Analysis of Jinnikins Jeans Approach to Reward And Its Consistency to the Business Objectives - Coursework Example

Jinnikins Jean’s Report to Senior Management Team on JJ’s approach to Reward and Consistency with Business Objectives Professor: Date: Executive summary The report will analyse Jinnikins Jean’s approach to reward and its consistency to the business objectives. The report will evaluate the current HR practices at the company and identify the weaknesses that should be addressed through a reward policy that will ensure high productivity. The report will utilise various human resource and people management theories in the analysis and recommendation of an appropriate action plan that will address the challenges facing the company. The report will look at the level of employee participation, involvement and engagement at JJ. Employee must have an opportunity to influence management decisions that contribute to the attainment of busisness objectives. Effective people management supports business effectiveness through improving the individual employee productivity that in turn improves the overall organisational productivity. The recruitment and selection procedures of JJ should aim at getting people with the right knowledge and skills to perform the administrative duties such as distribution, HR and clerical functions and people with the right clothing design creativity in order to meet the changing needs of the customers. The company should consider the current trends in the employment market and determine the skills that are relevant to the attainment of the company mission of delivering high quality design wear to the clients at affordable prices. In this case, JJ management has not embraced the concept of delegation of authority and responsibility and the company suffers from slow decision-making as evidenced in the production and distribution department where the products are sourced from overseas. Table of Contents: Page Number 1.0 Introduction………………………………………………………………………. 4 2.0 PM/HR frameworks at JJ……………………………………………………….. 4 2.1psychological contact and JJ………………………………………………...6 2.2 Participation and involvement of employees at JJ………………………..6 2.3 Employee ‘voice’ and engagement at JJ…………………………………..6 3.0 Importance of effective people management at JJ……………………………...7 4.0 Recommended Action Plan……………………………………………………….7 5.0 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………....8 6.0 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………….…9 7.0 Appendices……………………………………………………………...................11 Jinnikin’s Jeans’ approach to reward and consistency with the business objectives 1.0 Introduction The purpose of the business report is to analyse the consistency of Jinnikins Jeans’s approach to reward with the business objectives. The report will look at the participation and involvement of employees in the decision-making and employee ‘voice’ in the company. JJ commenced operations in 2000s and is owned by two brothers (George and Trevor) and deals with the production and distribution of designer Jeans for men, women and children. The company strategic vision is geared at reducing the overall management costs to 5 percent from the current 18.5 percent and increasing the gross profit margins for brand jean sear to 35 percent. The report will evaluate JJ approach to reward and its consistency with business objectives. 2.0 HR theories and frameworks Employee reward entails the financial and non-financial benefits that accrue from performing tasks or rendering services to the employer. Reward policy at JJ will create fairness, equity and align rewards with each employee performance feedback. The rewards are essential in attracting and retaining talented staff, motivating the employees, encouraging the desired behaviours and ensuring organisational change (Shields 2007). However, the non-financial rewards such as verbal recognition, commendations for good job, job enrichment, challenging tasks and autonomy at work improves employee accountability and responsibility thus ensuring higher commitment to the job performance expectations (Daft and Lane 2008). The HR managers are required to advance the organisational culture and change through articulating the company values and belief systems in all communications with the employees (Williams 2014). The human resource managers are expected to conduct a job analysis and skills audit to determine the skills deficiencies in the company and understand the best sources of talent (Burke and Cooper 2013).Accordingly, HR theories requires people management in organisations requires attracting, recruiting and maintaining experienced, committed and highly motivated workforce that will facilitate the attainment of the business objectives (Carbonara 2012). The management must ensure equity in trainings, promotions and career advancement opportunities in order to ensure employees perceive equity and fairness at the workplace. People management is also concerned with employee compensation and benefits and JJ should implement effective reward system that comprises of both financial and non-financial rewards (Aswathappa 2005). At the moment, JJ has offered fair salaries and bonuses, but has ignored the non-financial rewards that act as motivators in any reward system. According to HR theory, individual employee performance is determined by the abilities and motivational level thus the reward system must reinforce the expected performance outcomes (Garber 2012). The HR managers are required to set work-related goals, treat employees fairly and restructure the jobs in order to suit the abilities of the employees. According to expectancy theory, motivation is a function of the perceived link between the efforts and performance, and valence which is the expected value of the outcomes and thus employees expected better compensation for high performance (Walker 2012). The equity theory of reward outlines that employees are motivated when they perceive equity in their compensation and they compare themselves with others inside and outside the organisation. For instance, Liam is the New Acting Product Development Manager and expects to be confirmed while Dan feels stressed. According to Maslow’s theory, motivation of employees at JJ will require addressing the safety needs such as the job security concerns, providing the social needs such as ensuring employees have a sense of belonging and affiliation to the company and ensuring employees attain esteem needs. In this case, the rewards must facilitate personal growth and fulfillment through social recognition of employees during social functions like end-of the year parties and providing challenging tasks that promote the realisation of the individual employee potential (Dickson 2010). According to McGregor’s theory X and Y, employees will be committed to productivity objectives if the rewards lead to self-fulfillment and employees will be willing to accept more responsibility. At the moment, JJ is experiencing high absenteeism and lack of accountability for individual jobs since many of the positions lack clear job specifications and some employees are not aware of their performance expectations (Albrecht 2010). People management entails setting out clear performance standards and communicating the performance expectations to all individual employees. In this case, JJ has no formal performance expectations for each individual job since there is no formal job design and job description for most of the employees. For instance, Sandy is the Financial Director, who was proposed to the Company by the bank despite resistance by the brothers is tasked with designing the organisational objectives, the commercial and design aspirations rather advising the company on financial matters. A critical element of people management in any organisation is employee empowerment through entails involving employees in all aspects of the organisation through enhancing their accountability and responsibility. The management must delegate some of the tasks to their subordinates in order to create a sense of ownership of work and build the self-worth of the concerned employees. The design teams should be assigned challenging tasks that will stimulate their creativity and innovation thus leading to high quality designs that will satisfy the needs of the customers (Lencioni 2011). 2.1Psychological contract at JJ Psychological contract is the unwritten employment relationships expectations that employees have in the workplace (Cook 2008). For instance, employees expected to be promoted and earn bonuses for high performance. The employer expects the employees to adhere to all organisational policies and meet their performance expectations. JJ reward is not consistent with the company business objectives since employees do not perceive a psychological contract with the company due to poor communication and behaviours of the management that have led to feelings of inequity among the employees. Some employees perceive marginalisation and there are fears of imminent job losses due to closure of some factories. 2.2 Participation and involvement of employees at JJ Guest and Conway (2004) assert that participation and involvement of employees at JJ is essential in improving job morale and fostering cordial working relationships across all the departments. Participation refers is the ability to be involved in management decisions and involvement is the extent to which the management takes in to consideration the ideas and suggestions in making decisions regarding the company and decisions that affect the welfare of the employees (Daniels 2006). JJ has not embraced the concept of employee participation and involvement since the two brothers virtually make all the decisions without consulting other employees. For instance, the two brothers are against implementation of a succession plan and Trevor is against George’s participation in the day to day running of the business since this may lead to conflicting pressures on the staff. The case of JJ illustrates lack of clear employment policies since current employees were not recruited according to their skills, but either personal relationship with the business owners or some creative skills. Accordingly, JJ lacks formal job descriptions since Etty feels that Sandy may be patronising her work due to her lack of formal HR management qualifications and she is also adamant to implement HR reward policies that will ensure high employee satisfaction and retention.The goal setting theory requires HR managers to set challenging goals for the employees in order to guide their behavior. The management must review and provide timely feedback on the attainment of the individual employee goals in order to motivate the employees to exert more efforts in the attainment of the job goals (Armstrong 2002). 2.3 Employee ‘voice’ and engagement at JJ Employee ‘voice’ is the participation of employees in influencing the decisions of the company and is facilitated by two-way communication between the employer and the employee. It refers to the say employees have in matter that concerns their employment and the company (Billet 2001, p 212). JJ lacks employee ‘voice’ since there are no channels of raising concerns and grievances regarding the employment matters. In this case, employee voice facilitates employee engagement through ensuring that employees articulate their dissatisfaction and express collective organisation such as ‘workers Council’ (Axelrod 2010). Through voice, the employees will demonstrate mutuality and cooperative relations. In this case, JJ lacks appropriate employee voice since the two brothers have negative attitudes towards unions. JJ can generate appropriate employee engagement through creating positive perceptions regarding each job and clarifying the job expectations. The company should ensure regular dialogue with employees and improve the quality of relationships within all departments in the company (Nelslon and Swart 2003). 3.0 Importance of effective people management at JJ People management at JJ will involve carrying out various functions that aim at ensuring that the company has the right mix of skills. The management should establish desirable working relationships among all employees in the organisation through training the employees on conflict resolution. For instance, there is unhealthy competition among the sales teams that has threatened teamwork in the company. Effective people management improves the quality of relationships in the organisation through building teamwork, loyalty and trust among peers. The management is capable of delegating authority and allowing subordinates to influence decisions thus generating more perceptions of belongingness to the company. Effective management will ensure quicker decision-making and improve the communication across the organisation thus leading to more efficiency in the coordination of work between the headquarters and the overseas production. Accordingly, the two brothers should demonstrate inspirational leadership and implement efficient internal communication channels that facilitate employee engagement. 4.0. Recommendations for Action Plan Employee reward should be consistent with the business objectives of the company. The rewards are psychological and employees should perceive equity in the reward system implemented by JJ. Accordingly, the reward should be linked to performance evaluation outcomes and should promote desired behaviours in the company such as team work, interpersonal relationships, creativity and employee continuous professional development (Kandula 2006). The HR managers should define and communicate the expected behaviours and performance levels of all employees in the company. Accordingly, a redundancy plan should be implemented in order to lay-off redundand workforce (Hobson 2007). The recruitment and selection process should be based on skills needs in the organisation and the management must identify the critical performance capabilities for each job position and implement a redundancy plan for the unwanted skills. The management should set challenging, but attainable goals and provide employees with the required training that will facilitate the attainment of the goals. The reward policy should encourage employee ownership of success through delegation of authority and responsibility. The management must foster employee participation and involvement in key decisions of the organisation through requesting for ideas and suggestions from the subordinates. In this case, employees will perceive a sense of belonging and gain more creativity in their work. The management should allow employee ‘voice’ through encouraging the employees to form unions and increasing the dialogue forums (Zelles 2012). The reward policy should consider the importance of non-financial aspects and intrinsic motivation. The management must recognise exemplary performance through commendation letters and verbal recognition. The management must implement job rotation and enrichment in order to increase the skills diversity of the employees. 5.0 Conclusion Jinnikins Jean’s approach to reward is not consistent with the business objectives. The company lacks employee participation, involvement and management styles have hindered employee ‘voice’ due to centralised control and lack of involvement of employees in decision-making. The employment policies are not based on skill needs or merit and this has led to task conflicts among employees. Effective management of people at JJ will ensure high job satisfaction and higher organisational productivity. The company should ensure subordinates offer their ideas and suggestions before the management makes important decisions. The reward approach should stimulate creativity and motivate employees through ensuring that benefits are aligned with the performance evaluation feedback. The management must offer specific job specifications and delegate authority to the employees in order to improve staff morale. The company should offer employee training and development on the basis of merit and depending on the skills gap of each employees and organisational needs. A succession plan should be implemented in order to ensure the company has the right mix of human talent. 6.0 Bibliography: Albrecht, S.L. 2010. Handbook of employee engagement: perspectives, issues, research and practice. London: Edward Elgar Publishing. Armstrong, M. 2002. Employee Reward. London: CIPD. Aswathappa, K. 2005. Human resource and personnel management: text and cases. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill. Axelrod, R.H. 2010. Terms of engagement: new ways of leading and changing organisations. London: Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Billet, S. 2001. ‘Learning through workplace affordances and individual engagement’, Journal of workplace learning, 13 (5): pp 209-214. Burke, R.J and Cooper, C.L. 2013. The fulfilling workplace: the organization’s role in achieving individual and organizational health. Burlington: Gower. Carbonara, S. 2012. Manager’s guide to employee engagement. London: McGraw-Hill. Cook, S. 2008. The essential guide to employee engagement: Better business performance through staff satisfaction. London: Kogan Page. Daft, R.L and Lane, P.G. 2008. The leadership experience. Mason: Thomson Learning. Daniels, K. 2006. Employee relations in an organisational context, London: CIPD. Dickson, D. 2010. Fostering employee engagement: practical tools and best practice techniques. London: Human Resource Development. Federman, B. 2009. Employee engagement: a roadmap for creating profits, optimizing performance, and increasing loyalty. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Garber, P.R. 2012. The manager’s employee engagement toolbox. New York: American Society for Training and Development. Guest, D.E and Conway, N. 2004. Employee well-being and the psychological contract, research report,London: CIPD. Hobson, N.D. 2007. Succession planning and situational engagement. New York: ProQuest. Kandula, S.R. 2006. Performance management: strategies, interventions, and drivers. New Delhi: PHI Learning. Lencioni, P.K. 2011. Managing for employee engagement: participant workbook. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Nelslon, B and Swart, J. 2003. Understanding the people and performance link. London: Prentice Hall. Shields, J. 2007. Managing employee performance and reward: concepts, practices and strategies. London: Cambridge University Press. Walker, S. 2012. Employee engagement and communication research: measurement, strategy and action. New York: Kogan Page Publishers. Williams, S. 2014. Introducing employment relations: a critical approach. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Zelles, R. 2012. Methodologies to measure and define employee engagement. Munchen: GRIN Verlag. 7.0 Appendices 7.1Appendix 1( Rewards) The brothers sometimes offer salary increases to anyone they feel might be a bit de-motivated, but Etty wants to develop some The current standard package is: a) Salary review after six months b) Annual salary increments based on of a basic percentage 28 days holiday a year for the first five years, 32 days thereafter, plus all UK statutory public holiday AND personal religious festivals c) Car loans for all staff. Senior managers and all sales personnel have a company car d) Year End Bonus for all staff calculated on a percentage of company profits, usually between 2-5% of annual salary e) All marketing and sales personnel receive a personal Performance Sales Bonus that can be up to a 100% of basic salary if all targets are exceeded in addition to the Year End Bonus Some of design team feels that they too should have performance bonuses instead of the Annual Bonus to bring them into line with the sales force with whom they work closely. sort of pay scheme to overcome this ad hoc approach. She feels herself, as the most senior woman in the company, to be paid well above comparable industry norms, but she is not sure, for example, if the female merchandising staff should be paid the same as the male (or female) sales staff. It’s easy when people are in exactly the same jobs, but it’s the parity question she is not sure about 7.2 Appendix 2 (strategic business vision) STRATEGIC BUSINESS VISION -MAIN POINTS: 1. FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT a) Reduce overall management costs to 5% from its existing 18.5%, with the focus on reducing the wages bill through redundancy b) Increase gross profit margins on own brand jeans-wear to 35% c) ALL departments to produce budgets on income/expenditure, including payroll, overtime and recruitment for the next financial year, starting in March. d) HR to generate a ‘contingency’ redundancy plan for all staff in support, admin. and clerical jobs, with a budget for either re-hiring the same staff at lower salaries (more in line with industry norms) or by using agency/short-term contract staff. One possibility to be considered would be to offer all existing staff new contracts. 2. PRODUCTS AND MARKETS a) A full viability plan, with ‘best’ and ‘worst’ scenarios to be prepared as a matter or urgency for the proposed chain of own shops. b) A new Marketing Director to be appointed to handle all marketing and new product responsibilities. c) As a priority analyse the trend behind the failure of the boys’ fashion leisure-wear to achieve its projected sales figures d) Engage in a ‘hearts and minds’ campaign with buyers at ALL major sales outlets, this is directly related to item e) below e) Increased sales penetration for each outlet by 15% across the ranges f) A quality control programme needs to be introduced as a matter of urgency following several unresolved complaints from All Saints about the sizing of out-sourced garments. g) ‘Customer care’ to be put at the heart of the business h) Investigate costs for a new website aimed at marketing to corporate customers i) Similarly investigate cost for another new website for sales to the general public Read More