TRINITY UNIVERSITY OF ASIA

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

CASE ANALYSIS

Human Resource Management

Business Policy and Strategy

A.Y. 2014 2015

Gerald Jader
Ronald Flores
Airi Imamura
Lee Ann Espiritu

PROBLEM ANALYSIS
Jamieson Drugs, Inc. is one of the top pharmaceutical companies in the country and
has been in the industry for more than 25 years. Along with the companys coping with the
demands and expectations from their customers to maintain its position in the industry is a
significant turnover of its sales personnel. The turnover can be traced from better
prospects, dissatisfaction, career growth and leading a family life which, later on, stem
further.
Sales personnel form the major portion of the company making up sixty percent of
the key positions and identified to be the income generators. With significant turnover, the
sales of the company are affected to which it decreased by two percent and workloads of
incumbent sales personnel became heavy since they have to fill in those who have resigned
therefore, employee performance depletes. To settle vacancy, the HR department hires
new employees at which they are able to employ 150 individuals in just a year. However,
these dont make the scenario even better. Hiring a number of employees in a year to which
their number exceed almost twice of the tenured personnel would mean inefficiency in
hiring because most probably these people are hired for the sake of keeping up its
manpower without a complete regard to the qualifications demanded by the position.
Hence, it only contributes in the decline of sales as evidenced by inefficient product
detailing among hospital administrators, clinicians and doctors.
With these problems on hand, Jamieson Drugs is looking into outsourcing its
recruitment processes to Manpower Magnate. Manpower Magnate is relatively new in the
outsourcing industry and maintains an account with a multinational firm, the first in its
recruitment line. Jamieson Drugs has not yet received any feedback regarding the
performance of the outsourcing company and confidentiality of its (Manpower Magnate)
client is maintained; instead, they only relate that they possess an excellent track record in
outsourcing. The problem here rises in the unfamiliar identity of the company should they
be worthy of risking especially if the assignment would be the recruitment for sales
personnel.

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PROBLEMS AND ALTERNATIVE COURSE OF ACTIONS (ACA)

PROBLEM 1: Significant turnover of sales personnel
The value and importance of employee are often underrated and neglected to be
seen by managers as valuable assets of the company as in the case of Jamieson Drugs
evidenced by better prospects, dissatisfaction, career growth and leading a family life as
the reasons for resignation of sales personnel.
Employees are drivers of a company to which they put any strategic plan set by the
management in action with the management overseeing the operations to ensure the
business succeed. Without these employees, business would be paralyzed.
Employees have valuable knowledge and skills that contributes to the success of a
business. Although automation can be utilized to save costs, nothing can replace the
exceptional knowledge that each and every employee has especially for industries where
public relations is considered to be essential in generating sales. The significant skills that
employees have add worth to a company and these employees are worth keeping.
ACA 1: In order to address this problem, Jamieson Drugs should create an
inclusive workplace in which employees will have the sense of
belongingness. Employees need to feel that they are valuable to a company.
Develop programs that would promote teamwork and sportsmanship, and
boosts employees morale. Support career growth and development among
employees. Give them trainings and development programs that will further
enhance their technical skills and abilities to produce better performance. In
this way, employees continuously learn and realized that they are of great
value to a company.
ACA 2: A low cost solution to high cost turnover is retention. HR
professionals estimate that it costs nearly 1.5 times the employee's yearly
salary to lose them. Avoid a high turnover rate by proactively recruiting and
retaining your employees. Keep employees engaged and belonged to prevent
them from becoming bored and losing interest in their work. Seek ways to
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keep the job interesting and fresh. To keep talented employees, compensate
adequately. Also spend time to mentor, train and advance the staff. Keep the
lines of communications open and build trust from the current employees.
ACA 3: Invite people who fit in the company's culture and allow those who
don't fit to leave. There are many ways to solve the turnover problem but
these only give temporary fix. To get concrete, positive and long-term results
the company must assess its corporate culture. If the organization is very
clear about the kind of culture they want to work in and communicates that
clearly to the employees, it will show up in the hiring process. As a result,
right kind of people will be invited to the organization. Right from the
beginning they would feel significant. On the contrary, turnover can be a
good thing. There are employees that prefer to exist in organizations where
everything is not so clear and they can spend a lot of their time complaining
and avoiding work.
Recommendation: ACA 1 and ACA 2 are highly recommended because keeping the
employees is very important. Before the company can fix the external problems, internal
problems must be prioritized first. Prevention is better than cure. Current employees must
be prioritized first and should always be because they drive the company towards either
success or failure. Once internal problems are fixed and resolved, fixing external problems
will be easier for the company. Eventually, the company will return to their normal
operations.

PROBLEM 2: Inefficient recruitment

Recruitment process is the method that an organization uses to fill vacancies and
hire new talent. Vacancies should be given to qualified applicants following the demands
set for a specific position and not to those who just bother to apply for the sake of getting
employed.

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It is essential that organizations put time and resources into developing an effective
process for bringing in good employees. By not properly screening job candidates, an
organization wastes resources through training an employee that will not stay or by being
stuck with an employee that is not productive. The process must also make clear to the
candidate what he or she can expect should the job be offered; it may be that a highlyqualified candidate may not want to take the position after all. An unsatisfied employee is
also not as productive.
ACA 1: In order to call a hiring process efficient, the company must invite the
right people in the first place. It is important to screen all potential hires
carefully. Getting to know if the person is a good fit to the company's
workplace culture should be concentrated taking into consideration the work
experience, educational background and skills. Also, a thorough background
check shall be performed before a final decision is made. A series of skills test
should be outlined with the department heads to determine if a candidate
meets the criteria for a post.
ACA 2: In order to avoid employee turnover costs and find talented
candidates who are willing to become loyal employees, the company must
consider employee referral. Employee referrals are the number one source of
external hires. Referral is also beneficial to new hires' culture fit. In addition,
employees can benefit from the incentives attached to internal referrals.
There will be higher production of employees who are productive and have
higher retention rates.
ACA 3: Most job seekers exploit job portals and job fairs for chances of
landing a job. The company should make use of these channels in search of
qualified individuals. These channels provide for a wider reach of jobhunting people; hence, more chances of getting the most fit for a post.
However, the company should only join recruitment activities (job fairs)
based on the setting and its audience. Job fairs setting where most of the

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applicants are newly graduates would not fit for a company who is looking
for seasoned applicant.
Recommendation: ACA 2 and ACA 3 are considerably acceptable but ACA 1 has the
greater preference. Implementing a hiring process that would result in getting the most
qualified for the job is important especially if the position is relatively in connection with
the income generating unit of a company. The company can select the best of the bests that
they need with good hiring process in place.

PROBLEM 3: Outsourcing may lead to loss of managerial control

The very first challenge that companies are likely to experience when embarking on
outsourcing certain functions, is that of a possible lack of buy-in from people inside the
company, which may take the form of active or passive resistance; create the desire for
special treatment or opt out from the outsourcing services, and result in business case
deterioration. The prospect of outsourcing also creates uncertainty for existing employees,
who may decide to look elsewhere for employment.
Whether you sign a contract to have another company perform the function of an
entire department or single task, you are turning the management and control of that
function over to another company. It is true that you will have a contract, but the
managerial control will belong to another company. Your outsourcing company will not be
driven by the same standards and mission that drives your company. They will be driven to
make a profit from the services that they are providing to you and other businesses like
yours.
ACA 1: The best way to address both these problems is to implement an
effective change management strategy as soon as the outsourcing contract
has been signed. A comprehensive communication program should be
developed and disseminated to all stakeholders who will be affected by the
outsourcing process. The message should be personalized for different levels

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of employees, and should essentially answer the question: What about me?
Employees should be given the opportunity to ask questions and be heard.
ACA 2: The outsourcing company must hold substantial one-on-one
discussions with the client company during the pre-contact stage and during
implementation. At the appropriate stage, the service provider executive
responsible for delivering the outsourcing services should also meet with the
client sponsor and business unit leader. These activities create a dialogue
about specific issues/or concern for that organizational entity receiving
services, and they build mutual understanding.
ACA 3: Even though the client is outsourcing, it does not abdicate
responsibility for results. Senior management with the client organization
must paint this vision, and commit an appropriate level of management staff
to achieve intended results. The contract or service providerby itselfis
not enough.
Recommendation: ACA 2 is highly recommended since this will build mutual
understanding between the client organization and the outsourcing company. This will also
build trust and reliance between the two and hence could be an adequate solution to the
problems pertaining to the managements performance.

PROBLEM 4: Outsourcing may give threats to security and confidentiality

The intellectual property of companies includes business plans, trade secrets and
other proprietary knowledge. Outsourcing presents a considerable risk of theft or hacking
of this property to client companies. In addition, there is the challenge of securing the
confidential information of the companys customers and, in some instances, patients when
outsourcing business processes.
ACA 1: In order to mitigate this risk, it is necessary to develop stringent
safeguards and protocols when outsourcing. Technical safeguards include
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the protocols governing access to information; physical safeguards will

protect

buildings

and

equipment

from

unauthorized

access;

and

administrative safeguards stipulate policies and procedures for operations,

the conduct of employees and the use of security controls. An outsourcing
service provider should adopt an information security risk management
strategy that complies with best practice.
ACA 2: If you have payroll, medical records or any other confidential
information that will be transmitted to the outsourcing company, there is a
risk that the confidentiality may be compromised. If the outsourced function
involves sharing proprietary, company data or knowledge (e.g. product
drawings, formulas, etc.), this must be taken into account. Evaluate the
outsourcing company carefully to make sure your data is protected and the
contract has a penalty clause if an incident occurs.
Recommendation: Both alternative courses of actions are acceptable and appropriate, but
ACA 2 is more plausible since initially taking action on this could make the first ACA follow
through. Choosing the right outsourcing company is very important and before contracting
with any, Jamieson Drugs Inc. should also consider its reputation and standing in the
outsourcing industry. A short-lived and new outsourcing company like Manpower Magnate
should be taken out of their prospective outsourcers and hence pick a well-established and
reliable

company

instead.

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