Frontier Printers Case
Problem Statement
Frontier Printers is lacking strategic human resource objectives that are necessary to address the organizational growth and incorporate changing technological trends. As a result they are at risk of not being able to attract/retain valuable employees and could face potential legal litigation.
Critical Facts
Frontier Printers is a small-family business and has seen a 50% growth in the number of employees in the last three years. The departure of the press operator and the driver was attributed to a lack of opportunities for growth within the company. The firm plans on focusing on computer skills and cross-training. In the next two years the firm plans on integrating vertically by introducing new equipment that’ll allow the production of color separation which will reduce cycle time tremendously. This should help the company to increase its outputs more efficiently. The industry has experienced the introduction of various new technological advancements, one which will allow “direct-to-film” to occur that will eliminate the need for two of the employees in the Pre-Press department but will require two new jobs requiring technical skills in another department. The firm does not have any contingency plans for departure of current employees. Currently, a very limited amount of employees have the knowledge to operate the current software which could potentially have serious implications. There is also no formal job analysis evident or list of job descriptions to properly implement performance evaluations. There are no formal qualifications or training for new recruits as it is done on an ad hoc basis by the management team.
Analysis:
Starting as a small-family business, Frontier Printers has been operating in the industry for longer than 60 years. Within the last three years, they’ve seen an enormous growth which has resulted in the realization that they need to develop strategic human resource objectives. This will be further analyzed in three
Frontier Printers is lacking strategic human resource objectives that are necessary to address the organizational growth and incorporate changing technological trends. As a result they are at risk of not being able to attract/retain valuable employees and could face potential legal litigation.
Critical Facts
Frontier Printers is a small-family business and has seen a 50% growth in the number of employees in the last three years. The departure of the press operator and the driver was attributed to a lack of opportunities for growth within the company. The firm plans on focusing on computer skills and cross-training. In the next two years the firm plans on integrating vertically by introducing new equipment that’ll allow the production of color separation which will reduce cycle time tremendously. This should help the company to increase its outputs more efficiently. The industry has experienced the introduction of various new technological advancements, one which will allow “direct-to-film” to occur that will eliminate the need for two of the employees in the Pre-Press department but will require two new jobs requiring technical skills in another department. The firm does not have any contingency plans for departure of current employees. Currently, a very limited amount of employees have the knowledge to operate the current software which could potentially have serious implications. There is also no formal job analysis evident or list of job descriptions to properly implement performance evaluations. There are no formal qualifications or training for new recruits as it is done on an ad hoc basis by the management team.
Analysis:
Starting as a small-family business, Frontier Printers has been operating in the industry for longer than 60 years. Within the last three years, they’ve seen an enormous growth which has resulted in the realization that they need to develop strategic human resource objectives. This will be further analyzed in three