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Contemporary Issues and Challenges in HRM, 3e, Holland et al.

Case Answers

Case Study Answers to accompany Contemporary Issues and Challenges in HRM Third Edition by Holland et al. published by Tilde University Press

Contemporary Issues and Challenges in HRM, 3e, Holland et al. © Tilde Publishing & Distribution, Melbourne, Australia

ISBN: 978-0-7346-1182-6

Contemporary Issues and Challenges in HRM, 3e, Holland et al.

Case Answers

Chapter Two Case study: AgencyCo 1. What characteristics does AgencyCo exhibit with regard to being successful at talent management? A. AgencyCo provides intrinsic rewards such as variety of jobs, training and development. They also treat the agency as employees – this means they see them in a different light and provide support for them. 2. Why do you think this approach will/won’t work in the long term? A. It is likely to work in the long term if the culture and relationship building is maintained in line with appropriate training and development. A potential danger is moving away from this approach, or competitors adopting this approach.

Contemporary Issues and Challenges in HRM, 3e, Holland et al. © Tilde Publishing & Distribution, Melbourne, Australia

ISBN: 978-0-7346-1182-6

Contemporary Issues and Challenges in HRM, 3e, Holland et al.

Case Answers

Chapter Three Case study: Electronic Solutions 1. Does this show that electronic recruitment is ineffective? A. No, it is the over-reliance on the systems that was at fault and a lack of focus on quality outcomes. 2. How could the recruitment process be handled differently? A. Possible answers include:  Taking a more holistic approach to the recruitment process  Using the interview option – teleconferencing is not as expensive as flighting people around the world for interview 3. What organisational lessons can be learnt for the experience? A. Possible answers include:  Don’t assume the technology will over-ride the skills needed to recruit and select.  Understand the nature and requirements of the job.  Make sure you have clear concise job description and person specification from the employer.

Contemporary Issues and Challenges in HRM, 3e, Holland et al. © Tilde Publishing & Distribution, Melbourne, Australia

ISBN: 978-0-7346-1182-6

Contemporary Issues and Challenges in HRM, 3e, Holland et al.

Case Answers

Chapter Four Case study: Maintaining service quality in the wedding business 1. What are the key HR problems and issues associated with the running of the wedding business at Escape Resorts? A. An underlying problem in the case is that the wedding business has been added onto an existing successful resort business in an ad hoc manner. The offer of the wedding and honeymoon package was organised on a trial basis, and no strategic planning or infrastructure changes were made to address the business initiative. The lack of strategic commitment has created a number of operational difficulties, including:  no dedicated area for the wedding business – this has led to fragmented service and interruptions to customer interactions;  all weddings are held on Monday because the staff have duties elsewhere in the hotel for the rest of the week, and as all the weddings are held on the one day there is an assembly line approach to the service delivery;  the use of peripheral staffing, contractors, for video and photography means that the quality of the product delivery has suffered and the contractors are not engaged or interested in providing a quality experience for the guests; and,  the lack of a co-ordinated job approach has also meant that the food provided by the kitchen is prepared in between other core business duties. 2. What changes could be made to HRM-related activities to improve the quality of the experience? A. The main issue that needs to be resolved is really a strategic one. Escape Resorts has to decide whether it really wants to be in the wedding business or not. If the decision is made to continue with the wedding packages, then there needs to be greater commitment to quality service and investment in the people who deliver the service. Once that decision is made, HR can then design new roles for staff and create a more streamlined approach to the service. Specific initiatives could include:  dedicated premises for the wedding management team;  job description for, and appointment of, a wedding co-ordinator who takes responsibility for the alignment of staff activities associated with the weddings;  establishment of a dedicated work team for the wedding business that is not required to work elsewhere in the hotel - this will mean that the weddings can then be held throughout the week and the current assembly line experience will be minimised;  members of the kitchen staff being assigned specifically to wedding catering and answering directly to the wedding co-ordinator; and  a review of the current relationship with the contracted photographer. Outcomes of the review may include a new set of performance criteria based on service quality rather than payment for the number of weddings completed. If the contractor is not performing appropriately, another contractor might need to be considered or the hotel may need to bring the service back in-house.

Contemporary Issues and Challenges in HRM, 3e, Holland et al. © Tilde Publishing & Distribution, Melbourne, Australia

ISBN: 978-0-7346-1182-6

Contemporary Issues and Challenges in HRM, 3e, Holland et al.

Case Answers

Overview case study ‘A’ Case study: Lost in translation – The outsourcing of clinical letters 1. Why has such a potential cost saving and quality enhancement become a major problem? A. Key issues can be summarised as follows:  Lack of a ‘pilot’ study to pick up these problems.  Management overly focused on cost saving in an area that should be focusing on quality enhancement.  Lack of technical support and understanding of issues and problems.  Lack of quality (skills) required in the offshore centre. 2. What would you have done to ensure this didn’t happen? A. Go with the original approach of having a pilot scheme for the new high quality venture to ensure the problems we have seen develop are eliminated. Until this is completed, the system should not go ‘live’. The key focus of quality cannot be overridden or outsourced. 3. What would you do now to rectify the problems? A. The problems are creating a potentially critical incident so returning to the original system until the problems in the new system are rectified and all people using the system are appropriately trained. The key focus here is quality service and the system must reflect this – also student should pick up the critical incidents that could develop form this situation.

Contemporary Issues and Challenges in HRM, 3e, Holland et al. © Tilde Publishing & Distribution, Melbourne, Australia

ISBN: 978-0-7346-1182-6

Contemporary Issues and Challenges in HRM, 3e, Holland et al.

Case Answers

Chapter Five Case study: Should I stay or should I go? 1. What type of psychological contract did Jim have with his organisation prior to the performance management? Explain. A. Jim had a relational contract. Students should look to define this and discuss points in the case that emphasis this, such as Jim’s willingness to change jobs. 2. What type of psychological contract did Jim have after his performance management? Explain. A. Clearly, Jim had moved to a transactional approach to his work. Again, students should look to define this and discuss points in the case that emphasis this, such as Jim’s clock watching approach to his time at work. 3. How would you describe what has occurred to change Jim’s attitude to his workplace? A. The key issue is a psychological contract breach followed by psychological contract violation. It is important for the students to be able to identify the difference. 4. What lessons can be learned from this experience? A. This question allows for open discussion on the management and understanding of the psychological contract. The case is also set out to illustrate the dynamic and charging nature of the psychological contract, which is employee focused.

Contemporary Issues and Challenges in HRM, 3e, Holland et al. © Tilde Publishing & Distribution, Melbourne, Australia

ISBN: 978-0-7346-1182-6

Contemporary Issues and Challenges in HRM, 3e, Holland et al.

Case Answers

Chapter Six Case study: Becoming protean 1. What aspects of David’s experience suggest that he is following a protean or boundaryless career? A. David began his career in one organisation and seemed quite happy to continue in that organisation. Circumstances have forced him, however, to develop a mindset where he is no longer attached to a single organisation for life. The imposed changes have led to the development of a boundaryless career for David - one in which the he now operates as a free agent moving between organisations and careers. He has moved from a structured career within one bank into the role of insurance broker and eventually a sales training manager. The career changes that David has made are also consistent with the protean career perspective, where the positions held are not nested within a particular organisation or occupational field. Through imposed moves and his preparedness to take on additional training and development, David has moved between organisations and also between roles and occupations. 2. What human resource management initiatives could be introduced at the new finance and insurance company that David has joined to assist his career development? A. In light of the flexible mindset that David has acquired, it is possible that he will leave any company that he is working in if he does not feel that his needs are being met. An effective performance management system will assist in identifying where he requires further development and what the company can do to meet David’s needs in order to maintain his engagement. Development responses may include mentoring or lateral moves and secondments.

Contemporary Issues and Challenges in HRM, 3e, Holland et al. © Tilde Publishing & Distribution, Melbourne, Australia

ISBN: 978-0-7346-1182-6

Contemporary Issues and Challenges in HRM, 3e, Holland et al.

Case Answers

Chapter Seven Case study: Emotional stress in call centres 1. What are the key HR problems and issues associated with the running of the TelBus Melbourne call centre? A. The underlying problem in the TelBus Call centre case is that the company has made a strategic decision about the nature of the business, but it has not addressed HR practices to help staff cope with the new business direction. Previously, the business had two separate employee groups that dealt with inbound and out-bound calls. The nature and purpose of these calls are quite different and require a different skill base: in-bound calls are primarily focussed on helping the customer and out-bound calls are essentially sales calls. With the decision to collapse both tasks, the existing staff are required to take on broader task roles than they have previously been expected to perform. The additional tasks also require quite different levels of emotional labour. Previously call centre staff were able to empathise with customers and concentrate on helping. The broadening of variety in the task has potential for increasing the emotional labour component of the work. Following Morris and Felman (1996), the case provides an example of an increase in the required variety of the work and expects employees to shift from one emotion to another within a brief time period. The potential increase in emotional labour is more evident for the existing staff group, as they did not sign up to work in a sales job and therefore the expectations of the job have not been met. Furthermore, the new aspects of the job include heavier monitoring and outcome-related rewards that are known to increase job stress. Normally the team leader’s role can be used to assist in these situations by providing more support to employees and helping them to develop skills to cope with the added pressure. The training offered to the team leaders, however, seems to be more output focussed at the expense of team morale. 2. What changes could be made to HRM-related activities? A. If the business decides to continue with the combination of skill requirements, then the recruitment and selection criteria of new staff will need to incorporate the new competencies required for meeting in- and out-bound calls. New staff will then be prepared for the job complexity and can make decisions before entering the workplace about their fit with the job focus. With respect to the pressures on the existing staff, the research shows that intrusive forms of monitoring have negative outcomes for employee wellbeing, and when this is coupled with poor support from the team leader the situation is exacerbated. It is very likely that the management group will resist any changes to employee outcome monitoring as a sales focus normally requires output measurement. Changes could be made, however, to the type of role played by the team leader and greater emphasis given to their role as developer to empower workers rather than acting as monitors. Drawing on the ‘communities of coping’ suggestion covered in Chapter 7, employees could also be encouraged to reach targets as teams and support each other within a team environment in order to reduce the emphasis on individual performance.

Contemporary Issues and Challenges in HRM, 3e, Holland et al. © Tilde Publishing & Distribution, Melbourne, Australia

ISBN: 978-0-7346-1182-6

Contemporary Issues and Challenges in HRM, 3e, Holland et al.

Case Answers

Chapter Eight Case study: MV Health 1. What do you think are the likely levels of health and well-being amongst the employees and MV? What health and well-being symptoms are the employees at MV demonstrating? A. The health and well-being of employees at MV is almost undoubtedly poor or low. Indeed, it could be argued that many of the employees are experiencing burnout and exhibiting the three symptoms of this condition (emotional exhaustion – loss of energy, feeling emotionally depleted; depersonalisation – loss of idealism, irritability, detachment; and reduced personal accomplishment – low morale, reduced ability to cope and feeling like they are doing a good job). 2. Identify the key cause of the levels (be they high or low) of employee health and well-being at MV. A. Work hours and schedules – long work hours are likely to be negatively affecting the health and well-being and work-life balance of the employees. Shift work is also probably contributing to their poor health and well-being by interrupting normal circadian rhythms and causing problems with employees’ personal/social relationships. Workplace relationships – in particular management’s non-consultative and relative autocratic leadership style. Also, the lack of opportunities for social interaction with peers/co-workers will be negatively impacting on the employees’ health and well-being. High demands with relatively low levels of control (lack decision authority and skill under-utilisation especially in relation to nurses given that key aspects of their jobs are now being performed by less skilled co-workers) resulting in a high strain position. Role demands – specifically role conflict (trying to provide high quality care in an environment of cost-cutting and when there is an emphasis on maximising efficiencies) and role overload (having too much to do due to the high needs of the residents, increases in administration (paperwork) and understaffing). Effort vs. reward imbalance – lots of effort for minimal rewards. Staff lack recognition, there is a sense of job insecurity and lack of career development opportunities. 3. What initiative could be introduced by management to improve the health and well-being of employees working in the nursing homes? A. Students will probably offer a wide variety of suggestions for how the employees’ health and well-being could be improved. However, what is important is that these suggestions include some primary interventions. In other words, interventions which are aimed at eliminating the source or cause of the employees’ poor health and well-being and are targeted at the organisational level rather than the individual level. Examples of primary interventions could include job redesign, participative decision-making, and more opportunities for employees to interact with each other. Contemporary Issues and Challenges in HRM, 3e, Holland et al. © Tilde Publishing & Distribution, Melbourne, Australia

ISBN: 978-0-7346-1182-6

Contemporary Issues and Challenges in HRM, 3e, Holland et al.

Case Answers

In their answer, students should also acknowledge that, to be effective, any intervention needs to be implemented in a structured, systematic and participative manner.

Contemporary Issues and Challenges in HRM, 3e, Holland et al. © Tilde Publishing & Distribution, Melbourne, Australia

ISBN: 978-0-7346-1182-6

Contemporary Issues and Challenges in HRM, 3e, Holland et al.

Case Answers

Overview case study ‘B’ Case study: Just managing: Critical care in intensive care units 1. From an organisational perspective, there are several predictors of employee health and wellbeing. Identity how these factors impact upon the work of critical care nurses in HospitalCo. A. Work hours and schedules seem to be a problem, with many of the nurses working long hours (including double shifts) and also having to work night shifts. Both long hours and shift work have been shown to negatively impact employee health and wellbeing. There would also seem to be some issues in relation to workplace relationships, with some nurses feeling unsupported and other nurses behaving in an unfriendly manner towards other staff. The nurses also have very high work and role demands, which are exacerbated by the lack of staff. These high demands are combined with relatively low levels of control. Extensive research has shown that high demands, when combined with low levels of control, have very negative effects on employees’ health and wellbeing and can lead to employees developing medical conditions such as heart disease. Finally, it is also likely that the employees in the case are experiencing an effortreward imbalance. The employees seem to be having to work very hard, with there being little recognition of this – either through extrinsic rewards (e.g. bonuses) or intrinsic rewards (e.g. praise, positive feedback). Background information:  Age of workforce – in 30s and 40s, so job-related wellbeing low.  Gender – female-dominated workforce, so not a minority but all will have family and home life to juggle with work.  Personality – critical care environment might attract more type A personalities.  Locus of control – nurses impacted by external forces, the roster and staffing numbers and skill mix is out of their control.  Work hours and schedules – overtime fatigue is an issue when there are more patients and sicker patients. Night shift is a big negative – most nurses don’t want to do it.  Workplace relationships and leadership – many nurse leaders have had no preparation for that role and have been promoted from clinical roles, and so they do not always demonstrate effective leadership styles. Peer relationship problems are also not always addressed.  Work demands and level of control – lack of control is a feature of shift workers’ lives. High demands in critical care also have an impact.  Role demands – role conflict, overload and ambiguity can all be problems.  Levels of effort vs. levels of reward – perception of little reward, and more of a culture of only getting feedback when you have mucked up, rather than being acknowledged for a job well d...