Introduction
In the competitive business era, there is a need to develop talent, and the role of human resource management is quite critical in this process. The company may face many issues due to the talent management impairments. However, through effective talent management strategies or practices, the company can come up with the culture, which looks pertinent to human resource and business objectives (Barratt-Pugh & Bahn, 2015). Avon Products Inc. did the same, which helped to regain the success.
Provide a brief description of the status of the company that led to its determination that a change was necessary.
Avon Products Inc. is a prominent company, dealing with different products for customers. The vision of the company is the economic empowerment of women around the globe. Being a global operator, the company has implemented some excellent strategies to make the difference. Main categories of product for customers are skin care, fragrances, and many other cosmetic products. The financial position of the company is also good, as 70% revenue comes from outside United States of American. The company is continuing the success of 122 years.
However, with the passage of the time, trends of managing the internal stakeholders have been changed. Especially employees in the company are to be trained or developed to integrate with the market and customer trends. The organizational culture was effective in this company, but the change process was not in the limelight, which created many issues internally. For instance, due to different talent management barriers, the revenues and profitability were declined. In the direct selling process, it seemed tough for the management of the company to maintain the cost of the process. Of course, employees were not developed to carry the efficient process, and this is one of the top reasons to think about the change.
When expanding in different countries, the company needed the support of people and infrastructure. Unfortunately, people were not effective and efficient enough to meet organizational goals. The company continued traditional talent management practices, which created many issues or challenges. The priorities were towards higher revenues and profits., and on the other hand, employees have not triggered accordingly.
Major issues that compelled the company management towards the change in the company are opaque, egalitarian, complex, episodic, emotional, and, meaningless. The elaboration of the current state of the company, which forced the change, is as under
Opaque
The talent management practices in the company were not clear. Even, the managers did not know that what strategies are appropriate for employees to reshape the process. On the other hand, employees were just working according to their perception of work. It was destructive, as it divided the workplace, which created a negative impact on the production and profitability (Bodla & Ningyu, 2017).
Egalitarian
Avon Products, Inc has faced egalitarian in the workplace. Both, top performer and weak employees have been treated equally by the human resource management. HR management did not find strategies to measure the performance and react consequently. It was the huge threat to employee retention. It seems essential for any organization like Avon product Inc to retain the best people to come up with the extraordinary outputs (Pollack & Pollack, 2015).
Complexity
The complexity was also a big problem, which made the company determine the change in the talent management process. The performance measures for both, the management and employees, were quite complex. Employees were unable to perform better, as they did not know how to perform well and get rewards. It created hurdles in talent development, as employees were not motivated to perform or learn well.
Episodic
Human resource management did not have an integrated system to make collaborative decisions regarding the talent development and planning. It was done only at the individual level, which enabled the dissatisfaction (Chaudhry & Joshi, 2017).
Emotional
When managing talent, emotional and sentimental attachments were not observed in this company. Just working like machines without any emotion made employee ineffective. Lake of employee engagement created a big gap (Bodla & Ningyu, 2017).
Meaningless
Purposeless talent management practices made employee waste time at the workplace. At least, a purpose could have been given to employees by human resource management to sustain the success
These are some factors, which compelled the HR management to reshape the talent management practices, which are integrated into the modern human resource practices as well.
Identify the model for change theory typified in the case study of your choice. Discuss what led you to identify the model that you did.
The best thing to initiate the change in the company was to review the talent and performance process. There are several talent management theories or model which have been typified in this particular case study. First, the talent management practice started from the managers of the company. For Instance, it started from 5-point performance scale to measure the performance managers. Interestingly, this performance measure worked effectively, as several managers were failing to meet the expectations. It is a fact that any company can face different uncertainties and hurdles internally, and it seems a right time for managers depict their skills. The most important thing to use this kind of scales or models in this kind of situations and Avon product Inc did it remarkably. It was the biggest change, which was started from at the managerial level. It made the internal environment quite competitive because every manager was finding the opportunities to enhance the visibility of performance improvements (Chaudhry & Joshi, 2017).
The talent manager in Avon Products intended to implement the 360-feedback assessment tool. It not only helped the management to improve the performance but also facilitated to identify the strengths and weakness. It is the best change model to develop internal people. Managers and other peers worked with employees to tell their performance goals and possible improvements. The talent manager emphasizes on the managerial and leadership behavior at Avon to improve different things at the workplace. It seems management oriented, as talent management disruptions were due to the inefficient managers or leaders in the company. It is an effective change model to change intentions, attributes, behaviors of managers and leaders. Captivatingly, In this company, manager, HR leader, the regional talent leader was linked with this particular integrated system (Maheshwari & Vohra, 2015).
Another prominent initiative that the company management implemented was “The Deal.” The management described to all employees and managers, key success factors to gain the success at Avon. I looked an elimination of meaningless talent management practice. It is another change initiative, and stimulatingly, 360-degree assessment tool carried this particular description to measure the performance and identify the strengths and weakness. This change initiative or model forced leaders and managers to deliver effectively. Everyone seems responsible for his/her performance. For Instance, in 360 assessment tools, the managers and leaders had to analyze that they understand the unique business and take action accordingly. Furthermore, in Avon Products Inc. if a manager takes advantage of development experience, the chances of growth are high. Thus, in the change model, these aspects were considered by the Avon management (Pollack & Pollack, 2015).
The role of managers in any organization to develop talent and make improvements critical, and it led me to identify the 360 feedback assessment tools. It is important to start the change from the top to inspire people at the lowest level, Avon, struggled due to poor talent management, identified the management inefficiencies early, which justified this change model. As mentioned, Avon Products Inc. contained the opaque issue, and I was quite investigative to find the pertinent change model, which have been used to eliminate it. Obviously, the company had the set of behaviors list of leaders, which was expected. The purpose of the company was to make everything clear, and to attain this; the management executed this change model. A relative of the leadership role in the company to develop talent, I was assertive in finding this kind of change tool. It looks exciting to observe the rapid change, and definitely, the management made it possible through the successful implementation of 360-degree assessment feedback (Barratt-Pugh & Bahn, 2015).
Illustrate the types of evaluation information that were collected and how they are used to benefit the company. Speculate about the success of the changes within the next five (5) years and how adjustments could be made if the results become less than ideal.
The evaluation information techniques have been implemented to provide benefit to the company. Two prominent techniques were individual evaluation technique and Multiple person evaluation methods.
In the individual evaluation technique, the management of the company designed the performance standards for each to make decisions for each employee separately. At the individual level, graphical rating system, behavioral anchored rating system, critical incident technique and several checklists are examples of individual evaluation information. Conversely, the performance of employees can be compared with each other in Multiple person evaluation methods. Examples are forced distribution, paired comparison, and ranking (Pollack & Pollack, 2015).
These are two major techniques or options for the company to derive information and measure the performance. Fascinatingly, all decisions that the human resource management has to make regarding the talent management are based on this information. It is quite beneficial to the company, as the managers and employees can enhance the knowledge, and based on knowledge, they can contribute to the success of the company in an effective and lucrative manner. The contribution to the success the company is not complicated in Avon. Managers or leaders through using information train and develop employees. When the management has a set of the behavioral list, it can develop the whole workforce accordingly. For Instance, the vision of the company is the women empowerment, and based on the information evaluation techniques, the company can judge the appropriateness (Chaudhry & Joshi, 2017).
The next five years for the company are critical, as all changes may create a negative impact on its performance. According to the management expectations, the change in the talent management process will create a positive impact. In the next five years, the company can also change or modify its goals and objectives to keep the changes pertinent for a long run. Having the best people in the company is quite helpful in producing quality outputs, and the Avon Products Inc is quite up to it. The new corporate culture in the company will be visible in next five years, as perception regarding the workplace, employee engagement, work behavior, attitudes, and intentions will be changed. Exceptionally, the company may have to make changes to meet new HR trends, and the new talent is eligible to accept or absorb the change without any change resistance. It is the big speculation for next five years, and managers and employees understand it (Bodla & Ningyu, 2017).
There is always a possibility that results can be less than ideal. The company must have alternatives to get rid of these situations. Despite having different change tools or models in the company to derive information, still, there can be the gap between management and employees. The most important thing is to reduce this gap as soon as possible is to keep the changes result oriented. Instead of just focusing on measurement tools for managers and employees, the training sessions must be conducted with Avon to learn how to integrate and use these tools and make them beneficial for the company. Training can help to shape the behavior and develop skills, which can justify the talent management changes or practice successfully (Maheshwari & Vohra, 2015).
Conclusion
In the end, it is to conclude that Avon Products Inc. management has remarkably changed the talent management practices. It seemed transformational process, which produced good results for the company. The company has many employees, which work according to the organizational objectives, vision and expectations, so the there are chances of positive customer response, higher revenue streams, profitability and increase in business sustainability. Avon Products Inc. despite of several issues, identified the talent barriers, and through the strengths of people, it regained the success in the competitive business era. From change initiatives to results orientation, the determination is also a key to ensure the success for a long run.
References
Barratt-Pugh, L., & Bahn, S. (2015). HR strategy during culture change: Building change agency. Journal of Management and Organization; Lyndfield, 21(6), 741-754.
Bodla, A. A., & Ningyu, T. (2017). Transformative HR practices and employee task performance in high-tech firms: The role of employee adaptivity. Journal of Organizational Change Management; Bradford, 30(5), 710-724.
Chaudhry, S., & Joshi, C. (2017). Transformational Leadership, HR Practices and Affective Commitment to Change: A Theoretical Perspective. Journal of Organisation and Human Behaviour; New Delhi, 6(3), 37-45.
Maheshwari, S., & Vohra, V. (2015). Identifying critical HR practices impacting employee perception and commitment to organizational change. Journal of Organizational Change Management; Bradford, 28(5), 872-894.
Pollack, J., & Pollack, R. (2015). Using Kotter’s Eight-Stage Process to Manage an Organisational Change Program: Presentation and Practice. Systemic Practice and Action Research; New York, 28(1), 51-66.