peer response 79

please respond to the two peers

Managing Talent

According to Jack Welch, it’s a best practice to devote a lot of time, energy, and money to your A and A-minus players, and to let your C players go. However, Bock argues that management can improve the capabilities of their C players significantly through coaching and training.

What approach do managers in your organization take to talent management? What are the results?

peer #1

My organization rewards the A players with training and promotions. The C players are handled differently for each part of the organization. For the most part they are coached or moved to a different team. Sometimes there are layoffs or “reorganizations”. I imagine the C players are the first to go when this happens. I think the approach has pretty good results but it could be better. I think when the wrong people aren’t let go it sends the wrong message to the rest of the employees that actually work hard. For example, it is also frustrating when everyone gets the same 2% raise across the board, from the problem people that management keep around, to the A players who eventually leave.

When differentiation is implemented properly, the A players can be rewarded with better salary and bonuses (Bock, 2). I think this would be an excellent motivator if employees knew they would be rewarded for their hard work. Differentiation can also help when there are layoffs due to the economy, or a company being sold, or something else. When everyone knows where they stand, it can help make the layoff process more fair by getting rid of the C players and also the C positions (Welch, 1).

Josh

References:

1. Jack Welch. 2015. Winning

2. Laszlo Bock. 2015. Work Rules

peer # 2

The managers at my organization use Mr. Welch’s approach. C players are quickly let go. There is an appraisal at the end of the sixty-day probation. For the most part, C players are if they fail to meet the standards during the probationary period. Many decide to leave on their own accord. As stated in a prior discussion post, the turnover rate is high at my organization. Management communicates poorly with the individual about their performance. There is another appraisal at the year mark, and then you are appraised yearly.

There is not enough done to coach a person. The B players at my organization work hard and feel unappreciated. The seventy percent, as the lecture explains is, “typically represents the large majority of a workforce—is tremendously important to an organization and is too often ignored (1).” Since the Coronavirus pandemic, I will say management has tried to show more gratitude to this segment. Most of the people in this segment have been with the company for less than five years.

The top ten percent is are given bonuses and are treated reasonably well from the outside looking in. However, the retention rate for the A players is also lackluster. I believe there a few A players who could easily fall in the C category because B players fulfill their duties. Mr. Welch’s approach does not work well at my company effectively. Bocks approach work be a better fit. The main issue is the lack of coaching and training. If more of an effort were placed on training and developing talent, the company would prosper. Team members receive more support from each other than from management. Communication and openness need work.

Ash

Reference

Finding the Best Players for Your Strategic PositioJWI 520: Week 6 Lecture: