Human Resources for Employee Self-Self of Royal Mail - Essay Example

? Human Resources for Employee Self-Self of Royal Mail Introduction The logistics and mail services industry, in the United Kingdom, operates on the basis of same day delivery service of parcels and mails. There are a number of mail service companies that offer same day and next day logistics and courier services. These companies include Royal Mail U.K., UPS, TNT, City Link, FedEx, DHL, and other local courier such as APC Overnight (Chancery House, 2008 p6). Royal Mail Group Limited is a postal and the courier company with several subsidiaries that include Parcel-force Worldwide, Royal Mail, and Post Office. It offers several services through these subsidiaries, which include parcel delivery system, postal mail services, general logistic system, and general services related to post (Russell, 2005 p45). Royal Mail focuses on delivering letters and packages to all part of the world. Currently, this company has 14,300 post office branches and 113,000 post boxes throughout the UK, which collect packages, letters and parcels from over 87,000 individuals and businesses. These commodities are collected through a diverse collection and transportation network that includes 33,000 bicycles and 30,000 vehicles (Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons Committee: Trade and Industry, 2006 p23). This paper provides strengths and weaknesses (internal analysis) of Royal Mail’s human resource management system for employees, and recommendation that should be adopted to improve its human resource management system and employees’ performances and efficiencies. Strengths The highly skilled and hard working employees, who are regularly motivated by the financial resources and efficient management, form the key strengths of Royal Mail. The company’s employees are offered improved new range of training and assured performance related pays (Plunkett, 2009 p76). Some of the Royal Mail’s employees are regarded as the company’s valuable assets. This is as a result of revised employees’ procedures and policies, including motivation and long-term job security (Russell, 2005 p54). In order to obtain a strong employee to employer relationship and enhance its reputation, this company integrated some additional steps into its human resource management system, and they include: the present contracts were renewed, and new standardized contracts were awarded to the employees; the newly introduced techniques and machinery help the employees achieve a world class standard performance, the newly revised Pension scheme plans were going to be directed to those employees in the Royal Mail pension plan (Russell, 2005 p58); the new plan for early retirement and temporary redundancy were going to be implemented with an immediate effect, and the minimum wages and working hours were also revised. The Royal Mail’s human resource management also puts employees’ safety in the forefront of the priority list. In order to motivate its staff members, this company has improved its working condition, stress relief exercise, self appraisal process, first aid facilities, and changes employees’ job duties over some time. The HRM has also included increments and promotions into the new plan. The Royal Mail has also developed a new method of dealing with the Trade Union. The trade union has been given a vital position in the company’s management activities. The union has also been requested to help employees to conform to the Organizational rules and regulations, and achieve sustainable competitive advantage (Chancery House, 2008 p26). An effective system of communication between the HRM and the trade union was also developed. Weaknesses There have been frequent complaints from customers regarding missing parcels and letters in some Royal Mail’s retail outlets. Careful investigation revealed that some of the company’s staff members have been involved in a series of mail theft over the past few years (Brooks, 2003 p118). This has reduced the Royal Mails reputation and prestige before it esteemed customers. This has also affected the company’s market share, in the United Kingdom’s mail and logistics industry, though it was earlier perceived to be enjoying some sort of monopoly in this industry (Hooper et al. 2008 p21). Additionally, the frequent strikes made by the trade union, in Royal Mail, also form part of the company’s weakness in its human resource management system. This is an indication that both employees and the trade unions are not well contended with the company’s management system. The relationships between Royal Mai l’s human resource management and employees still remain unclear because of some unresolved issues. For instance, the issue of privatization of Royal Mail Company has made its staff members loose trust in the company’s management system and have a feeling of lack of accountability from the company’s managers (Hooper et al. 2008 p26). This is an issue that has continuously reduced workers morale towards executing their duties to the required standards. It was established that this is one of the main cause of continuous union strikes, involvement in a series of mail thefts, and complaints regarding employees, and shutting down of some of the company’s retail outlets (Russell, 2005 p59). Recommendations The Royal Mail’s human resource management should make an effort to prevent issues relating to mail theft, employees’ motivation, and union strikes. The management should strive to make a strong contact between the management and employees, and friendly relations with the trade union. This will ensure the smooth running and functioning of the Royal Mail. The Royal Mail has shut down most of its retail outlets and offices and sack several employees due to the United Kingdom’s recent credit crunch (Luff, 2005 p15). The Royal Mail is being affected because of its highly skilled and flexible core workers. The Human resource management should also develop a strategy of identifying the competitive area, and develop strategies for improving the company’s competitive strength to gain competitive advantage over its key rivals. The HRM should also develop a strategy for implementing new training services and techniques with the performance based aspect in order to motivate its employees sufficiently. Fina1ly, this company should develop a management system that includes all its staff members, in the decision making process. This will make employees feel as part of the company, and this will significantly increase their performances and efficiencies. Bibliography Brooks C. The Royal Mail Case: Rex V. Lord Kylsant, and Another. London: Ayer Publishing, 2003. Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons Committee: Trade and Industry. Royal Mail Group: ninth report of session 2005-06, Vol. 2: Oral and written evidence. London: The Stationery Office, 2006. Chancery House. "Business models for a dynamic and successful postal market ." Europe Economics, 5 Feburary 2008: 3-23. Hooper et al. "The challenges and opportunities facing UK postal services." An independent review of the UK postal services sector, 2008: 8-29. Hooper R. Saving the Royal Mail's universal postal service in the digital age: an update of the 2008 Independent Review of the UK Postal Services Sector. London: The Stationery Office, 2010. Luff P. Royal Mail after liberalisation: second report of session 2005-06, Volume 1. London: The Stationery Office, 2005. Plunkett J. W. Plunkett's Transportation, Supply Chain and Logistics Industry Almanac 2009 (E- Book): Transportation, Supply Chain and Logistics Industry Market Research, Statistics, Trends and Leading Companies. London: Plunkett Research, Ltd, 2009. Russell H, Truss L. Envelopes: a puzzling journey through the Royal Mail. New York: Random House, 2005. Read More