The King Company is a new contract manufacturer in a top Midwest mid-sized town. According to Wright and McMahan (2011), “as the business environment becomes more competitive, firms’ human resources (HRs) become more important to firm success” (p. 93). King produces high-quality computer-industry specialized modules. Don Dean, the current CEO, founded the company in 1994. Dean was a bright young engineer from Silicon Valley. The King Company faces many of the challenges that are expected in today’s business environment. As a result of declining sales, the company’s strategy must shift from one of expansion and high profit to one of controlling costs and staff decrease. Having started in rented areas in a nearly empty strip mall, the company hired Cliff Madison as chief financial officer early on.
Up to this point, the newest recession in the business has had little impact on King. Its niche in the market has remained high-quality, specialized hardware. The company is proud that its devices are still manufactured in the United States, as well as its ISO quality assurance from the International Organization for Standardization. King markets its items and has a comparatively small client base spread across the United States and Asia, but this only accounts for a small portion of King’s income. Eighty-three percent of King’s revenue comes from the creation of initial specialty modules for a single manufacturer.
Though King is still non-union, the company went through a difficult period of employee unrest three years ago. There were problems reported about incompetent management, inconsistently imposed regulations, inappropriate career changes, and worker mobility within the company. Situations have changed for King since the times of the storefront place and a small staff. Dean is still the CEO, but he no longer oversees day-to-day activities, preferring to spend his time at his family’s romantic getaway on the Maine coast or in the Caribbean during the cold season.
The past leadership was unsatisfactory as there was constant inequality in employee management. Companies should have a bonus system, but the algorithm for receiving a reward must be well thought out; otherwise, the reward will lose its value. The inequality among the workers shows that the leadership was not concerned with the cadres but with the result. The society in the company must be equal to each other; otherwise, it will lead to misunderstandings and resentments, as was the case with the previous management. Each employee must understand that they are doing an essential part of the work, that they are irreplaceable, and that the company values their work. Otherwise, there will be constant speculation and accusations in society. Each employee should have a maximum load per shift so that it does not work out as it was with the previous management; when an employee gives his work to another, this is wrong and should be settled.
The situation with Dugas leaves much to be desired, this employee shows himself to be on the good side of management, but colleagues who spend a lot of time with her complain about her. The management should have settled the relations of the employees because the behavior of Dugas badly affects the working atmosphere of the company. According to Schultz (2014), “strategic HR is not all about hugs.” I believe that the best advice for that leadership would be to regularly check the work of employees for their relationships and atmosphere in general.
In terms of leadership before my arrival, Alan Grant was doing his job well because the staff was happy to work with him. According to Gregg Learning (2018), “Human Resource Management comprises the formal systems designed to manage people in an organization.” Every company must have a healthy atmosphere inside; otherwise, the work will go badly. Grant cared about the internal climate of the company and understood that his job was paramount to providing a healthy work environment. When replacing Alan, I want to continue his policy regarding a good climate in the company, a system of bonuses, as it makes the employees happy, and this is what my job as a human resources manager is about. I want to approach the process of work as responsibly as possible and charge employees with only positive energy.
Summing up, I can say that the King company has already gone through many stages. In my opinion, it is normal for any company to have ups and downs if the factors that influenced it are not within the company. When a company collapses from the inside out, it means that extreme measures should be taken. The leadership before Alan Grant was frankly terrible as the team’s relationship was terrible. With the arrival of Grant, he found a suitable vector of development and showed how the company could be developed in terms of personnel. Each person began to realize their value in the company and to solve essential issues collectively. My arrival in Grant’s place should further improve the company. After all, I want to continue his plan to improve the climate within the team because I believe that this is a crucial factor in any team.
References
Gregg Learning. (2018). HR basics: Human resource management [Video].
Schultz, L. (2014). What is Strategic HR? [Video file].
Wright, P. M., & McMahan, G. C. (2011). Exploring human capital: Putting ‘human’ back into strategic human resource management. Human Resource Management Journal, 21(2), 93-104.