BUSI 444 Week 7 Case Study 3 Example

Developing Future Claims Managers at Harmon Mutual: Development Approaches, Career Management and Retention

Question 1: Which Development Approaches Should Harmon Use?

Harmon Mutual Insurance has 18 claims managers, six of whom plan to retire within five years. The case reports that the company has always filled these roles by promoting senior adjusters, but the current senior adjusters have little experience supervising people, managing budgets or handling litigation strategy. Noe (2020) sorts development into four approaches: classes and programs, assessment with feedback, on-the-job experiences, and relationships with mentors and coaches. Harmon should combine all four.

Job experiences should carry the most weight, because the skills the role requires, such as managing a team through a catastrophe surge, are learned mainly by doing them with support. A senior adjuster who acts as team lead during a hurricane season, with a claims manager as mentor, learns more than a classroom can teach. Temporary assignments as acting manager during vacations would add further practice, and each rotation should end with a short debrief in which the adjuster and mentor discuss what went well and what to try differently, so that experience becomes learning rather than simply time served.

Question 2: Designing the Career Management Process

Development works best when employees take part in planning it. Noe (2020) describes a career management process in four steps: self-assessment, in which employees identify their interests, values and strengths; reality check, in which the company provides information about how it views their skills and about realistic opportunities; goal setting, in which employees set short- and long-term development goals; and action planning, in which they decide how to reach those goals.

Harmon's process should invite all senior adjusters to apply for a development pool. Applicants would complete a self-assessment and the leadership assessment, then meet with their manager and a human resources partner for a reality check that compares the results with the claims manager role. Those selected would write a development plan with two or three goals, each tied to an activity from the table above, and review it every quarter. Adjusters not selected would receive feedback and a plan for reapplying, which keeps the process open and fair. The company's part is to supply honest information: which roles will open, what they require and how candidates are assessed. Without that reality check, adjusters set goals around guesses.

Question 3: The Manager's Role as Coach

The case notes that current claims managers see development as a human resources program rather than part of their own jobs. That view must change, because most development happens in day-to-day work. Managers decide which assignments adjusters receive, whether they get feedback after a difficult negotiation and whether they are encouraged to try leading.

Research supports investing in coaching. Wang et al. (2022) pooled studies of coaching built on psychological methods and reported benefits across many work outcomes. Harmon should train its claims managers in basic coaching skills, such as asking questions that help an adjuster think through a decision rather than supplying the answer, and should add an external coach for each development pool member during the first year, when the shift from expert adjuster to leader of others is hardest.

Motivation matters too. Chung et al. (2022) pulled together twenty years of studies on why people want to learn at work and showed that both personal traits and the surrounding support and climate shape that desire, which in turn predicts learning and its use on the job. Managers who show interest in an adjuster's development plan and make time for stretch assignments are creating exactly the support that research associates with motivation.

Question 4: Keeping the People It Develops

Developing employees makes them more valuable to other employers, and the case mentions that a competitor recently hired two of Harmon's best senior adjusters. Harmon can reduce this risk in several ways. It should make the path to claims manager visible and credible by announcing expected openings and filling them from the development pool. It should recognize progress, for example with a pay increase on completing the leadership program. It should also keep development pool members engaged through meaningful assignments, since employees who are developing and see a future are less likely to look elsewhere. Some departures are inevitable, and Noe (2020) notes that development can be worthwhile even when some employees leave, because it builds a reputation that attracts strong applicants. Stay conversations with each pool member twice a year, asking what would keep them at Harmon, would surface problems early enough to act on them.

Question 5: Linking Development to Succession Planning

Development for future roles works best when it is tied to a succession plan that identifies which positions matter most and who could fill them. Noe (2020) describes succession planning as the process of identifying and tracking high-potential employees who can move into key positions. Harmon should list its 18 claims manager roles, mark the six with expected retirements and the dates, and identify for each the two or three development pool members who could be ready in time. Each quarter, the senior leadership team should review progress, reassign stretch experiences where a candidate is falling behind and confirm that every critical role has at least one candidate who could step in within a year. The plan should also cover sudden vacancies, not only planned retirements, by naming an interim leader for each office.

Fairness and Breadth in the Development Pool

Development pools can unintentionally favor employees who resemble current leaders or who work in the largest office. Harmon should publish the criteria for entry, invite applications from every eligible adjuster rather than relying on nominations alone, and review the makeup of the pool each year to confirm that it reflects the range of talent among senior adjusters. Offering some formal education sessions online would allow adjusters in smaller offices to take part without long travel. A broad pool gives the company more candidates for each opening and signals to all employees that advancement is possible.

Measuring the Program

Harmon should track how many claims manager openings are filled from the development pool, how quickly new managers reach full performance, the engagement and turnover of pool members compared with other senior adjusters, and new managers' 360-degree feedback after their first year. If most openings are filled internally and new managers perform well, the program is working; if pool members leave at high rates, the retention steps need strengthening.

Conclusion

Harmon faces a predictable gap in its leadership and has time to close it if it acts now. It should launch a development pool for senior adjusters, combine formal education, assessment, job rotations and mentoring, give each participant a coach and a development plan, train its claims managers to coach, and make the path to promotion clear. Within two years, it should have several candidates ready for each opening rather than none. This costs far less than recruiting seasoned claims managers externally, who would need time to learn Harmon's systems and culture.

References

Chung, S., Zhan, Y., Noe, R. A., & Jiang, K. (2022). Is it time to update and expand training motivation theory? A meta-analytic review of training motivation research in the 21st century. Journal of Applied Psychology, 107(7), 1150-1179. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000901

Noe, R. A. (2020). Employee training and development (8th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.

Wang, Q., Lai, Y., Xu, X., & McDowall, A. (2022). The effectiveness of workplace coaching: A meta-analysis of contemporary psychologically informed coaching approaches. Journal of Work-Applied Management, 14(1), 77-101. https://doi.org/10.1108/JWAM-04-2021-0030