Intercleanshrm-Mba530

This paper analyzes a scenario developed on InterClean, an $8 billion industrial cleaning and sanitation company, to assist students in the understanding of course concepts for MBA 530, Human Capitol Development. Team B members benchmarked the following companies that address the associated course concepts, and then analyzed the information through contrasting and comparing the companies to the InterClean scenario. The companies selected are NiSources, Inc., and Frontier Airlines relating to recruiting and selection alternatives; Best Buy and ACE Caribbean Bank representing the concept of human capital development relating to skill sets and gap analysis; Johnson & Johnson Company and Singlepoint Sytems Inc. benchmarking the training and development course concept; and Southwest and Delta Airlines that highlights the concept of aligning organizational structure with strategy.

Company Synopsis

Company: NiSource, Inc, Course Concept: Evaluating recruiting and selection alternatives, B. Britt

NiSource, Inc. is a Fortune 500 company based out of Indiana dealing with energy sources such as natural gas transmission, storage, and distribution as well as electric generation, transmission, and distribution. NiSource and its subsidiaries provide energy to 3.6 million customers along the Gulf Coast, Midwest, and New England areas (NiSource, 2000).

On November 1, 2000, NiSource announced the completion of its merger with Columbia Energy Group making it the largest natural gas distributor east of the Rocky Mountains. Knowing strong HRM practices are needed to make a merger successful, NiSource brought in LaNette Zimmerman as Senior VP of Human Resources. Her main task was to oversee the staffing integration process during the merger.

Like InterClean and EnviroTech, the merger of the two companies took place in a highly competitive industry. With the merger came duplicate staffing. NiSource's HRM system had to determine the appropriate actions to take to deal with the additional staff. NiSource put forth a plan to reduce redundancies and increase efficiencies. The plan included eliminating five percent of the workforce (NiSource, 2000). This plan was announced prior to the official completion of the merger and was implemented immediately. Approximately 800 employees were informed of the plans that would take effect one month from the time of the merger. This shows NiSource planned ahead and was prepared for the future unlike InterClean who, even after the merger with EnviroTech, has yet to announce a plan for dealing with staffing. By having a plan up front, NiSource eliminated employee moral issues based on uncertainty.

Company: Frontier Airlines, Course Concept: Evaluating recruiting and selection alternatives, B. Britt

Frontier Airlines is a relatively new airline at thirteen years old. Frontier began service on July 5, 1994 with only 180 employees. Frontier wanted to fill the gaps in the "hub and spoke" flight paths from Denver, CO and the Midwest and become a niche airline. The attitude of the company is summed up by their slogan: "A whole different animal." Their goal is to offer affordable, flexible, accommodating, and comfortable air travel. With the right attitude and service levels, growth was inevitable for Frontier. Frontier Airlines now employs more than 4,500 people across the nation (Frontier Airlines, 2006).

Growing from 180 to over 4500 employees in thirteen years is not an easy task. Do to so, Frontier had to have recruitment and staffing plans in place. In order to recruit qualified personnel, the organization holds numerous job fairs throughout the year. Unlike many jobs, potential employees in the airline industry must undergo an extensive background check that includes a FBI background check. For Frontier Airlines this is a 10-year FBI background check. As part of the recruitment process, interviews are conducted. However, to even get an interview with Frontier a prospective employee must agree they can work "any shift, any day of the week, including holidays and weekend" (Frontier Airlines, 2006).

While the recruitment requirements are strict with Frontier, they have some of the highest rankings for employee satisfaction (Riddell, 2007). This reflects not only a successful employee program, but also a successful recruiting program. Choosing the right employees for the right job is imperative to the success of a company. It is obvious Frontier Airlines has been successful just from its growth in the last thirteen years. The high satisfaction surveys only reinforce the successful policies of the company.

Company: Best Buy, Course Concept: Examine the applications of human capital development with regards to skill sets and gap analysis, K. Walkay

Best Buy is the largest technology and entertainment retailer in the US. That is pretty good for a company with a light and breezy vision statement: "Making Life Fun & Easy." Innovation can be built on values like these because they embody listening to others and being open to the new (Stopper, 2006).

Best Buy knew it could not bask for long in the light of past successes. Opening new stores would continue as a path to growth, but innovation had to be coupled with performance if the company was to sustain and increase its position in the marketplace. The changes required by innovation would be difficult in the midst of its success. It had to create the necessity that would become the mother of invention (Stopper, 2006).

That necessity came in a concept that everyone in Best Buy could accept: customer-centricity. Best Buy decided to move from the mass market and price formula that animated much of the strategy of retail chain stores to a "unique store approach" (Stopper, 2006).

Implementing this concept-a true culture change-was not simple and clearly would not occur overnight. The company devoted a huge effort to communicating with and engaging employees in the change. Being closest to the customer, employees played a key role in make segmented stores work (Stopper, 2006).

John Walden closed his presentation by emphasizing that moving to customer-centricity is as much a human endeavor as a strategic endeavor. Customer-centric capabilities will be the basis for all future growth, not only incremental store improvement. As a result, a new human capital philosophy has been adapted to:

1. Recognize the unique talents of each employee, and deploy those talents in a manner that maximizes the employee's energy to drive business outcomes.

2. Reengineer the talent system (selection, performance management, rewards, development), and develop other HR capabilities for personalization vs. sameness.