Kevin Lane

Management of Human Resources

February 2,2015

Amtrak Article

Q: What does it mean for a company to think strategically? In your own words, what is Amtrak doing to be strategic?

For a company to be thinking strategically they need to be evaluating every decisions with the utmost care. Before a company makes a decision they need to weigh out all the possibilities and see what works best for them. To be considered thinking strategically a company needs to be thinking and working on not only about their current situations but thinking about and creating plans for the future. A company needs to be able to handle the day-to-day operations smoothly while looking ahead to see what adjustments need to be made and how they can adapt to the changing times. Amtrak was facing a lot of problems and the future for this company was unknown, until Barry Melnkovic became chief human capital officer. Melnkovic took intiatiative and started to thing strategically, while fixing the current problems. Amtrak made some very well thought out stragetic moves. Amtrak is bringing in younger workers and creating a better work environment, which in turn allows the workers to treat the customers better. Amtrak redesigned pay and benefits, making everything performance base. This gave the workers an incentive to go to work and do the best they could day in and day out. Amtrak came out with plans such as preventative care and wellness and cost controls plans. These plans helped them plan