Implementing a Sustainability Focused Improvement Initiative within an Organisation - Report Example

Implementing a Sustainability Focused Improvement Initiative within an Organisation By: Executive SummaryTo improve the operations, it is necessary to look into the operational, financial, strategic, human capital, and technology services to help the company reduce costs and continue to improve performance and boost its bottom line. By improving operations, it means assessing and improving quality systems, building and implementing supplier development and management systems, analyzing and helping clients reduce logistics, transportation, and supply chain costs, implementing lean business practices, and project managing programs and launches. Ensuring the above factors are part and parcel of the operations of the company is very essential for success. This paper outlines the ideas of implementing a sustainability-focused improvement initiative within an organization. Contents Executive Summary 1 Introduction 3 The Human Resource (Problem situation) 4 Improvements 6 Company’s strategic direction 8 Improvement tools and techniques 9 Monitoring of initiatives 10 Conclusion 11 References 13 Introduction Sustainability is on the agenda of many firms. However, their environmental, operational, social, and governance activities have been disconnected from core strategy. Studies and statistics indicate that most businesses still take a fragmented approach rather than treating sustainability as an issue that can directly affect the firm’s results. This paper use the example of Marcus Evans Group, a firm that produces high end and sector focused business events, summits, and conferences in a number of business sectors. The researcher will show how sustainability is part and parcel HR department of this group. It will highlight ideas of implementing a sustainability-focused improvement initiative within the group. Sustainability can maximize the positive benefits of a business’ operations for all stakeholders. The Human Resource (Problem situation) The business landscape is rapidly changing. This means that the human resource departments of firms are facing many challenges. These challenges will continue to evolve for years to come, and it will affect the operations of the firms. The HR is a business-driven function, and its effectiveness is dependent on the strategic corporate direction and the ability to influence key policies and decisions. Therefore, there is a need for defining the HR challenges and solutions determined to succeed. There are many challenges affecting the HR of Marcus Evans because of the fluctuation economy as well as local and global advancements. A study by Ehnert (2009) noted down several challenges that face the HR of many organisations. The table below outlines the challenges facing HR’s and the percentage of companies that face these challenges. CHALLENGES % of Companies Change management Leadership development HR effectiveness measurement Compensation Staffing: Recruitment and availability of skilled labour Succession planning Learning and development Staffing: Retention Benefits costs: Health and Welfare 48% 35% 27% 25% 24% 20% 19% 16% 13% The above challenges are very familiar with HR departments. The primary function of this department is to recruit the best people for each position within an organization. This is to ensure that the employees are trained properly, to manage the employees within the framework of corporate policies, and to reconcile conflicts between individual employees and departments. Additionally, the department ensures that all the employees’ policies are consistent with the laws and regulations pertaining to worker rights. With the above challenges, the HR departments will fail to deliver on their roles and responsibilities. The function of this department in Marcus Evans Group is very crucial. Its importance to the functioning of this organization is substantial. The department can raise the performance of a firm through many ways. The most significant way it can increase the performance is by improving the work rate and increasing the motivation of the employees. The HR can process existing employees through available ‘continuing education’ courses to ensure those employees remain relevant and useful in their areas of expertise. Additionally, the department can refine the ways new employees are vetted and hired. This increases the prospects of only hiring right and qualified individuals. There are many scenarios where productivity of a firm suffers because the wrong people are hired, and they underperform in their duties. The HR plays a significant role in the operation of the company by interacting more frequently with departments within the organization. The department makes sure the managers of these departments work effectively with the resources provided by the firm. Improvements The top leadership has to initiate improvement policies that would resonate with the general strategic direction taken by the company, to improve the HR functioning within Marcus Evans. This would ensure operations improvement within the enterprise. The firm has to master social needs for HR. This includes social employee engagement and social recruiting. The increase of social technologies, opportunities, and expectations they come with having impacted many areas of businesses, including the Human Resource department. Therefore, the firm has to prioritize more employee engagement in their strategies. Obviously, most HR departments have the goal of engaging with staff and other functions such as recruitment. However, the problem here is mastering these objectives with new sets of social tools. The other initiative is talent development and rotation. According to researchers, one of the key trends for 2015 in HR is ‘jobs rotation in HR.’ That said, firms can develop further talents and aid employee retention. The other initiative is installing new HR technology and interoperability. The firm has to ensure the HR department is using the most up-to-date technology systems. This is crucial to the performance of the ministry. Additionally, the interoperability of the firm’s systems is also important. A study by Ehnert (2009) noted that integration and consolidation of HR solutions would improve the interoperability of systems, databases, and tools. With the latest technology, the HR team will work faster, and more informed decisions from better data sets from different parts of the company. Another initiative is improving efficiency. This is through automation and digitization. For instance, in Marcus Evans Group, the HR department is still using paper-based or manual processes in its major functions. This needs to change. By digitizing documents, records will be stored electronically. There are many benefits associated with this. In addition, automating records will save a lot of time and money. The above initiatives will help boost HR performance, and in the end, improves operations. Below are some of the performance improvement questions that managers can ask to diagnose performance problems. What are the work systems that cause a person to fail? Does the employee know what you want from him/her? Does he/she know the goals expected? Do the employees have the confidence in their competence to perform the tasks associated with the goals? Do the employees practice effective work management? For instance, do the break large tasks into doable jobs? Have you established a critical path for the employees’ work? Do you attend meetings that feedbacks are provided? Do the employees have the appropriate and needed people working with them to accomplish the project? Do the employees understand how their work fit into the larger schemes of things in the company? Are the employees clear about what constitutes success in the enterprise? Some employees think they are contributing a good work because of an overly-managing supervisor. Do the employees feel valued and recognized for the work they are contributing? Are they fairly compensated for their contribution? Proper answers to the above questions will help the management help employees to succeed. Company’s strategic direction The company has hired the best talent in terms of attitude. The employees are very ready to improve the business’s performance. The strategies are: Be an authentic employer. There is no need of becoming a patronizing employer The management has to be close to the employees. They should show empathy and ask questions such as, ‘How is your day?’ The leadership has to demonstrate listening skills with open-ended questions, for instance, ‘Where is the company supposed to invest the extra money?’ Managers have to communicate what the company is doing and how it is performing. The company has to help employees understand how they will contribute to the bottom line of the firm. Highlight the company-wide objectives, and discuss them, with the employees. The company has to give workers challenges, but with purpose Managers have to teach employees how to think Make employees the C.E.O of their work. There should be resources that allow employees to contribute ideas and allow them as much autonomy to make decisions. Encourage each employee to be customer-focused. The initiative will resonate with the above strategic direction of the company. The above strategies are meant to create a better employee relationship with the enterprise. Similarly, all the initiatives are intended to make managers more engaged with their employees, and show more commitment to their needs to boost employee morale. However, by giving employees challenges but with a purpose, is not right. Employees should not be subjected to intense working conditions. Challenges can either be beneficial or disastrous, depending on how they are given (Ehnert, 2009). Improvement tools and techniques The first development tool is leadership. This is the ability of one to develop the potential of a team in pursuit of a common interest. Additionally, the leadership should be the lead of setting objectives in the firm. Here, they have to follow the SMART criteria of setting goals. Leaders have to show the way of developing SMART goals. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound (Stead, 2004). Specific The leadership should stress the need for a specific goal rather than a more general one. The goal should be clear and unambiguous. Measurable The leadership has to stress the need for concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of goals. This means that, if the goals are not measurable, it is not known whether the team can complete it. Attainable The goals set up by the leadership have to be realistic and attainable. After setting up the goals, the management has to develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capabilities to reach them. Relevant The goals have to matter. Relevant goals always drive the team and organization forward. Time-bound The goals have to be time-oriented and attainable within a given time frame. The second improvement tool is mentoring. Mentoring is when one teaches, advises and guides another in their personal and professional environment. Mentoring is known by HR executives to retain staff and increase commitment by employees within a company (Peteiro, 2009). The third tool is education climate assessment. This entails an objective evaluation of the degree of satisfaction of people in an organization, understanding their expectations and needs at the firm and their perception of existing problems. Experts argue that, assessment should be made once improvements are noted in the firm (Weinreb, 2012). The fourth tool is competence management and performance evaluation. This allows for the reconciliation of the interests of the company with the interests of everyone. Competence is the ability or quality that makes a person able to play a role in an organization. Therefore, competence management involves the identification of skills necessary for achieving the objectives of an organization (Stead, 2004). The other tools are incentive systems, problem-solving and teamwork, meetings management, and internal communication (Peteiro, 2009). Monitoring of initiatives The initiative will be internally operationalized. The managers of the firm will finalise the initiatives or any significant change to the initiatives. They are the ones to align the budget for these initiatives and fund the strategic change. By operationalising it internally, the firm will be able to build all departments around these initiatives. The management will be in a position to establish key success measures of these initiatives and a tracking system. Additionally, the management will be able to revise the performance management effectively. Launching it internally will initiate staff development to build the firm’s internal cadre of expertise with skills to achieve core visions and mission. The firm will be able to draw up a game plan to ensure a critical mass for implementing the initiatives. The executives would set sponsorship teams in place for each initiative and set a date for new initiatives and business planning review. Before launching the initiatives, the executives will bring all departments on board, and involve them in the strategic planning. This will help to build a shared vision, and increase individual’s motivation to see these initiatives succeed. There is a need for clarity and consistent communication with all stakeholders in the company. The employees could play a part in mapping desired outcomes and designing performance measurements. This will be essential in ensuring the initiatives lasts long in the firm. Implementing these initiatives require leaders who lead through inspiration and coaching. It does not need commanding and controlling from the leaders. It will be advisable for the leaders to reward and recognize success after implementation of these initiatives. When rolling out these initiatives, there are a variety of options, such as high-profile campaign and low-key announcement. The best way is to roll out to the entire organization the finalized plan and vision in an annual state of the union message. The next thing is to make the announcement exciting and get everyone engaged. Then give every board member and executive a copy of the plan. The plan will be distributed to everyone in the firm. It will be necessary to include the portions of the plan in policies and procedures, including the employee manual. This will be the best way of rolling out the initiatives (Olsen, 2010). Conclusion Below is the cost analysis of the above initiatives. Initiative Program Costs Direct Costs Facilitator’s fee: $2,300/day X 3 days X 1 trainer Facilitator’s airfare and car expense: $3,000 Facilitator’s hotel: $1000/day including tax X 3 days = $3000 Facilitator’s food (dinners): $50/day X 3 days = $150 Refreshments for meetings: $30/day X 80 people X 3 days = $7,200 Materials: Notebooks and pens = $100 Equipment rental: (Projection screen) $ 150/day X 3 days. = $750 Total direct costs = $21,100 Direct benefits There is an increase in workers output in the firm. They were motivated and worked harder, and for longer hours. There were decreased costs of recruiting because a more diverse workforce attracts candidates more easily. There was improvement in productivity $50,000 gross profit/year X 80 salespersons= $4,000,000 X 10% increase in productivity (before tax) Managers improvement = 60,000 gross profit X 15% Therefore, bringing in improvements and difference in organizations is very beneficial. The firm will record high profits, and the employees will be highly motivated. References Cooke, F. L., 2010. Human Resource Strategy to Improve Organisational Performance: A Route for British Firms?. Issue 9, pp. 1-33. Ehnert, I., 2009. Sustainable Human Resource Management: A Conceptual and exploratory analysis from a paradox perspective. London: Springer Science & Business Media. Jackson, S. E., 2012. Managing Human Resources for Environmental Sustainability. London: Wiley. Kotter, J. P., 2008. Choosing Strategies for Change. Change management. Longoni, A., 2014. Sustainable Operations Strategies: The Impact of Human Resource Management and Organisational Practices on the Triple Bottom Line. New York: Springer. McGregor, D., 2012. The Peri-Urban Interface: Approaches to Sustainable Natural and Human Resource Use. London: Earthscan. Olsen, E., 2010. How to Roll Out Your Strategic Plan. Peteiro, D. R., 2009. Techniques for Improving Human Resource Management in the Enterprise. Sinapsys Business Solutions. Snell, S., 2012. Managing Human Resources. s.l.: Cengage Learning. Stead, J. G., 2004. Sustainable Strategic Management. Chicago: M.E. Sharpe,. Steere, M., 2013. Improve your operations in 2014: Human Resources. Read Soft. Weinreb, E., 2012. When sustainability meets human resources. Read More