Sonoko’s Strategic Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths
Sonoko is a well established firm that has been operational for a considerable period. The success of the company in terms of profits in early years has seen it develop a strong corporate tradition and culture. The success of the HR function and management in the past years when the company was performing well can still be emulated and practiced in the future to replicate the positive performance.
With the decentralization of the firm’s HR function, Sonoko has a substantial number of HR experts within its ranks who help in managing and running the firm’s numerous HR divisions. These experts can collectively be of importance to the firm, particularly when seeking to harmonize and consolidate the firm’s HR function.
Support of SHRM initiative
SHRM insists on the pursuance of a corporate culture that aligns with the organizational objectives. Thus, SHRM will help in instilling a culture that sustains the productive past amongst Sonoco workers. Equally, it will establish new and emerging trends that can be incorporated into the corporate culture, and which help in implementing the firm’s objective.
SHRM will enable the firm to effectively plan and handle its internal HR needs. Different divisions may require different HR attention, but which is harmonized from a corporate point of view. This will help in eliminating instances where workers in one department feel neglected because of the way their colleagues in a different department are treated.
Weaknesses
The decentralized HR function at the company was a big weakness for Sonoko. Although decentralization is a positive move that can benefit the company if it is well managed, the whole idea was misconstrued at Sonoko. The divisions established their own HR functions and treated each other in a suspicious manner.
The HR functions were competing against each other, instead of cooperating towards the attainment of a common goal. HR was looked at as a back-room operation that only helped in protecting the front line operations.
The HR operations are also too complex, inefficient, and costly. The presence of divisional HR functions has made the operations of the entire HR function to be compounded. In essence, the HR function is largely ineffective. The ineffectiveness, on the other hand, has contributed to high expenses for the company.
For instance, there is lack of leadership continuity as promoted staff members fail to deliver on their management roles. This means that the company has to hire from outside to acquire new leaders, which is a comparatively expensive exercise altogether.
How SHRM can address the issues
SHRM will change the perspective of the HRM function at Sonoko. It will aim at unifying the objective of all the divisional HR functions into a common corporate objective. Thus, even if the divisions will still maintain their separate HR functions, their purpose will be unified. The SHRM will eliminate the unhealthy intra-organizational competition and instead establish a unifying factor.
The individual HR roles will also remain functional and well coordinated towards the advantage of the organization. Such functional roles as training, performance management, compensation, and benefit, among others can never be practical if communication is non-existent. SHRM will not only revive these functional roles, but will also increase employee satisfaction levels overly.
Cindy Hartley’s key goals for SHRM
Cindy Hartley’s main objective for achieving a strategic human resource management was to create an organization that would have a process that was fully integrated. Hartley had inherited a company whose human resource function was decentralized and, therefore, less effective in achieving positive results.
The decentralization was no longer having any strategic advantage to the company, but rather was only being tactical at most. The decentralization resulted in the major company divisions establishing their own independent HR functions which, instead of cooperating with the other HR functions in the separate divisions, ended up viewing them as competitors and, thus, failing to pull together towards the same direction.
Thus, to reverse the situation at Sonoco as it was, and achieve her intended SHRM goal, Hartley had to work towards integrating performance management, development, as well as succession planning. These functions feed off one another, and therefore they are mutually inclusive.
The goal was to link them back with the organizational values, culture, as well as business objectives. This was the only sure way Hartley could have begun off her long journey of achieving an SHRM for Sonoco.
The SHRM also aimed at making the organization more hybridized such that all the divisions would participate in implementing all the roles of a HR department. Such roles include, “staffing, succession planning, compensation, personnel programs, and benefits, among many others”.
Hartley was inheriting a system where some critical HR roles were actually being viewed as mere entitlements. They were not being considered as important costs worth being controlled by the company. Nobody was considering the importance of HR in driving behavioral results at the company.
Because of the complex staff structures, it was very difficult for the HR function as a whole to act in a strategic manner for the benefit of Sonoco. The lack of communication in the whole set up was having serious repercussions on the overall efficiency of the HR function.
For instance, the benefits and compensation planning director would come up with new approaches or programs, which would then be handed off to the administrative team.
By targeting a more hybrid organization, Hartley was seeking to establish some form of a divisional HR management, which would remain intact and offer assistance to the general managers whenever they would require assistance.
This implies that the new managers in the HR department would be in a position to create the bond that is needed between businesses and the functions of the corporate human resource responsibilities.
What Hartley should seek to achieve in plotting a strategic direction for the future
Hartley’s plotting of a strategic direction for the future should see her transform both the compensation system, as well as the performance management system. There is no need for these systems to be less mechanical and random. Rather, what is important is that these systems become linked, consistent, and reflect more accurately on the contribution of employees towards the company’s performance.
Equally important for Hartley to consider is the establishment of a development process for the employees. This is an important achievement towards plotting a strategic direction because it will help with refining further the employees skills, as well as help in the development of necessary skills that could be lacking.
Another important achievement that would help the plotting of a strategic direction is establishing a succession-planning process. The leaders that Sonoco will require to steer it forwards in the future ought to come from within the company itself. This talent pool of an organization is important because it addresses the aspect of sustainability.
One notable trend was the casual manner in which succession planning had been handled at the firm. It was negatively affecting the organization in the long-run because employees who had scaled their career ladders at the company were failing to deliver on their managerial roles.
An Outline of the Strategic Agenda Appropriate for Hertley
The first action for Hartley should be to work with what she has inherited at the firm. All the key players in the company’s overall HR function should contribute in providing input, coordination, as well as guidance concerning HR. The focus should be placed on aligning HR objectives and desired results with the desired culture of the organization.
Building a good will with other managers at the company is also an important aspect worth being considered for the agenda. The implementation and the overall change-over from the current practice will require the HR managers and supervisors’ contributions at their respective corporate levels.
Having a team that speaks with one voice will help in achieving this objective efficiently. Hartley should continuously seek their views and contributions to make them part of the team. Any opposition from within should not be treated as rebellion, but rather critically considered for the good of the company.
It is equally important that Hartley plans on how to inform the employees on the new changes to be expected. However, this should be done at a later stage, once all the difficulties have been ironed out. The supervisors will be better placed to conduct training to their respective teams and collect feedback from them.