Whirlpool_Corp

Assignment #5: Whirlpool Corporation September 06, 2011 HRM 532 • Discuss what factors emerged at Whirlpool that impacted its talent needs. Throughout Whirlpool’s history, they have always been able to attract and retain the best talent to propel their business. Whirlpool’s talent needs were greatly impacted by several factors that hindered them from emerging successfully in a global market atmosphere (Goldsmith & Carter, 2010). They are as follow: (a) Whirlpool needed to attract talent that they could develop whether the talent existed within the organization or going outside of the organization to seek key talent that displayed proficiencies and that could keep up in an ever changing global marketplace; (b) The talent Whirlpool was seeking needed to have the know-how to build technology for a rapidly changing environment to meet consumer needs and demands to stay competitive; (c) Organizations switched from an employer’s market to a talent market due to the escalating competition in the global marketplace, as a result, supply was limited for such a high demand for exceptional talent; and last (d) The workforce started to change due to retirements, outsourcing, and key talent relocating for better opportunities (Goldsmith & Carter, 2010). These factors help attract, involve, and develop talent to ensure it has the level of leadership to succeed in a constantly changing global business environment. • Discuss how expanding globally changed the talent requirements at Whirlpool. Whirlpool is one of the most leading manufacturer and marketer of home appliances. Achieving this goal was not easy but was accomplished by creating a sophisticated world class assessment program. The talent requirements at Whirlpool needed to change to compete globally and drive better results (Goldsmith & Carter 2010). In order to accomplish this difficult task, a talent management system needed to be implemented to remain competitive in a global economy (Goldsmith & Carter, 2010). Executing a talent management system will not only enable the Whirlpool Corporation to maintain a competitive advantage, it will specify what type of leadership is required to remain successful by evaluating existing talent and leadership’s knowledge to bridge gaps, it will enhance leadership skills internally, it will evaluate high potential talent’s knowledge for outside acquisition and existing talent pool succession planning, It will create a procedure that will supervise talent by supplying them with on-going global training, in addition to providing workable tools and resources that will enhance the proficiencies of future leaders to become effective in their new roles (Goldsmith & Carter, 2010). The process will close the gap between hiring managers and talent acquisitions by putting together the right business planning to create strategic talent initiatives. • Discuss how Whirlpool used its Leadership Model to manage its talent. The Whirlpool Leadership Model was developed in 1999 as part of the Whirlpool Corporation leadership competencies. The model was created with complete feedback by the company’s executive committee. The goal of this Leadership Model wa s to provide one voice for leadership to assess and developed employees, manage talent pool and succession planning but they also needed to be able to assess external talent for acquisition. There are three components to Whirlpool’s Leadership Model and in each component, there are a set of skills that leaders must demonstrate in managing talent. They include; Leadership Attributes address the values of the organization that leaders are required to conform to (Goldsmith & Carter, 2010). For example, the values of the Whirlpool Corporations states, “Our vision reinforces that every home is our domain, every customer and customer activity our opportunity. This vision fuels the passion that we have for our customers, pushing us to provide innovative solutions to uniquely meet their needs. Pride, Passion, and Performance is what Whirlpool Corporation bring to life through the power of their unique global enterprise and their outstanding people working together everywhere” (Whirlpool Corporation, 2011). They must have the necessary skills to develop certainty in employees to not be afraid to take risk when it comes to winning, they must develop employees to want to take on challenging task that involves critical thinking and decision making, in addition to having skills to deliver innovative ideas that will offers a pathway towards sustaining outstanding results as well as create a conducive environment that respects a person’s beliefs, thoughts and ideas for the success of the organization (Goldsmith & Carter, 2010). Leadership Practices focuses on the vision and the strategy that a leader must establish that aligns with the strategic plan of the business (Goldsmith & Carter, 2010). The skill set of this component entails; communication and management skills, the ability of how to attract, develop, and engage talent and a development plan for the leaders as well as their subordinates ( Goldsmith & Carter, 2010). Leadership Performance reflects outstanding results and is the driver of evolvement and conversion to maximize the current and future business needs (Goldsmith & Carter, 2010). • Discuss how Whirlpool uses metrics to improve the quality of talent hired. How Whirlpool uses metrics to improve the quality of talent hired is called a Quality of Hire Report (Goldsmith & Carter, 2010). The report is based on the ability to evaluated key talent through a survey at mid-year and year-end (Goldsmith & Carter, 2010). The questions of the survey analyze four key elements. They include; satisfaction, promotability, leadership, and performance (Goldsmith & Carter, 2010). The quality of hire report illustrates the caliber of the organization’s hire metric and is divided by function and associate (Goldsmith & Carter, 2010). Whirlpool Corporation also uses a tracking mechanism that measures the effectiveness of the Master Assessor Program (MAP) and every new employee that was evaluated by a certified MAP interviewer (Goldsmith & Carter, 2010). The results from the hire metric determines if the MAP process is beneficial or if the organization need to go in a different direction for measuring new employee’s competencies (Goldsmith & Carter, 2010). • Discuss future consideration at Whirlpool related to managing and sustaining talent. Since Whirlpool’s Master Assessor Program was so successful the first time that they decided to develop another program similar called MAP Level II. The primary focus of the new training program is that it provide classroom time that will allow employees to become certified on a higher level and enhance leadership capabilities that will lead to succession planning and an effective talent review process within the Whirlpool Corporation (Goldsmith & Carter, 2010). The certification process following the classroom session will focus on actual participation and calibration in a series of talent pool sessions with a certified Level II MAP assessor. This new program will continue to target deeper problems designed for the top talent indicators and derailed competencies. References 1. Goldsmith, M., & Carter L. (2010). Best practices in talent management: How the world’s Leading corporations manage, develop, and retain top talent. San Francisco: Pfeiffer. 2. Whirlpool Corporation, (2011). About Whirlpool Corporation. Retrieved from http://www.whirlpoolcorp.com/about/overview.aspx