Human Resources Strategy:
USAA – Service to the Services
Russell A. Leatherman
National American University
MT6300: Human Resource Management
September 5, 2016
Introduction
An effective human resources (HR) strategy is the complete design, or strategic plan, that directs the engagement of specific HR functional areas. Subsequently, HR strategies will guide decisions about company personnel to make sure they are best suited for the company. For this to be successful, all of the functional areas of HR strategies must be directly compatible with the entire business strategy of the company (Wright, Snell, & Jacobsen, 2003). One such company that has been very successful in developing an HR strategy to support the overall business strategy, is the United Services Automobile Association, or more commonly known as USAA.
Founded in 1922, this Texas based insurance company, started out when 25 Army officers, San Antonio, Texas, made the agreement to insure one another’s automobiles. Within 90 years, this miniature insurance group has grown to be one of the premier financial service providers in the nation, boasting over 11.4 million members and 28 thousand employees. USAA provides over 47.2 million active products, such as policies for property/casualty and life insurance, personal banking, discount brokerage accounts, investment management services, and other special services such as real estate development and discount shopping. Keeping true to their original
1. Define and explain the significance of the term ‘derived demand’ as it applies to Strategic Human Resources Planning. (5 marks)
Human resource departments today have a more distinct, calculated position within organizations, and human resource strategy influences the bottom line. “One of the challenges for HR leaders is convincing executive leadership teams that human capital is one of the most important resources in which the company can invest” (Mayhew, 2014, p.). Subsequently, “this return on investment is an essential part of the argument for including HR as part of an overall business strategy” (Mayhew, 2014, p.). Human resource departments utilize the information given to them from company executives and leaders, coupled with their respective expertise on all things personnel, and they plan and implement staffing concerns for the betterment of the organization. From preparing job analysis, to comparing inventory and forecasting, it is the responsibility of human resources to consider the objectives of an organization and fulfill those goals while operating the specific planning relative to HR.
2. Give some examples of ethical issues that you have experienced in jobs, and explain how HR did or did not help resolve them.
In order to develop a human resource strategy; there must be a linkage of the entire human resource function with the firm’s business strategy in order to improve business strategy execution. The first recommendation
Fortune 500 company, United Services Automobile Association (USAA) began as a small group of 25 U.S. Army officers in 1922. Nearly 90 years later, it is now an organization with more than 7.4 million members, offering banking, investing, retirement and insurance services worldwide. Since its inception, USAA has expanded membership eligibility to include all members of the Armed Forces and their family. What makes USAA stand out is that it is not a corporation, but an inter-insurance exchange. This allows each member to be insured by every other member concurrently, yet only liable for the premiums which they have paid in. Since
The United Services Automobile Association (USAA) is a Fortune 100 company as of the year 2009 that primarily sells life and property insurance to its 7.7 million members, which consists of active and retired military personnel and their family members (www.biz.yahoo.com). They also offer such services as banking and investment management, focused on helping military persons to manage their money wisely and offer them services at reasonable costs with low interest rates. As of 2009, the company employees 21,500 people and competes in the industry of property and casualty insurance against other companies such as MetLife, State Farm, and
Five days after graduating highschool, I left my hometown for the United States Navy. The dress code was simple: hair needed to be cut a certain way, creases in my uniforms were to be exact, mandatory clean shaven face and my medals/ribbons needed to be in their proper place and perfectly aligned to standards. Once I retired, reality set it when I assumed the role as a Human Resourcess Manager or Director. Skirt lengths, open/closed toed shoes, cleavage (both front and rear), piercings and tattoos are just a few of the items I was responsible for in regulating at the corporate office. This paper will discuss many of the common dress code issues, legal responsibilities and a bit of personal humor and insight into the ordeal of establishing a dress code policy that will regulate your appearance. In addition, this paper will add some of my trials and pitfalls when establishign policy that might help some of my colleagues who will become Human Resources professionals learn to be realistic and quite possibly compassionate when it comes to preparing a dress code policy.
To put it simply, our team aimed to start strong, investing in training and high benefits, with goals of continuing a strong initial quarter by reacting to each week as a new “start”. This turned out to be counterproductive, as our relatively massive spending in the first quarter of the first year had an adverse effect on our budget, effectively hamstringing us for the rest of the fiscal year. The business results were initially positive. Morale and productivity were high after the first quarter of year one, and we placed among the top three groups. This was the result of having put high focus and the majority of our funds towards benefits and training in the beginning. We were emboldened by these results and focused on mitigating future consequences of having to cut back on spending. As such, we decided to strategically under-hire, not realizing this would adversely affect absenteeism and product quality, as well as grievances. Since there were never enough workers to cover all the shifts workers became overworked which contributed to missing days of work, and also explains why they would be putting in less effort to ensure or double check the quality of all products (Steen, Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright, 2016). We believed that our initial massive boost in benefits would compensate for not being able to afford a raise in wages. Our
Armstrong ( 2010) defined Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) as “an approach to making decisions on the intentions and plans of the organisation in the shape of the policies, programmes and practices concerning the employment relationship, resourcing, learning and development, performance management , rewards and employee relationships,” ( p. 115). There is a paradigm shift from a functional role to a tactical one through the strategic management process. SHRM is very important to the effectiveness of my learning organisation because it ensures that the needs of the learning community are met and provides the opportunity for instructional leaders to “add value to the learning community” (Introduction to Human Resource
The Department of Human Resources (HR) is viewed by some organizations as an administrative function and they tend to overlook the need and opportunity to align them within the organizations strategic plans and goals (Kokemuller, 2015). The design and
At first when reading about LEC I thought they value their employees because they know their employees are the main reason they are able to be successful. Lincoln Electric recognizes that money is an incentive to employees and knows that by offering an incentive they can get the workers to be more productive. They understand that there was to be an honest relationship between employees and managers. There has to be a level of respect for each other. Lincoln Electric has HR Objectives that pertain to its employee; I am going to list three out of four of the objectives first is “to maintain and
The term 'human asset ' may be characterized as the aggregate Knowledge, aptitudes, inventive capacities, and abilities and in addition the qualities, demeanor, methodologies and convictions of people included in the undertakings of the association. It is whole or total of intrinsic capacities, procured information and aptitudes spoke to buy gifts and aptitudes of persons utilized in an association.
Research indicates that strategic human resource management (SHRM) in nonprofit organizations has become increasingly more necessary. Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) are facing increasing demands to become more efficient and more effective (Ridder, H., Piening, E.P, & Baluch, A. M., 2011) in order to keep up with the ever-changing environments of non-profits due to political, environmental and/or social changes. NPOs are different than regular for-profit businesses as they have limited resources and more stakeholders. In order to remain competitive NPOs are re-evaluating their current management systems and are being heavily encouraged to consider the option of results-based management or strategic management. “Results-based management is a goal-driven, proactive management approach that emphasizes results rather than procedures” (Swiss, 2016 p.11). Human Resources Management (HRM) plays a significant role in the planning and providing proper management techniques for an organization, therefore it is recognized by research to be the area where involvement is crucial to the organizational culture and performance of the NPO. Human Resources (HR) has a direct line to the heart of the organization; the people. In order for there to be an increase in organizational performance and company-wide adherence there needs to be transparency, an overall understanding of the strategy, processes/procedures and new objectives/goals. An established HR already has the
There are two topics I would like to place emphasis in perception. The first topic is Human Resource Management: The effective Methodology of Managing Human Capital. The second topic is The Constraint of Women in Leadership Roles. The demand of a transforming world influences roles in human resource management and women occupying leadership position. Both topics depth with challenges that produce opportunities to structure organizations future. In order to sustain the advancement of the United States economy, organizations need restructure the way its Human Resource administrate. In addition, the two topics utilize the human resource process which filter potential candidates that meet the prerequisites job analysis. If business entities are more involve within the branding process the organization will benefit as a whole. The purpose of the first literature review is to illustrate the importance of face-to-face strategies back into organizations policies which improve the quality of the recruitment, the level of training, and the marginal retention rate decreasing. However, the review will not address why corporations divert jobs international to reduce the operation and financial cost. The purpose of the second literature review demonstrate the conflict women encounter while employed in leadership position. Therefore, it will not put emphasis on the leadership style between women and men.
According to Guide on Developing a HRM Plan (Civil service bureau, 1996). The first step in Human resource planning is the conduction of departmental analysis where in a review on business goals are done. It is also recap of where the organization is headed as well business priorities, budget allocations and other factors that might affect the company in the future. In relation to