Human Resource Management:
Case Study Analysis of Harrison Brothers Corporation
I. Human Resource Management
Human resource management (HRM) comprise the entire gamut of knowledge and practices that describes the nature of work and regulates employment relations ( 2000). HRM is also an approach geared towards the achievement of organisational goals by directing the organisation systems so that human resources and talents are utilised efficiently and effectively ( 2006). HRM is most considered as a generic term that covers the entirety of a work-based organization, working terms and conditions, and representational systems (2003). HRM covers the five functional activity areas, which are: 1) staffing—getting people with the appropriate knowledge, skills and experience to work in vacant positions in the organisation with the entire processes broken down into HR planning, job analysis, recruitment, selection; 2) rewards—development and implementation of reward systems covering work evaluation, performance appraisal, benefits; 3) employee development—analysis of training requirements by identifying the skills and capabilities of employees; 4) employee maintenance— administering and monitoring of work standards and organisational policies to develop a competent workforce; and 5) change and relationship management—monitoring employment relationship issues and adjusting to changes. ( 2000)
II. Role of the Human Resource Manager
The human resource manager plays an important role in an organisation by contributing various key competencies necessary in decision-making. To optimize the contribution of the human resource manager, that person should assume the role of strategic partner, employee advocate and change mentor in the organisation. ( 2000) The assumption and accomplishments of these tasks defines the importance of human resource management in the workplace and the influence of the human resource manager reflects upon the achievement of the organisation of its goals.
, the human resource manager of the Westpark store, assumed several important roles during the beginning of her employment with Harrison Brothers Corporation. The most important task that she undertook is actually developing a human resource unit separate from operations and sales. This is an important task because the delineation of tasks enables the managers to focus on their areas. Due to the establishment of the human resource unit, had to slowly influence corresponding changes in the existing human resource-related practices. The change in the organisation was also recognized by , the sales manager. First change is the development of working relationships with the operations and sales divisions to determine the human resource needs and issues they currently face as basis for staffing decisions. Pat Hartlake, the operations manager recognized the importance of the establishment of a separate and experienced human resource unit and developing good relations with the HR staff to achieve efficiency in addressing human resource problems.
Second change is the performance of human resource functions. One activity is staffing or obtaining qualified employees through advertisements and interviewing applicants and looking at application papers to determine work stability. has a background in sales so she is confident in her ability to select qualified employees. Another activity is investing in employee motivation. Previously, the store has a high turnover rate primarily attributed to the inconsistencies in discipline procedures. introduced a performance assessment procedure that considers the quality and quantity of work performed by employees as basis of disciplinary action, possibly dismissal after incurring three valid disciplinary actions, and annual salary increases. Still another activity is employee development through the discussion of career development expectations of employees as part of professional assessment. Unfortunately, the human resource unit found problems when the support staff disregarded this task in order to immediately complete the evaluation.
Third change is linking human resource activities with the other operations of the organisation such as through the actual observation of the floor-level performance of employees as the changes are introduced. As the organisation develops, human resource activities are expected to concurrently develop.
Through the introduction of human resource changes in the organisation, the , the human resource manager, recognized and assumed the role of a strategic partner of the organisation through its performance enhancement activities, employee advocate by introducing a uniform motivation system, and change mentor by developing partnerships with other organisational units to achieve change.
III. Harrison’s Business Strategy
Harrison is an established department store, in existence for more than a century, but experiencing the challenges of new competing firms and the rapidly changing market in terms of customer taste and demands. As an established firm, Harrison has to take a defensive stand ( 1998) and reposition the company in the market with consideration of its competitors. To boost its competitive advantage, the company identified five business strategic goals covering cost minimization, resources optimization, aggressive revenue generation, and product and brand development. These strategic goals all lead to the enhancement of the organisation’s value chain as its competitive advantage ( 1998). One of the important support activities in developing an efficient value chain is human resource management because this area takes charge of the organisation, administration and monitoring of human resources allocation and optimization.
However, for the human resource management unit to sufficiently support the enhancement of the organisation’s value chain, its activities should be bottom line or directed towards the company’s needs and objectives so that the fulfilment of its various functions lead to optimum results (Renckly 2004) and the human resource issues raised by the operations managers should be addressed.
IV. Human Resource Structure and Staffing
Harrison operates twenty department stores across Australia. To encourage the efficient management of these stores, the company has a decentralised structure so that the company only has small corporate offices. Every Harrison store has a simple organisation structure headed by the executive vice president who is also the general manager that reports directly to the main corporate office. The general manager is assisted by the store manager of the branch in supervising the overall operations of the business. There are five working units: human resource management, operations management, and three sales units. The organisational structure is simple and highly task-based. This structure works well with the company’s strategic goal of minimizing cost since the simple structure only requires the company to obtain the human resource it needs to function efficiently. This also prevents redundancy in the allocation of tasks since only needed people are hired. (2004)
The human resource management unit is headed by the human resource manager who takes charge of the activities of the unit and links these activities to the performance of the tasks of the other units in order to achieve the business objectives of the store. Under the human resource manager are two human resource assistants, the employee trainer, and the payroll clerk. The human resource management unit is also a small group that covers all human resource functions. A small group enables communications and coordination between the members in developing, implementing, monitoring and assessing HR activities.
V. Importance of Human Resource Responsibilities & Implications
The primary purpose of human resource management unit is the creation, development, maintenance and communication to the whole organisation the personnel policies applicable to the firm as well as to advocate, advice, support and consult with employees regarding employment issues while at the same time working towards the best interest of the firm. ( 2006) On the surface, these human resource responsibilities may be contradictory. However, on a deeper perusal, the successful balancing of all these tasks defines an efficient human resource management. These responsibilities are achieved through specific human resource functions previously discussed.
The recognition of the key management personnel of the importance of these functions as these apply to their working units determines the importance accorded to these functions and the result of the accomplishment of these functions. Generally, greater significance accorded to these functions entails greater effort and cooperation towards their achievement in terms of the accomplishment of specific roles, adherence to personnel policies and participation in the enhancement of human resource activities.
In the Westpark store importance of human resource functions is higher among store managers relative to human resource managers. This means that store managers recognize the role that human resource functions play in the day-to-day operations of the company more than the human resource managers do. This implies a problem for the company since there is an inconsistency in the value accorded to human resource responsibilities. This results to store managers having greater expectations from human resource activities more than what the human resource management unit can provide. The disparity is likely to cause disruptions in the value chain, misunderstandings among managers, and disillusionment among employees.
In the case of human resource managers, it is surprising that little regard is given to safety, knowledge of the business and change management when these functions are crucial responsibilities since safety prevention enhances the work motivation of employees apart from preventing resource wastage, knowledge of the business provides the foundation for identifying appropriate personnel policies in the context of the particular business, and change management enables the human resource management unit to adjust the accomplishment of these functions to the changing needs and goals of the company. Slightly more than average importance is given to training and compensation when these are also crucial aspects of employee motivation for the achievement of overall efficiency. Although staffing and performance management are accorded with the greatest importance, the human resource functions lead to excellent results when accomplished simultaneously and considered as an aggregate. The placing of lesser importance to any function undermines the effectiveness of human resource management results.
In the case of store managers, much importance is given to all human resource responsibilities because all these responsibilities apply to the accomplishment of their tasks.
VI. Evaluation of the Development of HR Function at Harrison
Prior to the introduction of changes to the human resource function at Harrison, human resource unit was basically non-existent. The status of the human resource unit was explained by the store manager in describing the unit as too internally focused and not playing a key role in the organisation. The operations manager also experienced problems with the human resource unit when they were not able to recommend decisive action on immediate human resource problems. These problems were attributed to the operations manager having to perform a dual task of handling operations and human resource functions and the heightened employee disillusionment expressed in the high turnover rate.
The company recognized the need to boost its human resource unit to support its strategic goals, especially since its strategic goals covers sustained employee competence in a changing business environment. Human resource functions have been introduced particularly staffing and employee motivation. However, the changes made in human resources management are not sufficient to fully support the company’s strategic goals. The human resource manager admitted that the employee career development assessment and the human resource innovation remain as problem areas. The human resource unit has to address these areas to enhance employee motivation and develop innovative human resource activities, which together with its other functions comprise the comprehensive human support for the achievement of the goals of the company.
VII. Recommendations
The human resource management unit should enhance the assumption of its role as a key player in the organisation through the result-based approach (1999) by identifying and performing its human resource functions to become an efficient support for the company in achieving strategic objectives.
Improving the human resource functions of the HR unit of the Harrison department store in Westpark involves a process that starts with the identification of objectives based on the human resource issues of the company, the determination of the best possible solution to these issues through coordination with the other work units, implementation of these solutions through the cooperation of the other units, the assessment of results and the readjustment of activities according to need. (1999)
Specifically, the human resource unit has to strengthen the link of its activities with the company’s objectives. In achieving the goal of improving the sales performance of personnel, human resource activities have to improve staffing, training and motivation policies to attract qualified personnel to remain and contribute their knowledge and skills and grow with the company. It also has to develop good relations with the managers of the other working units through communication to encourage the transfer of information crucial to decision-making and policy implementation. It also has to organise and streamline all its activities to include all important functions, particularly employee career development assessment and policy innovations, taking into consideration limited resources.
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