Case Study Analysis: HRM Issues in a Higher Education Institute

This assignment presents a case study analysis of a Higher Education Institute undergoing a digitalization transformation project. The case highlights various HRM challenges, including lack of strategic planning, employee complaints, and the need for occupational psychology to address employee wellbeing. The institute faced issues such as late appointments, knowledge management problems, frequent sick leaves, and conflicts between staff. The analysis discusses the impact of these issues on productivity and proposes recommendations for improvement, emphasizing the importance of strategies, effective meetings, and the role of occupational psychologists in resolving workplace conflicts and supporting employee mental health. The study underscores the significance of considering psychological factors in HRM to achieve organizational goals and a successful transformation.

Running head: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Case study analysis of a Higher Education Institute
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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Executive Summary
Management is very important in terms of controlling the workplace performance. For this,
developing strategies is crucial. Although companies and organizations like the higher
educational institute developed strategies, it lacked planning. This resulted in the achievement of
complaints from the students and the clients regarding the exposure of careless attitude towards
the business activities. In order to achieve the targeted goals and objectives, the wellbeing of the
employees is overlooked. This especially connotes the psychological wellbeing, which is
adversely affected when they fail to meet the targets. Herein lays the necessity of the
occupational psychologists, who can heal the wounds of the employees, preparing them to face
all kinds of challenges. The previous sentence reflects the true essence of the term human
resource management.

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Table of contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Insight into the company/organization of the case study and the issues.........................................3
Discussion........................................................................................................................................4
Summary and conclusion.................................................................................................................8
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................10
References and bibliography.........................................................................................................12

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Introduction
Human resource management is an essential concept within the business issues. This
reflects the effective and judicious use of the organizational resources for the production of
quality product and services. Within this, technology acts as a cornerstone in systematizing the
business activities according to their priority (Rees and Smith 2017). This assignment takes up
the case study of a Higher Educational Institute for assessing the effectiveness of the ways and
means adopted for finalizing the transformation project. In this, the focus of the assignment is on
attaching psychological analysis towards mitigating the issues, which might hamper the process
of transformation process. As a final touch, the assignment would propose recommendations for
improving the approach towards business operations.
Insight into the company/organization of the case study and the issues
The case study takes the reference of a Higher education Institute. Recently, the institute
has undertaken the project of digitalizing the business operations. For this, the administrative
personnel have developed the strategy to install new IT systems and recruit more employees for
enhancing the efficiency in the operations. The transformation team consisted of senior and the
experienced officials from the functional departments of the university. The head of the
departments were briefed about the tasks and asked to communicate with the team members. The
HR department was entrusted with the responsibility to achieve transformation. As there were no
occupational psychologists, therefore the HR specialists were hired by the department for
gaining suggestions on how to proceed with the transformation project.

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The Strategy Director initiated the process of planning through the consideration of the
data collected by the organizational department team (OD). Although this took a time of 1 year,
it helped in moving on to the next step, recruiting four change managers from IT, Finance and
two other academic departments, who would be responsible for regulating and implementing the
change. As no applications were submitted, therefore the task seemed next to impossible. The
immediate result of this was an urgent meeting, consisting of staffs from the HR department,
Finance department and senior academics. The issues of late appointment, improper knowledge
management and lack of strategic approach gained prominence in the meeting. Along with this,
frequent sick leaves, insecurities due to the lack of support were also the discussion areas.
The meeting between one of the change managers and the Project Director reflects
differentiation of opinion. However, taking the blame on herself is the generosity of change
manager in terms of defending her position. After 24 months, the manager arranged another
meeting. In this, the entire transformation team was alarmed about the need for completing the
project on an urgent basis. A report was produced by the Project Director about the approach
towards executing the project related activities. The report was full of complaints from the
students, staffs and the academics regarding the execution of the assigned duties and
responsibilities. These complaints also covered the issues of frequent sick leaves, as a result of
stress and the attitude of the change manager. In response to this, the manager of the institution
hired Occupational Psychologists for getting external assistance in terms of resolving the internal
crisis.

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Discussion
In the workplace, there are several issues takes place, which hamper the productivity.
These issues are- lack of strategies, careless attitude of the employees, improper approach
towards recruitment and selection and differentiation of opinions among others. All these
issues delay the process of completing the undertaken projects within the stipulated deadline. As
a matter of specification, lack of strategies adds an interrogative parameter to the business
operations. In case of the Higher Education Institute, strategy was developed regarding the
adoption of new IT systems. However, non-compliance towards the developed strategies is the
result of the negative outcomes, which the institution achieved (Rees et al. 2015). Along with
this, recruitment of the change managers was also included in the strategies. Not considering
Tuckman’s stages of team development compelled the administrative personnel to encounter the
issues of lack of adequate skills within the hired candidates. This raises doubts over the strategies
developed by the administrative personnel of the higher education institute, mentioned in the
case study.
Meetings are a wise step in terms of planning. However, the Higher Education Institute
mentioned in the case study, cannot be credited in terms of the meetings organized. This is
because of most of the important personnel did not attend the meeting, which did not serve the
true purpose of the altering the business scenario (Lindebaum and Jordan 2014). If the issues
remained after briefing the aspects clearly, it is simply the wastage of time, money and efforts.
The areas to be covered in the meeting were: lack of adequate skills and support, frequent sick
leaves, improper attitude towards strategy planning among others.
The intensity of these issues necessitates the hiring of Occupational Psychologists by the
Higher Education Institute, as mentioned by the case study. This is in terms of overcoming the

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incapability towards solving the workplace issues internally. Going by the functionalities, these
psychologists are entrusted with the responsibility to heal the psychological wounds of the
employees while carrying out the assigned duties and responsibilities (Clement et al. 2015).
Typical examples of these wounds are taking sick leaves for relieving the stress from hard work;
suffering from depression due to failure to meet the expectation of the bosses; poor performance
appraisal, getting less salary among others.
The function of these psychologists can be aligned with that of the counsellors. They
delve deep into the circumstances, which affected the psyche of the employees and obstructed
the exposure of better performance. Here, consideration of theory of planned action and reasoned
behaviour helps the psychologists in assessing the circumstances, which compelled the
employees to expose such behaviours. Most of the companies and organizations do not have the
access towards hiring occupational psychologists (Goh et al. 2015). They can hire HR specialists
to take suggestions for adopting and implementing the changes through the undertaken projects.
In these case, the Higher Education Institute is lucky, as they consulted the Occupational
Psychologists for getting external assistance towards solving the internal issues.
According to Robert (2016), humor or refreshment is needed in the workplace for
reducing the stress of the hard work. Perceiving humor from the psychological perspective,
misutilizing it in workplace can result in the differentiation of opinion. This differentiation can
lead to discriminations and harassments, hurting the individual sentiments of the employees. This
affectation compels the employees to suffer from depression (Qureshi et al. 2015). It is at this
stage that psychologists are needed for counselling the employees, so that they can resume their
productive performance at workplace.

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Failure to meet the expectation of bosses is also the reasons for suffering from
depression. This failure makes the employees think that they are incapable of performing the
assigned duties and responsibilities (Beehr 2014). In case of the Higher Educational Institute
mentioned in the case study, failure of the staffs to perform the duties appropriately compels the
students, staffs and academicians to complain to the manager. The report produced by the
manager indicates that the careless attitude of the staffs in terms of the careless attitude, which
they have exposed (Ridenour et al. 2015). This carelessness intensifies their lack of
understanding the need for taking the transformation project seriously and finalizing the plans for
initiating the projects.
Workplace bullying is one of the other psychological issues, which affects the psyche of
the employees. Bullying destroys the stability in the relationship between the workers, nullifying
the concept of teamwork. Being the victim of bullying compels the workers to adopt silence.
Here, workplace communication achieves a negative connotation (Rai and Agarwal, 2018). In
case of the higher educational institute, the managers briefed the employees about the changes,
which has been proposed. This nullifies the concept of workplace bullying in this case study.
Viewing it from the other perspective, the employees bullied the managers by disobeying the
instructions of the managers. Typical example of this can be delaying the recruitment of the
change manager.
Strategies are very important for the companies and organizations in terms of carrying
out the business activities in an efficient and effective manner. Strategies assist the companies
and organizations to systematize the business activities. Although the higher education institute
developed the strategy of adopting new IT systems, lack of planning nullifies the efforts of the
personnel towards developing the strategies (Rees and Smith 2017). In terms of investigating this

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issue, the occupational psychologists can take into consideration theory of reasoned behaviour
and theory of planned action. This is in terms of excavating the reason why the staffs exposed
non-complaince towards the developed strategies. From the perspective of the human resource
management, lack of strategies contradicts the strategy of adopting new IT system. Rather, the
disobedience towards the proposed strategies negates their capability towards the purchasing the
new IT systems and implementing them in executing the workplace operations.
The work environment is also one of the grounds, which contributes to the psychological
issues in the workplace. Too much noise distracts the workers from the focus of their work.
Intentionally creating noise near the staffs leads to conflicts, which needs the psychologists to
intervene into the issue (Modini et al. 2016). Herein lays the correlation with the communication
issues, which was reported by the manager of the higher education institute. Frequent leaves by
the staffs affect the work flow, increasing the burden of the workers to work individually, rather
for extra shifts for meeting the targets. Not getting due appraisal for this, psychologically affects
the psyche of the staffs in terms of their professionalism.
Official complaints about the change manager are directly related to the psychological
affectation of the employees’ psyche. These complaints put the employment of the change
managers at stake. Psychologists can excavate the reality of the complaints, which would bring
to the forefront the circumstances, which compelled the students, staffs and the academicians to
file complaints against the change manager (Nica, Hurjui and Ștefan 2016).
Summary and conclusion
This case study referred by the assignment proves successful in enhancing the clarity of
the readers regarding the prevalence of the psychological issues, which take place in the

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workplace. Most of the companies and organizations do not possess the access to consult the
occupational psychologists for achieving solutions to mitigate these issues. Instead, they are
provided with HR specialists, who help in seeking effective solutions for the internal issues of
the workplace. The higher educational institute referred in the case study is an exception, as they
got the external consultation of the occupational psychologists.
The proposed discussion can be sent to the Director, so that they can implement them into
their workplace activities. Lack of rational approach nullifies the proposed strategy. In this
situation, any new proposal would seem difficult to implement into the business operations. The
spontaneous approach of the Project Director is appropriate in terms of altering the business
scenario of the higher education institute. Delaying the recruitment of the change manager is also
a delay in finalizing the project related activities. Along with this, lack of support from the
managers aggravates the complexities of the employees lacking the adequate skills and
knowledge.
Complaints from the students, teachers and the clients reflects the careless attitude of the
staffs in terms of the executing the assigned duties and responsibilities in an efficient and
effective manner. These complaints put the employment of the administrative personnel at stake,
which adversely affects the psyche. If the staffs are clear from their end, they can defend
themselves, which enhances their position in the workplace. On the contrary, accepting the
blame upgrades the status of the staffs in terms of inquisitiveness towards upgrading the
standards and quality of performance. One of the change managers, who was called for not
attending the meeting can be placed in this category.

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Deciding to hire an expert, in response to the ongoing crisis can be considered wise in
terms of making the transformation project successful. Exposing spontaneity in this direction is
appreciable in case of the change manager in terms of achieving infrastructural development of
the institute. Hiring occupational psychologists is an attempt towards ensuring the wellbeing of
the employees. This perspective adds value to the transformation project.
Recommendations
After a thorough review of the case study, it can be stated that training is needed for
imparting the basic management skills to the staffs. Training would enrich the preconceived
skills, expertise and knowledge of the staffs. Along with this, it would fill in the knowledge gaps.
Viewing it from the other perspective, training would transfer skills from the managers to the
employees. This would enhance the stability in the relationship between the managers,
employees and the other staffs. Taking post training tests would help the managers to assess the
capability of the staffs to make practical application of the learnt skills in carrying out the
assigned duties and responsibilities. The performance of the staffs would assist the managers to
make estimates regarding the additional resources needed and the time needed for completing the
project successfully.
As a matter of specification, information technology needs to be included in the training
courses. As the concept is new, the courses need to be equally divided into segments. This would
provide an opportunity to the staffs to achieve an easy grasp over the concepts. Arranging for
lectures, seminars and question answer session would provide a platform to the staffs to clarify
their doubts. Along with this, these sessions would improve the communication between the
staffs, managers, administrative personnel and the clients.

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Strategies need to be developed and the staffs need to be instructed to abide by the
strategies for the efficient execution of the project related activities. They can be kept in control
by alarming the consequences they can face upon violation of the orders. Typical examples in
this direction can be salary deduction, cancellation of sick leaves among others. Tracking this
performance would be assistance in appraising the approach of the staffs towards the levied
orders.
Counselling sessions would be an innovation in the workplace of companies and
organization like the higher educational institute of the case study. These sessions would bring to
the forefront the issues, which they are facing in the execution of the workplace activities.
Maintaining frequency in organizing these sessions would mitigate the instances of conflicts,
discriminations and harassments in the workplace. Along with this, the counselling sessions
would help the managers to know the staffs well. This would enable the managers to be
acquainted with the capability of the staffs.
The employees also need to be made aware of the judicious use of the organizational
resources. This would help the staffs in times of crisis. Along with this, this would help the
companies like the higher educational institute to achieve sustainable development in the
competitive ambience of the market. Apart from this, judicious use of the organizational
resources would be an agent in achieving infrastructural development. This would be cornerstone
in increasing the sales revenue and profit margin, paving the way for foreign market penetration.

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References and bibliography
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employee recovery. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 20(2), p.172.
Beehr, T.A., 2014. Psychological stress in the workplace (psychology revivals). Routledge.
Clement, S., Schauman, O., Graham, T., Maggioni, F., Evans-Lacko, S., Bezborodovs, N.,
Morgan, C., Rüsch, N., Brown, J.S.L. and Thornicroft, G., 2015. What is the impact of mental
health-related stigma on help-seeking? A systematic review of quantitative and qualitative
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Liu, Y., Wang, M., Chang, C.H., Shi, J., Zhou, L. and Shao, R., 2015. Work–family conflict,
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