Allstate Insurance Company - Case Study Example

?All Insurance Company The paper comprises of the goal-setting process of All Insurance Company for attaining its specific goals. The evaluation of the company’s goal setting in accordance with the models stated that the company has adopted effective strategy so as to fulfill the three processes of the goal setting model. The company has met the dimension of goal setting by undertaking various activities for the employees. The purpose of these activities is to increase the competency of performance of the employees. The motivational techniques that need to be developed by the company for developing the employees’ performance are also suggested in the paper. Table of Contents Abstract 2 1.0 Introduction 4 2.0Evaluation of Allstate's Goal-Setting Process 4 3.0Dimensions of an Effective Goal Setting Program of Allstate 6 4.0High-Performance Reward System of Allstate to Motivate Its Employees to Reach Its Diversity Goals 7 5.0Conclusion 9 6.0References 10 1.0 Introduction Allstate Insurance Company in order to improve the performance of the employees developed diversity strategy. This strategy was considered to be effective weapon for gaining competitive advantage. The company for achieving its goal has adopted various processes. The entire goal of the company was based on the performance standard of the employees. In this paper, the goal setting process of Allstate Insurance Company has been evaluated by considering the model of goal setting. The paper seeks to explain whether the company has fulfilled the dimension of goal setting. The paper includes the recommendations related to the high performance reward system that Allstate Insurance Company can implement for achieving its goals. 2.0 Evaluation of Allstate's Goal-Setting Process To improve the performance and to reach the goals, the insurance company thought of developing a goal-setting process. The diversity strategy of the company will enable it to reach the specific goals. The definite goal of the company facilitated to improve performance and increase motivation level of the employees. The goal setting model is required to be developed by a company otherwise the entire goals as well as objectives will suffer. The appropriate model facilitates a company to reach its ultimate planned targets (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2007). Goal Setting Process The company in order to enhance the performance level is required to follow three processes of goal setting model. The first step is challenging goal developed by the company. The company took a challenge to improve the performance and adopted diversity strategy. The strategy was developed by considering two major aspects of internal as well as external focus. The internal challenge is to develop the potential of employees by providing them with tools, opportunities and resources. The external challenge is to relate the employees with the experience and background of the market where the company was operating. This challenge had to be faced by the company in its daily operations (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2007). The second process is that of moderating. This step would recognize the ability of the company to meet its goals that have been committed. In this process the company received feedback from the employees regarding the improvement process that has to be implemented. The company generally focused towards the committed goals in this process and thus for goal achievement, various complexities have been raised. The next process involves mediating; at this point the company moved on a specific direction and gave utmost efforts with strong determination to reach the strategy that has been set. With such positive attitude the company gained positive performances from the employees (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2007). The company provided rewards to the employees owing to their effective performance which resulted in increase in satisfaction level of the employees. The ultimate result of all these processes was the achievement of the company in fulfilling its challenging goals (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2007). 3.0 Dimensions of an Effective Goal Setting Program of Allstate The goal setting program possesses dimensions that need to be adopted by a company. A company can compare its set goal process with the definite dimension of goal setting. There are five dimensions of effective goal setting program. To meet these dimensions, Allstate Insurance Company has adopted various actions with the help of education and training to the employees for achieving the goals. It developed four steps to fulfill the criteria of goal setting program. These are succession programming, development, measurement along with accountability and rewards. In the first step, different candidates have been recognized and developed for specific position. About 36000 employees were provided career development prospects so as to make the workforce of the company diverse at all the ranks. As a result, more women as well as minority people had become employed. For reaching the diverse goals of business, this strategy provides a significant prospect to the company (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2007). The second step is about development of the employees of the company. The development process enabled each employee to get feedback of their present job skills and in which area improvement was needed for further enhancement. The process was followed by providing training, instructing, mentoring to the employees, with which they could develop their future planning. The third step is measurement. The measurement was performed by conducting survey for 36000 employees. The results of the survey were communicated to the employees by the management and then feedback from the employees was collected in case further improvement was required in problem solving as well as enhancement in work processes. If the managers or employees observe any difficulties in reaching the goals then they set sub goals for specific goal attainment (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2007). The last step is regarding the accountability and reward for the employees that connect the compensation to the diversify goals of the employees. The essential resources are provided to the employees by the managers so that there comes no barrier in reaching the set goals. Allstate had designed various facilities for the employees so that a balance was created between the work and the personal life. Through the following steps Allstate Insurance Company would be able to fulfill the stated dimensions of goal setting program that are essential to reach the goal diversity of the company (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2007). Hence from the above steps of the company it has been examined that it has met the criteria of effective goal setting dimension through the implementation of various criteria in its processes. 4.0 High-Performance Reward System of Allstate to Motivate Its Employees to Reach Its Diversity Goals Allstate Insurance Company has developed various motivating factors in order to encourage the employees in their task, however further improvement is required in the motivating factors to develop the performance of the employees. The reward system based on the performance can be conducted as it may create affirmative attitude among employees towards the assigned tasks. The reward system works excellently in augmenting the motivation level (Koala Consulting and Training, 2008). Gain sharing reward system can be provided to the employees as both employees and employers in the company possess similar goals and gains from the productivity in the organization can be shared with the employees by the employers in order to increase performance and commitment of the employees towards the organization. The gain sharing plan has a significant role that contributes to high motivation level of the employees along with high performance. For increasing the high performance the company must provide employees in terms of monetary value such as bonuses. This leads to reduction in cost by increasing the productivity (Armstrong, 2002). The company should share its financial gains for the improved performance of the employees. The main intention of gain sharing reward scheme is to share its payout of productivity as well as performance. The gain sharing will facilitate the company to enhance its performance with the help of motivated along with committed employees. This reward scheme has various objectives for the organization and the employees. The target related to performance and productivity is specifically communicated to the employees. It specifies more objectives of the company and measures the performance more effectively; the performance improvement area is focused on quality, productivity and delivery along with cost. The employees are influenced to improve the company’s operating methods and they are being shared a part of gain for their contributions towards high performance (Armstrong, 2002). 5.0 Conclusion With reference to the above discussion, it can be stated that the diversity goals of the company is entirely based on the improvement in employees’ performance level. The company incorporated various goal settings’ dimension and process in order to fulfill the challenging goals that have been set. For fulfilling the goals, the company developed gain sharing reward program so that the performance of the employees can be improved to a larger extent and they become highly motivated. It has been observed that the effective goal setting will ultimately lead to success of a company. Thus, Allstate Insurance Company developed the diversity strategy so as to reach the specific goals of its business. 6.0 References Armstrong, M., (2002). Employee Reward. CIPD Publishing. Hellriegel, D. & Slocum, J. W., (2007). Organizational Behavior. Cengage Learning. Koala Consulting and Training, (2008). Rewards Systems. Types of Rewards. Retrieved Online on June 09, 2011 from http://www.koalacat.com/archive/016RewardSystems.pdf Read More