Action steps for African Business Schools
2011-05-24 13:56:36 UTC
Case Study: PRETORIA PORTLAND CEMENT: ENGINEERING HR (PART A)
Title
PRETORIA PORTLAND CEMENT: ENGINEERING HR (PART A)
Author
Thomas, A ; Gordon-Brown, C
Pages
14 pp
Product Type
Reference #
404-108-1
Teaching Note
Institute
Setting
Year
Keywords
Organisational transformation ; Organisational design and development ; Human resources management ; Leadership ; Value based management ; Change
Summary/
Abstract
Abstract
This is the first of a two-case series (404-108-1 and 404-109-1). In February 2000, the Kambuku team of Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC) got together in the Kambuku 'war room' to plan the way forward for the project. Most of them were engineers by profession. Some of them were factory managers. Theirs was very much a line management orientation, yet Rod Burn, PPC's Director of organisational performance, had appointed them to work on what they would normally have regarded as the responsibility of the human resources department - finding a way to get more out of PPC's people so that the company could reach the taxing cash flow targets that Chief Operating Officer (COO) John Blackbeard had set. PPC's performance over the preceding five years had been dismal and the company was feeling the heat of competition from two major international competitors. Achieving the turnaround targets set by Blackbeard would not be possible without the buy-in of the people. Burn had asked the Kambuku team to design a system that would have this as the output. But what were the components of this system? Their credibility was on the line. When this was over, they had to go back to their factories with their reputations intact. They were in foreign territory, but they could not afford to fail.
The Impact of AABS Video
"The impact of AABS Video" was filmed at the Gordon Institute of Business Science, Johannesburg and at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business, Cape Town during the AABS Members Meeting and Conference 2011.
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Reports on the AABS Members Meeting 2011 and Responsible Management in Africa Conference 2011
