Managing Global Talent - Term Paper Example

 «Managing Global Talent – Unilever» 1. Introduction The change of a firm’s existing HR policies has to be decided using specific criteria: the needs of the firm in the short and the long term but also the market trends need to be taken into consideration when having to deal with the particular problem. The performance of the firm during the period under consideration – i.e. when the relevant strategic plan is under discussion – is always critical for the success of the specific effort. In the literature different views have been developed regarding the estimation and the evaluation of current business performance. In accordance with Carley et al. (1994) ‘organizational structure is measured by features such as organizational degree of hierarchy, organizational connectivity, organizational least-upper-boundedness and organizational communication level’ (Carley et al., 1994, p.124-125). Because the structure of firms worldwide tend to present different formats, the differentiation of schemes chosen for a firm’s strategic restructuring is necessary. We could indicatively refer to the strategic options suggested by Baker et al. (2005): ‘1. Layout analysis; 2. Routing analysis; 3. Bottleneck identification; 4. Bottleneck management and 5. Work-in-process (WIP) management’ (Baker et al., 2005, 44). These options/ strategic methods are available to managers that seek to measure the performance of their firm using specific indicators of organizational performance. The role of HR managers in the success of the relevant efforts is quite important; however, HR managers should be able to accurately evaluate the firm’s needs after having identified the key strengths/ weaknesses of existing HR strategies. In other words, the overall performance of a firm’s HR management team should be reviewed and supported before any HR plan (referring to all organizational departments) is applied. The specific issue is also noticed in the study of Conner (1996) who made clear that in order ‘to improve its effectiveness and have greater impact, the human resource function must understand how to add value in the organization by helping line managers align HR strategies, processes, and practices with business needs’ (Conner et al., 1996, 38). In Unilever, the performance of employees is kept at high levels using a series of effective HR policies (including rewarding schemes, fair compensation, and periodical overview of performance – promotion based on equality and so on). As for the talent management policies used by the firm’s HR managers, these should be updated meeting more effectively the firm’s needs but also the skills of employees in all the firm’s departments. 2. Unilever – company overview Unilever is a firm well established in the global market. Currently – in accordance with the firm’s website – about 174,000 people work in the firm’s brands worldwide. The firm’s operations are expanded to 100 countries (see also corporate website). The firm was established in 1890 and started as a business of selling of hygiene products. Through the years, the range of the firm’s products was increased. Actually, in the decade of 2000s the firm has achieved significant profits through its activation in the food market, the advertising, the personal care and the hygiene products/ services. Brands like Surf, Dove, Lipton, Knorr and Hellmann’s belong to the particular firm. HRM in Unilever Unilever is a firm operating in about 100 countries worldwide. Its HR managers have to deal with different organizational needs and priorities. The firm’s HR policies are available in the corporate website. Two major criteria seem to influence the professional potentials of candidates: a) their professional experience and b) their skills. In order to apply for a position candidates have to choose between the two options – graduates and professionals. At a next level, a choice has to be made regarding the department in which the candidate would wish to work – he can choose using the personal evaluation toolkit – an interactive test that can help him to identify his professional strengths/ weaknesses and apply to the most appropriate position. After entering the firm, individuals (employees) can enjoy the benefits and rewards that the firm offers to its employees – equality and fairness are strongly promoted in the firm while particular emphasis is given on the communication between employees and leaders. 3. Restructuring of talent management policies in Unilever using the talent management theories In accordance with the issues developed above, the restructuring of HR policies in Unilever – even partially – is required in order for the productivity of the firm’s employees to be increased. At a first level, existing strategic options – theoretical models but also resources – available to the firm’s HR managers should be identified. The priorities of HR managers in modern organizations – especially regarding the update of existing HR policies – were examined by Cook et al. (2001) who noticed that the update of a firm’s HR strategies can be successful only if the following activities are performed by the HR managers: ‘making and keeping relationships, implementing new technology in the supply channel, the use of forecasting to increase supply chain effectiveness, outsourcing to increase efficiency, and cost management as a strategic weapon’ (Cook et al., 2001, 14). Through another point of view, it is suggested by Barrick et al. (2003) that‘an organization could increase productivity simply by increasing the happiness and satisfaction of its employees, and both organizations and employees would benefit’ (Landy, 1989, R. Wright, 2000 in Barrick et al., 2003, 30). In any case, the choice of the appropriate HR policy – aiming to increase a firm’s productivity – is made by HR managers need to have specific skills in order to respond to the demands of their role. Apart from be quite competent in communication (with employees but also with the firm’s administrative board/ or CEO, HR managers need to be able to understand the needs of the firm but also effectively explain their ideas/ proposals when required. The use of commonly accepted styles of leadership (like the autocratic or the charismatic, as analyzed by Ellis, 1991) could be proved to be particularly helpful for HR managers when having to deal with quite critical HR policies. At the level of the implementation of HR strategies in practice, HR managers should be able to handle the conflicts that could possibly appear because of the changes introduced in the workplace. These conflicts are the most common form of workplace resistance which appears in firms where the changes suggested by the firm’s managers are not effectively explained – justified to the employees. The introduction of change in modern firms and its potential effects have been studied by Greve (1998) who supported that within the context of modern market, change in firms can be considered as ‘as an outcome jointly determined by motivation to change, opportunity to change, and capability to change’ (Greve, 1998, 59). The effects of attempted changes in modern firms should be always taken into consideration – they can be predicted up to a particular level – by managers when having to deal with the update of specific organizational policies/ activities. The update of HR policies in Unilever should be based on the findings of HR literature – in order to avoid delays in the completion of the relevant project – but also on the firm’s characteristics/ needs as they have been identified and evaluated in the previous section. The HR policies chosen for the particular firm should fit with the specific organizational environment. The term ‘fit’ is explained by Wright (1998) as follows: ‘the basic theory behind "fit" is that the effectiveness of any HR practice or set of practices for impacting firm performance depends upon the firm's strategy’ (Wright, 1998, 56). Fit can also refer to the alignment between the needs of a particular plan and the skills of employees involved in the realization of the specific plan. In this case, a fit in skills – demands must be achieved. Figure 1 – Global Talent management – Harris, Sparrow and Brewster (2004, 63) Apart from the theory of ‘fit’ as explained above, other theoretical models, like the one of Harris et al. (2004) presented in Figure 1, should be also taken into consideration by managers in Unilever. In the model of Harris et al. (2004) the interaction of HR with other business sectors, especially the marketing and the information systems, is highlighted. The interaction of the above business units – which operate as one unit for the needs of the particular model – can lead to the development of effective talent management practices addressing nine issues that are clearly presented in the specific model. Figure 2 – HR model of Schuler (source: Schuler et al., 1998) From another point of view, the success of HR policies depends on the promotion of specific strategic choices that are characterized as strategic human resource management (as presented in Figure 2 above) that was analytically explained by Schuler. In accordance with the specific theory, the success of HR policies depends not only on indigenous (inter-organizational) factors but also on exogenous factors (referring to the characteristics of the particular industrial sector but also the local/ regional ethics). Moreover, flexibility should be taken into consideration when developing a specific HR plan; the compensation of employees would be carefully reviewed making sure that equality is promoted in the organization. The HR model of Schuler could be used in Unilever causing the following effects on the firm’s existing HR framework: a) use of industry trends and cultural ethics as indicators for the development of the firm’s HR policies (it would be expected that the effectiveness of the HR plans in Unilever would be increased either in the short or the long term), b) improvement of the firm’s operational framework – focusing on the development of communication among the firm’s employees (the improvement of the employees’ performance would be expected to follow), c) emphasis on the increase of competitiveness of the firm’s HR policies within the international marketplace (more high skilled employees could be attracted), d) effort to improve the compensation of employees, e) improvement of the knowledge management policies used in various organizational departments (employees would be better informed on the firm’s needs but also on the clients’ demands – improvement of the firm’s performance) and f) improvement of the firm’s cost management – referring to the alignment between the compensation of employees and their skills – promotion of fairness and equality across the organization (the increase of the employees’ motivation – as a result of the above initiative – could lead to the increase of the firm’s productivity). Figure 3 - Organisational capability Model of Montealegre.   The development of HR policies has been also examined by Montealegre who emphasized on the importance of five resources for the success of HR plans: ‘a) the leadership, b) the organizational culture, c) the information technology, d) the community networks and e) the long term view’ (Montealegre, 2000, Figure 3). All these resources must be used by HR managers that have to design and implement a specific HR policy – in fact these resources should be used throughout the relevant task – as presented clear in Figure 3 above. For Unilever, the application of the model of Montealegre could lead to the following changes: a) emphasis on the increase of employees’ skills (training), b) increase of flexibility – referring to the firm’s HR policies, c) increase of the firm’s investment on its resources and its infrastructure, d) improvement of the firm’s relationship with its clients – potential development of extranet and e) analysis and appropriate use of firm’s experience on HRM – identification of failures in the firm’s HR policies up to now – improvement of HR plans in accordance with the global competition. The improvement of the firm’s IT systems would be also decided within the context of the Montealegre model on organizational capability. One of the most well known theoretical schemes for the development of HR policies is 7 Cs. The specific theory emphasizes on the existence of seven priorities – in terms of the behaviour of managers towards employees in modern organizations. In accordance with the above theory, the following issues would be quite important for the improvement of a firm’s HR strategies: a) cosmopolitans – refers to the ability of employees to have an extended social network (in both personal and professional life), b) culture – in a successful organization the culture should be strongly promoted, c) compensation – a successful leader would understand the needs of employees and promote fairness in the workplace – especially regarding the remuneration of employees, d) communication – in modern organizations the communication with employees should be strongly promoted and supported, e) consultancy – it can be combined with the communication issue highlighted before. In modern organizations employees should offered support through a consultant in case of personal problems that affect the performance of employees in the workplace, f) competence – refers to the skills of employees as they can be identified and evaluated through appropriate HR policies – when these competencies are aligned with the firm’s needs then the firm’s HR strategies have reached the required point of success and g) co-ordination – refers to the co-ordination not only between employees but also between employees and managers. HR managers in Unilever should also take into consideration the principles of Successful Coaching (see also Berger et al., 2003, 311). In accordance with the specific theory, the success of HR policies is based on the following elements: a) context – refers to the context of the organization, i.e. organizational culture, ethics and objectives, b) clarity – HR managers should be able to make their arguments clear, i.e. to support and justify their views and persuade employees/ firm’s administration regarding the effectiveness of the suggested HR plans, c) commitment – HR managers (considered as playing a leader’s role) should be able to commit to the organizational priorities and targets, d) coachability – HR managers should be able to proceed to effective coaching methods supporting employees with appropriate policies in any case that changes are introduced in the workplace, e) courses of action – the whole plan (introduction and establishment of changes in a particular organization) has to be appropriately monitored in terms of the feasibility of its elements – all details of the plan should be carefully reviewed by the HR managers and relevant courses of action should follow any attempted change in the workplace, f) confidentiality – the power/ ability of leader to develop a climate of trust within the organization especially through his behaviour, g) chemistry – refers to the effectiveness of communication within the organization – it can be depended not only on employees’ personal attitudes – it can be also influenced by the leader’s strategic choices. In accordance with the above, the restructuring of the talent management practices in Unilever should be based on specific criteria: a) identification of the candidates’ competencies on technology (see relevant theory of Harris et al., 2004), b) identification of the candidates’ ability to communicate (the performance of candidates in marketing – related positions would be evaluated more easily, see also the theory of Harris et al., 2004), c) update of existing interviewing methods making sure that fairness and equality are promoted in the hiring process, d) introduction of tests in which the knowledge of the candidates on the firm’s activities in the market is examined, e) production of reports with firm’s current needs (reports have to be as accurate as possible) in order to align firm’s needs – employees’ skills (or else to apply the ‘fit’ theory by Wright, 1998), f) promotion of communication with employees – the firm’s leaders should improve their communication with employees in all organizational departments (see also the theory of Montealegre, Figure 3), g) additional issues, like the cultural/ educational background of candidates would be also taken into consideration (candidates with specific cultural background would be competent in understanding the needs of the firm’s branches in regions with similar cultural characteristics, see also Schuler et al., 1998 in Figure 2 above). 4. Conclusion In accordance with the issues developed above it is made clear that different strategic options can be made by HR managers in organizations around the world taking into account the firms’ characteristics, its position in the market, the time framework for the achievement of targets set and the resources available for the realization of the relevant projects. A similar problem is examined in the study of Gionfriddo et al. (1999) where the efforts of NITT – a firm of the information technology sector – to improve the performance of its employees are presented and evaluated. In the above study it is noticed that ‘to increase retention, NIIT rewards employees for achieving a personal balance between family, career and community’ (Gionfriddo et al., 1999, 31). From a similar point of view, Zingheimr et al. (1999) suggest that ‘successful companies increasingly are basing their pay systems on the individual's ability to learn, grow, and contribute to the achievement of shared goals’ (Zingheimr et al., 1999, 36). Referring especially to Unilever, it could be supported that the firm has to update – even gradually – its HR policies in order to ensure that it will keep its competitiveness in the global market. The introduction of talent management methods in the firm needs to be carefully handled making sure that the relevant projects are accepted by the employees – at least by the majority of employees. The fact that the specific firm operates in the private sector does not have particular interest regarding the success of HR management plans; however, there are also opposite views in the literature emphasizing on the importance of a firm’s structure for the potentials of success of its strategic initiatives. In this context, it is stated by Robertson et al. (1995, 547) that ‘because private sector organizations are driven primarily by market or consumer preferences, organizational effectiveness is more readily measured in terms of efficiency and profitability’. In other words, since Unilever operates in the private sector, specific criteria need to be set for the evaluation of success of its HR plans – there is no the support of the state, like in public organizations, in case of failure of these plans. The fact that the attempted update of the firm’s HR policies may not be welcomed by the employees should be also taken into consideration by the firm’s HR managers when developing the specific plans. Bibliography Baker, G., Maddux, H. (2005). Enhancing Organizational Performance: Facilitating the Critical Transition to a Process View of Management. SAM Advanced Management Journal, 70(4): 43-47 Barrick, M., Ryan, A. (2003). Personality and Work: Reconsidering the Role of Personality in Organizations. Jossey-Bass. 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