Human Resource Management at Oz Newspaper

The assignment discusses the challenges faced by Oz Newspaper in terms of human resource management, including poor productivity, high labor costs, and conflicts between workers and management. It also examines the impact of external environmental factors such as technological advancements and changes in reader behavior on HR practices at Oz Newspaper. The company's HR practices are analyzed in detail, with suggestions provided for improving employee satisfaction, reducing absenteeism, and increasing production rates.

Running head: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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1. Ted Kimoski, the Chief financial officer of Oz newspaper just finished the
presentation. According to the case study Oz, newspaper is going through a tough
phase. They are bearing a huge loss in the market and the stakeholders are not happy
with the marketing strategy of Oz newspaper. According to John Campbell the
general manager of Oz newspaper, the company is facing problem due to the product
cost. The printing cost and the distribution cost for Oz newspaper is highest among its
rivals. Other than that, Oz newspaper is also facing the problem of very poor
production rate and high costs of labour. According to Paul Jaworski the editor in
chief, the printing operations should be rationalised. Paul also mentioned that they
should reduce the number of employee so the labour cost can be minimised. The HR
manager of Oz newspaper May Wong has stated that, the lack of labour flexibility is
one of the main reasons for poor productivity. The union laws and restrictions is
becoming a barrier for work efficiency. Labour turnover and employee absenteeism is
a common issue for the company and it is creating a major problem in the production
rate (Dorothy, 2017). Paul Jaworski also mentioned that the employees are not at all
motivated and having regular conflicts with the management. Ted discussed that the
newspaper industry is shrinking which is evident from the decreasing sales and the
revenue from advertisement (Dlugolecka, 2017). Ted also emphasise on the fact that
they should focus on online platform and apply digitisation.
2. Oz newspaper has many union related issues that not only create conflict but it also
reduces the production of the organisation. The main cause of the union related issue
is that the employees are less motivated. Conflicts between the workers and the
management are a common in Oz, which is degrading the work environment and
creating a negative working environment (Hisam, 2017). Employee absenteeism is
another reason of concern. Many other organisations faced this employee absenteeism

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problem in the past and this creates a huge difference in production of the
organisation. Another problem that Oz organisation is facing is the problem of labour
turnover. Oz is facing problem in retaining the employee.
However, these problems can be solved if the company follows some rules or
implement some strict policy. The company should implement strict attendance policy
that every employee should maintain. Company should include programs that aim at
employee’s health betterment. This type of program will reduce the stress of the
employee and will increase their productivity. Company should understand that employee
may face some issues in that case the company should reschedule their shift to another
time or day. Company should work on employee satisfaction by introducing incentives,
which will motivate the employee to work hard. Good attendances should be rewarded
which will reduce the employee absenteeism. The company should understand the issues
that the employees are facing which will reduce the conflicts. Organisation should
organise frequent meetings with the union to understand their problem and minimising
the problem. HR should provide proper training to the employees that will increase the
production rate.
3. The environment factors that plays a vital role in Oz newspaper can be analysed with
the help of PEST analysis: Political factors: The effect of political reform on this industry is as effective as
on the individuals. A terrorist attack, a sudden resignation of government leaders
or union elections can alter the political environment and gains attention from the
readers. One such example is U.S. presidential campaign of 2008, which created a
buzz in the different parts of the world and increased the readership (Hmielowski
et al., 2017).

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 Economical factors: The technological advancement has affected the economic
factors of the newspaper industry. The organisation who failed to implement
necessary changes has lost their market shares. Different newspaper organisation
has faced the problem of high prices of copy, reduced advertisement sales, failed
in circulation due to the financial crisis. Internet has caused a huge loss and
reduced the advertisement cost of newspaper. Technological factors: Internet is an advanced and powerful technology and it has
changed the concept of mass communication. Internet has greatly affected the
external environmental and is substituting the newspaper prints. Technological
advancement and internet has changed the concept and habits of reading news.
This has affected and reduced the reader’s demand (Lin, 2014). According to
researchers, audio, text transmissions and video has changed the communication
model. Socio-cultural environment: Internet usage has influenced the socio-cultural
environment of newspaper. The low subscription cost of internet and availability
of online news has changed the perception of the reader. Access and scanning of
news in internet is easy and faster. It is expected that the current newspaper
readers will soon be replaced with online news (Bourreau, 2015).
The environmental factors will largely affect the HR practices (Kooij et al.,
2013). Oz needs to cut the printing and distribution cost of the newspaper print, they
should look forward to digitisation. Advancement of technology and usage of internet
will affect the newspaper print and the company should work on online news channel,
which is low in cost and very easy to access. Online news channel or site will help the
organisation in decreasing the labour cost.

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4. Oz newspaper has many challenges in front of them. The company is at the breaking
point and the FWA legislation of the government is supporting the union to show their
strength. The company is facing the problem of poor productivity so the HR should
provide training and proper facilities so that the production of the employees
increases. The HR should understand the issues the employees are facing and should
work accordingly, which will reduce the conflicts between the employees. HR should
implement proper healthcare programs that will provide free checkups, which will
reduce the stress and other physiological problems and will reduce the problem of
employee absenteeism ( Mattke et al., 2013).

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References:
Bourreau, M., Kourandi, F., & Valletti, T. (2015). Net neutrality with competing internet
platforms. The Journal of Industrial Economics, 63(1), 30-73.
Dlugolecka, M. (2017). The Rise and Fall of the Publishing Industry: Human Resource
Management Implications(Doctoral dissertation, The College of St. Scholastica).
DOROTHY, O. (2017). FACTORS INFLUENCING ABSENTEEISM IN THE
CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY IN KENYA: A CASE STUDY OF H-YOUNG AND
COMPANY LIMITED (Doctoral dissertation, MUA).
Hisam, Z. (2017). Media and Labour.
Hmielowski, J. D., Hutchens, M. J., Haridakis, P. M., & Beam, M. A. (2017). Social Media,
News Platforms, and Partisan Exposure: Voters’ Media Preferences During the 2016
Presidential Campaign Season. In The Presidency and Social Media (pp. 71-89).
Routledge.
Kooij, D. T., Guest, D. E., Clinton, M., Knight, T., Jansen, P. G., & Dikkers, J. S. (2013).
How the impact of HR practices on employee well‐being and performance changes
with age. Human Resource Management Journal, 23(1), 18-35.
Lin, C. A. (2014). Communication technology and social change. In Communication
Technology and Social Change(pp. 17-30). Routledge.
Mattke, S., Liu, H., Caloyeras, J., Huang, C. Y., Van Busum, K. R., Khodyakov, D., & Shier,
V. (2013). Workplace wellness programs study. Rand health quarterly, 3(2).