AT&T's Strategies to Address Shortcomings - Case Study Example

Insert surname) 1 (Name) (Instructors’ name) (Course) (Date)   Part a Context of the company     Due to growth and rise of modern technology, communication industry in the United States of America is probably one of the fastest growing industries. This has led to the increase and development of many telecommunication industries among these being the AT&T Corp formerly known as American Telephone and Telegraph Corp that offers telecommunication services such as next-generation TV services, mobile services, smart solutions and high-speed internet for other businesses and people ("AT&T Company Information | AT&T About Us"). AT & T Corp is one of the oldest companies of telecommunication used to serve alone the whole of United States of America and Canada but later due to the rise of competition other companies has grown to offer the same("AT&T Company Information | AT&T About Us"). The organization has advanced to an extent it delivers the above services to 3.5 million businesses on six continents and their high-speed internet serves about 365 million peoples in North America including 51 million in Mexico ("AT&T Company Information | AT&T About Us"). The level of competitiveness in the industry     In early 19th and 20th century the AT &T Corp had the monopoly advantage and used to control all telecommunication services ("AT&T Company and Contact Information"). However, due to the rise of different pressures of change like technological change, the rise of telecommunication as the corporate resource and hike of a market-driven political economy other different companies like the British telecom has expanded and taken the control of most of the continents. Although the AT & T Corp still serve the largest population in the USA, other companies like Century link, Verizon, Sprint, and  Fairpoint still offers the same services and occupy bigger areas with different propositions to customers thus industry highly competitive between those companies ("AT&T Company And Contact Information"). External stakeholders, the current trend in the industry, nature of work, current strategies, products and services and the current level of performance.      The industry has a variety of external stakeholders who help in continuity and progress of the communication companies. The AT&T Corp uses different sources of energy from various companies ("AT&T Outage or Service Down? Current Problems and Outages"). In 2008 the company developed scorecards which were intended to evaluate power consumption and project activities. The score cards have developed an easy understanding grade of 2000 of the company largest energy consuming sites. Through sharing these grades, facility managers are able to work towards overcoming any challenges facing use of energy ("AT&T Company Information | AT&T about Us"). In addition, the company has introduced more related ideas which have contributed to the innovation of more than 4000 such projects leading to saving of more than 362 million between 2010 and 2015 ("AT&T Outage or Service Down?"). The organization has also developed a Saving Power Purchase Agreement (SPPA) which has helped to fund upgrades efficiently without the need of adding more capital. On another hand, the company uses technology to handle challenges and find solutions so as to use energy more efficiently. For example, the company has developed the Project ICON (Intelligent Connection of Facility Network) which uses the network to get information from business equipment across the country enabling to manage data from one single central point thus having a common baseline of operation (AT&T Company and Contact Information).      To add on that the company has also established energy intensity metric measure that has shown a great deal of lower energy consumption from previous years to up to now. The company has set a goal to reduce power consumption so as by the year 2020 the energy should have been cut by 60% and by now the energy has been reduced up to 45%("AT&T Company Information | AT&T About Us"). In addition, the company has developed alternative power plans including solar power portfolio which have in used 5.0 megawatts and fuel cell power from Brom Energy Serves which have additional 20.9 MW("AT&T Company Information | AT&T About Us"). On environmental and safety the company have to make it sure that their operating companies do not pose any environmental hazards. To ensure this will not happen, the company has developed an Environment, Health and Safety Policies(EHSP) as a guideline measure based on International Standards Organization and occupational health policies of USA government("AT&T Company Information | AT&T About Us").        The company integrate well with its customers and as well as the surrounding community. The company provides opportunity policy to all people where all applicants are protected from discrimination despite their colour, religion and races which also apply to all customers. The company also takes serious precautions to adherence to human rights and also takes policies serious to every country they operate ("AT&T Outage or Service Down? Current Problems and Outages").      In 2015 the company produced a contribution of 156.6 million for philanthropic spending. The funding was given to various programs according to priority. The civic and community took the largest share of $29 million followed by art and culture with $6.5 million ("AT&T Outage or Service Down? Current Problems and Outages"). The company also has an operational hand salute which provides educational and mentoring programs for the service disabled and veteran service business. The organization always has original March maker events where suppliers and primes discuss various future and current opportunities. In total by 2016, there are 12 primes, 119 meetings, and 50 suppliers ("AT&T Outage or Service Down? Current Problems and Outages").     The company uses a $23.07 per volunteer hour which determines the financial equivalent. The company has developed a number of policies that guides sustainability and citizenship. These policies include climates change policies, code of conduct, code of ethics, energy policy, equal employment opportunity, human rights, paper policy, and the principle of conducts for suppliers, stakeholders policy and anti-bribery compliance policy. Key challenges facing practice of SHRM in organization I. Human resource effectiveness measurement The organization does not have an elaborate measurement for effectiveness of human resource. These are the results in terms of transaction management as well as positive influences of the business over the past periods. Utilizing the metric changes to know the business efficiency is the start of perceiving human resource role as a positive strategic partner in business ("AT&T Outage or Service Down? Current Problems and Outages"). II. Change management The company has changed management various times including the time they broke the regional Bell operating companies. The change in management leads to change in personnel management thus affecting the whole human resource administration of the enterprise. III. Leadership development The company faces leadership development challenges since most of the managers in the company were not their former employees ("AT&T Outage or Service Down? Current Problems and Outages"). IIII. Staffing and availability of locally skilled labor. The company has a shortage of skilled employees from the USA, and that is why the (Chris) company hires personnel from the other countries such as Canada ("AT&T Outage or Service Down? Current Problems and Outages"). V. The company also has a difficulty in hiring and retaining talented staff while lowering labor cost Part B AT&T is facing numerous human resource challenges. The challenges include lack of effective measurement of activities, problems associated with change management, leadership development issues, availability of qualified and experience employees, and high employees’ turnover. AT&T has to address these problems to continue been competitive or utilize the employees to create a competitive advantage. AT&T can employ different strategies to improve individual and organizational performance. Recommendations AT&T has to employ different strategies to address these shortcomings and challenges. Training and development of the employees and management on best practices and approaches to completing duties is important (Halbesleben, 2010). The training involves the employees been updated on effective strategies to accomplish duties and preferred methods for AT&T to complete the assignment (Renwick, Redman and Maguire, 2013). The development includes improvement of the skills of the employees and aligning the experiences with the requirements of the company (Shuck, Reio, and Rocco, 2011). The training and development comes in forms of workshops and seminars depending on the targeted intention (Chiaburu, Van Dam and Hutchins, 2010). It means that the training process is customized according to the strategic requirements of AT&T. therefore, training and development are important in ensuring the employees have appropriate skills to accomplish assigned duties. AT&T continuous creates and implement strategies. However, the lack of effective evaluation mechanism is a problem. Creating a mechanism to measure effectiveness of human resource relative to the strategic requirements is important (Chiaburu, Van Dam and Hutchins, 2010). The evaluation process also incorporates the training and development that employees are allowed to attend (Wollard and Shuck, 2011). In terms of strategies, the strategic aims should be aligned with the skills of the employees, and milestones clarified. The measurement also affords the company with analyzing different sections of the organization to determine, which are effective and where adjustments are required. The measurement process enables the company to redesign the organizational approaches and strategies to reflect the skills and aims of the company. The management has to acknowledge the importance of the employees (Love and Singh, 2011). Encouraging the management to champion workforce engagement is important because workforce engagement determines the extent of participation of employees in completing duties and tasks. Workforce engagement is the internal urge for the employees to complete organizations’ strategic needs (Chiaburu, Van Dam and Hutchins, 2010). The AT&T leadership has to create different programs and strategies to ensure the employees are committed to the working requirements and expectations. The human resource department has to consider the requirements of the employees through formulating and implementing programs and policies targeting the employees (Kanchanachitra et al. 2011). Different variables make the employees to seek employment at AT&T, and the solution is to implement different processes (Shuck, Reio, and Rocco, 2011). For example, motivation is an integral component in organizational requirements and employees are motivated differently (Mone et al. 2011). For instance, some employees are motivated because of financial issues while others are security (Chiaburu, Van Dam and Hutchins, 2010). AT&T has to understand the significance of these processes and programs in ensuring the employees are interested in advancing the requirements of the organization. Understanding the employee industry dynamics is important in addressing the challenges. Carrying out research and studies to analyze how successful companies engage and manage the employees should be an aspect that AT&T embraces. AT&T has to study similar technological companies resulting in the creation of benchmarks and borrow some of the strategies to create an effective human resource (Chiaburu, Van Dam and Hutchins, 2010). For example, some companies may have a better employee relationship while others are offering motivational products and services such as holidays and other benefits. Studying the industry and understanding the requirements of the employees is important in customization of organization processes and programs to reflect the employee environmental dynamics. Engaging the employees and potential employees is important. Requesting feedback from the employees on reasons of changing positions including variables associated with ineffectiveness in hiring and retaining quality staff should be analyzed (Shuck and Wollard, 2010). The persons contributing to the success of the organization are the employees and seeking the views of the employees is important (Shuck, Reio, and Rocco, 2011). The employees are supposed to give feedback, and the management has to utilize the feedback to improve the integral and strategic operations of the company. A company should not wait until problems are seen but can create a learning organization (Chiaburu, Van Dam and Hutchins, 2010). Developing a learning organization in which the mistakes and successes are used to develop and implement strategic requirements is crucial since it is possible to identify problems at an earlier stage (Brad, Rocco and Albornoz, 2011). It also enables AT&T to integrate the industry dynamics including processes and procedures, ensuring the changes aligns with the organizational requirements (Shuck, Reio, and Rocco, 2011). The learning aspect also enables the organization to appreciate change and new employees can easily be oriented. Resources are crucial for any organization and the management of an organization has to utilize effectively resources. The leadership should align processes and resources with the needs and requirements of the employees (Tarique and Schuler, 2010). It includes leading the employees and consideration of context and situation in decision making processes are important (Alfes et al. 2013). The management has to balance resource provision with different operational requirements. The amount of resources and allocation of the resources may create problems and balancing the allocation of resources is important. In addition, the leadership has to appreciate the different contextual operational conditions of the employees and ensure focus is given to the employee requirements and needs. What key lessons do you take from this assignment that will enable you to become a more effective HRM practitioner (Personal Reflection) The following are some of the human resource aspects that I have gained in completing the assignment: Create a workforce engagement strategy Workforce engagement is ensuring the employees are interested in the opportunity and satisfied in completing the tasks of the opportunity. Poor engagement limits the capacity of the employees to operate and affects the productivity of the organization. Therefore, creating and advocating for workforce engagement is important in accomplishing organizational requirements. Collaborate and seek views from the employees The employees understand the needs, requirements, and processes of an organization. The employees understand the nature of the activities and whether the establishment is on the right track (Garavan and McGuire, 2010). To collect the views from the employees, it is important for the management to collaborate with the employees and seek their views (Shuck, Reio, and Rocco, 2011). In collaboration, the employees may have alternative strategies and approaches to complete the task. In seeking their views, the employees are able to own the processes and procedures, which are important in advancing the requirements of the organization (Chiaburu, Van Dam and Hutchins, 2010). The collaboration offers opportunities to the employees to air their concerns and propose solutions. Therefore, collaboration and engagement of the employees are important in advancing organizational requirements. Champion a human development process Having skilled and experienced employee is one thing and improving the quality of the employees is another thing. The human resource sector should continuously improve the quality of the employees through the provision of different resources and processes. For example, participating in activities such as workshops and attending seminars improves the capacities of employees to accomplish duties and be aware of industry dynamics. Encourage effective communication and conflict resolution approaches Misunderstanding and assumptions are common in the workplace, and the solution is to encourage effective communication (Gruman and Saks, 2011). The persons involved have to understand each other and seek for clarification. It means that the relationship among the employees is integral in improving effective communication (Sarkis, Gonzalez-Torre and Adenso-Diaz, 2010). In addition, conflict resolution mechanisms and strategies are aimed at addressing conflicts. The leadership of the organization and other employees have to appreciate the importance of conflict resolution mechanisms and also to participate in associated processes. Situational and transformative leadership The leaders are important to any organization and the leaders have to appreciate the changing requirements of the organization and employees (Chiaburu, Van Dam and Hutchins, 2010). The leaders have to create and implement a culture that embraces change and employee diversity (Davies and Crane, 2010). A successful organization upholds diversity and integrity, and the management is usually the originator of these policies. Therefore, the leaders have to lead as examples and encourage the followers to have a paradigm shift towards creative an effective organization. References Alfes, K., Shantz, A.D., Truss, C. and Soane, E.C., 2013. The link between perceived human resource management practices, engagement, and employee behavior: a moderated mediation model. 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Journal of Business and Psychology, 26(2), pp. 205-212. Renwick, D.W., Redman, T. and Maguire, S., 2013. Green human resource management: A review and research agenda. International Journal of Management Reviews, 15(1), pp. 1-14. Sarkis, J., Gonzalez-Torre, P. and Adenso-Diaz, B., 2010. Stakeholder pressure and the adoption of environmental practices: The mediating effect of training. Journal of Operations Management, 28(2), pp. 163-176. Shuck, B., and Wollard, K., 2010. Employee engagement and HRD: A seminal review of the foundations. Human Resource Development Review, 9(1), pp. 89-110. Shuck, B., Reio Jr, T.G. and Rocco, T.S., 2011. Employee engagement: An examination of antecedent and outcome variables. Human Resource Development International, 14(4), pp. 427-445. Tarique, I. and Schuler, R.S., 2010. Global talent management: Literature review, integrative framework, and suggestions for further research. Journal of World Business, 45(2), pp. 122-133. Wollard, K.K. and Shuck, B., 2011. Antecedents to employee engagement a structured review of the literature. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 13(4), pp. 429-446. Read More