Strategic Employee Relations: HRM Practices Through Case Studies

This assignment provides a comprehensive analysis of strategic employee relations through five case studies, highlighting emerging issues and offering measurable recommendations. The first case examines the impact of social media misuse by an employee on company reputation, emphasizing the need for effective social media policies and communication. The second case addresses the challenges of managing a long-term employee with performance issues, underscoring the importance of proper HR practices and monitoring. The third case explores the impact of work-from-home policies on employee morale and productivity, questioning its suitability across all fields. The fourth case discusses rebuilding employee trust after instances of bullying, highlighting the need for openness and motivational practices. Finally, the fifth case examines the challenges of workforce reduction strategies, emphasizing the importance of training and employee engagement. The analysis concludes that fostering positive employee relations is crucial for effective management practices and that firing employees should not be the primary solution to organizational challenges. Desklib offers a variety of solved assignments and past papers for students.

Running head: STRATEGIC EMPLOYEE RELATIONS
STRATEGIC EMPLOYEE RELATIONS
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

1STRATEGIC EMPLOYEE RELATIONS
Introduction
Developing effective employee relation strategy has become one of the important
initiatives taken by the organization. It helps to bring the creativity and innovation in
organizational environment. Rate of productivity as well as the cultural diversification are
being maintained by introducing an effective employee relation strategy. In order to deal with
the organizational issues as well as external problems, it is very effective. In this study 5 case
studies have been discussed in which the emerging issues have been highlighted. At the end
of the study, it has provided the measurable recommendations that can be beneficial in order
to deal with the challenges.
Discussion
The first case study named “should we fire him from that post?” has described
about importance of social media uses in an organization. After analysing the case study, it
has been identified by me that the person named James Kenton, who is the important sales
person in the company name Downcity Motors (Watson and Lopiano 2016.). Due to
inappropriate uses of Facebook, company reputation has got hampered. It has been identified
that James Kenton had posted few pictures in Facebook, which has increased big question
regarding the relationship between the company and its stakeholders and partners. As per my
opinion, I believe, the major issue which has been aroused in this case the employee named
James Kenton was not concerned about the reputation of the company. In this case I believe,
lack of communication among the employees, has aroused such situations. The second
issue which has been identified me is related to the management practices. The management
has not taken any drastic step after facing such issues repeatedly, as its result, the person has
not taken the issue seriously. The third issue, which has been identified by me is related to the
termination of the employees. I believe, firing an employee cannot be the ultimate solution.

2STRATEGIC EMPLOYEE RELATIONS
This may increase the legal challenges for the company. As per my opinion, in order to deal
with the situation, the HR manager of the company should be more active towards informing
the employees regarding their role and responsibilities. It is also true that “freedom to
speech” of an employee cannot be interrupted by the company. If management of Downcity
Motors will focus on introducing the effective social media policy, it can be beneficial.
Through this process the good behaviour can be encouraged. It has been also identified by me
that if the organization will adopt effective social media policies, this will help in the case of
dealing with the reputation related issues. On the other hand, developing effective employee
relation, different motivational strategies can also be adopted by the organization.
The second case study named “Possible Demotion Of A Long-Time And Faithful
Employee” has mentioned about the important role of department head for identifying the
issue in the ABC company. It has been discussed in this study that the employee named
Lucas, who have been working near about 8 years in an organization, is found unable for the
post in which he had been appointed. As a general clerk in ABC Company, the role of Locus
is to prepare the financial reports and various financial statement of the company. After
joining as a departmental head, the new manager has easily identified that Locus is not able
to fulfil the responsibility of a clerk. After few audit process, it has been identified that the
mental capacity of the employee named Locus is fifth grade however he is fifty years old.
During the enquiry it has been also identified that the co-workers of Locus in ABC Company
were fulfilling the job responsibilities of Locus from last 8 years. All kind of financial reports
were being maintained by the co-workers of Locus. After analysing the entire study, it has
been identified by me that the company is dealing with improper human resource
management practices related issues. If the recruitment and selection process of the
organization would have properly worked, Locus would not been appointed. On the other
hand, I have identified lack of monitoring practices in the organization. Due to this reason

3STRATEGIC EMPLOYEE RELATIONS
the management has not noticed that the other employees are preparing financial statements
on the behalf of Locus. The third issue which has been identified by me is about the issue
regarding employee relationship. If the employees would have focused on understanding
the relationship between the employees would have been properly maintained, then the issues
would have been identified in the initial stage. I believe in order to deal with the situation the
company should focus on its Human resource management practices. If the operational
practices can be improved, in the near future it will help to deal with the situations.
“Can a Work-at-Home Policy Hurt Morale?” has discussed about the relationship
between employees morale and telecommuting practices in an international knowledge
process outsourcing organization. It works for the buyer firms in the United States and other
countries (Bharadwaj 2015). In this article the information regarding the labour productivity
and the influences of few employees in the case of work from home practices compared to
employees who comes to the office. In this study it has been identified that the employees
who are working from home have contributed larger portion in the organizational
productivity compared to the people who work at office (Bharadwaj 2015). In this article the
management authority has tried to appreciate the work from home initiatives for increasing
its rate of productivity. On the other hand, it has been identified that the in India, large
number of employees do not want to work from home. In this study I have identified that
there are various fields in which the work from home practices cannot be appropriate. As
an example, this can be said that a bus driver cannot be able to participate in the work from
home program. On the other hand I have also analysed that the issue regarding recruitment
and selection process. In the case of work from home programs, it will be difficult for the
organizations to analyse of the employees are able to fulfil their job responsibilities in an
effective manner or not. Hence, I believe, that the work from home program cannot be
appropriate in every field. In the case of raining and development practices it can create

4STRATEGIC EMPLOYEE RELATIONS
issues. On the other hand I also believe, the work from home facility is highly depends on the
Technological uses. Therefore, in the case of less educated worker, it will be more
challenging compared to work from the office.
Here the article named “Trust restoration: an examination of senior managers’
attempt to rebuild employee trust” has been discussed. According to Pate, Morgan‐Thomas,
and Beaumont (2012), the senior management of the company has decided to rebuild the
organizational relationship in effective manner. From the article it has been identified that
bullying and others disappointing situations in the organization have impacted in the
employee relationship. Therefore, the higher authority has decided to solve the internal issues
by gaining the trust of the employees. After analysing the entire study, I have understood that
the major issue, which has created such disappointing situation in the organization are related
to the Human resource management practices. Therefore, this can be said that due to lack
of proper management practices in the organization such kind of disappointing situation
occur. On the other hand, it has been also identified by me that lack of monitoring practices
in the organization, it has faced internal issues. It has been identified in this study that trust
betrayal is being considered as the voluntary violation, which is commonly known as an
essential expectation of the trustor by the trustee. It can probably be threaten by the wellbeing
of the trustor. In this study, trust has been highlighted as the important element is every
relationship. I believe, if any case the trust is being lost or the expectation of the trustor is
being broken by any one, in that situation, the relationship is being affected. I believe trust is
being considered as the starting point in every relationship. In this article I have identified
that the lack of leadership practices, have introduced the unhealthy relationship among
the employees. Due to this reason, they were not able to discuss their problems with the
management. After analysing the study, I have reached at the point that in order to deal with
the trust issues, openness and motivational practices an=re needed to be adopted by the

5STRATEGIC EMPLOYEE RELATIONS
management. I also believe, gaining the trust is a long time practices, in this case the
management authority should be more active and polite towards dealing with the employees.
As per my opinion, if the employees will be engaged in different activities or other
interaction processes, it will help the managers in terms of gaining the trust of the employees.
They should be more concern about their commitment to the employees.
The article named “Workforce Reduction: Strategic, Legal And Employee
Concerns” has mentioned about different challenges, which have been faced by the human
resource management team in order to implement its practices. Here the study has discussed
about the Midwest education Inc, which is being considered as one of the major educational
material supplier in the US (Fischer and Henderson 2015). In the current business scenario, the
organization has decided to focus in its cost reduction practices. it has been identified in this
study that in the case of transport service, the company has decided to reduce its traveling
cost on the other hand in the manufacturing department it has decoded to enhance its service
quality. The company has also adopted the strategy for introducing the creative initiatives in
the organization so that it will be able to provide an effective teaching material to the
students. The issue I have identified is related to the creative department. It has been
identified by me that due to sudden recruitment practices it can become so difficult for the
new employees in the development process. On the other hand, I have identified that the
company has fired the old employees, which cannot be appreciated by me. As per my point
of view, this can be said that if the proper training would have been provided to the old
employees it would have been better. I also believe, if the company found the old employees
are not appropriate for their job, that why they have been appointed by the management. This
kind of activities increases the insecurity of the employees in the workplace that can impact
in the performance. Not only in creative department, but also the manufacturing department
has also faced the same problem, I strongly believe that firing the employee scan not be the

6STRATEGIC EMPLOYEE RELATIONS
ultimate solution. Another way, I have identified that the cost effective practices which has
been adopted by the organization cannot be beneficial for large scale of people. On the
other hand, it has been identified by me that due to lack of training and development
practices, the efficiency of the employees are getting hampered. Improper motivation is
another issue in this organization. As per my opining if the organization would have focused
on developing effective relation in the organization, it would helped it to engage large
number of employees in the development practices.
Conclusion
After analysing the entire study, it can be concluded that the development ogf
employee relation is very important in the case of introducing effective management practices
in an organization. In the above study from the few articles I have identified that those
organizations have taken the firing policies in order to deal with the organizational
challenges. However, I believe, firing people is cannot be the beneficial solution, in this
process the company loose the employee contribution, loose experienced employee and
reputation. Therefore, I believe, if the management practices can be improved, it will help in
terms of understanding the employee related issues and demands of them.

7STRATEGIC EMPLOYEE RELATIONS
Reference list
Ali, M., Shen Lei, D., Rehman, A.U. and Anjum, A., 2015. Relationship of Strategic Human
Resource Management Practices with Organization Performance and Employee Relation
Climate.
Bharadwaj, S.S., 2015. Can a work-at-home policy hurt morale?. Harvard business
review, 93(4), p.23.
Fischer, A.K. and Henderson, M., 2015. Workforce Reduction: Strategic, Legal And
Employee Concerns. Journal of Business Case Studies (Online), 11(2), p.49.
Lucas, J. 2010. Case Study: Possible Demotion Of A Long-Time And Faithful
Employee. Journal of Business Case Studies. 6(2). [Accessed on 28-07-2018. ]
Ouimet, P. and Zarutskie, R., 2014. Who works for startups? The relation between firm age,
employee age, and growth. Journal of financial Economics, 112(3), pp.386-407.
Pate, J., Morgan‐Thomas, A. and Beaumont, P., 2012. Trust restoration: An examination of
senior managers' attempt to rebuild employee trust. Human Resource Management
Journal, 22(2), pp.148-164.
Schumacher, D., Schreurs, B., Van Emmerik, H. and De Witte, H., 2016. Explaining the
relation between job insecurity and employee outcomes during organizational change: A
multiple group comparison. Human Resource Management, 55(5), pp.809-827.
Watson, M.A. and Lopiano, G.R., 2016. Should we fire him for that post?. Harvard business
review, 94(3), p.20.

8STRATEGIC EMPLOYEE RELATIONS