Jinnikins Jeans Approach to Managing Human Resources - Case Study Example

Managing Human Resources - Jinnikins Jeans - Total Number of Words: 2,043 Part I – Jinnikins Jeans Approach to HRM Introduction Established back in the 80s, Jinnikins Jeans sells fashionable clothing for girls in London. Because of continuous business expansion, the company is currently employing 252 full-time employees on top of its part-time and casual labourers. In line with this, the approach to HR management used by Jinnikins will be thoroughly discussed by comparing how the company manages its people with other companies. HR Management Approach Used by Jinnikins Work Diversity and Gender Discrimination The word ‘diversity’ means as “to include a variety of racial or ethical backgrounds and characteristics of humankind” (College of the Mainland 2008). According to Phillips (1992), implementing diversity in the workplace could solve the problem on work equality considering the plurality of many differences. In line with this, the main concept of diversity at work was developed to enable the business owners to maximize the potential of each employee within the business organization (Kandola, Fullerton & Institute of Personnel and Development, 1994). Since the company is subcontracting its product from India and other places around the world, the promotion and development of a diverse work-force is important in terms of enabling its employees to be more accustomed and more efficient in dealing with other group of people from other countries. Similar to work diversity, gender-balance within a business organization is equally important. Although Jinnikins managed to have an ethnically diverse work-force, it is clear that the company failed to have a gender balance within its work-force. Under the Sex Discrimination Act of 1975 which was amended back in 1986, the Equality and Human Rights Commission prohibits work inequality related to direct and indirect sex1 or status discrimination2 on employment or vocational trainings and sexual harassment (Women and Equality Unit, 2009). Likewise, the local government maintained the Race Relations Act 1976 to prevent and minimize discrimination to anyone regardless of a person’s gender, race, colour, nationality, ethnicity or national origin (The University of York - Equal Opportunities Office, 2009). In general, any person who discriminate their co-workers and/or customers can be charged with disciplinary offence which could lead to a ground for early dismissal from work. Likewise, employers who are found guilty of discriminating employees and job applicants can be held liable for committing a criminal offence. To avoid facing legal charges against unlawful discrimination, HR managers are required to strictly follow the existing UK policies on equal opportunity not only when employing potential job applicants but also when managing the company’s employees. Organizational Culture The leaders of Jinnikins particularly George and Trevor are exerting extra effort to make employees feel more like a family member than a regular employee alone. In line with making employees feel welcome, leaders of Jinnikins are greeting employees by their first name. This particular HR strategy is good in terms of increasing employees’ morale. Despite the leaders’ effort to increase employees’ morale, the lack of two-way communication between the HR and top management team with the rest of the employees makes some of the workers worry about the possibility that the business organization may suddenly close down. This is a major problem since increasing the fear of employees of becoming unemployed would mean decreasing their concentration at work. Eventually, the overall work performance of Jinnikins’ employees may suffer. Work Promotional Practices The work promotional practice at Jinnikins is not fair to all of its employees. In line with this, Asha – the Senior Designer on the Design Team was able to get her job position partly because of her affair with Trevor – the Managing Director for many years. Even though Asha plays a vital part of the company’s success in terms of having an outstanding design talent, she was not able to get the tile of Design Director only because Trevor feels that it is his duty to handle the team. Recommendation As part of work diversity, a clear and effective communication is important to enable Jinnikins’ managers to get important messages across other group of employees. In line with this, it has been noted that Lionel – the production director has been regularly speaking with the foreign-based manufacturing company who are not able to speak English. This is a clear sign that there is miscommunication among Jinnikins’ employees. To enable Jinnikins’ HQ team members learn more about how to work more effective with its partner companies in foreign countries, the HR manager should develop and implement a learning culture on work diversity to enable them to effectively manage unnecessary internal miscommunication. With regards to gender discrimination at work, the HR manager of Jinnikins should try to balance male and female employees based on their individual skills and work experiences. Screening of qualified future employees can be done during the recruitment process. Likewise, the promotion of diversity in the workplace may solve some of the problems related to gender equality. These two HR approaches are necessary to avoid the risk that the company would face legal problems in relation to Sex Discrimination Act of 1975. Similar to the recommendation given to increase employees’ efficiency and work diversity, an open communication is also necessary to strengthen its organizational culture. Instead of a top-down communication process, there is a need to build a two-way communication between the HR management and Jinnikins’ employees. Given that there is an open communication between the HR manager and the rest of the employees, Lionel’s problem within the business organization can be easily solved. To avoid work promotional biases, the HR manager should evaluate the skills and overall qualifications of its existing employees without the interference of any forms of organizational politics. By doing so, the company will be able to have a better chance of satisfying and increasing the morale of its competitive employees. Conclusion HR management problem of Jinnikins is not related to pay incentives but more on lack of two-way communication between the top-down management team. To lessen the work-related stress among employees and organizational problems related to organizational culture and gender discrimination, HR manager should improve its communication practices. References College of the Mainland. (2008). Retrieved November 26, 2009, from Succesfully Diverse & Intentionally Integrated: About Us: http://www.com.edu/diversity/ Kandola, R., Fullerton, J., & Institute of Personnel and Development. (1994). Managing the Mosaic: Diversity in Action. London: Institute of Personnel and Development. Phillips, A. (1992). Universal Pretensions in Political Thought. In Barrett M. & Phillip A. (eds) Destabilizing Theory: Contemporary Feminist Debates. Cambridge: Polity. pp. 11 - 30. The University of York - Equal Opportunities Office. (2009). Retrieved November 26, 2009, from Race: http://www.york.ac.uk/admin/eo/test/race.htm Women and Equality Unit. (2009). Retrieved November 26, 2009, from Sex Discrimination Act: http://www.womenandequalityunit.gov.uk/legislation/discrimination_act.htm Part II – Jinnikins Jeans Approach to Individual Performance Management Introduction Established back in the 80s, Jinnikins Jeans sells fashionable clothing for girls in London. Individual work performance management is necessary to enable Jinnikins maximize the use of its available human resources. In line with this, the approach to individual work performance will be tackled in details. Jinnikins Jeans Approach to Individual Performance Management Salary and Bonuses With regards to salary and bonus, the bothers would normally offer salary increase to anyone who needs to be motivated at work. This particular HR strategy alone is not good since increase in salary may not always address the reason why employees are not motivated to work. In line with this, Lionel – the production director is preparing his c.v. to a head-hunter because he feels that he is no longer useful in his department. The case of Lionel is not a problem of payment but internal miscommunication. Given that Lionel would be told by the HR manager about what is expected from him, Lionel could increase his individual work performance and overall job satisfaction. Other than the practice of increasing salary to motivate employees at work, Etty wanted to develop performance payment scheme instead of the annual bonus which would range between 2 – 5% of employees’ annual salary. This particular HR approach may not always be effective in terms of improving employees’ work performance, retention, or job satisfaction (Leopold, Harris, & Watson, 2005: Ch. 8: p. 212; Anthony et al. 1989, p. 57; Cecil Hill 1989; Craig 1989). In line with this, Dan – the Distribution Manager really likes working at Jinnikins Jeans since he feels that the company is offering good pay. However, stress is already too much for him to bear. In this case, even if the company offers work performance bonuses, it would no longer be unappealing for Dan since what he needs is rest and more flexibility at work. Misaligned Job Description and Work Responsibilities Job description and work responsibilities should always be aligned to avoid confusing employees on what is expected from him/her. In line with this, Liam – the New Product Development Manager is currently acting as the Marketing Director. However, George – the Chairman of the Board is secretly looking for Dinash’s replacement (the Marketing Manager who resigned from the company). Keeping this a secret from Liam could eventually result to decreasing Liam’s morale because of the possibility that he would develop an expectation of being the next Marketing Manager. This is a good example of misaligned job description and work responsibilities causing role confusion. Punctuality and Absenteeism Policies Etty – the HR Director is considering the need to improve Jinnikins’ punctuality and absenteeism policies. Since there are quite a lot of other companies that are practicing work-and-life balance by offering employees more flexibility at work, implementing a strict policy on employees’ punctuality and absenteeism rate could only decrease the work satisfaction of its existing employees as well as increase the company’s annual turn-over rate. Given that Jinnikins is already experiencing customers’ complaints about its quality products and services, the company cannot afford to lose more talented individuals by making them unhappy with their existing jobs. Organizational and Technological Changes Investing on computerization can increase Jinnikins’ individual work performance. However, not all of Jinnikins’ employees are open to the implementation of computerising and centralising the company’s distribution system. In line with this, Sandy – does not agree that investing on this new technology is worth the money. There is also the possibility that some of Jinnikins employees do not have the necessary skills to adopt with the computerization of the company’s distribution areas. Recommendation Jinnikins is already offering its people with competitive payment scheme. In line with this, the use of performance pay scheme may not be effective in terms of increasing the work performance of its employees. For this reason, it is advisable for Etty to pay closer attention to the root cause of each employee’s main concern. Hearing out employees’ personal concerns is more effective in terms of building a closer relationship between the company and its employees. To increase the work performance of Lionel – the production director, the HR manager should privately speak with Lionel regarding his role and responsibility within the business organization. Keeping the responsibilities of an employee aligned with his job description would not only increase employees’ work satisfaction but also his overall work performance. Doing so will make Lionel concentrate on what is needed for him to work on. In the case of Dan – the Distribution Manager, the HR manager should evaluate Dan’s work load and try to lessen his work responsibilities by implementing job sharing with another competitive employee. Basically, solving the work-related stress could increase the overall work performance of Dan. With regards to the case of Liam, George on behalf of the HR manager should inform Liam that placing him as the acting Marketing Manager is only a temporary work responsibility until the company is able to find a qualified person to replace Dinash. Instead of implementing a strict punctuality and absenteeism policies, Jinnikins can offer employees the option to work at flexy hours. Flexy hours simply means that an employee has the benefit to work on flexible hours as long as he/she can deliver his/her job on time. For flexy time at work, HR managers should implement strict rules and regulation to motivate an employee to submit their job requirements before or on a specified period of time (Secord 2003, p. 173). To encourage Jinnikins’ employees to accept the computerization of its distribution areas, the HR and distrbution manager should have good leadership skills to convince the people about the benefits of using the computerized system (Burke 2002, Ch. 11; p. 240 - 241). Since some of its employees do not have the necessary skills to use the system, the HR manager should assure its people that a training support will be given to them to increase their ability to adopt with the said technological changes. Conclusion The problem with Jinnikins’ individual performance management lies behind internal miscommunication with regards to the major concerns of its employees. On top of organizational miscommunication, the misaligned job description and work responsibilities and employees’ resistance to technological changes contributes to lesser work performance among its employees. References Anthony, R., Dearden, J., & Bedford, N. (1989). Management Control Systems, 5th Edition. Irwin: Homewood, III. p. 57. Burke, W.W. (2002) ‘Organization Change: Theory and Practice’ Sage Publication. Cecil Hill, F. (1989). Generating Ideas that Lower Costs and Boost Productivity. National Productivity Review , 8(2):161. Craig, E. S. (March-April 1989). Capitalizing on Performance Management, Recognition, and Rewards Systems. Compensation and Benefits Review , 23. Leopold, J., Harris, L., & Watson, T. (2005) Strategic Managing Of Human Resources. Financial Times Management. Secord, H. (2003). Implementing best practices in human resources management . CCH. Read More