Strategic planning is a tool organization uses to outline their objectives and vision and to direct how they will be achieved. A business assesses its existing situation and projects further directions in order to decide on each stage of development. Planning for human resources plays a part in this because it makes an effort to foresee the human resource requirements necessary to meet those demands. Having the right people in the right positions at the right times with the correct talents is essential. The best forecasting of the company’s labor demands, analysis of the current labor supply, and methods for balancing the needs are possible by the alignment of organizational strategy to human resource function. Human capital is the heart of each organizational plan and process. Hence it is considered a determinant of success. It is indispensable for the progression of human resource planning to support and advance the organization’s strategy. This is achieved with HR functions’ alignment with organizational strategic plans.
Maersk’s personnel management procedures and corporate culture have been impacted by the company’s transformation. The company changed from a small local shipping business to a multinational conglomerate with over 1000 operations in 130 countries (Groysberg & Abbott, 2013). It was clear that the firm required more seasoned managers and staff; in an effort to meet this requirement, the company hired seasoned experts and sped up the advancement of trainees. The interconnection between the company’s business segments was impacted by the expansion to the global market. In light of such events, it was necessary to adapt training to better match with Maersk’s business lines, and the emphasis on rotational training changed within these lines (Groysberg & Abbott, 2013). The business continued to put emphasis on implementing new performance measuring criteria, separating failing staff, and changing top management (Groysberg & Abbott, 2013). The company’s expansion to a worldwide level in terms of operations and workforce base is the cause of such variances.
Recruitment is divided into two types: internal and external. Employees are hired from within the organization through internal recruiting, whilst hiring from outside sources is done through external recruitment. In internal recruiting, the company solicits its current employees and invites them to submit an application for an open position. Shortlisted candidates that match the requirements are chosen to fill the new post. However, in order to find a sufficient skill pool for external hiring, the corporation looks to places like open advertisements, consulting companies, and employment exchanges.
Maersk’s recruitment strategy had long been known for hiring and teaching unskilled people. Its employment procedures were thorough and included various examinations such as psychometric tests and interviews, frequently with five to six Maersk workers (Groysberg & Abbott, 2013). All staff at Maersk had personality profiles generated as well. The business used a two-year entry-level training program. People were hired immediately after finishing high school or college (Groysberg & Abbott, 2013). Both formal training modules and on-the-job training were part of the curriculum. Trainees cycled through numerous functional groups during the course of the two years. In addition, a lot of trainees choose to attend Copenhagen Business School part-time in the evening (Groysberg & Abbott, 2013). All trainees were promised a two-year internship abroad after the first two years.
Maersk had a successful hiring procedure since it guaranteed that the employees would receive enough training in many aspects of the business operations. However, the business did not take into account each employee’s particular demands (Groysberg & Abbott, 2013). Maersk did a terrible job of fostering employee growth among its workforce, which is normally accomplished through career development and management in accordance with individual employee goals (Groysberg & Abbott, 2013). The business created a family-like atmosphere so that workers would stick around for up to 50 years (Groysberg & Abbott, 2013). This family atmosphere made it difficult for management teams to fire failing employees, even if it was in line with the company’s vision and goals, because of its very homogeneous, company-focused culture (Groysberg & Abbott, 2013). It doesn’t matter if someone buys or builds; it’s where they purchase or construct that matters.
The company performed worse while concentrating on the requirements of each individual employee. However, the company has diminished performance in using each individual’s ability. They may gain from investing more in the personal development of certain individuals with room for growth. In addition, the personalities of each employee are similar. The company requires to diversify the perspectives available within the management team. In a sense, this means that the company is overly consistent in the alignment of goals and views on problem-solving. It is necessary to diffuse the composition of employees to explore new solutions and challenge conventional wisdom. Therefore, the situation necessitates changing the employee hiring process and human resources management strategies to suit the expansion of the company better. The company should pay more attention to nurturing individual employees and hiring experienced workers that will bring fresh perspectives.
Reference
Groysberg, B. & Abbott, L. S. (2013) A.P. Møller – Maersk Group: Evaluating strategic talent management initiatives. HBS. No. 9-412-147. Web.