How to Use Knowledge Management - Case Study Example

HRM Delivery Assessment [Name of Student] [Institutional Affiliation] [Date] Table of Contents Introduction 3 Problems and issues Clothes R’Us faces going forward 3 Legal Implications that Clothes R’ Us Needs to Consider 5 Legal Implications they need to be Aware of 6 Healthy Employment Relationship between Management and Staff during the Period of Change 7 Recommendations and Solutions 8 Conclusion 10 References 11 Introduction Clothes R’Us is a well-established and fast growing medium sized company that has chain stores in cities of Manchester, Birmingham, London, Leeds and Newcastle. The company deals in retail of clothes, a business that is gradually picking up following the economic revival. Clothes R’Us has forty five employees. The workers are mainly students employed on temporary terms. As a result, full-time employees have been de-motivated since they feel that the casual workers are doing very little work in addition to their absenteeism from duty. This factor has contributed to the high turnover that is experienced in this company. Due to the increased demand of its products, Clothes R’ Us plans to expand to other markets in the region. In the next five months the organisation shall open a branch in Sheffield where they have already bought some premises. However, with the current workforce they are unlikely to manage the Sheffield store. It is in this regard that that they are looking for recommendations and possible solutions from a consultant. This report thus, examines the problems and issues Clothes R’ Us faces, the legal implications that they need to consider and be aware of and methods that can be applied to sustain a healthy relationship between the management and staff during the period of change. This essay further outlines some the recommendations and solutions to the problems identified. Problems and issues Clothes R’Us faces going forward Clothes R’Us faces many problems and issues. The first issue is the increased demand for their demand that does not match their preparedness to handle. This demand is due to the fact that the economy is slowly gaining momentum. Clothes R’Us has barely forty five employees who are currently handling the established chains. To add insult to injury, the organisation has a high turnover rate that sees workers leave the company at an alarming rate. This implies that the company spends a lot of resources every now and then to recruit and train new workers who in to leave the company in short a while. This cyclic process of employing people who barely stick to the company will certainly affect negatively productivity of the company( Stevens, R.H., 2010). The company is further exposed to the risk of losing important workers who have helped build the business in a long span of time. The other problem the company faces is breakdown of the existing healthy relationship between the staff and the management. The employees on permanent terms feel overworked. Their counterparts on temporary terms do less works and are often never at work. Given that the company has not changed its recruitment policy it is a clear indicator that the complaints that these workers raise have not been addressed. Such unhealthy relationship has made some workers feel left out and de-motivated. Clothes R’Us is, therefore, likely to experience more turn over in the future and provoke eventual downfall of the company. Also, there are chances that the organisation’s Human Resource management team has some weaknesses that render it ineffective .For instance, given the availability of Human Resource management teams at every branch complaints on recruitment terms would have been addressed to avert the frequent turnovers. Chances are that the HRM team distances itself from the staff and is often hardly in touch with the needs, frustrations and complaints of the staff. This makes it hard for them to access necessary feedback from the staff on how the company is progressing. Competition from other similar companies is the other issue that Clothes R’Us is certainly going to face. With revival of the economy in the UK, consumer spending is projected to go high. Spending on clothing items will go up thus necessitating people to set up businesses along this line. Therefore, Clothes R’Us should be alert as other prospective companies may take advantage of the weaknesses within this organisation to strengthen theirs. The other issue the company faces is lack of good will from both the staff and the management to solve or address the major issues of concern. The fact that there is sporadic turnover is a clear indication that the HRM team has not identified the challenges the workers are facing and thus attempt to solve them. At times, people just need reassurance and signs of commitment by the management to solve the problems. Existence of the problems in this organisation can be partly blamed on the part of the workers. There are possibilities that the complaints have not reached the management. They thus can be termed to lack the good will to help the management solve the issues affecting them. Legal Implications that Clothes R’ Us Needs to Consider Clothes R’ Us might need to consider the statutory requirements for buying property to start their new store in Sheffield. This law stipulates the conditions for purchasing property that is meant for business. The essence of this law is to protect the buyer and the seller with regard to this type of transaction. In addition to the cost of purchasing a building, there are other extra charges that need to be considered. One of them is VAT, Stamp Duty Land Tax, local authority service charges. The latter varies from one area to the other depending on the local authority. The organisation thus needs to consider if it can raise such an amount of money and if it can sustain the store. The organisation also needs to consider the fact that they are expected to pay taxes and social security fund contribution of their employees. This is a statutory requirement in UK that every employer needs to contribute a per cent of the of the employer’s income towards social security funds. This is important because it will help the company consider if they have enough resources to pay the workers, income and still be able to save some money for growth and development of the business. If such an assessment is ignored it might lead to unexpected closure of some chains or hinder development of the company. Legal Implications they need to be Aware of Clothes R’Us needs to aware of the Equality Act of 2010. The Act stipulates that no employee should be subjected to unequal or unfair treatment at the workplace. For example, due to their age, skin colour or terms of service. The latter is what applies to the Clothes R’Us since they treat unfairly the permanent staff by giving them more work and long working hours as opposed to their counterparts working on part time basis. An employee can sue the organisation on the basis that they are being treated unfairly. On the other hand, they need to be aware of Insurance. Business is a prone to many risks such as fire accidents, theft, robbery, fraud or terrorism acts that can bring the business down. There is need, in consultation with a solicitor, to seek an insurance cover for the new store to safeguard against any danger. The other implications they need to be aware of is that any employee might sue them on breach of contract. To start with, the Clothes R’ Us should formulate clear and unambiguous contract forms that employees sign upon recruitment. During the time of service there should be no breach of the contract signed as this might lead to the company being sued. Also the company needs to be aware that employees have the right to demand for flexible working hours. These flexibility covers people working either on part time basis, job sharing, compressed hours or any one working during the school working hours. Despite the fact that the employee has a right to either object or agree to this demand, he/she has the responsibility to take such demands seriously and give them considerable thought. Healthy Employment Relationship between Management and Staff during the Period of Change A healthy relationship between the management and the staff can be improved through effective communication. The management ought to communicate clearly to the staff about the expected changes. Changes to be made should not come as a surprise but well in advance so as to give the staff enough time to understand the new ideas and appreciate them. Equally important is the choice of communication channel when relaying such information. While some issues may be easily relayed through memos, notices, email or text messages, others ought to be communicated in a meeting. One advantage of holding meeting is that it is a good avenue for the management explain their suggestions and also gather views on how the staff views the ideas brought up. This process is inescapable in helping the staff gain an in-depth understanding of the new changes. It also helps the management gather more information about the attitude of the employees towards given policies. Consequently, this will enable the organisation arrest any possible conflicts that might arise whenever a new policy is introduced. Holding consultations on various policies can foster healthy relationships in an organisation. Any implementation procedure that ignores the role of consultation is likely to face opposition. It is prudent to acknowledge the fact that there is no single and uniform way of doing things and that different people may have diverse thoughts and opinions on how certain tasks or procedures can be done. Therefore, any management team must carry out regular consultation with the staff so as to reach a compromise on any issue that proves contentious. During such consultations everyone ought to recognise that people often have divergent opinions and that no one can claim autonomy of appropriate ideas. This implies that flexibility is a key prerequisite for all consultations. The organisation needs to seek ways through which employees can pass their grievances whenever they arise. Firstly, they should create an atmosphere where everyone feels part and parcel of the company. Secondly, the company ought to encourage employees to communicate freely without fear of being victimised. Thirdly, they might need to consider taking the workers for a dinner, camping or team building events. All these activities will ensure that people bond and above feel free to talk to each other at any time. Recommendations and Solutions The first recommendation for Clothes R’Us is to adapt management a different approach regard to recruitment of its workers. The organisation might need to change its employment policy to favour employment of persons under permanent terms of service. This strategy will go a long way in enhancing and promoting productivity of the company. Firstly, it will curb the periodical turnover rate and consequently minimise the resources the company uses in recruiting and training the new employees. On the other hand, such an initiative will ensure that will make the workers on permanent basis feel more engaged and motivated. As a long term strategy, though, the organisation might need to consider employing people on permanent basis under good terms and conditions. It will ensure that people stick to the organisation for long and work productively for the benefit of the organisation. Motivation of the workers in this organisation should be the other priority of this organisation. Frederick Herzberg recognises that unhygienic factors can contribute a great deal to dissatisfaction at work . In Clothes R’Us, the unhygienic factor is the unfair treatment meted on those working on permanent basis. While those in casual terms work at their own preferred time and have less work, they themselves have to work for long hours. No doubt they have become less motivated and disengaged. Frederick Herzberg praises an environment that is conducive as key motivator towards work (Lopes et al., 2013). The organisation, therefore, needs to carry out an assessment of the factors that contributing to positive growth and vice-versa. Once this assessment is carried out, a clear action plan should be introduced and implemented as soon as possible. It might include having flexible working hours, better remuneration and terms of service. As illustrated earlier, the company in this case study suffers from ineffective management. The fact that there is a breakdown in the communication process between the staff and the management is an indication enough to justify that the HRM has flaws. A given number of approaches can be taken to make leadership of this company more effective. One of them is job enrichment. In this strategy, the manager gives substantial amount of freedom to the employees to accomplish the assigned tasks. Upon timely completion, feedback is given to the employees. Limits and controls are also done away with as they hinder people from effectively realising their duties. Part of the reason why older workers in the organisation feel disengaged is because there are no proper mechanisms of communication. The employees feel that they are only there to be given tasks to complete without any question or objection. In addition to this, the management ought to recognise that positive reinforcement is an inescapable tool in improving productivity. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs identifies job security and promotions as one of the primary needs of an individual (Schermerhorn et al., 2012). When employees in this organisation feel insecure they start looking for other job opportunities that they think will give them the job security that they desire. As matter of fact, Clothes R’Us needs to offer terms of service to their employees that give them a sense of security .In addition, modalities of assessing individual performance and reinforcing it might be necessary. They management of Clothes R’Us might be compelled to hold appraisal interviews and to give regular awards and incentives that will foster worker motivation. The other recommendations are for the company to carry out continuous assessment. Evaluation of the given policies and leadership strategies should not be carried out once when there is crisis but rather periodically. Much of the problems companies are facing are associated with lack or failure to harness a problem at the initial stages. These surveys and assessment require experts from outside the company who can give reports free of bias but full of constructive criticisms. The process does not end here but rather follows up the response plan to the various shortcomings outlined in the report. Conclusion The report has made a critical analysis of the problems and issues that Clothes R’ Us faces going forward. Some of these problems included low motivation for employees, an ineffective HRM team, and possible competition from other similar problems. To counter these problems a number of recommendations and solutions have been provided such as changing job design strategies, motivating workers, improving and enhancing proper communication between the staff and management. The report further explored some legal implications that Clothes R’ us needs to consider and be aware of. From this report, there is no doubt that all the issues facing the organisation are all manmade. Apparently all these problems can be solved given appropriate approaches and good will from all and sundry in the organisation. All that needs to be taken into consideration is involving every in the process of solving all these problems and challenges. References Lopes, J. E., & Delellis, N. O. (2013). Understanding the motivations of the Multigenerational physician assistant workforce. Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants. 26, 46-50. Schermerhorn, J.R. et al., (2012). Management. 4th ed. Sydney, Australia: John Wiley and Sons. Stevens, R.H., (2010). Managing the human capital: How to use knowledge management 2 transfer toknowledge in today's multigenerational workforce. International Business Research, 3(3), pp.77-83. Read More