Harrison Brothers Corporation Essay

1. BackgroundHarrison Brothers Corporation is wizard of the largest traditional discussion section inserts in the joined States. The goal of the company is to become the leading chain of part stores that sells proud quality c dowryhing to middle-class and fashion-concerned customers. Like other companies in the retail indus deliver, Harrison Brothers ar experiencing various changes in customers buying preferences. In addition to that, the occupation of retention of well-trained, highly motivated salesman and managers has become even more challenging in the industry. James Harrison, the CEO of Harrison Brothers, knowing the importance of piece visions, did a survey on human resource and other key managers at the store level.2. Problem DefinitionThe survey indicates in that location ar carve up of problems in the HR department and these problems might in straight off or directly slow down Harrison Brothers growth in the m to come. The major human resource management (HRM) p roblem in Harrison Brothers is that HRM is still struggling in its run of maintaining personnel. For example, since there is heavy turnover on salesman, Brenda McCain, the human resource manager, conducted nigh 25 to 30 interviews a week, and more during the holiday rush. Further, there is provided one trainer in Harrison Brothers, causing McCain to spend a lot of time on training, neglecting bigger picture HRM issues. One of the other problems is that HRM pays puny attention to employees affair skills. This is shown in the survey where HR managers ratedthe importance of both(prenominal) knowledge of business and skills in managing change, as 2.0 out of 5.0, while store managers rated the importance of those skills as 4.5.One of Harrison Brothers five strategic goals is to improve productivity of sales, buyers, and department heads. And corporations must prepare their employees to cope with the complexities and accelerated speed of a future economy.If HRM perceives knowledge of business and managing change, as the least important, Harrison Brothers may have a hard time achieving this strategic goal. There are other problems as well. These include, and are non limited to, supervisors that are reluctant to respect employees career final causening and master key development, a human resources department which is bound by toll considerations, and low administrative efficiency. These problemsare currently existing problems. However, in the long term, if HR in HarrisonBrothers remains the same, galore(postnominal) more problems go forth arise. Harrison Brothers may have difficulty in talent retention, it may live poor employee performance and low productivity, or there may be conflict in the workplace. In all, the current overall HRM practicewill not be able to meet the challenge Harrison Brothersmay encounter in the future, and will not help Harrison Brothers to achieve its long-term goal.3. Causes of the ProblemThe main cause of these problems is that there is no HR planning in Harrison Brothers.HR planning is a musical mode to analyze needs for employee and supply of employees, and then make a plan to make sure the organization have the right amount of employees and skills. Thats probably the reason why HR department is struggling and consumption most of its time on staffing and training. Another important cause of it is that human resources department didnt see human resource management from a strategic level.As Jennifer Daft, the store manager said, human resource department come out to be struggling to keep up with the day-to-day activities. HRM should free itself from day-to-day activities and become influential in strategic decision-making process.4. Alternative SolutionsThere are several approaches to fix these problems. First of all, large-sized firms like Harrison Brothers should develop HRM from its traditional functions up to more strategic level management. This would allowsomeone such as McCainto be brought induring a strategic decision-making process, giving her the ability to make or strongly go the decision itself. To do this, she must have the skills needed to function as a strategic business partner, which lead to the solution that follows. Second of all, McCain and her HR aggroup upmates may need to be trained to learn more almost business knowledge, such as markets, finance and so on. This knowledge toilette enhance HRs strategic role in the organization. cooking programs need to be designed and implemented to identify, coach and develop professional skills in HR. Also, McCain might want to consider transferring the old HR departments organization to a new one in say to meet the challenges in the dramatically changing business environment.For example, one of many other forms of HR social organization is made up of three main departments HRBP (human resource business partner), COE (center of excellence/expertise), andSSC (shared service center). This type of organizationa l structure allows the HR whole to respond to the market rapidly. Surely there are many other forms, and regardless of which particular one it is, Harrison Brothers needs tofind one type of structure that meets the needs of their own strategy and allows the HR unit a crucial role to play. The fourth solution McCain might try is to measure HRM by using tools such as Balanced Scorecard, sawhorse Value or benchmarking.Assessment of HRM could give the HR manager a new and quantifiable way to view the efficiency of HRM.In this case, McCain can benchmark and analyze competitors staffing and hiring by calculating HR indices such as cost per hire by job level and source, time to fill and time to start. These data can give her a better idea of whether Harrison Brothers is expending more on hiring than other companies in the retail industry. The last solution, but not least, is to enhance HR administrative efficiency. A centralized HR services department or center should be established. In this way, McCain and her team can free themselves from repeated daily routines.5. RecommendationsI would recommend trainingMcCain and her team to learn more about finance and market, as HR, finance and marketing are all important to understand how to run a business as a whole. Armed with business knowledge, she and her team can take aim Harrison Brothers HR unit into a strategic level. Also, transferring HR structure and enhancing administrative efficiency will help McCain and her team to work more efficiently.