Scenario
Janet is the newly appointed HRRepresentative with Global Plastics, Inc. This organizationoperates in the United States, Europe, and Asia and has fared worsethan its competitors during a recent economic downturn. Janet’spredecessor 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 thehuman 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-qualifiedstream of candidates to fill regular as well as criticalpositions
In her first month on the job Janet discovered the followingissues:
- The recent departure of several mission-critical employeesdisclosed no systematic means of capturing expertise fromemployees; when they left, their knowledge left with them.
- HR's participation in the onboarding process of new employeeswas limited to having them attend a half-day orientation sessionwhere, between a video and a slide presentation about the company,they filled out benefits-related, payroll, ID and other paperforms. The new employees departed the session with littleunderstanding of the mission and the respective role they each playin supporting and moving the mission forward.
- Aside from providing a coordinating function, human resourceshad outsourced recruiting to third parties who presented candidatesbased on their internet postings and other sources. No matter thelevel of the open position, human resources rarely conductedinterviews or assessments before or after handing over the resumesfrom the outsourced recruiter to the appropriate hiring department.Human Resources would get involved again only when a candidate wasselected.
- Training and Development (T&D) had largely been outsourcedto several companies that provided generic on-line courses. Theassessment of these courses added little value to the employee’srespective position.
- Job titles didn't reflect the work people did, and were usedinstead as a framework for budgeting and compensation. Manyemployees were doing unique work requiring different knowledge andskills.
- Job descriptions were inconsistent, long but vague listsconsisting of high level duties, responsibilities, andqualifications.
- The Performance Employee Evaluation Program didn't align withanything, was viewed by managers and individual contributors alikeas a burdensome annual chore that interfered with people's \"realjobs.\"
- Attracting the top talent remains a continual challengeespecially in its overseas operations. The turnover rate remains20% higher than at Global Plastics US divisions.
- OSHA violations continued to increase over the past 24 monthseven after the organization committed to reduce the number ofworkplace safety incidents.
1. You are acting as a HR Consultant. Develop astrategic plan for Global Plastics, Inc. HumanResource department to address the issues Janet discovered andachieve the goals outlined in the scenario. Your strategic planshould include all elements of a strategic plan and address thefollowing:
a. Align each of the issues with the goals inthe company’s strategic plan.
b. Establish metrics to measure attainment ofeach of the goals.
c. Evaluate how the strategy will address eachissue identified in the scenario.
