Human Resource Management

Saray Chhambbat

Executive SummaryComparing serious business with a bowling

game, Paul Levesque describes 4 different simple approaches taking as an example a Donut Shop of how to set up a challenge at work by defining clear rules where, keeping a mechanism for immediate feedback motivation and showing us the satisfaction of a win for all.

Creating a challenging environment can ensure a positive, productive, innovative organizational climate, as long as it is follow by employee recognition.

REVIEW OF THE ARTICLE:Creating a Turbo-Charged Work Force By Paul Levesque | November 13, 2007The busiest Dunkin' Donuts store in the world,

located in Boston, Massachusetts, where they serve around 3,000 cups of coffee per day.

Amy MaCaul, who works at the front counter says that her job "its fun. it's busy, time goes by fast, and you’re always doing something." While Tracy Brown, who works in the drive-through section describes that time goes by fast, because she deals with millions and millions of customers every day.“

If we ask any employee who does not like his job, answer number one usually includes the words "boring," "repetitious" and "pointless.“

Many bowlers can’t wait to get our out of their “boring jobs” to come and play this game.

Would be more fun if the pins were closer, and therefore easier to knock down. The answer is no, because everyone understands that “it's precisely the challenge of attempting something difficult that gives structured play activities like bowling their basic appeal.”

The element of challenge:

Harte-Hanks ShoppersDigital strategy has web traffic, e-commerce,

e-mail, and synergy with the print product, is an exciting approach to liking buyers and sellers.

The Penny Saver and The Flyer are powerful titles. Their respected brand environments are ideal for residential advertisers, as well as local, regional and national businesses.

IDENTIFING A HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ISSUE:

According to the Financial Analysis of financial condition and results of operations, Shopper operating expenses increased $42.8 million, or 14.1% in 2008.

Labor cost increased $6.3 million

Production cost increased $13.8 million not including additional postage of $6.6 million

General and administrative cost increased $1.4 million

Depreciation expense increased $1.1 million

Due to a terrible economic crisis, the company has forced to eliminate 164 positions.

WHY IS THIS AN ISSUE?Legal department : primary objective is to reduce

the risk of litigation, not to protect the morale and intellectual capital of the organization.

Usually leaves the laid-off employees angry and surviving employees feeling helpless and non- motivated.

Helplessness is the enemy of high achievement: It produces a work environment of withdrawal risk-averse decisions, severely impaired morale, and excessive blaming.

What category this issue falls into?

Recruitment / Selection.

ChallengesThe layoff of 164 people taxes all of a management

team's resources, including both business acumen and humanity.

-The extremely difficult decisions of who must be laid off.

- How much notice they will be given.

- The amount of severance pay.

- How far the company will go to help the laid-off employee find another job are given less than adequate attention.

Anticipate some predictable issues, problems, and opportunities for the people that remain in the company.

Plan to address the issue.A lot of people believe that after a layoff, the

less said about it the better. Everyone will just forget and move on. But the truth is, surviving employees will talk about what's happened whether the management team does or doesn't.

Planning downsizing can be an organizational lifesaver, but when layoffs are used repeatedly without a thoughtful strategy, downsizing can destroy an organization's effectiveness.

Plan to address the issue.• Preserve the organization's intellectual

capital.

•How downsized employees are treated directly affects the morale and retention of valued, high-performing employees who are not downsized.

•Downsizing should never be used as a communication to financial centers or investors of the new management's tough-minded, no-nonsense style of management.

Techniques to utilize to address the issue:When planning a layoff: respecting employee

dignity and business planning.

1. - We have to invest more energy in the people who remain after the layoffs:We will aid recoveryFuel productivityBoost morale. Despite the lossMinimize the damage to workplace trust.

2. - We can help managers effectively address the needs of the people who remain after layoffs.

Techniques to utilize to address the issue:

3. - As a manager, it is most important to reassure the people their value to the organization. We need to talk with each of them individually to let them know why and how they are valued; tell them what we feel they contribute to our effective, continuously improving work environment.

4. - Re-look at the goals and resolutions set for the remaining of the year. Managers will have to make certain that daily tasks are focused, on tasks that support the accomplishment of the most important goals.

Conclusion Some layoff survivors may be worried that they don’t

have the knowledge and skills necessary to do their new or expanded jobs:

This is an excellent time for a career development

discussion with each of the employees. We have to identify the additional training, resources and support they feel they need, and provide it to them.

Our HR department will also have to encourage managers to help each individual feel as if the skills they have or are obtaining will make them highly marketable so they experience self-security and high self-esteem through a career coaching.

Final Goal Our goal is to help people feel confident that

they have the capacity to contribute, to grow and develop, and to master the changed work environment, redefining the rolls and getting the best leverage out those jobs, and most important, helping them understand their strings, developing areas and attributes that they can bring to the company, always identifying the right person for the right roll at the right time.