Human Resource Management Audit for Johnson&Johnson - Research Paper Example

?Human Resource Management Audit For Johnson And Johnson Introduction The Headquarter of Johnson and Johnson is situated in New Jersey. Johnson and Johnson is one of the world’s most globalized companies in terms of supplying pharmaceuticals, consumer health care goods, and devices for medical needs (Johnson & Johnson d). Founded in 1886, the company has more than 115,000 employees and more than 250 independent operational units with operation over 57 countries and product sale market spread over 175 countries (Alsop, B1). It has variety of products and several of them are world known products. Some of the most renowned products are Johnson’s baby products, facial wash clean and clear, Tylenol medications, Acurve contact lenses, as well as Neutrogena skin and beauty products etc. The company is planning to increase its market share and achieve the desired goals; for that matter, Johnson & Johnson analyzes its human resource management practices and policies in order to see which integral parts are performing well and what further improvements are required. This report audits the human resource management of Johnson and Johnson. HR Program aspects that seem to be performing well Employee diverse workforce: Johnson & Johnson has workforce from all parts of the world, speaking different languages, sharing different faith, religion, knowledge visions, customs and culture. This workforce is more than 115,000 employees who share different academic and educational qualification as well. The educational background varies from low level worker to highly qualified PhD scientists. (Foster and Kaplan, 2001, p.232) Johnson & Johnson credo being the precipitating factor for swift managing of this workforce and is also a reason behind its success. The workforce may differ in values and beliefs but the company’s credo ethical values seem to bind them as one unit which leads Johnson & Johnson towards success as a single collective workforce unit. Policy towards labor laws and regulations Johnson & Johnson labor laws have these main agendas: The minimum age to qualify for working at Johnson & Johnson is 16 and those who are 18 or under are not allowed to work more than 48 hours in a week. Giving proper rest to workers during work day and avoid maximum working hours for workers in order to maintain safety. Labor prison should be avoided in terms of bonded or forced manipulations of workers. Proper knowledge should be given to workers about the daily or hourly wages, if extra hours are required then, extra hour wages should be disclosed to worker before initiating work. Respects the rights of the workers and their decisions of joining or not joining the organization. No discrimination in terms of gender, health, religion etc. Respect the right of workers to bargain in a collective manner without illegal or collective manner. Threats in terms of brutal and sexual harassments should be avoided. The balancing work and family program: Johnson & Johnson started to make efforts for creating a balance in work and family program after taking an inspiration from a credo survey, which revealed the deficiency in commitment of Johnson & Johnson towards work and family program. As a result, balancing work and family program was put to practice. Learning services group: Learning services group was designed to assist operating units regarding workforce performance and towards the adaptability and adjustment of Johnson & Johnson culture. The main aim of this group is to offer quality management and help units to achieve quality and high standard products (Johnson & Johnson b). The live for life program: The desire of Johnson & Johnson is to have strong and healthiest workers in the world leads toward the idea of live for life. The program merely focuses on exercise, nutrition, stress control and non smoking assistance. Various programs were introduced which offered health and fitness awareness and issues related to health. (Johnson & Johnson a) Training and development with reference to the concept of i- lead: In order to get the future leader, Johnson & Johnson has devised a methodology called i-lead. This process generally gives guidelines for workers to work with their immediate bosses in formulating and customizing development plans. The i-lead usually comprises of three steps or levels, namely, individual, managerial support and organizational resources. Each level has its own role to play. While every individual seeks response and improvements of leadership skills, the managerial level work as a mediator between the first and third level. (Xavier, 80) Training by orientation method: By using the blend of conventional and modern teaching methods for instance e-learning, classroom learning and blended learning Johnson & Johnson is focused on giving training using variety of programs which work in the favor of both the employee and for Johnson & Johnson as well. The employees at all levels are encouraged to apply for training and development of their skills required in order for their growth in terms of leadership. Defining career path: Johnson and Johnson company takes pride in defining career path and pre-counseling regarding career planning and development. By using method of extensive career development workshops for its employees, it gives knowledge and information that worker might need in order to grow within the company and perform his duties well. Johnson & Johnson believes in defining career and giving opportunity to each of its worker in order to provide them with an opportunity to grow. Active hiring process: In 1999, active hiring process was launched by the Johnson & Johnson which proved to be beneficial. This unique hiring technique not only focused on hiring the active job seekers but also the focused on passive job seekers. Furthermore, internal hiring program has also been used by Johnson & Johnson (Gilbert, 134). By using active hiring process, Johnson & Johnson is fulfilling not only its current needs in terms of work force but also possible needs of future. Credo based decision making: Another thing that seems to be performing well is the credo based decision making. Johnson & Johnson has understanding about its responsibilities as a health care company and works on the basis of four dwellers or constituencies, namely, customers, employees, community and stakeholders. Therefore, Johnson & Johnson employees have no questions regarding whom to consider when they are taking their decisions. As one of the employees has said regarding credo decision making, “when a difficult decision needs to be made, we all know what we mean when we ask, are there credo issues to address?” (Johnson & Johnson d) Cultural fit: When Johnson & Johnson is hiring for a potential employee, the company looks for “a cultural fit” (Xavier, 85). Furthermore, upon hiring these employees, orientation is given to them telling about the overall culture that company follows under the lighting of credo values and issues and regarding standards of leadership. However, staffing process in terms of cultural fit, if compiled, has these main understandings which are given below: Applicants who have potential of cultural fit are most likely to be recruited in Johnson & Johnson. New hired employees are given orientation in which they are told them about the overall culture of the company with reference to the code of conduct and credo values. Keeping the employee or retaining usually has a strong and sound outcome. Having knowledge about their future goals and expectations between the employee and the employer. The logic and importance of recruiting for cultural fit is as follows: It gives more production and reduces absenteeism. Optimum performance and productivity can be achieved by this process. Employee feels relaxed knowing what to do. Furthermore, cultural fit improves morale and gives employee satisfaction. Consequences leading towards the overall motivation of employee. These motivated employees work hard for the betterment of the company and also contribute towards the overall improvement in the processes, products and services. Reward system: Johnson & Johnson usually follows the reward system in order to appreciate employees who are performing well. By adopting system of “performance based individual pay plan”, Johnson & Johnson usually rewards its employees (Xavier, 81). Employees are usually told what to do; their target and objectives are briefed to them in the start of the year. Performance evaluation and assessments of employees are done in the mid of the year and final evaluation is done at the end of the year. Reward is given to employees who are performing well and who have attained the targets as prescribed by the Johnson & Johnson or for those who have done some unique work or proved fruitful for the company. The reward may vary depending upon the role of the employee. Hr program aspects that are under performing Performance Measurement System: Employees at Johnson & Johnson are asked to achieve the desired goals and targets as prescribed by the company. Through performance measurement system, these employees are then evaluated. If they have achieved their targets, they are rewarded for doing that so (Xavier, 84). So, basically, Johnson & Johnson follows “result goal oriented measurements systems” in order to measure employee’s achievements and accomplishments. This system does not evaluate the individual efforts of the employees but only looks at the end goal irrespective of the fact how that goal has been achieved. Measurement source: In Johnson and Johnson, the performance of employees is usually measured by their immediate superiors (Xavier, 84). This at times does not do justice with the employees as many bosses are not very well qualified in terms of evaluating the employee and their distinctive contributions. Furthermore, another possibility is that immediate bosses at times may not judge employees well for so many reasons. Too much Decentralization: Johnson and Johnson company encourages decentralization process. Usually, decisions are taken following decentralization process. In this kind of setup, decisions regarding organizational resources, growth of a company, future road map and initiation of new projects are considered and are further delegated to all managers at different levels as per the hierarchy of a company. This decentralization process does work sometimes, but from time to time, it can restrain the overall decision making ability of the bosses. However, decentralization may create overall co-operation and may develop the trust factor between organization and its workers. But there is a downside of this approach as well. For instance, too much decentralization makes planning and co-ordination very difficult as chances of difference of opinion may arise. This may further lead towards catastrophic situation in terms of implementing new policies in the organization or in choosing road map for the future. As organization tends to lose its control in terms of decision making if too much decentralization is set active. Recommendations Performance measurement system: Beside goal oriented measurement systems that are used and practiced by Johnson and Johnson, there is a further need of implementing process oriented measurement systems because only achieving business goals is not enough. How they achieve and what process they follow in order of completion of given task is also important. Process orientation system usually involves the procedure that how work is completed. It will further give guidelines and feedback to employees on how the work should be conducted in given situations and how a person can improve performance through this system (Dreher & Dougherty, 74). Performance measurement source: The concept of performance measurement source that is currently active in Johnson & Johnson is immediate superior, however, there is a need of doing 360 degree evaluations as bosses are most likely to promote favoritism and may tend towards biased decision making. However, by implementing a 360 degree evaluation employees’ feedback in terms of performance can be evaluated from the daily contacts that employee engages which range from the basic mailroom personnel, customers, and peers and to bosses. However, the purpose of this 360 degree performance evaluation is to evaluate and attain feedback about the worker from its co-workers, clients, bosses, subordinates etc (Dreher & Dougherty, 73). Decentralization: Decentralization is a very important factor that is possessed by Johnson & Johnson over the years. However, at present, too much decentralization can cause trouble for Johnson & Johnson in so many ways. So, there is a need of the day for Johnson & Johnson to create and adopt balance between centralization and decentralization. It would enhance the ability and capability of lower and middle managers to take decisions on spot leaving the upper or top management’s role on to focus on managing long term strategic goals considering this as their prime responsibility. Furthermore, consequences of this recommendation could be a good balance between long term strategy and planning to be done by upper class management and timely and spontaneous decisions making by middle and lower management. Conclusion The human resource management of Johnson & Johnson has played a very crucial role in the success of the company over the years. The company has its own distinctive style of managing human resource and it has allowed them to prosper over the years. However, there are certain recommendations for the human resource department to make some changes and these changes can be fruitful in the years to come. Recommendation can be concluded as follows: Mix between centralization and decentralization process should be adopted in order to avoid too much of difference of opinion. Immediate superior performance evaluations should be changed with 360 degree performance evaluation in order to gain optimum results and avoid biasness and favoritism. Goal oriented performance system should be used along with process oriented performance system. Works Cited Alsop, Ronald. “Johnson & Johnson (Think Babies!) Turns up Tops.” Wall Street Journal, (1999). B1. Print. Dreher, George, & Thomas Dougherty. Human resource strategy: A behavioral perspective for the general manager. Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2002. Print. Gilbert, Ellen. “Recruitment strategies for a competitive marketplace.” Pharmaceutical Executive 22. 11 (Nov. 2002): 134-136. Print. Johnson & Johnson a. Employee health and wellness. 2012. Web. 3. Sep. 2012 Johnson & Johnson b. Human Rights Policy and Standards. 2012. Web. 2. Sep. 2012. Johnson & Johnson c. Our Company. 2011. Web. 2. Sep. 2012 Johnson & Johnson d. What type of mark will you make? 2012. Web. 2. Sep. 2012 Xavier, Flavia. Human Resource Practices in corporate culture communication: a case study of Johnson & Johnson. Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations, paper 4. Sep. 2003. Web. 3 Sep. 2012. Read More