Human Resource Management - GS Plumbing in Hot Water - Case Study Example

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT “GS PLUMBING IN HOT WATER” (COLLEGE GS PLUMBING IN HOT WATER Introduction Sustainabilityof a modern organization highly depends on the effectiveness of its HR strategies and audit functions. Organizations today pay notable emphasis on HR activities including employee recruitment, training, motivation, and retention. This paper will evaluate the case study of GS Plumbing Company with intent to examine the significance of HR audit, role assignment, and managerial interaction as contributing factors to the formulation of a firm’s competitive advantages. Case analysis GS plumbing, owned by Greg Smith has been gaining unusual reputation for the recent past. Alan Arrowsmith, for his experience with small businesses was appointed as the HR manager at GS. His teaching experience in the trades section of the local technical college, where he handled subjects related to health and safety, risk management etc also made him proficient of HR manager post. GS plumbing underwent tremendous expansions such as contracts with several buildings and companies over the last ten years. GS takes up both planned tasks like plumbing installations for new homes as well as unplanned works despite the threat the unplanned works cause to the security of the company. GS Plumbing maintains strict regulations on workers on record keeping, maintenance of accounts etc. The rising demand for plumbing staffs compels GS plumbing to offer better financial and non-financial assistances to its employees. However, GS Plumbing has not been able to cope up with these demands and it has intensified the problem of employ turnover in the company. The senior management team of GS plumbing company includes Greg, Alan, Gail, and Jane. The company receptionist role is efficiently handled by Greg’s sister-in-law Gail White. However, she often finds her responsibilities increasing her stress level despite the company’s growth. The increase in the staff absenteeism and the occurrence of frequent injuries like falls, chemical burns etc have raised Alan’s concern. Why HR audit? Alan has proved that he is eligible for managing the company and has been a great support to Greg. However, GS plumbing has not yet conducted any formal audit of HR function. In fact, audit is an essential part of organizational management because the examination of policies, procedures, documentation, and practices with respect to the HR functions of an organization can be effectively done through the audit activity1.. This activity provides opportunity for the HR manager to reveal his potency and achievements which would further encourage him to exhibit his abilities in the future. From the organizational perspective, audit will also evaluate HR managerial activities; and thus the matters demanding resolution can also be brought to notice. Alan often feels that the extra administrative tasks are frustrating. However, an audit would give him opportunity to express his grievances. To illustrate, the audit would enable Alan to bring his concern about the increasing absenteeism into Greg’s notice. It would allow better discussion on the frequent occurrences of injuries in the workplace and the remedies that should be adopted to minimize risks. Conducting audit at intervals of two or three years would enable the firm to identify unwritten practices and associated risks.2 In addition this activity would permit to examine the record-keeping practices and would identify additional training and communication required for better compliance. By initiating on time audit, the GS Plumbing can identify the user friendly procedures, practices, and the necessary changes required. The audit of HR function should involve staff members, members of middle and upper management, and all other individuals responsible for HR functions. The firm can seek the assistance of an external consultant for audit who would guide and provide better suggestions. How to address unplanned absence? Unplanned absence of staff members at GS plumbing is also a serious issue of concern. The staff members claim sickness, injury or family responsibilities as the reasons for their absence especially on Mondays and Tuesdays. Though the company provides leave for genuine reasons, some employees of GS plumbing claim of falling sick at regular intervals which draw the concern of HR manager Alan towards the amount of annual leave allowances. According to Chris Ciapala, President InfoTronics “companies are not only hit with wages and benefits paid during an employee’s absence, but also face indirect cost of staffing, scheduling, re-training, and lost productivity”3. The frequent absences of staff members cause serious problems with meeting deadline. For instance, it may influence the continuity of service delivery and quality; and thereby failing to satisfy the customers’ requirements. According to experts, other team members may have to take up the increasing workload due to the absence of many individuals4. Above all, the increasing absenteeism would cause adverse impact on the overall reputation of the organization in the long run. On the other hand, the high rate of frequent severe injuries which includes falls, chemical burns, minor cuts, and abrasions also increase the absenteeism at GS Plumbing. Hence it is advisable for GS to identify the root causes of those risks. Conducting employ engagement survey can be an effective method to monitor high levels of unplanned and unauthorized absence5. The HR manager of GS plumbing thinks that employees must have leisure at regular intervals of work because it would relive their minds and encourage them to perform in a better way. Evidently, this strategy can also minimize the rate of absenteeism at GS Plumbing. Employee recruitment and retention The increasing demand for plumbing work in recent times has provided numerous opportunities for plumbing employees. The inability of GS plumbing company to meet the job offers and to provide better job opportunities has obviously impeded employee retention. As competition among plumbing companies is growing, GS plumbing should also consider providing its staff with better financial and non financial assistances. This would help the firm to improve employee retention to maximum extent. To illustrate, the staff members of GS plumbing informed the HR manager about their unhappiness with the work allocation. They suggested that the routine plumbing work to be handed over to newer staff members. They also expressed their boredom of performing the same task continuously. At this juncture, the grievances and suggestions should be taken into consideration by HR manager of GS plumbing. Resolving their grievances and valuing their suggestions would encourage employees to continue in the organization for longer period6. In addition, employees’ innovative ideas and creative talents should be supported by GS Plumbing by creating a friendly internal environment. The employees with creative talents can be well attracted through innovative recruitment strategies of an organization. Employee loyalty and individual productivity can be enhanced by an effective orientation program. The success of recruitment depends on the ability to identify skills, talents, and personalities required for the company7. Therefore, while designing its recruitment and retention strategies, GS Plumbing should shift its focus from employees’ mere plumbing skills to their personal integrity and creativity. The firm should create an emotional link with employees with intent to sustain devotion, retention, and performance8. Competitive salary along with other intrinsic benefits can be employed to enhance employee retention and recruitment in the GS Plumbing Company. How to benchmark HR functions? Alan, the HR manager of GS plumbing company is engaged too much in the administrative tasks namely payroll and he gets frustrated with the additional responsibilities. This indicates that the Human resource function at GS plumbing is more administrative rather than strategic. There are many issues of serious concern in the company such as employee turnover, unplanned absence of employees, and most importantly lacking safety measures at workplace. All these draw one’s attention toward the necessity of benchmarking the HR function at GS Plumbing by adopting strategic function. Benchmarking can be either internal that is comparison of similar operations within the company or external which compares the functions with its competitors9 . Alan and Greg need to plan effective strategies for HR management at GS plumbing in order to improve the firm’s market stature. Conducting audit of HR function could be one of the strategies. For example, there should be continuous monitoring of employ engagement in work. This would help the firm to identify the reasons for increasing employ turnover and absenteeism. Alan should use better business practices, innovative ideas, and effective operating procedures attained through benchmarking to accelerate the growth of GS plumbing10. Alan should maintain sound relationships with employees and must try to provide better working environment. According to Secord, “Human Resource function will need to benchmark its own activities against those in other organizations in order to identify ways in which its own performance can be improved” 11. Therefore Alan needs to compare the HR activities of GS plumbing with that of other reputed companies and utilize the outcomes for formulating further HR strategies at GS plumbing. Issues at the senior management level The issues of employee turnover, unplanned absence of employees, and workplace safety are at the concern of senior management level12. If those problems persist, it would adversely affect the company in market. The lack of strategic function of Human Resource department is also a matter of concern at the senior management level. The prevailing issues at GS plumbing could be settled down through effective HR strategies. Hence it is essential that management should consider the role of HR manager Alan being more specific rather than his handling administrative tasks. This would enable Alan to concentrate much on his responsibilities which in turn would enhance the profitability of the firm. Several reasons contribute to the employee turnover at GS plumbing; one of them may be quite external that is the attractive remuneration and better financial and non-financial assistances offered by the competitors. Therefore management should heed genuine concern to designing strategies for retaining talented employees. Employees’ dissatisfaction with work allocation should also be taken into consideration. Conclusion To sum up, GS Plumbing despite its business growth has confronted with serious strategic dilemma which would impede the firm’s future sustainability. As discussed earlier, the major issue could be attributed to the absence of frequent HR audit and inappropriate role assignment. The paucity of better internal communication also has intensified the trouble. HR audit is the essential step that management has to initiate to identify the root cause of workplace injuries, increasing absenteeism, and employee discontent. If proper managerial integration is initiated across the organization, the evaluation function could be assisted well. The management is collectively responsible for the flaws of HR manager because it has the moral obligation to put forward recommendations for improving overall HR activities. Bibliography “Attendance enterprise points system supports absence management policies: improve boom line.” LAB Strategy. Jan 9, 2006, http://www.laborstrategy.com/Company/News-and-Events/Attendance-Enterprise-Points-System-Supports-Absence-Management-Policies-Improves-Bottom-Line/164. Bakker, Arnold B, Demerouti, Evangelia & Schaufeli, Wilmar B. “The socially induced burnout model.” Ed. A.M. Columbus. .Leading Edge Research in Cognitive Psychology. Nova Science Publishers, Inc, 2006. 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