ASSIGNMENT FOR THE MODULE

MANG 6193 - Managing People for Performance

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Total Number of Words (excluding cover page and references): 999

 CADBURY’S – PRACTICES FOR PEOPLE MANAGEMENT

CADBURY’S – AS AN ORGANIZATION

An organization’s success depends on its long-term focus and the strategies it chooses to
achieve its vision. In today’s competitive environment, every organization tries its best to
stay ahead of its competitors. Every organization endeavors to align its human resources
with its strategies. This becomes all the more important for an organization like Cadburys
which is entirely dependent on the competitive advantage it gets from satisfying its
customers sense of taste. This requires constant improvement and innovation to align
their products with customer tastes, which can be achieved only by employing a talented
and creative workforce.

The age-old universally accepted best practices for Human resource management are
being tested by new competitive business strategies. The main critic against this policy is
the question “for who is ‘best practice’ best? And whose interest are being served”
(Boxall, 2008:73). In a globalized competitive environment modern day organizations by
adhering to best practices could very easily end up failing to take care of the interests of
its employees, stakeholders and more importantly its customers.

However, some of the best practices like a safe work environment, a transparent
management, and performance incentives could very well be encouraged. In some of the
HRM practices like recruitment and selection, there is little to choose between a best
practice and best fit. Delery and Doty (in Boxall, 1999) acknowledge this by saying that
in selection, no one will encourage unstructured interviews over carefully designed job
relevant interviews.

SHIFT IN CADBURY’S HR POLICY

The enforced shift in the HR policies from previously followed best practices that
Cadburys went through to stay ahead in the market during the 1960s and 1970s signaled a
new HRM strategy wherein the organization tried to align itself with the competitive
environment. Cadburys had to depart from its old Cadbury ideology of lifetime
commitment to employees, to fewer but more flexible workers. (Smith, 1987:574)

Cadbury chose a best fit HRM practice because of the stiff competition it faced from new
entrants into the UK market. The competition has only got more severe since then. This
has left little option for an organization like Cadbury, whose main forte is the wide array
of products it has, which can be further strengthened only by continuous innovation to
cater to customer tastes.
TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

Hannan and Freeman in (Randall & Susan 2007) suggest that the firms that are most
likely to survive in the future are those that are best structured to fit the new conditions.
The new conditions will demand innovation and as new product innovation remains
critical to future success within the industry, with many of the world’s leading suppliers
investing heavily in this area (Leatherhead Food International, June 2006) These new
Skills, Experience and Knowledge have more economic value to organizations as they
enable it to be productive and adaptable (Schuler, 2007:25).

To stimulate new skills and knowledge development, it is necessary to impart adequate

Training and Development, importance of which increases as the organization structure
evolves. The company must implement an assessment of its people’s current skills and
provide opportunities for enhancement.

MANAGEMENT’S INVOLVEMENT

The success of Training and Development practice though depends on the collaborative
effort of both the company and its employees, as it requires equal participation and
commitment from both the parties. This can be ensured by adequately motivating and
educating employees about the benefits of acquiring new skills and knowledge for both
themselves and the organization.

However, front line employees left on their own will not beget satisfactory results in this
practice, as they do not have the necessary analytical ability to identify the skills they
lack and should possess. Assigning managers to determine the training needs and align
those with the organizations’ strategic requirements will make the process more effective.
The performance Appraisal conducted by these managers will help them in measuring the
gap between what an individual delivers and what is needed. (Management Training and
Development – the Role of the Line Manager, Jan 21, 2008).

Louma (in Torrington, 2002: 445) asserts that the Training and Development should be
needs driven and reactive to market requirements. This shows that T & D is a continuous
process and hence it is necessary to plan these training methods carefully and execute
them by utilizing the best possible resources (Class Notes - Human Resource
Management, April, 18, 2009), which will need the managements’ support and guidance.

Cadburys is all about its taste, look and feel. It is a fast moving consumer good and brand
loyalty in FMCG is very difficult to maintain and aspects like product differentiation,
consumer involvement could lead to repeat purchase and loyalty. (Business Line, Feb 17,
2005). In a market where there are so many choices and to cater to a health conscious
consumer and to increase your customer base aggressive new product development like
low calories, sugar free confectionaries are essential to maintain a competitive leadership.
This has to be done by researching and developing new products, which will be
impossible without a skilled workforce.
HRM PRACTICES FOR FUTURE

This innovation requires a vibrant and enthusiastic team, which is knowledge intensive
and is willing to improvise and preempt the market needs. To develop such skills
constant T & D that are modified to the organizations needs and demands are required.
The HR strategy thus should not be static and disillusioned with a set of “best practices”
but instead be flexible enough to shape the organizations competitiveness in the business
environment.

Cadburys is no longer restricted to the boundaries of United Kingdom. It has spread its
tentacles well into the global arena. This requires the organization to have a very flexible
strategy both for its corporate and business functioning and also for its Human resource
management. As in HRM no one size fits all (Baron, 1999:33), it is imperative for
Cadbury’s to take cognizance of market needs and to involve their management in the T
& D of their employees to stay ahead of its competitors
REFERENCES

Derek Torrington, Laura Hall, and Stephen Taylor (2002) Human Resource Management,
2002, Harlow: Prentice Hall

James Baron and David M. Kreps (1999), Strategic Human Resources: Frameworks for
General Managers, USA, John Wiley and Sons Inc

John Child, Chris Smith (1987), The context and process of organizational transformation
– Cadbury limited in its sector, Journal of Management Studies, NY, Wiley

Peter Boxall and John Purcell (2008), Strategy and Human Resource management,
Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan

Randall S. Schuler and Susan E. Jackson (2007), Strategic Human Resource

Management, Malden MA, Blackwell

Brand loyalty and marketing strategy S. Ramesh Kumar, Aalap Sharma accessed on
March 02, 2010 from
www.thehindubusinessline.com/catalyst/2005/02/17/stories/2005021700110200.html

Management Training and Development – the Role of the Line Manager, Jan 21, 2008
Accessed on March, 10, 2010 from
http://www.articlesbase.com/human-resources-articles/management-training-and-
development-the-role-of-the-line-manager-311680.html

Class Notes - Human Resource Management - Training & Development, Apr 18, 2009,
accessed on, March 4, 2010, from
http://www.articlesbase.com/college-and-university-articles/class-notes-human-resource-
management-training-development-872549.html

The Global Confectionery Market - Trends and Innovations Leatherhead Food

International, June 2006 accessed on March 02, 2010 from
http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/39940

Training Process in Cadbury Schweppes Plc, August 27, 2009, accessed on March 8,
2010, from
http://ivythesis.typepad.com/term_paper_topics/2009/08/training-process-in-cadbury-
schweppes-plc.html