Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Sonoco Products
Sonoco Products
Sonoco Products
COMPANY
(BUILDING A WORLD
CLASS HR ORGANIZATION)
By:
Hemant Vasishth
(232008)
Juli Gupta (232009)
SONOCO PRODUCTS
Founded as the Southern Novelty Company in 1899 in
Hartsville, South Carolina
Operates 285 facilities in 32 countries employing
17,300 employees
Company culture Family-friendly, paternalistic,
collaborative, ethical and team-oriented
Very low attrition rate. In 200, over 60% executive
committee members had been with company for at
least 20 years.
Reluctant to hold under-performers accountable.
COMPANY SEGMENTS
Industrial
packaging
Served textile, paper
and film industries
55% company
revenue
11,000 employees
Consumer
packaging
Packaging for food
and consumer
products and highdensity film
45% company
revenue
6,000 employees
PACKAGING INDUSTRY
Packaging industry sales worth $400 billion
Consumer packaging 70% and industrial packaging
30%
Heavy manufacturing moving from US to China, India
due to cheaper labor
Domestic market becoming more segmented as
products were tailored to preferences of distinct
consumer groups
Emergence of one-stop-shop concept
HARTLEYS OBJECTIVES
Build more professional, business-oriented HR group.
Leadership development on high priority
Performance management systems to be linked and
made consistent and more accurately refl ective of
employees contribution to performance.
Need to create an employee-development process to
refi ne employees skills and to identify and develop
defi cient skills
Succession planning to identify and prepare the next
generation of leaders
HARTLEYS INITIATIVES
Introduced in early 1996
Designed as a cycle beginning with company wide goal setting and
Performance earnings targets and cascaded down to individual performance
management Supervisors and employers agree to KRAs
system
Leadership
development
& succession
planning
ISSUES
Sales fell 6% between 1995 and 1999 from $2.7
billion to %2.5 billion
Declining top-line sales
Signifi cant fall of stock prices
Control costs
Rapidly changing packaging industry
Decentralized HR
OBJECTIVES OF NEW
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE FOR HR
To increase GMs accountability for talent
management
To distribute HR talent and support more evenly
across the companys divisions and make HR systems
and processes consistent
To optimize HRs ability to provide customized,
strategic support to the GMs businesses
Administrati
ve
Payroll
HRIS
Benefits
Center
Recruiting
Relocation
Salary
Administrati
on
Centers of
Expertise
Divisions
Benefits
Compensati
on
IPD/Paper
Crelin
EE Relations
Organization
al
Developmen
t
CPD
Flexibles
HDFP
Prot
Packaging
Cons
No active role of GM
Restricted opportunities
to align directly with
businesss needs and
interests
Inflexible and difficult in
coordination
HR may not readily have
its finger on the pulse of
the organization to be
proactive about needed
changes, actions
Administrati
ve
Payroll
HRIS
Benefits
Center
Relocation
Recruiting
HR
Administrati
on
Centers of
Expertise
Benefits
Compensati
on
EE Relations
Organization
al
Developmen
t
Cons
Slower decision making
process
Low cost savings
Inflexible and difficult in
coordination
Ownership issue between
corporate and divisional HR
divisions
Concern whether changes
could be easily driven across
the company with this new
structure
May result in some duplication
of resources if delineation of
duties is not specifically
outlined and understood
RECOMMENDATION
HYBRID HR STRUCTURE.
Aligns perfectly with Sonocos flexible strategy to meet the changing demands of
its industry and consumers
Allows for the right people with the right skills to be where they are most
beneficial to the company
Having the appropriate systems in place to get the right people in place and up
to speed will improve productivity, increase employee satisfaction, reduce waste,
and decrease turnover which will result in increased profits on an ongoing basis.
THANK YOU!