BUS2004 Human Resource Management Case Study 3 Sample

BUS2004 Human Resource Management Case Study 3

Assessment 3 Detail

A Case study will be provided comprising answers to three or four case study analysis questions. The business report format is required for the individual assignment.

The headings and subheadings are strongly recommended to structure the business report. The Harvard Referencing Style is required. For detailed requirement, please refer to the guidelines of how to write Business Report and academic writing style? It is strongly recommended to review SLS learning Enhancement Section in APIC Canvas. The link of Business Report Guideline was provided in the assessment section of this subject in the Canvas.

CASE STUDY

CHANGE AT INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRIES

The atmosphere in the room is tense. Ted Jones-Mason, CFO for International Industries has just finished his presentation. President Brenda Wood, sits quietly making notes. After a pause, she breaks the silence.

‘From what you have shown us, Ted, it seems that we face the following problems in Australia. Our plant is not competitive when benchmarked against international best practice or against our other plants in China, Germany and the United States. Our production costs are the highest in the world. Our low productivity and high labour costs are killing us. In short, we must either cut our Australian losses and expand elsewhere or make our Australian operations more competitive.’

Ted looks directly at Brenda. ‘Brenda, that’s it in a nutshell. Our Australian operations are bleeding badly. Worse, their financial performance is now affecting the group’s overall profitability and ability to grow. If we don’t do something quickly about Australia, we risk being taken over by Mega Manufacturing of China. If that happens, the Australian plant will certainly be closed. You are all aware that our share price has dropped 20 per cent in recent months and that it is rumoured in the financial media that we are now a potential takeover target if we don’t do something about stemming the losses in our Australian operations.’

Brenda nods in acknowledgement then turns to face Steve Jaworski, vice-president of manufacturing.

‘Steve, what do you think?’

‘Ted is right. The point I wish to make is this, if we could achieve 90 per cent of best practice figures for productivity and labour costs our Australian plant would be among the most profitable in the company. It’s basically that simple. Our performance is appalling. We have rotten production figures because our plant and equipment is archaic and we don’t have any labour flexibility. Excessive penalty rates make it uneconomical to operate the plants seven days a week, absenteeism is ridiculously high, our workers are not motivated, we constantly face fights with the unions over demarcation, our workers show more loyalty to the unions than they do to us and the safety record of the Australian plant is the worst in the company. Yet, our pay and conditions of employment are among the best in the industry. Our labour turnover is low — no one ever leaves. It’s just that no one works either.’

‘I don’t know if you realise it or not,’ interrupts Ted, ‘but according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Australia is the least efficient manufacturing country in the world.’165

‘I hear you Steve,’ says Brenda, ‘but I must admit it sounds like a terrible indictment of our Australian management. Rachel, you have been quiet so far, what have you got to say?’

Rachel Barberis, vice-president of people and culture, looks at the faces around the boardroom table. ‘It seems to me we have a terrible problem, but it is solvable. In the past, we have been able to ignore much of what is hurting us now because business was so good. The newly completed China and US plants were not in full production and the German plant was undergoing a major technological overhaul. Australia now has to be competitive or it is going to be run over.’

‘The unions need to understand that workers will fall into two groups — those that can work with robots and those who will be replaced by them,’ adds Steve. ‘As of today, we can replace 250 jobs with robots and save ourselves at least $10 000 000 a year.’

‘That might be the case, but I can’t see the union agreeing to lose 250 jobs to foreign built robots,’ says Ted. ‘What we have to do is get our Australian management back to basics,’ says Brenda. ‘We have stated that our corporate mission is to be the fastest growing, most profitable company in the industry. The company’s committed to investing in people, R&D and equipment. We want to be the best by constantly seeking technological improvement and superior teamwork.’

‘I agree,’ interjects Rachel, ‘but we haven’t even articulated a clear human resource strategy linked to our strategic business objectives. We have management problems and we have industrial relations problems — all are human resources related. The Industrial Union of Manufacturing Workers and the National Clerical Association are strong because we are not doing a good job of managing our people. The unions manage our workers, not us. Our managers have abrogated their HR management responsibilities. For heaven’s sake, the unions tell us who to hire and fire, whether or not we can use contractors — we even have to ask them if it is okay to automate or outsource any activity. We can’t do anything without getting their permission. We say we are an equal employment opportunity employer, but we give preference to union workers, we promote on seniority and not on ability, and if we have to reduce staff members, it must be done on the basis of “last on, first off”.
A practice, I need not remind you that clearly discriminates against women. We can’t reward our best workers — performance is an irrelevancy. Everyone is paid the same. Trying to fire someone for unsatisfactory performance is a nightmare and more often than not we end up paying “go away” money. Added to all of this the Australian industrial relations laws are a major block to efficiency.’166 Ted interjects, ‘The problem is that the FWC is overly concerned with process and job protection.

Productivity does not come into it.’ ‘I agree that the situation in our Australian operations is a major worry,’ adds Steve. ‘Unless things change we will have no option but to shut them down. To survive they must stop operating by twentieth century rules and prepare for the twenty-first century. It needs to be understood by our Australian management and the unions that International Industries does not have to invest in their country.’ Brenda pauses, ‘I agree major changes are required in management personnel, employee attitudes and in our approach to human resource management. Rachel is right, we have a business strategy but we don’t have a people strategy. This is our last chance to save the Australian operations. Rachel, I want you, Steve and Ted to get together and formulate an action plan for the board’s consideration at the July meeting.’ The three executives nod and voice their agreement.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1.Identify the various stakeholders involved and determine which ones are likely to represent the forces for change or the forces resisting change.

2.What ethical, legal and HR issues may arise to challenge any proposed changes?

3.As HR consultant to International Industries, what changes would you recommend and how would you advise International Industries’ management go about implementing them? 

Solution

Introduction

Changes in International Industries are all about new innovations and development within the company. As per Afuah (2020), innovations assist in managing and monitoring the changes in an organization. Generally, it comes through international industries, which are based on finding changes in the market and demand in the market. Sometimes the environment in the market is changing and for that, the companies bring new aspects with the adoption process. Through that, it can be said that the changes can come with all benefits and requirements. In this assignment, the case study is on international industries. According to the MBA Assignment Expert, the scenario of this case study is all about the problem in the Australian industry and changes in international practices to be competitive in the market. The industries in Australia have gone through loss and high labour costs, which are affecting the financial performance of the industries. In this case, it has been identified that the management and leaders are planning to bring efficiency and betterment to the market. According to the issues and demands of the organisation's goals and objectives, the company can be involved in bringing development and new changes in the market. According to the case study, for high technology, the international industry has replaced almost 250 jobs with robots and saved at least 10000000 dollars in a year. According to the demarcation in the industry, the workers are more loyal to the companies. In this case, it has been identified that the employment has been disrupted which is based on bringing the betterment of the company. This assignment involves bringing the knowledge that is based on finding the profits and efficiency in the market.

1. Identification of various stakeholders and determination of the one likely to represent the forces to resisting change

Human resource management or HRM departments of the industries are involved in bringing changes for the casual workforce and high levels of unemployment in the market (Leonidou et al., 2020). There are so many reasons for change that have been found because workplaces are dominated by changes. The changes are casual workforce, stress, corporate takeovers, work-family conflicts, stress, career ladders destroyed, new technologies and others. In addition, it has been identified that the forces to change can come through the external and internal environment. The international industry has brought changes within their companies and businesses. The employees and management are the key stakeholders who are involved in resisting changes such as crises, new information, reduced performance, new organisation aspects, and lack of skills and structure problems of the company. The key problem is the lack of human resource strategy and for that, the management is involved in facing issues and the lack of knowledge is bringing the changes as per the issues. The international industry is dependent on the union and for that; they have to get permission from the union. After the changes, it can be possible to face the high replacement of employees by robots which can enhance the sustainability of the firm (Abeywardana et al., 2022). Other stakeholders are included such as the government, customers, suppliers and others who are involved in bringing the changes in the market such as globalisation, and economic conditions. As per the case study, it has been identified that the international industry has found financial loss because of the technical changes in the market. Changing consumer behaviour and purchasing behaviour can bring more changes within the workplace in production, employability and others. Demographic change and technical changes have been found within the workplace, which is based on bringing the changes in the relationship between the company and us customers.

The government is one of the major stakeholders who have the power to bring new rules and regulations to the market and for that, companies have been working according to the policies. The HR managers are caused to bring changes in their workplaces. It has been identified that they are involved in facing the changes in the workplace, management and market. Furthermore, HRs are involved in making things happen and they introduce new practices and policies in the market. According to the changes in the market, it has been found that the workplace can find performance to be changed by financial and market popularity. Additionally, the work for changes is required to be flexible and competitive in the market. Types of changes can be found here such as radical change and transformational change. Generally, it can be said that radial change and transformational change produce fundamental changes in the nature of the organisation. Incremental change is involved in bringing small steps that modify the existing strategies, system, culture and people of the company. There are two types of changes that can come from the stakeholders and those are planned changes and unplanned changes (Li, et al., 2021). Planned changes can come through the HRM, employees and organisational authorities. Unplanned changes come through the government, customers and suppliers because of rules and regulations. According to the forces to change, it is necessary for the stakeholders to maintain betterment and through that, it can be helpful for the international industries to determine the obstacles to the changes.

2. The ethical, legal and HR issues to challenge the proposed changes

There are several issues that can be faced by International Industries if they aim to make changes in the workplace by deploying modern technology. The senior management of the company aims to deploy robotic technology in the firm in order to enhance their productivity and overall performance (Valecha, 2022). However, robotic deployment leads to the division of employees into two groups- one group can work with robots and the other group will be replaced by robots, which will increase the unemployment rate. A major technological disruption in the company can bring up new opportunities for the first but it will also bring up certain ethical, legal and human resource management issues that need to be resolved so that the company can manage the change and encourage the members of the union to accept the changes as well.

Ethical Issues

The ethical issue arises when the company terminates about 250 employees from their respective jobs just because they can be replaced by technologies. These employees have fulfilled their abilities and roles efficiently but they shall be terminated because the company aims to save $ 10,000,000 a year by replacing humans with robots. Replacement of human employees by robots is an ethical concern here unemployment rates shall increase and skilled employees shall not get their deserved scope of earning (Badiuzzaman and Rafiquzzaman, 2020). Another ethical issue is the sense of responsibility, which is negligible among robots. Any task requires a workforce and robots run only on commands or programming language with zero sense of responsibility or ability to understand the emotions of clients. As a result, errors made by robots shall be rectified by none, as no employee will be responsible for such a mistake and its consecutive loss. Therefore, such robotic deployment can bring up several ethical issues for International Industries and stages need to be implemented so that ethical issues can be resolved before robots are used to replace human employees.

Legal Issues

One of the major legal concerns that shall be faced by International Industries if they use technology to satisfy the customer base is the issue related to the privacy of information. Companies have to handle sufficient amounts of financial data of stakeholders and store these data in their systems regularly to keep track of customer facts. However, when robots handle the data, there is a high risk of data breaches where the financial and personal information of stakeholders can be deleted or tampered with by hackers (Awamleh et al., 2020). Such an issue will lead to legal implications for the firm where the company has to compensate the victims and it will lead to financial exam stress. Since robots run on the internet, hackers can revive the data handled or stored by robots easily and that can aim to ruin the reputation or brand image of International Industries.

HR Issues

The major issues of human resources shall be faced in managing the members of the union who will not accept the termination of employees because they are replaced by robotic technologies. Moreover, the employees of International Industries are more loyal to union members compared to the senior management or leaders of the company. As a result, the employees will follow the decision of the union and there will be non-cooperation or non-agreeableness on the topic of technological deployment to enhance organisational productivity.

3. The recommendation in changes as an HR consultant to international industries to advise the international industries management about the implementation

According to the issues that have been found it can be recommended here some effective suggestions for the international industries and their leaders and management. According to Kurt Lewin’s change management model, there are three steps included such as unfreezing, moving and refreezing. It is necessary for the management people to be involved in proper changes within the organisation. People are involved in management initiation and change with more key variables in the organisation so they can change.

Training and Learning Programs for Employees

The leaders and management must be included in the training section and learning program for the employees because it is necessary for the company to maintain and keep their employees safe (Stone, 2020). It is all about bringing the key training and learning aspects that are necessary and required for the employees so they can compete for technologies like AI and robot technologies. It is required to make the employees more skilled and knowledgeable than the robot. As it is necessary to have efficiency and based on that, it can be said that the training and learning aspects can come through the reward and learning development section that can help the company to increase the performance of the companies in the international market.

Cyber Security Software and Skills

According to the mitigation of resistance to changes, it is important to bring cyber security in the workplace so the feature can help to bring the implementation and development of the company. The employees must have knowledge of cyber security software so they can bring safety and effective performance to reduce the risks (Leonidou et al., 2020). Additionally, it can be said that certainty and participation are important to enhance the skills of the employees so they can handle cyber risks, hacking problems and others. In addition, it has been identified that the investment in technologies can help employees and bring efficiency to use the technologies within the workplace. In addition, it has been identified that the resistance to change needs to be reduced in the market, which is important. On the other hand, it has been identified that implementation change is highly recommended so they can be involved in management to take initiative and actions that may be more variable in the organisations.

Communication and Counselling Sessions with Union Members

Communication and counselling may help the leaders and managers to develop some betterment and improvement. In this case, it has been identified that the international industry should implement communication sessions with the union members so they can find the guarantee to gain improvement and growth in future (Stone, 2020). On the other hand, it can be said that counselling and coercion are involved in bringing efficiency and betterment within the workplace. According to the HR and restructuring aspect, it has been identified that it is necessary to manage the survivors that is one of the major challenges facing the HR managers and their aspects. In this case, it has been identified that the session must be included to motivate the people for offering incentives and compensation.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it can be summarised that the assignment is based on the case study, which is all about the motivation and efficiency that can retain the good people who can offer incentives with all development. The international industry in Australia has gone through financial loss because of the union. The robot is going to replace people in the market and the changes are bringing problems for the company. In this case, it can be said that the company can find different solutions in the market to keep their business safe.

References

Abeywardana, N.L.E., Azam, S.F. and Teng, K.L.L., 2022. Towards the Sustainability Enhancement: Identification of Impediments on Integrated Reporting. Universal Journal of Accounting and Finance, 10(2), pp.591-600.

Afuah, A., 2020. Innovation management-strategies, implementation, and profits.
Awamleh, A.M.A., Alorfi, A.S.M., Al-Gasawneh, J.A. and Al-Rawashdeh, G., 2020. Cyber security and ethical hacking: The importance of protecting user data. Solid State Technology, 63(5), pp.7894-7899.

Badiuzzaman, M. and Rafiquzzaman, M., 2020. Automation and Robotics: A Review of Potential Threat on Unskilled and Lower Skilled Labour Unemployment in Highly Populated Countries. International Business Management, 14(1), pp.16-24.

Leonidou, E., Christofi, M., Vrontis, D. and Thrassou, A., 2020. An integrative framework of stakeholder engagement for innovation management and entrepreneurship development. Journal of Business Research, 119, pp.245-258.

Li, J.Y., Sun, R., Tao, W. and Lee, Y., 2021. Employee coping with organizational change in the face of a pandemic: The role of transparent internal communication. Public relations review, 47(1), p.101984.

Stone, JR 2020. Human resource management, 10th edn, John Wiley and Sons, Brisbane.
Valecha, N., 2022. A Study on Importance of Ethical Responsibilities in HR Management. International Journal for Global Academic & Scientific Research, 1(1), pp.13-22.