Archive
By Staff Report
Sep. 14, 2000
The Workforce Optimas Awardsare a celebration of the power of human resources management. Annually, Workforcerecognizes HR programs that have made their businesses better. The winners areselected in 10 categories: General Excellence, Competitive Advantage, FinancialImpact, Global Outlook, Innovation, Managing Change, Partnership, Quality ofLife, Service, and Vision. The winning programs are profiled in the March issueof Workforce magazine with additional information provided at Workforceonline.
It is with great pleasure that Workforce celebrates the winners of Optimas Awards 1994:
| GeneralExcellence: AT&T Following the break-up of the Bell System, AT&T had to play a key role in helping the company become something new. Through such efforts as top-notch training, a data-intensive succession planning system, and the Workplace of the Future initiative, HR has helped the company reorganize and enter new markets. |
| CompetitiveAdvantage: Granite Rock Company Employee development keyed to quality and service have helped the company boost its on-time delivery rate, improved quality to the point that there are only 3.4 errors per million chances to err, and driven revenue per employee to 30% above the industry national average. |
| FinancialImpact: Eastman Kodak Company HR helped transform Kodak’s black and white film division from a traditional manufacturing process organized by functions to a team-driven process organized by work flow. The effort turned the financially troubled unit into one of the company’s leading business divisions. |
| GlobalOutlook: The Coca-Cola Company The soft-drink giant has six global operating units, each of which has a full HR organization. Those people, in turn, report to HR leaders at the company’s Atlanta headquarters. The structure helps sustain both strong local leadership and an overarching corporate culture. |
| Innovation: Novell Incorporated HR developed the Merger Book, a set of 2,000 questions asked during acquisitions to ensure that HR issues and culture fit are addressed during the due diligence process |
| ManagingChange: L.L. Bean Incorporated The company’s fabled customer service masked work flow and process problems. To remedy the situation,L.L. Bean engaged in a total quality management system. Rather than focus on product improvement, however, the Bean effort focused on employee development |
| Partnership: Xerox Corporation Management/labor cooperation helped Xerox lower production costs, cut product development time, improve quality and regain market share |
| Qualityof Life: Lotus Development Corporation Employees at Lotus enjoy generous benefits, family-friendly policies and the chance to make philanthropic contributions |
| Service: Merck & Co. Incorporated Merging cultures and selecting staff are two issues that HR addresses when the company forms joint ventures |
| Vision: Coors Brewing Company The Peer Review System lets all non-union employees appeal disciplinary action to a panel of managers and co-workers. |
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