1.1. The problem presented in the case was how the Chief Learning Officer (CLO) Tom Pederson, would transform the company by developing a strong company culture. Coming from a long history of struggles, employing talent of varying cultures to help get them thru the challenges they faced, the bank is now faced with the dilemma of how to merge these cultures to come up a with a unified organization. Pederson also had hesitations about the newly-implemented performance evaluation program, which is the first time employees are rated against the company’s vision and values.
1.2. As mentioned, one of the factors contributing to this dilemma is the organization’s lack of corporate culture, to begin with. Having gone thru several changes in management, the organization has not developed a corporate culture they could call their own. Also, since the bank is made of professionals coming from different cultural backgrounds, they are facing the difficulty of unifying these cultures to develop a harmonious, multi-cultural working environment.
1.3. At present, the decision maker is Tom Pedersen, since he is the newly appointed CLO or Chief Learning Officer of the bank. However, he still reported to the President, Porter. Pedersen has initiated the implementation of what he thinks would finally result in the creation of a diverse but unified organization culture, which Shinsei Bank obviously lacks and hinders the organization’s forward movement. He has implemented the first-ever performance evaluation system, requiring their top executives’ performance to undergo an evaluation process, assessing their results in accordance to set company vision and values. Pedersen, being the brainchild of this, now bears the burden of improving the system to suit the implementation to other employees. Thru this appraisal system, he aims to fulfill his goal of a corporate culture for the organization.
1.4. Tom Pedersen had several questions in mind regarding the performance evaluation system that he implemented. He saw several opportunities for improvement and often wondered if he was doing the right thing in order for him to initiate the much-needed change the organization needed. Since this was the first time for such a system to be implemented and rolled out, he is doubting if the data they were able to collect from the evaluation of 17 senior executives were enough to initiate the development of the culture or if this was actually the right direction to take. Another challenge was how the employees would take this move since they are experiencing this for the first time in the bank’s long-standing history. Lastly, if there are other measures he could try to further enhance the system that is already in place. During his time, all these were still non-existent, thus a decision was difficult to arrive at.
1.5. When Pedersen joined the company he implemented the Visions and Values Initiative in his effort to try to link the corporation’s values to its strategy. This initiative aimed to further develop the existing corporate vision statements and values in order for them to be applied consistently across all business segments regardless of race or culture. Since the organization has a multicultural working environment, this initiative can work wonders in keeping all these cultures aligned and coherent. The program started with a dissemination workshop, where the senior executive participants discussed what value set Shinsei bank should have. Thru this brainstorming activity, the group was able to come up with a set of values, simple enough for everyone to understand, they believe would bring the organization forward and which they considered were developed by them and not just dictated upon by top management. Following this Visions and Values Initiative is the implementation of a new performance management system which was initially implemented among top executives of the company. Unlike the old evaluation system which they inherited from LTCB, this new system allowed better pay for performance matrix. In this evaluation system, actual ratings were developed from the feedback of peers in direct interaction with the employee being rated. This created more accurate and believable ratings. The only disadvantage presented was that this rating system was based only on values of the company. Yashiro often wondered if this was a basis that was sufficient to come up with a fair evaluation of an employee since it did not give emphasis on the skills demonstrated by that employee as well as his behavior and judgment towards specific work scenarios.
1.6. To further address the company’s problem of integrations of company values and its alignment with the company’s business strategies, I think a more detailed performance evaluation system should be in place. A system that is based on just values alone is a good start but is definitely not enough to recognize the results and shortcomings of the employees of Shinsei. The performance metrics should include parameters designed to evaluate the revenues, for example, that an employee from the retail banking segment brings in. The performance management system should be customized according to a department’s key result areas or KPIs. If it is to be used for the sales department, it should include the department and the individual’s set sales target plus his achievement at the end of the rating period. The ratings to be given should also be based on the employee’s percentage achievement of this target. Also to be evaluated are the employee’s efforts to achieve these targets. From this, the evaluation can further branch out to evaluate how he interacts with both his internal and external customers in the achievement of this target. With this method, you can expect a more comprehensive evaluation of all aspects of his business identity.
1.7. One of the major managerial lessons from this case study is that calculated risks pay off. The banking industry is a segment of the financial business segment that entails risks to be taken in order to advance. Yashiro took a lot of them but with him weighing all considerations before making a decision. A good manager looks at all sides of the situation before coming up with a decision. Yashiro was not influenced by traditions when he declined Sogo’s plea to not pay their debts anymore. His enthusiasm to bring Shinsei to the right direction was not abated with the negative reactions he took from his colleagues in the banking world and from the press. The third lesson would be coming from all the changes he initiated despite the long-standing history the bank has. He was not afraid to take implement this changes since he knew it was for the better. Also, in this case study, one can note that the introduction of new blood in an old company should be handled with a little bit more sensitivity as it affects the older generation. They must be given importance, at least, for their loyalty and for the experience and wisdom they bring to the table. Lastly, the continuance of learning and development is extremely important in any organization. It serves as the advancement and growth determinant for moving forward. The company made this very clear when they hired Pedersen to implement development programs for the advancement of everyone in the company.
1a. One of the first turning points for the bank was when they went against traditions and denied Sogo’s request to forgive their debt. Yashiro was well aware of the bank’s financial position and took the risk of denying the department store giant’s plea. Yashiro knew the repercussions of this decision but he boldly made it, taking the bank to a new level of business mindset. The next turning point was when Yashiro recognized the need to hire professionals that would give them quick profits to stay afloat. He hired product specialists that would focus on revenues coming from services the required fees. To bridge the gap between the old (the bank had old timers who had a different mindset from the new hires) and the new mindset, the Institutional Banking Group was established. With this collaboration underway, they were able to maximize the experience of the old timers plus the mindset of the newcomers to come up with several innovations. These changes further resulted in a shift in the total mindset of the company. Everyone was now focused on making money, which they were not before. Another turning point was when Yashiro decided on developing the bank’s retail banking segment to further stabilize Shinsei’s profit channels and revenues. In a short span of just 2 years, the retail operations segment began to pull in profit. Lastly, with the resolution of the bank’s non-performing loans, the organization was now ready for IPO listing, finally earning them a secure position in Japan’s banking industry.
The two-tiered compensation system, in my view, just created a much larger gap between the old time employees and new ones. This led to the forming of factions and created an air of hostility in the company. However, at that time, Yashiro saw this as an effective way of motivating groups of people of different mindsets.
1b. The Chief Learning Officer or CLO, Pedersen, was tasked to closely coordinate with each of the human resources department of each of the segment of the company. Having several human resources departments posted a difficulty for Pedersen in the beginning. Coordination was a bit difficult since these departments have their own hiring policies and programs. His job required him to come up with learning strategies and developmental initiatives to align the corporate strategies with the values they intend to uphold. He was also responsible for the overall integration and centralization of training programs, implementing and managing the performance management and evaluation system, carry on surveys among employees and development of plans and programs for the advancement of future leaders of the company. I think Pedersen did a good job at being the bank’s representation for their ultimate objective of continued learning and development. He was faced with several challenges starting with the 2 major factions of the company – the old guards and the new hires. He was successful in bridging the gap between the two by creating an evaluation system that brought about changes in behavior in these two groups. He implemented a metrics system that integrated what the relationship managers (old employees) and the investment bankers (new hires) have to offer. Together, they tried to develop a team out of them to be able to come up with results that would bring the bank to the next level. Having a team to back up the forward movement of the company was necessary to increase the bank’s competitiveness in the banking world. Pedersen was able to recognize this early on and now faces the challenge of how to attract new talent to join their team. Attracting these talents were one thing, retaining them was another. For Pedersen, it has to be a combination of different compensation and value-added benefits to retain good employees.
1c. Yes, I think the performance evaluation program should be expanded. Any successful organization has an effective performance appraisal system. In this case, Shinsei bank had one before, when they were still known as LTCB, but one that hardly touched on evaluation of the employee’s performance. A performance evaluation system is very important since it documents the assessment of an employee based on set goals and targets and the employee’s achievement of these set goals. However, Shinsei’s performance management system is solely based on values that the company would want demonstrated by its employees. As mentioned a while ago, this is not sufficient to evaluate whether an employee is performing or not. This system can be expanded to be implemented to the rest of the staff but not until further revisions and enhancement. The appraisal system should be custom-fitted per department to include the department’s key performance indicators or KPI as the parameters to which they will be evaluated against. These KPIs should then be discussed to each and every member of the organization so that they would be guided on their specific result drivers. Targets should be included, itemized and compensation packages to be based on the achievement of these targets and goals. This improved format should also include a segment where the rater will indicate the employee’s points for improvement. The system should also make sure that action plans are set and timelines given to guide employees for their continuous growth and development. The appraisal system should also be done periodically, at least twice a year to give the employee time to work on his improvement points. The last appraisal for the year will determine if he is eligible to receive compensation for his performance or not. At the end of each year, this performance evaluation program should be able to tell Management who to promote, retain or let go.
1d. With the diversity of professional backgrounds and cultures of Shinsei’s employees, it is a daunting challenge to bridge the gap between them, let alone build collaborative teams out of them. Aside from the team being composed of banking professional of varying cultures and backgrounds, Pedersen is also faced with their age gaps as well. A handful of employees has been with the company for years. This group has often felt neglected and unheard due to the presence of new blood in the company. Pedersen could implement programs that aim to bring these groups closer. For instance, social relationship programs that aim to bring them closer. For example, setting up short term projects that employees across different departments can work together on. This collaborative activity can ensure that they keep communications open between them for them to be able to accomplish their given task. Another would be for the senior executives to give the lower rank employees the chance to see them at work on a daily basis. Having been more experienced at handling and managing cross-cultural differences, given that these executives have worked with numerous people from different cultures, make them the best example of how it is to be with people. Interaction is key. Top management must be visible to the employees for them to carry out this initiative. Internal communications must be maintained as open as possible, brief lunch meetings and casual chatter among the top ranks and subordinates must be encouraged as well. These networks of informal in nature bring the executives closer to the ranks, enabling them to be reachable, therefore, their stature more attainable and aspired, their behavior and work ethics well. A simple, yet high-impact initiative is to practice calling each and everyone, including the top ranks, on a first name basis. This ensures that walls are down and interaction more informal in nature.
Can a Company Live Forever?
In the article, it is said that Japanese people live the longest. It is not surprising that they also have companies and business entities that have survived the changing times and fast-paced innovations. The precise reason is because their corporate values and culture are not rooted in just making profit. Their organization revolves around the concept of family. They focus and live by values that protect their “family”. For example, the keep from entering into mergers enabling them to keep the business within the family. If a family’s bloodline can withstand centuries to count and if a company behaves like one, then a company can live for quite some time, possibly forever. The key to their longevity is definitely their culture.
Baxter’s Asia Pacific “Talent Edge” Initiative
Clearly, at the time before the introduction of Baxter Asia Pacific’s Talent Edge Initiative, gender balance in the problem was the challenge Gerald Lema had to face at the time. He recognized the marginal presence of women in the workplace. He saw that females were unrepresented. During that time also, the Asia Pacific region was experiencing rapid economic growth in the public health industry. More and more support and investment were coming in from various developments focused on public health. This then created a challenge for the recruitment departments of various firms in the industry to recruit, develop and retain talent. Baxter’s approach then was to micromanage these recruitments instead of looking at the macro level. Their recruitment programs were focused on a per country basis rather than on a per region basis. This limited their opportunities for training, development, and promotion. Also, attrition was at a level higher than the acceptable.
For one, in general, talent was scarce during that time. With the on-going boom in the health-care industry, various companies in the same industry have been sourcing out from the same pool. This limited supply of talent. Another factor would be the norm when it comes to working. Ideally, women stay at home to take care of the children and the husband. However, with the changing times, more and more women have been joining the workforce. The company needed to catch up. And with recent studies on the contribution of women in the workplace, Lema recognized the need to pressure the recruitment company to hire more women. Even if this was the goal of the company, to hire more women or at least to balance off their talent pool (50% women, 50% men), they made sure that these women got their jobs not because of their gender, but because they deserved the position. They just asked for more women candidates to ensure this balance.
The overall in charge was Gerald Lema, the corporate vice president and president of Baxter International’s Asia Pacific Region. Under him were 14 countries that comprised the region. With his innovative recruitment and hiring practices, the company was awarded the Catalyst Award for 2009. This award is given to companies who take great steps towards the advancement of women, in general. His initiative, Building Talent Edge aimed to recruit, hire, train, develop and promote more women in the workplace to balance off their current talent pool. He made sure that his company has women represented.
Before Lema made the decision to implement this initiative, he turned to various resources and research regarding the progress of women’s presence in the workplace. He made sure that he is a making an informed decision. His research showed that organizations with a balanced workforce in terms of gender were more successful when it comes to coming up with well-balanced decisions and innovations. He took systematic steps to ensure the success of his talent recruitment program. From the start of the hiring process, he communicated to recruiters that he needed an equal balance when presented with candidates to begin with. There was a push factor right from the start.
It all began with Lema trying to address the problem of scarcity of talent. He thought, if he was going to hire, he might as well do it properly. He turned to research to back up his objectives. Lema’s process was very systematic. He took a procedural approach to achieve his goal. In order for him to hire more women to equalize his work pool, he had to communicate properly his goal to his recruitment team. In order to this, he had to make them understand his objectives. The Building Talent Edge Initiative was implemented and rolled out across his region. What is good about this initiative is that, for one, it aimed to increase the representation of women in the workplace. This is without saying that women do contribute when it comes to providing for balanced and well-thought of decision. They provide diversity when presenting points of views. Another advantage of this is that it opened up opportunities for everyone to broaden up their horizons and perspectives about a lot of things. Though there were some disadvantages raised, the advantages outweighed them to an extent. One disadvantage cited was from an already scarce talent pool, the recruiters had to filter even more and get higher percentages of women candidates. This has proven more difficult in patriarchal communities. Cultural differences also play to a disadvantage. In regions where the workplace is male-dominated, it has been proven more difficult for this initiative to be fully implemented. Women had the perception that they were isolated in these kinds of scenario. This then translates to fewer women applicants.
There are still other ways for the company to further support their advocacy of gender equality in the workplace. One would be to promote work-life balance and flexibility in terms of work hours and venues. This would encourage more women to come and work for the company since the company would now offer more options to accommodate certain requests to work around the demands of the family. Another would be to place a referral system – women bring in women to become part of the company. Men could refer to, of course. But a certain incentive to be given to those referring the present need of the company. Of course, these initiatives goes both ways, depending on what the company needs at present, may it be men or women to equalize their workforce. Another would be to make available child care facilities on-site, if possibly in the building itself. To reinforce the company’s initiative to promote gender equality, a policy or a program can be established to stress the guidelines to guard against discrimination.
One major managerial lesson that one can gather from this case study is the value of equality and that it should start from the top. This initiative of Lema started by hiring an equal amount of women and men to fill top management positions. It is important for the lower rank employees to see this so that equality can be developed into a company culture. Another would be that supporting programs should be established for an initiative to be fully implemented and appreciated. Essential also would be to stress importance into recognizing talent and developing your internal customer’s skill set for growth and development. Another striking realization from the case study is how diversity is important to foster individual growth and the growth of the organization. Lastly, managers need to be able to recognize once balance has shifted and be able to react to it and appropriately implement corrective programs.
Allied Electronics Corporation Ltd: Linking Compensation to Sustainability Metrics
The challenge presented in this article was about the changes or revisions made in the company’s corporate strategies and they would be linking their compensation policies to drive results. These changes brought about new challenges, specifically towards the goal of the company of sustainable development and how its compensation package can be used to drive the company towards the achievement of their goal. Due to the changes made to their corporate strategy, some of the employees were questioning the adequacy of the company’s current compensation policy. Some also raised concerns about its effectiveness. To some employees, since the company effected changes to its corporate strategies, the compensation policy should be aligned to these changes as well. The incentive policy of the company should undergo a restructuring as well to motivate the employees to meet the company’s sustainability objectives.
One of the factors affecting the problem on hand is the added pressure coming from regulatory requirements. These regulatory requirements prompted the company to inject revisions to its corporate strategy, applying a broader perspective to how they initially regarded things. With these changes, they rallied to maintain their initiative for sustainable development. Another factor is the reaction of the employees to these changes. They immediately correlated that there is a need to revisit the existing compensation and incentive policy to provide for a package recognizing the additional demands of the new corporate strategy.
Having “inherited” the company from his father Dr. Venter, Robbie Venter brought to the table a fresh way of handling things. Venter, being the new Chief Executive, implemented business processes that required more involvement from everybody. He executed a decision- making process that elicited a more systematic way of consulting both internal and external forces and strategized the planning process. It was a cycle that was completed in a span of 3 months. Each new idea brought to the table would go under a more scrutinized assessment whether it be a good fit to their corporate strategy, bottom-line goals, and delivery of results.
Venter’s process of assessing new ideas brought to the table followed a four-step process. These steps ensured that the ideas go thru a systematic approach to evaluation whether it would have a positive impact on their sustainability goals and while maintaining a healthy profit margin for growth and development. For every new idea, a case has to be built around it. This would have to be made by the originator of the idea. The case would then undergo further polishing with the evaluation of the Group Corporate Secretary. All considerations will then be weighed and once everyone is on agreement to the terms of the idea, it will be presented to the board for the final decision. With each and every idea, including the alignment of the compensation policy to the changes made to corporate strategy to include more sustainability guidelines, going thru this rigorous process, I do not think Venter would have missed something to come up with a decision on any issue that comes up. By the end of the process, he should have everything he needs to come up with an informed decision.
In order for the compensation and incentive policy to be aligned with the changes done to the corporate strategy, top management had to revisit their commitments and objectives as to what they targeted to accomplish with this policy. The company was set to recognize consistent performance of employees directed towards the attainment of company goals and set targets. The compensation policy would help in keeping people with the company, most especially those who have been effectively running their different subsidiaries situated globally. The team also recognized that in order for them to maintain and develop their existing pool of talent, the newly aligned compensation program should be simple enough for everyone to grasp and has transparency and credibility. Since there are several corporate strategies, Venter put into place several compensation policies as well. Each was aimed to specifically drive particular strategies and compensate accordingly. This proved to be very advantageous as the compensation package is tailor-fitted to the employee’s circumstances and work requirement. At first glance, you might note that the revised policies on compensation were a bit too detailed and specific, which might render it too difficult to sustain. This might pose as a disadvantage in the future.
I think to further reinforce the objective of the company to link its corporate strategies and the changes made to it, the company should also implement plans and programs to encourage a change in the company’s culture as well. Revising the compensation policies for the better might temporarily change the way the employees do things. After a while, they might go back to their old ways. To inculcate permanent change, cultural changes must occur. For the company to initiate this, the changes in the policies should work towards changing corporate culture and the work environment to be able to sustain the behavior you want to meet corporate strategies.
1.b. Out of the five pay policies the company has for their employees, the guidelines for the company’s top 50 managers were the most outlined and detailed. To support the achievement of the expected results from these managers, Altron came up with three policies specifically dedicated to their top managers. It is fitting for the company to give this much emphasis on the programs for these managers as they are perceived as the key result drivers. From their leadership, the company moves in the right direction. The mix of these policies is adequate enough since their pay policy is a combination of paying for performance, paying compensation based on both short term and long term goals and giving bonuses based on specific key performance indicators. Their pay policy is comprehensive enough to cover all the bases needed to drive the company’s objectives. It is also only in this company that the salary of the top executives relied more on pay for performance pay than guaranteed pay. With this kind of pay policy, the top executives now have no choice but to really perform and always keep in mind their corporate strategies to keep them guided always. However, it just might not have been detailed in this case study, a clearer representation of the corporate strategies in the top 50 managers’ KPIs, could have been more helpful. This is to see if the compensation pay is really aligned with what the organization is set out to do. Also, the revised strategic themes included only 2 out of the 11 strategies that involved financial output. Whereas, the pay policy of the top 50 managers heavily relied on financial results, inconsistent with the corporate strategies. It is important to align more the pay policies of these top executives since they are drivers of key results areas of the organization.
Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A)
1.1. There were two problems discussed in the case study. One would be being in a fast growing industry that the company cannot just keep up with. Another would be the company facing tremendous competition and complex regulatory requirements. In order to survive this increasingly competitive and demanding healthcare providers market and to improve its current financial standing, the company had to engage in some revisions of its overall business strategy starting with its corporate culture.
1.2. Several factors contributed to the challenges the company faced. For one, cost-cutting measures to help contain materials and process costs were not working. Also, the company was being affected demographically with populations that are continually aging. With the increasing numbers of competitors around in the industry, the company should deliver a great performance instead of just being good.
1.3. At the time when the company was facing these huge challenges, the chairman and CEO then was Clateo Castellini. Castellini spearheaded the restructuring of the company’s business strategy by implementing a targeted production strategy, a new compensation program for key business drivers, better coordination and integration programs across their divisions, and cultural change within the company.
1.4. Castellini knew what he wanted to change in the company. He started with redefining and streamlining the company’s mission and values and worked from there to further revise their organization structure. His decisions were clear and precise since he had all information necessary for him to come up with informed decisions.
1.5. BD took on a very bold initiative of changing how it plays the game. The company focused on producing supplies in areas of the industry that presented the greatest profit. He determined five segments or five product lines. And the company’s target is no less than being the top producer in each of the identified product lines by ensuring that strategic investments be made in major branches of the business. The company focused on product development, marketing, and management. Moreover, the company targeted customer satisfaction and low product cost. The way they compensated key performance drivers were also changed as well. The new compensation program focused on rewarding the company’s top executives for achievement of added economic value instead of just achievement of targets against a set budget. The company also aimed to make convert employees into shareholders of the company. Being a dynamic and global company, the CEO also implemented programs that aimed to improve the coordination efforts across their various business segments in the achievement of maximum utilization of its resources and capabilities. Castellini also aimed to change the culture of the company. He visualized that by changing how the company was run, then he could efficiently implement all other plans as well. According to Castellini, this change would have to come from his top managers. They were encouraged to become more open to new trends, be more flexible and apply a paradigm shift in their entrepreneurial mindset.
The company set to revise its mission and values as the core guideline by involving as many employees as possible in redefining what the company stands for and what it aims to achieve. The implemented a “pay-it-forward” type of recruitment. Employees were asked to bring in two other employees to participate in the forum to discuss the company’s mission and vision. They were able to trim down their objectives into four core values exemplifying continuous improvement and doing what is right with a unified goal of helping humanity lead healthy lives. With the values and mission of the company redefined, they proceeded into changing their organizational structure. Lastly, Castellini implemented a more formal business ethics program which aimed to relay to his employees around the world, the manner to which he would want business to be conducted. It was about doing things right by providing guidance in terms of how decision makers would arrive at critical decisions while never being in a position to compromise. This program resulted to several advantages including a wider reach in terms of providing guidance to their extensive workforce, more open communication channels and the overall atmosphere of personal responsibility amongst the employees.
1.6. The company could also implement changes in the way they recruit new hires to the company. They can focus on acquiring talent of high moral standards and good work ethics, to begin with. This way, they are ensured that new blood coming in has the right attitude to bring about culture change. Being around these new hires would influence the old timers into having the same mindset. In support of new hiring guidelines, they could also implement a new performance management system more focused on having parameters that assess the employee’s behavior towards ethical issues encountered in daily operations. This would reinforce the notion that each employee should face issues and concerns with the highest regard and consideration for doing what is right and upholding standards of the company.
1.7. Upholding one’s moral standards and ethics translates to how one conducts business. This is one managerial lesson depicted in the case study. Another would be if you want changes in a company’s business environment, enact changes in the company’s culture. This should start with top management. It is absolutely necessary for communication channels to be open to ensure full cooperation of everyone on the team.
The African Challengers: Global Competitors Emerge from the Overlooked Continent
African multinational corporations have the capacity to become major world players as did corporations from Asia and the United States so long as they learn to evolve and adapt to the changes in the world market, learn to expand their horizons to prepare to conquer the business industry globally and keep up with the rapid pace of expansion while keeping intact set values and corporate culture so that they will be to maintain their identity and not get lost in its expansion. Lastly, African challengers can expect to be recognized at the global scene if they ensure sustainability of growth patterns and trend.
