Strategic Plan: Tiger Boots Company
Question 1
The value proposition of Tiger Boots is to manufacture high-quality footwear for its clients. The firm boasts of the unique manufacturing process of its footwear and highly skilled employees. The boots’ quality is strong to withstand dirty and demanding working conditions. Individuals can wear the boots all day long due to their comfortable nature. The company has branded its product to represent the quality and artistry that benefits its customers. The corporation is one of the few boot companies that perform all manufacturing processes in the United States. Therefore, the firm provides a distinct benefit of made-in-America label, which most customers are proud of, owing to the reputation and belief that the Tiger manufactures the best work boots. The organization claims that the footwear can last for eternity if handled carefully. Additionally, the corporation illustrates many of its aspects of production methods that involve high degree handcraft.
The stated human resource practices at Tiger Boots are consistent with the organization’s strategy since the firm hires individuals at entry-levels, as packagers, and trains them to be assemblers. During the training process, high standard artistry is involved. The trained employees are compensated through a reward-system that selects workers with fewest failures from the quality assurance team.[create_order]
Question 2
Forecasting the demand for labour in an organization presupposes a series of computations. The general formula involves dividing the annual projection for the operational index by the average employee prerequisite ratio for every future year. The resulting figure represents the annual demand for labour.
Current year
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
Sales forecast
$200,000
$230,000
$264,500
$304,175
$349,801
$402,271
Sales Increase
15%
Sales persons(FTE)
2.6
2.99
3.4385
3.954275
4.547416
5.229529
Ratio
1.15
1.15
1.15
1.15
1.15
Table 1: Computation of demand for salespersons for the next five years
Assuming the sales increase for the next five years remains at 15%, and a part-time worker equates to 0.3 of a full-time worker, the demand of salesperson will increase from 2.6 to 5.2 after five years.
Question 3
Tiger Boots Company cultures enable the firm to hire employees through family referrals. The corporation prefers to employ individuals at the entry-level positions and later move them to higher positions. However, the number of employees at the entry-level is fewer than the expected more senior positions. A Markov model can demonstrate the analysis of such movement within the organization. Table 2 shows a Markov model of Tiger Boot Company, which is aimed at forecasting the demand for the total number of employees required for the plant for one year.
2019
2020
Material Sorcer
Designer
Material Cutter
Assembler
Packager
Quality Inspector
Waste management
Corporate Manager
Exit
Materials Sourcer
4
75%
25%
3
1
Designer
6
60%
20%
20%
3.6
1.2
1.2
Materials Cutter
60
5%
85%
10%
3
51
6
Assembler
180
70%
30%
126
54
Packager
45
75%
5%
20%
33.75
2.25
9
Quality Inspector
30
10%
60%
30%
3
18
9
Waste Management
15
60%
40%
6
Total
340
6
3.6
51
129
33.75
20.25
9
1.2
86.2
Table 2: Markov Model for Tiger Boots Company
Table 2 illustrates the human capital flow of the Tiger Boots Company. The table can be used to determine how employee movement affects the supply of human capital beyond the estimation of turnover rates and forecast their demand (Belcourt & Podolski, 2019). The model illustrates the number of employees who remain in their current job, get promoted, and exit the company. From the model, Tiger Boots records a considerate high level of turnover with the highest number being employees at the entry-level. Therefore, the company will demand various employees on a full-time equivalent. The forecast demand includes one material supplier, 1.2 designers, six material cutters, 54 assemblers, nine packagers, nine quality inspectors, and six waste managers, totaling to 86.2 full-time equivalent employees.
Question 4
The human resource practices of an organization include how the human resource manager develops leadership qualities of his or her employees. Usually, the manager develops motivational programs and extensive training on the company’s products and services and its operations. The manager is responsible for devising a system that aids the management in performing appraisals and demotions where there is a need. In most cases, the practices reduce high turnover, which affects the company’s performance adversely.
In the case of Tiger Boots Company, the human resource manager has devised and implemented various practices. However, despite the many approaches, the company experiences high turnover, with high cases being terminations. The primary human resource practice of Tiger Boots Company is to strive and hire its plant workers locally, with the aid of current workers. Even though the method is an encouraging practice that uplifts the company’s legacy, the human resource manager should consider changing the company’s way of hiring. The company should consider recruiting employees from other states and internationally. Moreover, the corporation should also consider workforce planning in the international context to help fix human capital demand. Therefore, the human resource manager should forecast both demand and supply for human capital, compute the gap between the two aspects, and apply proper practices to ensure the company has a sufficient supply of employees to run its operations (Belcourt & Podolski, 2019).
The company conducts frequent meetings with the employees at the plant to comprehend how they can improve their working conditions and the status of the plants. Furthermore, the human resource department should ensure the implementation of opinions of the plant employees and put every consensus into practice. This approach will ensure that employees feel appreciated and involved in laying strategies that aim at improving their welfare and company’s growth.
Also, the rewarding program for employees should be adjusted. Currently, the company rewards employees monthly. The firm also produces a high-quality video to be posted on social media and YouTube. The rewarding system should be accustomed to accommodate more than one employee. The system should reward at least three employees from all the departments to encourage others to get to the third position in case they cannot be the best. This move will encourage many employees to uptick their performances to get a reward, and as a result, productivity will increase as turnover rates decrease.
Another human resource practice the organization should apply is to hire employees at entry-level positions such as packagers and train them to attain other highly-skilled positions. The practice is excellent especially, to a firm such as Tiger Boots due to its objective in minimizing costs and maintaining exemplary standards of high-quality boots. From the model, a high turnover exists in the packaging position, and as a result, the company does not have adequate employees to train for higher positions. The current period for promotion is approximately three years. However, the firm should shorten the time it takes for an employee to be promoted to motivate individuals at the entry-level. Additionally, the organization should implement an exemplary rewarding system for highly qualified assemblers, inspectors, and cutters to prolong their stay in the company. The human resource should develop programs to monitor the firm’s competitors and identify potential candidates, employ, and retain them (Belcourt & Podolski, 2019). Additionally, HR leaders should develop workers to ensure they are ready and available for promotion opportunities at all times.
Question 5
Internal and external recruitment is one of the key strategic decisions in the company’s staffing process. According to Belcourt and Podolski (2019), internal and external recruitment has three parallel options to the international domain. The recruitment opportunities include parent-country nationals (PCNs), home-country nationals (HCNs), and third-country nationals (TCNs). The corporate level of Tiger Boots Company has various issues relating to hiring. The encounters challenges recruiting associates in each of its functional groups due to its industry. Top graduates do not view the firm as the most attractive industry to develop their careers. Therefore, the human resource department should alleviate this issue by recruiting candidates who are third-country nationals. Recruitment of these applicants is beneficial to the firm as home-country nationals and parent-country nations have proved to discriminate against the company owing to the industry it belongs to.
Additionally, the recruitment of third-country nationals by the firm is beneficial as the candidates have great familiarity with the culture of the host country if their home country is within the proximity of the firm. Usually, the employees are loyal to the firm than to the host, and therefore, they perform their duties diligently with the intention of supporting the company’s mission and goals. The workers usually focus on career development regardless of the industry, given the different cultural backgrounds and beliefs regarding industries. In this case, the workers would not mind the industry classification of Tiger Boots but instead will focus on enhancing and developing their careers. Additionally, such candidates are willing to be trained and specialize in specific fields. Specialization would create opportunities for promotion within the company since they would be conversant with the company policies and objectives.
Additionally, the firm should advertise to the public the opportunities it provides for individuals willing to be employed in corporate positions to attract highly skilled personnel. The firm should advertise its benefits and excellent working conditions to attract potential high skilled individuals. The organization should also introduce career support programs that focus on career development, such as a scholarship.
The second corporate issue within Tiger Boots is the external hiring of corporate jobs despite their desire to hire from within. The human resource should introduce career-based programs that support training and career development of individuals willing to pursue a further career relating to the firm. The programs should be tailored for plant employees to allow them to be trained and pursue careers that would see them get promoted to the corporate level. This approach will ensure that the firm hires only those from the junior level positions, who are well-versed with the policies, operations, and culture of the firm.
Question 6
Despite the many issues that Tiger has to face, organizational leaders should consider downsizing to reduce production costs, among other benefits. According to Belcourt and Podolski, (2019), downsizing involves various activities performed by the management and aims to improve the efficacy, productivity, and competitiveness of a firm. Usually, implementation of strategies involves managers where the workforce, the cost of operation, firm size, and work processes are affected.
For the case of Tiger Boots Company, the firm should move all its operations to a single plant in the U.S. This move will cut the cost of production and deal with the issue of human capital shortage. Furthermore, reducing the number of plants to one can make the current manufacturing process more efficient since it no longer makes sense to have three plants. The reasons for the three plants were to supply tradespeople in the early 20th century with boots in different parts of the nation and transport the products to the retail stores efficiently. Assuming the changes will reduce the firm’s cost of production by 10%, the process is viable and beneficial to the company. Additionally, based on the assumption that the reason for establishing the three plants was for ease of transportation, with modern technology and the internet, the reasons for the existence of the plants is obsolete.
However, the firm’s management should consider various issues before their final decision on downsizing. The action has various consequences that might affect the value and stability of the firm. If the management settles on downsizing, the management should have long-time strategic planning and consider the long term effects. Some of the issues the management should consider include the number of individuals who will lose their jobs, the legal consequences, and design current and future work plans