IHRM4032: The Role of HR at Greenwich Pharmaceuticals - Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Human Resource department at Greenwich Pharmaceuticals, addressing key aspects such as developing organizational and HR strategies, HR planning in a business environment, effective HR practices and performance management, and the influence of employment legislation. The report delves into the importance of HR in achieving organizational objectives, employee welfare, and customer satisfaction. It identifies challenges like employee retention, training, and the impact of a competitive market. The report proposes solutions including automation, improved communication, performance appraisal systems, and continuous learning programs. It emphasizes the need for HR to align with business strategies, adapt to new trends like succession planning and talent management, and foster a positive work environment to ensure the success of the organization. The report also highlights the importance of addressing employee issues, such as unfair dismissal, bullying, and recruitment challenges to create a cohesive and productive workforce.

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Title: The Role of HR at Greenwich Pharmaceuticals
Subject: Introduction to Human Resource Management
Assignment Name:
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The Role of HR at Greenwich Pharmaceuticals 1
Executive Summary
Human Resource Management is a critical department in an organization. Every firm has to face
several issues and challenges due to constantly changing trends in the market and technology.
The employees are the biggest assets of any company, be it a small or large-scale organization.
Therefore, it is the duty of HR to develop and nurture them. This report is a detailed study of HR
functions, issues, challenges, and solutions. A few case studies and references from notable
authors have also been included to overcome those challenges. The study aims at providing the
readers an insight into the Human Resources department and its importance in the corporate
sector in today's world. Many examples and quotes are also provided to offer the readers a proper
understanding of the concept.

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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Task 1: Developing Organizational and HR Strategies...................................................................3
Task 2: HR Planning in a Business Environment............................................................................5
Task 3: Effective HR Practices and Performance Management in Organizations..........................7
Task 4: Influence of Employment Legislation on HR Practices in Organizations..........................8
Conclusion and Recommendations..................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
Probably, one of the underrated and underappreciated departments in any
organization/institution in the modern world is Human Resources. If we check the history of any
successful franchise/company, one thing we will find common is a strong core of Human
Resource Department. HR Department is one of the key sections that helps a company in
achieving its objectives and maximizing the profits of a company. The major purpose of this
report is to make people in the industry aware of the importance of a proper HR management
team, as it is one of the stepping-stones in establishing their respective enterprises. Moving
further, as an interim HR consultant for Greenwich Pharmaceuticals, our mission statement for
this time is:
"To develop, implement and support initiatives and operations, which add value to our
employees, leading to improved employee welfare, growth and retention while remaining
true to our roots and provide satisfaction to our customers whatever be the cost."
My work intends to cover the development and application of HR strategies and
initiatives and make it work with the business strategy of the institution and also to bridge the
employee-customer relationships and make people happy and satisfied on both the ends. In this
report, a discussion will be done on various tasks and problems that we will be encountering in
our term at the office, such as: developing organizational and HR strategies, HR planning in a
business environment, effective HR practices and performance management in an organization,
influence of employment legislation on HR practices in organizations.

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Task 1: Developing Organizational and HR Strategies
In this section, we are going to introduce programs and initiatives to improve the
relations between employees and customers. At the start of the term, we will be assigning roles
to each and every member with an utmost resemblance to their profiles. So that everyone knows
their leverage and specializations and the work goes on in an organized way. We are also
planning to shift to automation for low skilled jobs so that the work goes efficiently and lesser
capital is involved in those tasks (Pateman, 2014). In addition, this year we will be looking to
improve the communication skills of each and every employee in our organization that will be
the top priority for the HR department. As mentioned in the mission statement, we aim for the
welfare of our employees in every manner possible. As it a very-well known fact that a mission
statement defines the company’s products, employees and its services. In addition to this, it also
binds a company to do what it promises for the welfare of its employees and I believe the same.
So, one of the key areas that we can work on is developing a system where performance
appraisal and compensation for extra work should be made. As the mission statement of the
company depicts that, no good work should go unnoticed. Nothing boosts the morale of an
employee more than the praise and respect from the seniors and colleagues, and the
compensation benefits in the organization. That is very critical for the longevity of both the
employee and the organization (Bruck, 2011).
Also, this year we will make our organization a learning one. Continuous learning will
make our employees self-efficient and they will be able to add more value to the organization.
Human capital leverages all the areas of an institution. Hence, it is the duty of the HR department
to ensure that the human assets are aligned with the strategy and mission statement we developed

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for this year perfectly (Kim, 2018). It is we, who are responsible to align the HR activities with
strategic planning for the organization. The human resource department must also get
accustomed to other departments and understand critical business decision-making tools, such as
financial reports etc. One of the ways to achieve this is through annual meetings at the end of the
month to discuss strategies with business leaders of our organization (Oh et al., 2015). This will
allow the HR department to become a trusted partner that can have an impact on everyone's
success (employees and customer included).
Now, talking about the current/upcoming trends emerging in HR management since we
cannot stay outdated. It is our job to introduce new trends and technology to the organization.
For example- Succession Planning, which accounts for adequate knowledge transfer among two
generations of employees (H. Church, 2014). It is a healthy exercise to keep the organization
alive and steady every year. Another is talent management, which aims to attract, develop and
retains productive employees.
Task 2: HR Planning in a Business Environment
As it is widely known that, the Human Resource planning is a practice that helps in
forecasting the requirements of a business organization and determining how the human resource
capacity is to be utilized for the achievement of business goals. When there is a workforce
shortage or surpluses are not enough, it becomes hard for an organization to carry on. That also
indicates that the organization is not valuing human resources and hence they need to beef the
HR department to change their fortunes (Phillips, 2011). As in the case of a shortage of human
resources, physical resources of the organization will not be properly utilized. Since the
resources go underutilized, surplus and value will not be enough that is where the HR department

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comes handy. It is one of the major purposes of any good HR department to ensure the
employees are well trained and motivated to work for the organization (Mayo, 2015). At the
same time, they are scouting for new recruits who are equally good as the current ones so that in
case an employee leaves the organization for whatever reasons, we have another one ready in the
wings. That way there will be no labor shortage and hence surpluses go sky high (Slinger, 2015).
Since we already talked about recruiting new staff for backups or extension of workers in
the organization. One of the other issues we might face is the retention of employees to minimize
the employee turnover rate. Since every organization has different types of employees and every
one of them has different temperaments, there are part-time workers, temporarily contracted and
work at home employees. Now, they are difficult to retain because they are less attached to the
organization. Therefore, it is a challenge for us at HR to make them feel at home and no different
from other employees and maintain a good healthy bonding with them in order to retain them for
long terms. In addition, there are employees, who feel they are under-achieving, i.e., their skillset
is of more value than what they are getting from the organization (Aguinis and Lengnick-Hall,
2012). So naturally, they demand more power, hike in salaries, etc. In this case, it is our job to
make sure to meet their requirements as such employees are an invaluable asset for an
organization and we at HR must nurture and maintain them (Eaglebarger, 2016).
Coming to other challenges that we may face in the future is the training of the current
employees. It might look easier on the outside, but involves many complications, such as:
 What kind of training programs we require?
 What are the different objectives for different employees?
 How to make the training effective in such short notice for the organization?

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 What departments must be targeted?
 Will the training programs be beneficial for the company or they cost too much? (Butler
and Callahan, 2014).
So, to answer all these questions, the HR management, administration, and the business
strategy team need to come forward and prepare a roadmap. It may get tough because everyone
will have to offer something else but we must come to an agreement for the welfare of the
organization and resolve this conflict, if it may arise (Zheng et al., 2015).
Task 3: Effective HR Practices and Performance Management in
Organizations
In the given case study, "The role of HR at Greenwich Pharmaceuticals" the employee
performance and wellbeing issues are present vastly. As it is mentioned, the company as a whole
has not been doing very well and since it is a highly competitive environment, the HR team
needs to correct the mistakes quickly and adapt to the new trends or the organization will go
extinct (Narang and Singh, 2012). With the emergence of a new competitor, the sales of the
company have gone lower, which is not helping in increasing the morale of our staff. The
previous HR consultant has left the organization in shambles and now we have to reconstruct the
organization. The new chief executive suggests the same that we revamp the whole organization.
That is a good idea, but it comes with its own limitations, not many would be able to adapt as
many employees have been working since the inception of the organization and it will get
difficult to get adapted to all the changes in a fortnight (Scott, 2016). It might pose a problem in
the retention of employees and that is the last thing we will be wanting now. We need employees
now more than ever. So changes would be done not all at once, but slowly and gradually.

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In addition, as the head of the HR team, it is my responsibility that the changes are well
communicated to each and every employee and no one feels left out. Also, we are facing the
issues in loyalty to the organization, many of our key staffs have been poached and lured by
competitors which show we have to lay a new foundation and create new values. The
organization needs to bond the employees together, there is also a need to initiate programs and
meetings where we should work upon introducing new incentives and improving the working
relationship with the organization (Shaban, 2012). Also, there are employment issues, unfair
dismissal cases, bullying and harassment cases, issues with recruitment and selection, employee
motivation and training and there is no HR head who will take the responsibility for all of this.
The situation is chaotic and it can be easily concluded that if our institution will not do very well,
we can blame no one but the HR department (Po Li, Kirana Yahya and Fee Yean, 2016). These
issues that are mentioned above are to be addressed by the HR team, which has not been
functioning.
Also, there is a conflict of interest between the employees and the chief executive. So as
an interim HR manager, it is up to me to decide whether to go with the boss or be the "People's
Champion". A possible solution to resolve this conflict would be to fix a meeting for discussing
the ideas and goals we all aim to achieve. After all, we all are working for the betterment of the
organization. Our ideas may be different, but if we come to an agreement, we might make our
organization great again (Shah, 2012).
Task 4: Influence of Employment Legislation on HR Practices in
Organizations
There are many violations of employment legislation in the given case study.

The Role of HR at Greenwich Pharmaceuticals 9
“High turnover of key staff that had been poached and lured by competitors."
When an employee joins an institution, it is probably one of the critical points in the
legislation of any type of workplace that when you join the enterprise you remain loyal to it and
don't leave without a proper reason, informing the higher authorities. This interprets that the
employees have not taken the legislation and the organization seriously and there is highly a
need to enforce the legislation in a strict manner for any further violation of contract/legislation
(Duman, 2013).
"A number of employment issues, including unfair dismissal cases, bullying, and harassment,
issues with recruitment and selection, employee motivation and training."
When we talk about abiding by the workplace legislation, it applies to both the sides, the
employees as well as the administrators. It does not matter if you chair the organization, but
dismissing someone from the company without giving a proper explanation/reason is no healthy
thing to do in a workspace, it affects the working environment in a bad way. It is a clear violation
of employment legislation. Everyone deserves an explanation no matter what they have done that
reduces the communication gap between the administration and the employees, which is one of
the key factors to determine how well an organization is doing (Grušić, 2012). As in many cases,
we will notice that a poor relationship between the administration and employee is very often the
reason for the organization's downfall.
Coming to a graver issue related to the legislation i.e. bullying and harassment. There is
not anything more shameful for an organization than this is. An organization where things like
these happen cannot prosper no matter what the human capital or the resources. In the corporate

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world, there are no bigger crimes than this (Marescaux, De Winne and Sels, 2012). Therefore, it
is understood that it is a severe violation of the legislation and this issue really needs to be
addressed as soon as possible.
Conclusion and Recommendations
Human resource management aims to match the needs of the business with the needs and
development of employees. The importance has been given to helping individuals to work
together. Workspace planning has been one of the key parts of the process, which looks at long-
term needs across the organization. Talking about the personal development plans which need to
be created for every individual to grow professionally and personally within the industry. In
addition, to build a distinct and necessary competitive advantage through selecting and
developing highly motivated and skilled staff, who would be able to perform in pressurized
situations and deliver the results. We will also address the evils prevailing in our organization
such as low human capital, toxic workspace environment. We will be revamping the
foundational structure of the organization to fit the current needs of our employees and
customers so that we move ahead in this era of competitive marketing.

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References
Aguinis, H. and Lengnick-Hall, M. (2012). Assessing the value of human resource certification:
A call for evidence-based human resource management. Human Resource Management Review,
22(4), pp.281-284.
Bruck, A. (2011). Managing HR in a Global Business Environment. NHRD Network Journal,
4(2), pp.19-25.
Butler, M. and Callahan, C. (2014). Human resource outsourcing: Market and operating
performance effects of administrative HR functions. Journal of Business Research, 67(2),
pp.218-224.
Duman, A. (2013). Book review: Per Skedinger, Employment Protection Legislation: Evolution,
Effects, Winners and Losers. Work, Employment and Society, 27(1), pp.189-191.
Eaglebarger, S. (2016). The business of HR. Strategic HR Review, 15(5), pp.233-235.
Grušić, U. (2012). The Territorial Scope of Employment Legislation and Choice of Law. The
Modern Law Review, 75(5), pp.722-751.
H. Church, A. (2014). Succession Planning 2.0: building bench through better
execution. Strategic HR Review, 13(6), pp.233-242.