AN INTEGRATED LABOR MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

An Integrated Labor Management System for Taco Bell



An Integrated Labor Management System for Taco Bell

Introduction

In the labor market today, the threat of union organization is not at the top of the lists of priorities for organizations. Both the employer's rights to make decisions within an organization and the rights of the employees to be protected from illegal action and unfair treatment must be maintained. Communication is a key factor in effective labor management system.

Bluth (2000) mentions in its broadest sense, labor management is a widely used term coined to encapsulate management policies and practices concerned with the supply and utilization of the labor resource required for the firm to meet its commercial objectives. To do so, the employer has to be able to compete within the labor market and meet basic requirements of social legitimacy relevant to the society in which the firm is located. The employer needs to be able to attract and keep labor and ensure that labor power is utilized for productive purposes relevant to its business objectives. It is by no means certain how best to proceed in this endeavor (Bluth, 2000). This uncertainty in the context of inevitable resource constraints—whether financial, cognitive, or the capacity for control—make both the meaning and practice of human resource management difficult and ambiguous.

Critiquing the Labor-Forecasting Model in Taco bell

Effective workforce planning for specific enterprises involves determining which actions are needed to achieve business objectives, identifying the types and quantities of skills that are necessary to accomplish those actions, determining how those skills may vary from the skills that are currently available, and developing strategies for closing the gaps between today's workforce and the workforce needed to accomplish the business objectives at Taco Bell

HR department of Taco Bell has well-established practices to handle the identification, acquisition, development, and retention of their workforce. Recent reviews of workforce planning practices reveal, however, that many companies are dissatisfied with their ability to translate business strategies into the specific numbers of employees who would be needed to achieve business objectives. Demand forecasting, the process of determining how many people will actually be needed, was typically reported as the weakest link in addressing workforce requirements.

In theory or in practice, demand forecasting techniques can be grouped into six major categories: Direct Managerial Input, Best Guess, Historical Ratios, Process Analysis, Other Statistical Methods, and Scenario Analysis. This article provides a quick overview of those six techniques used at Taco Bell

1. Direct Managerial Input is the most commonly used approach for determining future workforce requirements at Taco Bell. This is typically done via an edict that headcount or workforce costs will be a specific number. Today this number is most often expressed as a percentage reduction. There is little analysis of the work effort necessary to meet business objectives. The primary drivers are the desired cash flow and/or adjustments to the company's return ratios such as rate of return, return on capital employed, and discounted cash flow return on ...