Employment-Related Issues within Milltown School - Case Study Example

Name: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Course: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Institution: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Case Study Date: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Employment-related issues within Milltown School Based on the information conveyed in the case study, it is evident that there several employment related issues that are affecting the school. Foremost, it is apparent that the School lacks a proper workforce planning. According to Buchan & Edwards (2000), work force planning involves aligning and integrating the priorities and needs of an organization to those of the workforce so as to ensure that the needs and objectives of an organization are realised. Milltown School lacks a proper workforce planning mainly because the staffing demands have not been met. The school has a total of ten teachers among the 10 teachers, 6 teachers are the only who are permanently employed thus they work full time whereas the remaining teachers work on a part time basis. In occasions whereby teachers succumb to illness or other critical circumstances and have to be granted a leave of absence, the school is forced to incur extra expenses in order to bring in substitute teachers. Following the recent down town in the public sector for finance cuts, the problem in the school is bound to worsen since they have been advised to reduce the number of teaching assistants. This staffing problem could even be more problematic in future if there is no proper and sustained approach to work force planning in the school (Buchan & Edwards, 2000). Secondly, there is lack of job specialization and delegation, the school also lacks proper work-life balance and workforce retention strategies. In reference to Deery (2008), work-life balance and workforce retention strategies determine whether employees stay or leave the organization. Apparently, the workforce in the school constitutes of the teaching staff, the special needs co-coordinator, the school secretary, the school manager and the head of the school. The school manager attends to financial and staffing issues such as teacher’s contracts, sickness absence records, training rota and obtaining substitute teachers for teachers who are absent. Evidently, handling all these duties can be cumbersome, if they are delegated to the school manager only. The roles of the head teacher, the school secretary and the special needs co-coordinator are also not well specified. Furthermore, the viability of the 'Special Needs co-ordinator' role has not been determined. Although the school manger addresses staffing issue, she is not trained in any aspect of Human Resource Management (HRM). The head teacher also does not have any form of training in Human Resource Management matters thus he cannot handle bullying and harassment issues that are affecting the school. Reports on harassment and bullying within the school have not been addressed in the school since there no knowledge on how such cases can be effectively handle. In the past, the school has been dependant on the intervention of the Town Hall. However, following the cut-back of the Town Hall HR Department, local schools have been urged to resolve staffing issues at the school level. Consequently, this change is bound to pose a problem to the school administration since there is no paradigm of dealing with such issues. Lastly, one of the key challenges facing the school is the lack of morale and motivation within the workforce. The recent financial downturn, cases of bullying and harassment and the overall HR management structure of the organisation are some of the factors that could be contributing to low morale and the lack of motivation amongst the work-force. The lack of motivation within the school is evident through the continuous and consistence absenteeism among the teachers that is sometimes concealed as “Sick leave.” It is somewhat ironical that in a time spun of one week, half of the permanent teaching staff were absent on the basis of a sick leave. Reiss (2004) observes that Motivation is a psychological process that influences behavior by giving direction, purpose and the desire to achieve particular unmet goals. In order for any organization to survive, it needs motivate its employees. Based on the information conveyed in this case study, it is evident that the key issues affecting the Milltown school revolves around HR aspects such as work force planning, work-life balance and workforce retention strategies, staff training and motivation. Impact of these issues on employee morale and performance Implementing a proper work force planning in the school can enable the school to respond more quickly and strategically to change in the instance that the school management identifies the emerging challenges. Proper work force planning can help to improve productivity and efficiency. Furthermore, workforce planning facilitates strategic planning and staffing for work force requirements in future. Through proper workforce planning an organization can identify and monitor staffing needs in a timely manner thus enabling the management to meeting the staffing needs through training or finding replacements (Buchan & Edwards 2000). However, since the school lacks a proper work force planning in the face of in-coming changes such as those proposed by the Town Hall, to minimise the number of teaching assistants, the performance of the school is bound to dwindle. If the number of teaching assistants is reduced and the school fails to align and integrate its priorities and needs to those of the workforce, the remaining teachers will be overloaded with work. Consequently, the teachers run the risk of being demoralized due to excessive work load. This in turn may lead to poor work performance, burnout and loss of morale. Proper work-life balance and workforce retention strategies in the Milltown School are wanting. The school manager runs the risk of being demoralized by a result of work overload and an added discouragement from not being given the motivational title of personnel manager. This may lead to poor work performance by the manager due to the work overload, burnout and poor motivation if any. The request by local authority to cut down on staff may result in other budgetary aspects that may increase the level of demoralization and the loss of job security amongst the employees. The loss of job security among the employees may see the employees becoming less dedicated to their job and could end up consequently seeking other jobs elsewhere. In addition, some of the employees who are dedicated to helping the children may be demoralized by the bad conditions that are a result of budgetary cuts. This prospect is projected by an increase of poor dedication of the stuff who ending up in calling in sick more often. Cases of poor treatment such as harassment and bullying reported may be as a result of frustration. This could additionally create an adverse negative effect to the morale and performance of the staff. An urgent counter effect action has to be taken in order for the school’s performance to get back to what it used to be. According to Guest et al 2004, greater use of HRM strategies can be linked to higher performance per employee and lower labour turnover. Ostroff (1992) established a link between employee satisfaction and the performance of an organization. Therefore, HRM trainings imperative since HRM basically involves activities that are aimed at satisfying the staffing needs of an organization. The lack of training on HRM within the management of the school exposes the organization to many challenges when it pertains to addressing employee issues. Despite the fact that the school manager addresses staffing issue, she is not trained in any aspect of Human Resource Management (HRM). In addition, the head teacher also does not have any form of training in Human Resource Management matters thus he cannot effectively address bullying and harassment issues that are affecting the school. The lack of HRM training renders the management of the school incompetent when it comes to dealing with issues affecting employees. In cases whereby employee issues such as bullying and harassment are not addressed effectively, there productivity and moral of the teaching staff will be affected. Absenteeism and lateness cases could increase, some teachers might seek employment elsewhere in order to escape from bullying and harassment hence the school will experience high labour turnover. Furthermore, the teaching staff would be less motivated to achieve the objectives of the school. Recommendations for improving Milltown School’s Employee Morale and Performance Godard (2001) observes that in order for an organization to perform effectively not only is it important to adopt HRM practices but it is also important to develop an alternative political economy framework that accounts holistically to how emerging conflicts revolving around employment relations can deter the effectiveness of initiated reforms. Based on Godard’s sentiments, it is therefore evident that in order for an organization to realise its goals and increase its performance, it is imperative that the focus of the organization should be beyond implementing HRM practices. The focus of organizations should extend towards identifying and addressing conflicts revolving around employment relations using political economy approach. (Godard, 2001). The employment related issues within Milltown School generally revolve around work force planning, work-life balance and workforce retention strategies, staff training and motivation. In order to address these issues HRM practices should be implemented and most importantly employment relations conflicts that can inhibit the implementation of reforms should be identified and addressed. In order to employee morale and performance to increase in Milltown School it is essential for the school management to implement a proper workforce plan. In this plan the needs and priorities of the school should be aligned and integrated with those of the workforce (Buchan & Edwards, 2000). Given the fact that Milltown School is located in a deprived area in East Lancashire, the school management should assess the staffing needs of the school and adopt practices that are suitable for the school. For instance, it is evident that the school lacks enough teaching staff and as a result of in cases whereby a number of the teaching staff are off duty the school incurs extra expenses. So as to address this problem the school should employ more teachers on a permanent basis, this will ensure that the normal school program is not interrupted and the school does not incur more expenses when some of the teaching staff are off duty. In this case financial cut backs proposed by the local authority could be a limiting factor inhibiting the implementation of this reform. It is therefore essential for the school should petition to the local authority so that it can consider the staffing needs of the school since it is located in a deprived area. The school should also consider cutting back on some of its expenditures that are not in line with the school’s priorities and needs in order to meet its staffing needs. With regards to job specialization, work-life balance and workforce retention strategies, the school should adopt employee policies that are appropriate in directing the jurisdiction of both the personnel officers and the company employees’ activities. Job descriptions should be clearly drafted in the employment contracts of all employees of Mill Town School so as to avoid breach. In addition, this will make easy the process of employee evaluation and improve performance of both the School and staff. The school manager and the should receive HRM training and officially receive the title of Personnel Manager, his job description should involve addressing employee issues, implementation of employee compensation and their salary disposal as entitled to them in the agreement signed on recruitment. Due to this fact, the HR should contact the local authority about any remuneration issues that affect the school’s employees. Issues such as appropriate rates and timely delivery should be emphasized to ensure the staff is motivated. It is a requirement for employees in an organization to maintain a confirmation of their periodical performance with the HR department in which every detail that is related to the company is recorded. This is in an effort to trace activities of the staff, know each person’s responsibility and be able to weigh them against the expectations. In this light, employee evaluation is conducted regularly by the human resource department. Evaluation of employees is important to the company so that the investment on the personnel in terms of salary can be measured against the output. In addition, it is essential for the school to implement motivation strategies that will boost the morale of the teaching staff. One of the ways that the school can motivate its teaching staff is through pay based on their class attendance and performance. According to Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856- 1917) motivation theory employees are usually motivated by pay. Taylor argues that naturally, employees do not enjoy work, therefore they require continuous supervision and control. Taylor recommends that managers or employers should break down work into a number of small tasks, train employees appropriately and equip them with the requisite tools for efficiency then payment should be rendered to each employee according to the task completed subsequent to the completion of the task (Gollwitzer, 1999). This should encourage employee to maximize their productivity by working hard on their designated tasks. Bibliography Becker, G. &Gerhart, B., 1996, The impact of human resource management on organizational performance. Academy of Management Journal, 39: 779–801. Buchan, J.& Edwards, N., 2000, Nursing numbers in Britain: the argument for workforce planning, British Medical Journal 320: 1067. Deery, M., 2008, Talent management, work-life balance and retention strategies, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 20 Iss: 7, pp.792 – 806. Godard, J., 2001, Beyond the high performance paradigm? An analysis of managerial perceptions of reform program effectiveness. British Journal of Industrial relations, 38: 25-52 Gollwitzer, M., 1999, Implementation intentions: Strong effects of simple plans, American Psychologist 54: 493–503. Guest, D., Michie, J., Conway, N. & Sheehan, M., 2003, Human Resource Management and Corporate Performance in the UK, British Journal of Industrial Relations, Volume 41, Issue 2, pp. 291-314 Ostroff, C., 1992, The relationship between satisfaction, attitudes, and performance: An organizational level analysis, Journal of Applied Psychology, 77, 963-974. Reiss, S., 2004, Multifaceted nature of intrinsic motivation: The theory of 16 basic desires, Review of General Psychology 8 (3): 179–193. Read More