This document discusses the changes and impact of downsizing at Oz Industries. It covers the reasons for the new direction, the repercussions for the organization, ethical and HR issues that may arise, and how the changes will impact current employees.
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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT – 980693
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Question 1Identify the changes at Oz Industries and determine the reasons for the new direction Answer 2At Oz industries, the senior level management has been concerned about the financial losses that the company has incurred of late. As a result, the management has been implementing a number of changes in the field of human resource management. The company has become aggressively focused on performance and profits and is giving a greater priority to employees having a greater potential over those who have been with the company for a long period of time. The new direction of the company is aiming more at increasing the profitability while its focus from human resource management is shifting. As a result, the company has bene implementing a number of changes in the workplace. Question 2Describe the issues which contributed to Carmelita’s position being made redundant. What are the possible repercussions for the organisation. Answer 2Carmelita had been working as a personnel and administration manager with Oz industries but was recently promoted to the post of a human resource manager and was given an insurance that her job was going to be secure. The financial losses incurred by the company lead to the senior level management introducing certain changes in the workplace. The management has started to downsize its workforce and is focusing aggressively on performance and goal setting. The company has also stopped giving an importance to its relations and loyal employees whereas it is giving a priority to younger employees that have a higher potential. The changes have not been sitting well with Carmelita herself and she has started asking questions from the senior level management. Further, she has also started to talk about her negative feelings and frustration openly with the long-serving colleagues, which has led to her post being considered as redundant by the senior level management. The repercussions of making Carmelita’s post redundant can be harmful for the organisation. The organisation might get into legal trouble for not having a solid ground for dismissal of an employee or for not providing an advance notice(MacDonald, n.d.).In case of such a dismissal, theorganisationmightalso haveto pay anadditionalcompensationto an employee, who is being dismissed because of a restructuring initiative(Rogers & Johnston, 2015).Furthermore, such an action on the company’s behalf can lower down the morale of the remaining employees as they would become insecure about their jobs(Heathfield, 2018). Question 3What ethical and HR issues may arise to challenge the proposed changes?
Answer 3Downsizing is never easy for business organizations as well as for the employees. It can have a long-lasting impact on the company, on the employees asked to leave and also on the remaining employees. The ethical and HR issues related to the changes being made at Oz industries are discussed below: Ethical issues: -Terminatingemployeesduringadownfallcanbeagainstthecorporatesocial responsibility of a company (Freeney, Fu, & Harney, 2018). -At times, terminating an employee can be a breach in the psychological contract -The basis on which an employee is selected for being terminated can also be an ethical issue(Cohee, 2019) HR issues: -Terminating an employee without a proper notification can prove to be a challenge -Terminating an employee against the clauses or criteria mentioned in the employment contract can be another human resource issue -Downsizing of the workforce can have an impact on the morale, motivation and performance level of the remaining employees(Ashe-Edmunds, n.d.) Question 4How will the changes impact on current employees? Answer 4Downsizing can have a huge impact on the remaining employees as well as on the outgoing employees. Some of the effects that the workplace changes at Oz industries would have on the employees are discussed below: -The current employees would develop a feeling of job insecurity and would spread the negativity amongst the other employees as well(Zorn, Norman, Butler, & Bhussar, 2017) -The employees would become less committed to their companies and would leave the company as soon as they find a better job that can also offer them job security -Making the performance management system too rigid might foster a wrong behavior amongst the remaining employees(Affum-Osei, Acquaah, & Acheampong, 2015) -Being biased towards younger employees might increase job dissatisfaction amongst the talented employees that have been serving the company since a couple of years (Andreeva., Brenner, Theorell, & Goldberg, 2017)
Question 5Based on the topics you have studied, explain how the restructure could have been better managed: a. What additional initiatives could be proposed in order to avoid resignations and redundancies. b. How would these benefit the organisation Answer 5Downsizing is never easy in the contemporary business world, which makes it important for business organizations to look for alternative strategies. Some of the strategies that could have helped the company are: -Cutting down on the compensation and benefits of the employees for a short period of time, which would help in bringing down the operational costs(Datta & Basuil, 2015) -Insteadofterminatingemployees,thecompanycanarrangefortrainingor development programs for their employees that would allow them to prepare new resumes and look for new jobs(Workforce, 2001) -Oz industries can also get in touch with other companies that are closely related to it and can redeploy its employees in those companies rather than terminating them and leaving them unemployed (Redman, 2016) Such strategies would not just make the process of downsizing easier for the employees but will also save the company from staining its reputation as an employer.
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Business Review: https://hbr.org/2017/04/if-you-think-downsizing-might-save-your- company-think-again