Contemporary Human Resource Management: Case Study Analysis

This case study examines contemporary human resource management issues within a warehouse setting, focusing on employee dissatisfaction with a new program, unemployment challenges, and the role of unions in collective bargaining. It recommends problem-solving skills such as government-funded employment projects and increased training programs to address unemployment and lack of experience. The study also highlights the advantages and disadvantages of unions, the importance of effective communication methods, and the contributions of internal and external stakeholders in developing organizational health practices and policies. Furthermore, it emphasizes the importance of privacy, confidentiality, and disclosure policies, the dangers of discrimination, the reasons for mandatory reporting, the importance of informed consent, and communication objectives related to health and safety policies. The case study concludes by discussing important practices on health and safety, such as training for stakeholders.

Running header: Contemporary Human Resource Management
Complementary Human Resource Management
Name
Course
Institution
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Running header: Contemporary Human Resource Management
In any organization, employees play a vital role in the general operations of the
organization so as to achieve the main goal of the organization. In order to achieve this,
employees need to have conducive working environments. If the employees are uncomfortable, it
will prompt them to work poorly and will hinder the general operations of the organization. In
the case study given, it can be seen that the employees are unhappy of the new program launched
called the Red Tee Shirt program. Union indicate that the main cause of distress is this situation
which is robbing employees valuable time.
Task one
Issues that may arise as a result of expanding the red tee shirt program
As it is noted, some of The Warehouse employees are against the Red Tee Shirt
program. This may result to some of the employees quitting their jobs as the program is robbing
them of valuable hours and may seek to find greener pastures (Feinberg, Greenberg and Frijters,
2015). Losing valuable hours is a risk that many employees are not willing to take as this will
reduce their income and may make them unable to meet their daily needs.
Another issue that may arise is that the warehouse may encounter major losses as the
program is termed as a direct subsidy and will not allow them to make profits as planned. Being
a private enterprise, the warehouse limited has its main goal as making profit. The amount they
receive from the ministry will not cater for the full needs as it will not even get to the employees.
Employment Issues in New zealand Legal Framework.
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Running header: Contemporary Human Resource Management
Unemployment is a key issue. This is clearly seen as half of the employees are
permanent part-timers and would love to work extra hours but there are no opportunities to make
this happen. This is an indication that there no enough jobs for everyone.
It is also noted that only few employees have enough work experience. This is evident
where the ministry is working with the retailers to offer a thousand youths an opportunity to gain
experience. This is an indication that employees lack work experience. On the other hand, it is a
good practice for the ministry to step in and offer the opportunity for the youth to gain work
experience.
Recommend two problem-solving skills to solve the above employment issues.
To resolve unemployment, the government needs to create more employment
opportunities especially for the youth who currently are the large group who are not employed.
Creating opportunities especially for the youth will ensure that they are productive especially in
their young years where they are more productive (Bonete, Calero, and Fernández-Parra, 2015).
One way the government can create employment opportunities is funding projects developed by
people. This is because individuals have projects or ideas but only lack capital to implement
these ideas. The government may also offer group loans at considerable rates that will ensure the
unemployed persons can succeed as group.
Lack of experience is also an issue depicted, this can be solved by increasing
training programs for new workers and also increase the internship periods which will expose
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employees to the job industry. This will also improve their confidence as they see themselves as
qualified personnel.
Role of union in collective bargaining.
A major role of the union is to act as a representative of the workers. In other words,
unions act as the bargaining voice if workers (Marino, 2015). This ensures that there is fair
treatment of workers and that they have a conducive working environment.
Also, the union acts an intermediary between the employees and management.
Employees forward their issues to union which then presents them to management for action to
be taken (Benassi, and Vlandas, 2016). In the case study given, the union steps in to state that
employees are not happy or supportive of the red tee shirt program as it robs them of their
valuable time. It ensures that both parties are at agreement with no party being oppressed.
Advantages of union
 Ensure proper treatment of employees- as said, unions are the bargaining voice of
employees and ensure the rightful treatment of employees. Unions offer a platform where
employees can discuss issues affecting them and present them to management.
 Unions strengthen democracy when more working people are union members. This is
because they set standards that both parties have to adhere to. If none of the parties meet
the standards, they will have to withdraw from the union.
Disadvantages of union
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 Hard workers are devalued- unions call for fair wages. This means that employees on the
same level are paid the same. This is bad as some workers are more hardworking than
others even though they are on the same level. People feel that these hardworking
workers need to be paid more but that is not the case. Most unions point that employees
on the same level should be paid same wages hence inconveniencing the hardworking
employees.
 Industries or organizations that are ruled by unions have to follow strict rules. Some of
the common rules include promotion which focuses on seniority. Most unions specify
that promotions are given to employees who have been at the company or organization
the longest. Qualifications and skills are not taken into account. A recently employed
employee may be best fit for the job but may end up losing the promotion since he or she
has not been in the company for long.
Task two
Importance of two effective communication methods in the case study
In most organizations, communication serves as the foundation of most
operations.
Effective communication brings about formality. In our case, it is seen that the union of
retailers is communicating to the management through articles or reports. Articles and
reports are the most common modes of communication in organizations. The article made
it clear that the employees were not happy with the red tee shirt program.
Communication acts a source of information- open meetings are a common
mode of communication in our organizations. They are preferred because they offer a
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Running header: Contemporary Human Resource Management
platform where everyone participates in the meeting thereby giving their opinion or how
they feel towards something.
Contribution of internal and external stakeholders in developing and implementing
organizational health practices and policies.
Stakeholders are people who can affect or be affected by the organization’s
actions objectives and policies.
Stakeholders play a key role in developing and implementing organizational health
practices and policies.
They decide on the preventive and protective measures needed and put them in
place. This is achieved through several meetings to discuss health policies and practices
to put into place so as to ensure safety in the entire organization.
Stakeholders also provide the right tools and equipment to carry out various
jobs and maintain them. Employees on various fields require different tools some which
may be dangerous to keep. The stakeholders step in and provide these tools and ensure
that these tools are not used to harm others or carry out other activities other than what
they were meant for. This shows that stakeholders, both internal and external contribute
to the safety and health of the organization (Neubert, Mainert, Kretzschmar and Greiff, 2015).
Stakeholders also supervise and make sure that arrangements are followed as
planned. This ensures that each of them is accountable and will take full responsibility of
any mistake or misconduct.
Importance of privacy, confidentiality and disclosure policies for The Warehouse
Limited.
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Privacy and confidentiality is a key issue to be considered in any organization or
workplace. This is because organizations tend to keep their information private so as to
survive in the world of competition.in the wrong hands, this information can be misused
and used for illegal purposes hence putting the company (warehouse limited) at risk.
There are policies put into place to ensure that this information is kept private and there
are consequences that come along with breaking these rules.
Private policies also ensure that each of the stakeholders know the laws by heart and will
be held accountable if any of them breaks them.
Dangers of discrimination at warehouse limited
Discrimination in organizations may fall in different categories. Some may
include racial discrimination, tribal and financial. The warehouse limited is just an
example of an organization where discrimination can occur (Jones, Peddie, Gilrane, King
and Gray, 2016). No matter the category, discrimination does not end well for any of the
parties in an organization.
Some of the dangers resulting from discrimination include decreased employee
productivity. When employees are discriminated, they may feel anxious and may lack
interest in the job and fail to do their responsibilities (Bonino, Ricciardi, Bernardi, Sani,
Vecchi and Pietrini, 2015). As a result, this will lead to poor employee productivity as they
lack morale.
Discrimination also makes them feel unsettled and may cause unrest. They may
feel frustrated and find ways to channel their anger (Jones, Peddie, Gilrane, King, and Gray,
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2016). It may also lead to absenteeism of employees as they feel uncomfortable going to
their working places.
Reasons for mandatory reporting at the warehouse limited
Mandatory reporting helps in record keeping (Ioannou, and Serafeim, 2017). In any
organizations, there are several modes of report i.e. management reporting, employee reporting
etc. these reports are generated and tend to be a method of keeping records.
Monitor employee attendance- mandatory reporting help avoid employee absenteeism
in case of employees and also make managers accountable in case of management reporting
(Seele, 2016).
Mandatory reporting also brings the virtue of accountability where employees and
managers can account for the time or resources used which will be used to monitor the overall
progress of the organization (Holland and Cortina, 2017). Accountability will reduce fraud issues
and mismanagement of time.
Importance of informed concept from affected person.
Informed concept from affected person makes them aware of any change or expected
behavior that may result from a certain occurrence or activity. It makes the person both
physically and psychologically prepared and will have no difficulty in adjusting to the change. It
also prevents the rise of serious ethical issues as you did not involve them while making a
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Running header: Contemporary Human Resource Management
decision that would directly or indirectly affect them. Sometimes the affected person may not be
comfortable with the decision you made and that is why it is always good to consult them.
Communication objectives related to health and safety policies for stakeholders.
Timely communication is essential for every stakeholder. They aim for the message to
reach its audience in the fastest way possible in case of any risk that might be involved (Thomson,
Outram, Gilligan, and Levett-Jones, 2015). This in turn creates awareness and understanding of the
management health and safety as well as specific risk issues. Timely communication will ensure
that all stakeholders are not caught off guard by the information and hence will react accordingly
(Colbert, Yee and George, 2016).
The fundamental goal of health and safety communication is to provide meaningful,
relevant and accurate information in clear and understandable terms to specific stakeholders
(Linton, Boersma, Traczyk, Shaw and Nicholas, 2016). This will promote consistency and
transparency in case of any risk involved and will prompt people to take the appropriate action.
Important practices on health and safety
Training of both internal and external stakeholders- training educates your
employees on proper workplace procedures, practices and behavior thus preventing possible
injuries an illness that may result of accidents or contamination due to improper hygiene (Yorio
and Wachter, 2014). Example: if an employee gets hurt while carrying out his normal operations
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Running header: Contemporary Human Resource Management
or gets sick at his or her place of work, there are first aid precaution that are taken to help save
the life of the ailing employees (Jain, Leka and Zwetsloot, 2018). These include, stopping the
bleeding in case the employee cut or hurt himself, cleaning of wound with disinfectant to prevent
contamination of wound. This event is followed by the wrapping of wound with a clean and soft
material. It is good for each and everyone in the organization to know these first aid procedures
as accidents can happen to anyone at any time and without first aid, one may not make it to the
hospital (Sittig, Salimi, Aiyagari, Banas, Clay, Gibson, and Sirajuddin, 2018). To help in this, there are
first aid kits in almost every organizations and can be accessed by anyone.
Create awareness in case of occurrence of natural disasters. Inform people on how to
conduct themselves in case of any natural disaster like fire. In case of fire, all stakeholders
should calmly move to the nearest exit. This helps avoid panic that will result to people running
all over the place and may end up causing more damage or even cost others their lives as a result
of stampede and others due to suffocation as they are all crowded at one place (Walker, McMahan,
Barnes, Katen, Lamas and Sudore, 2018).
Installation of fire alarms or burglar alarms to alert the audience of any danger is also
an important safety practice.
Propose two effective communication techniques on proper health practices and policies to
all stakeholders.
Communication through open meetings which are scheduled once or twice a month-
meetings are the most common and vocal ways to teach or communicate to people (Goetsch and
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Running header: Contemporary Human Resource Management
Davis, 2014). In meetings, people are able to give their opinion and thoughts hence one can tell if
they understood or not. Meetings also offer platforms where people ask questions and seek
clarification of any issue that thy did not understand. You are able to cover a large number and it
is also cost effective as it will not require a lot of resources to hold a meeting unlike in other
methods of communication e.g. sending text messages. Open meetings give a chance for people
to communicate in a language that is understood by all hence the message gets to everyone
whether literate or illiterate. Open meetings should be scheduled severally as people easily forget
and may need to be reminded from time to time.
Communication through electronic devices or media such as phone, radio, television
and even computers (Lindlof and Taylor, 2017). Statistics show that in almost every home, there is
an electronic device. Communication through these devices will cover large distances actually, it
covers the entire universe. Advertisements are made on television and radios and also through
the internet. Through these advertisements, the message is passed even to the younger
generation. The rise of social media also creates a good platform for communication especially
for the youth.
References
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