Human Resource Management Analysis: A Case Study of Big Bytes

This case study examines the human resource challenges faced by Big Bytes, a chain of stores selling computer equipment and IT accessories, as observed by the newly appointed general manager, Samantha. The company's laissez-faire management approach has led to issues such as low employee morale, lack of commitment from store managers, high staff turnover, and ineffective training programs. The analysis delves into these problems, diagnosing the root causes and proposing solutions such as implementing effective training and talent development initiatives, improving performance management systems, and fostering a more employee-friendly organizational culture. The study includes a SWOT analysis, force field analysis, and action plans with short, middle, and long-term goals to ensure the company's long-term sustainability and success in a competitive market. Desklib is a valuable resource for students seeking similar case studies and solved assignments.

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Running head: MANAGEMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES
MANAGEMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

1MANAGEMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES
Executive Summary
For ensuring smooth functioning of the human resource management it is essential that
the managerial endeavors should work in favor of the labor force of the organization from top to
the bottom level and vice-versa within the employee hierarchy. In this case it is been observed
that Brain Lam, the owner of Big Bytes is confronted with a lot of issues related to the
management for the organization as put forth to him by Samantha, who was earlier the retail
manager of a departmental store and joined Big bytes as a general manager later. Big Bytes
which is a chain of stores that deploys into the market products like computer equipment and
information technology related accessories along with providing repairing and maintenance
support. The paper delves into this aspect of human resource management and recommends
action plans, execution of which may ensure long run sustenance of the company in the
competitive market place. It was being found that the company prefer to run its business based
on laissez – faire approach which is not able to boost the employee morale and the store
managers were found to lack in their organizational commitment and staff morale. There is
extensive need to implement effective training and talent development initiatives with facilitation
of effective performance management system.

2MANAGEMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES
Table of Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................1
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Overview of the Problem.................................................................................................................4
Statement of the Problem.................................................................................................................5
Diagnosis.........................................................................................................................................5
Concept Fan.....................................................................................................................................7
Mind map.........................................................................................................................................8
SWOT..............................................................................................................................................9
Force Field Analysis (driving & restraining Forces).....................................................................10
Implications of Assessments..........................................................................................................11
Short Term.................................................................................................................................11
Middle Term..............................................................................................................................11
Long Term.................................................................................................................................12
Performance Management.............................................................................................................12
HR Plan..........................................................................................................................................15
Action Plan (Gantt chart)...............................................................................................................18
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................19
References......................................................................................................................................20

3MANAGEMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES
Introduction
Human resources are one of the major building block of any organization. The potential
of an organization depends not only in its ability to optimize the allocation of its materialistic
resources but also to utilize effectively the available human resources. In the process of ensuring
the optimization of human resource utilization it is also important to identify the factors that is
rendering restraint upon the channelization of human resources (Albrecht et al. 2015). It is
necessary to make the human resources adapt with the new changes that are taking place within
the market where the organization operates its business. In order to implement the action plan
based on the analysis of the flaws and fortes of the organization human resources needs
improvisation from all respect to raise their operational effectiveness as well as performance
efficiency. For ensuring smooth functioning of the human resource management it is essential
that the managerial endeavors should work in favor of the labor force of the organization from
top to the bottom level and vice-versa within the employee hierarchy. In this case it is been
observed that Brain Lam, the owner of Big Bytes is confronted with a lot of issues related to the
management for the organization as put forth to him by Samantha, who was earlier the retail
manager of a departmental store and joined Big bytes as a general manager later. Big Bytes
which is a chain of stores that deploys into the market products like computer equipment and
information technology related accessories along with providing repairing and maintenance
support (Albrecht et al. 2015). The paper delves into this aspect of human resource management
and recommends action plans, execution of which may ensure long run sustenance of the
company in the competitive market place.

4MANAGEMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES
Overview of the Problem
The background of the problem relates to the endeavor of the general manager Samantha
who is a newly recruited professional in Big Bytes. The issues that are being highlighted by
Samantha is in putting forth the issues that questions the relevance of laissez faire approach
within the organization. Brian lam asked Samantha only to report about the performance of each
of the stores which was rather imprecise (Bratton and Gold 2017). Samantha scrutinized the
flaws and fortes in each of the stores where she comprehended that:
 there is deficiency of commitments by the store managers
 word of mouth was the medium through which recruitment use to take place
 Ambiguity exits behind high absenteeism and lateness
 The manager’s styles use to influence the morale of the staffs
 Online sales renders substantive competition for which the sales margin were confronted
with downfall
 Training regarding financial management was a pre-requisite which were not found to be
accomplished
 The formal appraisal process as at an halt due to operational ineffectiveness internally
 Staff turnover rate is high as retention of employees where low
 Based on the annual opinion survey, it was been found that the employees were
unsatisfied with the lack of training opportunities whereas allocation of funds for
trainings were implemented
Based on these aspects of concern the statement of the problem can be incorporated.

5MANAGEMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES
Statement of the Problem
In order to ensure future success of Big Bytes, the implication of current situations
reveals that there exists necessity of emergence of the company from it operational, managerial
and financial perspectives. The statement of the problem comprises of ensuring that the human
resources of Big Bytes are optimized and proper performance management system is being
incorporated along with training and development opportunities.
Diagnosis
The issues that are a matter of concern for Brian Lam, the owner of Big Bytes is
comprised of the existing problems that are prevalent due to traditional business approach. The
laissez faire approach is being maintained where it is being believed that things will
automatically come to their places where it is required. However, the sales are declining, the staff
turnover is risen, store managers commitment towards maximizing the objective of the company
has been reduced, etc. These things are the outcome of ineffective performance management
system and improper channelization of the available human resources. Along with that, effective
grievance management of the employees are required based on understanding their perspectives
regarding organizational culture and feedbacks regarding training needs (Marchington et al.
2016). Samantha have utilized her 10 years’ experience in retail industry based on which she is
interested to remove the constraints that exists within the organization and restructure the laissez
faire approach towards an innovative one and improvise it in an employee friendly and quality
work environment that enriches the organizational practices. It was been found that there is
availability of funds that may support the expansion of the business through the chain of stores.
However, there were lack of proper managerial endeavors that will ensure that the allocated
funds are properly utilized as well as the expansion of the business if effectively monitored.

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Increase in the number of the chain stores do not reduce the customer share and also the market
capitalization of Big Bytes (Donate and Guadamillas 2015). Thus the major problem is related to
high employee turnover which makes the company to loose skilled employees as well as
potential customer base. Moreover, if a company earns profit or is able to maximize its sales
volume then these are not the only parametric factors that determines the growth and
development of the company. Rather it is to be understood as reflected by Samantha that the
organization should be internally strong and stability should prevail regarding its financial health
as well as it should be able to optimize its allocated funds and resources irrespective of the fact
that the resources are materialistic or human resources. Meeting the tax and other regulatory
prerequisites may make Big Bytes financially clear and transparent form all respect that that does
not ensure that the company will be stable in the long run or has a successful future sustenance.
As highlighted by Samantha, it is important for Brian Lam to focus much more in boosting the
Big Bytes organizational culture and human resource practices intrinsically. This may include
the understanding employee grievances and responding them back, effective communication and
work oriented training, facilitation of awareness generation programs for motivating employee
willingness towards their work as well as boosting their expertise, developmental planning,
performance appraisal, rewards & bonuses, raising employee engagement as well as
implementation of successful recruitment endeavors, etc.

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Concept Fan
Human Resource Management
Health &
Safety
Recruitment
& Selection
Compensation &
Benefits
Performance
Appraisal &
FeedbackTraining &
Development
Sourcing
Reimbursement
Selecting
Shortlisting
Screening
Basic Pay
Perquisites
Incentives
AllowanceBargaining Power
Mechanism
Players
Labor & Employee
Relations
Talent
Development
Employee
Grievance
management
Figure 1: Concept Fan

8MANAGEMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES
Mind map
Performance
Managemen
t System
Performance
Standards
Reporting of
Progress
Quality
Improvement
Process
Performance
Measurement
Figure 2: Mind Map

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SWOT
The SWOT analysis invigorates into the prevailing strengths, weaknesses of Big Bytes
while focusing into the upcoming threats and how to capitalize them into opportunities.
Table 1: SWOT
Strength Weakness
• Presence of good quality technicians
in all stores
• Availability of sufficient funds for
supporting business expansion &
enhancing business effectiveness
• Demographic advantage in terms of its
location in the large heartland malls
• Expansionary policy based business
approach of Big bytes in the industry
• Low training opportunities for raising
expertise of the potential work force
of Big Bytes
• Low utilization of the allocated funds
• Inefficient financial Management
• Casual employee management
relationship that increases the number
of absenteeism
• Low staff morale
Opportunities Threats
• Technical effectiveness ensures strong
customer support
• Extensive market expansion enhances
the probability to rapidly reach target
consumer base
• Service quality becomes impressive
• High level of competition in the
segment of online sales
• Fall in the overall sales volume
• Low accomplishment endeavors
towards fulfilling organizational
commitments by the store managers

10MANAGEMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES
due to strong technical support which
help Big Bytes to enhance its brand
value as well as build strong goodwill
in the market
Force Field Analysis (driving & restraining Forces)
The force field analysis focuses upon the driving and restraining forces that maximizes
the opportunities for Big Bytes based on its strength and weaknesses while minimizing its
threats. Majorly the effectiveness of the company to support its potential clients through
sufficient technical assistance is a vital component that drives the business of the company.
Apart from that the presence of skilled technicians in the various stores of the company ensures
that the prospective customers will get quality services (Paillé et al. 2014). The expanding
approach of the company into the market is another driving force for Big Bytes. The number of
stores have increased from its previous state this outweighs the possibility of the firm to remain
unrecognized among the target consumer base. The restraining forces on the other hand is the
lack of commitment within the employees and the inability of the organizational entities to
maintain a disciplined work culture.
Diagrammatically it can be shown as follows:
Driving Forces Restraining Forces
Proposed Chan
Vast Consumer base
Diversified products & Services Laissez- faire Approach
Lack of Commitments

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Implications of Assessments
The issues that are needed to be addressed can be sub-divided into short term, middle
term & long term basis.
Short Term
The commitment level of the store managers should be boosted in the short run and
facilitation of effective training and development initiatives is essential. The commitment level
of the store managers will get increased if their willingness and involvement towards the
company increases. The target consumer base will be effectively reached if and only if the
bottom line effective interacts with the prospective consumers (Marchington et al. 2016). The
important aspect of utilizing the business expansion by Big Bytes should be utilized and the
diversified products and services like the IT accessories and computer equipment should be
advertised and marketed effectively within the target consumer base in such a way that it can
satisfy the consumers based on their feedbacks and needs.
Middle Term
Beside annual plans and the midterm reviews are concerned with the issues of high
employee turnover and hence low employee retention. The employees are being recruited based
on word of mouth for which the skill levels of the employees and not been tested and hence
unskilled labors are getting employed which are not able to perform at the time of necessity
(Banfield, Kay and Royles 2018). The word of mouth process encourages recruitment of
employees but the human resource managers are not able to measure that whether the new
recruits requires effective training or not. Rather it becomes tough for the management to
identify the areas of expertise of the recruits and where they exactly lacks. Effective performance
management initiatives accompanied by proper appraisal and penalizing system will help the
Strong Technical base Absenteeism