Human Resource Management Case Study: Oldbridge District Council

This assignment presents a case study analysis of Oldbridge District Council (ODC), focusing on human resource management (HRM) challenges. The analysis identifies five key findings from an employee survey, including high stress levels, lack of senior support, job insecurity, poor work-life balance, and lack of autonomy. The study then proposes three immediate initiatives for Lisa, the HR manager, to address these concerns: implementing benefits and rewards, offering flexible working hours, and adjusting the leadership style. Furthermore, it includes a draft email from Lisa to the CEO, outlining the issues and proposing solutions based on the 'You said, We listened' concept. The case study highlights the importance of addressing employee concerns to foster a positive work environment and improve overall organizational performance, considering the council's financial constraints and reliance on temporary staff.

2 Oldbridge District Council
Case Study
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
1) 5 findings from survey that Lisa is to be concerned with justification...................................3
2) Three initiatives which Lisa should develop immediately to improve concern......................4
3) Draft an e mail.........................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7
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INTRODUCTION
In an organisation HR is responsible for identifying and solving issues. They are also
responsible for maintaining positive work culture and environment. Alongside, HR manager
listen to employee’s problems and solve it (Christensen, Lægreid and Rykkja, 2016). The
problem may be related to salary, job security, training and development, etc. It enables in
gaining their satisfaction and retaining them. However, if issues are not solved then it results in
poor management and ineffective leadership. Thus, strategies and measures is taken by HR to
solve them.
The assignment will describe about 5 key findings in oldbridge district council. Moreover, it
will be discussed about 3 initiatives that can be taken to solve issues. In addition to it, an e mail
is written by HR to management.
1) 5 findings from survey that Lisa is to be concerned with justification
In council a survey was conducted to establish satisfaction level and engagement within
staff from which results were obtained. In that 75 % employee reverted back their answers. This
enabled in finding out issues that employees are facing. The main objective of doing this was to
take effective and proper measures and actions that needs to be taken. in order to solve issues.
beside that, HR manager got insight on overall situation and culture of council. So, on basis of
survey report can be prepared that how staff feel about their overall job role and satisfaction
level. The issues determined are mentioned below :-
High stress level- By interpreting survey data, it is found that employee in council work at high
stress. This can be identified from survey that about 90 % of staff felt that their work has become
stressful now a days (Dickinson and Carey, 2016). The main cause of this is in council most
staff is hired on part time. so, when a staff leaves to retire, there is no back up of it. So, this
increases work pressure on other employees. Moreover, 90 % employees agreed that they feel
stressful at work. Another result is that 83% said their work load has increased since previous
years. thus, these are the metrics states that staff in council work under high pressure and stress.
So, it highly impact on their mental health negatively. Besides, due to high stress they are not
able to manage work and finish it on time. In council high level stress exists because staff is
recruited on contract basis. Therefore, remaining work has to be done by others.
Lack of support from senior- From survey it is analysed that only 20 % staff get support from
senior managers. Furthermore, 55 % get support from them. So, it clearly states that senior
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manager does not support staff. The lack of support from them has resulted in increasing stress
of staff and working in pressure. Similarly, less involvement of senior has lack of satisfaction
level of employees. It is evaluated that only 43 % are satisfied with their work. this is because
senior does not appreciate their work and they are not engaged on continuous basis. Due to it,
staff is not satisfied with their job and are not able to work effectively. Similarly, only 33% are
satisfied with training and development given to them. these metrics clearly show lack of support
from seniors (Kizil, 2016).
Lack of job security- the survey show outcomes that employees working within council are not
happy with their job. It is observed that only 35 % are satisfied with job the rest are not. The rest
65% think that their job is secured. Beside that, it is identified that 54% are looking for new
employment opportunities. They want to switch job due to lack of job security. Here, main
reason is that staff is recruited on short term basis. Thus, it develops a negative sense of feeling
among them regarding their job. So, it has also led to lack of satisfaction within them. Apart
from it, only 21% said they are satisfied with pay and benefits. But among them no one said very
satisfied. So, these metrics show issue of lack of job security within staff of council.
Low work life balance – By conducting survey it is analysed that 55 % employees are happy
with their work life balance. It means that staff is not able to maintain balance between personal
and professional life. Moreover, 60% said that they are satisfied with physical environment.
They work in such a harsh condition. Low work life balance is directly impacting on their mental
and physical health. Also, it has resulted in increasing staff stress level. Due to it, they are not
able to manage work. This can also be issue of lack of satisfaction.
Autonomy- this is also an issue that has been identified from survey by HR manager. it is
because 83% said that work load has increased. They have to work for long hours in council.
However, staff have to complete their work in given time. Furthermore, they do not get support
from seniors in managing work. Thus, they have to work under high pressure. Also, 28% said
that management do listen to them (Martin and Siebert, 2016). It means management ignore
staff problems. In addition to it, 37% said they are satisfied with discretion given to them in job.
They are not given freedom in their working. Therefore, lack of autonomy has resulted in
working under stress.
The above finding shows that there are different issues prevailing in oldbridge council.
Due to above issues work is not managed by management. However, in order to lead people, it is
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essential to identify issues so that appropriate measures and actions are taken. this will enable in
developing a sense of positive feeling within staff and gain satisfaction (Vasu, Stewart and
Garson, 2017). Alongside, positive work place culture can be developed and growth
opportunities are raised. By solving issues, employees can be motivated and goals are achieved
in specified time. The findings will give insight that where issues occur and reason behind it.
Also, through leadership and effective strategies people can be managed. It is evaluated that by
finding these the HR manager can take necessary steps. This means that by solving issues
employees can be managed. The top management and CEO of the council need to develop a
positive work culture in the business environment to take productive work. Employees are one of
the main assets of the company which are always put their all efforts at workplace to achieve
company's decided goals in specific time period. There are different type of the employees
working in which are comes from different background. All employees have their own mentality
and mindset towards company, but they all are working on the same goal (Meyer and Xin,
2018). The management of the company need to listen their employees at workplace, and try to
make them comfortable at workplace. The manager needs to interact with employees and provide
specific support to them at their work. Personal stress of the any employee is also impacting their
work efficiency negatively. In this case manager need to try recover that employee from stress on
self basis, because it is necessary to maintain employee's work efficiency properly. It is required
to implement such human resource management strategies in their business environment to
systematically manage people at work. These strategies are also helpful in improve the work
performance of the employees in the organization. The HR manager of the company is
responsible to create a safe and healthy work zone for the employees to increase their skills. It is
necessary to achieve company's decided goals in the specific time period.
2) Three initiatives which Lisa should develop immediately to improve concern
After finding out issues prevailing in council, it is the responsibility of HR that is Lisa to take
certain initiatives in order to solve them. The initiatives will set a framework to solve those
concerns. Moreover, it will be easy to develop a positive work place culture. With help of
initiative it will be easy to gain satisfaction of staff and retain them for long term. However,
development of initiatives undertaken by Lisa are described as :- (PMP and Anderson, 2016)
Benefits and rewards – this is the first initiative that can be taken by HR manager. In this short
and long term rewards and benefits can be given to staff. This will be useful in developing a
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sense of attachment within them. However, employees who have performed well can be
recognised and benefits are given to them (Van Vuuren, Van der Westhuizen and Van der Walt,
2016). Also, rewards can be of types like bonus, paid offs, small trip with family, coupons, etc.
These all can be availed by staff easily. Likewise, employees can be encouraged to attain those
benefit as well. It will help them to enjoy some quality time with family, relatives, etc. moreover,
incentives will be useful in retaining of staff. Here, HR manager can set criteria to measure
performance and give rewards to them.
Flexible working hours- it is another initiative that can be taken by HR manager. Here, flexible
working hours can be provided to employees. It will lead to reducing stress and allowing them to
work as per their comfort. For this council can form a policy that will enable staff to work
flexible. Moreover, council can also start giving work from home to staff. Thus, it will be a great
step taken towards reducing staff stress and allowing them to work freely. It will also be
beneficial in reducing work load and pressure from those old staff. Through that, employee will
also be able to spend personal time (Raczkowski, 2016). in this way their work life balance will
improve. They can easily manage their work and maintain balance. Other than this, staff
satisfaction can be gained and retain for long term.
Leadership style – This initiative can be taken in order manage work and reduce stress in
council. The HR manager can hire a leader that can easily manage work and reduces stress. Also,
by changing leadership style support can be provided to staff in their work. It will be useful in
solving personal issues of staff as well. With that, burden of work can be reduced by providing
them support. In order to do this, leader can follow democratic leadership style in time when
there is intense work load. However, by changing style in council employees can be managed.
They can be allowed in decision making as well.
So, it is suggested that council can go for initiatives that are flexible working and
changing leadership style. This is because as in council temporary staff is hired and recruited on
basis of contract (Savolainen, 2018). Also, the financial condition of council is not very well.
Therefore, flexible working will enable staff to work as per their requirements. Moreover, in case
of high pressure leader can support them in managing their work. Beside that, with flexible
working work life balance can be maintained and stress is reduced. Likewise, leadership style
will help in providing support in case of need. The leader can also work sometimes in order to
reduce stress in employees.
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On other hand, offering rewards and incentives will put financial burden on council. So,
already their financial performance is not good. Also, pay rises are been restricted to only 1% till
the situation is not improved. So, this initiative will not be suitable for council in long term.
3) Draft an e mail
An e mail was drafted by Lisa as proposal to CEO. The main objective was to listen to
employees’ issues. The council worked on You said We listened concept.
To
CEO
Oldbridge council
Date – 10 Jan 2020
Subject- to take initiatives in order to solve employee issues
This is to bring to in notice that a survey was conducted to establish satisfaction level
and engagement within staff. In that it was identified that they are facing many issues due to
which the culture was highly impacted. Also, it was necessary to listen to staff so that problems
are found out and solved. The survey provided with answers that what staff feel. Apart from this,
it is duty of HR to take appropriate action and measures. For example, issue of high stress was
identified and HR took necessary initiatives to solve it. likewise, many other problems were
found out from survey. This was brought out in the view of HR manager. Furthermore, the focus
was to follow concept of You said We listened where staff problems are listened by HR and
solved.
Similarly, we have done survey and got results about view point of staff and what
concerns are faced. Through that, we will listen to their issues and take relevant and proper
measures to sort out. As HR it is our responsibility to listen to employees. In council it was
identified that only 20 % are been supported by senior managers. Moreover, 55% are happy with
work life balance. The findings of survey state that 90% said their job have become stressful and
90% said they feel stressful at work. From survey it is also identified that 28% said they are
listened when at work. 36% said they are happy with job security. Hence, these all outcomes
shows that within council staff is facing several issues.
Your sincerely
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Lisa
HR manager
CONCLUSION
From report it is concluded that in oldbridge council a survey was conducted to identify
issues. So, Lisa determined that issues were high stress, lack of job security, low work life
balance, etc. thus, these issues were highly impacting on employee satisfaction. The HR manager
took certain initiatives to solve them. First was to provide reward and incentives to staff. Second
was to initiate flexible working to improve work life balance and last to change leadership style.
These all enabled in managing employees and maintaining positive culture. But flexible working
and leadership style initiative is most suitable.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Christensen, T., Lægreid, P. and Rykkja, L.H., 2016. Organizing for crisis management: building
governance capacity and legitimacy. Public Administration Review, 76(6), pp.887-897.
Dickinson, H. and Carey, G., 2016. Managing and leading in inter-agency settings 2e. Policy
Press.
Kizil, C., 2016. Book Review of The Real Warren Buffett-Managing Capital, Leading
People. Emerging Markets Journal (EMAJ), University of Pittsburgh Press (USA), 6(2),
pp.43-46.
Martin, G. and Siebert, S., 2016. Managing people and organizations in changing contexts.
Routledge.
Meyer, K.E. and Xin, K.R., 2018. Managing talent in emerging economy multinationals:
Integrating strategic management and human resource management. The International
Journal of Human Resource Management, 29(11), pp.1827-1855.
PMP, R.L.K. and Anderson, H.B., 2016. The Organizational Engineering Approach to Project
Management: The Revolution in Building and Managing Effective Teams.
Raczkowski, K., 2016. Managing and Leading in Public Organisations. In Public
Management (pp. 99-125). Springer, Cham.
Savolainen, T., 2018, March. Trust as Leadership Resource and Skill in the Services and
Tourism Business: Views on Managing Intangibles in the Digital Era. In International
Conference on Tourism Research (pp. 129-X). Academic Conferences International
Limited.
Van Vuuren, H., Van der Westhuizen, P.C. and Van der Walt, J.L., 2016. Leading and managing
diverse schools in South Africa.
Vasu, M.L., Stewart, D.W. and Garson, G.D., 2017. Organizational Behavior and Public
Management, Revised and Expanded. Routledge.
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