Human Resource Management at Ariama: Issues and Best Practices

The report aims at providing an insight into the issues of human resource management faced at Ariama, a manufacturer of garments with its headquarters in Australia. It puts across solutions of how the human resource (HR) should respond in dealing with lack of the employee engagement, outdated system of performance, ineffective communication between Australia and Bangladesh and dealing with issues of employee underperformance in Bangladesh. The report also puts across suggestions for the best practice from the other organizations in dealing with the situations. The report also puts forward recommendations in dealing with the situation.

Running head: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Human Resource Management
Name of the Student:
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Author Note:

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Introduction:
The report aims at providing an insight into the issues of human resource management
faced at Ariama, a manufacturer of garments with its headquarters in Australia. However, the
manufacturing firm of the organization is based in Bangladesh. The report puts across solutions
of how the human resource (HR) should respond in dealing with lack of the employee
engagement, outdated system of performance, ineffective communication between Australia and
Bangladesh and dealing with issues of employee underperformance in Bangladesh. The report
also puts across suggestions for the best practice from the other organizations in dealing with the
situations. The report also puts forward recommendations in dealing with the situation.
Identification of the Organizational Issues:
The Australian wing of Ariama employs 65 percent of females along with the marketing
and the sales people while the Bangladesh wing has close to 2300 employees. The business
experienced rapid growth in its initial years which enforced the authorities in thinking for an
extension of the firm that led to the growth of the factory in Bangladesh. However, in the recent
times, the manufacturer is not being able to attain the heights due to the presence of certain
issues which is creating an impact on the revenue and profitability. The key issue lies in work
productivity and revenue earned within the factory since employees are treated differently in
Australia and Bangladesh. Although, annual appraisal and rating for the work was ensured in
Australia but the lack of appreciation faced by the employees lead to its downfall. However, the
key reason for the downfall has been the lack of communication between managers of
Bangladesh and Australia. In addition, the managers of Bangladesh are not capable of managing
the underperforming employees.

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Relevant Literature Review:
According to Anitha (2014), employee engagement is defined as the intellectual and the
emotional commitment towards the organization or amount of the discretionary efforts portrayed
by the employees in the job. Although, accepted and acknowledged employee engagement refers
to multi-faceted construct. Alfes et al. (2013) put forward a definition where employee
engagement is defined as the passion for the work that refers to the psychological state that
encompasses the dimensions of engagement.
Boon and Kalshoven (2014) put across an argument stating that the organizational
commitment differs from the engagement since it refers to the attitude and attachment of the
person towards the organization. Organizational engagement is not simply an attitude; it refers to
the degree towards which a particular individual remains attentive while being absorbed in the
performance of the role. Besides, while organizational commitment involves the informal and
voluntary behaviour helping the organization and its co-workers, engagement focuses on the role
performance instead of the voluntary behaviour and the additional role.
According to Bailey et al. (2017), engagement remains closely associated with constructs
of the job involvement and the flow. Job involvement refers to the cognitive state of the
psychological identification. This aspect differs from the engagement in the sense that it remains
concerned with how individual employs oneself during their job performance. Besides, job
involvement focuses on the job involvement is on engagement and cognitions and also
encompass behaviour and emotions.
It has been found that higher involvement work practices helps in developing positive
attitudes and beliefs in relation to the employee engagement which helps in generating

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discretionary behaviours leading to enhanced productivity. Thus, it can be said that a lack of
employee engagement has a direct impact on the profitability of the organization.
Miller and Rice (2013) stated the role played by the outdated systems of performance
hinders the organizational profitability and growth. To deal with this aspect workers needed to
spend most of the time doing the things that the machines have a harder time with. This includes
things like creatively solving the problems, taking initiative and effectively collaborating across
the teams for maximizing the contributions. In return it was necessary for the organizations in
adjusting the management system thereby allowing greater employee flexibility and autonomy.
Thus, in the era of the automation companies that successfully adapts in making the most of the
human resources will represent the ones possessing the competitive advantage. On cracking the
code and using the data in configuring the workforce for meeting future needs, individuals must
adapt themselves and develop an interest in the people analytics.
According to Mishra, Boynton and Mishra (2014), effective communication is a
key aspect where the managers communicate with the employees at all times of the work. It is
however impossible for imaging them doing a particular job without communicating with
employees. Effective employee communication has been linked to better performance of the
company. Communication can however be classified as formal and informal communication.
The smaller companies rely on the informal methods while the formal methods of
communicating with the employees are considered as bureaucratic (Lewis 2019). In certain
instances, they prefer in encouraging the social events for the promotion of mutual
communication. Here the report primarily focuses on the formal methods of communications
since practices related to formalized communications results in positive psychological contract

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between the employees and the organizations. Besides, most of the organization has a certain
degree of formalization within their practices.
Hasan, Hossain and Niyato (2013) put forward an argument stating that communication
is not carried effectively between employees due to the presence of certain issues. These issues
remain summarized under the following six key headings:
Subject: If at all communication is undertaken, organizations only chooses to send those
messages to the employees on subjects that they chooses to communicate. For instance,
information related to any commercial important material might not be shared with some
employees since organizations does not have required amount of trust on the employees.
Quality: The information might not remain consistent with the information of the other
employees. They might not simply have belief on the information. Besides, there might be
availability of too much of information that makes it difficult for the employees to digest. In
addition, there might be instances, when issues communicated might not have the required
clarity for the employees. Therefore, in instances when the managers think they have provided
the required information, in reality the employees stills remains unclear about it.
Depth: The communicated information might not be fit for the purchase. For instance, the
information shared might be too confusing and detailed for the employees aimed at. There may
be instances when the communicated information which was initially designed for the
management circular has been slightly reworked and circulated to the part time employees.
Timing: There might be instances when information is release after there has been a
leakage and rumours have reached the employees. In such cases, the information communicated
cannot be treated with the required contempt.

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Receptiveness: There are instances when the employees voice their ideas but are unheard
off thereby resulting in the creation of negative effect that de-motivate employees
Regularity: There should exists a balance between providing people with the information
on a regular basis and infrequently that gives rise to uncertainty
On a similar context, Ting-Toomey and Dorjee (2018) stated that lack of cultural
knowledge also has been the reason for hindering effective communications thereby limiting the
scope for international business. He also stated that leaders and managers possessing training and
skills for working effectively in diverse group both externally and internally has been found to
have greater demands.
Ramesh and Vasuki (2013) mentioned that underperformance might be exhibited as
non-compliance with the workplace, procedures and rules, unsatisfactory performance of work,
negative, disruptive or unacceptable behaviour that impact the co-workers. It is not similar to the
aspect of misconduct since misconduct represents the serious behaviour including assault or theft
that warrants instant dismissal. In instances related to misconduct employers must seek advice
regarding the ways of proceeding before taking advice. On dealing with underperformance,
Short (2014) stated that it can not only be confronting and challenging for the employees but also
the employers. It is therefore, necessary for the managers to adopt organizational support, clear
procedure and possess the willingness and courage in managing issue. Managers should be
provided with the required training in handling issues related to underperformance. Role play
workshops would also be helpful for the managers so that they are able to learn the approaches in
dealing with the real life scenarios. It has been noted that well trained manager usually remain in
better position for identification and addressing the issues related to underperformance. It is
crucial to resolve performance problems since longer the performance is allowed to continue the

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more difficulty it becomes in arriving to a resolution which impacts the overall credibility of the
entire system. Managers should take note of the fact that not every performance issue requires
structured process. Managers can resort to continuous feedback for improving the performance.
However, for ensuring successful performance management, the culture of business should not
only encourage ongoing discussion and feedback regarding issues related to performance in a
supportive and open environment.
In other words, according to Aguinis (2013), managing an underperformance should
include a clear system of managing the underperformance of both the business and the
employees. Employers of best practice remain aware of the fact that ineffective management of
performance ensures dramatically reducing the level of the performance within the workplace.
Employees who perform well might lose motivation provided they carried the burden of the
colleagues who are poor performing. Thus, the negative attitude towards performance or the lack
in credibility of the process acts as the indication of an insufficient performance management
system. However, consistent approach towards the performance management provides the
opportunities for addressing the problem and generating effective solutions. A successful
performance management process supports workplace culture and is valued and accepted by the
employees (Posthuma et al. 2013).
Best Practices for Dealing with the Issues
In the Australian wing of Ariama, the managers faced immense difficulty in managing
the staff performance throughout the system which prevented them from being appreciative and
deriving the maximum output from the employees which is resulting in the lack of employee
engagement and lower profitability of the company. These issues can be resolved by the human
resource (HR) through the adoption of the best practice from the other organizations.

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One of the best practices for dealing with the organizational issue remains in keeping the
people inspired (Moreland 2013). For instance, it has been found that Google adopted this best
practice by allotting 20 percent of time to the employees whom they spend on the projects that
inspire them. A perk such as 20 percent of the time inspires the employees since it allows them
focusing particularly on the things that they seem passionate about which prevents them from
burning out, decreases the turnover and increases the employee engagement. Therefore,
implementation of 20 percent time Ariama will allow the employees in setting the annual goal as
per their choice. It is necessary for the allowing employees in choosing the things they seem
passionate about. Inclusion of the 20 percent time in the annual goals is necessary since it allows
the HR as well as the manager in measuring the progress and in seeing outcome of the initiatives
undertaken.
Another means of encouraging employee productivity is through allowing flexibility in
the work schedules (Putnam, Myers and Gailliard 2014). For example some of the benefits put
forward by Google include massages, on site haircuts, playgrounds, pools and gaming rooms
which the employees can avail at any time during the work day. There is ample number of ways
for supporting flexibility of the company. These includes, allowing the employees in working
from home whenever required, adopting flexible schedules and increasing the personal time of
the employees.
Yet, another best practice that can be adopted in dealing with issues within the
organization is through the promotion of diversity that allows the employees in allocating time
to diverse initiatives and projects (Barak 2016). For example, this aspect has been taken up by
Google in implementation core diversity where the gender split of the company as on 2014 has
been 17 percent female and 83 percent of male. Employee engagement can be enhanced through

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collection of feedback (Fuller and Joynes 2015). There are various tools which can be used for
collection of feedback from the employees. It has been found that employees of Google use the
moderator tool for asking questions. The leaders make use of the charting tool called the Google-
o-meter for measuring popularity of the various employees. HR can adopt various ways in
soliciting the employee feedback which includes the pulse surveys, engagement surveys,
distribution of anonymous forms and suggestion box.
The issues related to employees can be improved by encouraging development. This
can be done by offering stipend for professional development, forming mentorship program,
providing paid time off for carrying out learning and development, having an onsite library of the
books for the leaders and the employees and reimbursing the employees for the tuition fees
(Schutte and Loi 2014). For example, Google adopts a unique way of encouraging its
professional development through CareerGuru. It helps in providing the employees with the
access to the company leaders who provides an explanation about the different roles within
company. The encouragement to employees and resolution of issues can be attained through
creation of culture of empathy (Kirmayer, Guzder and Rousseau 2013). This can be promoted
through emotional intelligence that also helps in promoting respect and trust. Issues within
organizations can also be resolved by offering unique benefits like the childcare
reimbursement, payment of student loan and investment of the professional development funds
in the retirement accounts (Acquaah 2013).
Addressing Issues Using HR Strategies/ Solutions
The HR strategies in dealing with lack of employee engagement include (Demerouti,
Bakker and Leiter 2014):

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1. Ensuring Recognition and Rewards: It is necessary for the HR department in putting
the up recognition and rewards in place so that the employees feel valued and appreciated.
Awarding the employees for top notch performance represents a better way in letting them know
that their performance gets recognized within organization.
2. Ensure Listening to the Employees: The HR manager should impart closer attention to
the ideas of workers and act accordingly. This provides them with a chance of contributing their
ideas to the business for improving the profitability and health of the business.
The HR strategies for dealing with outdated performance system are as follows (Sikora
and Ferris 2014):
1. Ensuring utilization of the Performance Management Software: To deal with an
outdated performance system the HR might use adopt performance management software that
will aid in adding some value.
2. Offering Frequent Performance Feedback: The HR should adopt this strategy since a
good feedback related to performance not only reinforces stronger skill sets but also portray
positive behaviour while portraying the opportunity areas related to a clearer improvement path.
This should be provided on a real time basis and integrated into the company culture.
The HR Strategies for dealing with ineffective communication between managers are as
follows (Bratton and Gold 2017):
1. Leveraging Resources of Communication: It helps in drilling down and understands
how the communication works in the various divisions, geographies, functions and the employee

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level and makes use of the results for leveraging the communication resources in a more
effective manner.
2. Drive towards Accountability: When managers and leaders knows that they are being
judged on the communication efforts they pay added attention in undertaking communication
and engaging the employees.
The HR Strategies in dealing with issues of underperformance are as follows
(Amankwah-Amoah, Ifere and Nyuur 2016):
1. Understanding the influence of the External Factors: The HR must find out the reason
for underperformance. There are various external factors which include moving a house,
relationship bumps, new child, family illness or certain general or mental health condition.
2. Ensuring Improvement in Rewards: The HR should make it a point in recognizing the
improvements and congratulating the employees while rewarding any progress.
Conclusion and Recommendations:
On a concluding note it can be said that Ariama, the garment manufacturing firm faces
various issues related to employee engagement and productivity, outdated performance systems,
ineffective communication and underperformance. The report puts across how it can be dealt
through adoption of proper human resource (HR) strategies. The report also puts across various
recommendations for dealing with the issues. These are as follows:
For improving employee engagement:

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1. It is recommended to motivate through gamification: This involves the use of rewards,
badges, rankings or leader boards for making quantifiable and repetitive task increasingly
engaging.
2. It is recommended to set clearer goals and providing feedback: Short term goals act
quite effective in encouraging the employees for properly managing speed in meeting targets and
doing task.
For ensuring effective communication:
1. It is recommended to organize open meeting: This type forum helps in not only hearing
but also seeing and is considered the best approach for communicating with the team.
2. It is recommended to create an atmosphere which is receptive: This helps in avoiding
any tension and aids in better communication
For dealing with underperformance:
1. It is recommended for providing the appropriate training: This helps in conveying the
expectations from the performance in a concise and clearer manner thereby helping the employee
in performance improvement.
2. It is also recommended to understand the things that motivate employees: This helps in
directing the employees in the right direction.

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