LSC UoS BA: Case Study on Contemporary Management Issues

This case study delves into the contemporary management issues faced by MD Solutions, particularly focusing on the challenges arising from the work-from-home model implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic. It highlights issues such as lack of coordination, difficulty in tracking employee performance, communication problems, time management inefficiencies, and ineffective team management. The study also emphasizes the importance of creating a remote work culture and devising a new Work Arrangement Policy to retain star performers, suggesting strategies like performance evaluation, employee retention strategies, talent management strategies, and valuing talent. Furthermore, it discusses the development of a sustainable Human Resources Framework, recommending models like the Harvard Model, Warwick Model, 5P's Model, Ulrich Model, and the ASTD Competency Model. The report concludes by underscoring the need for managers to identify and solve these issues to enhance overall productivity.

Contemporary
Management Issues In
the 21st Century

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Management Issues refers to the problems which can be faced by the managers of the
organizations which can create an impact on them and therefore affect by the functioning of the
organizations (Bambi, Iozzo and Lucchini, 2020). This report is based on MD Solutions. It is a
company which is facing Management Issues related to Work From Home. In this report, a
detailed and specific focus will be made on the Work From Home Model.
MAIN BODY
Challenges of leading and managing staff working remotely from the office-
Work from home: It is the concept in which human resources do their official job from
home rather than getting work done from office. Work from home offers pliable hours to the
manpower to get their official work done easily. During Covid19 crisis work from home was
important to alleviate the spread of virus as large number of employees were not able to shuttle
to work (Capodaglio and Olsson, 2020). The situation creates challenges for employers of MD
Solution in leading and managing their working staff that are performing their job from their
homes. Some of the challenges faced by employers of MD Solution are described as follows:
 Lack of coordination: During Covid19 employers of MD Solutions were facing
problems in coordinating their human resources and because of which their productivity
starts declining (Di Beneditto, Moreira and Siciliano, 2021). Lack of coordination
between employers and its employees causes troubles in making business decision. It also
results in less productivity of company which brings negative impact on its brand image.
 Unable to track performance: In pandemic situation, administrators of MD Solutions
were not able to track the performance of their employees (Ellafi and et.al., 2020). They
were also not having any type of software by which they can track the performance and
hence were facing problem. Absence of tracking performance makes employees lenient
and because of which they were not contributing their performance properly. This creates
a problem for employers of company as they have to solve their problems alone without
support of their employees.
 Improper communication: While working from home during economic lockdown,
employees belong to rural areas had sometimes network connection problem. Because of
which managers of MD Solutions were not able to communicate with them properly and
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were not able to make the decisions regarding business. Improper communication
between employers and its workforces leads to burden of work on employers which they
alone have to bear.
 Issues in time management: Employees working from home in pandemic lockdown
were not properly performing their task on time given by their employers due to which
administrators of MD Solution face difficulty. They were facing problem in managing
time with their employees as human resources were not completing their task on given
time and make worthless excuses.
 Ineffective team management: During pandemic duration, entrepreneurs of MD
Solution establish team management among its employees and assigned work
accordingly (Kadeev and et.al., 2020). But the employees of company didn't take it
serious and gives poor quality results due to which manager faces problem. They were
not actively participating in team and were not giving their decisions and therefore,
makes team management ineffective.
Creating a culture of remote work: Manpower between the age of 40-45 years are not
able to work at home because they are having habits of doing work at office and are not
efficiently working at home. This becomes a challenge for employers of MD Solution that the
work assigned to those age group employees is not completing on time and hence creates a
problem for managers of company.
Devising of Work Arrangement Policy for retaining star performer-
A new Work Arrangement Policy is required to be determined so that the retention of star
performer can be carried out quite effectively and efficiently in a proper and right manner. This
will be quite useful for ensuring that the best employees are retained within the organizations so
that the overall efficiency, effectiveness and productivity level can be enhanced which will
therefore benefit the company in the long-run. MD Solutions therefore has to make sure that the
use of this type of policy can be made for the particular purpose of carrying out the attainment of
goals and objectives. The policy can be framed in the following manner-
 Evaluation of performance of the employees- It is quite necessary that a detailed
evaluation of performance of the employees can be carried out so that the appropriate and
necessary actions can be taken in a proper way. MD Solutions therefore needs to make
sure that it evaluates the performance of the employees in detail which will therefore help
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it to be able to ensure that it can mange the needs and requirements. In this way it will
help it in developing a Work Arrangement Policy.
 Using Employee Retention Strategies- It is important that the use of Employee
Retention Strategies can be made quite appropriately (Malathy and et.al., 2021). Through
making their use, MD Solutions will be able to ensure that it is able to take the desired
and necessary actions for the purpose of retaining the best employees. This will help it in
developing a Work Arrangement Policy.
 Using Talent Management Strategies- The use of Talent Management Strategies is
recommended because through using them the talented people can be effectively retained
within the organizations and therefore this can help in ensuring that the goals and
objectives are attained (Mestanza-Ramón and et.al., 2020). For a company like MD
Solutions, it is important that it is able to make its use quite appropriately and properly.
This will be quite helpful in devising a new Work Arrangement Policy.
 Giving value to talent- It is important that the necessary value to talent can be provided
in the organizations. The HR department has to ensure that it is able to provide
appropriate value to the talented people which will therefore be quite helpful for the
purpose of enhancing the overall level of efficiency and effectiveness. In MD Solutions,
it is important that the talented people are given value which will help in retaining them
so that they are able to take the company forward towards the attainment of sustainable
level of success in the future. In this way, a new Work Arrangement Policy can be used
within the organization.
Thus, by following the above-mentioned steps an organization like MD Solutions can
make sure that it is able to appropriately devise a new Work Arrangement Policy through which
the company can retain the star performer without hurting the cost structure and team morale.
This will help it in attaining the goals and objectives in the future in quite an appropriate manner.
Development of a Sustainable Human Resources Framework-
Development of a Sustainable Human Resources Framework is quite important and
should be carried out because through making its use the organizations will be able to ensure that
they can appropriately enhance the efficiency and effectiveness level which will therefore benefit
them a lot. It is necessary to be prepared because it will help a lot in ensuring that the HR goals
and objectives can be attained in the long-term in quite a proper and appropriate manner. The
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following models can be considered by the management of MD Solutions for this particular
purpose-
 The Harvard Model- This is quite a significant model which can be used by the HR
department of the organizations. It operates with five significant components like
situational factors, stakeholder interests, HRM policies, HRM outcomes and long-term
consequences which an organization can accomplish. Therefore, MD Solutions can make
its use.
 The Warwick Model- It is also an important model which can be used by an
organization. It focuses on elements like The outer context, The inner context, Business
strategy content, HRM context and HRM content. MD Solutions therefore can ensure htat
it can make its use.
 The 5P's Model- Through making the use of this particular model, the organizations can
bring improvement in HR policies. Its 5P's are Purpose, Principles, Processes, People and
Performance. Therefore, it is recommendable for HR managers of MD Solutions that they
should make its proper and right use.
 The Ulrich Model- The firms can make the use of this model for properly managing
their HR needs and requirements (Minhas and et.al., 2020). Therefore, the functions can
be organized into four central roles like strategic partner, change agent, administrative
expert and employee champion. For the HR managers of MD Solutions it is therefore
quite important and necessary that they must make its use for the particular purpose of
enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness level quite properly.
 The ASTD Competency Model- This is also an useful model which can be used by the
HR department of the organizations. This framework is based on three subsequent layers
which are Foundational level, Focus level and Execution level. MD Solutions can
therefore ensure that it can make its use for ensuring that its needs and requirements can
be managed.
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CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that Management Issues refer to the problems
which can be faced by the managers of the different types of organizations. It is therefore desired
that the managers are able to identify the right and appropriate way so that they can solve these
particular problems. This will help in ensuring that the overall level of productivity can be
enhanced in the future in quite a proper manner.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Bambi, S., Iozzo, P. and Lucchini, A., 2020. New issues in nursing management during the
COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. American Journal of Critical Care. 29(4). pp.e92-e93.
Capodaglio, A. G. and Olsson, G., 2020. Energy issues in sustainable urban wastewater
management: Use, demand reduction and recovery in the urban water cycle.
Sustainability. 12(1). p.266.
Di Beneditto, A. P. M., Moreira, S. C. and Siciliano, S., 2021. Endangered whale sharks in
southeastern Brazil: Records and management issues. Ocean & Coastal Management.
201. p.105491.
Ellafi, A. and et.al., 2020, September. Future of Hydraulic Fracturing Application in Terms of
Water Management and Environmental Issues: A Critical Review. In SPE Canada
Unconventional Resources Conference. OnePetro.
Kadeev, Z. K. and et.al., 2020. The issues of sustainable management of innovative industrial
risks during sustainable development of entities. J. Advanced Res. L. & Econ.. 11.
p.400.
Malathy, S. and et.al., 2021. A review on energy management issues for future 5G and beyond
network. Wireless Networks. 27(4). pp.2691-2718.
Mestanza-Ramón, C. and et.al., 2020. Coastal Scenic Evaluation of Continental Ecuador and
Galapagos Islands: Human Impacts and Management Issues. Journal of Marine Science
and Engineering. 8(6). p.468.
Minhas, P. S. and et.al., 2020. Coping with salinity in irrigated agriculture: Crop
evapotranspiration and water management issues. Agricultural Water Management.
227. p.105832.
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