Starbucks Corporation by Anida Magaya
According to DataMonitor (2010, p. 4).Starbucks Corporation is a global retailer that specializes in coffee brewing and serving. The company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington and employs about 142,000 people. Starbucks’ philosophy links human resources practices with every business strategy. Starbucks’ philosophy is beyond selling coffee, it strives to sell an overall experience. The approach of Starbuck has made the company one highly enjoyed workplaces and has linked two critical business components successfully together, creating an optimal customer experience. In addition, the company has re-creatable processes joined with consistent performance that all stores execute with intention of retaining customers, creating brand loyalty. Riordan can develop the same systematic approach by carefully planning and organizing to support employees.
Properly designed strategic HRM practices can add value to Riordan helping it to maintain a competitive advantage. “Strategy, at least at the tactical level, can and should vary across organizational levels and occupational types within a particular firm” (Dreher & Dougherty, 2001, p. 178). Starbucks ability to entwine its human Resources philosophies with the business strategies is a tremendous success of the organization’s leadership abilities. Riordan’s use of this benchmarked company will necessitate for the company to determine the strategic influence of its human Resources issues on the organization’s effectiveness while managing a restructuring phase successfully with a compressed timeline. One of important tasks to be considered by Riordan is to create a strategic plan supported by a tactical incorporation of the human resources philosophies with business strategies. This will need to include every functional component of the company as well as an open communication channel. Comparatively, both companies possess competent, forward looking management, though it appears communication and mentalities may be problems Riordan will have to mitigate to be successful.
Thus, linking a business’ strategies to its human Resources is essential for organizations. Riordan must involve its HR in the company’s strategic planning. The company’s HR must be knowledgeable of all strategies needed to address current changes of the business. Riordan’s HR director must be involved in the company’s strategic planning and communications so they can perform appropriate development programs to support the company’s strategies.
Alphawest Synopsis by James Chmielinski
Alphawest, an Australian provider of information and communication technology solutions, experienced challenges in managing its sales processes after its rapid growth since the 1980s. Because of multiple acquisitions, Alphawest was using multiple customer management systems. “It was extremely difficult and time-consuming to gain a consolidated view of the sales pipeline across the country” (Alphawest Improves Sales Predictability and Forecast Accuracy, Cuts Software Costs by 50%, 2009). In 2008, the executive leadership decided it was time to integrate a full customer relationship management (CRM) solution. The decision was supported by Alphawest’s leaders because the CRM solution could provide great visibility into the sales pipeline, better allocate staff resources, and allowed the company to manage customers’ requirements better. Alphawest deployed the national CRM and it enabled the sales staff to better manage the pipeline. This was achieved by providing a web based system to the presales staff to input their times and share their availability with the rest of the team. Costs were reduced as well. Alphawest successfully reduced 50% of their costs compared to the licensing fees from the other systems they were using. Managers were able to identify sales opportunities that have potential to generate revenue to the organization and supported a solutions-oriented approach, rather than just a transactional model. The CRM system allowed Alphawest to transition from sales people to professional consultants. The system’s integration allowed the organization to adjoin the leaders, staff, and customers to a solution that provided a direct means to increase profitability. Furthermore, the staff is connected via the web based system so that everyone can access an online portal relative to the information they require. The implementation only took six weeks and the return on investment in time management and reduced cost was realized shortly thereafter.
General Electric Synopsis by James Chmielinski
General Electric (GE) is a leading conglomerate that operates eleven businesses. In the business world, GE is attributed with creating a system to train and develop its multinational, diverse workforce in a successful manner. Similar to Riordan, GE’s challenge was to create an employee development system that encouraged innovation and aligned with the company’s strategic initiatives. ”HR systems that appropriately take into account business strategy and other contextual factors should affect firm performance by changing the composition of the firm’s internal labor market and by influencing the behaviors of individuals making up this internal talent pool” (Dreher & Dougherty, 2001, Chapter 8). (need page number)
GE provided on-the-job training since 1920 but the company needed to come up with a new approach after the decentralization of the organization in the 1950’s. After analyzing various educational institutions, GE decided to create a corporate training center. The creation of the training center began to foster a strong learning culture because the development programs aligned with the company’s strategic initiatives. The system evolved over the years and aided the employees by improve their productivity and performance because the content in the program allowed them to function better at their jobs because it aligned with the organization’s long-term strategy. The learning culture has gained national recognition and honors for employee development and the company has received excellent feedback and results in positive employee feedback surveys. Rick Kennedy, a media manager at GM stated that “Despite the company's size, everyone has a common set of objectives to work from and it's very effective."
In 1998, GE innovated again and introduced online training in the form of e-learning through internet technology. The online curriculum was another leading trend that GE began and most companies have adopted similar programs because of the effectiveness of online learning.
Gatx by Dechazlon C. Burnett
Gatx, one of the worlds well known railcar industries founded in Chicago, Illinois back in 1898. GATX is known for the shipping of materials for many companies that made them one of the leaders in the industry. GATX is also known worldwide as a leader in leasing transportation assets and controls one of the largest railcar fleets in the world (GATX, 2009). However, they have also had trouble with the issue of trying to satisfy their employees. This is pretty much similar to the situation of Riordan’s employees’ dissatisfaction. Gatx have a lot of competition to deal with especially if the company wants to continue to be the best in the industry, then they need to have the support of employees to make sure that they can make it happen. The CEO of Gatx was pretty new to the railcar industry; and really had no understanding of what direction to really take the company continuously to the next level. With having the top Engineers and IT workers in the industry representing your company and you not supplying them with the competitive salary that’s needed to compete and also boost their motivation to produce Quality work, to help the company grow. The new CEO’s plan was to increases the salaries. There seem to be some level of lack of commitment from employees, because of not having the drive to exert effort in doing their jobs. This is also similar to Riordan’s situation. Gatx knew how to show appreciation to their employees with the incentives and rewards they had for their employees for the hard dedication and hard work they showed each day. To retain valuable employees, managers need to create positive and appreciative work environments. (Rewards, 2010). Seeing the revenues starting to drop tremendously, Gatx then notice the lack of drive among their employees. Adding to that, two of the top engineers decided to leave the company because of dissatisfaction with the company’s pay system and lack of attractive salary. This was one of aspects that Gatx managed to restructure and after implementing it, the company realized increase in employees’ motivation and productivity began to increase due to the changes in salaries and pay systems. So with hours of comparing the salaries of other companies within the industry and reset their salaries according to the companies they benchmarked, helping them solve the problem and making the workers become more happier to be at work,
Miller Brewing Co. by Dechazlon C. Burnett
Miller Brewing Co. is a name that probably rings a bell to a lot of sports fans around the globe. It is endorsed by some of the world’s best professional teams across the country. The company has been around quite awhile, it all started when Mr. Fredrick J. Miller brought his passion for beer to the US. Miller settled in Milwaukee, where in 1855 he bought the Plank Road Brewery and made his first delicious beer fusing yeast that he had carried with him all the way from Europe (Miller, 2010).
Behind this hard work there was a great team responsible for the accomplishments that this company has greatly achieved. Miller is very passionate about the beer business. Their philosophy is focused on the little things that make a difference to their customers. Miller’s strong commitment is to responsibly brew, bottle and market a portfolio of great beers that can satisfy all beer drinkers, which is the core of customer satisfaction (Miller, 2010). Miller brewing is one of the best places to work. As Miller becomes successful, other companies, as Budweiser, Millers competitor, try to replicate their products in efforts to get compete and profit, given the current economy. Therefore, change and process improvements are very important to stay current and profitable, especially by integrating the new technologies in the business, which is what Miller plant in Chicago, Ill focused on. The plant focused on implementation of new training for employees for the big super bowl promotion, a significant time for football especially in the beer industry. However, like Riordan, the HR did not hot have proper authorities to design effective training to help the workers be more efficient with the product. This was brought to the company’s CEO, who conducted a meeting about the issue to formulate strategies to tackle the issue, as the company had lost out on a lot of sales because the training was not presented properly. Companies need to work together to continue to rise as the best no matter who has the power, togetherness is what brings success.
In brief comparison and contrast between Riordan and the companies benchmarked, the main focus was to show the similarities of the products or service models of each. Companies were chosen based on the uniqueness and exactness of what they offered while being exclusively from different industries. BP Amoco is one of the companies that underwent massive layoffs, in contrary to Riordan’s turnovers situation. However, the main similarity is how the BP handled the situation in terms of employing employee feedback process and how structuring employees training was helpful for BP in addressing the setbacks of the layoffs, which is one alternative that Riordan can consider. Alphawest also had to integrate a full customer relationship management (CRM) solution. One way that it used to achieve desirable outcomes was provision of web structure for employees to share information and plan accordingly. This is one more alternative that Riordan can look unto. Aligning the HR practices with the business strategy is one way that GE incorporated, which could be another alternative for Riordan.
The lack of visionary leadership in Riordan has contributed to a poor leverage of the existing resources and competencies. Managing these areas more efficiently will allow a viable turn around in performance, competitiveness, and profitability at Riordan. Ultimately, focusing on these areas is necessary to increase the shareholders’ returns on their investments and in one way can help motivate employees, which would reflect on enhanced job performance. However, the implementation of the change will be a challenge. Leaders will need to address employees’ concerns, ethical issues, and the dissatisfaction. Some of these companies researched and examined the practices of their competitors, to find new strategies for increasing company performance. Riordan can have great benefit by benchmarking other companies to help aid its transition period.
Conclusion
Strategic planning and methodologies for changing business models is something that business need to research to come up with relevant theories and practices to help guide leaderships in managing the change. HR practices need to be aligned with the business strategic planning as well, the HR directors need to be considered at all levels of organizational planning for better processes. Riordan can benefit from the researched companies’ practices that are presented in this paper and incorporate some of the alternatives benchmarked to facilitate for developing strategic plans. We found out by benchmarking that training and employee development is vital when undergoing change, as well employee retention is one important aspect that Riordan will need to focus on. Therefore, Riordan can achieve successful transformation by considering all or few of the alternative practices discussed through this paper.
References:
Alphawest Improves Sales Predictability and Forecast Accuracy, Cuts Software Costs by 50%. (2009). Oracle Customer Case Study, 1-4. Retrieved from
BP Amoco lays off workers at Ga. unit. (1999); Plastics News, 10(53), 4. Retrieved on Aug 21, 2010; from MasterFILE Premier Database.
BP P.L.C (2010); DataMonitor Publication; Jul 16, 2010; Retrieved Aug 20, 2010 from
Dreher, G. & Dougherty, T. W. (2001); Human Resources strategy: A behavioral perspective for the general manager. New York: McGraw-Hill.
IBS Center for Management Research (2005); Training and Development - The GE Way. Retrieved from
Miller (2010); Miller Brewing Co. Retrieved from
Starbucks Corporation (2010). DataMonitor Publication; Apr 30, 2010; Retrieved Aug 21, 2010 from
Rewards. (2010). Online Rewards. Retrieved from http://online-rewards.com/rewards-programs/employee-performance-awards.htm
