Resource Management Essay Example for Free

Resource Management Essay Mattel is one the strongest manufacturers of toys in the world. It is the market leader in developing toys of highest international standards. But staying at the top is not easy for Mattel, as it is positioned in one of the most intensive natured markets in terms of competition. Mattel has over twenty-five thousand employees around the globe (Mattel, 2010). In fact, what makes Mattel No. 1 in the toy industry is its well trained and high skilled workforce. This paper will discuss the strategies implemented to enhance the productivity and skills of Mattel workforce. Question 1 The most important challenge for Mattel is to recognize and provide for the need of coordinated development. Development is an essential part of any organization. Mattel’s development programs were introduced by the CEO of the company. The first step was to develop broad based strategy. These development programs resulted in skilled and productive workforce. Secondly Mattel wished to integrate corporate culture, for which development facilitators met groups of 10 or 12 employees globally and supervised them how to implement the new culture. Mattel also introduced digital training centers, by which employees have access to more than 200 e-development courses. These measures have helped Mattel to convert its workforce as the most important assets of the company. As a result of all these actions, Mattel’s selection and recruitment strategies would likely improve and become more intense. The succession plan aims to retain HR talent, but as a result Mattel’s selection criterion would be more challenging. Apart from this, Mattel would wish to seek employees who are sociable and have good communication skills, as coordinated development efforts require employees from different departments to interact more. Further, Mattel might also judge the GK (General Knowledge), IQ (Intelligence Quotient) and EQ (Emotional Quotient) levels of new recruits as a part of enhanced selection strategy. (Mathis Jackson, 2008) Question 2 There is no probability of the instance where the developmental efforts of Mattel would appeal to some employees more than others. The rationale behind this is that the coordinated development efforts were aimed to work for all employees of the Mattel industry. Most employees of Mattel are related to manufacturing process, even if they work in different departments. Since majority employees work towards similar goal (manufacture highest quality toy), their mental and developmental processes would almost be the same. Furthermore, the developmental efforts and programs aim to create skilled and productive workforce does not involve technical training in manufacturing a toy, hence these processes are developed such as to appeal all Mattel employees equally. Lastly, Mattel has recently implemented an integrated corporate culture. This culture acts as a niche for the Mattel employees where they interact with other teams and seek to pursue coordinated development efforts. Thus Mattel employees can be defined as ‘bees collectively working to produce honey’. In such instances, these development efforts appeal all employees the same. (Bratton Gold, 2001) Question3 There can be several reasons for the ‘Barbie’ girls group and ‘Hot Wheels’ boys group not interacting with one another and working effectively together in the past. Firstly, Mattel requires its employees to feel the passion and become a part of what they manufacture. Hence, the Barbie girls group had all the instructions and manufacturing processes that coincided with Barbie’s feminine nature. While the Hot Wheels boys group reflected aggressive, daring and bold nature concepts in their manufacturing processes and instructions. Secondly, ‘Barbie’ and ‘Hot Wheels’ were brands of Mattel, and had different market segmentation and target markets. Hence the strategies designed to sell each brand was different and couldn’t have been merged. Barbie was targeted at teenage girls while Hot Wheels was targeted at teenage boys. Furthermore, the culture within which the employees of Hot Wheels and Barbie worked were completely different. There was nothing common in the cultural environment where both the brands were manufactured. (Montgomery, 1993) There are, however, several methods by which Mattel could reinforce the needs for these groups to work together. Firstly, the identity of both groups should be reinforced as a part of Mattel family rather than separate entities. Hence, the employees of both brands would realize that they are part of a Mattel family, and could interact with one another and share their secrets and strategies about skills, labor empowerment and employee dedication. Secondly, Mattel should more intensely implement a common corporate culture within the company which will create a common ground for Barbie and Hot Wheels manufacturers to work together. Thirdly, the need for coordinated development efforts should be emphasized upon by promoting teamwork and interaction to achieve goals (Mathis Jackson, 2008). Furthermore, managers can also use succession plans for key positions. Thus they can use terms as ‘Boys need Girls, and vice versa’ to emphasize the reality that both Hot Wheels (boys) and Barbie (girls) are equally important part of the company. Conclusion Mattel has developed several strategies and techniques to empower its employees. The development programs aims to improve skilled labor, and succession plans aim to retain human resource talent. If properly implemented, these strategies, along with the new corporate culture could enhance the performance and efficiency of all employees. These methods would surely help Mattel to retain the No. 1 spot as market leader in toy manufacturing industry. References Bratton, J. and Gold, J. (2001). Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice. 2nd EditionNew York: Routledge Mathis, R. L. and Jackson, J. H. (2008). Human Resource Management. 12th Edition. New York: Cengage Learning Mattel (2010). Mattel Website. Accessed on August 23, 2010 from http://www. mattel. com/ Montgomery, B. P. (1993). Mattel, Inc. International Directory of Company Histories Vol. 7, pp. 304.

Slavery as the Cause of the American Civil War Essay -- Slavery Essays

The Civil War was caused by many several pressures, principles, and prejudices, fueled by sectional differences, and was finally set into motion by a most unlikely set of political events. From economic differences to political differences all the way up to cultural differences, the North and the South opposed each other. These tensions were further increased after the western expansion of the United States. By the early 1850’s a civil war was known to be likely coming soon. Economically, the chief and immediate cause of the war was slavery. Southern states, including the 11 states that formed the Confederacy, depended on slavery to support their economy. The North used a factory system for their agriculture, which they hired cheap labor. Southerners used slave labor to produce crops, e...

Organizational Culture at Krispy Kreme Essay

Organizational culture is defined as â€Å"a system of shared meaning held by members† of an organization which effectively sets it apart from other groups or organizations (Robbins, 2005). The system referred to in the definition is in reality a group of characteristics which are valued by the members of an organization, in particular, and the entire organization, in general. These characteristics, which are found to be predominant in an organization, are actually advocated and promoted by the founders of the organization. By and large, organizational culture has seven general characteristics which generally describe a certain organization. These are: â€Å"innovation and risk taking, attention to detail, outcome orientation, people orientation, team orientation, aggressiveness, and stability† (Robbins, 2005). Innovation and risk taking refers to the tendency of management to adopt a policy which permits or encourages its workforce to seek out and introduce new methods and approaches even if some amount or risk-taking is involved. Aggressive companies are aptly described by this characteristic. Attention to detail, on the other hand, means that management insists that employees exhibit absolute accuracy in every facet of operation. This is prevalent among companies engaged in the production of precision instruments and devices. Outcome orientation is an organizational characteristic which simply means that the owners of the business are willing to sacrifice adherence to prescribed rules, regulations, and procedures if by doing so optimal results are achieved. Concern for the safety and well-being of its workers are the primary objectives of an organization which is characterized as being people oriented. For this type of an organization, outcome or even profit take secondary position to the welfare of workers. This means that no matter how profitable a decision could be for the company, it could get sidelined if evidence suggests that the safety of the employees would be compromised. Meanwhile, team orientation should be interpreted as the inclination of an organization to organize work activities around work teams rather than individual workers. In other words, the organization believes that teams perform better than individuals. Aggressiveness refers to the management policy of not only tolerating an aggressive attitude among its workers but also encouraging competition. This characteristic also implies that the organization has the tendency to resort to expansion without waiting for stability to be firmly established. Finally, stability is the opposite characteristic of aggressiveness. The company prefers the stable, profitable status quo over hasty expansion plans. An organization characterized by stability is not in a hurry to strive for growth and expansion and is usually contented with the present so long as its desired profit is realized. In the case of Krispy Kreme, its statement of objective clearly made known its aggressiveness, i. . : â€Å"As we enter the 21st Century, Krispy Kreme is not slowing down† (Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. , n. d. ). This statement depicts a company in a hurry – a characteristic which is very admirable as far as an aggressive individual is concerned. Data available in the company website support this declaration. After the initial public offering of its stock in the year 2000, the first international outlet near Toronto in Canada was inaugurated in December 2001. The Canadian expansion started the company’s thrust towards international growth. Today, barely eight years later, Krispy Kreme products are already available in Mexico, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom, Kuwait, Dubai, Hongkong, Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Australia (Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. , n. d. ). The other appealing characteristics of the company are: innovation and risk taking, and team orientation. The company took its first calculated risk as early as 1950 when it decided to be innovative and sought to improve its doughnut-making process by designing its own doughnut-making equipment. Their objective was achieved through the efforts of a team of equipment engineers that it organized, thereby putting emphasis on the importance of team orientation. The collaboration of the engineers allowed Krispy Kreme to become the first company to serve hot doughnuts to their customers. Their engineering team is also continuously improving their hot doughnut technology to preserve the company’s leadership status in the hot doughnut business (Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. , n. d. ) The culture at Krispy Kreme could also be characterized as people oriented because the organization is customer-responsive. The workforce is composed of employees who are recruited because of their innate friendliness and service-oriented tendency. Moreover, employees are not bound by hard and fast rules in their dealing with customers. There exists a rather low level of formalization in the company and in its stores that allows employees to make the necessary adjustments that would enable them to deal satisfactorily with different kinds of people who come from all walks of life. Management refers to this policy as empowerment because it allows Krispy Kreme employees to do what they think is necessary in order to make their customers happy and satisfied. Being people oriented (particularly customer-responsive), Krispy Kreme has made it clear that employees should be painstaking in their efforts to please their customers and ensure that they keep coming back (Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, n. d. ). By cultivating and sustaining a strong culture, the management has effectively informed its employees exactly what the company expects of them. Foremost among these is for the engineering team to keep on discovering new technologies that would improve their doughnut-making capability and preserve company leadership in the industry. Then its army of chefs should assume adequate vigilance in the preparation of their products so that customers are always satisfied with Krispy Kreme doughnuts and coffee, among others. Finally, store front-liners are expected to go out of their way to satisfy customer needs – to be sincerely friendly, helpful, and accommodating, thereby generating customer loyalty (Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. n. d. ). As Robbins (2005) has specifically prescribed, a strong culture should have a â€Å"high degree of sharedness and intensity [which] creates an internal climate of high behavioral control. † At Krispy Kreme, only applicants who are perceived to fit the bill are hired. Then the culture of the company is drilled into them from day one, thereby effectively shaping the organizational behav ior of every worker.

Friendship Is A Virtue Essay - 1005 Words

Aristotle argues that â€Å"friendship is a virtue.† Making good friends can expand your view on life and make you realize that we are all more alike than we are different. True friendships are based on unconditional compassion and trust within each other. Although, some friendships end up in disaster, they help you grow as a person and understand other people’s point of view. Director, Tom Rath, believes that â€Å"we are all aware of the value of friendship especially during difficult times.† It’s self-evident that friendship is an essential ingredient in living a fulfilled life. In fact, Jane Collingwood acknowledged in her article, â€Å"The Importance of Friendship,† that â€Å"friendship is more than five times as important as physical intimacy†¦show more content†¦Once I started making new friends, I realized that they appreciated me for who I am and helped me embrace my heritage. Clearly, there is a need for a greater focus on th e aspect of true friendship. As the article emphasizes, â€Å"our society is ignoring its importance.† True friends influence the paths you take and give you hope that there is light even in the darkest of times. They are crucial in avoiding modern social problems such as isolation and anxiety. Therefore, we shouldn’t underestimate the power our close circle of friends has on our life because as Vernon writes â€Å"a close friend is a mirror of your own self, someone with whom you realize that, though autonomous, you are not alone.† 501 words Eight Toxic Patterns in a Mother-Daughter Relationship: Response The relationship between a mother and daughter can make or break the emotional stability of a young girl. Many mothers who carry toxic traits in their way of parenting, tend to give their daughters a feeling of inner disturbance and a lack of self-esteem. These behavioral patterns developed by the mother usually tie to early hardships in her life. As Peg Stre ep says in her article â€Å"Eight Toxic Patterns in a Mother-daughter Relationship,† â€Å"Differentiating these patterns in broad terms can help daughters recognize, understand, sort through, and ultimately begin to manage these very problematic andShow MoreRelated Nicomachean Ethics: Friendship, Virtue and Happiness Essay examples933 Words   |  4 Pages     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the writings of Aristotle, seen in  Nicomachean Ethics, it is evident that Aristotle believes that friendship is necessary for a virtuous and therefore happy life. I believe that this is accurate due to the similar conditions necessary for a complete friendship and a happy life. It is also evident that friendship is useful in achieving a happy life because friendship can make performing virtuous actions easier. 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