Human Resources and Organisational Structure of Johns Boilermakers Company - Case Study Example

Human Resources and Organisational Structure Executive summary This analysis was aimed at presenting the situation at John’s Company by looking at five important areas which include organizational structure, communication, staffing, coaching and development of the contingency plan for the business in future. This study has found out that the structure of the organizational is so big and that does not actually fit into the company of this size which has only 16 employees. Communication has also been identified as a problem within the company and more especially at the workshop company. This has made it difficult for the manager and his two supervisors to give instructions to the staff. Further, on the issue of staffing, the company is overstaffed in managerial responsibilities since very small roles that can be combined together have been split into different managerial responsibilities. External coaching is also considered very instrumental in improving the performance of the company by imparting some skills and competencies among the staff. Finally, contingency plan in the area of human resource is required to ensure that the company at all times has the right number of employees for maximum efficiency in business operations. Table of Contents Executive summary 1 1.0 Introduction 3 1.1 Purpose of the report 3 2.0 Company overview 4 3.0 Organizational structure and company workforce 5 4.0 Communication among the workshop staff 6 4.1 Writing and distributing employee handbooks 7 4.2 Scheduling of regular staff meetings 7 4.3 Using staff bulletins and emails 7 4.4 Listening attentively to employees’ concerns and interests 7 4.5 Establishment of central communication point 8 5.0 Overstaffing in the company 8 6.0 Benefits of using an external coach in business 10 6.1A fresh perspective 10 6.2Specialized attention to the customer needs 11 6.3Confidential discussion 11 6.4Highly advanced coaching skills 11 6.5Specialist expertise 11 7.0 Conclusion 12 8.0 Recommended Contingency plan activities 12 References 13 1.0 Introduction Developing an effective organizational structure is an important aspect of any business is looking forward to succeed in hard economic times. Designing and putting in place an organizational structure demand that the business framework under which the business operates is adequately defined to give direction on how the structure will look like. Understanding what the business of the organizations is and how it works, is very fundamental for any organizational leader that is looking forward to make effective decisions (Scarborough and Thomas 2003). A well organized and developed organizational structure is important in ensuring cohesiveness and communication among the workforce is enhanced and positively applied to achieving organizational goals and objectives. Further, an organizational structure is used to identify the process of making decisions, rules governing formal and informal groups in an organization, assigning roles and duties among the staff and also facilitate communication. The ultimate objective of an organizational structure is to enhance efficiency in the business processes (Gulati & Puranam 2009). 1.1 Purpose of the report The purpose of this report to provide a detailed analysis of John’s Boilmakers’ Company by paying particular attention to such areas as organizational structure and its size, communication, staffing, employee coaching and designing a contingency plan for the business. The aim being to establish if the organizational structure for John’s Company is effective and efficient, ways of improving communication in the organization and in particular among the workshop staff, adequate staffing, benefits of using external coach for the business and the contingency plans that can be put in place for the business to ensure its continuity in the future. 2.0 Company overview John’s Company is specialized in manufacturing and selling boilers and John is the owner and the general manager. Apart of having a company workshop for manufacturing the boilers, the company has also diversified its business to supplying labor to nearby mines. The company has 16 employees 5 of whom are managers. Below is the current organizational structure for the company. Diagram 1: Current company organizational structure 3.0 Organizational structure and company workforce An appropriate organizational structure is supposed to ensure that only the required number of number of staff is made available at any given time. This is important in ensuring that there is efficiency is attained through proper use of available resources. To start with, John’s Company has got 16 workers among which 5 are managers as shown in the organizational structure above. In an ideal situation where the company is strategizing to grow by economizing resources (reference), the recommended manager-employee ratio is 1 to 15. However, this is not the case with the John’s Company. The current manager-employee ratio is about 1 to 3 three. What this implies (Gulati & Puranam 2009) is that some roles and duties are either duplicated or very small for the managers. John’s Company is relative small and having 5 managers and general managers making a total of 6 members in the management team, will mean that much of the workforce will be concentrated in doing administration work which in turn does not affect directly on the income of the business (Scarborough and Thomas 2003). Considering the case of John’s Company and going as per the required manager-employee ratio, then the company could have a maximum of two managers: the general manager and the strategic HRM planning manager. Having a very big ratio on manager-employee, there is always likelihood that many of the staff will be confused on whom to get instructions from. For instance in the case of John’s Company, the staff working at the workshop were also not clear whom to take instructions from between the workshop manager whose Ted and the two supervisors namely Matt and Dave. The reason for this is because many of the roles among the three looked almost similar and that it could be easy to tell who is responsible for what. Further, having a large management team in organization will mean that a company organizational structure will be equally large so as to accommodate each of them and the result is long bureaucracies in making business decisions. Further, existence of this kind of structure also makes it very difficult with regard to communication. This is because information will have to flow through the established structures before it reaches the General Manager John. This is disadvantageous in the process of making business decisions as it will consume a lot of time (Scarborough and Thomas 2003). 4.0 Communication among the workshop staff Communication is a very important that can be used in orgnisation to ensure that information within an organization flows systematically. With this regard therefore, having an effective communication very instrumental in making sure that each and every person is informed of what is expected of him and what the business is working to achieve. At departmental level the communication is between the managers and their supervisors and junior. Communication at the departmental level is aimed at getting employee working in a particular staff is involved in the activities that fall under the docket. However, it is not all times that communication at the departmental level can be effective. Perhaps this is because proper policies lack which can be use to provide guideline for communication structures (Allen et al 2008). At John’s Company, communication is failed at the workshop department. This can be seen from the failure by the staff to be certain on whom to take instructions from between the manager and two supervisors who work under him. Since the other departments also depend on the workshop for their performance, the problem in the department is therefore affecting the performance of other units of the company. It is therefore emerging that addressing the communication problem at the workshop department, be taken most urgent as it is likely to impact negatively on the performance of the whole business (Scarborough and Thomas 2003. Various ways can be used to restore proper communication at the department and they include using employee handbooks, scheduling regular departmental meetings, staff bulletins and emails, listening to employee concerns and interests and creating common communication point. 4.1 Writing and distributing employee handbooks The employee handbooks, clearly stipulates what the companies rules and what is expected of each. On the same line the employee handbooks can be used to highlight on the company goals and objectives and the roles and responsibility of each and every member of the team. Employees’ handbooks can actually be a very important strategy that can be used by John’s Company to improve on the communication process. Information contained in the employee handbooks (references) provides the staff with update as they are expected to be updated regularly with new information (Allen et al 2008). More important, the handbooks should highlight on what the company policy says with regard to communication and what channel of communication should be followed. 4.2 Scheduling of regular staff meetings Regular departmental meetings are form important ways through which the managers and the supervisors can get to communicate with the juniors more effectively. It is at the departmental level that issues related to new company policies and programs can be addressed. At the same time, it is at this point that the staff can have issues that affect them at workplace can be raised. The objective of having frequent departmental meetings is to create an environment where people are comfortable and free to communicate to the management (Allen et al 2008). 4.3 Using staff bulletins and emails This strategy can be used in alongside the employee handbooks. They involve sending small messages through phones and emails to the staff to update them on important changes within the department and a company has a whole. However, this can be done at any given time and preferably once in a week. At the workshop this strategy is important in letting the staff know of their next duties (Allen et al 2008). 4.4 Listening attentively to employees’ concerns and interests At the departmental level, it is expected that the manager pays attention to the staff and their supervisors. This is because every member of staff has role and duty to play in the company and there it is absolutely very necessary to have room to voice their concerns if they feel that there are some factors that hinder them from performing their duties as expected (Allen et al 2008). 4.5 Establishment of central communication point Bulletin boards can play a very important role in this case. Having central point of communication (reference), the employees and the supervisors will always have a platform to communicate with each other and at the same time have their concerns addressed in a timely and satisfactorily manner. Further, this means can be very effective in communicating a word on what might be happening in the company and in the departments as it is easily accessible for every member of staff (Allen et al 2008). 5.0 Overstaffing in the company After a detailed analysis of how different roles and responsibilities within the company have been assigned, no doubt that the company has got some areas which are overstaffed. Without proper organizational arrangements, overstaffing is a problem that is likely to affect any given business. The effect of overstaffing to the business is the under utilization of staff as an important resource. This is so because many roles and duties will be duplicated and therefore the business will have to pay more the staff that is not productive to the business in any way. In many occasions, overstaffing happens comes into being when the business experiences a boom and then a turndown when some of the staff will not be required. However, in some other cases, overstaffing can occur if the management does not do proper planning and identify all what the business wants to attain the size of the recommended workforce (George 2005). This case has been clearly demonstrated at John’s Company. At John’s Company there are two major areas that the company may consider to restructure in order to improve on its efficiencies and more especially during hard economic times and they include the area of the workshop hire and labor hire as shown in the organizational structure above. First and foremost, the company must consider having one strategic HRM planning manned by one manager and the same time have the coach department. What this means is the workshop hire and labor will be combined together and put under the leadership of Craig and have Ted retired because of his age that cannot keep him with the required pace. This also will mean that the position of assistant manager, labor hire has to be reassigned. After establishing single department in charge of all workforces, the roles of the supervisors could be left to be the way they are but be under the workshop hire and labor hire manager. Also to work under the workshop hire and labor hire manager, is the assistant manager labor hire and who will also be in charge of quoting. Because of these organizational structure adjustments, the new organizational structure will look like the one below. Diagram 2: New look of the company organizational structure 6.0 Benefits of using an external coach in business The most commonly asked question today in the world management is what the work of the business coach is. Coaching is what many businesses and even managers are not familiar with even though it is one strategy that a business can use to improve on the organizational performance. Even though the mangers are expected to do the role of coaching the staff in order to improve on their performance while on job, many of them seem not taking it more seriously and in the process compromising the performance of the business (Conklin 2005). Because of this reason and because of the backlog of work that internal managers have to do, employing the services of the external coach is considered as a viable option for any organization that wish to improve on the skills and competencies of its staff. Coaching skills are important in facilitating, creativity, innovation and teamwork in an organization. Business coaching can simply be defined as the conversation that takes place between the coach and the employee and that is aimed at facilitating learning and raising performance at work (Brooks & Wright 2007). While choosing of external coach to do employee coaching is accompanied by numerous benefits which include a fresh perspective to the business, specialized attention to the customer needs, confidential discussion, enhanced coaching skills and specialist expertise. 6.1 A fresh perspective A coach from outside the business is likely to bring into business new ideas, perspective and events. This means that the coach can easily make important notices about the company patterns and immediately appropriate recommendations that may not be apparent to those who are already in the company. In this case therefore, the business coach can be used as a ‘sounding board’ for the staff thinking through asking questions, listening, interpreting and giving his own feedback as an independent person (Brooks & Wright 2007). 6.2 Specialized attention to the customer needs Unlike the case where the manager is used to do coaching, the external coach will have all the time to devote to the clients because he will not have other managerial responsibilities upon him. This is likely to translate into an intensive highly-energized training program that is likely to produce very significant results for the business within a very short time. Further, long-term external coaching can lead to building strong foundation for the staff development (Brooks & Wright 2007). 6.3 Confidential discussion One important and very beneficial feature with using an external coach is the establishment of the confidential forum between the coach and the company employee. This is because the staff will more confidential to share even that information that they feel very personal and that could not be easily exposed to the commoners. This is especially possible when the staff is subject to the external coach rather than the line manager who is the immediate boss and to some level who is party to the confidential information. In other words, it is possible with the external coach to solve unspoken problems among the staff and that might be impacting negatively on the business processes (Brooks & Wright 2007). 6.4 Highly advanced coaching skills It is believed that in many occasions, the external coaches are more trained and advanced in their work more than the managers do. This gives them an edge over the managers when it comes to matters related to coaching. Further, they do spend better of time in training and coaching and therefore the required competencies and skills that can change perceptions the employees have towards performance (Brooks & Wright 2007). 6.5 Specialist expertise Apart from being in possession of coaching skills, the external coaches are known to have specialist expertise that may make them particularly suited in specific coaching assignments. Specialist coaching areas include leadership, mediation, sales, presentation, creativity, negotiation and psychology as well as emotional intelligence. With this regard, therefore external coaches can always be available for various specialized areas (Brooks & Wright 2007). 7.0 Conclusion The purpose of this report was to give a detailed account of human resource activities at John’s Company which operates in the steel industry and that manufactures and sells boilers. Organizational structure was the first area that has been covered under this area and it has been established that it is relatively as opposed to the size and the company workforce. This analysis has also established that communication is also big problem and more especially at the workshop and this is because of the organizational structure arrangement. Overstaffing also has not been adequately dealt with as very small tasks are divided up into several managerial roles. To improve performance by the workers, use of external coach is very instrumental in helping the employee at work improve on their skills and competencies. Finally, because of the varying of economic conditions and more especially in the mining industry HRM policy on hiring employees could help the company maintains the required number at all times. 8.0 Recommended Contingency plan activities For any business that wants to succeed and ensures that it continues being in business, having a contingency plan in place is a must. This is because risks are always available which can either present an opportunity or a threat to the business. Given the case of John’s Company which operates ion the steel industry, the business is likely to experience economic ups and downs depending on the general performance of the industry which is always affected the by the mining activities and availability of raw materials (Cerullo and Cerullo 2004). What is likely to emerge during these times is that the demand for labor will follow suit. When the business is high in the industry, the demand for labor is also likely to be high and vise versa. 1. In such as circumstances, the business has to have HRM policy in place in place that allows for hiring extra workers on contract when the business is high and also laying them off when the business is low. This way, the business will stand the opportunity to gain when the business is high and maintain normal status when the business is low. 2. Diversification of business to other places and other industries apart from the steel industry will also help the company reach new markets and also increase on product revenues. 3. Relocation can also be an important contingency plan activity in an industry that is prone to natural disasters as earthquakes and floods which often interrupt mining activities. This will help the company reduce its vulnerability to such risks that can lead to business loss. 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