Human Resource Management of London 2012 Olympics - Case Study Example

Human Resource Management Case Analysis Name ID Number Lecturer’s Name Date London 2012 Olympics The event in analysis is the 2012 London Olympics. The event was centered in the Olympic Park situated in East London, which have a clear view from many sporting venues. The event was held from 27th July to august 12th 2012. London 2012 was an international multi-sports event organized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The event hosted more than ten thousand athletes from two hundred and four countries, which are referred as National Olympics Committee (NOC). The venue was selected in 2005 where Great Britain was a bid led by the former Olympic champion Joe Coe and London Mayor Ken Livingstone beating other world biggest cities. London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics saw about 10,500 athletes coming from 204 nations, and 302 medal events took place. More than 21, 000 renowned media relayed the games to the world and an audience of 4 billion people. London 2012 Olympic Games fall in the category of the most complex and biggest events held in the world, and it had a workforce of 200,000 people together with 70,000 volunteers, 100,000 contractors and 6, 000 staff. During this event, 26 sports and in them 39 disciplines were contested across 34 venues (London 2012). Case analysis In relation to the above facts, it is clear that the London 2012 Olympics employed a lot of human resource management strategies and techniques to monitor and manage the vast workforce that was involved. Having more 200,000 work forces requires human resource planning, strategizing, as well as managing diversity and work- life balance. Olympic Games are complex and big events, which in turn trigger a lot of interest to the whole world, and these events are largely transmitted worldwide through the internet and the media. This paper aims at analyzing the London 2012 Olympics from the three related angles which are; human resources strategy, planning and performance management. These three aspects are related in the discipline of Human resource management since they have to go hand in hand, for each one of them to succeed. Human resources strategy Human resource strategy is the critical aspect that influences performance of a company or a firm. Human resource strategy is the factor behind competitive advantage in international markets, and it has a long term hub in an organization. Human resource strategy is the same as an arrangement that involve the board of directors or the top executives of a firm/ organization. Strategy in human resource management is a general structure that gives room to a perspective charged with selecting specific procedures and policies. The London 2012 Olympics employed human resource strategy for it to be a success. As much as technology was in place and contributed largely to the airing of the events through the media and the internet, the force behind the technology is human beings. Most services provided in the world are delivered by people, hence the essence of putting human beings’ welfare in check. Research shows that, human resource management is essential in running the world, as poor quality customer service is caused by low quality human resource management and poor quality human relations. The London 2012 Olympics had on board 200,000 people working to make the event a success, and managing this work force really required a lot of human resource strategy. This is because, in the 21st Century, efficient knowledge management interprets into competitive advantage as well as profits. The Human resource strategy used during the London 2012 Olympics was such a success that even enabled the London Organizing Committee of the Olympics and Paralympics games (LOCOG) to be recognized. LOCOG was awarded the charted institute of personnel and development (CIPD) special achievement award (HR review 2012). The award was granted to LOCOG because of mobilizing more than 200,000 staff, contractors and volunteers to deliver the spectacular event. The approach used by LOCOG to engage and manage a diverse workforce, ought to be emulated by all organizations regardless of the shape and size (HR review 2012). The scheme used by LOCOG to select and train 6,000 paid staff, 70,000 volunteers, and 125,000 contractors, who took part in London 2012, was an enormous accomplishment (HR review 2012). The individuals involved symbolized the spirit of the Games, and the organizers got to the most disadvantaged clusters in the area, trained them, and gave them knowledge and skills so as to contribute significantly to the games, as well as their future. The achievement and success at the London 2012 Olympics was made possible by the human effort since, knowledge came from the minds of the people (Scroggins & Benson 2010). Human resource strategy is multidisciplinary and it relates the disciplines of psychology, economics, law and even sociology. In the discipline of psychology, there is satisfaction and motivation, sociology; culture and organization culture, Economics; wages, resource and markets, while in Law, there is labor contracts and wage (Cascio 2010). Human resource management is entrenched within the work of managers and individual contributors because there is a need to manage people, and teams to get work done. HR strategy entails a cycle from setting of goals, to performance measurement, then to coaching, to performance evaluation, to rewarding, then to appeal, back to goal setting, and the cycle goes on. The context of HR strategy system in the organization of work and technology of production, looks at; employee skills which are required, easing of monitoring the input of employees, and physical layout of employees (Scroggins & Benson 2010). Planning In most cases, when starting a business or any other venture, planning is involved in order to foresee the needs of employment. In practice, human resource planning is not always given high priority, although it is usually viewed as a necessary aspect of the ideal model of successful human resource management. Planning is an essential aspect of strategic and business integration. The hypothesis of a developmental approach to workers is an ideal- form aspect of human resource management (Leopold & Harris 2009). Emphasis on dedication to organization goals is also a chief feature of human resource management model. In this aspect, techniques of career development and reward play a significant role where human resource planning is important. Success of a business or an event is linked directly to the performance of the workers or employee. Hiring the wrong people and failing to forecast hiring needs fluctuations are costly, therefore, it is necessary to invest in human resource planning (Cascio 2010). According to the Official London 2012 Website, LOCOG was responsible for planning and preparing the London 2012 Games (2012). Led by the chairperson Seb Coe and Deighton Paul, the Chief executive, there was vast human resource planning, which saw them come up with a workforce of more than 200,000. LOCOG settled for the big number of workforce to cater for the 26 Olympic and20 Paralympics sports, 14,700 athletes, 10.8 million ticket holders and 21,000 media. This was to avoid the last minute hiring which is costly and may not be correctly done. Planning about the fund was done in advance and most of the finances were from the private sector. Sources like broadcasting rights, sponsorship and selling merchandise sourced a total of 2 billion pounds (Official London 2012). Integrating human resource planning and other aspects like strategy and employee development is necessary in making planning a responsibility of the organization. When planning, there is supposed to be an attempt of forecasting the likelihood of whether there will be a disparity between demand and the supply of labor, and therefore, prepare the correct adjustment policies. When planning, there is the need to put in mind the external environment versus the internal supply (Losey, Meisinger & Ulrich 2005). During HR planning, workforce analysis is the key aspect. When carrying out a comprehensive workforce analysis, there is need to focus on the vital demographic employment information and characteristics like age, average, sex, skills, occupational group, and internal workforce trends like retirement eligibility, turnover and vacancy rates. In theory, the above is expected to be done, but in practice like for the London 2012 Olympics, it would have been impossible to screen all the 70,000 volunteers who hailed from different parts of the world as well as bringing on board a vast diversity of cultures and practices (Leopold & Harris 2009). Again the most of the 200,000 people who comprised the workforce were only there for the Olympic period; hence it would have been extremely costly to conduct comprehensive workforce analysis. External scan is also necessary when planning since there might be some external aspects that might influence the workforce capacity. The external scan should put into consideration existing opportunities that can be of advantage to the organisation, and also risks in the external environment that the workforce might come across, and identify strategies to deal with those risks. Human resource planning helps in performance management, which is aimed at improving the employee’s performance and in the long run, achieving the organization’s goals and mission ((Scroggins & Benson 2010). Performance management Performance management is a partnership between the employees and the supervisor. By setting performance standard, providing feedback after observing, then performing appraisals, aid in achieving the best outcome and this is by managing employee performance. The supervisor and the employee are supposed to collaborate on performance standards development. Performance management is an integrated and strategic approach that delivers triumphant results in firms and organizations (Mello 2011). This is done through developing team capabilities and improving performance of individuals and teams. In the early 1980’s is when the performance management term gained popularity, when quality management programs acquired paramount importance for achievement of quality performance and advanced standards. With the rise in quality and popularity of performance management, tools like leadership development, job design, reward system and training also received the same impetus together with the conventional performance appraisal process in a new widespread framework (Millmore, Lewis, Saunders, Thornhill & Morrow 2007). Performance management is a continuous and cyclical process in nature. It is important to always note that performance management is the process that sets the platform on which rewarding of excellence is done, by aligning personal employee accomplishments, as according to the organization’s objectives and mission of ensuring that the organization and the employee understand the need for specific job in achieving the outcomes and results ( Kramer, Bartram, De Cieri 2011). For an organization to achieve its sustainability goals, performance management is crucial, although, not all the set standards are favorable or accepted by the employees. Performance management for the 2012 London Olympics Games would not have been possible for each and every person who was involved in making the event a success. Bearing in mind that there was a workforce of 200,000 people, it would have been hard to monitor the performance of each and every stakeholder. Planning the work plus setting expectations for more than 200,000 people itself is taxing enough, leave alone monitoring, rating and rewarding the performance of the people. In most cases, volunteers do not appreciate their work being monitored and rated, and the 2012 London Olympics had on board 70,000 volunteers from all over the world; people from all walks of life, different languages and culture. According to David Stubbs, the head of sustainability for 2012 London Olympic Games, the London Olympics saw the need for a system that would manage the event, but none was available (Official London 2012). This was because of the hefty and diverse workforce on board. Therefore, the Olympic team, due to lack of an event management system, integrated a standards creation as an element of their Olympic tender. After winning the bid, LOCOG worked together with BSI (British standard institute) to come up with BS8901, and they later morphed it into ISO20121 standard. That is what enabled LOCOG to achieve ISO20121 certification (Official London 2012). Performance management begins when a new incumbent joins a system, and it comes to an end when an employee leaves the organization. Performance management is the basis on which, through appraisal information, pay increase, transfers, promotions, assignment, force reduction or even other human resource administration actions are done. Through performance management, development is achieved; this is because, the information got through appraisal guide job experiences, training, mentoring, as well as other developmental actions that employees engage in to foster their capabilities (Zhang 2012). Planning is very important in performance management because the human resource managers have to keep track records of all the employees. Proper planning ensures that every employee’s performance is acknowledged and recording to allow for future evaluation and employees rating. Therefore, in organising the London 2012 Olympics the organisers had to ensure the system to manage employees and their way of performance in the place of work is established. The rating and ranking of employees according to their performance will help employees improve on the way they perform their duties. The employees with high ratings and ranking should be encouraged by giving them a reward (Pereira & Gomes 2012). Theoretical analysis According to many researches that have been carried out there is no theory that have been agreed upon to govern operations in the human resource sectors. The theories used have attracted a lot of criticism from people who think the theories are not satisfactory in explaining and solving human resource problems (Kramer, Bartram, De Cieri 2011). Even if theoretically it is possible to have a system of performance management that serves development purposes and decision making, in practice, this is very hard to achieve. Research done has shown that the rationale behind the rating (development versus decision making) influences the observed ratings (Stone 2008). Ratings that are used for decision making in most cases have a tendency of being lenient, and most employees receive ratings which are on the higher side of the scale. Developmental purposes ratings have a tendency of being more variable, and in turn, they reflect both employees’ developmental needs and strengths. It is not easy to emphasize equally development and decision making inside the same structure (Scroggins & Benson 2010). Managers in most organizations evaluate the employees and they then convene to standardise their ratings, then they make reward decisions. Review sessions are later conducted by managers to every employee so as to discuss the performance of the employee, stock option grant and pay increase. As much as developmental response is expected to be taken account of in the meeting, the percentage range increase and options of stock is large, hence allowing mangers to associate rewards with performance effectively. In this way, most of the meetings focus on justification by both sides, instead of how an employee can develop. The meeting climate in most cases is not favourable to receiving and giving feedback, and on the other hand, employees are reserved in discussing their developmental requirements because they fear that this will impact negatively on their rewards. Even in the case of the tough performance based on the culture of this organization, the feature of performance, based on decision making is accorded more weight. There is a need to analyze the case using theory x that requires managers to act in dictatorial role. The reason behind this is that managers believe that the employees are lazy and have no will to work. Therefore, according to this theory employees should be pushed and forced to perform their duties as they are required. In London 2012 Olympics the theory cannot be applicable because the managers cannot force the employees to perform their duties. According to those who are working on the project there are about 70,000 volunteers. Therefore, they believe they are in this project to out of their will. There also the issue that the managers cannot coerce quite a large number of employees. The theory can only be applicable in an organisation with a few employees who work closely with the overall manager. Therefore, in such big project the theory is not applicable and cannot solve the problems related to human resources ((Scullion, Collings & Gunnigle 2007). Another theory to be used in analysis is the economic theory. The theory deals with how an organisation will meet its economic obligation towards its employees. The London 2012 Olympics was being funded by International Olympic Committee and the Great Britain government. The theory works to ensure that a project is economically viable and will be able to pay the salaries and wages of all the employees. The theory ensures that the expenses are met without affecting the survivor of the project. The theory helps the management to have a good working relation with their employees. This is to avoid and solve problems that arise from economic issues and halt smooth operations. The economic theory in human resource management and in relation to this case is to help the stakeholders to maintain better working relations to ensure smooth operations. Another theory in human resource management analysis is theory Y that states that a manager should let the employees operation in a free way but in the right direction. This theory calls for a close working relation between the managers and the employees of the organization. The manager works together with the rest of the employees as one of them. The manager as portrayed in this theory is a team player and a leader as opposed to theory x (Scullion, Collings & Gunnigle 2007). The manager is always on the front line to solve problems and help the other the employees on easy way of doing their duties. The theory portrays managers as friends to other employees’ duties delegated to them. The managers are result oriented do not aim at having work completed but also look for the quality of the outcome (Kramer, Bartram, De Cieri 2011). The managers do not threaten their employees because they tolerate mistakes and help their subordinates to perform their duties in the right way. In analysing this case and to have the best results the organisers should employee this theory. Managers in this theory always welcome suggestions and any constructive critics that will help in improvement. The managers delegate duties to all the employees so as to make them feel part of the company or the organisation. The managers are accountable to them and therefore, ensure they have the required results. Therefore, due to the quality and nature of managing this event the organisers should employ this theory because it acts as a way of managing performance. The theory itself is a way of quality assurance because the project does not move until all problems are solved (Cascio 2010). Recommendations The human resource managers should lead their employees by being leaders and giving example on how things should be done. There should be laid down ways on how to solve problems that arise during executing their duties. The managers should also ensure that employees undergo the best training to acquire the required skills to perform their duties. In conclusion, human resource management is very important for any company to achieve its goals and objectives. This part of management ensures that an organization hires employees who best qualify to perform tasks. In London 2012 Olympics, the event required extensive planning and hiring of employees. This calls for a strong human resource with experience and knowledge in handling such issues. The theories of human resource also further explanation of how issues should be done to have the best results. References HR review. October 22 2012. HR excellence of London 2012 organizers recognized via CIPD special achievement award. HR strategy and Practice. Viewed at http://www.hrreview.co.uk/hrreview-articles/hr-strategy-practice/hr-excellence-of- london-2012-organisers-recognised-via-cipd-special-achievemen. Official London 2012. The official website of the Olympic movement 2012. London, viewed 24 October 2012, http://www.olympic.org/london-2012-summer-olympics. Cascio, W. F. 2010. Managing human resources: Productivity, quality of work life, profits. McGraw-Hill. Kramer, R., Bartram, T., De Cieri, H. 2011. Human resource management: Strategy, people and performance (4th ed). McGrawHill. Leopold, J. & Harris, L. 2009. Strategic managing of human resources (2nd ed). England: Prentice hall. Losey, M., Meisinger, S., & Ulrich, D. 2005. The future of human resource management: Thought leaders explore the critical HR issues of today and tomorrow. Alexandria, VA: Wiley & Sons, Inc. Mello, J.A. 2011. Strategic human resource management (3rd ed). Cengage Learning. Millmore, M., Lewis, P. Saunders, M., Thornhill, A. & Morrow, T. 2007. Strategic human resource management: Contemporary issues. England: Prentice Hall. Pereira, C. & Gomes, J. 02 April 2012. “The strength of human resource practices and transformational leadership: an impact on organizational performance”, the international journal of human resource management, vol 23(20), pp 4301- 4318. Scroggins, W. & Benson, P. 2010. “International human resource management: diversity, issues and challenges”, international journal of human resource Vol. 39(4). Scullion, H., Collings, D.G. & Gunnigle, P. 2007. “International Human resource management in the 21st Century: Emerging themes and contemporary debates”, Human Resource Management Journal Vol 17(4), pp 309-19. Stone, R. J. 2008. Human resource management (6th ed.). Australia: John Wiley & Sons. Zhang, M. September 2012. “The development of human resource management in China: an overview”, journal of Human resource management review vol 22(3) pp 161- 244. 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