(Kroon, 1995) Once the plan has been created, you must begin training / development as soon as possible. This means, that HR personnel must begin to training the staff on the new policies and procedures that will be implemented. Under ideal circumstances, the HR department would want to begin training as soon as possible. This is because there will be a window, between the time frame that the merger is announced and when the actual deal occurs. The reason why is, various regulators as well as the shareholders will need time to: examine the merger, debate about it and vote on it. In most cases, these kinds of mergers can usually take a few months to occur. Given the circumstances surrounding the merger, what more than likely happen is this time table will be increased. This because the regulators will want We Will Hang Onto it Savings, to close the transaction for Lenders Are Us as soon as possible. As a result, this means that once the plan has been implemented, various HR personnel must have access to both companies immediately. (Kroon, 1995)

While, training is an important part of any plan, you must also consider the long-term impact that the plan will have on the business. In this aspect, you are looking at the different skills that each employee / manager brings with them and then evaluating how these skills can be implemented, to benefit the new company over the long-term. This is important, because the more effective that HR personnel are: at identifying those who are most suited for particular position, means that the new organization can be able to develop future leaders / managers. At which point, the company can begin to use its own pool of talent, to identify leaders / staff who could play a major role in helping to build the organization in the future. (Kroon, 1995)

To successfully begin implementing this plan; means that during the initial interviews with staff and employees, HR personnel should be seeking out the key allies that they can use as a part of the training. Once these people have been identified, the HR department can create a committee with these key personnel helping to create the policy. This is important, because when you have allies in both companies that helped to create the plan, it means implementing and training are easier. As key allies and staff in an organization, can say how they were actively involved in the process. Once this takes place, is when the plan will more widely be accepted by employees.

Yet, in order for any kind of plan to be effective requires: that you have a process of evaluating the opinions of employees and managers. Once the training program has been implemented, you want to have periodic surveys to evaluate employee / management attitudes. One way to do this is to have the managers and employees, fill out anonymous surveys on what issues are most important to them and how the current plan is addressing these issues. You would then take the process of evaluation one step further, by having the employees fill out surveys on their managers. The idea is to identify a variety of possible issues that could affect the organization in the future such as: the ability to lead, effectiveness at motivating the team to achieve its goals and how favorable / unfavorable the employees view the management. This is important, because these views that the members of the staff have about their supervisors / managers; will play a major role in determining how productive the team will be. Where, those managers who are viewed in a favorable light will be able to encourage members to go above and beyond their duties. Once this takes place, the organization will begin to see large increases in productivity. Those managers and supervisors that are viewed in a negative light will have trouble motivating their employees, to do the minimum requirements of their job. This is because, the negative perceptions about the management / supervisor will cause employees, to believe that they only thing that these people care about is themselves. At which point, the employees begin to engage in similar kinds behaviors as management. Once this occurs, it is only a matter of time until the entire organization will loose it dominance and market share. In the case of Lenders Are Us, the management / supervisors could engage in similar types of management practices, which caused the company to face a variety of financial challenges. In many ways, once could infer that the decline in the...

Where, responsible lending practices were disregarded, so that the company could achieve its objectives at all cost. This is problematic, because once such situations begin to occur, these kinds of attitudes are a like a cancer that will slowly eat away at the financial foundation of the organization. At which point, it is only a matter of time, until the economic fortunes of the company will change, with the up and down swings of the economic cycle. This is when the company would begin to face the most severe challenges, as the attitudes / viewpoints that management were taking, cause the financial viability of the company to be brought into question. In the case of Lenders Are Us, one could effectively make the argument, that management took this kind of attitude when it comes to the staff. Over the course of time, this attitude would cause earnings to become more volatile. (Kroon, 1995)
Once you know the situation at both companies surrounding employees and managers, you want to begin implementing pieces of the HR plan that will immediately address the needs of employees. What more than likely happened is the benefits plan at Lenders Are Us; could help the top managers, by providing them with lucrative pay packages / rewards. While, the staff receives low salaries and has very little benefits including: health and retirement services. Then, when you combine this with the fact that Lenders Are Us is in a very difficult position financially, meant that they more than likely reduced benefits once economic conditions began to change. Part of the reason for this was because the financial position of the company became worse over the last two years. Combine this with the rising costs a health care; meant that many employees would more than likely lose their benefits, as part of helping them deal with the various challenges. At the same time, management more than likely continued to receive lucrative pay packages. This would contribute to the possible disconnect between the staff and management of Lender Are Us. Where, the employees have to suffer a sharp reduction in benefits, while management continues to be rewarded. In many ways, one could argue that the reduction in benefits would cause the overall pool of talented employees, to give a half effort or to seek employment with competitors. Over the course of time, this would lead to a hemorrhaging of the talent pool, as the best and brightest are seeking employment elsewhere. (Kroon, 1995)

To address these issues, means that the new company must provide employees with a generous benefits plan, while at the same time reducing the overall size of management compensation. One way to achieve this objective is: to eliminate the generous pay packages that are offered to managers. Where, in addition to their base salaries, many will often receive other benefits to include: an expense account, stock options, defined benefit plans, life insurance and special discounts. When you combine all of these different elements together, it means that the overall levels of compensation between managers and employees are extreme. In the case of Lenders Are Us, managers were more than likely paid large salaries and benefits. This action will dramatically reduce costs, as the total amounts of compensation per manager, could have been used to provide a lucrative pay package for the entire staff. For the merger of the two companies to work, requires that some kind of balance is applied to employee / management compensation. Otherwise, an attitude of haves and have not's will take place between managers / employees. This dramatically decreases the chances that the merger would work, as this could create a rift within the new company. (Kroon, 1995)

Once HR personnel have identified, what are the most important elements of a benefits package, through surveying the staff / managers at both companies. They must begin implementing the suggestions of the staff. At the same time, a balanced approach must be taken towards that management, where they will no longer be given lucrative benefits, based upon their position. Instead, the total amounts of executive compensation will depend on several different objectives that must be achieved each year to include: responsible lending practices, increasing the total amounts of customers / reserve deposits, increasing transparency of…