Question.2687 - Hiring, Managing, and Leading Complete a comprehensive assessment of your selected organization's strategic workforce planning initiatives as it specifically applies to hiring, managing, and leading employees. What will be the impact on your proposed strategic business unit? Write a three-four (3-4) page paper including at least four (4) scholarly references with in-text citations. Please remember to submit your completed paper
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Week 5: Individual Course Project III – Hiring, Managing, and Leading Introduction This is a comprehensive assessment conducted on a company’s workforce planning efforts, particularly related to leading, hiring, and managing employees. The organization that has been selected for this is Tesla. Tesla, Inc. is a multinational automotive company established in 2003 that mainly focuses on energy innovation and clean energy. Hence, it avails electric vehicles and their related components. The key objective of the company at its inception was to produce zero-emission electric vehicles so that sustainable transportation could be facilitated in the market (Bilbeisi, & Kesse, 2017). Along with the comprehensive assessment of the company, this paper will also explore the influence of the initiatives on the proposed strategic business unit. Assessment In terms of the hiring aspect, it has been reported by Tesla (2023) that it has employed more than 100K employees with the mission to create sustainable cars and products, thereby facilitating energy innovation in the industry. The company states that it has been considering a first-principles strategy so that it can develop world-changing innovations to address the biggest problems and challenges that have been faced by the entire world. The company even tracks and seeks new-generation engineers and other employees so that operational, engineering, and manufacturing challenges can be resolved (Tesla, 2023). To be specific, at the end of 2022, it was reported that in Tesla and across all its subsidiaries the total full-time employees amounted to 127,855 (Statista, 2023). This indicated a gradual increase in numbers over the years as illustrated in the below-provided figure. Figure 1: Total Number of Employees in Tesla from 2010 to 2022 Source: (Statista, 2023) One of the key reasons for a significant level of increase in employees in the company was the increasing demand and production of the products and services. As a result, it has been estimated that the global market for electric cars will increase up to 1.4 trillion USD by 2026 (Statista, 2023). Herein, the initiatives that have been undertaken by the company concerning its employees need to be explored in detail. The main reason for stating this is that Tesla considers 3 their employees as the critical factor that helps attain its mission of accelerating transitions in the world to attain sustainability. It has been making consistent efforts to invite exceptional individuals from different backgrounds to join the workforce so that their mission can be achieved. Thus, to attract as well as retain such exceptional talents, the company offers its employees several benefits. In particular, the employees enjoy medical coverage along with generous paid time off (PTO) from the first day of employment. The company also facilitates the 401(k) plan, which is a company-sponsored retirement facility. Besides, the employees also have the opportunity to receive equity grants and stock discounts (Tesla, 2023a). All these show that the company invests significantly in the workforce so that they can perform optimally. In the recent context, the company ensures that employees from underrepresented groups are included in the team, amounting to 67% of the US workforce. Along with health and family medical coverage, mental health programs, paternity and maternity leaves, infertility benefits, flexible scheduling, financial assistance for emergencies, and other unique perks are availed to the workforce. Some of those perks involve discounted upgrades and accessory packages, free charging of electric cars, dining, traveling, and phone discount plans. They are also provided with fitness resources, carpool subsidies, and other earning programs (Tesla, 2023a). The company recently has focused on providing a safe and secure work environment for employees all over the world (Shelby, 2018). In terms of managing aspects, it needs to be noted that the performance management initiatives taken by Tesla have been controversial at times. For instance, it laid off several employees in 2017 with no or little warning, which was not at all expected. Similarly, in 2018, another 9% of the employees were laid off. Herein, it can be understood that Tesla has considered a less cushy strategy for managing workforce performance. This further indicates that its culture related to performance management has altered dramatically with its growth. It has been recently noted that the company used to consider employee development to a large extent in the past years. Comparatively, it has now become a company considering stack ranking by firing, promoting, or demoting the staff (PerformYard, 2023). All these infer that Tesla’s priorities have changed over the years. In terms of leading as well, certain changes have been observed in the company. When Louis Efron and Juliana Bednarski were in the leading positions in 2016, the company’s workforce approach was to leverage the best talent available in the market. Leaders in the company back then realized the significance of employee engagement and understood its influence on customer engagement. As a result, the Tesla360 Summary was developed, which was a survey for employees that guided performance management. These initiatives became a huge success, which was reflected in the performance of the entire company. However, under the leadership of Gaby Toledano, the company embraced a different approach. Specifically, it considered the outdated annual review approach to management personnel. This was mainly done to determine who was going to be fired, promoted, or demoted in the company. Nevertheless, it cannot be said that this approach adversely impacted the company because employees are still keen to be a part of this company due to its inspiring reputation (PerformYard, 2023). In the recent context, under the leadership of Elon Musk, Tesla has become a high-quality and recognized producer of Electric Vehicles with the consideration of a high level of brand awareness. With his ambitious and visionary plans, the company has been able to target high-end customers, thereby attaining unprecedented valuation in the stock market. His initiatives have enabled the company to attain a competitive edge in the market (Auffray et al., 4 2020). Musk does not believe in micromanaging and he expects all the employees and leaders to be excellent in their work (Tesla, 2020). Thus, the impact of these initiatives on the strategic business unit can be pivotal. This is because appropriate perks, benefits, compensations, and facilities can encourage employees to perform well in their tasks. This will further improve the performance of the entire organization. Besides, the annual review will also encourage them to identify their flaws and guide them to perform better. However, adverse impacts and challenges need to be carefully dealt with by the efforts of effective leaders. Conclusion Considering all the assessed aspects, it can be concluded that Tesla has been facilitating several changes so that optimal benefits can be attained and its mission and goals can be achieved. It has also been apparent that there are several workforce initiatives undertaken by the leaders and employers of the company that specifically apply to leading, hiring, and managing employees, which has led Tesla to attain success in the market. 5 References Auffray, A. et al. (2020). Tesla, Inc.: Strategic Report 2020. The Lisbon MBA, 2-98. https://www.strategosinstitute.com/uploads/861ce4b50259bfef33cd2da967e7af51542b04284 8d2a4b6b7940e4b8ae4faeb.pdf Bilbeisi, K. M., & Kesse, M. (2017). Tesla: A successful entrepreneurship strategy. Morrow, GA: Clayton State University, 1(1), 1-18. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316628561_Tesla_A_Successful_Entrepren eurship_Strategy PerformYard. (2023). Performance Management at Tesla: What we know. Performance Management. https://www.performyard.com/articles/performance-management-at- tesla-what-we-know Shelby, L. (2018). Becoming the Safest Car Factory in the World. Tesla. https://www.tesla.com/blog/becoming-safest-car-factory-world Statista. (2023). Number of Tesla employees from July 2010 to December 2022. Number of Tesla employees IPO to FY 2022. https://www.statista.com/statistics/314768/number-of- tesla- employees/#:~:text=The%20number%20of%20people%20employed,percent%20be tween%202018%20and%202019. Tesla. (2020). Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Impact Report 2020 (U.S.). Tesla, 2-25. https://www.tesla.com/sites/default/files/downloads/2020-DEI-impact-report.pdf Tesla. (2023). About Us. Tesla. https://www.tesla.com/about Tesla. (2023a). People and Culture. Impact. https://www.tesla.com/impact/people#:~:text=Tesla%20employees%20enjoy%20comprehe nsive%20medical,them%20do%20their%20best%20work.More Articles From Human Resource