Strategic Human Resource Management

The article discusses the challenges faced by Astrigo Holdings in deciding the layoff policy and suggests alternative solutions to cost-cutting. The proposed solution is a combination of reducing pay and setting up a virtual workplace portal. The change will be initiated using Lewin's theory of change.

Running head: STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Strategic Human Resource Management
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1STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
The Layoff Case poses many distinct challenges for the board members. The
situation of Astrigo Holdings is such that it must lay off 10% of its employees ( Fryer
et al. 2009). The first problem that the executives must face is the decision of the
layoff policy that they will adopt for deciding which employees will be retained and
which employees will be let go.
Challenge
The decision has internal problems in it. The executives have their solutions.
Warren believes in first out policy while Lisa suggested a performance-based lay off
policy. Both of them had their own merits and disadvantages. The first in, first out
policy ensure that young talents are retained thus ensuring long-term commitment
from them. This had the danger of the company being accused of Ageism which
might create bad reputation for the company. Moreover, the most experienced
employees will leave the company leaving the company in a vulnerable position.
Lisa’s solution was most fair and ethical, but it demanded a lot of involvement and
time from the executives which they may not be able to give at the time of such crisis
(Štefko 2019).
Bob and Marzita were in a similar conflict. Bob suggested last in first out
method of lay off which ensured least amount of severance pay. Marzita believed
that to be inefficient as that will mean that they will have to let go many competent
employees and assets which will affect the company in the long run. She suggested
a different approach to cost-cutting by selling some company assets or less used
holdings and mergers. On the downside, this too had problems. The company would
lose much of their position if they sold these (Davis, Trevor and Feng 2015). Sushil
suggested another solution which seems to be more sustainable. By reducing pay,

2STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
the company will be able to profit better and retain all the employees and the
mergers (Richter et al. 2016).
Alternatives
The alternative solution provided by Marzita seems to have merit. Instead of
downsizing the workforce, the company can sell off their mergers and other
establishments that were not bringing the expected result. This will give the company
a good amount of leverage (Richter et al. 2018). Moreover, it would also enable them
to get rid of unwanted commitments. They will retain the employees, and the tension
would soon dissipate. Another alternative provided by Sushil is also quite clever. By
cutting the pay by 5% the company will be able to save enough money to stay afloat
in the market. Establishing a virtual office for the employees could solve much of the
problem. The company will save a large sum of money if they do not have to run a
large workspace. Another solution to the problem could be including the employees
in the decision making system. They should be guided through the situation, and
their input might bring some ideas that would help the company solve the problem.
Solution
The solution that I think best is a combination of two. The company should
start cost-cutting by reducing pay and weed out any employee that does not have
the organisation’s best interest at heart (Bentley, Fulmer and Kehoe 2019). Along
with that, setting up a virtual workplace will allow them to save significant money. As
the workers are working from home, their pay cut can be acceptable to them as they
do not need to travel and cost reduces for them as well. This is a method that will
ensure that both the company’s and the workers’ interest are served best (Hussain
et al. 2018).

3STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Execution
The solution proposed is a change that the company needs to initiate and for
that I will adopt Lewin’s theory of change. I will explain to the executives and the
workforce the reason and necessity for the change and what their alternatives would
be. After that, I will create a virtual workplace portal with the help of experts and
employees will be given all the details of their work. I will also bring changes to the
policies and update the employee contracts to ensure organisational benefit.
I believe that it is going to be quite difficult at first as employees are generally
resistant to change. The most challenging part would be to manage the employees
during the change and communicate with them effectively. Employees generally
become too stressed, and the environment of the organisation changes. It might
create further decrease in employee performance. To ensure that employee morale
remains intact, we will have group and one-to-one sessions where the employees
will be able to express anything that they might have in mind. This will prepare them
for the change.

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References
Bentley, F.S., Fulmer, I.S. and Kehoe, R.R., 2019. Payoffs for layoffs? An
examination of CEO relative pay and firm performance surrounding layoff
announcements. Personnel Psychology, 72(1), pp.81-106.
Davis, P.R., Trevor, C.O. and Feng, J., 2015. Creating a more quit-friendly national
workforce? Individual layoff history and voluntary turnover. Journal of Applied
Psychology, 100(5), p.1434.
Fryer, B., STYBEL, C.B.L.J., Peabody, M., DORMANN, J. and Sutton, R.I., 2009.
The Layoff. harvard business review, 87(3), pp.33-40.
Hussain, S.T., Lei, S., Akram, T., Haider, M.J., Hussain, S.H. and Ali, M., 2018. Kurt
Lewin's change model: A critical review of the role of leadership and employee
involvement in organizational change. Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, 3(3),
pp.123-127.
Richter, M., König, C.J., Geiger, M., Schieren, S., Lothschütz, J. and Zobel, Y., 2018.
“Just a Little Respect”: Effects of a Layoff Agent’s Actions on Employees’ Reactions
to a Dismissal Notification Meeting. Journal of Business Ethics, 153(3), pp.741-761.
Richter, M., König, C.J., Koppermann, C. and Schilling, M., 2016. Displaying fairness
while delivering bad news: Testing the effectiveness of organizational bad news
training in the layoff context. Journal of Applied Psychology, 101(6), p.779.
Štefko, M., 2019. Notice for redundancy as a discriminatory measure on grounds of
age. Central European Journal of Labour Law and Personnel Management, 2(1),
pp.61-73.