Oticon, a Danish Hearing Manufacturer, and the Human Resources Development

Résumé du document

According Leonard Nadler , the Human Resources "refer to a series of organized activities conducted within a specified time and designed to produce behavioral change". The main task of this function is to focus on employees within an organization: if the firm is able to create a good corporate culture, people will increase their motivation and skills to reach their professional goals. In fact, the financial situation or the equipment rate, for instance, doesn't guarantee a healthy structure and position on the market. The Employees are the heart of an organization
What does it mean? Few years ago the managers have realized that in order to guarantee a positive development, they have to improve the internal situation. Training, wages, bonuses, communication between departments seems like the solution to create cohesion and solidarity in the company.
The Danish hearing aid manufacturer, Oticon, has faced this problem. Even if they did have a good brand name and a strong position on the market; with the entry of new technologies its traditional internal management failed. In order to curb these issues, the conservative managers decided to hire Lars Kolind, as the new CEO: the third management team of Oticon since its inception in 1904. In order to be efficient, the man had to identify some essential key factors to establish a long term management strategy: What are we doing? Why are we doing it? How are we being evaluated? How can we make sense of it? How can we make sense of it to others? The result was a radical change to develop new competitive advantages thanks to a new corporate culture.

How to reach the goal? How to manage employees to make them more efficient and involve in the brand's activities? How to structure the company?
In the first part, we will try to answer these questions by identifying the different aspects of this new organization, which are designed to foster creativity. Then, we will examine the Oticon leadership and analyze the human resources development dynamics. To conclude, we will explain if it can be interesting to work for such a company.

Extraits

[...] Human Resource Development As we already mentioned in the introduction, the Human Resources Development's main goal is to provide a coherent internal strategy in order to increase the efficiency by developing employees' skills. So, we can definitely say that human, the staff is at the heart of the company. In this case study, the first Human Resources Development refers to Employees. (Creating new jobs In the new system, employees are allowed to select jobs according to their interest. By doing this, Kolind gives the staff an opportunity to increase know-how by being involved in new issues or projects. [...]

[...] A leader comes to the forefront in case of crisis, and is able to think and act in creative ways in difficult situations.” Lars Kolind has clearly established a Leadership Management: During his appointment, the company was facing the loss of market share. Lars Kolind decided to change the company's management on the long term, thanks to a creative strategy. At the beginning, he introduced drastic cost-saving measures and refocused the business on specific key segments. He quickly brought down overhead costs and cut unprofitable product. [...]

[...] Then, we will examine the Oticon leadership and analyze the human resources development dynamics. To conclude, we will explain if it can be interesting to work for such a company. The aspects that foster creativity Lars Kolding has decided to build a new management structure. In order to understand what and how he has implemented, let's explain the brand position and analyze his actions as the CEO. Global presence Since its inception in 1904, Oticon has been a niche player for a long time The Danish company provides hearing instruments for the hearing impaired people. [...]

[...] Oticon, which wasn't prepared to face this competition, quickly witnessed the loss of leadership in the industry. Its market share decreased dramatically, the Dollar declined against European currencies, and the managers decided to establish a new management team to overcome the crisis. Thus Lars Kolind was named as the CEO in 1988. The new chief executive was expected to integrate a new brand philosophy to increase the brand value on the market. He was successful in implementing new strategies, communicating the same to the share holders and stake holders and realized his dream of building a creative, innovative and flexible organization. [...]

[...] Being snub by colleagues, whoever they are, can be risky and it will make the office a worst place. In my opinion, you are happy to go to work if you appreciate the way your team works, if you have good relation with your colleagues and if you are able to understand the global goal of your company. (Drawbacks When we finish our studies, we usually aren't very sure of what we want to do. In my case, I would be afraid to work for a company such as Oticon because, I'm not sure that I would be able to manage so many tasks. [...]