Case Study: Analyzing HR Challenges and Solutions at ProService Co

This capstone case study examines the human resource challenges faced by ProService Co, focusing on employee dissatisfaction, workplace harassment, and issues related to salary and remuneration. The study investigates the root causes of these problems, including a lack of proper HR policies, communication gaps, and ethical concerns. It explores various issues, such as occupational health and safety, legal compliance, and the need for improved organizational structure. The analysis includes an assessment of the roles of HR managers and the importance of employee well-being, training, and development. The study provides recommendations for improving HR practices, enhancing employee trust, and fostering a positive work environment. The study emphasizes the need for ethical behavior, transparency, and fairness within the organization, highlighting the impact of these factors on overall company performance and competitiveness. The document includes an executive summary, table of contents, introduction, discussion of issues, conclusions, recommendations and references.

Capstone case

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In the present era, there are various changes that can be seen in every business enterprise.
Firms have started to take initiative in employees support so as to reduce its adverse impact on
surroundings and increase the profitability and success ration. Further, the concept of HRM has
became popular at present which refers various activities that are carried out by human resource
managers to accomplish organizational goals and maintaining human relation in the organization.
The report is about the ProService Co where employees were dissatisfied with the company
performance and various other issues such as salary, harassment, remuneration. The main reason
behind carrying out this study is “To assess the what possible changes can be made in the HR
part so that employees trust can be regained”. All the practices adopted are reviewed and
effective solution are provided to them so that they can make development and can have positive
market image. The present study is carried out so that HR roles can be understood and performed
by the company. Along with this discussion were made about what changes that are required,
what were made and what new of them are required to be made. On the basis of conclusion there
are various recommendation which has been provided to firm.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
DISCUSSION..................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
RECOMMENDATION...................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7
APPENDIX......................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Human resource department is required in this contemporaneous worldwide to manage
the core function of the firm that is employees. If any company lacks in the role of HR them the
organisation will have to face problems regarding various operation and performance of entity.
Their main role is to support the firm to achieve its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by
making strategic planning. They have different ways and opportunities to enhance the
performance of employees in the company. Further, managing, monitoring, performance
evaluating, hiring, providing suggestion to employee problem and issues, raising their voice at
management level are main function of HR. As per future emerging scenario their role will be
more significant and more personalized related to the employees. Following report is about the
issues and their impact upon the operation and competitiveness of the organisation. For this
purpose, ProService Co case study has been taken.
DISCUSSION
There are various issues that are faced by the HR team, that too areas wise. These are
mentioned below: At Melbourne, issues is regarding the occupational health and safety where
many Engineers have faced injuries and other similar issues. HR team at Melbourne are unaware
about the current legal policies and code of conduct regarding the HR role. HR were unaware
about the employee cases and legal action were taken by line manager and managers. Along with
this, there were misconduct and harassment case (sexual) which were solved outside the
company in the Court. Managers were forcing and were harassing some of the employees
regarding the work load and they were not included in the social events of company. There are
issues regarding the salary pay for the same position, post and work people were paid differently.
There was no proper flow of information, communication gap was there among the employees.
Ethical and social rights are not adopted in the office and all the decision are taken by managers
and line manager. Further, there is inconsistency in the performance based pay to managers and
employees. For the employees only salary increments were provided and no other remuneration
was there. HR were insufficient in handing employees concerns as many employees were facing
issues regarding the work hours due to which they left without informing. There is also regarding
the motivation, team-work, training and development as these part was not performed in the
company and employees started to leaving providing genuine reason. In overall, employees were
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facing the issues regarding work environment, salary, their health and safety, benefit, legal
structure, remuneration, harassment and workplace rules. Roles of HR managers are mentioned
in the Appendix part.
There are many issues in the company and company performance is mostly affected by
the HR managers and other higher position person. Moreover, there is no proper structure that is
being followed by the managers and employees of the company. The emerging HRM issues for
consideration are mentioned below: The most important consideration is that at all the places HR
must know the rules, regulation and code of conduct that they need to adopt. All these code of
conduct must be approved by the legal system and government. There is need of proper
organizational structure as employees issues were resolved by the managers without considering
the actual issues. Company must have it so that flow of information and appropriate structure can
be adopted in the company (Powell, Saint-Germain and Sundstrom, 2014). There are various
organizational-structure which company must take such as functional, divisional, matrix,
organizational circle. Employees of the company do not have faith on the employers there is
need of proper introduction and quires resolution as it has been the main reason why employees
are leaving the entity. Further, their feedback and reviews are important for the firm. As there
were legal harassment and ill-treatment issues in the company that too by the managers then
there is need to replace or possible implement more laws regarding such cases and strict action
must be taken against the culprit so that other do not conduct such activities. Among the main
role of HR, they must be concerned about the issues that are faced by the employees and must
resolve in the best practise that is available. For example their work load, health and safety at the
site so that these can be resolved. At last there is need to improve the pay structure, work
environment and remuneration which is among the main consideration and needed to improve.
Company basic policy must include that all the members of the company must be considered
equal and no harassment should be there (Nadiv, Raz and Kuna, 2017). Along with this, they
must be provided equal opportunities so that trust can be generated in the companies. The board
believes that people are its prime asset in this organisation because for the success of the entity,
employees role only defines the performance. Though, the company is evolving and expanding
its reach strategically and geographically however, to overcome the future issues and adversities
they have to be prepare with the leaders, managers and employees. They are the main assets and
liabilities and helps in increasing the value of the firm. If ProService Co invest little over their
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employees in their training and development they can be more productive. It increases the
company brand image and market values as-well-as such work-environment influence others to
be the part of the company (Jiang and et. al., 2016). They are also main source that aid to
sustained competitive advantage. Consequently, their development across all levels is through
the policies, along with people development and growth. Besides this, there is need of cultural
values, ethical approach, transparency and fairness in the firm. All these are required in the
organisation, Board also believes that they are important but they are lacking in such parts.
In order to make changes in the HR part these are the steps that needed to be followed.
Initially I would understand the structures and strategies adopted by the organization then would
proceed further. I would like to start from the organisational structures, issues of employees,
code of conduct and lastly to the remuneration and other issues of the company. If entity is
facing issues there is need to discuss with every employee , management and board members of
the firm. After meeting to Shona and Alaine, these were the issues that were faced by them: They
were unable develop their structures, strategies to support organization growth. Non of
employees and employer were having the interactions regarding any issues which has increased
the conflict level and other problems. They were facing issues in the recruitment and selection
process, further job analysis, design and other structures were improper. Both the person were
unaware about the performance management methodology appropriate for them at global level.
They wanted to develop single approach to management and leadership across all offices.
Additionally, they need to understand how remuneration should be provided to the employees.
To the employees, being the key resources, they were facing various issues. While
discussing with them main issues they were facing are: Workplace and environment was not
suitable for them. They were harassed by the managers in different ways such as sexual, by
giving extra work loads. Remuneration and salary were provided as per the managers description
and there was no proper maintenance. Employee's were not invited in the social gathering of
companies, they were considered different. They were not provided health and safety care, and
neither of employers were interested in resolving their issues or situations. There are changes
required in the organization strategies and structures that are needed to be changed. Code of
conduct and legal policies must be strictly followed. Performance based remuneration must be
provided (Zhong, Wayne and Liden, 2016). There is need of interaction of the management,
employees and board members so that all the people can clear their doubts. Greater
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improvements are required in business ethics, leadership and performance management. Along
with this, the organization needs one person that performs his/her duty by abiding the ethical,
cultural, values and legal ways.
For the firm, behaviour, structure and processes are very necessary as it helps to manage
people, challenges and crucial set of tasks. Traditional approach that was adopted by companies
need to be changed and there are various modification that they should made such as:
Starting with the organizational behaviour which is required to increase the performance and
effectiveness should follow principles of human behaviour (Dixon-Fowler, Ellstrand and
Johnson, 2017, Wehrmeyer, 2017). As people have different attitudes, beliefs, ethnic
backgrounds, learning capabilities, perceptions, personality, and life experience all of these must
be considered by the entity. In order to be effective, unique personification of all these
behavioural and cultural factors must be considered by entity. For this they can adopt the
contingency approach where HR members must identify the different ways that fit different
situations (Hopkins, 2016). For the group of people there are various areas that must be
considered such as psychology, sociology, social physiological, political science and
anthropology that assist in enhancing the values, culture ad morale of the company. Further, it
aids to work-environment and team work in the firm.
Structure are blueprint or formal pattern that defines how employees and employers are
grouped (Zhong, Wayne and Liden, 2016, Domínguez-Falcón and et. al., 2016). It can be shown
through organisational chart and its activities are the process that must be performed. ProService
Co must focus on communication, decision-making, and organization development. Further, to
be single entity the organization must share common things such as Nike employees shares same
culture that represent them. They have common business practices, dress-code and promotion
systems. Similar things will increase bonds between the employees and will increase feeling of
togetherness. Structures and practises are based on culture and values. Positive culture will
improve performance and negative can hamper the well-designed organization. All these things
can be enhanced by using better job design, communication, decision-making, planning and
making better strategies regarding employees and employers relationship.
CONCLUSION
Though, there are less possible changes that are required after the integrated and holistic
approach to the ‘overhaul’ of the HR function. They have still missed certain area where changes
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need to be made and implemented across all offices. They have make improvement in their
cultural values and ethical behaviour. As discussed above that many employees left the
organization as they were not satisfied with the cultural attributes that were present. There are
various things included in it such as commitment, competency counts, physical layouts,
language, ethical practices, fair pay and work allotted, loyalty, team work, performance based
remuneration and management equity. For the employees there is also need of technological
support as this reduces their work load and improves their performance. As the company is
technical and wanted to increase further, they must have common mission and purpose. These
things define their work-place or environment to other people. The company must have common
purpose that is they should be integrated, customer focused, community based, innovation,
leadership and collaboration. Moreover, it should be shared among the employees and
employers. There were issues regarding the harassment and torture cases, for such activities strict
action must be taken so that consistent behaviour across situations can be maintained. If the
ProService Co has distinct culture then other companies then more people will get attracted
towards the company. Additionally, there is need of single person to govern and manage the HR
responsibilities. The person should be aware about the HR policies and should remian updated so
that employees and employers do not face any conflicts. Mainly, there are 4 basic types of
organisational culture and as the company has very less employees and is getting expansion, the
best approach is entrepreneurial culture. Using the approach they can grow in more effective and
efficient ways.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendations serve to minimise the challenges and concerns raised are mentioned
below:
 Job-design is made to show the organization culture, work-environment and other
facilities that are provided to the employees. Improving the job-design will increase and
influence more people to be the part of company. There will be positive image and
market value of company.
 Ethical, cultural and social values must be improved as they define the benefits and rights
that are provided to the employees. It provides then reason that they belong to company.
It will also increase the team work and work-environment.
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 There should be fixed pay but performance based incentives must be provided so that
employees remain motivated to achieve more and be productive.
 All employees must remain truthful to the companies regarding any thing ( Cascio and
Boudreau, 2016). If they are facing any issues regarding anything they can discuss it with
their managers or HR managers.
 Employees must be made aware about the all the new policies, legal structures and
regulation and they should be made updated so that they adopt it.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Cascio, W. F. and Boudreau, J. W., 2016. The search for global competence: From international
HR to talent management. Journal of World Business. 51(1). pp.103-114.
Dixon-Fowler, H. R., Ellstrand, A. E. and Johnson, J. L., 2017. The role of board environmental
committees in corporate environmental performance. Journal of Business Ethics. 140(3).
pp.423-438.
Domínguez-Falcón, C. and et. al., 2016. Human resources management and performance in the
hotel industry: The role of the commitment and satisfaction of managers versus
supervisors. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. 28(3).
pp.490-515.
Hopkins, M., 2016. The planetary bargain: corporate social responsibility comes of age.
Springer.
Jiang, X. and et. al., 2016. The effect of team empowerment on team performance: A cross-
cultural perspective on the mediating roles of knowledge sharing and intra-group conflict.
International Journal of Conflict Management. 27(1). pp.62-87.
Marler, J. H. and Fisher, S. L., 2013. An evidence-based review of e-HRM and strategic human
resource management. Human Resource Management Review. 23(1). pp. 18-36.
Nadiv, R., Raz, A. and Kuna, S., 2017. What a difference a role makes: occupational and
organizational characteristics related to the HR strategic role among human resource
managers. Employee Relations: The International Journal. (just-accepted). pp.00-00.
Powell, D. C., Saint-Germain, M. and Sundstrom, L. M., 2014. Using a capstone case study to
assess student learning on NASPAA competencies. Journal of Public Affairs Education.
pp.151-162.
Wehrmeyer, W. ed., 2017. Greening people: Human resources and environmental management.
Routledge.
Zhong, L., Wayne, S. J. and Liden, R. C., 2016. Job engagement, perceived organizational
support, high‐performance human resource practices, and cultural value orientations: A
cross‐level investigation. Journal of Organizational Behavior. 37(6). pp.823-844.
Online
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Rooke, D. and Torbert, R. W., 2005. Seven Transformations of Leadership [Online]. Available
through: <https://hbr.org/2005/04/seven-transformations-of-leadership>. [Accessed on
14th October 2017].
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APPENDIX
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Illustration 1: Functions of HRM
Sources: Marler and Fisher, 2013