The Approaches to People Management at Cafe Co - Coursework Example

1. The main similarities and differences between the approaches to people management at Café Co before and after the review. According to Deckop and Deckop (2006), hard human resource classifies employees as passive resources used, deployed and even disposed at will by employers. Hard theory presumes that employees are lazy naturally and are only interested in pursuing their self interest. Thus, correction and coercion must be applied to make employees perform according to entity’s expectations. Café Co used much of the hard model approach to manage its employees before the review. Before review, human resource management was characterized by punishing employees who were not performing according to Café Co instead of training them. Employees were not highly valued but treated just like any other resource and paid minimum wages Furthermore, employee engagement and communication was not valued and human resource activities were aligned to company’s strategy only. All human resource roles were left to human resource department only. Café Co was only concerned with employee performance and not development. After the review, the company adopted much of the soft approach though it continued to align human resource activities to company’s strategy. Soft human resource classifies employees as special and treats them as human beings that need to be respected and trusted. Theory explains that employees’ skills need to be developed and nurtured. It also stresses better remuneration and taking good care of employees. Café Co accepted to adopt soft approach by appointing human resource representative to the company’s board. Kim adopted much of the soft approach after the review because she emphasized development of employees’ competency, advocating for increase in employee compensation and prioritized retention of employees. Employees are valued and referred to as colleagues and partners towards achievement of company’s vision and mission. Line managers are involved in key making key decision in the human resource including recruitment and selection. Other pro-employee activities introduced consistent with the soft approach include participation in deciding on organizational objectives as well as their developmental needs. 2. The advantages and disadvantages of devolving HR activities to line managers and benefits to Café Co. There are a number of both advantages and disadvantages of devolving HR activities to line managers at Café Co. Employees are likely to receive quick response from their line managers, appropriate employees are likely to be selected because line managers are more likely to make correct decisions and there is possibility of increased employee productivity as employees concerns are responded in time. Devolving HR activities on the other hand may increase work load to the line managers, decrease importance of human resource specialists and line managers may be incompetent on human resource issues. Café Co is likely to benefit from devolving HR activities to line managers. Employees are likely to develop commitment and loyalty when their issues are responded to on time because they feel cared for. As a result, much of employee time will be used to work thus increasing their productiveness. Line managers are more likely to motivate and mentor their employees than overall HR specialists. How each of Ulrich’s HR roles could help the HR manager solve some of the problems in Café Co. According to Ulrich, human resource department act as a strategic partner, administrative expert, change agent as well as employee challenge (Holbeche, 2009). As a strategic partner, human resource department can align human resource initiatives and activities with mission and vision of Café Co. Strategic partner role informs Kim (human resource manager) to design work positions, strategic compensation and benefits, appraisal systems, succession and career planning as well as employee development to respond to the needs of the company. Strategic partner role pushes Kim to make employees to be more customers’ oriented by recruiting right kind of employees and encouraging them to apply their competencies. Ulrich stresses the importance of HR as a change agent. Therefore, Kim must be willing to develop human resource policies and implement actions that will support change and speed up transition in the company. The human resource manager will be able to help employees identify values, culture, goals and actions that will drive the organization to achieve its missions and vision. Kim should also propose changes to the top management (the board) that need to be effected to make employees more receptive to change. She should also identify and deal with potentially dangerous employees who are likely to derail the transition process in the company. Finally, she should try to make all employees happy and stable during the transition period by resolving issues that emerge because of change instantly. Thirdly, via the direction of Ulrich, Kim can act as an employee champion and spend time to meet and listen to employees. As a result, she will be able to understand the needs of the employees and advise them accordingly. Kim should also care and protect the employees to create conducive working environment where employees get motivated and happy. She should promote effective communication, empower employees and build employee ownership of the organization. As an employee champion, Kim will provide employees with development opportunities. This will be done by designing and implementing employee assistance programs as well as encouraging gain sharing and profit sharing initiatives between the company and employees. Fourth, Kim of Café Co can play the role of administrative expert in the organization. As an administrative expert, human resource manager and its department will develop and implement human resource policies that promote effective recruitment and selection as well as design compensation and benefit programs that best suit its employees. The department also keeps records of all employees and implement disciplining process that ensure that all employees exhibit correct behavior and perform appropriate actions as they carry out their duties. Through Ulrich’s contribution, Kim would be able to develop strong human resource base. 4. A report which suggests a new recruitment and selection process for baristas in Café Co: a) Likely reasons why Café Co is not consistently successful in selecting suitable baristas. Café Co failed to select suitable baristas in a consistent manner because of the following reasons. Café Co failed to conduct a comprehensive job analysis. According to Billsberry (2007), one of the chief reasons why the employees of the company left is that they felt overburden and were paid little compensation as compared to other industry players. The human resource management together with line managers should have identified tasks and responsibilities for employees so they could march compensation with demands of the job. In addition, they will be in a position to identify skills and attitudes of employees who are likely to be better employees. The second reason is incompetent panel members. This led to poor setting of interview process, hurried selection, vague selection criteria and insufficient out reach. In the past, it is evident that line managers were not involved in the recruitment and selection process. Yet line managers are more acquainted with the process and functions of the baristas more than the human resource specialist. Excluding line managers is a serious problem that must not be overlooked by the company anymore. Thirdly, the recruitment method may not be adequate. One of the reasons why there is high turnover of employees in the company could be because the company was not able to get the right people for the job. This could be attributable to a narrow recruitment process, which only covers small geographical area and attract individuals that do not have appropriate levels of skills and attitude for the proposed job as a barista. The company’s recruitment process should be wide and adequate to attract appropriate candidates. Fourth, the selection process may be flawed. One of the most difficult situations that face most companies is choosing the right candidate from a pool of invited candidates. This is because the company does not weight interview questions. This becomes extremely difficult to objectively grade the candidates making it extremely difficult to make an informed decision. Furthermore, the company could not have appropriate questions that linked candidates’ skills and attitudes to the job. Café Co selection team claimed that most candidates selected displayed satisfactory level of competence in the selection process. However, when they got the job they failed to deliver the promise. This is because candidates are always polished for interviews and become extremely difficult to identify the real person for the job. Fifth, poor remuneration is another reason why Café Co fails to get and retain the right caliber of employees. Experienced and highly motivated employees look for better remuneration and improved working conditions. Most of the selected candidates fail to take their jobs because they cannot accept minimum wages. The company will be left with no other choice but to appoint less experienced and other fair instead of best candidates. On the other hand, when employees are paid less wages, they are likely to be poached by competitors who promise to pay them better compensations and provide them with better terms of employment. This explains why there is high employee turnover at Café Co. b) How to improve recruitment and selection process for baristas. Undertake a comprehensive job analysis. Identify all tasks and responsibilities to be able to pinpoint level of skills and competence needed to perform tasks and responsibilities. This will enable recruitment and selection team of Café Co to identify the kind of a person who will do the job appropriately because they will know how the performer will look like. Secondly, train all the panel members. All panel members should be trained to be able to pick skills and attitudes from the candidates that are likely to help them perform their duties properly. Well trained recruitment and selection panel will convey adequately what the job will entail as well as some of the challenges and opportunities that will be experienced by the candidates when he or she gets selected. If the company feel incapacitated to conduct successful recruitment and selection, it may be advisable to get help from human resource recruiting and selection agencies. Line managers and immediate supervisors should be involved in the recruitment and selection process to make sure that appropriate candidates are invited and selected. Third, recruitment method of the company should be made adequate. This would be done by increasing company’s network and contacts via use of internet in addition to use of local dailies. The company can also seek referrals from institutions that train baristas and even poach highly experienced and motivated employees from other coffee serving establishments. Fourth, the company should improve the selection process by establishing simple and easy to use grading system. Reilly and Williams (2006) claimed that the grading system shall incorporate use of aptitude tests and / or psychometric tests that shall aid the selection process. Psychometric test help to establish the way candidate thinks as well as teamwork and cooperative capabilities of the candidate. Aptitude tests are handy in determining the potential and learning skills of the candidates. Café Co shall also grade its employees consistently and keep track of all the capabilities and attitudes of the potential candidate in a written form. Once the interview is completed, all candidates are rated and candidates that score high grades are the ones to be selected for the job at Café Co. Café Co may also consider confirming the abilities of the candidates by checking and even calling the referees. Finally, the candidates will be asked to implement their ideas by asking them to give examples of their experiences before probing their replies/ answers. Fifth, Café Co should implement better wage rates and improve working conditions for its employees. Good remuneration above the minimum wages and better working condition increases morale of the employees. Therefore, employees are more likely to stick with the company and provide quality services. 3. How to evaluate the success of your new approach to recruitment and selection and why it would be important to do so To ensure recruitment and selection process is successful, it is important to evaluate every step. There are two main steps involved in the process. The first step is recruitment and second step is selection. Once recruitment process has been completed, Café Co human resource shall ensure that recruitment process shall conform to recruitment policies of the company. Therefore, human resource department should assess the number of shortlisted employees to ensure that they conform to written job descriptions and skill requirements by scrutinizing their CV’s, cover letters and application forms. It should also assess the type and number of interviews conducted and how they were carried out. Once the selection has been completed, Café Co human resource department shall evaluate grading system (rating sheet) to establish whether the following attributes of the candidates have considered. Positive attitude, self motivation, ability to multi task and coordinate well, excellent customer service skills, good sense of humor, ability to meet deadlines, ability to perform under pressure and independently, strong communication skills, outgoing and ability to work as a team. References Billsberry, J 2007, Experiencing Recruitment and Selection, John Wiley and Sons, New York. Deckop, J & Deckop, R 2006, Human resource management ethics, Information Age Publishing, Inc Charlotte, NC. Holbeche, L 2009, Aligning human resources and business strategy, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford. Reilly, A P & Williams, T 2006, Strategic HR: building the capability to deliver, Gower Publishing, London. Read More