Whirlpool Corporation

Whirlpool Corporation

Shannon Goodwin

Dr. Natalie Marsh

HRM 532 - Talent Management

August 31, 2011

Whirlpool Corporation

1. Discuss what factors emerged at Whirlpool that impacted its talent needs.

Whirlpool Corporation, the world’s leading manufacturer of home appliances, has always been able to attract and retain the right talent to help drive its business strategies. However, in the last 20 years, with a continuous shift in the global environment, Whirlpool has found it difficult to not only attract talent, but to also engage and develop it. Goldsmith and Carter (2010) names four factors to which Whirlpool can contribute its talent dilemmas. The first factor is the increase in the growth, size and scale of business. This increase has created a complexity which requires a different set of skills and abilities to continue to be competitive. The second factor is the external consumer marketplace which demands a rapid ground-breaking change in products and services. With this rapid change, comes the need for innovative and technology-savvy talent. Without innovation and technology it would be impossible for Whirlpool to meet its talent needs. The third factor can be accounted to globalization, which also brought about a shift in the domination of the market. Such a shift has changed the market from being employer dictated to candidate dictated, creating a competitive environment for market share and talent. The last factor that contributed to Whirlpool’s talent dilemma was the shift in the nature of the workforce. This shift in workforce contributed to a decrease in cooperate loyalty, business outsourcing and the need for talent which causes a declined in employees’ tenure (Goldsmith & Carter, 2010). All four of these factors impacted Whirlpool’s talent needs.

2. Discuss how expanding globally changed the talent requirement at Whirlpool.

Within the first fifty years of Whirlpool’s existence, the company managed to expand...