Creating the Best Workplace on Earth - Dell - Case Study Example

Creating the Best Workplace on Earth Company Dell incorporation is an American multinational firm that offers computer technology products and services and is based in Round Rock, Texas. The firm manufactures, sells, repairs and offer computer support services and related products and services globally. Being one of the largest technological firms globally, Dell employs more than 103,300 employees. It sells personal computers (PCs), data storage devices, servers, network switches, peripheral devices, printers, cameras, MP3 players and electronics built by other companies. Dell is renowned for its innovations in supply chain management and electronic commerce especially its direct-sales model, and its build-to-order manufacturing approach (delivering individual PCs configured to customer specifications). Initially, Dell was a hard ware company but after acquiring Perot Systems, it penetrated the IT systems market. Dell later made acquisitions in storage and networking systems in order to expand its portfolio from offering computer hardware to offering wholesome computer solutions under one roof. Why Dell was Chosen for the Research Dell was chosen for this research because it embraces international human capital management principles and practices. The company’s success is attributed to the fact that it focuses its technological innovation on people. Dell ties its key performance indicators on customer satisfaction and employee motivation. The corporation provides its employees with a conducive environment to allow for innovation and creativity. The mode of supervision is decentralized to increase workers’ ability to think freely and innovate creative IT solutions. The company creates the best work place for its employees by giving them freedom and intrinsic motivation to help them grow. Employees of Dell are happy and satisfied to work for the company (Zhang, Xiaomeng & Bartol, 17). For the research, three employees at different levels were interviewed. They all admitted that Dell is a good employer, who is keen to develop their personal interests and ensure that employees grow with the company. They say that Dell is a multinational company that develops its human resource by providing a conducive work place, in order to provide innovative IT solutions globally. How the Corporation Attracts, Retains and Develops its Human Capital Dell’s mission statement states that, “Dell is committed to being a good neighbor in the communities we call home. We must continue to grow responsibly – protecting our natural resources and practicing sustainability in all its forms – and improve the communities where we live and work through our financial and volunteer efforts." The mission statement focuses on providing financial and voluntary innovative solutions to the communities where it has businesses. Therefore, the company focuses its IT solutions towards solving individual and societal needs. It therefore customizes its products to suit individual user needs (Zhang, Xiaomeng & Bartol, 19). A good example that demonstrates Dell’s commitment to focus its products on individual users are the innovations in supply chain management and electronic commerce, especially its direct-sales model, and its build-to-order manufacturing approach (delivering individual PCs to configured to customer specifications). The community includes Dell’s employees, to whom the company created the best work place on earth by giving them intrinsic motivation such as freedom to use their creativity in finding innovative solutions, valuing and rewarding their work, and giving them constructive feedback. Dell has several goals that inspire its core operations. The first goal is to increasingly offer innovative IT solutions that are customized to suit individual users. To achieve this goal, the corporation provides its employees with the right environment and motivation to enable them dig/ tap their creativity by coming up with creative IT solutions to address societal needs. The company moreover has an objective of expanding its global reach and range of products and services as a future goal. To achieve this goal, Dell relies on its strategic management, geared towards increasing IT innovation and creativity by acquiring companies such as Perot Systems to increase the services and solutions it offers to its clients (Ryan, Richard & Edward, 41). Another strategic move to achieve this goal is increasing its services to include networking storage, in order to provide inclusive IT services and solutions. The multinational corporation also plans to expand by venturing into new markets in other countries especially developing countries. The focus on developing countries is very strategic because these countries need IT solutions for economic growth, yet they don’t have companies offering these services. Dell aims to penetrate these markets and gain the ‘first in the market’ competitive advantage, in order to gain a huge market share before other companies invest in these new markets. The company is driven by several values that define its core operations and thus direct its employees. Winning with integrity is a value Dell uses to focus its efforts on winning the right way. The company maintains its integrity by remaining honest and professional in interactions with its stakeholders. The employees demonstrate Dell’s winning culture by displaying positive, supportive and constructive relationships with customers and other stakeholders. Dell is also committed to substance (growth with clarity) by delivering results that make positive influence and difference. Dell aims to ensure that everyone in any type of environment take advantage of technology. It achieves this by increasingly striving to offer customized IT solutions. Leading with openness and optimism is another value that drives the company’s core operations (Ryan, Richard & Edward, 43). Dell values different perspectives and experiences because it believes all employees have important contribution. It focuses on honest and transparent communication, listens carefully and takes action to deliver real solutions to real-world problems. Hence it supports positive growth by delivering innovative IT solutions which facilitate personal growth for individuals in the world. Technology can change and is essential for success, Dell leverages on this advantage. The company requires certain personalities, abilities and competencies in the people it employs. Dell’s recruitment process is intense because it employs individuals who have the ability to work in its high performance environment and contribute positively in finding innovative solutions to societal problems. Creativity and ability to innovate solutions is a competence that Dell seeks when recruiting new employees. They must demonstrate how they used their creativity to solve a problem in the past to qualify for hiring. Dell also looks for leadership and ability to work with minimal or no supervision. The company’s culture support employee independence at work to facilitate creativity and therefore cannot hire individuals who need close supervision to complete tasks. It also seeks for interpersonal skills and ability to work in a team (Herzberg, 432). Because its mission is to provide creative is solutions to the community it works in, Dell requires employees who can engage with the community to identify its problems in order to innovate solutions. This calls for good people and communication skills. Technical skills and competency are required of every employee of Dell. As such, the company employs professionals only to avoid compromising on the quality by employing incompetent individuals. This research revealed that Dell’s culture focuses on people and thrives when people live well. According to the culture, the company sets goals on how it wants to grow by focusing on offering IT solutions to solve real societal problems. Dell’s customers and other stakeholders’ help the company define its goals and principles and also live these values and principles. The interviewees in this research revealed that Dell’s culture is people centered and result oriented. The company focuses on enriching all its stakeholders by offering innovative solutions that across all edges of technological complexities (Herzberg, 37). An extensive analysis of data from the interview revealed that Dell thrives when its clients are successful especially by using the company’s products and services to enrich their lives. The culture also values people by creating a diverse workplace, where people collaborate and team up to make positive contribution. The culture further focuses on creating a conducive work environment by improving work experience for all employees by giving them the tools and flexibilities required to complete their tasks efficiently. The company aims to intrinsically motivate its employees by creating the best work place on earth. Letting the employees be themselves is one way of achieving the best workplace and thus motivate its employees. The company focuses on embracing diversity of its employees rather than enforce a single dominant culture on them. This ensures that individuals feel free to work in an environment that understands and values their differences. Managing work place diversity gives the company the advantage of tapping different talents and focuses/ channels these varying talents into providing innovative solutions (Goffee & Jones, 13). The company transcends dominant cultures such as dress code, work habits, traditions and governing assumptions in order to create a relaxed environment where individuals are free to be themselves. For example, the company relaxed its dress code to allow IT staff to wear casual outfit and accommodate people who work at odd hours in addition to those who prefer 9-to -5 schedule. The advantage of this type of approach is that it eliminates biasness and predictability that lead to a culture of conformity. Unleashing the flow of information is another way Dell uses to create the best work place on earth and motivate its employees. Dell doesn’t distort or deceive, it recognizes that with the emergency of social media such as twitter, Facebook and WikiLeaks, it is important to tell the truth because it will eventually come out no matter how hidden it is. The company respects that its employees needs to know what is going on in the organization so that they can work efficiently. Unleashing the flow of information is particularly important for companies with volatile environments with difficulties in keeping everyone aligned and where workers are oriented to think strategically (Goffee & Jones, 15). Updating employees with information concerning the company’s development motivates them to work harder to fulfill the company’s goals. It makes them view the organization as a concerned partner who engages them and value their efforts. Therefore, Dell constantly ensures an uninterrupted flow of information on its recent developments so that employees can work hard to achieve them. The company motivates workers by magnifying their strengths so that they can become better and more competent. Dell understands that the benefits of developing existing employees exceed the costs of hiring new workers. Dell also develops its employees to increase their loyalty to the company and avoid losing them for more promising opportunities. Developing employee talent is a mutually beneficial approach to employees and the organization. The employees’ competence is increased through training and development and so does their value (Goffee & Jones, 17). The greater value translates to more productivity and innovativeness to increase creative IT solutions, company growth growth and profitability. Employees benefit from their increased value through better compensation packages such as more responsibilities, promotions, increased salaries and bonuses. Dell has been valuing to its workers through providing networks, creative interactions with their peers, challenging assignments and training to develop workers’ creativity and skills. Although bringing the best out of all employees is very risky, its rewards are great. It increases Dell’s reputation capital, making the company retain current and acquire new customers with ease. Dell stands for more than shareholder value because individuals want to be part of something bigger than themselves. Dell strives to have shared values and meaning by doing more than fulfilling its mission statement. It seeks to forge and maintain powerful connections between individual and organizational values. This simultaneously fosters individuality and strong culture. The Connections Dell forge emerge from the way it does business i.e. offering inclusive and innovative IT solutions to address all kind of technological needs (Hsiu-Fen,19). By standing for more than shareholder value, the company focuses on all areas that ensure efficiency of operations. It then motivates employees by maintaining healthy connections with them to enable them advertise for the company when they interact with customers. Employees who are customer contact points such as customer service agents are developed using the best customer relationship management systems. This makes them forge better connections that go beyond adding share value to increasing healthy connections can facilitate future resource acquisition. The company further creates the best work place on earth by showing employees how daily work makes sense. Dell’s executive management aims at deriving meaning from their daily activities. This calls for deliberate reconsideration of workers individual tasks. The executives evaluate whether a worker’s activities make sense and if worker’s work is optimal, according the established standards of work. This is a huge and complex process, aimed at ensuring that employees are fully utilized to achieve the company’s goals. The process also helped to develop employees whose work doesn’t make economic sense or reschedule them to areas where they are maximally productivity (Hsiu-Fen, 20).This benefits the employee by developing their skills and more compensation for increased productivity. Having rules that people can believe in is another way Dell intrinsically motivates its workers and create the best work place for them. Dell has an organization structure with rules that govern its operations. The rules enable the company to maintain its organization and subsequently define how work is done. They are simple and explain the rationale of the procedures and policies described there in. Employees are involved in formulating rules that directly affect their work) (Hsiu-Fen, 21). This increases implementation of these rules in addition to increasing their acceptability by employees. Having rules that employees believe in is a motivational factor because employees view them as a way of maintaining safety and increasing their productivity, rather than a way of restraining them and a display of employers distrust. Therefore, Dell keeps simple rules and procedures of work and has an open door policy for employees to air their concerns and propose change of rules that hinder their work performance. Conclusion Dell provides its workers with the best work place that increases their autonomy in order to increase their creativity in providing innovative IT solutions. The company nurtures individual’s skills and talent. It updates them with current developments to facilitate their efficiency and peace of mind. The company has rules that people believe in and cares for more than shareholder value. In addition, it adds value to employees by developing their competency. Dell embraces international human capital management principles and practices. The company’s success is attributed to the fact that it focuses its technological innovation on people. Work Cited Goffee, Rob, and Gareth Jones. "Creating the best workplace on earth."Harvard business review 91.5 (2013): 98-106. Goffee, Robert, and Gareth Jones. Why should anyone be led by you?: What it takes to be an authentic leader. Harvard Business Press, 2006. Herzberg, Frederick. "One more time: How do you motivate employees." New York: The Leader Manager (1986): 433-448. Lin, Hsiu-Fen. "Effects of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation on employee knowledge sharing intentions." Journal of information science (2007). Ryan, Richard M., and Edward L. Deci. "Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being."American psychologist 55.1 (2000): 68. Zhang, Xiaomeng, and Kathryn M. Bartol. "Linking empowering leadership and employee creativity: The influence of psychological empowerment, intrinsic motivation, and creative process engagement." Academy of Management Journal 53.1 (2010): 107-128. Read More