Senior Management at AIRparts - Case Study Example

Research methods and consultancy (AIRparts Case study) Name Institution Course Tutor Date Executive Summary This is a report to the senior management at AIRparts concerning restructuring of HR function in the organisation. AIRparts is an Airbus company and is has realised the need to reduce it costs of suppliers. In response to this, it has decided to restructure its HR function by making it lean so that its operational costs can go down to improve its competitive advantage in the industry. In an effort to restructure the HR function, the report presents what should be done for the consultancy project to be successful. The elements to be considered include the nature and scope of the overall project, composition of consulting team, project parameters and boundaries, schedule of the project, methods of searching data, research respondents, data collection from the respondents, data analysis and the restructuring the HR function process. To successfully accomplish the restructuring project, the project team should consider the four steps of consultancy process which include conception, development, realisation and termination. It is projected that the restructuring project would take six months to come to full completion. Table of Contents Table of Contents 3 1.0 Introduction 3 2.1 Nature and scope of the overall project 5 2.2 Composition of consulting team 6 2.3 Project parameters and boundaries 6 3.1 Schedule of the project 8 3.2 Data search methods 9 3.3 Research respondents 10 4.1 Data collection from the respondents 12 4.2 Analysis of data 12 4.3 Restructuring the HR function at AIRparts 13 Reference List 16 1.0 Introduction AIRparts is a company that specialises in the manufacture and assembly of sun-assemblies used in making Airbus wings. It has three plants in three region; Broughton, Ellesmere and Chester. The former site is the head office of the organisation where the research and development (R&D) is housed. The organisation has HR functions in each of these sites linked up by an old HR computer system, which is currently requires to be updated. Interestingly, both the senior managers and line managers consider HR in different ways at different sites. In respond to increased competition, the organisation is thinking of the way to cut on its costs from suppliers which it believes will help achieve more competitive advantage. This report is meant to help the senior management at AIRpart in its restructuring effort to cut its costs by bringing the HR function into one department at its head office at Chester site. As a HR consultant, the intention is to help the organisation to break way from its traditional approach to HR function and merge the three HR functions in different sires into one unit at its head office. The report will incorporate various issues emerging from the research process to help the management at AIRparts make informed decisions concerning restructuring of the HR function. As a requirement of consultancy, the decisions provided in the report will be based on the views of various stakeholders to the project. Thus, different people in the organisation will be conducted to gather information to help formulate appropriate recommendations. Without suggesting to AIRparts a new organisational structure for HR function, the report simply provide working steps as well as methods of research to be followed in its development. The report is designed to follow the four stages of Consultancy Process by Gordon (2007) which includes Conception, Development, Realisation and Termination (Watson and Reissner, 2010, p.535). Lastly, the report will present conclusions and recommendations which AIRparts will use as a basis for making restructuring decisions. 2.0 Conception The first step to take in the consultation process would be conducting a discussion with the client in this case the management of AIRparts. This is a critical stage since both the consultant and the client must ascertain expectations of commitment and resourcefulness. The consultant will use this opportunity to agree with AIRparts management about the nature of the program in general, composition of consulting teams, available resources, methods of operation and project parameters and constraints. Similarly, during this stage, the client is expected to state the desired results of the consultation process and probably their concerns about outsiders’ involvement in the process. In particular, the areas of interest at the level to be used to ensure the success of the project include the nature and scope of the overall project, composition of consulting team, and project parameters and boundaries. These are explained as follows. 2.1 Nature and scope of the overall project One of the essential factors that will facilitate the success of the consultation process is to clearly define the nature and scope of the entire project. While discussing how to restructure HR functions with AIRparts management, it is important to identify what should be incorporated into the project and what should not. The main concern for AIRparts management is to reduce its costs from suppliers with the intention to squeeze both its profits and the profits of other suppliers. The issue if reducing cost is well thought, but the there is the need to identify the appropriate strategies to reduce these costs. The challenge to AIRparts is that it has a bloated workforce which is likely to contribute to high cost to the organisation. This can be prevented by reducing the number of employees in the organisation, especially in the HR function (Armstrong, 2009). The decision to restructure the HR function defines the scope of the project. A part from just focusing on creating a lean management in the HR function, it is necessary to also consider other possible factors that may have impact on the overall project. This requires discussion between the client and the consulting team. In deed, effective consultation entails more than providing solutions to technical problems, but also involves being sensitive to the feelings as well as needs of the client. 2.2 Composition of consulting team It is necessary to build a team that will help provide solutions to the needs of AIRparts within the required timeframe. This involves selecting members of the consulting team who have talents and skills related to restructuring HR function. A range of experience, analytical skills and viewpoints should be built into the consulting team. The more the consulting team comprise of different viewpoints the more successful will be the objective of project. Also, at this point, the future working relationship between the organisation and consultant should be examined carefully. AIRparts should be more specific concerning who will head the project, for how long and how he or she will facilitate and coordinate with parties within the organisation (Farnham, 2010). It would be appropriate for the organisation to select a senior person, such as the Senior HR Manager at Chester site to act as the project owner. Clear representation by both the organisation and consultant will prevent possible conflicts during the time when the project will be running. 2.3 Project parameters and boundaries Based on the previous steps, both AIRparts and the consultant must come to a decision about the parameters and boundaries of the project. The main concern is to clearly establish key stakeholders that will be required to participate in the project due to the fact the proposed changes will either directly or indirectly affect them in one way or another. It is obvious that the restructuring the HR function at AIRparts will directly affect the employees working in the three sites, that is Broughton, Ellesmere and Chester. This implies that the consulting team will have to incorporate the 12, 8, and 6 HR employees at Ellesmere, Broughton, and Chester sites. The views and ideas of these employees are very important and will help the consulting team make the right decisions about restructuring. In addition, their inclusion in the project should be clearly stated to avoid confusion in the course of the project. A part from the key HR function employees in the three sites, the project should also include other employees from all the sites. The fact the decisions of the HR function affects their day to day activities, the restructuring will affect them as well. It may not be possible to include all the 2,900 employees from the three sites into the project, but the consulting group may decide to limit its sample population to a small number of employees from all the sites. For instance, the consulting team may decide to interview 100 employees from Ellesmere site, 100 employees from Broughton site and 20 employees from Chester site. Senior management and line management in all the sites should also be included in report so to get their views concerning the proposed change. Therefore, it should be clear what people will be interviewed from the three sites so the research process runs well. 3.0 Development Development is the second step in the consultation process and it where planning will take place. Project planning is a very important aspect in consultancy since it helps to guide the way in which the project is conducted and progresses. In other words, it ensures that the project runs the way it has been programmed and also helps to reduce possible delays and disruptions during project implementation (Cottrell, 2005). This is also the stage in which activities are planned, data collection activities highlighted and roles of the project team identified. The relevant aspects in the development stage which this report is interested in include the schedule of the project, methods of research to be adopted and respondents in the research. 3.1 Schedule of the project Developing a project schedule is important for the success of the any project. At this stage, project outcomes have to split into smaller manageable tasks. Consultant team and other members of the project have to understand the tasks they are meant to undertake in order to facilitate coordination among all players in the project. An action can only be formulated based on the task allocation among members of the project. This action plan can then be used as a working schedule to use to successfully accomplish the project as per the projections (Farnham, 2010). The project owner and the consulting team will have to decide on the time each activity will take to come to full completion. Timing of the project activities may be treaty since they may take more time to be completed. Thus, project timing will be flexible enough to accommodate activities that may take longer than the projected time. For example, the consulting team project that all the HR functions in the three sites will take only 6 months to be merged into AIRparts head office when it will actually take more than 6 months. Alternatively, it may take less than 6 months to complete the restructuring process. These possible discrepancies must be foreseen by both the project owner and consulting team so they can agree on the new timings. Another important element in project schedule is how activities will follow each other when the project is being undertaken. This is in consideration of the fact that some activities follow a given process to come to full completion. What does this mean? Tasks in the project will be sequenced in order of priority, that is, what should come first and what should come last. For example, the consulting team will have to first identify it sample population, design the research questions before it administers the questionnaires to respondents to get their respond. All these tasks are related and must be well coordinated to achieve intended results (Watson and Reissner, 2010). Still, on the same, the consulting team must schedule when to administer the questionnaires in the three sites because they can the exercise ca not be accomplished in a single day. The project schedule can be shown on the Gantt chart so to identify when the project will start and when it will end. This would help the organisation to plan well for the future. 3.2 Data search methods Development stage also involves planning how to collect information to use to make decisions about the project at hand; in this case restructuring HR functions at AIRparts. At this point, the consulting team will conduct research on the identified sample size in respective sites in order to adhere to the established boundaries. In order to familiarise the participants about the consulting team intention’s to conduct research in their workplaces, a working memo will ne made detailing the level of intended fact finding (Anderson, 2009). In particular, the memo will indicate the people who will be interviewed, the documents that will be required for review, the possibility of requesting for outside resources to assist the consulting team and how the questionnaires will be utilized. The consulting team will use relevant methods of data collection to gather information. These methods are classified as primary and secondary methods of data collection. The primary data will be collected through interviews, questionnaires and focus groups (Anderson, 2009). The consulting will use structured interviews to collect information about the HR function at AIRparts in all the three sites. This will constitute predetermined questions since the consulting team will have taken the time to think out questions. Written surveys in form of questionnaires will also be used to collect primary data and will involve assessing AIRparts HR functioning and to review the effects of HR management on general operations of the organisation. Secondary data will also be used to help make informed decisions about HR restructuring in the organisation. The consulting team may have to review documents and procedures in Ellesmere, Broughton, and Chester HR functions. This will form part of early assessment in the project. Basic data concerning limitations and significant problem areas with the HR functions in the three sites will emerge from this review. Both the primary and secondary data will help the consulting team to analyse the process of work in HR functions in the three sites to design a comprehensive HR function at the head office at Chester site. 3.3 Research respondents As noted earlier, the consulting team would establish the sample population to constitute in research. According to Anderson (2009) it is important to determine a sample size and the respondents when conducting research in any given population. The first respondents will be drawn from HR functions in the three sites to include the 26 HR managers. The criterion for selecting this group as respondents is because they will be directly affected by the change process. Identified members of the consulting team will engage the HR managers in interviews estimated to last 30 minutes per interview session. Also, the 220 employees in the three sites will be used be allocated specific days of allowing them to participate in focused group discussions to enable the consulting team gather adequate data. Also, questionnaires will be distributed to the 220 employees to be returned after they respond to the questions therein. Senior management and line management will also form part of the sample population in the study. As indicated earlier these are people who will be indirectly affected by the change initiative and therefore it is important they are included in the project. In addition, AIRparts has a large workforce and it would be practical to use all the employees as a sample population. In the same way, the consulting team will use conduct interviews with the senior managers and line managers at predetermined time and day. The basic general principle, as stipulated by Neuman (2006) of using 10% of the total population to determine the sample size of this study was followed so to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the research process (Neuman 2006 cited in Anderson 2009, p.250). Therefore, the sample size will constitute 26 HR managers, 220 employees from all the sites for AIRparts and all senior management and line management in the sites. 4.0 Realisation At the realisation stage the focus is on carrying out the investigations planned in the previous stages of the consultancy process. This is the time the consulting team would conduct a background research about the organisation, conducts interviews and literature review and make analysis and comparisons based on the collected data. In other words, the consulting team will commence the investigation process whereby collecting data, interpreting it and trying to look at how restructuring HR function by merging them together can be accomplished. At this point, the consulting team must also ensure the project is effectively monitored and controlled so that it runs as planned. Thus, the consulting team would perform different activities which include datat collection through interviews, questionnaires and focus groups with the respondents; analyse collected data and formulate strategies for restructuring the HR function at AIRparts. 4.1 Data collection from the respondents According to Watson and Reissner, interviews are a form of controlled conversation that is meant to achieve a certain purpose (Watson and Reissner, 2010, p.216). This is the time to conduct interviews as planned and the respondents would also respond to the questionnaires. In addition, the consulting team will organise focus group discussion among the employees identified to participate in the project. The interview would be used to investigate the unknown about the issue under study. A part from using structured interviews, the consulting team would also use semi-structured interviews, especially at the beginning of the project to understand the issues pertaining HR function in various sites. According to Anderson (2009) semi-structured interviews are best applied when the beginning of a project because at the time problems are not clearly known. The interview will be held as scheduled and the also the questionnaires will be distributed to the target population and collected after they have filled in their views about the topic under discussion. 4.2 Analysis of data The data collected from the above process has to be reviewed by the consulting team. This would create a pattern that can be used to define prospective solutions. The data would also help in developing a better understanding of the situation AIRparts is experiencing. It is expected that the data will help provide solutions to the problem. Data analysis is an essential determinant of the quality of quality of outcomes of research (Anderson 2009, p.210) and therefore it is critical at realisation stage in this consultancy process. In case available data does not fill the gap, it would be necessary to collect additional data, or the consulting team would have to accept the fact that some solutions to the problem are inconclusive. However, this is not expected to occur in the project. 4.3 Restructuring the HR function at AIRparts At this point, the consultants would have to develop alternative responses to the problem. In other words, the consulting team should try to see how the HR function at different sites at AIRparts can be merged and located at the head office at Chester site. In addition, the options to the solution should be well defined and should be put in a priority order with right justifications. The information collected by use primary and secondary methods would help the consultants make informed decisions concerning the change effort. It would be appropriate for the consultant to use information from other manufacturing companies to make comparisons and also to use the companies as a benchmark. The information would also help the consultant to prove justifications for the decision to be taken. While restructuring the HR function at AIRparts, the consultant should ensure that the change achieves the objective of the organisation concerning increasing efficiency. The intention of AIRParts is to reduce operational costs and by reducing the size of the HR function to make it lean, the organisation would be able to cut on its costs and gain a more competitive advantage. 5.0 Termination This is the last step in the consultancy process where the consultant would be expected to make his presentation to the management of AIRparts. The purpose for the termination process is for the consultant to organise if findings well considering the various aspects that would influence the implementation of the project, such as availability of resources, time, cost and the implications of the proposed recommendations. In deed, the consultant should present his best to the organisation through the project so that project can be accepted. In this case, the consultant should be able to present how the HR function can be merged into a single entity in a more practical way. It is likely that other findings emerged during the consultation process and these issues have to present to the project owner as well. Other findings the consulting team would present include upgrading the HR policies and procedures and the HRM computer system. All these findings have to be incorporated in the final report so that when the restructuring is done, the organisation can achieve maximum efficiency. The energy created by the consulting may easily fail without follow-ups. Therefore, in this consulting project, time should be an account for follow-up procedures. The consulting team would be required to support AIRparts during the initial stages of implementing the change process. 6.0 Conclusions The project has been designed to help AIRparts cut on its operations costs and increase its competitive advantage in the Airline industry. In deed the decision to reduce the HR function by merging the three HR function in all the sites into one branch at the head office make sense and it would help reduce costs. This is because, currently the HR function in the organisation is highly duplicated which is not the right way to go. The employees at AIRparts must be ready to face the reality of change at AIRparts because restructuring the HR function may lead to some HR employees losing their job. It might be a painful experience, but a bold decision must be taken if the organisation wants to achieve it goal of reducing operational costs. It is cost effective to conduct this consultancy project because once implemented, the project will have a lasting benefit to the organisation. Yes, the project requires a vast of skills from HR professionals to help carry it forward and this has cost implications, but this is only in the short run. This should not scare away the organisation, but it should consider the long term benefits the project would bring to the organisation. In addition, AIRparts would have to reconsider how the HR function would carry out it role in the future; whether transactional services could be outsourced while use the internal HR role as a centre of excellence. All in all, the main focus should be to minimise the operational costs. 7.0 Recommendations In order to carry out the project successfully, it should follow the four steps of consultancy process to the later which include conception, development, realisation and termination. The project team should clearly define the deliverables and develop a better understanding of what to be done, how to be done and when to be done. The project should also be well scheduled and tasks and sub-tasks clearly outlined. There should be proper timing of tasks to the projects so that activities are accomplished within the stipulated time frame. Methods of data collection should be well organised on time so to eliminate confusion during the project process. For instance, the consulting team should prepare the questionnaires and inform the respondents on time in terms of the date, time and the place where the process will be conducted. Generally, the project team should plan well right from the beginning of the project by putting everything in order. Most importantly, AIRparts management should be committed to the project and show their support to the project team to make the project successful. Reference List Anderson, V (2009) Research Methods in Human Resource Management, 2nd edition, London: CIPD. Armstrong, M. (2009) A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, 10th edition, London: Kogan Page. Cottrell, S. (2005) Critical thinking skills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan Farnham, D. (2010) Human Resources Management in Contexts, Strategies, Insights and solutions, 3rd edition, London: CIPD. Watson, G. and Reissner, S.C. (eds.) (2010) Development Skills for Business Leadership, London: CIPD. Read More