HRM Portfolio: Case Study Review Questions - Essay Example

HRM Portfolio: Case Study Review Questions Question one Issues and challenges that Natural Knibbles should address With the intended changes in the human management system, it is important that Michael be aware of the human resource challenges that he will face. While there are many other issues, the following are the most common issues and challenges that Natural Knibbles ought to address: Work place diversity: The employees of Natural Knibbles are of different, age, gender, education, income levels and sexual orientation.

Challenges will arise when such a work force is required to work as a team. Knowing the challenges that arise from interaction of these diverse groups, will help Michael in assisting employees and help them work peacefully with those they consider different (Daly, 2008, P.162). Change management: These refer to challenge that arise from changing roles in corporate society, changes in jobs, and overlapping responsibility. The intended change in production in Knibble Company will bring about this problem.

Realizing that change is required is the initial step toward for accepting the change. Employee compensation and benefits: With the slow economic growth and the negative performance of Natural Knibbles, the issue of employee compensation and benefits will arise. To address this issue properly Michael must present mandatory changes in a manner that employee can accept (Creasy & Hiatt, 2003, P.130). Recruiting skilled employee: For the company to carry the new roles, employee with acceptable skills and required training degree should be sort.

Finding qualified employees is not easy; therefore, Michael will need to search for employees outside the local market. Employee training and development: There is dire need for the company to cut its costs – also training cost for it to make profit. Yet, they still need to teach its employees the right skill (Mathis & Jackson, 2008, P.140). These are some of the challenges that human resource department should prepare for. It is noteworthy that knowing in advance the probable situation that might arise assists one to solve them in the event that they occur.

Question two Steps for developing an effective HR plan For the Knibbles Inc. to develop a strategic human resource management plan effectively, it will need to take the following steps. The HR manger should first consider the business environment, the upcoming projects, potential drop in revenue, or any other thing that may affect the employees that the company will need and be able to hire. In other words, it should look out for opportunities or problem that will affect the human resource management plan (Kumar, 2010, P.100). Secondly, Knibbles Company should consider the current and future demands for employees.

This step involves quantifying the employees that will be required and the specific task they will perform. Getting at a concrete figure may be impossible but projections will assist in designing an effective human resource plan. The third step is to analyze the human resource that a company already have. In this regard, the management should look at strength, skills, and weakness of the company’s current employees. This helps in matching each employee with the task that best suit him or her.

Also, consider the company’s environment, culture and space, and how to maximize the use of available resource. The fourth step is to create a plan that match the demand for human resource with the available human resource. If incase the demand is higher, consider the option of hiring new employees or alternatively you can authorize the use overtime or temporary workers. Incase there are more employees than required; you will have to reduce the workforce by means of lay off or early retirement.

The final step is implementation of the plan. Expert recommends that HR carry out this step in phases (Deb, 2006, P.120). During the process, the HR manger should also communicate some win along the process. This helps motivate the employee and bring some sense of brief in the new system. Developing a proper human resource management plan is a key to a successful company. Question three Even though proper planning is a key to attaining the desired change, it is not the only factor; bad implementation can also bring about the fail.

Proper implementation of the sufficiently planned actions is the key to achieving the desired change (Klein, 2008, P.110). The described steps above will help the Knibble Company implements its changes in the following manner: It helps understand those involved to understand the need for change. Michael can use the plan to explain and convince his parent that there is a need to hire new employees or lay off some other employees, depending on the result of human resource analysis. The plan will also help in defining the scope and objective of this new project.

Using the plan, Michael can develop a well-written scope and objectives that the company intends to achieve. This will help in focusing the all the effort of the company toward a particular direction. The plan will also help Michael and his parent visualize the results. After building a mental image of success, it becomes very easy to determine the Wright actions to take you there. A human resource plan maps out the processes to follow to achieve the goal. Mapping the process helps to determine the requirement for the achievement of the goals.

In requirement analysis, the management should ensure they include all the expected workflows. The manager then develops a budget from these estimates. Writing a plan before implementing is very important. These help one to mentally walk through each step of the project, highlights, and resolve each problem that could arise. Finally, a human resource plan helps the manger to close check always whether the company is making the required progress during the implementation phase. It helps determine whether the original objectives are all met for the project to stop (Reading, 2004, P.120). If incase some objective are not achieved it means that more work need to be done.

Question four An effective human resource management requires human resource information system to provide current and accurate data for the purpose of control and decision-making. The system is composed of procedures, information, equipment, method for information compilation, and the people who use the system and information management (Ashok, 2005, P.252). The specific information that is included in the system include the company’ resources, number of employees, tasks that each employee should perform, specific details of employees (e.g. age, sex, marital status, health status), the term under which the employees are hired among many others.

Computers are necessary in development of the HR information system. They are not only used in storing and retrieving of files but are also used in broader application. These application include HR calculations, production of basic reports, long rage forecasting and strategic planning, evaluation of hr policies and career and promotion planning. A properly designed HRIS will help the management of natural Knibbles to align the company’s department with goal of long-term strategic plans. Nowadays companies are recognizing HR issues as critical factors in making strategic management decision.

The ability of HRIS to analyze, quantify, and model changes enhance the status of personnel management in an organization (Bagdi, 2012, P.180). Use of computerized HRIS provides several advantages to HR professional. Such advantages are online HR service that provides an up to minute information in several categories e.g. news, reseach, software and other service. In developing a HRIS, the company must address the privacy issue in advance. A HRIS that has privacy improve the employee’s relation rather than a mistrusted disseminator of sensitive information.

HR information technology will improve the human resource management and improve the competitive advantage of Knible Company (Tanke, 2001, P.210). References Ashok, G. (2005). Developing Human Resource Information System. Boston, MA: Daya Publishing House. Bagdi, S. (2012). Practical Human Resource Information Systems. California: PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. Creasy, T., & Hiatt, J. (2003). Change Management: The People Side of Change. New York: Prosci. Daly, A. (2008). Workplace diversity: issues and perspectives.

Michigan: The University of Michigan. Deb, T. (2006). Strategic Approach to Human Resource Management Concept, Tools And Application. New Jersey: Atlantic Publishers & Dist. Klein, H. (2008). Basics Project Planning. Virginia: Birkhäuser. Kumar, R. (2010). Human Resource Management: Strategic Analysis Text and Cases. New York: I. K. International Pvt Ltd. Mathis, R., & Jackson, J. (2008). Human resource management with Info Trac. New York: Cengage Learning. Reading, C. (2004). Strategic Business Planning: A Dynamic System For Improving Performance & Competitive Advantage.

New York: Kogan Page Publishers. Tanke, M. (2001). Human Resources Management for Hospitality. New York, NY: Cengage Learning.