Strategic Human Resource Management and Leadership - Case Study Example

Strategic Human Resource Management and Leadership Name Institution Introduction In strategic human resource management, the emphasis is on enabling organisation to meet the employees’ needs while simultaneously promoting organisational goals. As argued by Sincic and Vokic (2007), when making a human resources plan, it is vital to consider what the employees really need, as well as what it can reasonably provide. In the case study of Kellogg’s, the company failed to determine what would motivate employees and the intervention it should have provided to motivate them to participate in the breakfast clubs. The notion of satisfied employees to ensure the benefit or realisation of satisfied customers is promoted by Sincic and Vokic (2007) as attainable through integrating the concepts of internal communications, internal marketing, and last Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM). Based on this background, this paper seeks to explore the concepts of internal communications, internal marketing, and SHRM based on a review of Kellogg’s case study. The areas explored include the issues at Kellogg’s, such as employee engagement, motivation, and customer experience, introduction of the challenges facing the Kellogg’s and solution, analysis of the effectiveness of Kellogg’s actions, and lastly, recommendations for the company. Issues in the case A critical issue of concern is whether Kellogg’s passing the message regarding the importance of breakfast in a manner that could appeal to, and be understood easily by the employees and external stakeholders (such as the schools, parents and the government). Second, whether the company’s communication plan motivated, informed, and promoted participation of the employees in attaining the objectives of the company. The objectives of the campaign include promoting the notion that breakfast is important for people across different ages, that breakfast clubs had positive impact on student’s behaviour, that the company has cared for the clubs since 1998, and lastly, that people who buy Kellogg’s Corn Flakes are actually assisting to feed children at the clubs. Third, whether the information Kellogg’s passed to the employees could be understood, as well as be accepted in respect to the content, merit, relevance and content. Lastly, whether the end product of improved internal dialogue managed to attain improvement in the core success areas, such as improved profitability of the company, high quality of products, improved workforce motivation and improved customer satisfaction. In sum, three key issues are of critical concern: employee motivation, employee engagement, and customer satisfaction. Background of the case: company, their challenge, and solution Kellogg’s is food-processing company that produces and sells cereals. The company formulated a plan to communicate the key messages regarding the significance of breakfast to various audiences, such as schools, parents, the public, and the government, using a multiplatform campaign. The company had actively supported breakfast clubs in schools, since 1998 in partnership with an education charity called ContinYou. The clubs provided healthful meal in the morning in a friendly and safe environment. Additionally, they provided children with a great opportunity to learn, play and mingle. The partnership helped build-up 500 breakfast clubs across the United Kingdom. Among the key challenge was the government policy. In 2011, many schools across the UK ran into difficulties with funding of the breakfast club because of the budget reductions by the government after the 2009 Global Financial Crisis. Kellog’s however, had a solution. The company responded by setting up a team to initiate a communications plan that would underscore the significance of the clubs to schools, parents, the public and the government. The messages the campaign put across to the target audiences included: breakfast is important for people across different ages, specifically the youth, the clubs have positive impact on the behaviour and attendance of children in class, the company has been in support of the clubs since 1998 and lastly, people who buy Kellogg’s Corn Flakes you are actually assisting to feed children at these clubs. However, the campaign had to be conveyed as Kellogg’s Corporate Responsibility programme rather than its marketing strategy. Additionally, to attain his objectives, it had to devise its campaign for both the internal and external stakeholders. The internal stakeholders targeted included the company’s employees, who were encouraged to participate by posting information on the company’s intranet, or through internal communication. They were also encouraged to grace the breakfast club in the company’s reception area and to visit schools funded by Kellogg to attend their breakfast clubs. This was a problem since the company had to motivate employees to take part in the study. Analysis of the Effectiveness of the Programme While external communication to stakeholders, such as parents, the government and schools was effective, the internal communication strategy aimed at the employees was less effective. The effectiveness of the internal communication plan is disclosed by the successes made after six weeks when 73 news articles and news coverage were generated that reached more than 9 million people. Additionally, some 700 schools made applications for funding, 500 of which received a grant of nearly £450 for breakfast. However, Kellogg’s employees were not motivated, as they only attended 15 of these clubs. From these, three key issues are of critical concern: employee motivation, employee engagement, and customer satisfaction. Each can be used to determine the effectiveness of Kellog’s communication campaign program to internal and external environment. These three are discussed interchangeably in the view of analysing the effectiveness of the Kellog’s actions. Regarding motivation, the employees were not motivated to take part in the Kellogg’s breakfast clubs because of the poor communication methods used. As indicated in the case study, the main communication method used was through the company’s intranet. Intranet was less engaging. When it comes to strategic human resource management, Becker and Huselid (2006) suggest that for an organisation to communicate effectively with the employees, it needs to engage them. Salaman et al (2005) further suggests that the form of internal communication in an organisation may have a revolutionary and remarkable impact on the conduct of the organisation. Still, the communication methods used in the organisation and the manner in which such methods are used may also have significant effects on the processes and the outcomes of the organisation’s attempts to engage the employees. These show that, Kellogg’s failed to capitalize on the effectiveness of its engagement efforts by optimising the effectiveness of communication in the company. Sincic and Vokic (2007) posit that successful business attach great significance to HRM and internal communication because of the values and strategic advantages generated by such attempts. In this way, the employees would have become a vital resource in the long-term effectiveness of the program by getting involved and contributing in achieving the target audience’s or customer’s satisfaction. Indeed, ensuring motivation is a critical success factor for ensuring that the workforce brought about substantial differences to the success of the breakfast program in schools. Salaman et al (2005) argues that to satisfy customers, the organisation also needs to have satisfied the employees’ needs. In which case, satisfaction of Kellog’s employees could have been precondition for customer satisfaction. Indeed, Sincic and Vokic (2007) support this assumption when they illustrate that the customer needs should come second to the employee needs since the needs of the customers are attained successfully after the employee’s needs have been successfully met. According to Volujevica (2012), the importance of internal communications is to build and nurture employee relationships, build trust and provide reliable information, as a result contributing to employee motivation. From the case analysis, it could be reasoned that since Kellogg’s concentrated on external communication to reach out to the external stakeholders, little attention was given to internal communication leading to the success of the external communication over that of the internal communication. Indeed, Dicke et al (2007) argue that effective internal communication should have three main objectives: the information passed to the employees should be understood, as well as accepted in respect to the content, merit, relevance and content. Second, the objectives of the communication plan should be to motivate, inform, and promote participation of the employees in attaining the objectives of the organisation. Third, the end product of improved internal dialogue should be aimed at attaining improvement in the core success aspects, including profitability from the sales, high quality of products, improved workforce motivation and improved customer satisfaction. Indeed, a review of the case study shows that these three aspects were neglected. First, the information Kellogg’s passed to the workforce could not have been fully understood as it was only passed through the intranet, which could have not been effective regarding the fact that not all employees could have been targeted efficiently with the media. Hence, a more multidimensional communication channel should have been used. Second, the objectives of Kellogg’s communication plan were not to motivate, inform, and promote employee participation in attaining the corporate objectives, in this case promoting the concepts of the breakfast club in schools. Third, the end product of the communication plan was not to improve internal dialogue or attain improvement in the core success aspects, including profitability from the sales, high quality of products, improved workforce motivation and improved customer satisfaction. Overall, the three aspects could be summarised as motivation, employee engagement, and customer experience (Dicke et al 2007). These three aspects of motivation, employee engagement, and customer experience in Strategic Human Resource Management are also supported by the Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies (2011). In his review, Dicke et al (2007) stated that regarding the goals of internal communications, they should be aimed at creating internal communications in line with their significance to include creating a sense that the workforce is a significant asset to the company, to improve confidence and promote goodwill among the employees and the management, to notify the employees of the internal changes, to explain to the employees the benefits of the projects requiring their participation, increase an understanding of the external stakeholders, or organisational products, and to encourage employee involvement in corporate social responsibilities or community initiatives. Kellogg’s had not defined responsibilities or activities of the internal communications program, including planning and implementing an effective internal communications, such as measuring the views of the employees, acting on the resultant feedback, regular and broad information sharing, and ensuring the visibility of the senior management, protecting a desirable corporate culture and promoting the supportive role of the human resource department and empowering employees, through training and coaching. Sincic and Vokic (2007) comment that in Strategic Human Resource Management, organisations should have effective internal communication strategies, once they plan and implement an effective internal communications strategies, such as having effective means to measure the views of the employees, take actions from the employees’ feedback, sharing regular and broad information, and lastly making sure that the executive management is accessible. Other aspects Sincic and Vokic (2007) suggest include protecting a desirable corporate culture and promoting the supportive role of the human resource department and empowering employees through training and coaching Lack of employee engagement was also an underlying concern that faced Kelloggs’. Existence of low employee engagement is perceivable in the case study after the company evaluate its breakfast club. Lockwood (2007) defines employee engagement is concerned with how the workforce commits to someone or something within an organisation, how diligent they are, as well as their period of stay due to their commitment. Lockwood (2007) showed that employment and organisational strategy are correlated, as well as a significant driver to employee engagement. Lockwood’s (2007) study showed that workers with greater commitment level had higher job performance rate and was therefore, linked to organisational performance. Under such circumstances, Lockwood’s (2007) remarks that consistent, honest and clear communication is a significant management tool. The communication should be based on strategic and thoughtful, and intended to promote employee engagement by keeping the employees engaged, focussed, and animated. Lockwood (2007) also argues that the employee motivation and the readiness to support an environment for engagement through developing strategic communication plan. As Lockwood (2007) states, the strategic communication plan should be based on the goals of the organisation and to determine the right media for specific audiences. Recommendations Kellogg’s should have concentrated on both the external communication to reach out to the external stakeholders, and internal communication to reach out to the employee. This would have led to the success of the external communication and the internal communication. Kellogg’s should have capitalize on the effectiveness of employee engagement and motivation efforts by optimising the effectiveness of communication in the company by attaching great significance to HRM and internal communication because of the values and strategic advantages generated by such attempts. The information the company passed to the employees should have been understood, as well as accepted in respect to the content, merit, relevance and content. The objectives of the communication plan should also have motivated, informed, and promoted participation of the employees in attaining the objectives of the organisation. This is since consistent, honest and clear communication is a significant management tool. The end product of improved internal dialogue should have been aimed at attaining improvement in the core success aspects, including profitability from the sales, high quality of products, improved workforce motivation and improved customer satisfaction. The company should also have satisfied the employees’ needs. In which case, satisfaction of Kellog’s employees could have been precondition for customer satisfaction. Indeed, Sincic and Vokic (2007) support this assumption when they illustrate that the customer needs should come second to the employee needs since the needs of the customers are successfully met after the employee’s needs have been successfully met. The company should have provided training to its employees, as well as benefit programs. At this rate, provision of specialised on-site training by the senior members of the company in providing a one-on-one evaluation and coaching sessions would have enabled the employees see the value of the clubs and their critical role in ensuring the attainment of their value. An additional critical aspect of SHRM is employee development. The process of employee development starts when a company recruits the right employees to take part in the programs, such as visiting the targeted schools. The mentoring and training programs would have helped the employees to accelerate the Kellogg’s policies and the communication campaign project they would be working on. Conclusion To conclude, Kellogg’s concentrated on external communication to reach out to the external stakeholders, such as the parents, schools and the government. However, little attention was given to internal communication leading to the success of the external communication over that of the internal communication. Overall, while the company’s communication campaign strategy was effective for the external audience, it was less effective for the internal audience. The employees were however, supposed to be recognised as a vital resource in the long-term effectiveness of the program by getting involved and contributing in achieving the target audience’s or customer’s satisfaction. The employees were also not motivated to take part in the Kellogg’s breakfast clubs because of the poor communication methods used. In the internal communication strategy, the information passed to the employees should have been understood, as well as accepted in respect to the content, merit, relevance and content. Second, the objectives of the communication plan should be to motivate, inform, and promote participation of the employees in attaining the objectives of the organisation. Third, the end product of improved internal dialogue should be aimed at attaining improvement in the core success aspects, including profitability from the sales, high quality of products, improved workforce motivation and improved customer satisfaction. References Becker, B. & Huselid, H. (2006). Strategic Human Resources Management: Where Do We Go From Here? Journal of Management 32(6), 898-925 Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies. (2011). Perception is reality: How employees perceive what motivates HR practices affects their engagement, behavior and performance (CAHRS ResearchLink No. 14). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University, ILR School. Dicke, C., Holwerda, J. & Kontakos, A. (2007). Employee Engagement: What Do We Really Know? What Do We Need to Know to Take Action? Retrieved: Lockwood, N. (2007). Leveraging Employee Engagement for Competitive Advantage: HR’s Strategic Role. SHRM Research Quarterly Salaman, G., Storey, J. & Billsberry, J. (2005). Strategic Human Resource Management: Defining the Field. Retrieved: Sincic, D, & Vokic, N. (2007). Integrating internal communications, human resource management and marketing concepts into the new internal marketing philosophy. Working Paper Series Paper No. 07-12 Volujevica, A. (2012). Role of internal and external communication: Case of Bank Citadele. Retrieved: Read More