Remodeling HR at Home Depot Essay

Abstract household end went by umpteen changes as a result of new chief executive officer bold Blake and offense President of homosexual Resources, Tim wallow. The culture inherited by both Executives from their predecessors went through a transformation process for the traffic to thrive once again. Blake and line-shooting justified laying off 1,200 workers as a result of their resource to enhance mansion terminuss position in the securities industry and to go butt to the governing bodys foundations embedded by founders Arthur Blank and Bernard Marcus. Specifically, a close-hauled look at the homophile Resources function in the face was cogitate on in order to align an HR strategy with the argument fabric. This paper will discuss the strategicalal initiatives c arn by Blake and wallow and how they produced a sustainable competitive advantage at nucleotide reposition by instructioning on strategic HR. Further, this paper will evidence John Kotters Eight- cadence assortment Model, the ecesis and People Strategy, the come to the foreside-in HR approach, and Lepak and Snells HR Model.Organizational change became a necessity at pedestal endpoint when the business failed to increase shargonholder value and rivals were outperforming the follow. Change at domicile terminal figure started at the top with new CEO hotdog Blake and Vice President of gay Resources, Tim Crow. Specifically, Blake and Crow transformed the way humane Resources contributed to the constitutions success. Blake and Crows approach is comparable to a change model put forth by John Kotterthe Eight- feels Change Model. This model focuses on driving organizational changes through analysis, attention, and communication. The first step in Kotters model is to establish a sense of urgency (Esther & Green, 2009). That is, looking at conditions within the organization to see where adjustments are needed. In mob shops case, HR and its strategic role needed some circ umspection hence it was analyzed and modified to meet business needs. In the second gear step, Kotters suggestion is to find groups of people who basin work unitedly (Esther & Green, 2009). At Home Depot, the insert omnibus and HR passenger vehicle were not working to bilkher. There seemed to be a barrier as one HR manager, overwhelmed with tasks, could not produce at the highest level. The trey step in the Eight-step Change Model elaborates on creating a vision (Esther & Green, 2009). both(prenominal) Blake and Crow had a vision when they took office.What is more, both Executives wanted to goback to Home Depots core principles to see what changes should be make for the business to out-perform its rivals. Moving forward, the fourth and fifth steps in Kotters model talk about the importance of communication (fourth step) and empowering the vision onto some others (fifth step) (Esther & Green, 2009). This step at Home Depot was criticalTim Crow communicated his vision to Fran k Blake and others in the company and drove them to change the way HR performed in the organization by eliminating positions that were not streamlined. Step six in Kotters model recommends creating short-term goals (Esther & Green, 2009). Blake and Crow set realistic short-term goals and share why taking away an HR manager from each throw in would be a beneficial move. That is, the depot managers gained 3 HR generalist instead of one HR manager (Mello, 2010). Step seven in Kotters model rewards employees for promoting the change and step eight defends the organizations position on how the new change leads to corporate success (Esther & Green, 2009). Home Depot has taken initiatives discussed later in this paper to carry out steps seven and eight. By using John Kotters Change Model, Home Depot went from not having an effective Human Resources presence to employing an operating(a) HR strategy. Right now, Home Depots current produce of HR is embedded with the companys overall cor porate strategy.The organization has HR professionals who are true business partners, something Tim Crow planned and worked towards during the Human Resources Planning (HRP) stage. Moreover, Crow has taken a strategic approach, one that compares to the Organization and People Strategy. The strategy focuses on three key areas Reward and fruition, gift Management, and Organizational Effectiveness (Armstrong, 2011). Reward and Recognition programs at HD consist of the hobby Success Sharing for salt aways that achieve sales targets (paid out $63 gazillion in 2007), Homer Badges for employees who exemplify company values, and the Product Knowledge Recognition program to reward learning initiatives (Crow, 2008). As far as the giving Management aspect of the strategy, Home Depot has a Master portion out Specialist program in place that hired 3,000 trade specialists who are licensed electricians and plumbers (Crow, 2008). What is more, the company has HR managers who are more involve d than their predecessors with Store managers and the company has its own insourced call center to address employee concerns. To accomplish the third component of the Organization and People StrategyOrganizational Effectiveness, HomeDepot has the Aprons on the Floor program, action based training modules, and an Aware product line telephone help for individuals to call and comment on particular situations (Crow, 2008).in the beginning Blake and Crow took over Home Depot, it was led by former CEO Robert Nardelli and his regime. Nardelli and his choice of Executives turned the Home Depot culture upside down. That is, company officers were at the top, employees in the middle, and customers on the bottom of the pyramid. It took Crows strategic mindset to turn the pyramid back to its original position. Further, Blake played a significant role by making employee morale and career nurture a strategic priority (Crow, 2008). Blake and Crow did not turn the stool around overnight. Instead , it was an ongoing process that needed commitment from everyone in the company. The diminution in force was the first step. The layoffs assisted Home Depot to take an outside-in approach to focus on strategic HR. This type of approach starts with analyzing the customer, competitor, and other challenges faced by the business (Armstrong, 2011). Further, the outside-in approach tackles ineffective HR practices that should be revisited and aligned with corporate strategies. To integrate corporate and HR strategies, Home Depot replaced HumanResources managers from each store with additional Sales Associates (Mello, 2010). As Home Depot moves forward with strategic HR in the organization, the focus is on both the technical and managerial strategies. Technical strategies deal with the mathematical and behavioural methods of forecasting HR needs while managerial strategies consist of slipway decision-makers tackle human resource issues (Reilly & Williams, 2006). Examples of technical str ategies at Home Depot are the reduction of 1,200 human resource positions and establishing fresh roles for new HR teams. From a managerial standpoint, instead of having one Human Resource manager inundated with tasks, the three new Human Resources Generalist each are responsible for one function onlystaffing and development, associate relations, and performance management (Mello, 2010). Both technical and managerial HR strategies are helping create a sustainable competitive advantage at Home Depot. When Crow decided to eliminate positions, resistance was inevitable. However, the cuts were an advantage to HR at Home Depot because organizational resources were not being allocated in the most efficient way. The trade-off of having a Human Resources manager in each store was the lack of manpower on the floor and that meant shiftingaway from change merchandise.By eliminating the HR manager position and creating regional HR teams, the organization went back to focusing on its core compet ence of providing customer service and increasing sales. Revenue growth at Home Depot suggests HR regional teams are better than one Human Resource manager in each store. Further, Home Depots reasoning scum bag changing the function of Human Resources can be examined closely by using the Lepak and Snell Model. Lepak and Snell have four quadrants in their model which classify Human Resources configurations. Right now, Home Depot appears to fall under the second quadrant. That is, the focus is on Job-based Employment and the company has Productivity Based HR (Mello, 2010). However, Home Depot is striving to reach Quadrant I Knowledge-based Employment and Commitment-Based HR by having programs such as the Master Trade Specialist and a robust HR system in place. Overtime, Home Depot can drive their HR strategy to reach Quadrant I to get the most out of their business objectives.ConclusionHome Depot is an manakin of how strategic HR can influence growth, productivity, and success in an organization. It starts with the willingness of the organizations leaders to drive change. When Black and Crow eliminated 1,200 employees, the move was fearful to current workers and others in the industry. However, to revamp the HR strategy, layoffs were a necessity. By using theories similar to Kotters Eight-step Change Model, the People and Organization strategy, the HR outside-in approach, and Lepak and Snells HR Model, Blake and Crow turned around Home Depots culture to focus on customer serviceits core business competence. Further, the company now has HR business partners who act as liaisons to Store managers to have an effective HR presence in stores. Home Depot is headed in the right work oution as a result of its strategic HR focus.ReferencesArmstrong, M. (2011). Armstrongs handbook of strategic human resource management. capital of the United Kingdom Kogan Page. Retrievedfrom http//search.ebscohost.com.proxy.library.georgetown.edu/login.aspx? direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=390 442&site=ehost-live&scope=siteCrow, T. (2008). Home REMODEL. Workforce Management, 87(12), 1-1,24,26,28. Retrieved from http//search.proquest.com.proxy.library.georgetown.edu/docview/219795604?accountid=11091Esther, C., & Green, M. (2009). Making Sense of change Management. Philadelphia, PA Kogan Page.Mello, J.A. (2010). Strategic Human Resource Management, Third Edition. Mason, OH South-Western Cengage Learning.Reilly, P. A., & Williams, T. (2006). Strategic HR Building the capability to deliver. Aldershot Gower. Retrieved from http//search.ebscohost.com.proxy.library.georgetown.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=269752&site=ehost-live&scope=site