Assignment #2
Case: “Allstate Insurance Company”

Krystal Goodin
October 31, 2010
Leadership and Organizational Behavior
Professor: Dr. LAURA POGUE

Allstate has an effective goal-setting program because the company is the world's largest publicly held personal lines insurer. It has operations in 49 states and Canada. Allstate sells 13 lines of insurance with auto, property, life and commercial insurance as the major lines. Allstate offers retirement and investment products and banking services. With all these products and services this shows you that they are very effective. They keep growing. Challenging goals have been set. Allstate set goals for diversifying the company. The goal has two major points the internally focused goal which is “unlocking the potential for excellence in all workers by providing them the tools, resources, and opportunities to succeed.” (pg 215) The second goal Allstate insurance set out to achieve is external. Allstate insurance wants to create a more diverse workforce that matches the experiences, background, and sensitivities of the markets it serves.

The ability of Allstate Insurance diverse employees can be found in step two. The employees have to master new skills and they are provided with a road map of the critical skills necessary for advancement. (pg 216). The Allstate Insurance diversity employees have to be motivated and exhibit goal commitment in order for achieve their career advance employees have to commit to attending career education classes, coaching and mentoring , and classroom training. In step three Allstate achieved creating a measuring tool to measure if they were successful in employing diverse candidates that meet both their internal and external goals. Twice a year the company takes a snap shot of the 36,000 employees through a survey called the diversity index. Through these surveys mangers provide employees with the results and the employees have a chance to provide feedback from employees on creating action programs to solve problems and improve work process. (pg 216) There also a survey employees can complete online called the Quarterly Leadership Measurement System. Employees get a chance to answer questions and voice their opinions about current policy and procedures. In Step 4 it explains the mediator factors employees receive. Based on the information provided in The Allstate Insurance case study the only employees who receive monetary increase based on the team’s performance is the managers. The other employees receive other benefits that are based on the team’s performance such as child care, dry cleaning, oil change, and postal and catering services and etc.

Based on the Allstate Insurance Case study I found that they did successfully set challenging goals. They provided their employees with ability and expected them to be goal committed which based on the Diversity Index and the Quarterly Leadership Measurement System Allstate was able to measure if their goals were being met. They provided their employees with perks and rewards for working at Allstate and that provided a great work atmosphere. So overall I think Allstate did a great job of achieving their goals and following the goal

The competitive advantage Allstate has from the development of the Diversity Index began to erode as competitors developed stronger models. The company needs to identify a new way to maintain its lead. The types of high-performance reward system Allstate should use to motivate its employees to reach its diversity goals is to meet the needs of different customer segments and to be widely used across many industries. Allstate can simply adopt an approach and put consumers with their individual differences at the core of its product and service planning. This is transformational in the insurance industry.

If I were an Allstate employee, I would be motivated by the Diversity Index and QLMS because this will allow me to help people and do my job knowing I am helping each customer accurately. This will assure I am getting the job done. I want to work in an environment that is fast-paced and has high performance. It is good to work with a diverse team of employees who value your ideas and are committed to encourage accountability, innovative thinking, and continuous learning and improvement. I would to work in a fast-paced, challenging, and collaborative work environment because they also reward employees for their performance. If I work for Allstate it would be a place of advanced technology, innovative products and unlimited opportunity.

In conclusion, I see that Allstate have many opportunities for self-starting people who are looking for challenge, and ready for change.