HRM101 Case Study Assessment 2: HR and Leadership at Oz Industries

This case study analyzes the changes implemented at Oz Industries, focusing on the removal of redundant positions and a shift towards a goal-oriented culture. The assessment identifies the reasons behind these changes, including the perceived inadequacy of the previous workforce and the company's focus on performance and profitability. It explores the issues contributing to Carmelita's redundancy, ethical and HR challenges arising from the changes, and the impact on current employees, including demotivation and concerns about performance appraisals. Furthermore, the case study proposes initiatives such as improved communication, retention of experienced employees, and maintaining the integration of HR and payroll departments for better management of the restructure. The analysis highlights the benefits of these initiatives for the organization, such as sustaining diversity and enhancing the work environment.

Running Head: HR AND LEADERSHIP: CASE STUDY ASSESSMENT 2
HR AND LEADERSHIP: CASE STUDY ASSESSMENT 2
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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1. Identification of Changes in the Oz industries and determination of new direction
The changes that were made in the Oz industries are primarily focused towards the
removal of positions that are deemed to be redundant. The organization clearly wants to change
its previous working culture and set up a new goal oriented culture that is focused towards
achieving better performance than before. Another significant change was to remove the non-
performing old employees with better focused new ones. A very important change was the
centralized management system that is directly implemented by the top level managers like Peter
and Meg. By changing the human resource division the organization is separating the functional
areas of the Human Resource to more recruitment and training focused functions. The more
qualified junior employees are given preference over experienced employees while selecting for
the higher management positions. The reason for the changes are that the management has
deemed the previous workforce to be incapable of giving future productivity to the organization.
Only the more reliable experienced employees were kept that had long time association with the
organization. Moreover, in view of the heavy losses that were incurred, the company is focusing
primarily on increasing performance and profitability of the organization.
2. Issues contributing to Carmelita’s redundant position
The primary issue that led to the position of Carmelita being made redundant were due to
her reluctance to wholly accept the changes that were made by the organization. She was made
the HR manager for the manufacturing division. The organization thought that if she is not
properly aligned with the future visions of the organization, she can recruit unproductive
workforce in the organization. Hence her position as the HR manager is not effective as deemed
by the organization. She agrees with the notion that the organization does not have the family

2HR AND LEADERSHIP: CASE STUDY ASSESSMENT 2
environment as it did in the past. This can be traced through the contemporary developmental
theory that stresses on the shaping of an individual through organizational life (Selden,
Widdowson & Brooker, 2016). The repercussion of Carmelita’s position being made redundant
is that the organization would lose much of required experience that can help it to form a diverse
but effective workplace. The 22 year experience of Carmelita could have helped in providing
better value to the future goals of the organization. A direct management would be established
that can harm the employee motivation and result in further attrition.
3. Ethical and HR issues that might arise challenging proposed changes
The ethical issues that may arise challenging the proposed changes are many considering
the various changes that are made. Firstly, the separation of the HR and the payroll department
raises serious ethical concerns about the appraisals and performance management. The
employees can face issues with the appraisals as effective coordination might not be present
between the payroll and the HR department. Secondly, the removal of the more experienced
employees without much recognition for their long term commitment it unethical on behalf of
the organization (Noe, 2017). Making some of the historic positions redundant raises serious
questions in the minds of the long term employees about the organizations stance in regards to
the experienced employees. Thirdly, there is a serious ethical concern about workplace diversity
as the newer employees are being recruited to completely replace the older ones (Cascio, 2015).
Hence, the balance between experienced and new employees in the organization would be
greatly harmed. Fourthly, too much focus on profitability and performance would lead to the
organization hampering employee motivation. Hence, the ethical concerns are significant.

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4. Impact of the changes on Current Employees
The current employees would be greatly demotivated by the changes. The primary reason
for the same would be the fact that many employees have left the organization due to the
changes. The impact of the changes would be lower levels of motivation for the employees. The
appraisal program that is implemented focuses more on the goal setting and accountability of
individuals. However, factors like experience, long term gained skills and self-assessment that
are also important factors for performance appraisal are not given much importance
(Buckingham & Goodall, 2015). There is also no scope for negotiated appraisals. As pointed out
by the employees their experiences are no longer valued. On the other hand the employees would
also get more focused on competitive performance as a result of the goals being made so
important. It will cause the reduction in coordinated behavior and increase in performance
confirming personal benefits.
5. Other initiatives for better management of the restructure.
a) Proposal of additional initiatives
An important factor that can be used in this case is communication. It is evident that the
higher management is taking direct decisions. This needs to be changed to more negotiated
decisions. The higher management needs to communicate better with the experienced employees
to coordinate and form effective integration plans for the employees. It is also important that the
HR and the payroll divisions are kept intact. Additionally, the experienced employees need to be
retained and given equal opportunity to attain the higher posts along with the younger and
qualified employees.
b) Benefit for the organization

4HR AND LEADERSHIP: CASE STUDY ASSESSMENT 2
The organization would be able to sustain diversity. The HR department being connected
with the payroll department would make salary grievances and appraisal issues easier to solve. It
becomes easier to retain the experienced knowledge base of the older employees. Employees get
equal opportunities to grow resulting in the enhancement of the work environment. It is
important to remember that the organization can grow better as a result of these initiatives. The
employees would be much more focused, coordinated in integrated.

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References
Buckingham, M., & Goodall, A. (2015). Reinventing performance management. Harvard
Business Review, 93(4), 40-50.
Cascio, W. F. (2015). Managing human resources. McGraw-Hill.
Noe, R. A., Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. M. (2017). Human resource
management: Gaining a competitive advantage. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill
Education.
Selden, R., Widdowson, P., & Brooker, P. (2016). A reader's guide to contemporary literary
theory. Routledge.
Stone, D. L., & Rosopa, P. J. (2017). The advantages and limitations of using meta-analysis in
human resource management research.