Reference no: EM133107369
The Fabrications Division Plastics Division, Industrial products division, of Peerless Products Ltd manufactures various plastic products for direct sale to wholesalers and retail outlets and employs about 1,200 people. It is one of the three divisions of Peerless operating in different parts of the country. They were formerly separate companies until they merged three years ago. The other two divisions are:
- which manufactures a range of plastics materials, including resins, for sale to manufacturers, and employs about 900 people.
- which manufactures a range of industrial plastic products for sales to wholesalers and direct to manufacturers, and employs about 450 people.
There is a small corporate office in Hendon, London which is mainly concerned with finance and marketing. There is no central HR function. Each of the divisions has its own HR manager reporting to the divisional director.
Fabrications is not only the largest division but is probably the most go-ahead and successful of the three. Its manufacturing methods are being continually improved by the efforts of a small but powerful industrial engineering team. A work-measured bonus scheme has recently been introduced for operatives that has increased the productivity of experienced workers from an average of 82 (100 being standard performance) to an average of 107.
The HR function is well established. However, there is no one specializing in learning and development and, as a result, there have been no systematic training activities. People have attended external courses and there is a certain amount of induction training but not much else.
The HR manager had identified a number of areas in which training would benefit the company. Front line managers were lacking in people management and leadership skills. They were so preoccupied with achieving production targets that they neglected the newcomers to their departments, paying only limited attention to their training, which was left in each department to one of the supervisors, with mixed results. New technology and production methods were being introduced but operatives lacked the skills required - much more flexibility through multiskilling was required and they were finding it difficult to adjust to their changed roles. He noted that it took about three months for operatives to reach the experienced worker's standard and receive full bonus payments. But a high proportion of employees (25 per cent) were leaving within three months of joining the company. Labour turnover rates amongst operatives was high and increasing - 18 per cent in the year before last and 22 per cent last year. Leaving interviews had established that new starters were finding it difficult to learn the skills required and were disappointed that they were not achieving the bonus earnings promised when they were recruited.
The HR manager realized that these issues must be addressed. He believed fervently that Fabrications could be even more successful if it had a better trained workforce with programmes focusing on the sort of issues he had identified during his review. This would mean devising and implementing a learning and development strategy and appointing an experienced L&D professional for this purpose.
He put this view to the divisional director, emphasizing the added value that could be produced if his idea was acted upon. But his proposition failed to make a convincing business case - the benefits of learning and development were extolled but he failed to indicate clearly enough what those benefits would be and how they would be achieved. The divisional director was not unsympathetic to the notion of developing more comprehensive learning and development programmes but he wanted to be provided with a much more powerful business case. He asked the HR manager to go away and try again.
The task
Prepare the business case the HR manager might make.