Abstract
Home Depot went through many changes as a result of new CEO Frank Blake and Vice President of Human Resources, Tim Crow. The culture inherited by both Executives from their predecessors went through a transformation process for the business to thrive once again. Blake and Crow justified laying off 1,200 workers as a result of their vision to enhance Home Depot’s position in the market and to go back to the organizations foundations embedded by founders Arthur Blank and Bernard Marcus. Specifically, a closer look at the Human Resources function in the organization was focused on in order to align an HR strategy with the business model. This paper will discuss the strategic initiatives taken by Blake and Crow and how they created
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The strategy focuses on three key areas: Reward and Recognition, Talent Management, and Organizational Effectiveness (Armstrong, 2011). Reward and Recognition programs at HD consist of the following: Success Sharing for stores that achieve sales targets (paid out $63 million in 2007), Homer Badges for employees who exemplify company values, and the Product Knowledge Recognition program to reward learning initiatives (Crow, 2008).
As far as the Talent Management aspect of the strategy, Home Depot has a Master Trade Specialist program in place that hired 3,000 trade specialists who are licensed electricians and plumbers (Crow, 2008). What is more, the company has HR managers who are more involved than their predecessors with Store managers and the company has its own insourced call center to address employee concerns. To accomplish the third component of the Organization and People Strategy—Organizational Effectiveness, Home Depot has the Aprons on the Floor program, action based training modules, and an Aware Line telephone service for individuals to call and comment on particular situations (Crow, 2008).
Before Blake and Crow took over Home Depot, it was led by former CEO Robert Nardelli and his regime. Nardelli and his choice of Executives turned the Home Depot culture upside down. That is, company officers were at the top, employees in the middle, and customers on the bottom of the pyramid. It took Crow’s strategic mindset to turn the pyramid back to its
Human resource departments today have a more distinct, calculated position within organizations, and human resource strategy influences the bottom line. “One of the challenges for HR leaders is convincing executive leadership teams that human capital is one of the most important resources in which the company can invest” (Mayhew, 2014, p.). Subsequently, “this return on investment is an essential part of the argument for including HR as part of an overall business strategy” (Mayhew, 2014, p.). Human resource departments utilize the information given to them from company executives and leaders, coupled with their respective expertise on all things personnel, and they plan and implement staffing concerns for the betterment of the organization. From preparing job analysis, to comparing inventory and forecasting, it is the responsibility of human resources to consider the objectives of an organization and fulfill those goals while operating the specific planning relative to HR.
In an era of organizational flux due to competition and globalization, companies and employees are faced with constant change. Leaders must be able to adapt to change as the environment shifts. HR has been known as the organizational change agent, administrative expert, and employee advocate. More recently they have been regarded as business strategic partners for many organizations. In order to be successful and remain competitive in today’s market, Human Resources (HR) must be considered a strategic partner if an organization wants to flourish. Top executives today commit significant resources to ensure that their company’s functions are capable of rapid change and achieving their
Home Depot is the fastest growing retailer in the U.S. by some accounts. It has a fascinating history of innovation and entrepreneurship. The company had some difficulties in the mid-2000s that some attribute to cultural clashes. However, during this period the company was able to take full advantage of the housing boom. Yet when the bubble burst, Home Depot was forced to claim substantial losses. Despite these loses Home Depot has weathered the storm fairly well and is in prime position to take advantage of an economic recovery; if it ever comes.
When it comes to strategic decision making The Home Depot management was criticized for its lack of progress under Bob Nardelli (previous CEO) (“Home Depot tries”, 2007). The company was criticized for paying Nardelli way too much as CEO and still too much even after he left (“Home Depot tries”, 2007).
I, Marion Forbes the recently appointed senior human resources manager at Hallington Utilities Services (HUS), am facing with a dilemma; work out HR strategies with the Organizations mission and handle employee’s issues and concerns. HUS has made changes due external and internal factors encountered in the market as well as the new regulations happening within the sector. All are very complicated and my main issues are privatizing, downsizing, unionization, motivation, training and compensation. With the information collected, I need to figure out
Changing Home Depot culture to restore its reputation by provides the best customer service. First, I would make sure the team members have a retail background and then we will plan together ideas how to implement the change. We will look at a few complaints from the customers to see what we are lacking and then begin reshaping the vision. Initially we will start out with having the store clean, the aisles are fully stocked, stock room are organized, salesperson for each aisles and a monthly training for employees on customer service relationship followed by a quiz. Finally, a monthly meeting with the team members to review any comments from customers to see if there are improvement and how the changes are being developed. As customer
One of the differentiating factors of Home Depot was that it incorporated within its members a major aversion to any kind of beauracracy and hierarchy. It was a usual practice at the stores to ignore all kind of paperwork that was sent to them by the headquarters. They undervalued such directives to the extent that they would throw these papers in the waste basket or mark them with “BS” stamp and send it back to the headquarters. They believed that all this was a waste of time of the managers and they had more important things to address to at their stores, the most important of them being : satisfying the
Sam Walton was a highly successful businessman, partially as a result of his highly influential Human Resources strategy. Walton labored toward creating a welcoming environment for his employees and for Wal-Mart customers alike. Sam Walton believed in engaging his employees and customers personally, moreover Walton believed in treating people well and fostering teamwork within the workplace. Sam Walton use of human capital management, skills development, targeted recruitment, and growth – revenue/profit strategies accelerated Wal-Mart to a global retail enterprise. Walton’s accomplishments ensured the continuation of his Human Resource legacy after his passing.
One of the functions that help channel Walmart towards its corporate goals is its retention program. Walmart as a company suffers from relatively high employee turnover especially from among hourly sales employee (Thompson). The retention program is geared towards retaining the employees that Walmart already has. This is done by recognising the efforts of excellent staffs, by awarding bonuses to deserving staffs based on business performance, although this strategy is used for managerial positions (Thompson). It also includes promotions and training development to support the company human resource needs
Human Resource management has a high impact on the overall organization being managed. HR management makes certain that human talent is used successfully and resourcefully to accomplish organizational goals. As an organization core competency, human resources has distinctive competencies that generates high value and sets apart an organization from competitors in areas such as productivity, quality and service, employee skills, and innovative changes. HR management activities can be grouped into categories which include strategic HR management; equal employment opportunity; staffing and talent management; compensation and benefits; and employee and industry relations. This paper will
Whether an organization consists of five or 25,000 employees, human resources management is vital to the success of the organization. HR is important to all managers because it provides managers with the resources – the employees – necessary to produce the work for the managers and the organization. Beyond this role, HR is capable of becoming a strong strategic partner when it comes to “establishing the overall direction and objectives of key areas of human resource management in order to ensure that they not only are consistent with but also support the achievement of business goals.” (Massey, 1994, p. 27)
The field of human resources (HR) plays a critical role in the performance and success of organizations. As organizations have become increasingly more complex, the effective management of HR has become even more important. The traditional perception of HR as only an administrative office is no longer valid. Instead, contemporary HR is directly involved with the internal organizational structure, business operations, and variety of functions carried out by employees on a daily basis (Reed & Bogardus, 2012). HR functions impact the organization’s strategic planning, improvement processes, and goal achievement. Six core bodies of knowledge provide the foundation for all of these HR functions. These areas are: strategic
During this portion of the case study I will try to define the current connection between organizational strategy and HR activities at The King Company. The current relationship between the King Company and Staff departments lacks structure, trustworthiness, and leadership. This is evident by reviewing the e-mails, lack of professionalism, and unfortunate management. Throughout module one we have learned strategically planning and ensuring human resources is a part of the plan from the beginning to execution phase. Old school drill meant leaders making the plan and making it happen without any involvement from human resources. Human resources primary function was to hire new employees, process paperwork, and oversee finance operations. With modern
A strong foundation for success and growth was already in place in Home Depot under Marcus leadership. The company demonstrated a very strong culture, built on entrepreneurialism and customer service. Abundant promotion opportunities were created due to rapid growth attracting carpenters, plumbers and other building professionals as salespeople. Most of the non-entry-level jobs were filled internally, and from the 400 department heads, just a dozen came from outside the company. Additionally, employee stock
As the world is turning out to be more aggressive and unstable than any other time in recent memory, producing based enterprises are looking to increase upper hand at all cost and are swinging to more inventive sources through HRM practices (Sparrow, Schuler, & Jackson, 1994). HR practices has been defined by (Smallbusiness.chron.com, 2016) as “the means through which your human resources personnel can develop the leadership of your staff.”