Personal reflection on unit 10 concepts

¶ … managerial act is that of aligning the various components of the business act with the overall organizational goals. In specific terms, this could mean the efficient allocation of the resources to allow the company to attain its objectives, but it could also mean the adequate treatment of the employees so that they support the company in reaching its objectives. At the level of human resources management, a situation is to be created in which the individual goals of the staff members be unified with the overall goals of the firm.

Within Federated Industries, the role of ensuring that the human resource strategies are consistent with the organizational objectives falls on the hands of Patricia Peterson. "Her primary responsibility is to provide support and advice to each subsidiary and monitor their personnel practices to ensure that they are consistent with corporate policy and strategy" (Federated Industries case).

The Federated Industries subsidiaries were not found as inefficient or otherwise problematic, but the question rose about the lack of sufficient managers rising from the subsidiaries. In other words, a major problem of defective leadership was identified. The people were not sufficiently motivated to increase their performances and commit more to climbing the organizational ladder. Additionally, they were not sufficiently empowered as for their input or opinion to make a real difference in the decision making process.

The analysis conducted by Paterson revealed the lack of managerial training. In essence, the people were being offered technical training which allowed them to improve the skills of the particular job they were handling. In terms of managerial training however, this was inexistent. When the employees themselves personally enrolled in educational efforts, the firm covered part of the costs, but then proved unable to retain the respective employees.

The situation created once again reveals the need for strategic consistency in the approach to the employees. When they are offered full or partial support in increasing their skills, it is also necessary for them to be offered further possibilities for them to fructify the new skills. In a context in which -- like in the case of Federated Industries -- the people are not offered the chance to capitalize on the newly acquired skills and to also benefit from the adjacent rewards -- such as promotions and salary increases -- the firm will stand to face losses.