Human Resource Management

Assignment # 02

Case study 01

Submitted to: Dr. Ajmal Waheed

Submitted by: Qaim Deen

Class: MBA-IV (B)

Reg. No. : 01151111037

Date: 02-11-2012

Quaid-i-Azam School of Management Sciences.

Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad.

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Q1: Describe the HRM practices that were conducted at House Smart. What evidence is there that the four key roles of an HR manager were applied? What impact did this have

on organizational growth and survival?

(a) The HRM practices were not very much followed in the company. Following are the few

HRM practices that were used in the company.

Social gathering of employees

Good relationship among employees and management

Motivating employees by treating them like a family

Selection among the existing employees (Jane was selected)

Leadership (Leader was only Colin)

Centralized decision making (by Colin)

(b) There was no evidence that the four key roles of HR manager were applied. The company

was not following any HR practices in their management, and Colin as a leader and as a HR

manager was not so impressive to apply HR practices.

(c) As the HR practices were not followed and the key HR roles were also not applied this thing

damages the organization growth. Company was affected badly due to the HR roles were not

applied. The employees were not performing well and there was no job description available for

the employees. Lack of planning was there due to which they don’t know what to do in specific

conditions. The reason the company was struggling for the survival was due to the HR problems

in the company. If the HR management was good then company may not go to decline. . Due to

these unsuitable HR practices and inefficient management, the House .mart Furniture Company

suffered bankruptcy and had to shut down its office in Hong Kong.

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Q2: Analyze the life cycle of the organization and compare it with the HR planning and

forecasting needs to encourage growth and sustainability. What influence would effective

HR planning have had on House Smart’s latest expansion strategy?

The life cycle of the organization is simple one. Firstly the company was going very well. The

profits were high and the growth was substantial. Then the company decided to expand its

business by opening sales office in Hong Kong without any feasibility and proper study of the

environment. Due to which problems arise and the company growth decreases and there was

substantial loss in terms of market share.

The HR planning which is the ongoing process of systematic planning to achieve optimum use of

an organization's most valuable asset - its human resources. The objective of HR planning is to

ensure the best fit between employees and jobs, while avoiding manpower shortages or

surpluses. There was a need of HR planning and forecasting to encourage growth and stability.

Because by HR planning the issues that arises in the company can be eliminated and by

forecasting the upcoming events and trends, difficulties and opportunities one company can

easily adjust itself according to the changed environment.

If HR planning was made it has a great positive effect on the latest expansion strategy of the

company because the main problem in the Hong Kong was the HR. if a proper way was followed

in selection and understanding the environment was made correctly the business may be going

smooth in Hong Kong. The idea of expansion was not bad but the way it was carried on and

especially mismanagement in HR ruined all the opportunity. Effective HR planning would have

impact on company in such way the target may be achieved very well due to assigning suitable

targets, assigning job according to the capability etc.

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Q3: Was the purpose of Colin’s plans evident? How did they fit with his ‘strategic intend’?

What must House Smart do to implement more effective strategic management?

(a) No, the purpose of Colin‘s plan was not evident. He just wanted expansion so overall purpose

was not clear. There was no goal set of business by expanding it. The way he takes decisions

does not show the actual purpose of the business expansion.

(b) The strategic intends were also not very much fit with the purpose of the business expansion.

There was no linkage between the purpose and the actions that were made by Colin. The

decisions that were made by Colin were not depicting the actual results that he wanted to achieve

in the near future.

(c) To implement more effective strategic management the House Smart must do the following

things.

Analyze the market

The systematic analysis of the factors associated with customers

Studying the competitors

SWOT analysis of organization itself

Hire competent and well aware HR

Job description must be there

Realistic sales targets

Cope up with the local rules and regulations

Training given to employees for stress management

Understanding the ever changing environment

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Q4: Applying a SWOT analysis, consider what aspects of the internal and external

environment were considered when House Smart planned for its human resources. What

techniques would have assisted Colin and Jane when forecasting human resource needs?

SWOT analysis of House Smart is given below

Strengths:

Selecting Jane because of awareness

Local employees selection

Quick reactions to market trends

English spoken employees

Weaknesses:

No job description

No experience

Written communication was not good

Salary was high

HR department not exist

HR problems

Opportunities:

Growing demand of the furniture

In Taiwan and Japan Joint venture opportunity

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Threats:

Competitors entering in market

High salaries given to employees in Hong Kong

Different style taste at Hong Kong

Culture of Hong Kong

Aspects Considered:

Smart House doesn’t consider much internal and external aspect when they planned for its

human resource. Because Colin doesn’t follow the HR policies and also there was no HR

department in the organization. The aspects of internal environment that must be considered are

services, customers, resources, location and philosophy.

The aspects of external environment were also ignored. The aspects of external environment that

must be considered are competitors, related industries, technology, laws and regulations,

environment, forecasting and planning and external consultants.

Techniques of forecasting HR:

The techniques that must have been used by Colin and Jane while forecasting human resource

needs were:

Managerial judgment: (Sit together, discuss and arrive at a figure which may be future need)

Delphi Technique: (Calls for a facilitator to solicit and give expert opinion on HR needed)

Scenario Forecasting: (Likelihood of possible future developments and changes)

Job analysis: (Finding out the abilities or skills to do the job efficiently)

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Q5: What assumptions did Jane make about House Smart’s recently established HRIS? What process did she ignore?

Assumptions:

Jane make following assumptions about the House Smart recently established HRIS.

o She assumed that 11 employees will be sufficient.

o She assumed that employees have sales and marketing background

o She assumed that employees may know English fully.

o She assumed that the Hong Kong office will have effective communication by company

intranet with head office.

Process ignored:

The processes that Jane ignored were:

o Experience of employees by hiring fresh graduates

o Compensation and benefits given to employees

o How to handle the employees

o Evaluation of the performance

o Termination of the employees

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Q6: What are some issues that House Smart should have considered when applying Australian employment law to offshore locations? What consequences should Collin have foreseen?

House Smart should have considered following issues when applying Australian employment

law to offshore location.

o Differences of the culture

o Rights of the employees in Hong Kong

o Taxation system

o Pension funds contributions

o Termination of employees

o Rules and regulations

o Payment Cycles

Consequences:

Consequences that Colin must have seen should be:

o Competition (How easy for a company to enter in competition in Hong Kong)

o Conflicts between employees and management

o The ever changing environment will affect the business

o Due to cultural difference problems will arise

o The work force problems as it is different from the Australian workforce

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Q7: Develop an HRM recovery plan for House Smart.

HRM Recovery Plan:

According to me the HRM recovery plan of House Mart should consist of the following

recommendations/things.

o There is need of developing a strategic business plan so that the company must know

that what we are going to do in the near future and what are our goals and objectives. It

will give the employees a guidance that where we are moving.

o There must be HR policies that must be formulated because we have people working for

us. So we need a strategy for developing, communicating and enforcing a set of policies

and practices that reflect our standards of acceptable behavior.

o Human Resource Department must be there so that a right person for the right job is

hired who have a desirable set of abilities and skills to perform the duties of the job.

o There is no job specification or job description for the employees. So employees

working in our organization but don’t what is their actual duty it will demotivate them.

People like to have a clear understanding of their role in a company as well as the roles of

others.

o Some rules and regulations are required so that employees know what their limits are.

Managers and employees need to share a clear understanding of what is and what is not

acceptable behavior within the company.

o There is a need of training of employees especially to handle the pressure of wok and to

handle the work more efficiently.

o There must be performance evaluation methods to evaluate the performance of the

employees of the organization.

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o Recruitment of the employees must be according to merit and only hardworking and

deserving individuals must be hired.

o Identification of strategic HR issues arising from the strategic analysis. Also identify the

ongoing HR issues impacting the department's effectiveness must also be identified.

Solving all the issues.

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