1. MODEL TO INCREASE CUSTOMER VALUE
THROUGH HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT
By Marco Baratta, M.A
The market is conforming by all of us, potential customers, more abstractly it could be
referred in economic and financial terms as a behavior of consumption. And it is in this
cloud of emergent behaviors and trends that ultimately define the market, to which
corporations attend and supply the products and services for such demands. Being the

2. market a rather complex social structure obeying too many variables and conditions
dictated by culture, countries, societies, consumers, etc. is valid to ask: how organizations
could respond to such complexity? What structure (if any) is needed to creatively and
actively cope with market variations, with the mentality of customers, and with the ups and
downs of the present economy? Going even further and inside organizations, how
knowledge could be acquire and preserve to foster talent development that will assure
organizations to stay in business? To respond to such questions, organization must answer
first: in what business is my organization in? to what values and beliefs this business
market responds to? That is the Organizational Nuclei from which everything else will
emerge from.
The Organizational Nuclei. To what very basic idea your organization responds to? And
in what terms can you define it? What are the set of experiences that you as a business are
providing to your customers? Is it quality? Is it self-expression? Is it comfort? What is it?
What experiences you are delivering in your products as an excuse to serve your
customers? Remember your product is the excuse to the values you wish your customer to
experience. Your product is not an end itself; your product is a mean, the instrument to
become human, not the instrument of humans to become products. If you love bicycles and
you want to start a manufacturing business of bicycles just because you like how different
parts are set to together to create the attractive whole called a bicycle, you are already broke
in this time. What is the most important thing from you to have a bicycle, when you
purchase it? What do you like to experience: freedom? Speed? Open air and nature? How
those questions now will affect the manufacturing of bicycles? Indeed in a great way,
because those words with experiential and social meanings are what consumers are going
after, not merely the bicycle. Once you define precisely in what business are you in, then
only you know who you are in the experiences of your customers and from that compass
you can move forward.
I will not get into this article on finances; this is about human resources, so let us assume
that you are the expert on the topic of finance and that you have that variable under control
as an expert entrepreneur.
What is the next step then: People. Of course! You cannot do anything without people, you
need people to start your business and keep it moving. Whether you call them: employees,
associates, human resources, human capital, it does not matter, what it does matter is that
they do not work for the president or the general manager of the company or for their direct
bosses. They work for the Organizational Nuclei, they work for the organizational reason of
existence not for an organizational chart. How these people are going to enhance the
organizational potential? These People Profile then is very important! What character,
personalities, abilities, knowledge, skills and experiences are needed to have an outstanding
performance in which business added value contribution will expand the organizational
nuclei? What Organizational Design will aloud employees to develop and help the
organization expand possibilities? This design is a key point because in the Organizational
Design is embedded the matrix in which employees will interact and this interaction is a
key point to determine the Organizational Structure. Design is an ongoing
process, Structure is a meanwhile step needed to respond to the environment. None of
them are static, and should not be, they most continuously have a placid “conversation” to

3. aloud organizational development. Static or rigidity are not compatible with development,
this business paradox can kill organizations because it signifies the time in which
employees stop to be motivated. How can you move an organization with depressed people
working for it? The behavior organization aloud or not to happen is determine by
the Structure, this defines peoples roles, until a new Design emerges and a new structure is
needed.
The dance between Design and Structure will determine the way the organization acts,
thinks, performs, reinvent itself, which is called: Organizational Culture. In the
continuum of this process of reborn and destruction of Design and Structure, agreements
between people are reached and define: “how we do things around here.” Processes and
Procedures are set as common points of interactions. Design and Structure will aloud
these agreements to happened, if Structure is hold to the extreme or the process
of Design have not feedback from the Organizational Nuclei, the organization could enter
in a never ending loop or be paralyzed completely. Cultures can aloud or hinder
organizational development, so this latter construct is key to define the Path of
Development of employees. A culture of development and contribution will aloud to
define precisely Talent Acquisition, Talent Development and Talent Retention. This
type of developmental culture must permeate all levels of the organization. In Talent
Acquisition the employee profiles are determined by the Organizational Nuclei and this
will set the special characteristics needed by the organization. Is not merely to hire
experience people, is a matter of examining with detail that this person profile keeps
congruency with the organizational culture and values. A “Communion” must exist
between candidate’s needs and organizational needs in terms specifically of development, a
congruency of values in terms of contribution and experiences, and a congruency of vision
in terms of growth.
Wrapping it all, there is the Organizational Nuclei which leads to Business Philosophy,
there is the Organizational Design and Organizational Structure that leads
to Organizational Architecture, not of walls or rooms but the architecture that will aloud
Design and Structure to create the Organizational Culture of development. Culture
responds to patterns of behaviors, ways of thinking and beliefs settle and embrace by the
organization (Organizational Psychology)
It is a BIG RISK to get people with the congruencies explained if the Organizational
Structure will not change to aloud Talent Development. You are putting in jeopardy
the organizational development itself, and more importantly the Organizational
Nuclei Potentials. If the organization develops its talent this talent is retained, if
organization recognizes intrinsically (Organizational Design) and extrinsically
(Organizational Structure) this talented employee will be retained. Talent
Retention closes the “circuit” coming from Employees Profile to Business Philosophy.
Because Business Philosophy grows not in the turnover indicators nor in the new hiring’s,
is born in the process of employees development and retention, how will you keep
a Business Philosophy if your employees are leaving and quitting every time for new
opportunities because the organization will not create the conditions for retention? This will
put a big stress to the Organizational Structure and all that is coming after it.

4. So, when talent is developed Organizational Potentials are increased, this means that the
lines in which the Organizational Nuclei are first established will be diversified and be
more sensitive to customer needs. If this sensitivity which is explain by the dual process:
business identity—customer experiential needs, is identified, then Customer
Value is Increased and a Rich Product Experience is achieved. On the other hand when
this opportunity of dual process is felt on the hands of a talented employee, also Employee
Value is Increased and employees Experience of Contribution is achieved.
When these two social and organizational torrents: Customer and Employees get together in
a process of increased value and contribution, the resultant is nothing but more Emergent
Business Experiences for both, hence business grows.