In 2010, Tata Steel Europe, the second largest steel producer in Europe, adopted a new business model. Production and Sales & Marketing were defined as core functions and linked by an integrated supply chain. As a result, it was necessary to realign the processes in both the sales organization and the marketing department in 2011. The goal: an organization that provides customers with optimal support and operates successfully in the market. In addition, the previously decentralized sales activities had to be transferred to a new centrally managed organization.
The task was to design the new organizational structure for sales, customer service and marketing based on the structures and personnel, to evaluate the feasibility of models and to support the subsequent implementation with a professional change approach. The HR expert led a team of 7 HR Business Partners.
The activities in detail
Strategic elements:
- Designing and implementing the commercial department, consisting of customer service, sales and marketing resulting from a new company strategy
- Defining all HR elements, focused on the commercial department in collaboration with the CoE Centers of Expertise (within the Ulrich model)
- Defining all HR processes, aimed at the commercial department in cooperation with the shared service centers (within the framework of the Ulrich model)
- Design and implementation of an elite talent pool consisting of all functions
Operational elements:
- Recruit and create employment contracts
- Negotiate with the works council
- Evaluate, promote or dismiss employees (incl. Grievence Procedure in England)
- Creating and conducting training
- Creating job descriptions
- Creating and evaluating employee statistics
- Building up a separate department (selecting employees, describing jobs, defining areas of responsibility, recording development potential, etc.)
This comprehensive restructuring broke new ground in some areas. The company's previous strong focus on technical production was supplemented by a significant strengthening of the commercial side.
