Mars Incorporated is among the largest privately-owned companies in the United States and operates in the segments of food, drinks, pet care, confectionaries, and symbioscience. With such established brands as M&Ms, Snickers, Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit, and Lifesavers, among others, there is no doubt that quality plays a key role in influencing the success of the company. However, as Noe et al. (59) establish, it the company’s HR practices that have played the most significant role in steering the company to success. The company famously relies on 5 principles, namely quality, responsibility, mutuality, efficiency, and freedom. By implementing these principles, the company is guaranteed of attracting, motivating and retaining employees who are committed to the company’s course.
Among the company’s five principles, those that are chiefly concerned with HR are responsibility, mutuality and freedom. On the question of responsibility, all employees at the company are required and expected to take responsibility for results, to exercise initiative, to make the right judgment that a situation requires, and to execute decisions independently. Giving employees a sense of responsibility undoubtedly makes them feel empowered in knowing that their decisions and courses of action are important in upholding the success of the company. Mutuality, on the other hand, is the principle that requires employees to understand that their actions and subsequently those of the company should not be at the expense of others. Finally, freedom is the principle that gives employees and management the liberty to experiment with ideas, to express themselves and to execute decisions aimed at propelling the company to long-term success. By implementing the core principles, the company upholds human resource practices that guarantee long-term success of the company’s business model.
Managing HR at a Services Firm
Susan Dubin is someone who understands the value of human resource in steering organizations to success. She has consistently demonstrated this in the two places of work where she has been posted in the past by helping others, thus making the workplace a positive environment. Having taken on responsibilities of training and employee relationships in the past, she not only understands the importance of equipping employees with the skillsets that will make them capable of meeting organizational objectives but also the value of a conductive work environment. She has particularly demonstrated this in her position as HR director at Montage Insurance Solutions. It is here that she has implemented strategies that make the workplace employee-friendly by introducing monthly luncheons, raffle prizes and break rooms (Noe et al. 60). She augments the effectiveness of her strategies by being firm in enforcing standards. Striking balance between friendliness and firmness in implementation of strategy is important in ensuring that HR executives execute their mandate right.
Other than accomplishing her mandate as a HR director, Dubin seemingly understands the importance of upholding strict values in the workplace, just like Mars Inc. does by implementing the values of quality, responsibility, mutuality, efficiency and freedom. This is evident from the information provided on the website of her company, where it is acknowledged that the company values hardworking and honest teams. Moreover, it is stated that the company cares about the welfare of its employees. It is only by standing by such strong values that a company can get the best out of its human resource. It is expected that Dubin would be an effective HR executive in any organization, regardless of size.
Work cited
Noe, Raymond A., et al. Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education, 2017.