Differentiation Framework Case Study
Abstract To run a successful business call for adoption of workmanship that addresses all the dynamics of a firm’s operation. To achieve this business objective, workforce recruitment and performance becomes a fundamental concept. Developing the workforce system entails categorization of workers depending on their productivity.
To design this kind of framework calls for an articulate process that takes into consideration nature of a firm’s operation. For the success of an adopted system, there should be guiding principles and avenues for correcting any arising pitfalls. Identifying various classes that employees fall in is crucial as it will reveal what interview process to use in recruitment of a desired class of employees. Differentiation Framework Case Study Introduction The aim of any business entity is to make sure that best products are created so as to dominate market share and make meaningful sales that would sustain its operations. As such, the Human Resource department has to ensure that staffs are properly recruited and the workforce maintains operation ethos of the company.
According to Becker et al. (2009), “Developing a differentiated workforce requires that the HR management policies and practices a firm adopts differentiated as well, not just by business strategy, but, more important, by strategic capability-the bundle of information, technology, and people needed to execute your strategy.” There are two different differentiation models that can aid an HR department to design and adopt a workable business workforce plan. They include Jack Welch’s 20-70-10 and the A, B, C players framework upon which a firm can design its own strategy based and nature of business’ products and services and the corporate culture that is conventional in real business practice. Performances of staffs within a business set up depend on output of the A, B and C class of employees. The A-class includes staffs who are highly motivated and their work achieve top notch qualities.
Maintaining top performance of A-class employees call for sustainable programs to ensure that their output is maintained. The HR department needs to make sure that they are encouraged to stay at the firm at all cost. Their remuneration should be high besides providing them with other employee benefits that can be sustained with firm’s revenue accruals. The class B employees have above average staffs performance ratings. They are neither highly motivated nor are they low performers.
The C-class employees are on the other hand the least motivated coupled with low output type of staffs. They could be detrimental to a firm’s operations especially if they form majority of the workforce. Designin a working workforce that can boost a firm’s activities need to focus on the C-class employees. In order to attract services of A-class employees, thorough recruitment activities ought to be used in the identification of potential A-class employees. Interview process should therefore identity level of motivation, real work experience, and qualifications of potential recruits.
“An effective workforce philosophy has several dimensions that explain the roles and responsibilities of managers and employees,” (Becker et al., 2009). This is because it identifies a firm’s nature of workmanships relations within prescribed responsibilities domains. The philosophy is also crucial in identification of prime areas where workforce is needed and where is it less important before conducting recruitment of workers. Achieving an apt philosophy in regard workforce establishment should be based on a mechanism referred to as The Workforce Scorecard.
In addition to sustain this philosophy, “Great People Decision puts those tools in your hand. It is a comprehensive toolkit for managers who want to improve their personal competence at hiring and promoting people,” (Araoz, (2007). Assuming an A, B, C workforce model, the best responsibility would be to categorize and monitor the significance of C-class employees. This is because the class is flexible and easy to differentiate in order to achieve results that a firm would need. Solid C-class players are good at some regular business duties that do not need innovation for an enhanced performance. Therefore, a workforce philosophy that does not pay attention to flexibility of this type of employees should be adopted.
Managers dealing with solid C-class players only need to make sure that they successfully adopt their duties and that they gain the much needed confident; after which, they are left to work with certain levels of supervision. They will do a basic job for a considerable period without seeking for promotion. In order to attract the services of solid C-class employees, a firm should not look for high qualification credentials but rather have the interview looking for only basic minimal qualifications. There is also the Toxic C-class employees whose services are a nuisance to smooth running of business operations. This group of employees may include A-class employees who achieve high performance ratings at a costly price. They achieve high performances by callously using other employees and utilizing business resources in unjustifiable manner.
In order to manage this group of employees, a philosophy that addresses the psychological state of their mind (psychopathy and narcissism) would be of great importance. A qualified psychoanalyst should be hired to offer a professional help for these condditions. What is vital however is the ability of managers to recruit best workforce and ensure that their performance is kept at check. The ideal of hiring the services of a qualified psychoanalyst is geared towards achieving this feat. Araoz, (2007) affirms that “Literally nothing is more important.
For almost every manager, personal success grows directly out of the ability to choose the right people for his or her team.” Deciding on who go to what category should be guided by the fact that differentiation should assist a company to build a strong and great team that is very productive. It is a reality that in accompany so workers are more knowledgeable, skillful and experienced than others. It would therefore be foolhardy to categorize employees at the same level. Ranking is based on principle that best team wins, (Welch, 2008) workers should be rewarded depending on their performance.
Those that are considered as stars in terms of their productivity should be rewarded the most. Their performance should automatically take them to top 20% as illustrated by Welch, (Welch, 2008). This will make them feel appreciated as rank normally comes with new but appetizing remuneration package. Those that are averagely productive should occupy the next category with least productive making it to the lowest category. This strategy is very vital to any firm as in makes employees take control of their destiny.
It will compel workers to intrinsically motivated as they understand their package purely depend meritocracy. This kind of method is should be practiced as it improves healthy competition among employees which a company stand to benefit in the long run. However, this frame may be faced with some pitfalls. Some bosses might misuse this principle to reward cronies without truly evaluating their performance. In other words some workers might find themselves in wrong categories depending on how close they are with their bosses. This might make some workers start seeking some favor from their bosses in order to be promoted.
If it is conducted with favoritism then lead to unnecessary rivalry among they works and this will only make the company to regress instead. The frame work might also be very costly more so in countries where labor laws are strictly followed.Conclusion For a company to be competitive, workers have to be ranked according to their productivity as this make them to be intrinsically motivated. It is also important that the workforce is differentiated into the various classes so that their services are employed to address the need of prevailing business activities. This ought to be done with special consideration to business culture as long as it can enhance performance progress of business activities.
