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Strategic Initiatives : Sonoco Products Company

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Strategic Initiatives: Sonoco Products Company
Nowadays, companies face fierce competition in the marketplace due to the demands of consumers’ buying habits and what shareholders expect of the company to deliver as long-term strategies. However, gain market leadership, corporations must restructure how they assess employee performance and what is their product seller, but human resources (HR) has to be cautious of the culture of how business has always been done over the years. By looking at the case study on Sonoco Products Company, the vice president (VP) of HR, Cindy Hartley, found areas within the organization lacking in executing strategic initiatives in succession planning, employee development, a compensation system based on job …show more content…

The advantage of this approach is the cost-effectiveness of administrative work and other processes; however, the disadvantage is that each business’s individual needs and interests have fewer opportunities for direct alignment (Thomas et al., 2010).
On the other hand, a hybrid organization would cost Sonoco $2.7 million to allow divisions have some contact in the staffing, compensation and benefits, personnel programs, and succession planning (Thomas et al., 2010). The positive side of this structure is that divisional management can still call on HR for help, but the negative aspect is convincing others across the corporation to buy-in to this structure change (Thomas et al., 2010). Given both points of view for both options, a hybrid structure would make more sense due to the cost of the structure and meet each divisions’ needs without losing HR support. All in all, there are three other reasons a hybrid would work to Sonoco’s advantage.
First of all, hybrid-structured HR organizations for Sonoco will have three key people in each of the two divisions: a VP of HR, a director of compensation and development for the organization, and a director of employee relations to ensure the right people are in the right positions (Thomas et al., 2010). These three key people will come together to collaborate on planning and talent management, linking business needs to general management and significant personnel to their assigned branch, and field HR

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