Assignment

As part of your reading for this unit, you read the "Hewlett-Packard Builds Its Own 'University'" case study on page 232 of Fundamentals of Human Resource Management. Respond to the questions below in a 3-4 page paper. Be sure to include enough detail to provide context for your ideas and to demonstrate your understanding of these concepts. Also, be sure to include all necessary APA citations and a references page. Submit your responses in a Microsoft Word document. Use the Assignment Template, located in the Resources, to guide the construction of your paper.

Questions

1 What aspects of HP University effectively link training to the organization's needs?

2 Which aspects of the "University" link employee development to the organization's needs?

3 Given the integral role of computerized training at HP University, and the organization's expansive global presence, how can HP address the three most common development-related challenges (including the glass ceiling, succession planning, and dysfunctional managers)?

Requirements

• Written communication: It should be free of errors, so that the overall message is clear.
• APA formatting: Resources and citations are formatted according to APA style.
• Number of resources: Minimum of four scholarly resources. Distinguished submissions will likely exceed that minimum.
• Parts of paper:
• Title page.
• Body of paper.

References page.

Hewlett-Packard Builds Its Own "University"

When Meg Whitman became CEO of struggling Hewlett-Packard, she was determined to rekindle growth with a strategy of resurrecting and refurbishing HP's reputation for technological excellence. This involves treating employees as assets to be managed so their value to the organization will grow. Whitman charged Tracy Keogh, HP's executive vice president of human resources, with crafting a plan for talent management.

Keogh's approach is to align training activities that bring employees up to speed in their current jobs with development efforts that prepare employees to fill vacancies expected to arise in the future. Previously, HP treated training and development as separate functions. Now it makes them part of a continuous process.

To carry out this process, Keogh had to identify the learning needs of 300,000 employees handling 19 business functions in more than 100 countries. For that massive task, Keogh decided that all learning should take place within one system, named HP University. HP University comprises career paths and learning requirements, as well as physical training centers and online course offerings. At its website, employees identify training needed for a career path, search for resources, and register for courses. The site also gathers data about system usage.

To plan and implement HP University, Keogh's group organized learning content into nine "colleges," such as engineering and sales. They designed an online course catalog and a web portal where users can gather information and sign up for training. After testing their work on groups of employees, they refined the system. Next, they trained the training staff in the use of HP University, so the staffers could train HP's business managers. The system launched in 2012 with about 10,000 courses. During the first week, the site logged nearly 80,000 visits. By year-end, employees had accessed a course 2.7 million times, representing an 8% growth over the previous year. User comments were full of praise. Based on feedback, Keogh's group began planning additional courses, as well as refinements to the system.

Although HP offers other formats, most courses (84%) involve online learning. For example, to train its sales force, HP hired viaLearning to create games that teach HP's sales strategy and competencies. The company chose "metaphor-based" games, in which demonstrating knowledge helps the learner solve a problem portrayed on the screen, such as winning an Olympics competition or quelling the "storm" of a confused customer. After two to five minutes spent obtaining information, the trainee uses that information to play the game. HP training manager Carol Cohen says the games make learning more interesting, so salespeople are motivated to learn. Cohen also notes that the metaphor format is readily adaptable into different languages and even different content areas.

Questions

1. What aspects of HP University effectively link training to the organization's needs?

2. Hewlett-Packard is a technology company, yet it turned to a contractor to create computerized training games. Evaluate the pros and cons of using a contractor in that situation.

Sources: Hewlett-Packard, "Global Citizenship: HP People," http://www8.hp.com, accessed May 29, 2014; "2013 Chief Learning Officer Learning in Practice Awards," Chief Learning Officer, December 2013, pp. 33-53; Chuck Battipede, "HP University Supports Company Journey," T+D, August 2013, pp. 32-37; ChaninBallance, "HP Is Playing Learning Games," Chief Learning Officer, May 3, 2013.

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Noe, Raymond, John Hollenbeck, Barry Gerhart, Patrick Wright. Fundamentals of Human Resource Management, 6th Edition. McGraw-Hill Learning Solutions, 01/2015. VitalBook file.