JAHANGIRNAGAR

UNIVERSITY

Assignment-6

A Case Study on Acceleration Pools at PepsiCo

Human Resource Planning and Policy

HRM:501

Submitted To:
Md. Alamgir Hossen
Assistant professor
Institute of Business Administration (IBA-JU), Jahangirnagar University

Submitted By:
Moushumi Priyangka
I.D# 2017 02 005
Program: WMBA
Institute of Business Administration (IBA-JU), Jahangirnagar University

Date of submission: 05.11.2020

Introduction: PepsiCo is a world leader in convenient foods and beverages,
with revenues of about $27 billion and over 143 000 employees. The company
consists of the snack businesses of Frito-Lay North America and Frito-Lay
International; the beverage businesses of Pepsi-Cola North America,
Gatorade/Tropicana North America, and PepsiCo Beverages International; and
Quaker Foods North America, they also the manufacturer and marketer of
ready-to-eat cereals and other food products. PepsiCo brands are available in
nearly 200 countries and territories. Recently, PepsiCo replaced its traditional
personnel planning model with a system to groom high-potential employees
for organizational levels, not jobs; which is known as the acceleration pools
model.
In this assignment we are going to discuss the effectiveness of PesiCo’s new
succession management program, strengths and weaknesses of this model,
finally some recommendation for the limitations of this model.

Analyzing the Effectiveness of PepsiCo's Succession Management

Program: PepsiCo found that 25 000 hours a year were spent discussing
replacement plans and filling out forms. There was little return on this
investment of executive time, so changes were needed. So, they redesigned
their program by the following ways:
• Under the new system, employees were no longer handpicked as
replacements for specific positions.
• Talent pools by both level and business unit have been created. For
example, there might be a supervisory/professional level pool and a
plant management pool.
• Once pool members are targeted, their development needs are
diagnosed in a number of ways: through use of an acceleration centre,
360°-feedback instruments, and interviews.
• Once pool members have been identified, they are assessed on the basis
of four sets of “executive descriptors” that define what leaders need to
know and must be able to do. These are: organization knowledge (what
the employee knows about functions, processes, products, etc.); job
 challenges (what the employee has done, such as preparing a budget);
competencies (what the employee is capable of based on his or her
knowledge, behavior, skills etc.) executive derailers (the personality
traits that might cause failure, such as arrogance or low tolerance for
ambiguity).
• Those in the talent pool are given difficult assignments and are assigned
to task forces, two methods that offer the best opportunities for
intensive learning and the highest visibility.
• Each candidate is assigned a mentor and receives training, coaching, and
developmental opportunities such as university executive education
programs.
• The Executive Resource Board typically meets with the heads of
organizational or business units at least twice a year to review major
personnel movements and discuss talent development. Board members
review acceleration pool members’ progress and consider ways to speed
their development.

These factors result in a series of trade-off decisions about how to develop a

pool member and when and where to place the person in a key role.

Strengths of the Acceleration Pools Model: The acceleration pools meet the
needs of 21st century organizations and managers much better than older
models of succession management. The strengths of this model are:
• Acceleration pools are significantly less time-consuming for managers,
who can dispense with the annual replacement-planning forms.
• Putting the responsibility for record keeping on the people being
developed, and providing them with forms to guide their discussions and
planning maximizes the relationship between pool members, managers
and mentors.
• The four sets of skill assessment ensures the ability of targeted
employees so that, senior executives can select specific descriptors for
their organization.
 • Each acceleration pool member keeps a Career Development Portfolio,
which includes his or her Development Priority List, an up-to-date
personal information form, completed performance appraisal forms, and
completed and in-progress Development Action Forms.
• Pool members can meet with their current managers and their mentors
to pin down the specifics of how to develop the competencies, job
challenges and organizational knowledge suggested by the Executive
Resource Board while also accomplishing the objectives of their job
assignment.
• In this model pool members understand the purpose of the assignment
or training and its potential value to their development, so they are
more likely to be enthusiastic and fully committed to its success.

Weaknesses of the Acceleration Pools Model:

• This model is relatively expensive than traditional succession

management because of its, training, coaching, and developmental
opportunities for each pool members.
• The model can be unsuccessful if there is a lack of highly potential
employees to fill all the positions in future.
• Risk of retirement is the major challenge that the system will face in
future. This is because increasing number of employees are approaching
50’s or 60s’. When this begins to happen, the chances increase that
some employees could decide early retirement or to become
consultants, where they have ever greater opportunities.
• Acceleration pool members should not be evaluated on completing a
training program, for example, but rather by measuring organizational
change brought on by use of new skills or knowledge in the workplace.
• Organizational movement can be horizontal as well as vertical, and the
board relies heavily on task force assignments to minimize moves that
would adversely affect a pool member’s personal life.
Recommendations:

• Identify the knowledge, skills and/or experience that are critical to

success in each area and critical to the organization's success. One of the
ways you can do this is by interviewing current high-performers in those
areas, as well as their managers. It can also help to start from a list of
critical tasks or job responsibilities, then move to identify the key
competencies required. Make sure you create detailed behavioral
descriptions of those competencies and provide examples of what
exemplar performance looks like.
• What's important to note here is that research shows that up to 90% of
the learning we do happens on the job, as part of our work assignments,
not through training. So, make sure you include and make available a
variety of on-the-job learning experiences, not just courses, reading lists
and other more traditional learning activities.
• Once you've identified the key competencies required for superior
performance and success in each area, you need to create a list of
learning activities that can help to develop each competency. You'll likely
want to organize these into learning paths that gradually develop
increasing proficiency and mastery.
• Make sure you consider your organizational culture and values when
determining talent/acceleration pool membership. There are some who
say this is most important, because you can teach technical skills, but
not culture and values.