You are on page 1of 3

HRM - Individual Assignment Booz Allen Hamilton Case

Submitted To: Prof. L. Gurunathan

Vaibhav Kumar
PGDM 2013 057/02

Indian Institute of Management, Ranchi

1. Describe the vision 2000 strategy of BAH and analyze the alignment of structure with the strategy. The firm was formed in 1914 by Edwin Booz. James Allen and Carl Hamilton joined Booz in 1930s, the firm grew steadily as the US economy expanded after World War II. The company went public in 1970; but in 1976 the partners repurchased the shares and created a closely held corporation with partnership culture. The initial structure of the corporation was decentralized, with operations being governed by the different regional offices. This structure was aimed at repayment of the large debts which were incurred during re-privatization; as it provided clarity regarding the revenue generated and cost incurred by each of the offices and partners, and thus enabled proportionate profit contributions each year.

The Vision 2000 strategy of BAH was aimed at meeting the changes in the client business environment which eventually had raised the bar for consultants; as their solutions now had to be more sophisticated and client centric. The Vision 2000 strategy of BAH suggested changes in the organizational structure of the firm, making it centralized, thus enabling the firm to better serve its multinational clients through coordinated efforts and knowledge sharing among the various offices of the firm.

In order to achieve the Vision 2000 strategy, structural changes were of utmost importance within BAH. Under the decentralized structure, the various regional offices were competing amongst each other thus making it difficult to create value for the clients; under the centralized structure the various regional offices would work in harmony with each other, thus creating value for the clients and providing intelligent and sophisticated end to end solutions. Thus the centralized structure proposed by the Vision 2000 strategy was in complete alignment with the goals of the new strategy.

2. As a consequence of the strategy, which HR system shall play the most crucial role in implementing strategy and why? The HR system for Training shall play the most crucial role in implementing the strategy at BAH. The employees of the firm now have to work at a global level with local

understanding of the clients business which thus requires more coordination with other practices and geographies. Thus knowledge sharing, communication, knowing different cultures etc. become very important for better output, which thus puts great pressure on the HR Training system to work properly and meeting the employees training needs.

PMS also plays a crucial role as it is required to keep the star employees motivated in the eye of the lifestyle strains and other pressures that the consultants of BAH face. The PMS has the crucial task of basing financial incentives and benefits on both the team output as well as individual performance so as to encourage the employees to work as a team as well as deliver and excel in their respective practice.

3. Are the compensation, PMS and career systems aligned with the strategy? Why or why not? The PMS system took into account the overall companys profit and as well as had a point based pay system to factor in individual excellence and performance. Performance was measured by a senior colleague who had not worked with the employee for the last one year thus eliminating problems like bias. The job titles and criteria for appraisal and promotion were identical across the organization and were aligned to strategy. The career systems at very competent with every new consultant was assigned a senior and junior mentor who would give right advice regarding their professional and personal development and help them align to the organization culture. Also training was given to the employees for their development and making them familiar to the systems followed at WCB. Also the training was very flexible, through 3 different channels for the convenience of the employees. The employees also could migrate to different industries based on their interest and also could visit different places based on their convenience which allowed for flexibility of work and career development of employees in the organization. Overall, the PMS and the career systems were competent and aligned to their vision 2000 target.

You might also like