AVON PRODUCTS CASE STUDY
In 2006, Avon Products success story turned ugly. After five straights years of ten percent plus growth and twenty-five percent operating profit growth under CEO Andrea Jung, the company suddenly began losing profits. One of the main reasons of this lost was the fast growth of Avon that couldn’t be supported by its employees. As with many growing organizations the structure, people and processes that were right for a $5 billion company were not necessarily a good fit for a ten billion dollar company (Goldsmith & Carter, 2010, p.2). There were weaknesses that hurt the effectiveness of the employees at the talent management practices.
Decisions on talent movement, promotions, and other key talent activities were often influenced as much by individual knowledge and emotion as by objective facts. Neither managers nor Associates have any idea about how the talent practices work. Even the HR department wasn’t sufficient to answer basic questions that might be asked by managers like “What will happen to me if I don’t do this?” (Goldsmith & Carter, 2010). Thus, changing at the talent management practices was a necessity for the company in order to increase the operation profits.
The change theory typified in Avon Products case study is the 360 degree assessment process along with performance management and succession planning this would deliver the expected results if they were consistently and flawlessly executed. They used this method to build talent practices that were easy to implement. The proposed talent management model was integrated business and human resources strategy, talent management processes, organizational culture, provides a systemic approach, and results in having talented leaders and individuals available to accomplish the mission of the organization. One of the most simple and powerful changes was to bring transparency to every talent practice.
Avon’s 360 degree assessment process was hardly a model of transparency when the
Decisions on talent movement, promotions, and other key talent activities were often influenced as much by individual knowledge and emotion as by objective facts. Neither managers nor Associates have any idea about how the talent practices work. Even the HR department wasn’t sufficient to answer basic questions that might be asked by managers like “What will happen to me if I don’t do this?” (Goldsmith & Carter, 2010). Thus, changing at the talent management practices was a necessity for the company in order to increase the operation profits.
The change theory typified in Avon Products case study is the 360 degree assessment process along with performance management and succession planning this would deliver the expected results if they were consistently and flawlessly executed. They used this method to build talent practices that were easy to implement. The proposed talent management model was integrated business and human resources strategy, talent management processes, organizational culture, provides a systemic approach, and results in having talented leaders and individuals available to accomplish the mission of the organization. One of the most simple and powerful changes was to bring transparency to every talent practice.
Avon’s 360 degree assessment process was hardly a model of transparency when the
References: Avon Products Inc. (2012). Mission & vision. Retrieved October 27, 2012 from http://www. avoncompany.com/corporatecitizenship/corporateresponsibility/vmvp/index.html Goldsmith, M., & Carter L. (2010). Best practices in talent management: how the world’s leading corporations manage, develop, and retain top talent. San Francisco: Pfeiffer. Silzer, R., & Dowell, B. (2010). Strategy-driven talent management: a leadership imperative. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.