The Project of Maple Leaf Shoes Ltd-Job - Case Study Example

 The Project of Maple Leaf Shoes Ltd-Job What is your evaluation of Lance's approach to the project? Overall, it is apparent from the case that although there are positive attributes in Lance's approach to the project, the weaknesses far outweigh the strengths. The first major point that is apparent in Lance’s approach to the project is that Lance did everything he could to ensure that all the senior managers of the organization are interviewed, even if the interview was not successful. The second positive aspect evident in Lance’sapproach to the project is the way he framed some of the interview questions, some of which exhibited a proactive tone. One case in point is where Lance posed the question "What are the unique needs of your department?" Additionally, his approach to the project also appears focused and effective since he appears to be operating on the assumption that a human resource department must be able to satisfy the needs of its clients, including employees and managers. Although Lance approach had quite a number of strengths, his approach to the project appears to have had more methodological and theoretical flaws than strengths. The first major weakness in his approach is evident in the question checklist, which was very short. Accordingly, the question checklist could not give a comprehensive insight into the functions of the human resource. The second major weakness in his approach was that he failed to follow all the job analysis procedures. The third weakness was that the response was received from only three out of the five managers, which was a fundamental flaw. In fact, the interview that Lance conducted with Clark was of no use taking into consideration the fact that it was marred by interruptions. Another weakness in the Lance approach to the project was that Lance failed to meet with the unions, subordinates, and other employees who work at other locations far from the head office. Conventionally, it would have been appropriate that Lance meet all the stakeholders who play a critical part in ensuring the effectiveness of the human resource management. Another major weakness in Lance’s approach also became clear after conducting the three interviews. According to the case, it is clear that Lance had no idea of job roles, the criteria for assessing the effectiveness of HR department functions, as well as a performance standards, after conducting three interviews. Certainly this was a major weakness as conventionally people would expect him to be highly knowledgeable about these issues at the end of the third interview. In addition, the case shows that Lance had no idea of the physical and other critical attributes required of an HR manager, which was a fundamental flaw. The other flaw that is worth pointing out in the approach to the project is the fact that Lance does not intend whatsoever to look at the past records of the firm to have an idea of the company's past practices. Moreover, Lance’s approach had a weakness in the sense that he failed to adhere to the structured interview questions, which he had developed earlier. Instead, he decided to assess the overall performance of the human resource department in an informal (unstructured) manner, which was prone to errors. Lance decided to use a free-response format for all the interview questions. This was a major weakness since it makes the expected responses incompatible, thus useless. This is because the incompatibility of the responses makes it difficult to form a good conclusion to all the questions. Therefore, it would have been appropriate if Lance avoided using a free-response format to enhance responsiveness and make forming conclusions easy for all the questions. What would you do if you were in Lance's position right now? Thedecision ntaken by Lance to interview members of the staff of Maple Leaf Shoes was a good one since it was a way of gaining an insight into the challenges facing the HR department of the company. However, his approach had a number of flaws. He ought to have done a number of things differently to ensure success. Firstly, Lance conducted an interview with just a few managers, which was not the best way of having a clear picture of the problems that the company is experiencing in its HRM (Clardy, 2014). Therefore, if I were in Lance’s position, I would certainly broaden the interview to cover all the major stakeholders of Maple Leaf Shoes, including employees, customers, union officials, and the HR manager's subordinates. Additionally, if I were in Lance’s position, I would ensure that all the employees stationed in other regions are also interviewed so as to incorporate their views when coming up with the final decision (Clardy, 2014). In this respect, I would ensure that I maintain a close contact with the staff from other locations without necessarily having to move to all these locations physically. Some of the methods I would adopt in maintaining contact with the staff from other regions include phone contacts or sending them a questionnaire by e-mail. As a matter of fact, contacting the staff in other regions through telephone interviews and mailed questionnaires would help increase the response rate since the two methods to protect the identity of the respondents. Additionally, the use of these technologies would be appropriate for use as a cost cutting strategy. Incorporating the opinions of these members of staff would help enhance the response rate, which is critical in coming up with the final decision as suggested by Ghosh (2000). Additionally, if I were in Lance position, I would provide a longer and more comprehensive interview schedule which seeks to assess the job purposes, what the firm is currently doing, how the job is being executed currently, training needs, the need for experience and the responsibility of the HR manager among others. This is because; the case clearly demonstrates that Lance failed to address these issues, which are critical for the effective performance of a human resource department. From the case, it is clear that Lance failed to look at past records of Maple Leaf Shoes' HR department to have an insight into the gaps and how effective the HR department is performing. Therefore, if I were in his position, I would ensure that all the past records of the firm's HR department are keenly looked into to identify areas that have flaws so that appropriate strategies to improve the gaps can be devised to ensure effective functioning of the Maple Leaf Shoes' HR department. Additionally, when conducting an interview, it would be appropriate to introduce the idea of job competencies, according to Wilson et al. (2013). This is because the introduction of job competency would result in the assessment of the features of high and low performance in Maple Leaf Shoes. Additionally, if I were in Lance’s position, I would certainly consider asking about past fundamental incidents regarding the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the human resource manager when interviewing the staff and managers. I feel that doing so is critical since it would help in identifying performance standards as noted by Kumar (2010). Lastly, if I were in Lance’s position, I would consider introducing additional systems and procedures to cover the various aspects of the company’s staff management. This is because a critical evaluation of Maple Leaf shows that the effectiveness of the company’s HR department is still low compared to its competitors in the same industry. Therefore, the introduction of additional systems, in my opinion will help enhance the effectiveness of the company’s HR department. Accordingly, this will help improve the firm’s competitiveness in the industry. References Clardy, A. B. (2014). Managing human resources: Exercises, experiments, and applications. New York, NY: Psychology Press. Ghosh, B. (2000). Human resources development and management. Princeton, NJ: Vikas Publishing House Pvt Ltd. Kumar, R. (2010). Human resource management: Strategic analysis text and cases. New York, NY: I. K. International Pvt Ltd. Wilson, M. A., Bennett, W., Gibson, S. G., & Alliger, G. M. (2013). The handbook of work analysis: Methods, systems, applications and science of work measurement in organizations. London: Routledge. Read More