CASE STUDY: Leadership and Human Resource Management Introduction: You have just been hired as the new Human Resources Director of a company in the Infrastructure Sector that is experiencing exponential growth in recent years (there were 3,000 people and currently there are 4,600 people) and with the anticipation of continuing to grow and acquire other organizations in the future (Up to approximately 7,200 people; with a 30% direct work command staff). The company is national (Spanish) and has offices in other European cities. The objective of this expansion is worldwide; wanting to consolidate itself as leaders in the sector in other continents such as Asia, America and Africa, especially. The CEO of the company has called you because he wants you to work on defining the Strategic Plan of the HR area during the next week so that you can present it to the shareholders and thus get them to invest a relevant volume in the company. Case development: You have been talking to the CEO and he has told you that up to now the HR area was made up of 7 people who were only dedicated to more administrative tasks (Payroll, contract management, etc.). You have agreed that it is necessary to review these functions and evolve them towards more strategic functions and thus evaluate if some of these 7 people should remain in more operational functions and which could occupy other positions within the evolved area of HR. In this sense, you have proposed that you review if they are capable of assuming new functions. At the organizational structure level, the CEO has confirmed that the shareholders are also expecting a sizing proposal in relation to how many people should occupy the evolved HR area and as well as what the operating model of the same should be. It is key that the strategic plan defined for HR responds to the needs of the business because it will depend on the shareholders deciding whether to invest more money in the company. In this sense, you must specify and explain very clearly the reason for incorporating the defined initiatives into the plan. For example: It is important that the strategic plan you reflect on includes some initiatives that respond to the organization’s ambition for growth and expansion. To develop the strategic plan for the area, you have to work based on the most relevant milestones that you consider related to HR: Selection, Training, Culture, etc. Activities: work as supposed “HR Directors” of the company to solve the case and be able to present the conclusions to the CEO and the shareholders. As the company’s strategy has been defined with the “Playing To Win” methodology, it is important that you also follow this methodology to define the strategic plan of the HR area. The questions you should work on: 1. Identify the ambition of the HR area and relate it to the business needs 2. Define the main activities to include in the HR strategic plan 3. Design the necessary HR structure as well as the dimensioning and high-level functions 4. Designs the HR service model that will respond to countries, etc. 5. Identify the indicators on which to monitor the plan 6. Reflect on the need to design a PMO that helps implement the strategy
