Holden Motor Cars Company - Human Resources - Case Study Example

Name: Course: Tutor: Institution: Date: Holden Motor Cars Company 2013-HR Report Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 1.0 Introduction 2 2.0 Recruitment and Selection 2 3.0 Training and Development 4 4.0 Performance Evaluation Strategies 6 5.0 Reward Systems 8 6.0 Employee Relationships Management 9 7.0 Recommendations 11 7.1 Person-Organisation Fit Model Application 12 7.2 Use the 360 Degree Feedback Approach 12 8.0 Conclusion 13 Work Cited 15 1.0 Introduction Strategic human resource management has emerged as a critical organisational strategic management component. This has mainly been fueled by the rising global market competition, and the rising need to develop organisational HR workforce as the key sustainable edges. This development is informed by the rise of the resource based view theory, which argues and perceives organisational resources as not only the physical assets, but also the intangible elements such as the HR workforce (Ulrich 22). This has been the key driving pillar for the Holden Motor Cars Australia. The organisation, a leading automotive industry in the Australian market, supplying a wide range of products has developed and applied strategic human resource management practice in a wide range of issues. This report offers a critical evaluation and examination of the respective strategic human resource practice as applied by the organisation. As such, it critically examines the respective strategies and practice applied in 2013, evaluating how they meet the strategic goals of developing a sustainable competitive workforce in the Australian and the global automobile industry. Among the evaluated areas in this report include the recruitment and selection process, training and development, performance evaluation, reward systems, and employee relationships respectively. The report concludes with strategic improvement recommendations for the organisation in its future HR management practices. 2.0 Recruitment and Selection An organisational recruitment and selection process is the process through which organisations attract and recruit the desired workforce. This is the initial and vital stage in HR management as it determines the type and nature of workforce acquired in an organisation. On one hand, the recruitment process involves the actual employees’ attraction to an organisation (Compton, Morrissey and Nankervis 10). In this regard, organisations have a wide range of recruitment strategies ranging from formal to informal. Among the formal recruitment strategies are advertisements and e-recruitment approaches as well as informal recruitment strategies such as through employee referrals. On the other hand, the selection process is the actual stage in which the attracted and potential organisational employees are selected (Compton, Morrissey and Nankervis 17). The selection process evaluates both the personal characteristics as well as the job specifications fit. An evaluation of the Holden Motor Company recruitment process over the 2013 organisational year illustrates that the organisation applied the e-recruitment approach. In this case, the organization, through its website portal, has a dedicated tab for careers. In this category, potential global workforce employees access the organisational employment vacancy and apply online. This process enabled the company acquire a wide labour and workforce diversification as well as the acquisition of a global workforce, increasing its diversity and labour quality. However, the recruitment process reduced the probability of the venture recruiting local employees, exposing the Australian workforce to an increased global competition, which often disadvantages them against the highly skilled and experienced Western Europe labour force. In addition, the organisation has an internal employee recruitment process where employees rise through the levels through promotions and appraisals as a means of retaining and developing the Holden Motor Company organisational culture. The organisational recruitment process involved a job and person specification analysis. While as the job analysis process is based on the expected functions and responsibilities, the person fit analysis evaluates the individual applicant traits as compared to the existing organisational culture. Key among the required personal traits and attributes for employment at Holden Motor Cars included innovation, creativity, and internal motivation among others. On the other hand, the company applies the interview approach in its selection process. In this case, for the low level employees and the middle level managers, the company uses both online and phone interviews to screen the employees. However, for the top level management and other organisational executive, besides the use of phone interviews as a pre-screening stage, the organisational HR function has a recruitment panel, drawn from across the various departmental heads or their representatives for face to face interviews. The selection process was essentially based on the high performance employee model. In this regard, the employees are mainly selected based on their performance ability and their ease of increasing the overall organisational productivity through the application of their unique and individual talents once hired. The adoption of this employee recruitment process was major justification as to why the overall organisational overall strategic competitiveness and productivity in the Australian and global automobile industry increased in 2013. However, the process application was a major challenge to the organisational corporate culture development, as majority of the recruited employees possessed different culture perceptions and orientations. 3.0 Training and Development A second key HR function executed by the Holden Company over the 2013 financial year was employee training and development. On one hand, employee training is the process through which organisations seek to improve their employee skill and expertise. This is achieved through both direct and indirect strategies. On the direct approach to training, is when organisations organises for employee on the job training through apprenticeship, or off the job training programs such as workshop and seminars. In this case, the organisations incur all the costs of training the employees. Alternatively, organisations can indirectly enhance employee training through creating a suitable working environment and culture that motivates employee to advance their education and develop their careers (Vani 23). On the other hand, employee development is mainly for the middle and upper level management levels. In this case, besides the harnessing of task oriented skills, development involves the enhancement of leadership and other managerial skills and expertise. The process of employee and managers development is mainly executed through alternative practices such as coaching and mentoring. In this case, experienced business managers and practitioners train the employees on how to improve and advance their leadership and managerial skills (Vani 25). Based on this background, over the 2013 year, the Holden Motor Company executed a wide range of employee training and development programs. To start with, the organisation had an existing employee training approach where new employees are oriented on the organisational practices and operations. This was advanced and executed over the 2013 operational year. In this case, the training and induction process enabled the organisations reduce the employee adoption lag time. Often, when new employees join an organisation, they take time to adjust to the organisational working environment before they optimize their maximum productivity. Thus, through the induction training sessions that involved the organisational tour as well as lectures on the practices, flow of information and other logistical materials, the HR enabled hastened employee absorption into the organisational operations. In addition, the organization has regular employee seminars where external HR and automobile practitioners train and update employees on the emerging HR and industry issues. However, the program execution in 2013 faced challenges due o lack of enough funds. Thus, the organisation held few that normal number of workshops, as the HR function did not have sufficient funds to fund more than two of the seminars. Finally, with respect to employee development, the organisation had an ongoing mentoring program. Under the program, the executive and top level managers are expected to mentor and guide their immediate junior employees. As such, this expended and was applied in 2013, where the top level managers continued with their mentoring process. The application of this development strategy position the organisation at a competitive edge through enhancing seamless management succession. In this regard, one the employees gain the require management and leadership skills as well as an understanding of the organisational values and practices, such employees take over the leadership responsibilities in the venture with reduced variance on customer service delivery and relationships. 4.0 Performance Evaluation Strategies The Holden Motor Company HR function was involved in employee performance evaluation over the 2013 year period. Employee performance evaluation is the process through which an organisation identifies and establishes that employee productivity levels. This is a relevant and crucial HR function as it directly impacts on the organisational productivity as well as on its market competitiveness. Employee performance levels can be based on two levels namely teams and individual. On one hand, a team employee performance evaluation is conducted based on the organizational formal structure such as based on respective organisational project success as well as respective functions overall performance over the year. On the other hand, an individual analysis values each of the organisational employees’ performances, rating their productivity against skills and expertise to establish if they have optimized their maximum productivity potentials (Srivastava 7). This performance evaluation system is a critical component for determining organisational HR workforce management efficiency as well as the HR skills needed for recruitment in the future. On one hand, increasing employee productivity is a sign of effective HR management, while declining employee performances illustrates challenges in the HR function (Srivastava 21). Over the 2013 period, the Holden Motor Company applied both the team and individual employee performance evaluations. In its analysis, the teams’ evaluations illustrated that the research and design function was the best performing team in 2013. In this case, the function had reduced number of employee conflicts, as well as increased overall performance rates as compared to others in the venture. In This case, the team evaluation process was executed though an objective setting approach. In this case, at the end of 2012, each of the organisational functional staff teams developed a list of objectives and gains that they aspired to accomplish by the end of 2013. Thus, at the end of the year, the HR function evaluated the extent to which each of the staff teams achieved their objectives. The application of this performance evaluation approach led to increased organisational teamwork and reduced employee conflicts in the market. In addition, the HR function evaluated the employees individually through a competency based model. A competency based model seeks to evaluate the respective employee skills and performance based on the most important skills and attributes to a given organisational task. Thus, employees from different departments were evaluated on different competency models as the skills and attributes required in the different departments vary. For instance, while as the employees in the marketing function require good social skills to relate with the consumers, creativity is the most important attribute for those in the design and manufacturing functions. Although the competency based model enabled the HR function appraise the employees, it exposed it to the risk of inequality. In this case, the lacks of a uniform employee performance appraisal tool reduce the efficiency and desired outcomes of the 2013 employee performance evaluation process. 5.0 Reward Systems An additional HR function that Holden Motor Company practiced in 2013 was rewarding the employees. An employee reward system is the approach through which an organisation compensates its employees for their performance as well as their productivity in the organisation. In this context, employee reward systems are categorized into two main categories namely the financial and the non-financial reward systems. On one hand an employee financial reward system is the amount of financial compensation that employs get on a monthly or annual basis for their services to the organisation. In this case, the financial rewards include salaries, insurance policies, and paid vacations among others (Gamerschlag 327). On the other hand, the non-financial employee reward systems are the compensations such as employee recognition and awards such as the employee of the year and the employee of the month awards that increase employee overall motivation, but have no financial gains to the employees. In addition, organisational rewards can be based on the services rendered remuneration and merit awards. The first category is the agreed contractual amount that employees get for their services to the organisation as long as they hold their respective employee roles in the ventures. On the contrary, the second category involves merit based rewards such as increased bonus pay for the most productive employees among others (Gamerschlag 336). Over the 2013 operational year, the Holden Motor Company HR function applied both the financial and non-financial rewards for the employees. On one hand, the organisation has a fixed remuneration system where employees in a specific organisational management level are compensated equally. In this regard, the process allows for increased uniformity in the employee reward system, thus creating a sense of equality across the organizational workforce. In addition, the organisation offers non-financial rewards to its workforce through the development of recreation activities and opportunities. In this case, the most productive employees are offered recreational opportunities as well as recognition and promotion, as a means of improving their motivation. Although the fixed remuneration process allowed the equalisation of all employees on the same management level, it exposed the organisation to the risk of reduced productivity. In this regard, since the overall monthly remunerations were not based on the productivity levels, the employee were not motivated to operate beyond their average performances. Consequently, this reduced the overall organisational HR workforce ability to maximize productivity and optimise on the respective employee skills and expertise success. 6.0 Employee Relationships Management A final strategic HR function executed in 2013 by the Holden Motor Company HR function was employee relationships management. An organisational employee relationship is the manner in which the employees and the management interact in both the formal and informal organisational settings. The nature and level of employee relationships in an organisation has a great impact on the employee satisfaction, loyalty, commitment and turnover rations (Black and Lynch 437). In this case, good employee relationships allow for increased motivation, satisfaction, loyalty, and reduced turnover rations. However, poor employee relationships lead to increased employee dissatisfaction and consequently increasing the overall turnover ratios in an organisation (Black and Lynch 442). In the process of developing and facilitating employee relationship management, strategic HRM has diverse alternatives such as the employee voice and the equal opportunities models among others. While as the employee voice provides for upward communication, the equal opportunities model advocate for fair d equal treatment of the employees in the workforce. The Holden Motor Company applied the employee voice model in managing its employee relationships in 2013. In its execution, the organisation has over the years had a two way communication system, where information flow in both the downward and the upward communication channels. In this regard, the upward communication channels ensure that the organisational employees communicate and rely their opinions and issues to the management. The development of an efficient upward communication system has been a key pillar in the organisational employee and organisational interest alignment. In this case, the year 2013, experienced minimal employee resistance on the organisational policies, as their views and contribution s were heard and incorporated in formulating them. In addition, the organisation uses a suggestion boxes approach for the employees to raise confidential and highly volatile complaints. The various suggestion boxes were placed across the organisational premises based on their accessibility and strategic locations where the employees frequented. The use of the suggestion boxes were aimed at reducing employee victimisation. Whistle blowing is an emerging approach through which organisational HR management efficiency is enhanced. However, in the past, internal whistle blowers were subjected to increased victimization, thus reducing the drive and willingness of employees to whistle blow on improper HR and organisational practice. Hence, the use of the suggestion boxes ensure that the whistle blowers identity remained anonymous, thus eliminating the likelihood of their victimization. However, despite the gains of the strategy, the HR received a large number of anonymous complaints. However, only a few could be verified and acted upon as with no valid evidence to support some of the issues, it was impossible for the HR function to execute any actions on the involved and mentioned personnel. Moreover, they led to the surfacing of issue of malicious accusations, where employees falsely accused colleagues and managers based on their individual or professional differences in a bid to taint their reputations in the organisations. 7.0 Recommendations Based on the above 2013 strategic HRM functions analysis, it is evidently clear that although the organisation HR was fairly successful, there is a number of management and strategic issues that require fixing and changes, to increase the future organisational success and functional efficiency. Thus, this report section evaluates he various alternative strategic actions and strategies that the function and the organisation should adopt into the future. Among the key alternatives for improvement include the recruitment process and the employee performance evaluation approach. 7.1 Person-Organisation Fit Model Application An evaluation of the 2013 employment process illustrates that the organisation used the high performance model, where employee recruitment and selection was based on their ability to perform in their respective tasks. Although this is a noble practice in increasing employee overall productivity, it reduced the extent of corporate culture development in the venture. An organisational culture is a critical component in the development of a sustainable quality HR workforce (Vaiman and Vance 63). In this regard, it allows for increased employee integration and the eventual reduction in employee conflicts. Moreover, it allows for the perpetuation of teamwork and employee goals and objectives alignment with those of the organisations. Therefore, based on this understanding, this report recommends that the venture should adopt the person-organisation fit recruitment model in the future. The model bases employee recruitment on their fit with the exiting culture as well as with other employees. Consequently, the application of this model in the future will reduce the new employees’ adaptation period as well as regular employee conflicts due to beliefs and objectives differences (Vaiman and Vance 71). 7.2 Use the 360 Degree Feedback Approach A review of the organisational employee performance evaluation process illustrates that it uses both the competency based model and the goal setting approaches for the individual and teams performance evaluation processes. The application of these evaluation measures enabled the venture develop and increase its overall employee performance quality and competitiveness. However, they limited the scope of the employees’ evaluation to the supervisors and line managers (Venkateswara and Chawla 53). Thus, with the introduction of a person organisation fit model, it would be imperative to evaluate the employees’ performances on the non task related issues such as relationships with pees. Thus, this report recommends that the organisation should consider applying the 360 degree feedback model. The model allows for the review of employees performance not only by the supervisors, but also by the peers. In this context, the peers’ contributors would evaluate how the employees fit in the organisational practices in promoting employee harmony and teamwork (Venkateswara and Chawla, 58). This would play a strategic role and need through which the organisational HR function would promote the development of an organisational culture for quality and productivity by ensuring that employees are not only effective in executing their specific tasks, but also in relating and cooperating with peers. 8.0 Conclusion In summary, this report offers a critical evaluation of the Holden Motor Company HRM practices and strategies over the year 2013.In order to develop an analysis of the practices, the report offer a summary of operations in recruitment and selection, employee training, rewards, performance appraisal and relationships management. As such, the report established that the organisation applied the e-recruitment approach and the high performance recruitment model as well as seminars and mentoring training and development practices. Moreover, besides its financial and non-financial rewards, the organisation evaluates its employee performance through the competency and goals setting approaches. Finally, the organisation applied employee voice model in managing the employees’ relationships. Based on this understanding, the analysis recommends the sue of the employee-organisation fit model in recruitment as well as a 360 degree feedback system in promoting the person organisation fit model in the future. Work Cited Black, Sandra E., and Lisa M. Lynch. "How to compete: the impact of workplace practices and information technology on productivity." Review of Economics and statistics 83.3 (2001): 434-445. Compton, R L, William J. Morrissey, and Alan R. Nankervis. Effective Recruitment & Selection Practices. North Ryde, N.S.W: CCH Australia, 2009. Print. Gamerschlag, Ramin. "Value Relevance of Human Capital Information." Journal of Intellectual Capital 14.2 (2013): 325-45. Srivastava, Dinesh K. Strategies for Performance Management. New Delhi: Excel Books, 2005. Print. Ulrich, David. Global Hr Competencies: Mastering Competitive Value from the Outside in. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2013. Print. Vaiman, Vlad, and Charles Vance. Smart Talent Management: Building Knowledge Assets for Competitive Advantage. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2008. Print. Vani, G. "Use of Role Play and Case Study in Off the Job Training: A Comparative Analysis." Review of HRM 3 (2014): 225-7 Venkateswara, Rao T, and Nandini Chawla. 360 Degree Feedback and Assessment & Development Centers. New Delhi: T.V. Rao Learning Systems, 2005. Print. Read More