Viacom, Inc.'s Human Resource System
Viacom Inc. together with its subsidiaries and divisions, according to its 1996 10-K, is a diversified entertainment and publishing company with operations in four segments: 1) Television Networks and Broadcasting; 2) Entertainment; 3) Video and Music/Theme Parks; and 4) Publishing (10K, 1996, 1).
Through the Networks and Broadcasting segment, the company owns and operates MTV, Showtime, Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite, VH1 and 11 broadcast television stations. Through the entertainment segment, which includes Paramount pictures and Spelling Entertainment Group Inc., the company produces and distributes theatrical motion pictures and television programming.
Through the Video and Music/Theme Parks segment, which includes the Blockbuster family of businesses and Paramount Parks the company owns, operates, and franchises videocassette rental and sales stores worldwide and owns and operates music stores in the U.S. In addition, Paramount Parks owns and operates five theme parks and one water park in the U.S. and Canada (10-K, 1996, 1).
Through the Publishing segment that includes Simon & Schuster, Macmillan Publishing USA, and Prentice Hall, the company publishes and distributes educational, consumer, business, technical and professional books, and audio-video software products in 300 countries. Viacom and its affiliated companies -- some 3,000 in number -- employ approximately 83,500 people, of which approximately 33,000 are full-time salaried employees (10-K, 1996, 4).
Viacom owns businesses in the following countries: Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Guatemala, Canada, England, France, Italy, Germany, China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Borneo, Java, Australia, Egypt, Greece, Iceland, Russia, Georgia, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, and 67 other countries.
Companywide, more than a dozen languages are spoken, more than 200 different national sets of employment and labor law...