Human Resources in Tanglewood - Case Study Example

Human Resources: Tanglewood Case Part Human Resources: Tanglewood Case Part Employees are the most essential resource for every firm, as they are the key implementers of company decisions, goals and strategic plans. Therefore, every business should have HR processes that allow it to attract, train and retain the best talents in the market. Tanglewood needs to develop a selection plan that combines the best staffing qualities and quantities for optimal performance. In order to do this, the firm must ensure selection practices that align the output of its workforce with its goals and objectives.

The aim of this report is to analyze the company strategy of Tanglewood, and recommend staffing levels in line with these strategies. Business Strategy Tanglewood’s vision and mission include the involvement of its employees in key decision-making processes; however, this may be limited because the human resources management is not standardized across stores. However, the employees working at the stores already have the company culture at heart since they have already been receiving information about company performance from their department heads, and they have seen other forms of participatory management style at work (Vance and Paik, 2010).

The firm aims to foster teamwork in its attempts to ensure employee as well as customer satisfaction, and profitability; all without compromising one to favor another. Though the firm has been having success in encouraging peer support and sharing of tasks by employees, this may change if the management decides to adopt a new human resource management style. Therefore, the main concern for the firm about the new approach is if it will be able to retain the beneficial components of the old system, and introduce new concepts that will increase efficiency and effectiveness.

Finally, the human resource management function in the firm should be centralized, mainly to ensure uniformity and curb redundancies in the system. However, this may interfere with the employee development program in which future managers are trained as they work to ensure continuity of company culture, which is a factor that the company should consider while designing the new system. Strategic Staffing Decisions Staffing Levels Acquire or Develop Talent: The firm should develop its own talent; this is because the management will have the time and capacity to inculcate company culture into new employees.

Talent that has been developed somewhere else may not have the values of Tanglewood; and employees may take longer to learn the new standards of workmanship since they already have other values in them (Pynes, 2008). Hire yourself or Outsource: The firm should outsource from firms that specialize in recruiting for others; since these firms do this as their main business, there is an increased likelihood that Tanglewood will benefit from the high quality that results from specialization. Tanglewood will also benefit from the databases of these firms, and will specify its requirements for new recruits (Catano, 2009).

External or Internal Hiring: Tanglewood should balance between hiring from outside the firm and promoting its own employees. This means that the firm should always hire internally trained professionals, except if certain skills are needed and none of the existing employees has the skills. This will not only enable the firm to save on hiring externally, but will also employ people who are familiar with the company culture and objectives (Daft, 2011). Core or Flexible Workforce: The firm should have a flexible workforce since the world economy has been characterized by rapid and unpredictable fluctuations.

This will enable the firm to reduce or increase the size of its workforce while incurring little or no costs. Core workforce may have shortcomings when the market has a shortage of the skills that Tanglewood would like to outsource (Catano, 2009). Hire or Retain: The recruitment process at Tanglewood should be centered towards maximizing employee retention, especially due to the prohibitive costs of acquiring a new workforce. In addition, employees will participate in management activities if they are familiar with the implementation of the company strategic plan (Vance and Paik, 2010).

National or Global: Staffing at Tanglewood stores should be global to enable the firm to take advantage of different market prices of labor, such that the firm can hire employees economically. In addition, having employees from all over the world is advantageous for the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (Daft, 2011). Attract or Relocate: Attracting employees from the region of operation is always the best option; employees from the local area understand the local people best, and this is invaluable if the company wants to offer specialized customer services for the locals.

In addition, relocating employees from other stores can be expensive and strain the company budget that is already under pressure due to market changes (Catano, 2009). Overstaff or understaff: Since Tanglewood will adopt a flexible workforce; the firm should overstaff its stores by a slight margin. Overstaffing is helpful in circumstances when there is a high season, and the firm has to deal with increased number of customers, in which case Tanglewood should engage all its employees to deal with the workload (Vance and Paik, 2010).

Short or Long-Term Focus: Tanglewood should focus on the long-term; therefore, all employees should be trained with their long term effects on the firm in consideration. Treating them like this creates a feeling of ownership or belonging and they tend to view Tanglewood as a place they can always return from college or other workplaces (Mathis and Jackson, 2011). Staffing Quality Person/Job or Person/Organization Match: Tanglewood should focus on a person’s ability to work in the firm rather than their suitability for the job.

This is because a person may have the best skills in the market, but their beliefs and the way of working may be incompatible with company objectives. For instance, a person may be professionally skilled but not have the necessary skills to work in a team. On the other hand, if a person is compatible with the firm, then they can acquire the necessary skills while on the job, especially from peers at Tanglewood (Vance and Paik, 2010). Specific or General KSAOs: Tanglewood should hire people with general knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics.

As opposed to specialists who are limited to working in one job position, a person with general KSAOs is more versatile and can be trained to work in any department if need be. For instance, if the company does not need a certain skill, a person with general KSAOs can be trained to work in another position, but a specialist would have to be laid off (Pynes, 2008). Exceptional or Acceptable Workforce Quality: Tanglewood should employ people who are not satisfied just by achieving bare minimum, which means that the firm should employ people with a capacity of exceptional work quality.

Acceptable workforce quality is enough to sustain the firm in its current state; however, if the management wants the firm to have any progress, then it should hire exceptional individuals (Daft, 2011). Active or Passive Diversity: Tanglewood should practice active diversity for its employees; each employee should be encouraged to shun conformity and express their individuality as long as it does not interfere with the company’s goals and objectives. Active diversity promotes innovation and creates a favorable public image for the firm.

In addition, each employee should be a person capable of working with different people, a characteristic that should be improved on during induction (Mathis and Jackson, 2011). Conclusion By following the suggestions laid out above, Tanglewood will be able encourage teamwork and participatory management as its main tools for achievement of the strategic plan. Some considerations made in making the choices include the need for the firm to keep costs at a minimum and maximize revenue, and remain competitive even in the face of fast expanding firms.

This means careful planning, implementation, and improvement of the company recruitment mechanisms on a continual basis. References Catano, V. M. (2009). Recruitment and selection in Canada. Michigan: Cengage Learning. Daft, R. L. (2011). Management. Michigan: Cengage Learning. Mathis, R. L., & Jackson, J. H. (2011). Human resource management: Essential perspectives. Michigan: Cengage Learning. Pynes, J. E. (2008). Human resources management for public and nonprofit organizations: A strategic approach.

San Francisco: John Wiley and Sons. Vance, C. M., & Paik, Y. (2010). Managing a global workforce: Challenges and opportunities in international human resource management. Armonk: M.E. Sharpe.