Case Studies: Train the Trainer: Rohm & Haas
Design of Training and Organizational Development System for the Rohm and Haas Houston Monomers Plant

Project Description and Results:

Background: During the year 2001, the Houston Monomers Plant of Rohm and Haas Chemical company came to the conclusion that changes in the business environment required Rohm and Haas to make its own changes in its ability to compete. The Houston Monomers Plant is the biggest plant in the corporation and provides materials to all of the other Rohm and Haas plants. 

In  January 2002, the Houston Management Team (HMT) determined that they needed new HR processes to support their aggressive goals for improving productivity throughout the plant.   They hired Miller Consultants to help them determine how to design a new training system to integrate with their other HR-based performance processes.  Miller Consultants used the Outsourcing Training Tool Kit to facilitate a strategy session with the HMT to create a vision for the training system.  The result of that facilitation was an HMT vision for performance-support that would include a strategic training and organizational development system to be integrated with their performance management processes.  They chartered a design team to carry out the design process. Using a data-based methodology covered in the Outsourcing Training Tool Kit, the team developed a strategic plan which included the recommended design of the Training and Organizational Development System and how it should integrate with other plant performance systems.  The HMT accepted the recommendations and chartered the design team to develop and execute an implementation plan to cover the start-up phase of the new system for the first year. 

Scope of Work: Karen James and Kathy Miller planned and co-facilitated the design process with a team of Rohm and Haas internal employees representing the two labor unions, engineering, plant management and HR.  They assisted the team in creating a vision for the new performance system and developing and carrying out a data collection plan to provide the necessary information upon which to build the needs-based processes.  They assisted the design team in analyzing the data and using it to inform their decisions about the specific goals that the system should achieve, the infrastructure that was needed, and the personnel roles that would be required to carry out the tasks and support the system.  They also helped the design team determine how to integrate training and organizational development with the existing performance management and supervisory systems. 

In addition to facilitating the design process, Miller Consultants helped put together the implementation plan for the start-up of the system.  Throughout the start-up year, Miller Consultants assisted through coaching those who played key roles in the roll-out, and teaching a variety of training and organizational skills to the players. 

Results:  The training and organizational development system start-up was a success in addressing many of the issues that came from lack of systematic processes for identifying performance and organizational needs and using proven and efficient processes to address them. The processes that were designed and rolled out in 2003 are still in place and have been continuously improved over the 3-year time period.  The plant considers the redesign process to have been a success and the HMT believes that the systems have supported their desire to “raise the bar” on individual and group performance throughout the Houston plant.    

Internal Processes for Managing the Relationship: Miller Consultants worked with the internal project manager, Lisa Walton and the HMT sponsor, Herb Cox, to put together a project plan that served as the guide for the redesign process.  They updated the plan on a weekly basis and thus were able to chart progress and problems quickly.  Kathy Miller served as the project manager from the Miller team.  She and Lisa Walton stayed in close touch throughout the life of the project both through face-to-face contact as well as through technology.  Using the project plan as the foundation, they were able to keep the process on track.