Human Resource Management And HR Policies - Essay Example

Human Resource Management And HR Policies Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 Introduction 2 Need for Appropriate HR Policies in a Leisure Company 4 Analysis of the HR Issues Faced by Brendon Jones Ltd 5 Impact of the Drawbacks of the HR Policies Adapted by the Company 7 Recommendations 8 Conclusion 12 Reflective Diary 13 References 14 Bibliography 16 Introduction Similar to any other industry, leisure industry is also treated to be a contributor to the growth of an economy. It is recognised as one of the most advantageous and promising business sectors in the 21st century. The industry according to its characteristics can be stated as an extension to the tourism and the entertainment sectors. Certain basic components of the leisure industry are the local centres for commercial recreation, travel and tourism and the hospitality sectors. To be specific, the local commercial recreation includes the facilities of theatres, different concerts and sport amphitheatres. Apart from these activities the sector also includes sports and leisure time activities and programs such as golf courses, fitness clubs, fishing, arts and crafts. Similarly, the hospitality sector of the leisure industry involves accommodation facilities along with fooding and other amenities. By summarising these attributes it is quite evident that the industry accumulates the features of the entire entertainment industry along with the characteristics of travel and tourism sectors. No wonder due to this special attribute, the industry gains advantages from both the booming sectors related to the leisure choices of people. Hence, the industry itself is emerging as an important and quite promising segment in the global market (Human Kinetics, 2005). Being an emerging and one of the most promising industries, several companies are choosing to enter the leisure industry while few companies have already gained an identifiable position in the industry. Brendon Jones Ltd. is also a company engaged with the activities of the leisure industry. The company presently employs almost 300 associates working in it’s headquarter and 10 other outlets scattered in different parts of the Valley of South Wales. The administration of the company is set with one individual manager to deal with the obstacles emerging in each of the ten outlets among whom none were specialised in the Human Resource Management (HRM) sector. This was one of the major problems which laid the company to a disruption in terms of its HR policies. The paper therefore will be focussed on the identification and the evaluation of the problems faced by the company in terms of its employee satisfaction, i.e. its HR policies. Moreover, the paper will aim at recommending a strategic solution in order to eradicate these obstacles and invigorate its performance as a leisure service provider company. Need for Appropriate HR Policies in a Leisure Company HRM from the managerial perspective is an indifferent concept implied to control the activities related to the associates of the company. Stating precisely, the management thought is used to organise various managerial activities ranging from recruiting to appraising, rewarding and controlling the manpower of the company. Presently, with a changing scenario and growing complexity in the business environment majority of companies are providing an increasing concern on the effective implication of HRM and the HR policies which are termed as the strategic initiation of the management thought. This is due to the fact that the strategies and operations are getting much more customer centric along with employee orientation. For main objectives which can be obtained through highly efficient services. The services are to be rendered by the employees. Therefore, any disturbance to the interest of the employees will in turn affect their satisfaction level which will again hamper the services provided by them to the ultimate customers (Wilton, 2010). With the above discussion it is quite apparent that companies which operate as service firms or the companies which are not solely based on customer service such as the manufacturing units require concentrating on their HR policies in order to attain a healthy working environment. Brendon Jones Ltd. is a company which is a participant of the leisure industry and therefore the organisational structure is majorly service oriented. In other words, the company is a service oriented firm catering its products and services directly and/or indirectly to the ultimate customers of the leisure industry. Thereby, the company needs to maintain a high satisfaction level among the employees in order to serve their targeted customers with adequate efficacy. Hence, the implication of appropriate HR policies in the case of Brendon Jones Ltd. is of immense significance. Analysis of the HR Issues Faced by Brendon Jones Ltd Brendon Jones Ltd, as mentioned above, is a leisure company, operating through 10 different outlets located in the Valley of South Wales. It is noteworthy that the company being one of the participants of the leisure industry accumulates the services related to the organisation of sport activities and programs together with fooding-lodging, transport and other leisure choices of the targeted customer group. The characteristics possessed by the industry influences the organisational structure strongly, providing it a complex outlook. Consequently, the company requires maintaining a working schedule of 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. all along the 7 days of the week. Moreover, the 200 employees associated in the outlets of the company are also transferred from one outlet to another as a process of internal recruitment. Mentioning the fact that despite employing around 300 associates the company lacks in providing a well defined administrative structure, which is undoubtedly the strongest flaw faced by the company. Furthermore, the company’s HR related issues are dealt by the Finance and the Administration Directors due to the fact that the company do not have any HR specialised professional in the organisational hierarchy. Any kind of problem arising from the end of the workforces, according to the organisational structure is to be sorted out by the respective outlet managers. As a result, faulty organisational structure and the ineffective efficacy of the administrative supervision acted as a fuel to the problem of HR related issues in the company. Hence, it is quite apparent that the company had to face numerous issues related to the ineffectiveness of the HR policies adapted. For instance, the working schedule of the company was from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. which is almost 17 hours a day throughout 7 days of a week. Whereas, according to the employment law enforced by the Australian Government, the maximum working hours for a full time employee is 8 hours with one weekly holiday, subject to any reasonable extension (Fair Work, 2010). However, the company enforces the working hour on the shift basis, which denotes that the total working hour per day is divided into two employees, but on the contrary, the workers need to work for all 7 days in a week without a weekly holiday. Moreover, the company lacked in the supervisionary sector with 10 individual managers assigned to deal with the issues related to the 10 different outlets. To be specific, the company proved deficient in hiring any specialised professional from the HRM background and therefore was unable to provide a well-defined organisational structure to satisfy the needs of the employees. Concurrently, the employees were also repeatedly transferred from one outlet to another in case of vacancies arising in any of the outlets. The company also did not have any implied salary structure for the employees. To be precise, wages were dissimilar for the employees working in almost the same labour market and with similar job responsibilities. Hence, there was also an issue of wage discrimination arising within the organisational environment. Furthermore, the company possessed a major limitation in terms of its regulatory framework. The company lacked in providing the facilities of a well regulated trade union to the employees. Thus, the issue of labour welfare is also subjective in the case of Brendon Jones Ltd. To be summarised, the problems faced by the company as an employer was related to the issue of wage discrimination, maximum working hours and a permanent working station. Due to the fact that all these attributes conclude on the part of the employee satisfaction and increased productivity, the aspect is considered to possess immense significance to lead the well being of the company. Impact of the Drawbacks of the HR Policies Adapted by the Company The impact of the obstacles or deficiencies of Brendon Jones Ltd in terms of the HR policies practised was severe. As recognised from the above discussion, the issues raised in terms of the ineffective HR policies headed towards several lawsuits against the company. For instance, the legal proceedings against the company are mostly based on the issues related to inappropriate managerial decisions which were executed by focussing on the working hours. The lawsuits were also raised on the dismissals and wages. However, due to the reason that the company had no trade union in its internal environment, several cases were taken to an external union which again hampered the well-being of the company at large. Moreover, the concern regarding the membership of a trade union is also at an increase among the employees of Brendon Jones Ltd., which if not considered will strongly affect the organisational health. The results of a diminished employee satisfaction also affected the target market of the company. Similar to any other corporate, Brendon Jones Ltd. also has certain pre-defined objectives and aims to stimulate the growth of the company. But as stated by the officials, the company was facing a failure in satisfying the determined objectives. Apart from the growing competition in the external environment of the company, another reason for the company’s failure was the inferior employee moral along with employee dissatisfaction. To be specific, the company was facing a downfall in the ratio of customers’ membership grouped by an increase in the labour turnover. Consequently, the situation can be stated as a result of the deterioration of the customer services rendered by the company which was headed by a diminished employee moral and employee disappointment. Being a participant of the service industry, customer satisfaction plays a crucial role in stimulating the growth of the company, which can be attained through efficient customer service. Therefore, considering the factors related to motivating the employees and generating high amount of employee moral are highly essential for Brendon Jones Ltd. Recommendations Recognisable from the above discussion, the company is undoubtedly witnessing a crucial situation to attain a sustainable growth in the industry which calls for certain major strategic initiations to be adhered by the company. The company at its present situation requires focusing on certain major strategic measures in order to eradicate its obstacle in terms of the deficient HR policies. To be included, legally the working hours of a full-time employee is prescribed to be 8 hours at the maximum with one day of weekly holiday. But in Brendon Jones Ltd., the workers need to work for over 17 hours though on the shift basis, the workers are not provided with a weekly holiday as quoted by the employment law (Fair Work, 2010). Therefore, the company should execute a weekly holiday for every employee. But providing every employee a holiday in a particular week will hamper the organisational process as the company inherently deals with the leisure industry. The company can provide a holiday to its employees on separate days of the week, for example, for the X employee the weekly holiday is on Wednesday and for Y the holiday is on Thursday. Moreover, considerable care should be taken on the issue of flexible timing. As stated by the regulatory board Fair Work of Australia, the employees who are parents are eligible to change their timing according to their requirement. Therefore, the company should consider the factor of flexible timing for the employees having children. This flexibility can be provided through the change in location, change in shifts or change in office hours (Fair Work, 2010). The company was also recorded to face a problem of improper wage structure which led the company to lawsuits based on wage discriminations. In this milieu, the company can follow the national minimum wage rate, i.e. $569.90 per week after the end of June in 2010. However, the wage rate determined for the employees employed before the period was $543.78 per week (Fair Work, 2010). The wage structure of the company will be thereby focused on the minimum wage structure as approved by the regulatory body. The wage structure thus will only differ on the basis of qualification, job responsibilities and working locations. Moreover, the employees should be paid with proper allowances and incentives which will in turn motivate them to render a superior quality of customer service. On the other hand, the company was also facing an obstacle in terms of the dismissals that happened in the company. To be noted, an employer can legally dismiss an employee only if the employee has an unsatisfactory performance or due to the misconducts arising on the part of the employee. However, the employee should be notified for the above complaints clearly by the employer during the recruitment process or at least for once before the termination with an intention to provide the employee a chance to rectify him/her (Fair Work, 2010). Apart from these apparent issues, the company also faces certain obstacles in terms of insufficient employees when compared with the size of the organisation, i.e. the company owns 10 separate outlets, with one headquarter and 300 employees among whom 100 are employed in the headquarter and 200 employees are allied with the 10 outlets all around the main markets of the Valley of South Wales. Almost 20 employees are allocated to work in 10 different outlets. But as a service firm, especially related to the leisure industry, the requirement of manpower is not always fixed. In order to eradicate this particular problem, the company often transfers its employees from one outlet to another quite frequently which again affects the satisfaction level of the employee. Therefore, the company can hire certain extra manpower on a part-time basis, which will not only assist the company during its requirement of extra manpower, but will also prove cost effective than hiring fulltime workers for the issue. Furthermore, in order to enhance the efficiency of the employees and improve the leadership quality of the management, it will be highly beneficial to organise internal competitions followed by a fair amount of appraisal and incentive structure. Moreover, considering the fact that not all the employees will have the same requirements, especially those working in different working conditions with dissimilar job responsibilities, it becomes essential for the HR manager to oversee the factors influencing the satisfaction level of the workforce. But for an individual manager the task emerges to be quite difficult and therefore, the management team can do with an assistant HR manager to have a proper concept of the working environment regarding the employee satisfaction. Simultaneously, the respective managers assigned in every individual outlet should be notified to participate in a meeting which will be held at least twice in a month. This will not only reward a fair chance to communicate the upcoming HR issues, but will also be beneficial to develop a solution to the matter with efficiency. Conclusion Brendon Jones Ltd was established by a sportsman and was later sold to an investment company, which can be termed as one of the major barriers active in the background of the company affecting the organisational health at large. For instance, the organisation is managed by a managerial group who are accustomed with the operations in the marketing area where work is enforced through fixed targets. But Brendon Jones Ltd, being a service based company has a dissimilar working culture and therefore requires a separate organisational structure. Hence, in order to eradicate the issues and regain growth, the organisation needs to follow few suggestive preliminary measures in terms of HR policies, which can be an assistant HR manager is required, every manager should be entitled to participate in executing the HR policies, a meeting among the managerial group should be held at least twice in a month, the company in order to meet its extra requirements can hire part-time staffs which will be cost effective as well, proper wage system along with an appropriate incentive structure should be enforced. Apart from these, the company should also take care of flexible timing facility and proper termination policy with an aim to maintain the well-being of the company. Reflective Diary The study of the paper was indeed of great help to enhance my knowledge regarding the practical know-how of the HR policies executed by a company. Through the study, I was able to identify what are the basic limitations and challenges faced by the company in order to imply an appropriate strategic decision as a part of HRM. The paper was also beneficial for me as it was quite supportive to recognise the drawbacks and the impact of improper HR policies when executed in the real life phenomenon. Therefore, it also assisted me to generate a considerable idea regarding the importance of HR policies adapted by a company especially a services based company such as Brendon Jones Ltd. By the end of the paper, I was also able to recover the possible measures which will be beneficial for the company and accordingly will be cost-effective. References Fair Work, 2010. Hours of Work. Conditions of Employment. [Online] Available at: http://www.fairwork.gov.au/employment/conditions-of-employment/pages/hours-of-work.aspx [Accessed January 22, 2011]. Fair Work, 2010. Flexible Working Arrangements. Conditions of Employment. [Online] Available at: http://www.fairwork.gov.au/employment/conditions-of-employment/flexible-working-arrangements/pages/default.aspx [Accessed January 24, 2011]. Fair Work, 2010. National Minimum Wage. Conditions of Employment. [Online] Available at: http://www.fairwork.gov.au/pay/national-minimum-wage/pages/default.aspx [Accessed January 24, 2011]. Fair Work, 2010. Termination of Employment. Conditions of Employment. [Online] Available at: http://www.fairwork.gov.au/termination/termination-of-employment/pages/default.aspx [Accessed January 24, 2011]. Human Kinetics, 2005. Introduction to Recreation and Leisure. Sports & Recreation. Wilton, N., 2010. An Introduction to Human Resource Management. SAGE Publications Ltd. Bibliography Armstrong, M., 2003. A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. Kogan Page Publishers. NCVO Workforce Development, No Date. Good Employment Practice Case Study. Developing a Leadership Programme at Our Organisation. [Online] Available at: http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/sites/default/files/files/leadership-programme-hr-casestudy.pdf [Accessed January 24, 2011]. Read More