The Human Resource Problem of Stagecoach Group Case Study

Brief of Organization and Problem

Stagecoach Group is a major transport company, operating in the United Kingdom, United States, and Canada, and has its headquarters in Perth, Scotland. The transport group operates express coaches, buses, rails, and trams. Founded in 1980 by Brian Souter, the current chairman, his sister Ann Gloag, and Robin, stagecoach has expanded its operations from its contemporary Scottish background to operate in different continents. Stagecoach prides itself on taking up 16% and 25% of the bus and rail market respectively. It also has a 49% equity stake in the Virgin Rail Group and operates other light rails in Sheffield. Besides, the company serves the intercity brand, megabus.com both in the UK and North America. In North America, it operates charter, tour, and commuter services. Its joint ventures go beyond owning a stake in Virgin Group; it has partnered with Scottish Citylink, the most significant coach operator in Scotland. The Stagecoach was named as the second biggest transport Group in the UK after FirstGroup. Stagecoach carries more than 2 million passengers per day, operating over 8,000 vehicles and covers around 95 cities and towns in the UK only.

Due to its extensive operations, Stagecoach has employed 34,500 employees. These employees support its operations in major cities including Liverpool, Hull, Cambridge, London, Manchester, Sheffield, and Newcastle, as well as other interurban centers and towns. Stagecoach operations continue to grow, and the need for more employees rises. Currently, the company operates performance management and appraisal system that is not efficient, effective, and fully productive. Therefore, the need to have an effective performance management system is critical in enabling managers to encourage non- performing employees to be more productive, but also sets procedures of work and methods that will monitor such work, to ensure that it is done effectively to the interest of the organization. Therefore, there is a need to ensure that management has the required skill set to execute well-structured performance reviews and appraisals so that employee performance is checked and rewards are given to the most deserving employee.

The Human Resource Problem

Since the appointment of Martin Griffiths as the CEO in 2000, Stagecoach has taken advantage of new opportunities and discovered different capabilities, strengths, and critical barriers to their operational success. These barriers are now more significant as the requirement to grow the business and achieve increased revenues above the historical performance increases. While trying to maintain the organizational culture, the CEO and the top human resource personnel at Stagecoach are expected to ensure that all the employees, from top to bottom remain productive and valuable to the company. The success of the HR director is dependent on his ability to create and implements a well-functioning, productive, practical, and powerful workforce that will always deliver according to the organization's objectives and goals. Previous success in developing, building and maintaining a productive human resource has served the organization well. However, the increasing human resource dynamics and the need to always ensure employees have the relevant skills to complete different tasks requires a new operational and tested strategy. Besides, Stagecoach has seen an increase in the workforce, with the human resource director now needed to manage and lead a more diverse and bigger management team.

The organization needs to ensure that they not only get the right people for different jobs but also ensure that these individuals can be evaluated in a manner that will gauge their skills and competencies. Therefore, Stagecoach needs a skilled third-party to assist the organization train its managers in performance management and appraisal skills, to ensure that improved performance management and appraisal system is set up, implemented and tested. The transition period from the past system, which was ineffective to this proposed system will take care of the previous system's loopholes and ensure that the organization meets its five-year developmental plan. Moreover, Stagecoach requires insights, ideas, and methods that have worked with other organizations to deal with the same situations under similar circumstances.

Objectives

The project objectives include:

• Stagecoach management will acquire the knowledge to conduct performance reviews
• Stagecoach management will learn the skills to conduct performance reviews
• Performance reviews will be done according to company set guideline and procedures.
• Performance reviews will be useful in providing honest and valuable comments to employees
• Performance enhancement and development will be monitored in detail

By achieving the set objectives, the parameters that will be met in developing and realizing the processes include:

• The organizational and individual goals have to be aligned
• Tasks and output to be linked through the measurement of results
• The process of seeking competitive advantage must augment the purpose of the business
• Employee and manager have to be interacting and be in constant dialogue
• The employee and manager have to be committed to the participation in the project
• The administration process needs to be simple, rid of bureaucracy
• Measures should be for a process and not an event
• The project will be applicable on a global scale, across different cultures and variations
• Disruption of the training and implementation process will be minimized.

Measurement

The following factors will be used to measure if the objectivesare met, and the project is successful:

• All employees evaluated will create individual development plans
• Improved performance measures in the year after the implementation of the project

Note: This should not be based on increased employee rating alone because the aim is to ensure that the improvedperformance measuredis relative to the actual performance of the employee

• Appraisals are conducted and presented in time
• Reduced instances of grievances or disagreements of already submitted performance evaluations
• Standard frequencies of monthly feedbacksessions between the employee and the manager are seen even when the population is randomly sampled.
• Minimum or reduced overruling of already submitted evaluations by the senior managers.

Methodology

Four options that can be adopted for this project, namely; building the performance appraisal skills ofthe managers, building skills for the distant locations, building the performance appraisal skills for the whole workforce, and integrating the performance appraisal process to other areas.

Option 1: Building Skills for Managers

We would work together to explore and design an interventions strategy, through lectures, which will ideally be delivered by our facilitators. However, we can also allow you people to act as internal coached. The options will involve the following:

• Investigating all present-day the jobs and performances at Stagecoach and the types of jobs anticipated in the future
• Assessing the present-day performance evaluation skillset of managers to determine their competences, failures, or success
• Incorporating the strategic and business goals of Stagecoach to enable an alignment of the performance and valuation

Creating a full day program for the participants which would include teaching concepts, performing exercises, giving short examinations, coaching, counseling, and one on one interactions. The ideas to be taught would include:

• How to train and counsel
• How to provide regular formal and informal feedback
• How to generate development strategies,
• How to have an effective one-on-one conversation with other employees and subordinates
• How to develop measurement standards
• How to reward performance
• Creating a two-day workshop in which, internal Stagecoach trainers are trained on how to develop a one-day workshop for Stagecoach managers
• Creating detailed reference materials for the one-day and two-day programs
• Facilitating different sessions as per need basis
• A six month monitoring period to include refinements in areas that are not correctly implemented

Option 2 (Optional): Building skills for the distant locations

We would develop an objective (based on set criteria), personalized materials in situations when:

• Employees are in remote areas that cannot attend one-on-one classroom sessions
• Trainees are small in number, thus, does not require individual classroom sessions
• Refresher material is needed to update the previously acquired skills.
• New hires or promoted employees cannot be adopted into the already set out classes.

In this option, we would use the already detailed structure in option 1 and develop video or print resources containing personalized criteria to determine successful completion, which can be corroborated by an offsite instructor when needed. Sixteen to twenty-four hours would be required for successful completion of this program. We recommend a maximum of a half day continuous exposure to this program per session

Option 3 (Optional): Building the performance appraisal skills for the employees

The third options present an opportunity for the employees to be exposed to the skill building process of performance appraisal. Exposing other employees, other than the managers to these system empowers them to participate with the proportionate skillset actively and not rely on the reviewer's prior training.

A four-hour session will be conducted that will achieve the following:

• The employees will grasp the appraisal process and be able to question it
• The employees will recognize their roles and how accountable they are in the process
• Exercises are developed and set objectively and have a specific measurement criteria
• Useful feedback skills are acquired and improved

The set sessions provide an adequate amount for the employees and the managers to dialogues, thereby increasing the feedback frequency since both will understand their roles and the importance of feedback and accountability.

Option 4 (Optional): integrating the performance appraisal process to other systems

As part of the investigative and planning stage, we can spread, develop and design mechanisms to incorporate the performance evaluation system into different functional areas in the human resource such as:

• Rewards, compensation, and incentive
• Training courses, career advancement, and development plans
• How to identify high potential and achieving individuals
• Recruitment
• Succession preparations
• Performance developments
• Emerging morale and cultural matters

Ideally, a performance system operates in a dynamic, interactive environment. Therefore, improving the performance evaluation system may need enhancing other parts of the system itself. It is a direct approach when we undertake option 1 and are required to assess these relationships at the same time.

Timescale

Option 1: Execution by July 30, 2018

Option 2: Execution by October by 1, 2018

Option 3: Implementation by July 1, 1995

Option 4: Execution by October by 1, 2018

Resource Commitments

Bick consulting will provide an experienced project leader, James Colman, Ph.D. Dr. Colman will frequently be entangled in all the phases of the project. Furthermore, he will be the primary contact between Stagecoach management and Bick Consulting. As you will see in the portfolio we will provide, our credentials indicate that we have over seven years of business to business, human resource, marketing, and project development consulting experience. A non-disclosure agreement will be signed to ensure that this project will be wholly owned by Stagecoach. We value confidentiality, and al...