Marshall & Gordon - Human Resource Management - Assignment Example

Human Rеsоurсе Name: Tutor: Subject: 1. Marshall & Gordon is committed to pursuing a strategy that adds executive positioning to the traditional public relations services. Evaluate Marshall & Gordon’s current compensation system. Does it support the company’s new strategy? Marshall & Gordon is an international and global public relations firm, offering various services across the world. The company is a market leader with a large market segment. Even though the firm has positioned itself well in the market, it requires new strategies so as to survive the stiff competition it faces in the market. Marshall & Gordon just like any other international firm is currently facing high competition in the market. In order to improve its performance, the firm must adopt new ways of marketing its services. It is vital for the firm to motivate its employees and to develop a strong relationship with its customers. The company has expanded its target customers by expanding its service offering to include executive positioning. In order to succeed in offering these services, it has to adopt various strategies include training of its employees so that they can be able to explain how the new services works. Customers will definitely want to know more about the new services and, therefore, the employees should be in a position to explain it. Furthermore, the company to have a clear vision and mission so that it can act as the driving force in the company. Having a clear vision is paramount. The entire employees will be knowing what the company is driving to achieve. It will also motivate the employees because everyone in the organization will want to be part of the success (Ambrose et al, 2014). The firm needs to make some strong choices concerning rolling-out, measuring the aspect of consultant’s performance, the kind of performance management system and process that will be relevant in supporting the compensation system in the firm, and the personnel who should be responsible in deciding the consultants’ variable compensation. The current compensation system of Marshall and Gordon is fairly good, and it is likely to support the company’s new strategy. The compensation system for the managers is so high Marshall & Gordon as compared to other firms. This will motivate them to implement the strategy that adds executive positioning to the traditional public relations services. The CEO and other leaders within the company are paid well and; therefore, they will work extremely hard in pursuing goals and objectives of the company (Bell, 2014). Marshall & Gordon is an international firm with its subsidiaries all over the world. Though the company faces threats from competitors, there is no doubt that the company will retain its employees, especially the productive ones. Employers are always looking for higher compensation that are proportional to their work. Job description in Marshall & Gordon is current because it is updated whenever the job content changes. This encouraging because the compensation system will also change. Employees are a vital element in the company. This is because they are a major determinant of the future of the company. Marshall & Gordon is likely to succeed in pursuing a new strategy if there will be a maximum involvement of the employees (Kearney and Mareschal, 2014).  CEOs and managers must act as an example to motivate the entire staff members during the marketing of the new product. Executive position is an essential strategy for the company. The CEO should ensure that the issue is reviewed at the board so that the current compensation system is updated to suit the needs and wants of the entire system in the company. 2. If you are the Chief HR Officer at Marshall & Gordon, what change(s) would you make to its compensation system? If I were the Chief Human Resource Officer at Marshall and Gordon, I would make various changes in the firm’s compensation system. I could start by identifying the goals and the expected outcome of the firm. This is what can be referred to as developing organizational compensation philosophy. There are numerous factors that I must consider before making any change or introduce any new element. Some of these elements include the balancing of the direct and indirect rewards, analysis of the external versus internal equity, the nature of the responsibility of the role and the merit of the candidate or an employee filling in. These issues looked simple, but they are crucial to the success of the firm; they act as motivational factors in every organization (Breevaart et al 2014). Some of the changes I will introduce in a compensation system include the lump-sum bonuses (or awards). I will introduce this to substitute the merit pay. This is because the merit pay seems to be compulsory especially the annual increments. This can be expensive for the firm if the performance is down. Lump-sum bonuses are by far cheaper as compared with merit pay. If you consider a base pay raise under a merit pay plan, you will notice that, after a few years, the firm will be spending a high amount on salaries and wages. It is, therefore, effective to adopt lump-sum pay even though most of the employees are not particularly fond of lump-sum bonuses. What I like about lump-sum bonuses is that it causes shock waves in an entitlement culture. As a Chief Human Resource Manager, I will successfully freeze base pay by giving lump-sum bonuses for some years. This strategy is likely to repositioning relative to competitors. In practicing this for two years, the message becomes loud and clear; every year with a new reward. It helps in maintaining resourceful employees in the company. Another change that I will introduce in the existing compensation system is the individual incentive plan. I will introduce this system as a motivational factor. In this system, an employee gets an opportunity to earn extra income on top of his salary. Incentives can be in the form of cash or can be paid using products. In other cases, incentive can represent a commission that a salesperson receives on top of his monthly salary. The advantage of this plan is that an employee will get satisfied with his work. Some say a happy worker is a hard worker. The performance will be high because employees will be looking at ways of making additional income through a personal incentive plan. Another benefit of this plan is because it is possible to evaluate each employee. Productive employees will stand out because of their high income. On the other hand, less efficient employees will definitely become apparent. Besides, the lazy will tend to work extra hard because they will want to earn the same benefits. This program will be appreciated by the rest of the employees because individual performance does not affect the rest of the group. Poor performance issues do not interfere with the bonuses and other benefits received by co-worker of those less productive employees (Hooler, 2013). This program will improve the quality because an employee who submits poor quality work will be penalized and such employees will suffer as a lone individual without affecting the hard working employees. This system is fair to the hardworking and at the same time punishes the less productive employees. Employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) is another program that I will introduce. This strategy is effective in motivating and retaining employees. An ESOP is an employee benefit plan. This plan has little difference with the profit-sharing plan. I like the plan because it encourages a culture of saving. It is a system that can build the future of employees. Successful employees are satisfied, and they cannot resign or quit to join other companies. Remember that it is expensive to lose an employee who has been trained or have known how the company’s system works. It is also expensive to hire a new employee and train him or her. This means that it is better to retain an employee in the company (Dale et al, 2014). Advantages of introducing ESOP are that in creating an additional employee benefit. The firm can just decide to issue treasury shares to the ESOP. Such shares are slightly cheaper so that the employees can be able to make a profit in case they decide to dispose them. The firm can also decide to buy shares from private companies for its employees. This is a strategy of building employees’ trust in the company. Finally, the ESOP will enable employees to borrow loans that are interest free. Members will only repay the amount they borrow and nothing else (Kramar et al, 2014). The above changes are effective when a manager wants to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of his employees. High performance can only be achieved when a manager introduces changes that are likely to motivate the workers. Motivation is the key driving force for better results. Though there are various forms of motivation, it is essential to adopt the most effective one. It is evident that payment system used in a firm can either motivate or discuss employees completely. There are organizations that do not pay overtime or give any reward for the time extended from the normal working hours. Such organization demoralizes employees, in fact; it can cause employees to quit their jobs. It is, therefore, essential to introduce a system that is fair to employees. It requires a system that can reward the hard working and punishes unproductive employees without affecting the productive ones (Moore & Tenbrunsel, 2014). 3. Other than changing its compensation system, what actions can Marshall & Gordon take to support its new strategy? In order to support the new strategy, Marshall & Gordon can implement and age various key supporting factors. These include the following; a) Action planning – there should be a thorough planning for the implementation process. The top management requires to ensure that there are enough resources for the implementation of the new strategy. Planning is essential because it will ensure that the action plan will be completed. Action planning also involves delegating duties so that every participant will know what he I expected from him. Every employee will wants to be part of success and by doing this, they will cooperate fully (Kirkaldy, 2014).  b) Training – it is essential to train employees who are selected to implement the new product in the market. Marketers need to be trained on how the product works, the features of the product and the advantages of the product. This is essential because the marketer will be in a position to answer questions in case he or she is asked concerning the executive positioning. Furthermore, training is vital because the marketers require excellent communication skills. Marketers should know how to approach marketers in the market without provoking them (Nishii, 2013). c) Advertisement – in order to support the new strategy, the firm needs to design an effective advertisement that will be appealing to the target customers. The adverts should be informative. It needs to communicate the benefits of executive positioning. Customers need to be so convinced that they can make a decision and buy the product. In addition to this, advertising the product helps in popularizing the product. Customers are willing to buy what they know it can work. They will only buy when they are convinced that this product is worth buying. d) Identification of market segment – it is important to identify the target market of the product that you plan to introduce. Targeting the right target market help in reducing the resources that are likely to be misused because the right customers are conducted. Furthermore, targeting the right segment help in increasing the chances of selling that product, reduce marketing overhead and save time, effort and money (Ou et al, 2014). e) Human Resource Factors – in order to support the new strategy, it is essential to consider the human resource factors. This is because the human resource issue is really a two part story. First, for effectiveness, it is a must that the human resource should expect the management to think about the communication needs of the Marshall & Gordon. This action will ensure that those responsible with implementing executive positioning have a clear knowledge of the strategy they are to implement (Lim and Kim, 2014). Second, managers should be aware of the effect on human resource needs in case the strategy implementation is successful. They need to answer various questions that are likely to arise. For example, they need to know how much changes does this strategy is likely to call for? And the time it will take to respond and the implication of human resource in case they respond to those questions. f) Monitoring and control This is the final step in the implementation process. This stage helps in identifying whether the product implementation process is on the course. It also includes consideration of other alternatives in case implementation of executive positioning will fail. Available option needs to be listed in order of increasing seriousness, and even changing objectives Conclusion In conclusion, it is essential for Marshall and Gordon firm to pursue new strategies in order to improve its competitiveness in the market. The current world is very competitive and requires firms to introduce new strategies so that they survive stiff competition in the market. Furthermore, Marshall and Gordon is an international organization and, therefore, it requires new products that are likely to position the firm well in the market. It requires strategies that are attractive to existing and potential customers in the market. References Ambrose, M. L., Schminke, M., & Reynolds, S. J. (2014). Behavioral ethics: New frontiers. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 123(2), 77-78. Bell, B. S. (2014). 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Cognitive complexity and moral choice. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 123(2), 138-149. Nishii, L. H. (2013). The Benefits of Climate for Inclusion for Gender-Diverse Groups. Academy of Management Journal, 56(6), 1754-1774. Oliver, L., Stuart, M., & Tomlinson, J. (2014). Equal pay bargaining in the UK local government sector. Journal of Industrial Relations, 0022185613517474. Ou, A. Y., Tsui, A. S., Kinicki, A. J., Waldman, D. A., Xiao, Z., & Song, L. J. (2014). Humble Chief Executive Officers’ Connections to Top Management Team Integration and Middle Managers’ Responses. Administrative Science Quarterly, 0001839213520131. Torelli, C. J., Leslie, L. M., Stoner, J. L., & Puente, R. (2014). Cultural determinants of status: Implications for workplace evaluations and behaviors.Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 123(1), 34-48. Torelli, C. J., Leslie, L. M., Stoner, J. L., & Puente, R. (2014). Cultural determinants of status: Implications for workplace evaluations and behaviors.Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 123(1), 34-48. Read More