Please elaborate a 1500-word report on issues of Human Resources, which can be traced and encountered in this case study. Try to understand what is the issue around the allocation of the resources and how Charlotte Beers can solve her dilemmas. In 1989, the hostile takeover by WPP Group plc announced the first period of instability that Ogilvy & Mather, an advertising firm, knew. The continuing loss of big accounts such as Campbell Soup, Roy Rogers or American Express definitely lowered the legitimacy of the company at the beginning of the 1990s. In 1992, Charlotte Beers took over the CEO seat of O&M after succeededing in several professional experiences within various companies. There are no doubts that the changing environment of O&M was not taken into consideration enough by former CEOs. And the main objective of Beers was to redesign the brand image and vision, reshape the corporate culture, reorganize the structure and motivate people in order to value the company internally and externally, all this in accordance with the new context.
[...] Local visits, meetings and speeches are the key success for the staff to accept the new vision and the new linked departure. Communication of the vision is by the way a strategic factor inside the company through the internal network with the easy sending of mails, the montage of posters or the development of a dedicated Internet platform. In this case study, human capital definitely affected the main streams of changes implemented by Charlotte Beers due to a lack of openness from employees that preferred to focus on the past and on the impossibility to succeed. [...]
[...] Indeed, many employees did not know very well what were their objectives or what they simply have to do. The problem was to know who does what and who refers to whom and that is why hierarchical relations were not very clearly defined and understood by the staff. Moreover, local and central offices were not managed uniformly due to the light presence of the central offices contrary to the important breathing space awarded to local or regional offices. This important flexibility in terms of business created a high level of power decisions on the field, rather than a unique brand policy from the headquarters. [...]
[...] Keeping looking forward was a real tough task for her and managing in the adversity was definitely a huge challenge. Furthermore, core competencies of the company were not very used and relevant because most of employees rested on one's laurels even if “gentlemen with brains” were hired and that talented people existed inside the company. Thus, the difficulty was to re-energize human resources skills to stimulate creativity and innovation because O&M's employees were used to “just keep doing the same thing”, so that assets were not brought out enough. [...]
[...] The company has to reactivate its assets that it owns through the implementation of common objectives and goals. That is why, teams have to organize brainstorming as well as suggestions of potential changes that have to be taken into account seriously. Training programs can be a solution to reveal and to improve human resources skills, as Brand Stewardship was not very understood for example. A personal skills development should be taken into consideration as well, enabling employees to see future perspectives. [...]
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