Key Concepts in Human Resource Management

This report discusses the key issues in human resource management (HRM) in three organizations - 7-Eleven, Country Fire Authority (CFA), and banks. It evaluates the failures of HRM in each organization and provides recommendations for solving the issues. The report also applies the AHRI model to explain how these problems could have been avoided. The key issues in 7-Eleven include management issues and underpaid employee wages. In CFA, the issues are bullying and sexual harassment. In banks, the issues are financial scandals and regulatory problems. The report concludes with a synthesis of HRM problems across all three organizations.

Key Concepts in Human
Resource Management
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Executive Summary
The report considered the case studies of three organizations, 7-Eleven, the Country Fire
Authority (CFA). It evaluated the major problems of each organization and evaluate the failure
of HRM for the all three organizations. There are crucial recommendations provided throughout
the paper to enable HRM for solving the issues effectively in three companies. It also applied the
AHRI model to explain the methods the three organizations could have implemented to avoid
these problems in the first place. The key issues in 7-Eleven are the management issues and
underpaid employee wages. The HR managers of 7-Eleven failed to ensure that its franchisees
has not been paying their staffs their minimum wages, penalty rates of public holidays and
weekends and allowances and loadings of night shift. The key issues in CFA are the issues of
bullying and sexual harassment for women in CFA. The HRM of CFA could not intervene for
the assaults and harassment incidents. The key issues in banks are the financial scandals and
regulatory issues in the banks. The HR of the banks also failed to take any actions against the
fraudsters.

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Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Main Context...............................................................................................................................................3
7-Eleven...................................................................................................................................................3
Key Issues in the Company..................................................................................................................3
Explanation of HRM’s Failure for this Company, its Staffs and Other Stakeholders............................3
Recommendations...............................................................................................................................4
Country Fire Authority (CFA)...................................................................................................................4
Key Issues in the Company..................................................................................................................4
Explanation of HRM’s Failure for this Company, its Staffs and Other Stakeholders............................4
Recommendations...............................................................................................................................6
Banks.......................................................................................................................................................6
Key Issues in the Company..................................................................................................................6
Explanation of HRM’s Failure for this Organisation, its Staff and Other Stakeholders.........................6
Recommendations...............................................................................................................................7
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................8
References.................................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
The report will consider three case studies and construct solutions and recommendations for the
mitigation of contemporary and real-world Human Resource Management (HRM) challenges.
The three case studies are of three organizations, 7-Eleven, the Country Fire Authority (CFA)
and banks. It will consider the key issues in each organizations and analyze how HRM is failing
across all three organizations. Moreover, it will provide recommendations so that the HRM can
solve the issues efficiently which are apparent in these three companies. It will conclude with the
synthesis of the HRM problems across all three organizations. It will also applying the AHRI
model to explain the methods the three organizations could have implemented to avoid these
problems in the first place.
The fast changing business world signifies that currently there are several HRM challenges that
would continue changing in the coming years. The HRM is a business-driven role, efficiency
depends on a comprehensive knowledge of the strategic business methods and also of the
capability to encourage the major decisions and policies. So, HRM challenges have to be well-
defined and solutions need to be determined for becoming a successful business.
Main Context
7-Eleven
Key Issues in the Company
The key issues in 7-Eleven are the management issues and underpaid employee wages (Van
Berkel et al., 2017).
Explanation of HRM’s Failure for this Company, its Staffs and Other Stakeholders
It had been found that several franchisees of 7-Eleven has not been paying their staffs their
minimum wages, penalty rates of public holidays and weekends and allowances and loadings of
night shift under the implemented rules for a substantial time period (Ferguson and Danckert,
2015). Several franchisees has been accused for not maintaining proper records of the
employment. There also has been some allegations that some of the franchisees has made false
payroll records and timesheets to show that some of the staffs has worked less hours than the
actual working hours (Zupan, Dziewanowska and Pearce, 2017). Moreover, many franchisees

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has been accused to exploit the helpless foreign students and immigrants by utilizing visa
restrictions as a management tool to keep then silent (Poór, Slavić and Berber, 2017).
All these matters were due to the failure of the HR managers to make sure that their company is
satisfying the minimum pay requirements or not to their staffs and maintaining proper records of
the employment (Stokes et al., 2016). Due to the failure of the HR managers, 7-Eleven not only
experienced considerable negative publicity, but also faced different other sanctions such as civil
fines of almost $54,000 each breach and also suffered compensation for any loss due to the
breach (Allen, Lee and Reiche, 2015).
Recommendations
It is strongly suggested that the HR managers have to carefully audit the present arrangements of
payment in 7-Eleven to make sure that the franchisees are satisfying the minimum pay
requirements to their staffs and maintaining updated records of the employment. If the HR
managers are not sure which award is applicable to the business and also of the specific
minimum privileges which have to be given to the employees on the basis of their work hours,
the managers must seek for legal advice.
It is also recommended to the HRM that if after conducting an audit, the business could not meet
its minimum pay requirements under the applicable award or enterprise contract, an action plan
can be introduce to fix the issue of underpayments as fast as possible. It can be beneficial to
recognize the aroused issues and then the HRN might introduce proper measures to make sure
that no other cases of illegal conduct will take place in the future.
Country Fire Authority (CFA)
Key Issues in the Company
The key issues in CFA are the issues of bullying and sexual harassment for women in CFA
(Singh, 2017).
Explanation of HRM’s Failure for this Company, its Staffs and Other Stakeholders
A young volunteer of CFA was beaten by four male volunteers and was duct-taped in a fire truck
which was revealed by an official investigation (Psychogios er al., 2016). Alcohol abusement,
lack of respect and discipline and cultural issues had been given blame for all the assaults
(Bowden, 2018). An assault of the 17-years-old female volunteer had led to investigate the case
(Edwards, 2017). It was noticed that poor behavior at the fire station as well as leadership issues

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are the reasons of these assaults. It was found in CCTV footage that the girl was pulled by hair,
kicked and assaulted by many members of CFA while the manager of the fire station failed for
any intervention (Baker and McKenzie, 2017).
It was also found that it was not a single case, but was the last in the sequence of incorrect
actions focused at the young girl and other young female volunteers of the fire station
(Sekiguchi, Froese and Iguchi, 2016). There were evidences which had been given the
confirmation of three other same incidents and all the cases involved potential unsafe physical
contact with the young volunteers (Haak-Saheem, Darwish and Al-Nasser, 2017). The most
surprising fact that the manager that is the captain of the fire station was himself involved in all
the four incidents (Mendy, 2018).
The failure of the manager of the fire brigade that there were cultural issues at the brigade
(Keegan et al., 2018). It includes consumption of alcohol which had contribution in at least one
of the cases, the fire brigade had been in a disappointing situation due to significant deficiencies
of leadership by its manager or captain, who himself was involved in all the cases and finally the
lack of respect and discipline within the CFA (Nair, 2018). On one incident, members of the fire
station were recorded drinking alcohol heavily within the fire station and throwing their
coworkers in a water trench (Podger, 2017). One of the fire volunteer was found with a scotch
bottle in side side and a beer can in another hand.
The female volunteers who work for the CFA had been harassed and assaulted sexually among a
culture of freedom, fear and bullying and in accordance to a leaked in-house report whose
presence had been kept secret tightly for a long time by the manager of the fire stations (Viitala,
Kultalahti and Kangas, 2017). The report revealed responses from confidential survey of 550
CFA employees (Perrott, 2016). Some of them expressed fear that their identities will be exposed
to the bullies of the fire stations if they had spoken honestly. Some female volunteers those who
had been molested and assaulted sexually had led to sickness, or at the edge of suicide (Batty and
Burchielli, 2015). The findings of the Report on Gender Inclusion and Diversity showed that
most of the female and male volunteers reported bullying and one-third had been harassed and
assaulted sexually (Coetzer et al., 2017). All these incidents took place because the HRM of
CFA was not much concerned about all these cases (Bos-Nehles, Bondarouk and Nijenhuis,
2017). It is their failure to control the sexual harassment and bulling in the fire stations.

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Recommendations
It is strongly recommended that it is extremely significant that the cultural issues within the fire
stations are addressed and young members of CFA are motivated and supported to continue their
better work in CFA. The HRM of CFA need to jointly take a standpoint and work altogether to
make sure that CFA develops in a latest and comprehensive fire station for the future.
It is also recommended to appoint a CFA officer to assess the leadership in the fire station and
provide urgent training on the basis of principles of CFA. A renovation of the selection
procedure of the volunteer member in CFA is also recommended along with prohibition on the
drinking of alcohol at the fire brigades.
The HR managers of CFA can implement cultural awareness programs to help their staffs
especially the male volunteers to recognize the advantages of diversity, appreciate the better
innovations and concepts and a wide customer range. Some team building activities can also be a
relevant approach to integrate the staffs of various cultures and genders and unite them for
common objectives.
Banks
Key Issues in the Company
The key issues in banks are the financial scandals and regulatory issues in the banks.
Explanation of HRM’s Failure for this Organisation, its Staff and Other Stakeholders.
Banks are battling financial frauds and scandals. There have been much discussion in public
forums about the causes for these and it was found that it involves lack of business governance
and absence of strong measures by the HRM of the banks against the fraudsters (Ferguson,
2017). Banks are part of the industry of financial service and they does not execute their services
by utilizing any raw materials (Rastogi and Srivastava, 2017). Their main input is the talented
and experienced employees. The process of banking works in such a way that anything can go
wrong and then the employees are made accountable (Montague, Larkin and Burgess, 2016). It is
possible for any members to involve in any fraud due to absence of strong measures by the HRM
of the banks against the fraudsters (Uddin, 2017).
The financial service industry continuously face challenges due to implementation of new
regulations. The HRM is facing continuous implementation of regulatory laws (Madan and

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Bajwa, 2016). There are several things to do for the HR managers as the regulatory changes are
driven by political changes (Ijigu, 2015). These continuous changes feeds in the banks and the
HR managers, the employees, the customers and the banks themselves have to deal with these
changes (Bamber, Bartram and Stanton, 2017). The series of failure in the financial service
industry is a matter of concern for the banks since all these were caused by failures of HRM
which includes the failure to control the HTM risks and challenges (Kadiresan et al., 2015).
In 2018, it was found by Royal Commission that some employees of National Australia Bank
(NAB) were in involved in a bribery chain to get advantage from the incentive program to sign
more new and potential clients (Mira, Choong and Thim, 2019). The bribery chain was involved
in several branches of NAB and also in other banks regarding the fake documents and forged
Medicare cards and pay slips where the bribes were paid for securing loans (Ayentimi, Burgess
and Brown, 2018). Due to lack of proper monitoring and measures by the HRM of NAB, this
incident had taken place (SuriyaKala and Aditya, 2016). It was found that money was exchanged
in cash within envelopes over the counter. The money was deposited at Commonwealth Bank of
Australia (CBA) so that the HRM of NBA could not detect the money deposits (Schneider,
2018). The bribery has been happening on either weekly or daily basis and the incident has been
reposted recently but it had been taking place for several years (Kumari and Priya, 2017).
Another incident of HRM failure in banks in Australia was the case of breaches of anti-terrorism
financing and money laundering laws by CBA (Agarwal and Al Qouyatahi, 2018). It was alleged
that some criminal gangs were laundering almost $70 million from CBA through smart ATMs
networks as it allows to deposit anonymous cash (Sheedy, 2018). CBA was warned of this
incident serval times but the management of the bank failed to take any actions (Obeidat, 2017).
It was found by the bank that the customers of the banks had finance terrorism six times (Kim,
Su and Wright, 2018). It was reported that CBA has violated the regulatory law of anti-terrorism
financing and money laundering law 50,000 times (Hassan, 2016).
Recommendations
The banks need to re-analyze their policies of HRM. The whole workforce of the banks have to
work as a team. Regulatory actions must be initiated only as a last option. The complications in
the banking industry could easily distract the banking HR from perceiving the disturbing patterns
such as the financial scandals has been a financial impropriety and tool place due to absence of

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management controls. It is not possible to list all the scandals so the HRM need to push the
accounting and financial boundary to the point of inflate profits, recover the losses and improve
their performances to a higher level.
Conclusion
The report concluded three case studies from three organizations, 7-Eleven, the Country Fire
Authority (CFA) and banks and find out the solutions and recommendations for the mitigation of
contemporary and real-world HRM challenges. It also considered the key issues in each
organizations and analyze how HRM is failing across all three organizations. It provided
recommendations to enable HRM to solve the issues effectively which are apparent in these three
companies. It concluded with the synthesis of the HRM problems across all three organizations.
It also applied the AHRI model to explain the methods the three organizations could have
implemented to avoid these problems in the first place.
The key issues in 7-Eleven are the management issues and underpaid employee wages. It has
been found that several franchisees of 7-Eleven has not been paying their staffs their minimum
wages, penalty rates of public holidays and weekends and allowances and loadings of night shift
under the implemented rules for a substantial time period. HRM failed to ensure to prevent these
issues of 7-Eleven. The major problems in CFA are the issues of bullying and sexual harassment
for women in CFA. The sequence of incorrect actions focused at the young girl and other young
female volunteers of the fire station was found in CFA due to leadership failure. The most
surprising fact that the manager that is the captain of the fire station was himself involved in all
the four incidents. The key issues in banks are the financial scandals and regulatory issues sin the
banks. Any members of the banks to involve in any fraud due to absence of strong measures by
the HRM of the banks against the fraudsters. Continuous changes in regulatory laws feeds in the
banks and the HR managers, the employees, the customers and the banks themselves have to
deal with these changes.
The AHRI Model of Excellence is the basis of certification for the HRM and provides the
employers the guarantee that certified practitioners of HR has the essential skills and behaviors
to become a HR manager for the business. While concluding the report, the three organizations,
7-Eleven, CFA and banks can apply AHRI Model of Excellence which includes extremely vital
HR skills that are of highest significance for the practitioners of HR. The expert practitioner skill

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is of great importance for the HR managers in 7-Eleven by utilizing the knowledge of expert HR
to resolve the staff’s problems and lead to better work relationship. The culture and change
leader capability in in CFA are of high significance to foster organizational changes while
adapting new business need. The business driven skill is of great importance for the HR
managers in banks to enhance the overall corporate knowledge in the organization. This skill can
enable the HR managers for better engagement of the staffs while accomplishing the
organizational objectives.

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