HR and Leadership: Case Study Assessment 2

Running Head: HR AND LEADERSHIP: CASE STUDY ASSESSMENT 2
HR AND LEADERSHIP: CASE STUDY ASSESSMENT 2
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

HR AND LEADERSHIP: CASE STUDY ASSESSMENT 21
1. Identification of Changes in the Oz industries and determination of new direction
The changes that were made in the Oz industries are primarily focused towards the
removal of positions that are deemed to be redundant. The organization clearly wants to change
its previous working culture and set up a new goal oriented culture that is focused towards
achieving better performance than before. Another significant change was to remove the non-
performing old employees with better focused new ones. A very important change was the
centralized management system that is directly implemented by the top level managers like Peter
and Meg. By changing the human resource division the organization is separating the functional
areas of the Human Resource to more recruitment and training focused functions. The more
qualified junior employees are given preference over experienced employees while selecting for
the higher management positions. The reason for the changes are that the management has
deemed the previous workforce to be incapable of giving future productivity to the organization.
Only the more reliable experienced employees were kept that had long time association with the
organization. Moreover, in view of the heavy losses that were incurred, the company is focusing
primarily on increasing performance and profitability of the organization.
2. Issues contributing to Carmelita’s redundant position
The primary issue that led to the position of Carmelita being made redundant were due to
her reluctance to wholly accept the changes that were made by the organization. She was made
the HR manager for the manufacturing division. The organization thought that if she is not
properly aligned with the future visions of the organization, she can recruit unproductive
workforce in the organization. Hence her position as the HR manager is not effective as deemed
by the organization. She agrees with the notion that the organization does not have the family

HR AND LEADERSHIP: CASE STUDY ASSESSMENT 22
environment as it did in the past. This can be traced through the contemporary developmental
theory that stresses on the shaping of an individual through organizational life (Selden,
Widdowson & Brooker, 2016). The repercussion of Carmelita’s position being made redundant
is that the organization would lose much of required experience that can help it to form a diverse
but effective workplace. The 22 year experience of Carmelita could have helped in providing
better value to the future goals of the organization. A direct management would be established
that can harm the employee motivation and result in further attrition.
3. Ethical and HR issues that might arise challenging proposed changes
The ethical issues that may arise challenging the proposed changes are many considering
the various changes that are made. Firstly, the separation of the HR and the payroll department
raises serious ethical concerns about the appraisals and performance management. The
employees can face issues with the appraisals as effective coordination might not be present
between the payroll and the HR department. Secondly, the removal of the more experienced
employees without much recognition for their long term commitment it unethical on behalf of
the organization (Noe, 2017). Making some of the historic positions redundant raises serious
questions in the minds of the long term employees about the organizations stance in regards to
the experienced employees. Thirdly, there is a serious ethical concern about workplace diversity
as the newer employees are being recruited to completely replace the older ones (Cascio, 2015).
Hence, the balance between experienced and new employees in the organization would be
greatly harmed. Fourthly, too much focus on profitability and performance would lead to the
organization hampering employee motivation. Hence, the ethical concerns are significant.