Black Decker †Eastern Hemisphere and the Adp Initiative free essay sample

ADP had the positive impact on Black Decker in the US, but some of the managers were concerned that 360 ° feedback might not work in Asia because of cultural differences; therefore, Lim modified ADP which contained many features that Lancaster believed and wanted to see, except for the ? 360? ^0 feedback element that had been critical in ADP. In 1910, Duncan Black and Alonzo Decker established Black Decker which manufactured industrial machinery. By 1996, Black Decker was in 109 countries and was the world’s largest producer of power tools, electric lawn and garden tools, and related accessories. Although Black Decker was very successful in North America and Europe, it still met difficulty in Asia and Latin America. In 1993, the company had a major reorganization, where the International group was divided into Latin America which headquarters was in Miami and Eastern Hemisphere which headquarters was in Singapore. In the Eastern Hemisphere, power tools were the largest single business which occupied 70% sales and represented the â€Å"spiritual heart† of company. We will write a custom essay sample on Black Decker – Eastern Hemisphere and the Adp Initiative or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Before being appointed President of Black and Decker Eastern Hemisphere in October 1995, Bill Lancaster used to hold senior administrative positions in Australia and Vice President Marketing and Sales, Professional Products for North American Power Tools group. By the time he arrived in Singapore, the company has already set up the Singapore headquarters and built new factories in Singapore, India and China. He spent a lot of time talking to rank-and-file employees throughout the Eastern Hemisphere organization. There were some problems that Lancaster found out such as major disparity in management style. For example, one problem was that most of the management and supervisory jobs were undertaken by people from the outside. Another one was that the management assessment and development system, also known as MBO, which was deemed too old. Management by Objective (MBO) is a system in which superiors would meet individually with each subordinate to discuss the subordinate’s performance and jointly establish clear and comprehensive objectives for the subordinate for the coming year. The advantage of MBO is that it makes employee responsible to the boss, but it also had some disadvantages such as it does not seek input from others in the organization, or sometime the boss’s assessment was difficult to be objective. ADP included six major steps. First, the appraising manager would ask for input from between three and six of the employee’s peers. Second, the appraising manager would ask for input from between three and six of employee’s subordinates. Third, employee would be requested to perform and submit a self-review. Fourth, the appraising manager would review all the submitted forms and prepare a formal assessment of employee before destroying all peer and subordinate reviews. Fifth, the manager and employee would meet to discuss about the written report. Sixth, these written objectives and plans would be summarized in a separate short form that would also include comments from the employee, manager, and manager’s boss. The best benefit coming from ADP was building functional, high performance team. However, ADP may expose the evaluation process to bias. Concerned about applying ADP in the Eastern Hemisphere, Lim worried that Asian people were not really as open as the Americans, or they might not believe in the confidentiality of the ADP system; hence, the change from MBO to ADP could be drastic. Sharon Send, a Human Resource officer thought that the young generation would accept ADP, but her concern also focused on the staff, especially long-time manager with a rigid view. Another problem was the language barrier, as some people did not speak English such as Korean, Taiwanese, Chinese and others. Translating these materials would be time-consuming and energy-consuming. When Lancaster asked others managers, many were of the opinion that ADP was not really appropriate at this time. However, lack of management strength inspired Lancaster to use ADP as a tool for developing people. In March 1996, Lancaster asked Anita Lim to develop an ADP implementation, by proposing a hybrid plan with an emphasis on both career planning and goal setting without 360 ° feedback. However, there were three options that Lancaster was concerned about. The first option was to do nothing because implementing ADP might take a huge effort in terms of training and development which could be better used in building sales and figuring out external market places. Besides, the money and infrastructure to arrange outside courses or in-house training program were limited. The second option was Lim’s hybrid ADP. The Eastern Hemisphere involved many cultures, thus step-wise introduction of ADP was the best way. The final option was fully going forward with ADP. Lancaster wanted a new high performance organizational culture with management strength, thus ADP was the best tool. The question was: What if ADP was imperfect?