Chapter 2 Supplemental Case Xerox Focuses on HR Xerox is a widely known firm worldwide, but it has been through numerous crises in the past decade. In fact, at one point several years ago, there were questions about Xerox surviving as a firm. But no longer. Under the leadership of Anne Mulcahy as CEO, Xerox has rebounded Numerous strategic business and financial decisions had to be made, including reducing the workforce by 30,000. But Mulcahy also stressed that HR had to become a more strategic contributor One of the actions taken was to consolidate a number of HR fu and has added Internet-based systems to make HR services more accessible to nctions from different business into a corporate HR Service Center. This center performs many administrative transactions managers and employees To track employees\' views on the company and HR, employee surveys on the company intranet have been used for several years. Areas at which lower scores were recorded have been addressed by HR staff and other managers. The survey results have led to another primary focus at Xerox: employee retention. With all of the reductions and organizational restructurings, keeping the remaining employees, especially high-potential ones, has been a continuing emphasis. Xerox has invested significant time and resources into training and development of its employees, an important retention factor. Greater use of e-learning, technology, and leadership development have paid off in reducing turnover and convincing employees that career opportunities exist at Xerox. Continuing competitive pressures are presenting new challenges for Xerox and its HR staff. The strategic importance of HR has been demonstrated in the past and looks to be a part of the firm\'s future.4 Questions 1. Discuss the challenges faced by HR management when significant staff cutbacks occur and how they should be addressed 2. Use of technology, employee retention, and HR development have been at the core of HR becoming more strategic at Xerox. Why have those areas been so key? Solution 1. Challenges : A. Need of Restructuring of organization : organization needs to arrange and reallocate current employees. B. Investing time again : organization has to build trust with the employees again as not following up on this can lead to a negative workplace environment. C. An environment of suspense and distrust: employees feel less belonged to organization and doubt that they might get laid off from the job as well. D. Costs to train and develop new employees : since new or existing employees would be required to Take up some jobs, costs are bound to occur..

1. Chapter 2 Supplemental Case Xerox Focuses on HR Xerox is a widely known firm worldwide,
but it has been through numerous crises in the past decade. In fact, at one point several years ago,
there were questions about Xerox surviving as a firm. But no longer. Under the leadership of
Anne Mulcahy as CEO, Xerox has rebounded Numerous strategic business and financial
decisions had to be made, including reducing the workforce by 30,000. But Mulcahy also
stressed that HR had to become a more strategic contributor One of the actions taken was to
consolidate a number of HR fu and has added Internet-based systems to make HR services more
accessible to nctions from different business into a corporate HR Service Center. This center
performs many administrative transactions managers and employees To track employees' views
on the company and HR, employee surveys on the company intranet have been used for several
years. Areas at which lower scores were recorded have been addressed by HR staff and other
managers. The survey results have led to another primary focus at Xerox: employee retention.
With all of the reductions and organizational restructurings, keeping the remaining employees,
especially high-potential ones, has been a continuing emphasis. Xerox has invested significant
time and resources into training and development of its employees, an important retention factor.
Greater use of e-learning, technology, and leadership development have paid off in reducing
turnover and convincing employees that career opportunities exist at Xerox. Continuing
competitive pressures are presenting new challenges for Xerox and its HR staff. The strategic
importance of HR has been demonstrated in the past and looks to be a part of the firm's future.4
Questions 1. Discuss the challenges faced by HR management when significant staff cutbacks
occur and how they should be addressed 2. Use of technology, employee retention, and HR
development have been at the core of HR becoming more strategic at Xerox. Why have those
areas been so key?
Solution
1. Challenges :
A. Need of Restructuring of organization : organization needs to arrange and reallocate current
employees.
B. Investing time again : organization has to build trust with the employees again as not
following up on this can lead to a negative workplace environment.
C. An environment of suspense and distrust: employees feel less belonged to organization and
doubt that they might get laid off from the job as well.
D. Costs to train and develop new employees : since new or existing employees would be
required to Take up some jobs, costs are bound to occur.