competenceAdaptivenessLocal acceptanceA major failure occurs when the expatriate is unfamiliar with the technical necessities of the position and how to adapt to foreign variations. Because of the need of technical competence, managers have several years of work experience behind them before a company offers them a foreign assignment.A malfunction also exists when the expatriate lack the following types of adaptive characteristics:Those needed for self-maintenance, such as self-confidence and personal resourcefulness.Those related to the development of satisfactory relationships with host nationals, such as flexibility and tolerance.Cognitive skills and sensitivities that help one to perceive accurately what is occurring within the host society.A frequent reason for failure in a foreign assignment is the inability of the members of his family to adjust to their new home.Expatriates may encounter some acceptance problems regardless of who they are or where they come from. It usually takes time before employees view managers as legitimate.Those are some of the main failure that faces an expatriate in his international assignment.The Challenger modelcreates great sales representatives, but can chief HR officers apply the models concepts to their teams, too?
We think so: in multiple studies we have found that the best HR staff improve the talent and business outcomes of their organizations in ways that have clear parallels to how Sales Challengers work to achieve great sales results.
Sales Challengers teach their customers by focusing sales conversations on insightnot productsto bring a unique perspective on the customers business. They are also not afraid to be assertive; they are comfortable with tension and are unlikely to acquiesce to every customer demand.
The best HR staff teach with their strong analytical abilities andlead conversationsnot just with HR databut with data-driven talent insightsto articulate the link between business and people challenges. Secure in their analyses and functional expertise, they are also comfortable in asserting the value of talent management solutions andinfluencing leaders to select the best solutions the HR function can deliver.
The Chief People Officer and SVP at The Coca-Cola Company, Ceree Eberly, takes an active role in developing HR Challengers at the organization. We discussed key talent management issues with Ms. Eberly; below is an excerpt from that conversation.
CEB:How are you developing your HR team to be better at understanding the business and, from there, to teach and tailor talent solutions?
Ceree Eberly, Coca-Cola: Our global, regional, and individual development plans all include programs aimed at building our business muscle. It doesnt matter which chair youre in, if youre doing transactions or designing global compensation solutions in a center of expertise, you have to understand the customer and the business around the world. Being part of a global team gives us an opportunity to learn whenever we travel. Part of our leadership teams development plan is to spend time in the market, and we build in local market visits as part of our global routines. We get to spend time with the business leader learning about the business, the salespeople, and the operations team, as well as visit many places in the market where our products are offered. Afterward we debrief our learnings and observations as a way to have fresh eyes for our leaders as well. Its fun and benefits both parties in learning about the business.
CEB:Do line leaders appreciate the curiosity and interest in learning that your team demonstrates?
Ceree Eberly, Coca-Cola: The fascinating thing is that the leaders and general managers who work with us in a specific location are so excited about our engagement. They appreciate that we genuinely want to learnthat is really something they value. Weve built the strength of the partnership and the credibility of the function, because were incredibly curious, asking a lot of good questions, were debriefing the visit, making recommendations on how the business can do certain things. The leaders are really engaged with us. Ive had leaders re-arrange their schedules to fly back in to be with us at a dinner or to take us into the marketplace. They know that by our actions that were learning and can add value to their business.
The full text of this interview can be found inCHRO Quarterlymagazine (forCEB Corporate Leadership Councilmembers), which examines the most important issues related to managing human capital. Articles feature the latest insights from around the corporate suite, new trends in HR, and personal stories from heads of HR at the worlds largest organizations.Read MoreOne of the biggest mistakes managers make is that they dont listen to their employees, says Sameer Wadhawan, who heads human resources for Coca-Cola Co.s India and South West Asia operations.
Mr. Wadhawan says that in a rush to accomplish targets, managers often dont take the time to listen to their subordinates aspirations and problems. If they did, this could boost the teams performance and elevate the manager into a leader.
In a wide-ranging interview with India Real Time, Mr. Wadhawan shared tips on how to become better managers and how Coca-Cola hires in India. The following interview has been edited.
WSJ: What are common mistakes managers make?Mr. Wadhawan:Management is all about leadership. Im not talking about setting an example in your area of expertise. Thats taken for granted. What matters is your ability to envision, inspire, and accordingly motivate others to excel at what they do.
One of the biggest mistakes managers make is that, in a rush to accomplish their targets, they sacrifice quality listening time. They dont stop to ask: Is my team member motivated enough? Is he happy working for the organization? Is he performing up to his potential?
A simple, two-minute conversation can go a long way in solving your employees concerns and addressing potential issues which may hamper their performance in the future.
WSJ: How can managers deal with employees who are upset about their performance reviews?Mr. Wadhawan:The trick to tackling this situation is to let there be no surprises at the year-end performance review.
For instance, if throughout the year, you are telling an employee hes excellent at his job and at the end of the year his score card reads no better than an average performer, theres clearly a problem.
So, the onus lies on how well a manager defines objectives for his team, sets tangible goals for each team member and imparts regular feedback for each of the assigned tasks.
However, if such a situation still arises, have an open door discussion and spell out why you rated an employee in a particular way. While setting up a transparent mechanism is important, dont forget to picture yourself in the employees shoes while imparting feedback.
WSJ: How should an employee cope with office politics?Mr. Wadhawan:Well, office politics is a reality. The only way to tackle the situation is to create a free, fair and transparent environment where coworkers are encouraged to put forth their views.
Coca-Cola India
Pictured, Mr. Wadhawan.
The first step would be to facilitate a debate and discussion with the colleague affecting you. While you are entitled to spell out whats on your mind, recognize that the coworker in question is also entitled to his view.
Dont be stuck up on what you feel is right. Try understanding the issue from his perspective. By doing so, you may realize that the problem lies in your perception of the situation.
However, if that doesnt solve things, leverage off your companys whistle-blowing mechanisms. For example, at Coca-Cola, you can choose to anonymously report your grievances at an employee hotline or approach the ethics officer in your branch with your concerns.
WSJ: What can a manager do in such a situation?Mr. Wadhawan:Take immediate action if politics is being played. Spend time to understand the situation and facilitate a healthy discussion among your team members. As a manager, its your responsibility to take an informed, apolitical, and transparent decision at the end of the day.
WSJ:On another note, what are Coca-Cola Indias hiring plans for the year?Mr. Wadhawan:We hire as per requirement. Our attrition is much below the industry average and hence we dont have to hire too many employees. The business unit along with its bottling partners currently has about 25,000 employees.
Our hiring spans diverse domains. Being a marketing and bottling company, a major chunk of our talent is primarily for those functions, but we also hire for our tech, finance, human resources, communications and operations divisions.
WSJ: What are the big no-nos in a managerial interview?Mr. Wadhawan:For starters, dont talk about something if you are unsure of it. Instead, be candid and admit your lack of expertise in that particular field. Its a quality well appreciated by an interviewer. Youre not expected to know everything!
Second, dont let the brand name be the driving force for a job switch. Of course, its phenomenal that you want to work for a great brand, but what interviewers really want to hear is how the job would enhance your long term career.
Third, dont talk aboutwhatyouve accomplished stresshowyou accomplished it.
Lastly, you may have the right skills for the job, but if you dont appear to have invested in building the softer aspects of your personality, you are unlikely to be picked. Are you positive, open-minded, relationship-oriented, or perhaps a good listener? Your personality can go a long way in ensuring you have a successful interview. Dont overlook that factor.
Correction:Coca-Cola system, which includes a bottling unit and some bottling partners, has 25,000 employees in India. An earlier version of this post misstated the number of employees.
Global Human Resource Management at Coca-ColaThe Coca-Cola Company is one of the most successful multinational enterprises. With operations in close to 200 countries and nearly 80 percent of its operating income derived from businesses outside the United States, Coca-Cola is typically perceived as the quintessential global corporation. Coca-Cola, however, likes to think of itself as a "multi-local" company that just happens to be headquartered in Atlanta but could be headquartered anywhere and that presents the Coca-Cola brand with a "local face" in every country where it does business. The philosophy is best summarized by the phrase "think globally, act locally," which captures the essence of Coca-Cola's cross-border management mentality. Coca-Cola grants national businesses the freedom to conduct operations in a manner appropriate to the market. At the same time, the company tries to establish a common mind-set that all its employees share.Coca-Cola manages its global operations through 25 operating divisions that are organized under six regional groups: North America, the European Union, the Pacific Region, the east Europe/Middle East Group, Africa, and Latin America. The corporate human resource management (HRM) function is charged with providing the glue that binds these various divisions and groups into the Coca-Cola family. The corporate HRM function achieves this in two main ways: (1) by propagating a common human resources philosophy within the company, and (2) by developing a group of internationally minded mid-level executives for future senior management responsibility.The corporate HRM group sees its mission as one of developing and providing the underlying philosophy around which local businesses can develop their own human resource practices. For example, rather than have a standard salarypolicyfor all its national operations, Coca-Cola has a common salaryphilosophy--the total compensation package should be competitive with the best companies in the local market. Twice a year the corporate HRM group also conducts a two-week HRM orientation session for the human resource staff from each of its 25 operating divisions. These sessions give an overview of the company's HRM philosophy and talk about how local businesses can translate that philosophy into human resource policies. Coca-Cola has found that information sharing is one of the great benefits of bringing HRM professionals together. For example, tools that have been developed in Brazil to deal with a specific HRM problem might also be useful in Australia. The sessions provide a medium through which HRM professionals can communicate and learn from each other, which facilitates the rapid transfer of innovative and valuable HRM tools from region to region.As much as possible, Coca-Cola tries to staff its operations with local personnel. To quote one senior executive: "We strive to have a limited number of international people in the field because generally local people are better equipped to do business at their home locations." However, expatriates are needed in the system for two main reasons. One is to fill a need for a specific set of skills that might not exist at a particular location. For example, when Coca-Cola started operations in Eastern Europe, it had to bring in an expatriate from Chicago, who was of Polish descent, to fill the position of finance manager. The second reason for using expatriates is to improve the employee's own skill base. Coca-Cola believes that because it is a global company, senior managers should have had international exposure.The corporate HRM group has about 500 high-level managers involved in its "global service program." Coca-Cola characterizes these managers as people who have knowledge of their particular field, plus knowledge of the company, and who can do two things in an international location--add value by the expertise they bring to each assignment and enhance their contribution to the company by having international experience. Of the 500 participants in the program, about 200 move each year. To ease the costs of transfer for these employees, Coca-Cola gives those in its global service program a US-based compensation package. They are paid according to US benchmarks, as opposed to the benchmark prevailing in the country in which they are located. Thus, an Indian manager in this program who is working in Britain will be paid according to US salary benchmarks--and not those prevailing in either India or Britain. An ultimate goal of this program is to build a cadre of internationally minded high-level managers from which the future senior managers of Coca-Cola will be drawn.IntroductionContinuing our survey of specific functions within an international business, this chapter examines international human resource management (HRM).Human resource managementrefers to the activities an organization carries out to use its human resource effectively.1These activities include determining the firm's human resource strategy, staffing, performance evaluation, management development, compensation, and labor relations. As the opening case on Coca-Cola makes clear, none of these activities is performed in a vacuum; all are related to the strategy of the firm because, as we will see, HRM has an important strategic component.2Through its influence on the character, development, quality, and productivity of the firm's human resources, the HRM function can help the firm achieve its primary strategic goals of reducing the costs of value creation and adding value by better serving customer needs.The strategic role of HRM is complex enough in a purely domestic firm, but it is more complex in an international business, where staffing, management development, performance evaluation, and compensation activities are complicated by profound differences between countries in labor markets, culture, legal systems, economic systems, and the like (see Chapters 2 and 3). For example, Compensation practices may vary from country to country depending on prevailing management customs. Labor laws may prohibit union organization in one country and mandate it in another. Equal employment legislation may be strongly pursued in one country and not in another.If it is to build a cadre of international managers, the HRM function must deal with a host of issues related to expatriate managers. (Anexpatriate manageris a citizen of one country who is working abroad in one of the firm's subsidiaries.)The opening case detailed how Coca-Cola deals with some of these issues. Coca-Cola copes with differences between countries by articulating a common HRMphilosophy,but by letting each national operation translate this philosophy into HRM specificpoliciesthat are best suited to their operating environment. Coca-Cola also tries to build a cadre of internationally minded executives through its global service program, which involves the HRM function of identifying and managing the career development of a key group of executives from which future senior management will be selected. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Coca-Cola sees the HRM function as a vital link in the implementation of its strategic goal of thinking globally and acting locally.In this chapter, we will look closely at the role of HRM in an international business. We begin by briefly discussing the strategic role of HRM. Then we turn our attention to four major tasks of the HRM function--staffing policy, management training and development, performance appraisal, and compensation policy. We will point out the strategic implications of each of these tasks. The chapter closes with a look at international labor relations and the relationship between the firm's management of labor relations and its overall strategy.
Human Resources: its a term that, in recent years, has become more associated with process and administration than care, and the employees journey. However, as companies increasingly examine the treatment of people outside their corporate walls their customers and their experience at every point of engagement with the company, so are leadership teams scrutinizing the employee experience, and looking to ensure their internal customers are on a similarly joyful path.
For the regular shared services organization, sometimes there is confusion over who the customer is is it the payee of the shared services bill (ie the country CFO or the Managing Director of a business unit), or is it all employees that have a touch point with the SSO? Shared services globally have begun to register the importance of the internal customer journey. But so far it seems especially to be the companies that have made or are making the transition to Global Business Services that really get the importance of the concept and know how to deliver on it.
This article examines how shared services and Global Business Services can get better at enhancing not just the internal customer experience, but the employee experience as well, when engaging with the GBS on HR matters.
At a recent sharedserviceslink event in Atlanta, speaker Patrick van Hoegaerden, Global Director of HR Operations at The Coca-Cola Company, illustrated the steps taken by the companys Global Business Services to look specifically at the employees journey, to see that an employee is treated with compassion, care, thoughtfulness and consistency.
Here are the nine recommendations that Patrick shared with the audience:
1. Start with the end user experience in mind. When mapping out ideal processes, we often start in the weeds, without asking ourselves, What is the intention of this process? What does the end result look like that shows us we have been successful in this process? Start with the end, and build your process from there. For The Coca-Cola Company, this has meant that the Global Business Service organization has gotten as close as possible to what a company associate would want to experience when engaging with HR. This means a Global Business Services needs empathy they need to walk in the shoes of their employees, and be sensitive to the emotional state that an associate might be in at a particular HR moment.
2. Avoid the cold experience. We are all aware when we are at the receiving end of a cold experience but sometimes unaware when we are creating one. Being empathetic when looking at your HR strategy at a macro level, and then in the thick of an HR moment at a micro level, is key. Always check in with yourself are you listening? Do you understand? Are you showing care? How would you feel in their shoes right now? Are you letting the process dominate this experience, or are you showing real thoughtfulness and consideration?
3.Move away from scripts. When we talk to someone who is obviously reading off a script, we feel as if we may as well be speaking to a machine. Care never comes from reading a script. Care relies on thoughtfulness, not script-following. This may mean you will require a different calibre of person in your Global Business Services center. But if you start with the end in mind, you may be recruiting a different type of person anyway.
4. Decide which HR experiences to insource and outsource. The Coca-Cola Company initially outsourced tier one HR activities, but decided to insource when employees started to experience coldness, and as a result stopped calling in. The outsourcer relied on scripts, so the experience was bound to be cold. When starting with the end in mind, and then drawing up the ideal process, be clear on who is best placed to manage which part of the process, based on your key requirements. You will likely end up with a blended approach stemming from outsourced and captive services, but you need clarity on who is really better at what, for each step in the process.
5. Standardize and consolidate as much as you can, while being sensitive to local cultures and habits. The Coca-Cola Company came from a place of complex systems, where it had eight hundred benefit programs, and over one hundred payroll providers. This complexity meant programs and providers could potentially become unmanageable. By standardizing and consolidating, you are introducing efficiencies which the employee will certainly benefit from. The Coca-Cola Company now has a reduced number of benefit programs and two payroll providers, globally.
6. Deal with the employee, not the request. This is a key tip, and Patrick talked about the big difference this approach made. By focusing on a request, a service agent can think job done, when they havent really understood the context of the employee's problem. The Global Business Services team has moved away from a task-focussed perspective, to being clear on what success looks like a happy and cared-for employee.
7. Use a CRM tool and run reporting off it. The Coca-Cola Company uses salesforce.com and by ensuring all information is captured in the tool, they can recognize any inconsistencies in its service. The Global Business Services organization offers twelve services per associate, but by reporting off salesforce.com, it would be able, for example, to see that in a given country it only offered six. Data, tools, and analytics can deliver this information, and enable you to respond appropriately.
8. Watch out for your language. Patrick talked about having a high awareness of what language you use when talking with the associate. Within HR, certain terms and language are used which can be confusing to anyone outside the function. Move away from the jargon, (however non-jargony it seems to you), and talk like a regular person. See that you are communicating in terms that dont leave the associate feeling confused or isolated.
9. Look after your new joiners. We all remember our first few days at a company. And we certainly remember the glitches, like desks not being assigned, our lap top not being ready, no induction taking place. At The Coca-Cola Company, the Global Business Services center has one person looking after each recruit, and seeing that all onboarding steps are started, finished and completed. This means the new joiner is essentially account-managed by one person through this sometimes tense experience.
The HR results have been impressive for The Coca-Cola Companys Global Business Services.
The service level agreement is now 97% The HR part of the Global Business Services is increasing its scale, and taking on more HR services The customer satisfaction score stands at 4.8 out of 5And every good story ends with a twist. Patrick leads the HR part of the Global Business Services, but heres the rub: this is the first HR role hes had. He joined The Coca-Cola Company in 1998 as CFO for Egypt, and became Finance Director for larger markets and, most recently, Finance Transformation Director for Europe. The message is this: with Global Business Services now encompassing finance, HR, procurement and other chief back-office functions, finance processionals, who make up the majority of Shared Services Leaders, need not be daunted by the prospect of leading a multi-functional Global Business Services organization.- See more at: http://www.sharedserviceslink.com/article/9-ways-the-coca-cola-company-is-putting-human-back-into-hr#sthash.3lM4G1FN.dpufThe Human Resource Issues Faced By Coca Cola
This assignment will give you an overall idea about human resource issues because Coca-Cola brought 10,000 employees, and thus doubling its workforce. In such conditions, as stated, Coca-cola faced complexity with unnecessary employees and, resignations and sacks. Under these circumstances HR management needed to conduct staff appraisal to setup objectives to achieve company's goals.
1a) Critically appraise varied human resource management perspectives and their impacts on the development of business strategy.
Three varied human management perspectives are Universalist approach, fit or contingency approach and resource-based approach.
Positive impacts of the Universalist approach are: not dependent on competitive strategy of organization, based on four HR policy goals (strategic integration, commitment, flexibility and equality), clarify organisational goals, considers stakeholder's influence on employee's performance. The negative impacts are: the goals are often unachievable, internal consistency difficult due to contradictions, some elements lead to confusion.
Positive impacts of the fit or contingency approach are: provides a simple framework showing how selection, appraisal, development and rewards can be mutually geared to produce required employee performance. Negative impacts of this approach are: does not address what to do if unable to produce required employee behavior and performance, assumes employees will behave as requested.
Positive impacts of the resource-based approach are: it's concerned with the relationships between internal (HR) resources, strategy and firm performance, focuses on achieving competitive advantage using human capital, focus on behavior, skills, knowledge, attitudes and competencies, involves measuring, reporting and managing human capital, organisation can 'loan' human capital. Negative impacts are: requires coherent framework in order to decide on the measures, and refers to people as 'human capital'.
1b) What are the current situations/difficulties regarding these issues in Coca-Cola and Dabur companies?
Coca-Cola changed their pay rate in line with other Indian companies, thus meaning it was dependent on their competitive strategy. This does not follow the Universalist approach as it contradicts their decision. Coca-Cola instead adapted the resource-based approach; they focused on achieving competitive advantage by investing in developing human capital. The fact they concentrated significantly on human resource development satisfied several criteria of this approach.
Dabur to some degree maintained the universalist approach as it provided clarity of goals (the three-fold recommendations), and it recognized the majority stakeholders' (the Burman family) influence in creating a 'family-oriented' working environment for its employees. Dabur met the criteria of the fit or contingency approach by aiming for consistency across workforce; recognizing it had to give rewards to junior sales officers and representatives for achieving target, they allowed certain employees to club their leaves and enjoy a vacation.
1c) How can they improve this situation?
The best way for Coca-Cola and Dabur to improve their situation was to meet more criteria for any certain approach. E.g. Coca-Cola should concentrate on the resource-based approach as it has already met some of its criteria, whereas Dabur should concentrate on the fit or contingency approach as it has already met a lot of its criteria. By maintaining and meeting the criteria of any one approach both companies can hope to be in a better situation.
2a) Critically analyse the importance of alignment between an organizations corporate strategy and objectives, and its human resource strategy.
Each of the five steps to the alignment of an organisation's corporate strategy and objectives, and its human resource strategy, contribute and are of significant importance:
1. separation - no relationship at this stage, thus unimportant.
2. fit -recognises importance of people in achieving organizational strategy.
3. dialogue - recognises need for two-way communication and some debate.
4. holistic - recognises people as the key to competitive advantage rather than a way of implementing organisational strategy.
5. HR Driven - places HR strategy in prime position.
2b) Then by considering the case study compare real activities about alignment between an organizations corporate strategy and objectives in Coca Cola and Dabur with best practice (theoretical view) to identify what the difficulties are regarding this issue in these companies?
Coca-Cola began by recognising human resource's significance in the restricting process. This led to appointment of managers in the six regions, and an area general. They then recognised the importance of two communications by ensuring the Regional General Managers report to the VP, who in turn report to the CEO. Coca-Cola then took the fourth step by recognising their employees as the key to competitive advantage by bringing together employees from different work cultures and value systems. Their final step was to put the employees in prime position by taking a strategic level decision to turn itself into people-driven company.
Dabur used HR strategy as an important part of its restructuring process. It started by recognising the importance of people in achieving the organisational strategy by introducing employee friendly initiatives like annual sales conferences. It then recognised two-way communication by introducing an interactive newsletter. It further recognised employees as key to competitive advantage by commissioning consultants to formulate an employee stock Option Plan. To put HR in prime position they decided to extend the scheme.
2c). How can you solve these problems?
Coca-cola's problems were the number of employees leaving the company. By better control of the unrest among employees, and by other means such as not downgrading the centres, would have allowed Coca-Cola to avoid this crisis. Problem was Dabur didn't use HR strategy as significantly. If HR strategy played a bigger role in the organisational strategy it would have been more beneficial to the Dabur.
3a). Judge the required processes of assessing the effectiveness of a given human resource strategy and its impact on overall corporate strategy.
In assessing the effectiveness of a HR strategy we use the below issues: the HR approach by reaching the corporate strategy objectives. We evaluated the impact of human resource (HR) managers' capabilities on HR management effectiveness and the latter's impact on corporate strategy. Effectiveness is associated with capabilities and attributes of HR staff. We also found relationships between HR management effectiveness and productivity, cash flow, and market value. Findings were consistent across market and accounting measures of performance and with corrections for biases.
3b). What are the existing condition/difficulties regarding this issue in these companies?
Coca-Cola HR carefully revised plan to achieve goals, or developing/carrying-out planned strategies. Coca-cola decreased payment and additional facilities for the employees. Virtually they compact the needless extra facilites. At the first phase Coca-Cola HR strategy could not develop leadership and management released a flow of records which led the company to loss with extra outlay.
Darbur has a people-leaning work culture, therefore has no proper HR development to target. The evaluation of companionship earnings and expenses is not vigorously monitored it was a stride following its competitors. From the case study we could not find any loot system from the Dabur before restricting. According to information given Dabur is a family business so the relation between family members are okay but the relation between employees and higher management might be problematic.
3c) How can these companies improve their situation regarding this issue?
The companies need to reform their organization and make sure that changes need to be accepted by people. The concern is Coca-cola need a stable leader. Because need of business chiefs will affect company's direction and profits. The rewards are incentives, oversee operation etc. Also, employee encouragement needed for better outcome.
4a) Argue the appropriate human resource strategies for organizations facing mergers, acquisitions, strategic alliances and joint ventures.
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and corporate restructuring are a big part of the corporate finance world. We have little information regarding these events. To understand and study the authors mainly developed a connectional framework. HR management gives a border process of leaning model. This model represents similarities and complements of merging companies. The HR strategies are different for each company, and also depend on circumstances. The merger, acquisition, strategies and joint venture take place because of four motives. Those are enlargement and synergy. Actually human resources management will study both motives of these companies. They will decide whether they will merge or acquisition a company for faster growth synergy, if these companies rapidly increase. We can say using the change in technique. In some company merger or acquisition planning, we need to understand what we are getting into (Do I go ahead? Adjust the price? Walk away?). This is your one shot in understanding the business before closing the deal. You also want to reduce any post-acquisition surprises (what will we need to work on after acquisition; integration issues, personnel issues, obsolete equipment requiring replacement, warranty exposures, major contracts, and customer's base). An important key to remember is "It's not only the numbers!"
4b). After that by relying on the given information in the case study compare current situation of HR strategies in the occasions of mergers, acquisitions, strategic alliances and joint ventures in Coca Cola and Dabur with best practice (theoretical views) to detect possible difficulties regarding this issue in these companies?
In the case study Coca-cola used the HR management strategy. Coca-Cola merged with four bottling companies. Coca-cola used growth and synergy for these merges. This means harder HR issues because of merges, Coca-Cola brought 10000 employees, meaning doubled work force. In this condition Coca-cola faced complexity with unnecessary employees and, resignations and sacks. Under these circumstances HR management needed to decrease outlay. With too much labor they cannot be so, they discharge people so it threats an unstable situation.
4c). How these problems can be solved?
As of the company outlook, if they want to reduce employees, then they can do so, but from employee's view these dismissals affect their families. So companies could consider the employee's experience with them. By providing compensation for dismissal there is fairness (HR management has to balance both side).
5a) Appraise different methods of employees' selection.
The different methods of employees' selection are as follows:
Interview:
Positive sides of interviews are: have the chance to see how the person dress, speak, communicate, behave, whether clean or not, and learn their personalities. Negatives are: stressful for interviewees, very subjective, 'talking is not everything', unable to explore technical skills, and personality clashes.
Assessment centres:
Positives are: candidates like them and generally predict job performance accurately. Negatives are: slow process, costly method and not always reliable.
Psychometric tests:
Psychometric tests (test for normal or abnormal personality, ability or intelligence, interests or attitudes) are used along with assessment centres, as it gives a better evaluation than either used alone.
Work simulations:
Candidates are put into small scale job situations.
Full Reference checks:
Consider the 'reference letters', contact people who recommended applicants, contact applicant's manager or colleagues, get information from independent assessors.
CV/Biographical information:
Positive side: it's a very good source of information regarding the applicant. But, negative side is that it is useful only if real and true.
Graphology:
Involves analyzing handwriting in relation to human psychology. Positive side: helps understand applicant's personality. Negative side: based fully on psychological decisions.
5b) What are the current situations/difficulties regarding these issue in these companies?
Coca-cola appointed a new CEO, a VP (Operations), six Regional General Manager. They also appointed Arthur Anderson to inspect accounts in North India.
Dabur appointed a new CEO and 3 vice presidents.
5c) How can they improve this situation?
Coca-cola needs to ensure they hire trustworthy and uncorrupted employees in order to avoid scandals like the one they faced with the North India operations.
As it is the first time Dabur is taking such a step by reorganising their structure, it would be best to hire a professional external recruitment agency as they would have better experience and knowledge regarding hiring employees then Dabur would.
6a) Critically assess strategies for employee deployment, redeployment, poor performance and retention.
Employee Deployment is the number of employees required in each department, time period for which they are required and the skills required. Employee Redeployment is transferring employees from one department/position to another for effectiveness. Poor Performance is mainly due to Lack of Ability (lack of training or resources) and Low Motivation (lack of desire and commitment). Employee Retention is the policies and practices used by companies to stop valuable employees from leaving (mainly because they spend considerable time, effort and money to find, recruit and train employees).
6b) Then by considering the case study compare real activities about "employee development, performance and retention" in Coca Cola & Dabur with best practice (theoretical views) to identify what the difficulties are regarding these issues in these companies?
Coca-cola decided to employ new managers and senior officers, which required Employee Deployment, during their restructuring. They used Employee Redeployment in order to ensure the new 10,000 employees brought from merger were being used efficiently. They tried combating Poor Performance by introducing 'talent development meetings', training and foreign internship. But, couldn't prevent Employee Retention as 40 managers and some senior personnel left.
Dabur used Employee Deployment to employ new senior officers (i.e. a CEO and three Vice Presidents) and restructure their business. Dabur tried to prevent Poor Performance by introducing newsletters for better employee communication. Dabur maintained Employee Retention as they successfully kept hold of employees.
6c) How can you solve these problems?
Coca-cola can solve this problem by preventing Employee Retention by putting in place policies and practices to stop employees leaving. Dabur could be more efficient by using Employee Redeployment.
7a). Assess the relative importance of the creation of the learning organization through self-managed learning, the promotion of intellectual capital and knowledge management.
Learning organization is the organization's ability to use mental capacity of its members to create the processes that will improve its own. The technical view assumes that organizational learning is about the effective processing interpretation of, and response to, information both inside and outside the organization.
The points below will help understand why the learning organization is important to both companies, they are:
Awareness of new and different perspectives.
Personal growth and development.
Ability to see complexities in making decisions.
Awareness of new options and ability to create options
Companies to thinking about reduce to the work force, as they have double than required.
Sense of career directions.
The promotion of intellectual capital and knowledge management:
Intellectual capital is knowledge that can be exploited for money - making or other useful purpose. The term combines the idea of the intellect or brain power with the economic concept of capital, the saving of entitled benefits so that they can be invested in producing more goods and services.
Enhance productivity through improved creation, access and distribution of knowledge. Promoting changed organization to achieve more effective knowledge management. Coordinating technology and human resource development. The management of the intellectual capital in the knowledge intensive organization might also contribute positively to individual well being, as well argue.
Knowledge management is the first competency that an organization needs to develop for the management of intellectual capital. Knowledge management constitutes the ability of an organization to learn, to remember what it learned, and to leverage what it learned internally and externally. Internally by transferring it to different workers and department. Externally by sharing it with supplier's distributor's partners and customers.
7b). What are the existing condition/difficulties regarding this issue in these companies?
There were difficulties in Coca Cola and Dabur. They are: learning organization, intellectual capital, knowledge management.
Difficulties of learning organization: there is no problem with teaching workers presentation skills. Coca cola and Dabur's scheme did not. Companies thought about reducing employees.
Intellectual capital is more difficult to put a value on, the extent to which it has loyal customers, how it is regarded in the local community and the extent to which it has long term satisfactory relationship with key external agencies. For company recruitment of pupils from the local catchments area might seem an obvious surrogate but it is not a good measure on its own as parents often have no choice.
Difficulties of knowledge management: reports about successful and failed knowledge management initiatives using various IT systems exist, it is important to analyse the reports before defining the requirement of a knowledge management. The following list shows the problems and they are;
Restructuring are a big part of both company, it has to resolve.
System not accepted. Lack of user uptake due to insufficient communication.
Information is not classified properly in knowledge management system.
Using theoretical knowledge for practical problem.
Lack of time and training.
The knowledge distribution system does not make sense.
Knowledge management not integrated into normal work procedures.
7c). How can these companies improve their situation regarding this issue?
Difficulties in Coca Cola and Dabur: negative media reports, heavy investment in India and Japan, accommodation and foreign trips for bottlers. Both companies think about reducing employees.
Hence, we believe the below discussions may help to improve their situation regarding the above mentioned issues:
We must be completely updated on current assignments and accomplishments of employees. If employees do not have own initiatives to work, then HR consultants need to review the situation with the employee to achieve more work progress and to reduce employees.
Specify problems with productivity, quality of work, interactions with co-workers, clients or any other problematic behaviour/incidents in the office. If there are specific complaints from supervisors, clients and customers we should read them and conduct necessary investigation to obtain full details and follow proper procedure regarding how we are handled Coca Cola and Dabur evaluation.
8a) Critically evaluate the role of performance review and strategies for management development.
The Appraisal Scheme aims to identify the management development needs of staff in order to improve the performance of individuals and of the organisation to achieve company's key objectives.
We believe, it'ss responsible for the line manager to check and review each objectives every year. 6-monthly interim reviews are optional. Such as:
staffs need to know how they can contribute to organisational success
review past performance
develop potential and help improve current performance
maintain high performance
set up both companies objectives to achieve companies goals
assess learning and management development needs
Appraisal link assessment for future development with current performance. It provides a stronger role for line management in development. It gives the individual the opportunity to discuss his or her career intentions concerns and views with somebody else. It becomes a vehicle for mentoring where the manager is supported and provided with development opportunities.
Performance management is strategic in the sense it is concerned with the broader issues facing businesses if it's to function effectively in its environment and with the general direction in which the business intends to go.
8b). After that by relying on the given information in the case study compare current situation of performance review and management development in Coca-cola and Dabur with best practice (theoretical views) to detect possible difficulties regarding this issue in these companies?
Both companies have difficulties with media reports, heavy investment in India and Japan, accommodation and foreign trips, we also believe both companies' managers hasn't conducted the staff performance review and haven't given objectives to employees. They had other staff during that period and so was having financial looses.
As best practice management development is best described as the process from which managers learn and improve their skills, investment in management development can have economic benefits to the organization.
8c). How these problems can be solved?
Discussion below may help improve Coca Cola and Dabur's problems:
leadership and motivation creates and maintains an effective/motivating environment where people strive for quality of service and is supportive of all staff; fosters a commitment for achieving companies goals
consultant managers will meet with employees at the end of the evaluation period to formally discuss, evaluate and develop company's new goals.
reduce employees
requires promotion and advertising
talent managers have to setup objectives for the employees to achieve company's goals for the coming years
identify and implement changes to improve performance to provide a clear understanding of how to be successful
provide feedback regarding employees' performance and development
role-based performance metrics and look at training needs across a group
Conclusion:
The company outlook to reduce employees, so companies could consider employees experience, provide compensation for dismissal.
Advertising and promotion required for both companies to achieve goals. Performance of employees is evaluated. We also found relationships between HR management effectiveness and productivity, cash flow, and market value.
The companies need reorganization with expert employees to overcome the issues faced.Introduction
In the era of present competitive business world, Human Resource Management is an important and one of the vital issues for any type of organization. Day by day human resource management is becoming as a part and parcel study management. By human resource management we mean that it is a process of recruiting, selecting and developing people at work. Human resource management can be distinguished from personnel management in terms of some key issues of managerial activities.Human Resources: its a term that, in recent years, has become more associated with process and administration than care, and the employees journey. However, as companies increasingly examine the treatment of people outside their corporate walls their customers and their experience at every point of engagement with the company, so are leadership teams scrutinizing the employee experience, and looking to ensure their internal customers are on a similarly joyful path.
For the regular shared services organization, sometimes there is confusion over who the customer is is it the payee of the shared services bill (ie the country CFO or the Managing Director of a business unit), or is it all employees that have a touch point with the SSO? Shared services globally have begun to register the importance of the internal customer journey. But so far it seems especially to be the companies that have made or are making the transition to Global Business Services that really get the importance of the concept and know how to deliver on it.
This article examines how shared services and Global Business Services can get better at enhancing not just the internal customer experience, but the employee experience as well, when engaging with the GBS on HR matters.
At a recent sharedserviceslink event in Atlanta, speaker Patrick van Hoegaerden, Global Director of HR Operations at The Coca-Cola Company, illustrated the steps taken by the companys Global Business Services to look specifically at the employees journey, to see that an employee is treated with compassion, care, thoughtfulness and consistency.
Here are the nine recommendations that Patrick shared with the audience:
1. Start with the end user experience in mind. When mapping out ideal processes, we often start in the weeds, without asking ourselves, What is the intention of this process? What does the end result look like that shows us we have been successful in this process? Start with the end, and build your process from there. For The Coca-Cola Company, this has meant that the Global Business Service organization has gotten as close as possible to what a company associate would want to experience when engaging with HR. This means a Global Business Services needs empathy they need to walk in the shoes of their employees, and be sensitive to the emotional state that an associate might be in at a particular HR moment.
2. Avoid the cold experience. We are all aware when we are at the receiving end of a cold experience but sometimes unaware when we are creating one. Being empathetic when looking at your HR strategy at a macro level, and then in the thick of an HR moment at a micro level, is key. Always check in with yourself are you listening? Do you understand? Are you showing care? How would you feel in their shoes right now? Are you letting the process dominate this experience, or are you showing real thoughtfulness and consideration?
3.Move away from scripts. When we talk to someone who is obviously reading off a script, we feel as if we may as well be speaking to a machine. Care never comes from reading a script. Care relies on thoughtfulness, not script-following. This may mean you will require a different calibre of person in your Global Business Services center. But if you start with the end in mind, you may be recruiting a different type of person anyway.
4. Decide which HR experiences to in source and outsource. The Coca-Cola Company initially outsourced tier one HR activities, but decided to in source when employees started to experience coldness, and as a result stopped calling in. The outsourcer relied on scripts, so the experience was bound to be cold. When starting with the end in mind, and then drawing up the ideal process, be clear on who is best placed to manage which part of the process, based on your key requirements. You will likely end up with a blended approach stemming from outsourced and captive services, but you need clarity on who is really better at what, for each step in the process.
5. Standardize and consolidate as much as you can, while being sensitive to local cultures and habits. The Coca-Cola Company came from a place of complex systems, where it had eight hundred benefit programs, and over one hundred payroll providers. This complexity meant programs and providers could potentially become unmanageable. By standardizing and consolidating, you are introducing efficiencies which the employee will certainly benefit from. The Coca-Cola Company now has a reduced number of benefit programs and two payroll providers, globally.
6. Deal with the employee, not the request. This is a key tip, and Patrick talked about the big difference this approach made. By focusing on a request, a service agent can think job done, when they havent really understood the context of the employee's problem. The Global Business Services team has moved away from a task-focussed perspective, to being clear on what success looks like a happy and cared-for employee.
7. Use a CRM tool and run reporting off it. The Coca-Cola Company uses salesforce.com and by ensuring all information is captured in the tool, they can recognize any inconsistencies in its service. The Global Business Services organization offers twelve services per associate, but by reporting off salesforce.com, it would be able, for example, to see that in a given country it only offered six. Data, tools, and analytics can deliver this information, and enable you to respond appropriately.
8. Watch out for your language. Patrick talked about having a high awareness of what language you use when talking with the associate. Within HR, certain terms and language are used which can be confusing to anyone outside the function. Move away from the jargon, (however non-jargony it seems to you), and talk like a regular person. See that you are communicating in terms that dont leave the associate feeling confused or isolated.
9. Look after your new joiners. We all remember our first few days at a company. And we certainly remember the glitches, like desks not being assigned, our lap top not being ready, no induction taking place. At The Coca-Cola Company, the Global Business Services center has one person looking after each recruit, and seeing that all onboarding steps are started, finished and completed. This means the new joiner is essentially account-managed by one person through this sometimes tense experience.
The HR results have been impressive for The Coca-Cola Companys Global Business Services.
The service level agreement is now 97% The HR part of the Global Business Services is increasing its scale, and taking on more HR services The customer satisfaction score stands at 4.8 out of 5And every good story ends with a twist. Patrick leads the HR part of the Global Business Services, but heres the rub: this is the first HR role hes had. He joined The Coca-Cola Company in 1998 as CFO for Egypt, and became Finance Director for larger markets and, most recently, Finance Transformation Director for Europe. The message is this: with Global Business Services now encompassing finance, HR, procurement and other chief back-office functions, finance processionals, who make up the majority of Shared Services Leaders, need not be daunted by the prospect of leading a multi-functional Global Business Services organization.
There are a few good habits an HR manager must adopt to stay relevant and be highly effectiveShyam Sharma
An organisation is only as good as its people. Organisations today lay greater emphasis on the alignment of people with the business to ensure sustainable growth. HR professionals now serve more as strategic partners than transactional and administrative facilitators. Businesses have realised that their ability to compete in the market is directly related to their ability to attract, train, develop, engage, motivate and retain talented people; and hence, HR professionals have a very critical role to play.
Lets look at certain habits an HR professional should inculcate and practice, so as to excel in todays dynamic environment:
1. Be with the business:What is required for the business, determines everything, including the need for people. An HR professional must keep sharpening his/her business acumen and learning about the business as it grows. He/she should continually analyse HR metrics to ensure people in the organisation are heading in the right direction.
2. Be with the people:It is critical for the HR manager to strike a balance and yield win-win outcomes for sustainable growth of organisation. Only a right blend of motivated people and business acumen can help actualise the vision. An HR professional should make oneself available to people as a mentor to create comfort among people.
3. Keep updating self:Knowledge and skills ought to be updated from time to time. Learning is an ongoing process; and an HR professional should keep oneself abreast of new HR practices and trends in the industry and beyond. He/she should be an avid reader, stay creative and be open to new ideas.
4. Communicate Act - Communicate:There is no other way to drive people and business in the right direction than communication. Being an HR professional, one must continuously and directly communicate all good or bad news occurring in the organisation - in the right manner at the right time. Speaking to people strengthens the trust of people and therefore, they stay aligned with the business needs. Listening empathetically to the concerns of people forms an inseparable part of communication; hence, an HR professional should keep enhancing one's listening skills. It should be better done than said. Every action-oriented communication must be followed by appropriate action, and closing the loop with communication on the action taken.
5. Take charge of the change:An HR professional should not only act as an authority, but also as a friend and facilitator who helps people grow with time. S/he should take charge of the changes needed for organisational development. He/she should analyse organisational reality and study best practices in the market to proactively come up with change solutions. He/she should continuously think out-of-box for various processes and systems innovations required in the organisation. He/she should initiate, control and implement the change, thus collaborating people across the organisation. It must be borne in the mind that no one is the expert of all areas, and metamorphosis occurs with integrated efforts of diverse people in the organisation.
There are many facets to thelaissez fairestyle of leadership at the workplace
Palak Bhatia
A critical part of an organisations culture is the style of leadership adopted by the superiors. While certain employees require constant guidance, others need freedom to let their imagination fly. Laissez-faire leadership is a style that gives the requisite space and encouragement to the latter kind. However, leaders need to be careful in adopting such a style, for it can considerably lower performance in employees that are not suited for such leadership.
What kind of employees is this style of leadership suitable for? Swapnil Kamat, founder, CEO and chief trainer, Work Better, answers, Employees who are highly skilled, motivated, and capable of working on their own are best suited for laissez-faire leadership. Such employees are capable of accomplishing tasks with very little guidance and have the knowledge and skills to work independently. They have a high-level of passion and intrinsic motivation for their work. On the other hand, employees who lack the knowledge or experience, are not good at setting their own deadlines, managing their own projects and solving problems on their own, should not have laissez-faire leaders. Leadership can and should be situational, depending on the needs of the team.
There are many benefits and pitfalls associated with this laissez-faire leadership. Kamat lists a few:
This leadership style leads to advantages like:>> It promotes trust in the employees;>> This style instills a higher sense of responsibility among team members;>> It allows the visionary worker the opportunity to do what they want to free from any interference.This leadership style leads to disadvantages like:>> Team members may get off track and may not prioritise correctly;>> Laissez-faire leaders are often seen as uninvolved and withdrawn, which can lead to a lack of cohesiveness within the group;>> The achievement of targets may be at great risk due to potential less productivity from workers.
It is important for leaders to observe and analyse their team members, and pick a leadership style that works best for them. Rajneesh Mishra, AVP, HR, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance, elaborates, Every organisation should enable its leaders with instruments to know the strengths and capabilities of their team-members well in order to drive them in an appropriate path that suits best for each individual to ultimately leverage opportunities and achieve its goals.
Hence, the laissez-faire style of leadership can be effectively used to promote efficiency and innovation in skilled employees.
Multifunctional teams: what are the benefits and challenges?Harsh Kapur Pillai
The old adage goes that two heads are better than one. In todays changing business and team environments, the question is, are many heads better than one, especially if they are specialists in their own fields?
Recent business successes suggest that they are. The reason being when you have different perspectives visiting different angles to arrive at a set of or one solution, they are likely to be more comprehensive; they also reduce the risk of failure and perform well under a varied set of conditions. For example, when you set up a green field project and constitute a project team not only from industrial engineering but also from manufacturing, supply chain, finance and project management, you invite participation of design and product development members at appropriate stages.Having said the above, do all such multi-functional teams function efficiently and effectively? Not always, and certainly not unless some of the hygiene conditions are met.
The team leaderAt the onset, the success of this equation depends on the ability of the team leader to work with multiple specialists and the capability to manage his own and their egos. He should have knowledge of more than one function, which is higher than that of his team members. His experience should cover not just the customer but equally the delivery/execution process. At an operational level, success relies on the leaders skills of effective programme management, time management, prioritisation and problem-solving/conflict resolution. On the peoples front, he must have the ability to build camaraderie amongst team members, take timely decisions, motivate, drive, control and monitor progress. External influencing and networking skills are also important.
The team memberThe team member needs to be a subject matter expert in his/her own function with the interest and inclination to understand and assimilate key aspects of functions other than his own.
Team members need to have a mind-set of openness towards their colleagues opinion and have the ability to put the pieces of a puzzle together; it might not be necessary that the team members are at the same hierarchical level in the company but they should have the ability to voice their views, irrespective of their position.The team members should bring complementing strengths if one is detail-oriented, another should understand the big picture; if one is good with data, facts and logic, the other should have strong people and networking skills. In short, you need people and skill-sets that are diverse, open to innovation and a single-minded dedication to getting it right.
What cross-functional teams need to do to be successful: One goal;
All team members aligned to the same goal;
Understand their respective roles and deliverables;
Possess a drive to succeed;
Have an allocated budget and resources;
Review mechanisms in place;
Set of rules;
Commitment and adherence to discipline;
Risk mitigation.
ChallengesEven within a traditional system where a person is allocated greater responsibility, the challenges suddenly become more visible. In the scenario of multi-functional teams, the challenges are that much greater considering the complexity that is already inherent within the demands of such a structure.
Here are some of the challenges and questions that need answering if a multi-functional team is going to be out together and for it to be successful: What is the level of management buy-in and where does this feature in their list of priorities high-medium-low?
Are they fully dedicated to the project or carry this responsibility in addition to their regular deliverables?
If fully dedicated, there is the risk of feeling lost once the project is over and having to go back to a routine role;
If in addition, they might have conflicting priorities, balancing time between the two jobs could be stressful or have an adverse impact on time schedules, quality, costs, etc;
The absence of a strong leader can put the project in jeopardy. Likewise, losing a team member in the midst of the project can put a strain on all involved;
If there is no one project leader and say four managers driving the project - they need to be significantly aligned with the ability to take decisions in a democratic manner;
Is it a completely new area of work or is it an extension of known skills since that will require different types of timeline, approaches and constitution of teams?
A multi-functional team has high rewards but the foundation for success has to be present across different levels within the organisation.
Nina Chatrath
Is there a position of head of talent that exists in organisations, today? If there is, then the incumbent is likely to be fighting a battle on many fronts - a battle of aligning talent with business strategy, battle of not being bestowed with adequate power, or indeed not having enough metrics to show to one and all that they are doing a good job! Couple this with the role itself being somewhat intangible, not very clear, and can be seen to cross the fine line between what the business head, or indeed the head of HR ought to be delivering on. So there are many disparities regarding this new and evolving position, including its nomenclature that differs from company to company; therefore a lot depends on what the incumbent delivers to bring credibility to the role.
If heads of talent can clearly define their roles and overcome some of the problems (detailed below), they can make an invaluable contribution to a companys success.
SOME OF THE ISSUES A HEAD OF TALENT IS MOST LIKELY TO FACE:1. SEEMS TO HAVE INSUFFICIENT EXPERIENCE FOR THE ROLESince the current heads of talent are the first to take up the role, with the scope of their job being undefined, their focus may also be unclear, else different folks interpret it differently! Some may concentrate on infrastructure and leadership development, others flag off specific development initiatives, and since the CEOs themselves feel less familiar with the HR aspect, instead of having better comfort with established functions like marketing, sales or even distribution, they may not know how to best align talent management with business strategies. This can be seen as an opportunity by the heads of talent and they can define how to find and develop effective managers, conduct regular talent reviews and keep track of their progress.
2. A LACK OF ALIGNMENT OF BUSINESS AND TALENT STRATEGYThis seems like the most obvious thing to do, which is placing leaders with the appropriate skills in the optimal positions, to help companies better execute their business strategy. Then why is it so hard to do? One issue is the changing demographics as business moves from the East to the West, jobs increasingly require more diverse leadership skills to bridge the gap. In addition, heads of talent need to understand the needs and views of a whole new generation of leaders. You could address the challenges in these ways:>> Work backwards from identifying the companys strategy to assessing the talent execution of the strategy requires; >> Work forward while looking at the talent risk facing the company and gauging the risk to the firms growth; >> Make a hybrid glocal talent model that blends local delivery needs and global consistency.
3.CHALLENGES OF NOT HAVING ADEQUATE POWERDue to downsizing and de-centralisation, many companies have appointed line managers to hire, develop and retain talent in their units. Although this makes line managers more accountable, heads of talent are usually given the task of dealing with the resulting inconsistencies in the divisions. To tackle this issue, they can:>> Bring together their relationship skills and business acumen; >> Act as diplomats rather than commanders;>> Talk business rather than HR and form ties with line managers, CEO and senior leadership;>> Use their strengths, such as influence, interpersonal skills, HR knowledge, strategic thinking and resilience.
4. TOO LITTLE ACTION ON SUCCESSION PLANNING, BUT THAT CAN BE CHANGEDOrganisations need to reduce their leadership risk by aligning their leadership pipeline practices, coupled with talent agendas so they have succession-ready pools internally and externally. Once succession planning becomes identified as a priority area, the heads of talent can drive it to be a sustainable and a successful model.
5. SKILLS SHORTAGEDespite the economic crisis that leads to unemployment, it is not easy to find high-quality, commercially-savvy people with the right brand-building, marketing and client relationship building skills. Skilled people are hesitant to change jobs and need very attractive incentives. Talent management is therefore required to shift its focus from identifying and attracting new executives, to developing, motivating and retaining existing ones.
6. NO MEASURES FOR SUCCESSAre there any metrics at all that indicate to us that the heads of talent are succeeding, in what they set out to do? The following can be some indicators:>> Directly monitoring small pools of talent moving to larger pools;>> Comparing the companys performance to others in the industry;>> Keeping track of the demand for leadership interventions;>> Focusing on regular assessments and benchmarking to know the organisations pool of talent;>> Putting together a nine-box matrix that plots managers on axes for performance and potential.
Although heads of talent have one of the most significant roles in talent management, they lack clarity about their role and the power to perform effectively. By aligning talent and business strategies, they can speed up change and mitigate risk to future performance. If they have established long-term aims, their colleagues will better understand their function and these heads of talent will more effectively nurture current and future talent that will go a long way in adding to the business.
- The author is founder, Enhance ConsultingyHirak Kayal, VP - product management India and PPM/JAPAC, Oracle
Here are the key steps for effective leadership
A successful leadership development programme begins with the alignment of leadership development with the companys strategy and an understanding of the type of leadership style(s) needed to execute that strategy.
1. Determine the best leadership style for your organisation:One of the main reasons for the high failure rate of new CEOsmore than half never make it past the four-year markis poor organisational fit. Here are two ways to assess leaders fitment in an organisation:
Get to know them better: Psychological and behavioural assessments have been statistically linked to the current and future success in leadership roles;
Understand the culture better: Ask your board, employees, vendors and consultants for insight into what makes an effective leader in the company.
Use both sets of information to find alignments or disparities. If there is a glaring cultural conflict, be ready to find a better candidate who possesses the unique skills your organisation requires.
2. Identify current and potential leaders within or outside the company:Leaders can be found both internally and externally. Companies must weigh the cost and timing of developing internal leadership against the cost and availability of hiring from outside the firm. Research has shown that one of the key advantages of developing leaders internally is that they achieve productivity almost 50 per cent faster than external candidates.
3. Identify leadership gaps:To fully recognise leadership gaps, companies should determine current and future leadership requirements and compare those with the current leadership team. Then, look at the leadership development pipeline and identify gaps in skills and the time required to fill those gaps, either via a succession plan or recruitment.
4. Develop succession plans for critical roles:Succession planning avoids disruption and employee trauma when the CEO leaves, whether the departure is anticipated or not. But a succession plan should not be confined to executive roles only. As a part of the leadership programme, companies should evaluate critical roles throughout the organisation.For the greatest efficacy, succession planning should be supported by technology systems that provide the ability to:
Create backfill strategies that use data captured in the recruiting and performance review processes, coupled with individual career plans;
Add multiple candidates to a succession shortlist and view all the best options;
Display multiple talent profilesfrom C-level executives to individual contributorsside by side to quickly identify the best fit;
Track candidate readiness based on skills, competencies, and performance. Also, promote top candidates based on relative ranking and composite feedback scores.
5. Develop career planning goals for potential leadersCompanies that support career planning for their employees gain in retention, engagement, and protection of the leadership pipeline. Combining employee development with career planning enables employees to select development activities necessary to attain them.
6. Develop a skill roadmap for future leaders:In todays connected world, development programmes need to support both traditional and non-traditional learning such as incorporating networking tools into the development process.
y Kumar ParakalaAs we move into the future, we experience both changes and opportunities in the business world that challenge us in ways we have never experienced in the past. Life is full of changes, some good and some bad. Imagine this, when clouds roll in and thunder is heard in the distance, it is an indication of change in weather patterns. Just as with the weather, change can be indicators of storms presenting unexpected and chaotic measures. These changes can bring uncertainty, conflict, and confusion. So, is change a bad thing?
Leading change is an important leadership skill; it is rarely for the faint hearted. Such challenging programs require good planning and utilization of time. Strangely enough, the best way to ensure successful change is to know what to do wrong!
During my travels, I had the opportunity of meeting some of the most successful change drivers in the current history who transformed the face of law enforcing agencies in US and UK. The current FBI director - Robert Mueller and former British Intelligence Agency (MI5) director-general - Baroness Eliza Manningham-Buller have become internationally renowned for driving unprecedented changes in the organizations they lead. Both leaders forged change through their sheer determination and an unrelenting attitude. They tore across bureaucracy and politics and transformed their age old intelligence agencies to combat major threats in face of terrorism post the 9/11 attacks.
So how did they do this? Mueller took over as the FBI director just one week before the 9/11 attacks and faced one of the biggest security challenges in the American history. He had the difficult task of protecting the people for future attacks. To fulfill this objective, Mueller sought to transform FBI's entire institutional and operational architecture. He declared that the FBI's top priority was preventing domestic terrorist attacks and that the FBI needed to become an intelligence-centric agency rather than purely law-enforcement? centric organization. Manningham-Buller had a similar task of transforming MI5 to prevent future attacks on British soil.
They both faced differences of opinion in their organization and had to deal with bureaucracy and politicians. However, they remained firm on their plans in the face of opposition. Both of them were extremely successful in driving unprecedented change and transforming their organization into protecting thousands of lives. This is a great example of sticking by your beliefs and remaining undeterred when driving change.CEOs must remember that people are threatened by change and prefer to stick to routine. It is a challenge to shift this mind frame in any organization. Hence, change has to be driven from the top and must comprise among the top priorities of a CEOs agenda.
Change surrounds us and is unrelenting. All a person needs to do is walk into an electronics store and survey all the new gadgets available for purchase and you will witness a world of change. Change is an essential component of every organization to remain abreast with today's market, technology, competition and maintain revenues. As changing and adopting helps organizations remain relevant to the evolving marketplace.
So we ask ourselves, how do some leaders make change seem easy? During my interaction with both Intelligence agency chiefs, I learnt a few valuable lessons on driving change, this is applicable to every leader in an organization. I understood that both leaders did not fear change and had the courage to do things differently against long standing traditions. They operated at a large scale and expanded their agencies to a significant size. So, that they were capable of dealing with major national threats. Both of them earned a reputation for being open and honest and proactive to criticism. They were both dealing with a major national problem that was difficult to either fully comprehend or quantify, yet they did not balk at the challenge. They judged the circumstance and took the necessary action to succeed under very difficult conditions.
There are several lessons to be learned for today's corporate leaders in driving change. Some of the important lessons include, being open and honest in their approach, seeking proactive feedback on their initiatives, standing by their values and ensuring they are firm on their commitment to bring in change. When leaders apply this approach, trust and confidence is build within a team to embark on the journey of change.
After all, we have to remember that changes are made necessary for the greater good of the organization to maintain their competitive-edge. Most importantly, a leader needs to take bold steps, so that their organization thrives in tomorrow's world rather than being complacent with today's reality!HR COMPETENCY1) Strategic Contribution High-performing companies have HR professionals involved in the business at a strategic level. These HR professionals manage the culture, facilitate rapid change, and are involved in the strategic decision making and create market-driven connectivity of the operation [7]. In this competency area, culture management, rapid change efforts, and a business partner role along with customer focus emerged as important factors for HR professionals, making their impact on their organizations' financial performance significant [8].
2) Personal Credibility HR professionals must be credible to both their HR counterparts and the business line managers whom they serve. They need to promise and deliver results and establish a reliable track record. Furthermore, working well with others by building good relationship is vital in developing the ability to work together with others effectively. In addition, HR professionals must have effective writing and verbal communication skills [7]. The findings of the study by [7] correspond with the prior research of [9], who found that that the personnel directors require professional competence in social skills to develop effective interpersonal relations with other board directors. This is one of the competencies of personal credibility.
3) HR Delivery HR professionals deliver both traditional and operational HR activities to their business in four major categories. First, by designing developmental programs and challenging work experiences. This is done by offering career planning services, and facilitating internal communication processes. These efforts include both individual development as well as organisation-wide development. Second, by structuring and HR measurement: restructuring the organisation, measuring impact of HR practices, and managing global implications of HR practices. Third, by attracting, promoting, retaining, and out-placing appropriate people. Finally, by performance management in terms of designing performance-based measurements and reward systems and providing competitive benefit packages [7].
4) Business Knowledge to become key players in the organisation, HR professionals must understand the business or industry of the company they serve. Key areas of knowledge include applied understanding of the integrated value chain (how the firm horizontally integrates) and the firms value proposition (how the firm creates wealth). The labour factor, representing institutional constraints such as labour legislation, is the third factor that constitutes the domain of business knowledge [7]. Human resources professionals must understand how their business or agency operates. This includes the organizations strategy, how the organization makes money or achieves its primary purpose, its technological processes and organizational capabilities etc.
5) HR Technology HR professionals need to be able to leverage technology for HR practices and use e-HR/web-based channels to deliver value to their customers. further argues that the pace of technological innovation will continue to accelerate. HR can take advantage of these changes by automating HR processes and becoming more effective in communicating with its internal /external customers. More importantly, by absorbing the latest technology, HR can project a forward looking image that will help it earn the respect of skeptical colleagues. According to a recent survey by Society for Human Resource Management, the top workplace trend identified was technology.
Functions of Human Resource Department
A typical Human Resource Department is carries out the following functions:
Manpower Planning
It involves the planning for the future and finding out how many employees will be needed in the future by the business and what types of skillsshould they possess.
It depends on the following factors
The number of people leaving the job The projected growth in sales of the business Technological changes Productivity level of the workers
Job analysis and Job description
HR Department is also involved in designing the Job analysis and Job description for the prospective vacancies.
Ajob analysisis the process used to collect information about the duties, responsibilities, necessary skills, outcomes, and work environment of a particular job.
Job descriptionsare written statements that describe the:
duties, responsibilities, most important contributions and outcomes needed from a position, required qualifications of candidates, and reporting relationship and co-workers of a particular job.
Determining wages and salaries
HR Department is also involved in conducting market surveys and determining the wages and salaries for different position in an organization. These decisions may be taken in consultation with top management and the Finance department.
Recruitment and SelectionOne of the most important jobs HR department is to recruit the best people for the organization. This is ofcrucial importance as the success of any organization depend on the quality of its workforce. Details regarding the recruitment and selection procedure can be foundhere.
Performance Apprasial
Once the employees are recruited , the HR Department has to review their performance on a regular basis through proper performance appraisals.
Performance appraisalis the process of obtaining, analyzing and recording information about the relative worth of an employee. The focus of the performance appraisal ismeasuring and improvingthe actual performance of the employee and also the future potential of the employee. Its aim is to measure what an employee does.On the basis of performance appraisal the HR Department will set up an action plan for each employee. If the employees needs any traini
