Strategic HR Management - Lecture Notes by Dr. Jeff Bassey

Introductory Lecture: Strategic HR Management

Dr. Jeff Bassey's Background

  • Leadership and Strategy Expert.
  • Trained for more than 200 Organizations.
  • Strategy Consultant to over 50 firms.
  • Member of UG Appointment Ad. Committee.
  • Qualifications: Bsc. Admin, LLB, MBA, Doctor of Business Admin.
  • Chartered Accountant, SPHR, CSP.
  • Founder of HR Certification Centre - Ghana.
  • Founder of Institute of Leadership & Strategy.

Disclaimer

  • The slides contain proprietary information with attribution required.
  • For training purposes only.
  • Reproduction or circulation is prohibited due to copyright laws.

Challenges for HR

  • What are the challenges of today's businesses for which HR must align?

Strategic HR

  • Strategic HR: HR from the outside in.
  • Alignment with:
    • State Laws and Regulations
    • Operating Departments and External Stakeholders
    • Industry and Business Requirements
    • Customer Preferences & Service Delivery

Measuring Organizational Health

  • Key Metrics:
    • Cash Flow
    • Customer Satisfaction
    • Employee Engagement

Henry Ford's Quote

  • "You can take our factories, burn our buildings and physical assets, but leave the people and we’ll build everything right back again."

Implementation Challenges

  • Why do organizations have difficulty implementing well-formulated, analysis-driven plans?
  • Why do they sometimes fail to achieve these plans and miss their performance targets?

Why Execution Fails

  • Lack of Leadership & Direction
  • Lack of Communication & Employee Buy-In
  • Lack of Resources

Airbus Dashboard Data Distribution

  • Total Parameters: 3900
  • Engine Makers
  • Pilots: 457
  • Maintenance/Grounds Team:
    • Actively Used: 122
    • Rarely Used: 335
  • What must HR focus on?

Key Focus Areas for HR Function

  1. Adding Value Through People Strategy
  2. Leadership for Change and Growth
  3. Compliance with Labour Regulation
  • HR Focus:
    • Low: Administrative Work
    • High: Delivering strategy based on external demands
  • Engagement in innovative HR practices.

HR Management Defined

  • HRM is the design of formal systems in an organization that ensures the effective and efficient use of human capital to accomplish organizational goals.

  • Key Functional Areas:

    1. Employment Management
    2. Learning and Development (HRD)
    3. Compensation and Benefits
    4. Employee and Labor Relations

Coca-Cola Case Study Introduction

  • How Coca-Cola's CEO Aligned People & Strategy to Re-charge Business Growth

Coca-Cola's Challenges in 2004

  • Neville Isdell became CEO of The Coca-Cola Company in 2004.
  • Challenges:
    • Health-conscious consumers rejecting carbonated soft drinks.
    • Stagnant market and product creation
    • Years of cuts in direct marketing.
    • Low stock price for over four years.
    • Press pronouncing that “the fizz was gone” from the Coke formula.
    • Skeptical investors.
    • Disappointed bottling partners.

Initial Discoveries

  • Exit of high-caliber people due to disenfranchisement.
  • Poorly implemented reorganizations and lay-offs.
  • Few believers in the company waiting for change.
  • Critical belief: “we’re a management and creative services company. We provide franchise leadership and marketing ideas that drive our larger Coca-Cola system.”
  • The people equation is critical.

Addressing the Board

  • "The company has not been meeting its goals for some years. We have to deliver, and to invest as well; I need to regain the commitment of our people. I’m here to take long-term actions, and I’ll want to go out and listen to our people before making any changes. I’ll not be talking to the press or investors until I complete the listening process"

How He Engaged People

  • Dug into employee engagement survey data to recharge morale.
  • The data indicated:
    • Lack of belief in management.
    • Lack of belief in the company’s ability to revitalize.
    • Some believed the company needed to buy a management team that could run the company better.
  • Confronted the lack of confidence.
  • Engaged people in a collaborative process to drive growth in the creation of the company’s future architecture, strategy, and people alignment.

Executive Talent Gaps

  1. Need for someone new to lead HR (Cynthia McCague).
  2. Need for a different marketing leader (elevated a seasoned marketing executive).
  3. Need for a representative of the bottling network at the executive table (previously ignored).
  • The people equation is critical!

Actions Taken

  1. Performance evaluations were re-instituted.
  2. Honest feedback espoused as a key value.
  3. Leadership development was greatly needed to optimize the people.
    • Narrative evaluation of each management member followed by a deep discussion.
    • Modeled desired behaviors.
    • Leadership training programs promoting a culture of performance and productivity.

Rebuilding Executive Talent Reviews

  • Made reviews more interactive and results-oriented.
  • Made moves to broaden experiences of future top executives.
  • Challenged everyone to ensure discussions led to action.
  • Changed the culture as a leadership team by working together to evaluate key leaders—more candidly, more openly.
  • Cynthia led the executive committee to work on staffing strategies, resulting in changes in Japan, China, the Philippines, and other key markets.
  • Established general leadership assessment programs for growing more senior management talent at the global level.

What Next?

  • Wanted leaders throughout the company to show “an eye for talent.”
  • Needed to build the product portfolio with bottling partners.
  • Continue to grow the core business while facing new competitors.
  • Grow more new skill sets.
  • Take more of an external view of the world.
  • Pay attention to cultural fit for most hires, but intentionally set up some tension to force change.

Aligning People Strategy

  • Aligning People Strategy to Business Strategy is what drives growth and gives meaning to HR.
  • Frequent shifts in core business operations and processes due to changing customer demands and preferences.
  • Technology driving business and human resource processes.

Short Case Study on Coca-Cola

  • Brief mention of Coca-Cola.

Thank You

  • Dr. Jeff Bassey, HR Strategy & Leadership Expert.
  • Mobile: 0244 822 855