Edgar Newell Founded Newell Brands: Manufacturer & Distributor of Products - Essay Sample

Introduction

Edgar Newell founded the Newell man manufacturing company in 1903 Ogdensburg, New York. Although the company was started to make metal curtain rods, today, it has diversified into different brands. Newell Brands is a manufacturer, marketer, and distributor of both commercial and consumer products with a strong portfolio of brands such as Rubbermaid trash and storage containers (Newell Brands). The company also sells reusable containers writing products, glue, children's products, alarm systems, cookware, and kitchen electronics. Additionally, the company deals with small kitchen appliances, food savers, home fragrance products, outdoor and recreation products, and baby products. Newell Brands has remained one of the most profitable companies over the years because the company management executes good practices. The good practices of Newell Brands will be analyzed in different aspects.

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Newell Brands company has grown and established in different parts of the world where it operates. Due to the increasing number of clients and the company's demands to scale up, the firm should prepare to make adjustments in the required areas. Firstly, the company should endeavor to participate in joint ventures with the local business partners. Newell Brands is a large company that has grown over time because of its unions with other business partners (Newell Brands). As the company plans to move to different parts across the globe, it should be willing to partner with the local business partners. Some of the local business partners involve suppliers and manufacturers of some of the products that the company sells.

Newell Brands should diversity its sales methods. The company should adopt technology and develop e-commerce services where clients can order goods online. Moreover, the company should be ready to provide delivery options to clients that want the products in the comfort of their homes. The provision of e-commerce services will target the people that use electronic gadgets such as mobile phones, tablets, and computers. Also, Newell company should work hard to offer standardized products to its clients. As a measure aimed towards best practices, the company should develop effective communications standards. Moreover, the company should develop effective strategies to cope with the cultural differences of the employees or clients. Additionally, the company should understand the needs of the clients and deliver what they want. The company should be dedicated and committed to cater for its clients and employees. The company should strive to create cultural cohesiveness. Thus, the company will be able to offer efficient services to the diversified global market.

Companies face legal and ethical issues during the execution of their services. Newell Brands being not an exception, will face various legal and ethical issues. Firstly, the company will face a moral issue in accounting. Sometimes, an organization may be at risk of conducting unethical practices. Also, the firm can engage in harassment and discrimination of workers. Some business leaders in different regions may feel that some people do not deserve the right to work with the company. As such, they can discriminate them by not considering them for promotions or pay rise. This is a serious ethical problem that may face Newell Brands. Additionally, the company may face health and safety issues. For instance, Newell Brands company may fail to comply with the set rules regarding environmental protection. The infringement of such rules can pose a serious problem to the operation of the company.

Job analysis is conducted to recognize and determine the specific duties of a job, requirements, and the relative significance of those duties. Job analyses are done to find out and note the job-relatedness of employment procedures such as selection procedure, training needs, remuneration, and performance review (Raymond 24). This will enable Newell Brands to hire retain and work with the best talents that can spearhead the goals and objectives. In conducting a job analysis, Newell Brands should firstly identify the job to be analyzed, determine the procedures to be used, and data collection methods. Then, the company should implement the selected job analysis methods. The company should also review the data collected through job analysis and, finally, summarize and document the collected data. When conducting the job analysis, the company should adhere to best practices such as complying with legal considerations, develop a task and knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAO) lists.

When selecting and recruiting staff, human resource officers should adhere to the best practices. For example, in Newell Company, for a position of an information technology manager, the selection process should begin by the company identifying the needs of that position. Secondly, the position should be analyzed in terms of the competencies of the required candidate. Thirdly, the company should evaluate, describe, and give the personal specifications of the required person. Then the company should come up with a recruitment strategy. For example, the company can decide to hire internally or externally. The company should go through the applications, conduct the interviews and tests, then finish the hiring process. Later, the company should evaluate the process to determine whether it was effective or not. Some best practices in the process include considering the capabilities of each candidate without bias, doing due diligence during the evaluation, and identifying the right talent for the position.

Employee development is a universally accepted strategy for ensuring an organization's continuity, productivity, and ability to retain good employees. Before training, the company should start by improving the existing employee training. The officer in charge of the training should follow up on the learning outcomes. Then the trainer should include other training methods that go beyond lecturing. The trainer should engage the employees in practical learning techniques. The trainer should give adequate breaks to ensure that employees have enough time to brainstorm and absorb the content. Then the trainer should cover the main areas that employees need most to improve their productivity. Majorly, the trainer should focus on effective communication in the organization and good customer relations. During training, the company should identify the needs of each employee. This would be a good practice to ensure the training exercise caters to all employees' needs. Additionally, the training exercise should be conducted during the morning hours when employees are fresh and ready to absorb content. Moreover, the training should be accompanied by real-life situations to reinforce the concepts learned.

Performance management is an integral component of a company. It involves strategic approaches for developing and sustaining enhanced performances in workers, leading to an enhancement in organizations' potency. Newell Brands should focus on the development of employees and the placement of the company goals with individuals and teams. Additionally, managers can create an effective platform that follows both the workers and the company to succeed. The management should set up distinct goals and provide reconciled feedback throughput the year. There are various best practices in performance management. Firstly, the company should determine the purposes of the performance management initiative. Secondly, specify and expound each role. Thirdly, align goals with an execution plan. Supervise progress aimed at performance targets and conduct frequent coaching. When managers adhere to these best practices, then performance management can be useful.

Determining the best compensation policy and practice can be a difficult task. This is because compensation does not touch only on money, but also other factors play a role in determining compensation rates that are both fair and competitive. In determining compensation policy and practice, the company should consider an employee’s years of experience and educational level. The company should consider the location of the employee. Since Newell Brands is a going global different country have varying economic demands. The company should consider the demand of the skill-set of the individual employee. Some employees have skill sets that have high demand. If the company does not develop an attractive compensation policy, the employee can go to another better paying organization. The company should ensure that the compensation policy is very transparent to enable an employee to sign the work agreement being informed. Also, the compensation policy should cover all the compensation components that are used in the organization.

Employees are the primary resources that Newell Brands need to conduct their business effectively. As such, they should be provided with various benefits to motivate them. Firstly, the company should consider offering medical benefits to the employees. The medical benefits should cover the medical bills of the employees either through insurance or direct payment from the company. The company should consider having in place unemployment benefits. Unemployment benefits give an employee some portion of payment after being laid off (Smither, et al. 16). Also, the company should offer fringe benefits to its employees. The company should provide dental care plan coverage to its employees.

Moreover, the company should consider other benefits such as paid holidays, severance pay, hazard pay, pensions, use of company cars, free meals, sick leaves, discounts on company services and products. As a good practice, the company management should periodically review employee benefits packages. Moreover, the management should ask employees about their views about the available benefits.

Communication between workers and leadership can have a significant effect on employee relations. The company should develop forums and focus groups where employees can air their views directly to the leaders. When employees achieve a milestone, the company leadership should recognize them. Recognition from the top management makes the employee feel empowered and thus have good relations with others. The management can plan on taking employees to social outings. Such events help employees to interact with others and foster strong personal relationships among themselves. Also, the leader can dedicate his/her time to walk from one floor to the next greeting all the employees. This can foster a good relationship between the management and the employees. The company should foster teamwork and collaboration among employees. As employees engage in teamwork activities, they get to know each other and develop good working relations. Best practices in ensuring employee relations include providing feedback, especially when an employee has done an excellent job. The management should offer a free environment where both the employees and senior staff can communicate and share views. Moreover, the organization should periodically conduct a communication audit to ensure that the communication strategies and programs are effective or need improvement.

Works Cited

Newell Brands, "Our Brands",2020. Retrieved from https://www.newellbrands.com/our-brands.

Raymond, Mark. "Job analysis, practice analysis and the content of credentialing examinations." (2016). Retrieved from https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2016-02104-008

Smither, Robert, et al. Organization development: Strategies for changing environments. Routledge, 2016.