Gap Analysis: Riordan ManufacturingThis paper is going to review the existing situation going on with Riordan Manufacturing. There are quite a few opportunities and challenging issues that the company is facing at the present time. Analyzing the situation, opportunities, and challenges the true problems with Riordan's human capital has been realized. The end-state goals will direct the company to improve their human resource practices, which will give the company a sustained advantage (Dreher & Dougherty, 2001).Riordan Manufacturing is a global plastics maker, which has 550 employees with estimated annual earnings of $46 million. The company is owned by Riordan Industries, which i ...view middle of the document...
Situation AnalysisIssue and Opportunity IdentificationThe first thing that needs to be done is to recognize the issues or opportunities for Riordan Manufacturing. The first issue at hand is that of employee retention. There have been several comments made that employees are resigning from the company to take new jobs for higher pay. Could it be that Riordan Manufacturing is paying under the market average? This is an enormously important concern that needs to be addressed. This concern is important for saving very important employee knowledge in the research and development area of the business.The second issue that needs to be looked into is the company's employee incentive program. This concern is not only with management but also with current employees. The sales incentives at this present time is structured for each individual salesperson instead of a team incentive approach. This is an issue with the changes which have already been put in place, changing the sales approach from an individual incentive to a team incentive consisting of a sales person, a product engineering specialist, and a customer service representative with support from the research and development (Riordan Manufacturing Scenario, 2007). The sales process has changed but the incentive/bonus process has not aligned to this change. This needs to be reviewed and changed to align with the new sales process.The third issue is that of employee development and training. Riordan Manufacturing has not done much in the promotion of training and development of their current employees in the last couple of years. Employee's growth and development is important to continue to build future leaders for the company. This is a strategic advantage for companies to provide and take part of their employees' personal growth and development. Training and development not only helps to attract top performers but will also provide incentive for retention (Dreher & Dougherty, 2001).The last issue that needs to be review is that the Human Resource division has had little input on the business plan for Riordan Manufacturing. This department at this time reports to the finance department with no direct association to the CEO of the company. In order for Riordan Manufacturing to realize and gain strategic advantage in the area of human capital, a superior human resource management system must be in place (Dreher & Dougherty, 2001).Stakeholder Perspectives/Ethical DilemmasLooking at the current situation that Riordan Manufacturing is going through, there are several stakeholder perspectives to consider. The first place to start is with the investors of the company. The incentives have seen the investments decline over the last two years. From their viewpoint, Michael Riordan should be looking for a way to build up the company and turn profits around as quickly as possible so as not to lose more shareholders. Mr. Riordan believes the customer-focused team approach to selling their products is...
