Human Resource Management Report: Analysis of SewnUp Organization

This report analyzes the human resource management challenges faced by SewnUp, a garment manufacturing organization with operations in Australia and Myanmar. The study identifies key issues, including a lack of employee engagement, poor performance, and inadequate communication, exacerbated by cultural differences between the two locations. The report reviews relevant HRM theories, such as employee engagement, cultural difference, and performance management, to provide a theoretical framework for understanding the problems. Best practices from companies like Coca-Cola are examined to offer potential solutions. The report emphasizes the importance of employee engagement, cultural awareness, and effective performance management systems in fostering a productive and harmonious work environment, ultimately recommending strategies to address the identified organizational issues and improve overall business performance.

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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Identification of Organisational Issues............................................................................................1
Literature Review............................................................................................................................3
Best Practices for Business..............................................................................................................5
Discussion and Analysis..................................................................................................................7
Recommendations and Conclusion..................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to enlighten the reader with the information about the given case of
SewnUp organization. The case study analyse the information about the garment organization
headquartered in Australia working to provide designer clothing to the people in the fashion
environment. The organization also has its arms spread in the market of Myanmar where they
have 2400 employees working with them under which mostly are female. In Myanmar, the
organization operate only one unit in which all the employees belonging to different cultural
background work together. The Australian plant of the company also holds 65% of females with
them. The manufacturing plant of the company SewnUp was set up in the 1980s and is
consistently working since then. However, the organization has now started facing several issues
in the business environment due to lack of employee engagement in the business process. The
below mentioned report enlighten the reader with the information about the theories of employee
engagement, performance management and cultural differences in the workplace environment.
More details about the report are mentioned below:
Identification of Organisational Issues
The company SewnUp is a garment manufacturing organization whose manufacturing function
is major initiated in the nation Myanmar and the Australian headquarters of the company, major
functions related to marketing, selling and designing are implemented. However, the managers
present at Myanmar and in Australia have started facing issues in development of the
productivity of the company as the employees have started to reduce their interest level from the
organization. The company has also defined several Key Performance Indicators for the
organization and the employees on the basis of which they provide rewards to the employees but
the employees fail to deliver their targets due to which they fail to achieve the rewards and
incentives as well. The manager at both the units of the company has started facing human
resource management issues in the business environment. Below mentioned is the list of issues
faced by both the units of the organization:
 Lack of employee engagement: the organization faces the problem of lack of employee
engagement in the business environment. The employees at SewnUp have started

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showing less interest towards the functioning of the organization. The employees of the
company present at SewnUp Australia have started giving less importance to the
functioning of the company due to which the profitability of the company has started to
reduce. It should be noted that if the employees of the company will not participate in the
profit making activities of the business then the revenue of the company would
subsequently decrease. This aspect is an important part of the human resource
management functions of an organization (Saratun 2016). The employees of SewnUp
Australia have started taking the functions of the company lightly due to which the
company fails to achieve the required objectives in the business environment. If the
employees will engage more in the business functions of the company then the customers
will also show interest in the business due to which the profitability of the company will
subsequently increase (Ehnert, et. al., 2016).
 Poof Performance of employees: another issue attracting the business functions of
SewnUp is poor performance of the employees in the business environment. The
employees of the company have started taking the activities of the company lightly due to
which the functions of the company do not interest them. It should be noted that the
employees of the company just work in the organization according to the standards set in
the environment and no employee think of moving forward and passing the standards of
the company. Resulting in which, the performance system of the company has become
out-dated and the employees only perform the regular chores only (Chiang, Lemański,
and Birtch 2017). It is important for the employees to change their working pattern on the
basis of changing requirement of the work and new trends coming in the industry. The
employees need to initiate refreshing activities in the business environment so as to add
value in the current functioning of the company. Improvement in the performance of the
employees and upgrading their business activities will definitely provide advantage to the
company SewnUp in the external environment.
 Lack of adequate communication: communication in the key for the growth and
productivity of the business. Lack of proper communication leads to several problems for
the business and also create confusion on the end of employees and management of the
company. The management of SewnUp also face the problem of communication in the
business environment. The organization has two branches at different locations that are

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Australia and Myanmar. There needs to be proper communication between both the
branches of the company so as to implement effective business functions in the
worldwide environment. However, due to difference in the culture and background of the
employees prevailing in both the areas, there is lack of proper communication that leads
to organizational issues for the company (Milliman, and Clair 2017). The employees of
the company face difficulty in understanding the needs and requirement of employees
present at different location due to which they perform actions that are beneficial for
them irrespective of the interest of employees present in the other location of the
company. Resulting in which, actions performed by employees at Australian environment
are rebutted by the employees present at the Myanmar environment (Abuazoom, Hanafi,
and Ahmad 2017).
 Lack of cultural awareness: when an organization is present in the international
environment, then it becomes important for them to implement practices that help them to
collaborate all the business units and initiate business actions effectively. However, in the
given case of SewnUp, the organization does not possess cultural competence due to
which the employees also do not have a sense of understanding towards different cultures
present in the environment. Cultural difference between Myanmar and Australia create
difference between the employees of both the units as well (Garavan, Watson, Carbery,
and O’Brien 2016).
Literature Review
The issues faced by the organization SewnUp consider three different types of human resource
management theories that are theory of employee engagement, cultural difference and
performance management as well. If the management of the company will consider these three
theories and will implement actions accordingly, then they will be able to eliminate the issues
from the business. According to the Mone, and London 2018, employee engagement refers to the
process of motivating the employees and engaging them in the business activities so as to build
their relationship with the employees. The employee engagement activity helps the organization
to develop a bond with the employees in the business environment and make them work for the
betterment of the company as well. According to William Kahn’s theory of employee
engagement, if the organization fulfil three requirements of the employees through their business

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environment then the employees starts to act positively for the organization. These three aspects
are meaningfulness, safety and availability. Meaningfulness refers to the concept in which the
employees believe that the work of the organization is meaningful for them (Glavas 2016).
Safety aspects relates to the risks related to the job and the work of the employee. Thirdly,
availability explains the mental and physical involvement of the employees in the work. If the
organization provides meaning to the job of the employees, provide safe working environment
and suitable job then they can make the employees work for them effectively. Employee
engagement is important for the business because it is required for the growth of any
organization. According to this theory, it is important for the leaders of the company to make
sure that the employees are contributed towards the organization and they like what they do. If
not so, then either the employee is prone to make mistakes or he/ she will soon leave the job.
Adequate level of employee engagement is the key to growth and productivity of any
organization (Ruck, Welch, and Menara 2017).
Considering another theory of cultural difference relating to the case of SewnUp, it should be
noted that cultural difference helps any organization to produce brainstorming ideas in an
organization and initiate innovation and creativity in the business. At the same time, if not
managed properly, cultural differences can lead to managerial issues for the business like in the
given case of SewnUp organization. Employees belonging to different cultural background have
different thinking pattern and beliefs as well (Peltonen, and Vaara 2018). These ideas many
times contradict with the thinking patterns of employees with different cultures, resulting in
which, it is the duty of the human resource manager of any organization to make cultural
difference as a positive feature for the organization rather than a hindrance for the business.
Cultural differences should be positively adopted by the employees of the company. In addition,
the organization should provide training to the employees to respect different cultures prevailing
in the environment and do no harm to the ethnic or religious background of any person
(Farndale, and Sanders 2017). Cultural learning theory allows an individual to obtain skills that
they would not be able attain independently over the course of their lifetime. Cross-cultural
learning helps individual to respect different cultures and give importance to virtues of different
people as well. In this way, the organization gets to work by eliminating conflicts in the business
environment (Vaiman, and Brewster 2015).

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Thirdly, according to Sharma and Gursoy 2018, performance management refers to the process
of identifying the calibre and the performance of the employees conducted in the business
environment with an objective to provide them benefits and keep them on the right track as well.
The theory of performance management helps the organization to provide feedback to the
employees and monitor the performance of the employees so that they work effectively towards
the direction of business growth and profitability. There are several objectives of performance
management system in an organization which varies on the basis of requirements of the business.
Initial objective is setting of goal, then measure the performance of employees, then provide
feedback of performance results (Margaret, et. al., 2016). Afterwards, provide rewards to the
employees on the basis of performance outcomes and lastly, make amendments in the objectives
and activities on the basis of the functions. Thus, in this way, the performance management
system works; it helps the employees to provide feedback to improve their performance with
time (Essa, and Wadi 2019).
Best Practices for Business
Several businesses present in the international environment perform activities to inculcate the
actions of employee engagement, cultural motivation and performance management in the
business. These best practices of the company are mentioned below:
 Coca-Cola is an international organization present in the worldwide environment that
effectively make use of several employee engagement practices in their business process
so as to make the employees work in the business to improve its productivity. The
company has set up three teams in the business so as to manage the functioning of the
employees. Fun at work team helps the employees to efficiently make the employees
happy while working in the business. This aspect helps the employees to celebrate their
birthdays and festivals with the employees as well. Second team helps the employees in
living positively and making the employees positive with the decisions of the company
(Asis-Castro, and Edralin 2018). Third team helps the employees in learning by
understanding the behaviour and practices of the leader in the business environment.
Lead and learn team involve the team to learn by looking at the actions of the leaders in
the workplace (Augustine 2018).

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 Employee engagement can be initiated by the organization by providing career planning
and advancement opportunities to the employees in the business environment. Career
planning helps the organization to make the employees learn new things while working in
the business environment. It helps the employees to develop bond with the organization
and grow while working as well.
 Secondly, cultural differences practices are also implemented by several international
organizations like Unilever so as to maintain interest of employees in the business
environment. It is important for the organization to make the employees understand the
importance of diversity in the business environment. The company should provide cross-
cultural training to the employees so that they can effectively understand the behaviour of
other employees and take decision accordingly. The company should make use of team
building activities in the business environment so as to initiate understanding among the
employees (Qadir, and John 2019). The company should also provide real world
experience to the employees so as to make them believe that diversity is an important part
of the business. The business should also develop empathetic leadership activities along
with emotional intelligence aspects in their workplace environment. These types of
activities will make the leader to recognize aspects that are important to other people in
the business environment. This type of leadership will give equal importance to all the
culture and will give time to the employees to follow their cultural practices as well.
 Performance management is an important factor for the motivation of the employees. It
should be noted that if there is inadequate performance management program
implemented by the top level management, then the employees will ultimately feel
biasness or lack of motivation in the organization. The performance management
program should be defined in such a way that it address all the work done by the
employees for the organization. The company should consider qualitative and
quantitative factors in keeping the employees interested in the business process (Aust,
Muller-Camen, and Poutsma 2018).
 The company should also focus on providing accurate feedback to the employees in the
business environment. The process of giving feedback will keep them growing in the
business environment and make them connected with the activities of the business as
well. The company also accurately link the reward management process with the

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performance management. This aspect will help the organization to incentivize the
employees accordingly. Incentives, rewards and recognitions will help the organization to
get to motivated on a regular basis and increase the productivity of the company as well
(Gallus, and Frey 2016).
Discussion and Analysis
With the analysis of above mentioned best practices, the organization SewnUp can effectively
eliminate the business issues connected with their process. It should be noted that the
organization to need to understand the issues that are barring their level of profitability and then
appropriate actions effectively (Noe, et. al., 2017). Below mentioned is the identification of HR
strategies to sustain their business in the international environment:
 Initiation of group meetings, trainings and seminars for all branches: initially, the
organization should conduct group meetings so as to let the employees at both the
branches to get to know each other. Implementation of group meetings will require
complete engagement of the employees at all levels due to which the business would save
themselves from the problem of employee engagement. This process will also make the
employee culturally capable to accept different change in the environment. Seminars will
also help the leaders to understand the differences present between the employees. This
HR strategy will help the organization to engage the employees in the business process
and make them culturally capable as well (Shields 2015).
 Improvement in performance management program: Improvements in the performance
management system will employees to motivate themselves to work towards the growth
of the business. The performance management system will help the organization to
motivate the employees to show improvement in their performance. This aspect will
subsequently improve the productivity of business and will eliminate the problems of the
organization as well. The performance management system will subsequently change the
reward management system of the company. Rewards and recognition are a major factor
that motivate the employees in the business environment to work more and improve their
personal as well as organizational performance (Bal, and De Lange 2015).

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Making use of emotional and democratic leadership process: leadership is an important part of
growth and change development process in a business. If SewnUp organization needs to grow
and increase productivity then they need to initiate adequate leadership strategies in the business
environment. Democratic and emotional intelligence leadership will help the leader to
understand the personal as well as cultural issues connected with the employees and improve
them effectively. Democratic leadership will help the employees to take part in the decision
making process of the company (Sadeli 2015).
Recommendations and Conclusion
Thus, summing up the above mentioned facts about the given case of SewnUp company, it
should be noted that the paper highlights the information about several human resource
management concepts implemented in the business. The case of SewnUp elaborated three major
issue connected with the company that are employee engagement, cultural differences and
performance management issue. Details about these theories are discussed in the paper along
with the problems affected with the business. Several best practices implemented by many
companies is discussed in the paper. Analysis and implementation of such practices in the
environment of SewnUp is also elaborated in the report. Finally, it should be recommended to
the company SewnUp that they should implement change management practices in the business
along with the implementation of above mentioned strategies. These practices will help the
organization to effectively let the employees adopt differential changes in the business
environment and consider them positive for the personal as well as professional growth. The
change management program should let the employees create a positive picture about the
functions of the company and increase their level of productivity as well.

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