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导读:这是一篇case study范文，主要讲述一家名为Hallmark贺卡公司如何走出困境。 One of Hallmark's sympathy cards reads "Please remember that winter's darkness emerges into spring." Given the troubles at Hallmark Cards， it's just the kind of message that Human Resources vice president Ralph Christenson wants to send to employees. Hallmark的一张慰问卡上写着“请记住，冬天的黑暗会涌入春天。” 考虑到Hallmark Cards的麻烦，这只是人力资源副总裁Ralph Christenson想要发送给员工的那种信息。 From the early- to mid-1990s the privately held greeting card firm saw its market share slip from well over 50 percent to about 45 percent， as new players in the market made cards that were more attractive and up to date. Even though Hallmark sales remained strong at about $4 billion annually， many profit measures slipped dramatically. It's hard to say just how bad things were because Hallmark profits are kept secret， even from the 20，000 employees who own part of the company. But it wasn't good news when-Hallmark's profit-sharing contributions slipped from 10 percent of salaries to about 5 percent. Newly arrived in the Human Relations department， Christenson needed to find ways of keeping company employees happy. After all， the company's core mission is to communicate affection， love， and friendship through the warm messages that employees dream up. 从20世纪90年代早期到中期，这家私人持有的贺卡公司的市场份额从50％以上下降到45％左右，因为市场上的新玩家制作的纸牌更具吸引力且更新。 尽管霍尔马克的销售额仍保持强劲，每年约40亿美元，但许多利润措施仍大幅下滑。 很难说事情是多么糟糕，因为霍尔马克的利润保密，即使是拥有该公司一部分的20,000名员工也是如此。 但是，当Hallmark的利润分成贡献从工资的10％下滑到约5％时，这并不是一个好消息。 克里斯滕森刚刚进入人际关系部门，需要找到让公司员工满意的方法。 毕竟，公司的核心使命是通过员工梦想的热情信息来传达感情，爱和友谊。 Hallmark started out in 1910 as a family-run business， and the Hall family's leadership continues today. Based in Kansas City， Missouri， the company has always attracted talented and creative people through its friendly and family-oriented atmosphere. Because Hallmark products are based on enhancing relationships， it stands to reason that the company would focus on keeping employees happy. For example， back in the 1950s， the Hall family set up one of the first profit-sharing arrangements for employees. Today， employees own about one-third of the company. In addition， the tuition-reimbursement program pays 100 percent of education expenses for fulltime staff. Other initiatives focus on child care and alternative work arrangements such as work sharing and job sharing. And the company's policies are flexible to meet employees' special needs， such as allowing time off to care for aging parents. Overall， the company has always done such a good job helping its employees that Hallmark consistently ranks among the best companies to work for in the United States. Hallmark于1910年开始作为一家家族企业，Hall家族的领导地位今天仍在继续。该公司总部位于密苏里州堪萨斯城，通过其友好和以家庭为导向的氛围，一直吸引着才华横溢，富有创造力的人才。由于Hallmark产品的基础是增强关系，因此公司将专注于让员工满意。例如，早在20世纪50年代，霍尔家族就为员工设立了首批利润分享安排之一。如今，员工拥有公司约三分之一的股份。此外，学费报销计划为全职员工支付100％的教育费用。其他举措侧重于儿童保育和替代工作安排，如工作分担和工作分担。该公司的政策灵活，以满足员工的特殊需求，如允许休假照顾年迈的父母。总的来说，公司一直做得很好，帮助员工，Hallmark一直是美国最好的公司之一。 But in the mid-1990s Hallmark faced declining market share and shrinking profit. Consultants suggested major cost-cutting efforts， including a merger of the administrative， marketing， and product-development functions for the various card brands. To save money， Hallmark threw out its old organization and the ways that employees had beep doing their jobs. With the new focus on finances， employees were concerned that their family-oriented benefits would disappear. Moreover， many employees feared that their jobs would be changed dramatically or eliminated altogether. The organization was in turmoil. Christenson had come to Hallmark because he believed the company cared deeply about its employees as people. Because of management's recent sharp focus on corporate profits， Christenson worried that Hallmark wouldn't be able to keep up its long tradition of caring for employees and their families. For the company to see its way through the current crisis， he had to inspire the employees who create and produce Hallmark products. Christenson needed new ways to strengthen the family-oriented programs and shore up morale. If you were Ralph Christenson， what motivational techniques would you employ to keep Hallmark operating at peak levels？ During times of massive organizational change， what would you recommend to reassure employees and help them deal with stress？ How could you improve the company's communication with employees. What steps would you recommend for maintaining Hallmark's traditional focus on employee needs？ Meeting Business Challenges at Hallmark Cards As the new vice president of Human Relations，Ralph Christenson was facing restructuring and disruption at Hallmark. Rumors of layoffs or massive job change and loss of benefits echoed along the corridors of Hallmark's Kansas City headquarters. Employees worried that profit sharing might be cut and that other important benefits such as child-care help， tuition reimbursement， and work sharing would be lost. Always known for its family-oriented atmosphere， the company had consistently ranked among the best places to work in America. But now employees' faith in Hallmark wavered， and Christenson needed to reassure company employees that things would work out. Although Hallmark Cards was a healthy company， management knew the underlying cost structure was too high. Moreover， the time it took to deliver new products to market was as much as three years， far too long when customer tastes can change rapidly and the competition can react more quickly. So with the help of outside consultants， Hallmark's management developed several strategies to reduce costs and introduce products with greater speed. During this time of change， preserving employee jobs and improving morale were Christenson's primary concerns. So he developed a creative solution for containing costs by looking beyond what people were originally hired to do. To retain employees displaced by the merger of three divisions， Christenson developed a program for retraining factory workers to l1andle office jobs. Yet another group of factory employees helped paint an operating plant while receiving their standard wages. When factory work is slow， employees can even choose to volunteer for community work while drawing their usual paychecks. And no employee with more than two years with the company can be let go without a case review by company executives. So with Christenson's help， Hallmark was able to perpetuate its special caring for employees and its history of no layoffs. Then to speed up the time it takes to develop and introduce new card products， Christenson helped Hallmark create cross-functional teams. Before these changes， Hallmark artists， designers， printers， and financial staff were working as much as a city block apart even though some of them were working on the same card design. With the new team concept， these employees have been brought together into one room to create， develop， cost-justify， and produce new cards. This approach cut the overall time to market from three years to about one year and helped Hallmark compete more effectively in the rapidly changing greeting card business. Employees quickly adapted to the idea of working together in teams， and they embraced the opportunity to learn more about the company's overall operations. Next， Christenson addressed employee benefits. Although workers were generally happy with the existing benefits package， Christenson wanted to offer even more solutions to keep Hallmark employees satisfied. He needed to build a two-way communication channel that allowed him to hear employee concerns firsthand； he set up a series of feedback sessions in which employees could tell him what was on their mind. As a result， Christenson reorganized the human relations department to focus on a number of themes important to employees. |
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