MHRM 6901 Week 3 Stated Versus Actual Gap Analysis Example

What Hartwell Says About Its People and What Its Records Show: A Gap Analysis Setting the Bakery's Stated Strategy Against Its Postings, Turnover Logs and Training Budget, Ranked by Consequence for the Second Contract

Student Name

Walden University

MHRM 6901: Capstone: Strategic Human Resource Management

Instructor Name

Month Day, Year

What Hartwell Says About Its People and What Its Records Show: A Gap Analysis Setting the Bakery's Stated Strategy Against Its Postings, Turnover Logs and Training Budget, Ranked by Consequence for the Second Contract

Purpose

Hartwell Baking Company describes its approach to people in three statements: "people are our recipe," a commitment to "grow from within" (F18) and a promise of "real investment in your skills" (F19). This gap analysis sets those statements against three records: job postings, turnover logs and the training budget. Argyris and Schön (1978) distinguished an organization's espoused theory, what it says guides its actions, from its theory-in-use, what its actions reveal. The gaps between them matter here only insofar as they affect the capstone question: whether Hartwell can staff its second restaurant contract with qualified maintenance technicians. Each gap is therefore ranked by its consequence for that question.

The Gaps

Table 1

Stated Strategy Against Records

Composite organization. F numbers refer to the organizational profile.

Reading the Ranking

The three gaps ranked high all concern maintenance technicians. Hartwell grows production supervisors from within, which is consistent with its words, but buys technicians from outside, which is not. It invests little in skills and has no formal route for production workers to become technicians, even though six are trying informally. And its technicians leave for reasons, pay and nights, that the new three-shift line would make worse.

The two gaps ranked low are reminders that Hartwell is not simply failing to live up to its words. Its benefits and safety record are good, and its supervisors' careers do follow the grow-from-within promise. The gap is specific to one group, and that group is the one the contract depends on.

Why Gaps Like These Persist

Hartwell's reliance on outside hiring for technicians is understandable. Hiring a qualified technician takes four months but costs nothing in training; developing one takes two years and costs more up front. Bidwell (2011) showed, using personnel records from a large US firm, that workers brought in from outside earned more than insiders promoted into comparable roles, received weaker early evaluations and left at higher rates, which suggests the apparent savings from outside hiring are smaller than they look. Becker and Huselid (2006) argue that HR practices create the most value when they fit what the firm needs to compete; a firm that competes on reliable high-speed production needs a reliable supply of technicians.

The Six Informal Learners

The clearest evidence of the gap is the six production workers learning maintenance informally (F13). Interviews with two of them and with the senior technicians teaching them show that the learning happens in spare minutes during changeovers, without a curriculum, a schedule or a promise of a technician job at the end. One of the six applied for a technician opening last year and was told that external candidates had more experience. These workers are exactly the internal pipeline Hartwell's words describe, and its practices neither recognize nor reward them. They are also a ready starting point: a formal program could begin with people who have already shown the interest and some of the skill.

What the Analysis Does Not Establish

The exit records rely on the reasons departing technicians chose to give, which may understate dissatisfaction with supervision. The comparison of benefits with regional employers is based on Hartwell's own summary. Neither limitation affects the ranking of the three high-consequence gaps, which rest on postings, budgets and turnover counts.

Implications for Later Sections

The workforce plan in Week 4 must address the missing internal pipeline. The rewards section in Week 6 must address pay and night-shift differentials. Both must be tested against the contract's schedule.

References

Argyris, C., & Schön, D. A. (1978). Organizational learning: A theory of action perspective. Addison-Wesley.

Becker, B. E., & Huselid, M. A. (2006). Strategic human resources management: Where do we go from here? Journal of Management, 32(6), 898-925. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206306293668

Bidwell, M. (2011). Paying more to get less: The effects of external hiring versus internal mobility. Administrative Science Quarterly, 56(3), 369-407. https://doi.org/10.1177/0001839211433562