Lighthouse Insurance Company: Help Me Make It Through the Night

Case 7

The Lighthouse Insurance Company was founded in 1970. It is engaged in selling

non-life policies specifically those related to fire and allied lines, motor car, marine;
personal accident, bonds, and miscellaneous lines. The company is a stock corporation
with 51 branches all over the Philippines from Northern Luzon to Southern Mindanao. It
employs a total of 305 employees manning the head office in Makati City and all the
branches.

The company’s Human Resource Department is composed of five employees

including its head, Ms. Emerald Soriano. The department maintains a file of the
company’s record of personnel. The branch managers are responsible for recruiting
branch personnel who are trained at the head office from one week to one month.
When the position of branch manager (BM) becomes vacant, the general manager pulls
someone out from the Marketing Department to fill the vacancy.

The performance of new branch managers is lackluster in the first few months.
After a year, either their performance improves, or they fail totally.

When a BM’s position becomes vacant, the HRD immediately coordinates with
the Vice President of Marketing and without much fuss, facilitates the transfer of the
most senior of the eligible to assume the BM’s post.

This year, the vacancy for the BM’s post was unusually higher than last year. Last
year’s vacancy for BM consists of only one and it was immediately filled up. At the
beginning of the third quarter of this year, six (6) vacancies have already occurred of
which only three (3) could fill up. After five months, still no suitable replacements could
fill the other three (3) vacancies.

Ms. Soriano is now thinking of the best move to solve the problem.

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