Reference no: EM133243882
Case : You are hired as the HR Director for The Sports Board Unlimited (fictitious) which manufactures and sells sporting equipment for the consumer market. Their products include paddle boards (new through an acquisition), surf boards, wake boards, knee boards, snow boards, skate boards, water skis, and snow skis. They sell through distributors but are also developing a growing on-line presence so consumers can buy direct.
The sporting goods industry is highly competitive and the company historically followed a market penetration strategy (using greater marketing efforts to increase market share in its current markets). Now, they are looking to expand their products and just acquired a firm making paddle boards. While continuing to improve current products and develop/acquire new products to be a market leader (product development strategy), they emphasize growth, innovation, and the development/modification of new products. To respond to the competitive market and meet customer changing demands, they must be flexible, and have a flat, and more decentralized organizational structure.
The Sports Board is located 45 miles from a more major metropolitan city with a couple two-year colleges, a trade school and one university. Given their type of product portfolio, they are close to a large inland lake. The current unemployment rate is 12.1%. The issue of the pandemic is a major contributor to the area high unemployment rate. Even with the pandemic, sales for most products remain strong as consumers use the outdoor sports as a way to safely move beyond some restrictions.
The owner and President is committed to keeping the organization local and more family oriented. The Sports Board has either mainly hired friends or promoted within, many of which are unskilled workers and not trained for their positions. However the situation is changing. As the infection rate rises, many employees are not able to come to work. For production, working from home is not an option. This has resulted in the need to remake the work environment to ensure safe working conditions. Also, as technology changes, many workers need to develop new skills to support new production methods as well as some managerial/administrative workers being able to work from home.
Several local companies including The Sports Board have experienced recent labor issues. The racial demographic makeup of The Sports Board is 78% white, while the local labor market population is approximately 41% minority. Promotions to management have been based on seniority/tenure. There is a growing minority population that has not been accepted into the community. The President and four managers are white males.
The only female supervisor works in the customer service department. All other management positions are filled by white males. Lately, The Sports Board has been hiring more millennials resulting in three generations (millennials, Gen Xers and baby boomers) with differing values and motivators. This has resulted in communication issues, conflict between the employees of different generations and between management and these employees. This has resulted in lower job satisfaction, productivity and increased turnover even in these demanding times. To add to this, The Sports Board only offers the legally required benefits, which millennials feel is inadequate.
Given the current situation, production workers are demanding premium pay and safer working conditions based on their fear of contracting COVID 19.
With this information, what would be my best strategy answer the following : Given the recent acquisition, which jobs will you retain? Which jobs will you eliminate due to redundancy? What criteria will you use to determine who will be terminated?