Hr Case Study Free Essay Sample

Table of Contents Executive summary2 Problem identification and analysis 3 Statement of major problems4 7. Generation and evaluation of alternate solutions 5 7. 1 Reducing reliance on sales force5 7.

2 Introduce team based targets and reward systems5 7. 3 Survey sales force on time allocated for different job aspects6 7. 4 Set maximum amount of voluntary additional work hours6 8. Recommendations7 9. Implementations 8 10.

Concluding Remarks9 11. References10 12. Turnitin Originality report11-12 Executive summary

Annette, the newly appointed HR manager feels that Terry, the company sales manager, despite loving his job and being passionate about the work he does, is a workaholic. She is afraid that Terry will not be able to keep up with this hectic schedule and that it would soon affect his health and work life balance. Even though his working habits shine a positive light on the company, it gives a certain peer pressure to his sales team to work equally long hours even when Terry does not insist that anyone work as long as him.

Furthermore, Annett does not agree with what the CEO intends to do, to give Terry recognition and reward for his dedication and outstanding result, as it is a result of extreme work habits.

However, the CEO feels that no one is forcing Terry to work long hours, and might think of it as legal as it is a voluntary effort. Problem identification and analysis Harvard Analytical Framework for Human Resource Management Stake holder Long term Individual well-being disrupted burn out internal departmental stress unnecessary pressure from Terry leads to team resignation societal effect educes effectiveness of sales team from undue pressure Long term Individual well-being disrupted burn out internal departmental stress unnecessary pressure from Terry leads to team resignation societal effect reduces effectiveness of sales team from undue pressure HR outcomes Commitment to work long hours due to rewarding of extreme work attitude Non compliance to legislation due to voluntary long hours Creates competent work force in short run due to extra hours HR outcomes Commitment to work long hours due to rewarding of extreme work attitude Non compliance to legislation due to voluntary long hours

Creates competent work force in short run due to extra hours Choices rewarding behavior job design Possible lack of technology in job Uses new sales as main cash flow generator Choices rewarding behavior job design Possible lack of technology in job Uses new sales as main cash flow generator Interests CEO HR manager TerryHRM policyHR outcomesLong-Term Sales Forcerewarding behavi Job desginCommitment Individual Compliancewell-being Situational Factors * Long work hours * Legislation * Business Strategy * dependant on sales and conditions * sales target philosophy * Task Technology * societal values Situational Factors * Long work hours * Legislation * Business Strategy * dependant on sales and conditions * sales target * philosophy * Task Technology * societal values Human resourceCongruenc Source: Beer et al (1984) One of the principal problems that are shown in the case is the willingness to reward extreme work behavior in the organization. This positive reinforcement of Terry’s working behavior will be indirectly showing to others that to gain recognition in the company, you would have to adopt extreme working behaviors like Terry.

Furthermore, there is legislation that defines the working hours of a full time employee.

However, the main problem is that organization allows voluntary increased working hours as it is deemed beneficial for the company. A third problem is that the company is relying heavily on its sales force to generate profit. These could be due to high sales targets given by management which Terry can only achieve by increasing working hours excessively. Statement of major problems It can be derived that the company is relying heavily on its sales force, possibly on direct sales and new customers instead of recurring and retention of customers.

This would be directly linked to the perceived need for Terry to increase working hours dramatically to fulfill his individual sales targets.

Another Critical issue lies in the voluntary non-compliance of legislation. This, coupled with higher management of not only accepting extreme work habits, but with the intention of rewarding, would indirectly tell other employees that reward and recognition comes with extreme input of work hours. Furthermore, the sales force is obliged to work equally long hours like Terry, which would eventually result in this being custom and practice.

This could be due to the setting of difficult individual performance measurements in terms of sales clinched per month. 7. Generation and evaluation of alternate solutions 7.

1 Reducing reliance on sales force. There is a heavy reliance on sales force to secure customers for the company. Instead of constantly sourcing new customers to meet individual targets, the sales force could work on retaining existing customers by practicing relationship marketing as it is more cost effective to do so.

Relationship marketing is most applicable when the customer has choices of their suppliers and switching is coming and there is a continued need for the service (Berry. 2002). A great example would be the research done by Moon-Koo (2004) on Korean mobile telecommunications services which showed that the industry believes that the crucial future marketing strategy was to try to retain existing customers by increasing customer loyalty and customer value.

Payne and Adrian (1994) concluded that securing of new clients is merely the first step in the marketing process, the crux lies in retaining the customer, with organizations often confirming that existing customers are not only more profitable than new customers, but also easier to sell to. The company should come up with customer loyalty schemes to retain customers, which will help the sales force with achieving sales targets 7. 2 Introduce team based targets and reward systems Another alternate solution would be to reduce individual target and rewards, and introduce team based sales target and reward system.

Hackman ; Walton (1986) suggested that successful group work will contribute to the growth and personal well-being of team members. By reducing individual target and reward systems, not removing, it would ensure the sales force meet the minimum amount. However, with the team based targets and rewards in place and scaled slightly higher than the sum of all individual targets, the sales force would be motivated to strive towards achieving team based goals.

Research has shown teams with difficult goals perform optimally when incentives are offered (Knight, 2001).

Performance is directly influenced by goals, but incentives did not. The offer of an incentive increased the commitment of most teams with difficult goals, proving to be highly beneficial (Knight, 2001). 7. 3 Survey sales force on time allocated for different job aspects It would be best to survey the sales force to define which area of their job takes up the most time. Asking for the employee’s feedback to improve the work system has always proved invaluable, with research showing that 360-degree feedback boosting communications and performance of their managers and organizations (Bernardin & Beatty, 1987).

The 360-degree approach shows that without feedback there can only be minimal change, and that various constituencies can provide diverse viewpoints and information (London, 1993). In the research done by Marshall (1999), there is a change in communication-related technology, especially in the 1990s where there was an improvement in communication between salespeople and customers due to the reduction in salespeople travel requirements. By asking the sales force for their opinions, new systems, process and new technologies can be developed to help save time and energies.

If these new technologies are inserted into the right parts of the job, such as online video calling existing customers to confirm advertising orders instead of travelling to meet them, a large portion of time would be saved without compromising on the quality of customer service. 7.

4 Set maximum amount of voluntary additional work hours According to Fairwork Australia website, a full time employee work an average of 38 hours per week, also under the National Employment Standards, Maximum eekly hours of work is 38 hours per week, plus reasonable additional hours. Terry is working 60 hours a week, 22 hours more than required. Even though it is voluntary, it is still a considerable health hazard to overwork consistently. Sparks et al. (1997) suggests that there is a small but significant positive trend that links increased hours of work to increased health symptoms.

Buell & Breslow (1960) also found that employees who work in sedentary positions for extended hours suffer from health problems due to the lack of exercise.

Having research proving that overworking consistently provides a multitude of health hazards, it can be determined that Terry is not taking reasonable care of his own health and safety which can be found under the work health and safety act Division 4 section 28- Duties of workers, while at work, a worker must: (a)  Take reasonable care for his or her own health and safety. A solution to prevent employees from voluntary overworking is to set a maximum amount of voluntary additional work hours.

Regardless of whether employees are meeting their sales target within the normal working hours, they are allocated a maximum set of extra hours to either over perform or chase up to their sales targets. Recommendations In order to maintain the efficiency of the business while not impacting the overall performance of the sales department, it is recommended that a maximum amount of additional voluntary work hours be set in order to prevent working excessive extra hours as custom and practise.

A 360 degree feedback should be carried out on the sales force to ascertain the most time consuming aspects of the job, and to develop solutions and put in place technology to save time to increase the efficiency of the sales force. Higher management would need to review the key performance indicators of the sales force, and reduce individual goals and set in place challenging team goals with additional incentives to motivate the sales force to achieve more in synergy.

This would go hand in hand with the creation of customer loyalty schemes to retain existing customers, and training for the sales force would be needed to allow them to utilise the loyalty schemes to the company’s advantage. Implementations Reward Terry for dedication to firm| ASAP| Set in maximum additional voluntary work hours and explain to organization and work life balance| Immediately after rewarding Terry| 360 degree feedback of sales department| Depending on how big the sales department is. Estimated 6 months.

Review KPIs and restructure to team settings| 1 year| Creation of customer loyalty schemes| In conjunction with restructuring to team goals| Terry would need to rewarded for his stellar performance for the company, where the recognition need to be structured politically correct as to prevent others from thinking Terry is being rewarded due to him putting in excessive hours. A follow up to that would be to implement maximum additional voluntary work hours after a clear work life balance talk to the company.

This would put in place that to over achieve is good, but the organization does not support extreme work behaviors. The next step would be to hire an external agent to conduct a 360 feedback on the sales department to seek to reduce time hoarding elements of the job. It is essential to review new technologies and how they would assist the department in carrying out their jobs. Proper training would have to be provided to ensure the sales forces are kept up to date with the new technologies.

After the aspects of the job have been redefined, higher management should review the KPI of the sales department and restructure more into collectivism with individual hybrid elements to motivate the sales force to work in teams to achieve even harder goals that is ever achievable by their own. This would go in conjunction with the sales force developing customer loyalty schemes as the sales force would know what attracts their clients the most and would thus be the best equipped to develop the loyalty schemes. Concluding remarks

It is of paramount importance to not undermine the value of Terry’s work; however measures must be put in place to curb extreme work habits. The core structure of the a salesperson job aspect would need to be reviewed, so as to determine areas which can be revised with the addition of new technology to help save the time and energies of the work force. This, coupled with the restructuring the performance indicators to embrace a more collective approach by placing difficult team goals which when achieved, give higher incentives.

This would motivate employees to work together in teams.

Lastly, the organization needs to realize that retaining existing customers is more profitable than attracting new customers, and the company will benefit from requesting the sales force to create a customer loyalty scheme, and to incorporate it into a core component of the sale’s department duties. References 1. Bemardin, J. H. , ; Beatty, R.

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R. amp; Walton, R. E. (1986) Leading groups in organizations. In: Designing Effective Work Groups, Goodman, P. (ed.

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London, Manuel (1993). “360-degree feedback as a competitive advantage”.

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