Analyzing HRM Issues at Build it Supplies: A Case Study

This assignment is a case study analysis of "Problems at Build it Supplies," focusing on human resource management practices and leadership challenges. It examines the impact of a new sales manager, Dave, on employee performance, training, and recruitment. The analysis highlights issues such as lack of training, inadequate performance management, and discriminatory practices. The assignment proposes measures to improve team performance, including clear goals, code of conduct, employee empowerment, and training programs. It also suggests effective recruitment techniques for a new sales manager, emphasizing job portals, assessment tools, and phone screening. The study underscores the importance of integrated HRM practices for employee motivation, retention, and overall business success. The solution also provides insights into how to handle employee issues and promote equality within the workplace.

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Executive summary
The assignment is based on the case study i.e. Problems at Build it Supplies. As the things were
changed when Dave joined the company as the new sales manager. Further, the assignment will
help in understanding the significant practices and the concepts of the human resource
management which will be relevant to the case study. The measures will be given as being at the
position of the sales manager how I will improve the performance of the team and the
performance of the older member of the company i.e. Barry. Further, the recruitment process and
the various techniques for the selection of new applicant as the sales manager in place of Dave
will be given.
Human Resource management concept and practices
Earlier, human resource management was called as the personnel management as he was
interested in the activities of the one department. He was more interested with the regimen of
humans. The functions of the department were, recruitment, selection, appraisal, reward,
handling of grievance, etc. But now, HRM is defined as the procedure which recruits the human
resource and mobilizes them in gaining the objectives and targets of the organization (Singh et
al., 2012). Human resource management is more interested in the dimension of people in the
management in which the preference is given to the recruitment, development, selection,
motivation, etc. of the organization’s resources. These are the most significant functions of the
management as it helps in increasing the competencies of the employees. As the performance of
the company relies on the efficiency and effectiveness of the employees.
If we see the case study, then we can easily understand that the employees were not getting any
training and development in order to improve their skills and expertise. The concept which the

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company of human resource management which the company was using was not relevant as they
were only providing the rewards to the employees on an annual basis according to their achieved
sales target. They were not getting any training and development to improve their effectiveness.
Moreover, Dave was hiring new talent, and he was not giving a chance to the existing employees
to occupy the vacant positions. This resulted as the discouragement in the employees, and they
were leaving the organization. Dave was only firing the employees who were not giving desired
sales target results without even understanding the main problem behind this. And because of the
relationship of Dave and employees has impacted adversely. Dave became rude with the
employees as well. Further, there was no equality as the team members of Dave were all male
who were directly reporting to him. The company should have used the relevant concept of
human resource management like the department of the human resource should be interested in
the development of expertise and skills of the humans. The human resource should have
identified the potential of the employees while recruiting new talent from the outside. The human
resource department should have focused on the maintenance of the human resource in the
company instead of only rewarding them (Ehnert et al., 2014). The motivation level was not too
high in the employees as they were only getting rewards for the sales target which was also
declining every year because the sales of the company were declining. It was important for the
human resource department to encourage the employee in order to improve their efficiency and
effectiveness.
The company didn’t use the adequate practices of human resource management in order to value
the human resource and retain them. Further, the company should have used the good practices
of human resource management as they are instrumental which helps in gaining the individual
and company’s objectives and also encourages the productivity. The company should have used

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the integrated and strategic approach to the good practices of human resource management. The
company should have developed the strategic connection and embodied programs of the human
resource with an effective plan of human resource management. Further, the short term and long
term needs of the human resource should have been projected with the help of a plan of
manpower. Dave should have adopted the flexible styles in order to manage the employees
effectively. The system of performance management should have been developed so that the
employees should have achieved their organizational as well as individual goals with the
continuous coaching and the on the job training methods. The competencies of the staff should
have been encouraged in order to perform more effectively through the training and development
programs. Further, the manpower planning should have been used in order to provide appropriate
guidance to the employees regarding their career (Tarba et al., 2016). The company should have
enhanced the service quality in order to develop the culture which will focus the customers,
encouraged productivity, more initiatives taken by the employees and improved the public
image.
Every business completely depends on its employees in achieving the success. The adequate
practices of a human resource help in adding value to the company if they are maintained as the
system of integration in the company. The practices of a human resource help in gaining
sustainable competitive advantage. Further, the company i.e. Built it Supplies should have
managed the environment of the human resource which should have encouraged them to give
their best to the organization. As the technology keeps on advancing, it is very important to train
the employees accordingly. Whereas the company was not providing any training to the
employees instead, Dave was only terminating the employees and was hiring the new talent and

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believed that they would be capable enough to cope up with the advanced technology without
any training and development programs.
Therefore, the company should have used the desired concept of human resource management
and the best practices of human resource in order to maximize the productivity of the sales and in
retaining and encouraging the existing employees to give effective and efficient results to the
company.
Measures to Improve the Performance of the Team and Barry
According to the case study, if I was at the place of Dave then I should have improved the results
of the sales of the company by focusing on the employees. Dave forced Barry to leave the
company because he believed that Barry is old enough to handle to new technology and give the
productive results to the company. Whereas, if I was at his place, then I should have listened to
his problem which he was facing in order to work efficiently. Then I should have decided to take
the decision in order to solve the problem whether it was with regard to training or guidance but I
should not have insulted him and forced him to leave.
Further, I should have taken various measures in order to improve the performance of Barry and
the team, and the measures are as follows (Homburg et al., 2012):
 Being a manager, I should have developed the clear goals for the team so that they focus
on achieving team goals rather than achieving individual goals. This should have helped
the team members to rely on one another and improve their relationship.
 I should have created the code of conduct for the employees so that they should have
been abiding to follow them and build trust towards the team. This should have helped

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the employees to improve their relations and give better productive results to the
company.
 I should have given some authority to the employees so that they should have felt more
engaged in the decision-making the process of the company. And this helped them in
taking more initiatives to do the task.
 I should have conducted the personal interaction sessions with the employees in order to
understand their problems and issues and based on this guidance should have been
provided to them.
 I should have conducted periodic training and development programs so that the
employees cope up with the new trends and technology of the competitive market. I
should not have terminated any of the employees because of his less efficiency. The
training and development programs should have helped the employee to know their
potential and capabilities and maximize their strengths for the individual and company's
benefit.
 I should have conducted activities of team building on a monthly basis in order to
improve the relation of employees with me which should have helped in developing a
strong relation and further improves the efficiency and effectiveness of the employees
resulting to the productive results of the sale.
 I should have improved the technique of PA human resource management in order to
improve and assess the performance of the employees. I should have used FFI in place of
PA for the employees.

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 I should have promoted the employees in order to fill the vacant positions instead of
hiring the new talent for all the positions. And this should have been done by the human
resource planning to check the KSA of the employees.
 I should have believed in equality and made the team with males and females both
without any discrimination.
Therefore, the above given measures should have maximized the sales of the company by
improving the efficiency and effectiveness of Barry and the other team members. I should not
have insulted any employee or forced them to resign rather I should have helped them in solving
their issues personally. Further, Dave should have taken his responsibility seriously as his
approach was not even result oriented and people oriented. As Barry was very sincere and one of
the oldest employees, he might be facing the problem to cope with the advanced technology and
in order to solve the problem he just required training and little guidance which Dave should
have provided to help him and improve his skills and expertise as per the needs of the company.
Similarly, the employees required training to improve the efficiency and to increase their morale
they also required internal hiring rather than only external hiring and because of this they felt
discouraged and were forced to leave the organization for their benefit and to get better place to
work in other company (Micevski et al., 2016). Moreover, females were given less preference as
compared to males as there was discrimination in the company by Dave.
Recruitment and Selection Techniques for the Sales Manager Job
As it is assumed that the given description of the sales manager job is accurate, after Dave
resigned the company. Further are the measures for recruiting the applicant for the sales manager
by measuring their capabilities (Petty et al., 2015).

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 The company should give the advertisement in the newspaper or post the job vacancy on
the job portals like Monster.com. The option of job portals will be more economical for
the company. The description should include all the details which the company wants to
see in the next manager.
 The sourcing should be done on the job portals in order to get the desired applicant for
the interview. The company can also use the salesladder.com which is the most desirable
place to get the people for sale.
 The company should use the rules wizard in order to develop the automation which will
configure the upcoming resumes and will be placed in the folder of outlook.
 As it is very difficult for the company to shortlist the candidate based on the little
information given on the resume, the management team can use the assessment which is
specifically for sales i.e. objective management express screen of groups. This will help
in filtering the details and finding the accuracy around 90 percent and further helps in
selecting the best applicant for the interview.
 The company can use the phone screen in order to shortlist the candidate for the
interview as this will help in finding that they are suitable for the job or not according to
the way of their talking.
The below given are the recommended selection techniques for the applicants in order to get the
most appropriate sales manager for the company which will help in maximizing the sales and
improves the efficiency and effectiveness of the employees (Townley, B. 2014).
 The resumes of the applicants are screened further for the interview. And only some of
them get the chance to give the interview for the final post. The company can screen the
resumes based on the description for the sales manager.

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 Further, the aptitude and cognitive tests can be conducted by the company in order to
check the potential and the capability of the applicants before conducting the final
interview. The tests can be taken to know their level of knowledge, thinking, and quality
of leadership to lead the team efficiently.
 The company can then conduct the final interview for those who will clear the written
tests. The face to face interview will help the management team to understand the person
better. Further, the management should see that the person has the quality to take the risk
and cope up with the failure by turning it into his/her strengths. The management should
understand the psychology of the applicant by putting him in such situations in order to
check that how he will handle the pressure and stress and how he will treat the
employees.
 The company should check the background and references of the selected candidate
adequately in order to cross check his past record and whatever details he have given are
correct or not.
 Finally, the company will select the candidate for the post of the sales manager to
improve the sales and target and to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of the
employees to get productive results.
Therefore, Built It Supplies should use the above given recommended selection techniques for
the sales manager, and this will help the management team to measure the capabilities of the
applicant according to the selection criterion. If the company uses the above-given measures,
then there will be an improvement in the target of the sales of the company and moreover, the
employees will improve their efficiency and effectiveness and will further give the desired
output to the company.

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REFERENCES
Ehnert, I., Harry, W., & Zink, K. J. (2014). Sustainability and HRM. In Sustainability and
Human Resource Management (pp. 3-32). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Homburg, C., Artz, M., & Wieseke, J. (2012). Marketing performance measurement systems:
does comprehensiveness really improve performance?. Journal of Marketing, 76(3), 56-77.
Micevski, M., Dewsnap, B., Cadogan, J. W., Kadić-Maglajlić, S., & Boso, N. (2016).
Performance Implications of the Interplay Between Sales Intra-Functional Flexibility, Customer
Orientation and Role Ambiguity. In Marketing Challenges in a Turbulent Business
Environment (pp. 67-72). Springer International Publishing.
Petty, R. J., Manroop, L., & Linton, S. (2015). Integration of Micro-Blogs into the Human
Resource Management (HRM) Areas of Recruitment and Selection. Maximizing Commerce and
Marketing Strategies through Micro-Blogging, Business Science Reference, Hershey, PA, 226-
250.
Singh, S., Darwish, T. K., Costa, A. C., & Anderson, N. (2012). Measuring HRM and
organizational performance: concepts, issues, and framework. Management Decision, 50(4),
651-667.
Tarba, S. Y., & Cooper, C. L. (2016). HRM practices in strategic partnerships.
Townley, B. (2014). Selection and appraisal: reconstituting. New Perspectives on Human
Resource Management (Routledge Revivals), 92.