Assignment – 1: Critical Thinking

Read the following Case Study and answer the following

questions.

This assignment weighs10 Marks

·

Assignment Format:

Make sure:

o

Your paper has a cover page with your name, course name,

semester, date and your work title.

o

Your paper is numbered

o

Font type: Times New

Roman, size: 12, Titles size: 14, Double space.

o

To be submitted in 1 week.

o

Make sure you refer to the references you got your work from (if

applicable).

o

Due Date of submission is21/02/2016(Revised

Date)

o

No Assignments will be accepted after the due date.

NOTE:The answers should be in your own words, explanatory,

thoughtful, and with complete information. There is no word limit for any of

the questions. And there is no limit to your suggestions and conclusions. The

more elaborate you are with concepts and views, the better you conclude your

thoughts.

Changes, Changes

Jennifer, the

owner and manager of a company with ten employees, has hired you to take over the HRM functionso

she can focus on other areas of her business. During your first two weeks, you

find out that the company

has been greatly affected by the up economy and is expected to

experience overall revenue

growth by 10 percent over the next three years, with some quarters

seeing growth as

high as 30 percent. However, five of the ten workers are expected to retirewithin

three years. These workers have been with the organization since the beginning

and provide a unique historical perspective of the company. The other five

workers are of diverse ages.

In addition to

these changes, Jennifer believes they may be able to save costs by allowing employees to

telecommute one to two days per week. She has some concerns about productivity if she

allows employees to work from home. Despite these concerns, Jennifer has

even considered closing down thephysical office and making her company a virtual

organization, but she wonders how such a major change will affect the ability to communicate

and worker motivation.

Jennifer shares

with you her thoughts about the costs of health care on the organization. She has

considered cutting

benefits entirely and having her employees work for her on a contract basis,

instead of being

full-time employees. She isn’t sure if this would be a good

choice.Jennifer schedules a meeting with you to discuss some of her thoughts.

To prepare for the meeting, you perform research so you can impress your new

boss with recommendations

on the challenges presented.

 

Discussion Questions:

1.

Point out which changes are occurring in the business

that affect HRM.

2.

What are some considerations the company and HR

should be aware of when making changes related to this case study?

3.

What would the initial steps be to start

planning for these changes?

4.

What would your role be in implementing these changes?

What would Jennifer’s role be?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Human resources aid as a link

between the top management and the employees in facilitating the change in the

business process. The change also may affect HR in so many areas.

1.

Point out which changes are occurring in the

business that affect HRM.

 

The organizations may get affected

by some external environment factors which may limit the organization ability

to function well. So the management

should keep monitoring and watching these external factors all the times.

One of these external environment

factors is the economy; the entity must monitor the economy efficiently

and learn how to react to it. The changes in economic could affect the

organization decision making related to HRM as the following:recruiting,benefits and compensation, training & development, downsizing,

employee’s contract, and money will spend on the business growth. In this case, the company is facing 10%

revenue growth which may need to hire more employees to meet the need and want

of our customers.

Human resources also should be aware

of the change in the aging workforce.

As we have in this case five employees are going to retire, and then the

HR management has to think about the organization retirement plan and the

training program to prepare the youth labor to replace the older workers with

the required skills.

Workplace diversity is one of the changes which may affect human

resource management, and it refers to the variety and differences between the

employees. Diversity includes the race,

gender, ethnic group, age, and personality. In this case, we have age

diversity, and the management should be ready to meet the benefits need of each

employee.

 

2. What are some considerations the company and

HR should be aware of when making changes related to this case study?

The company and HR should

be aware ofsome

considerations when making changes such as:

1.

The organization objectives: any implementing

changes should help in achieving the organization goals.

2.

The labor law of the country: ensuring that HR

policies and practices are fitting to the state laws.

3.

TelecommutingAllows employees to work from home or a remote location for a

specified period of time, such as one day per week.: is allowing the

employee to work from home for a period of time, and then HRM has to be aware

of its issues to it can develop policies to meet the company and the employee’s

needs.

4.

Communicate the change: Transparency and strong

communication about the change in the business goals with the employees would

enhance their productivity, decrease the turnover, and increase their loyalty.

5.

Designing motivated work: HRM should create

work that attracts, satisfy, and motivate employees to attain the organization

objectives.

6.

Alternative work arrangement: HRM should be

aware of the benefits of these flexible contract such as virtual terms.

7.

Health-Care Insurance: is became mandatory

nowadays and it is part of the employee’s benefits.

8.

Changes must be implemented slowly not all the

sudden.

Any

manager who does not consider those factors will end up with unmotivated, and

unproductive employees.

3. What would the initial steps be to start

planning for these changes?

 

There

are some steps which HRM has to go through before implementing any change in

the organization.

·

Set clear business goals at a given time and

make sure to communicate it to the employees to attain and achieve the

organization goals and objectives.

·

Create the future action plan, and then

management could know the targets of each employee.

·

Assess the current organization’s strategic HR

planning, identify department’s current staff knowledge, skills, and evaluate

their strengths and their training need.

·

Know all possible alternatives that may help to

attain those goals.

·

Analyze all potential costs and benefits.

So these

steps will contribute taking the right decision and planning for these changes.

 

4. What would your role be in implementing

these changes? What would Jennifer’s role be?

HRM role:

·

Start developing policies aligning with the

growth of the business.

·

Find out the employees reactions to these

changes.

·

Make sure these changes will benefit both the

company and the employee.

·

Update the employee’s contract with the new

changes.

·

Arrange training program for youth labor.

·

Focus on productivity.

·

Link HR functions with the business strategy.

Jennifer role:

·

Lead the

organization effectively and efficiently.

·

Make the commitment to the change.

·

Take the risk of implementing changes

·

Communicate the outcomes of implementing those

changes to employees

·

Evaluate the process and ask for correction if

needed.

 

Conclusion

We

can notice that HRM of any company plays the big strategic role in the success

and the growth of the entity. It is not

only controlling the staffing, and selecting of the candidate, but it also

helps perform the managerial functions for the employee’s development and the

success of the organization.

 

 

References:

Chapter 1: The Role of Human Resources. (n.d.). In

 

L. P. Dias, Beginning Management of Human Resources.