Australian Human Rights Commission - Case Study Example

Running Head: HUMAN RESOURCE IMPLICATIONS A Case Study: Australian Human Rights Commission Name Institution Date Contents Contents ii Executive Summary iii 1.Analysis of the strategic plan 1 2.History 2 2.1.SWOT Analysis. 2 3.Human Resource Implications 4 3.1.Knowledge and leadership development and maintenance 4 3.2.Stakeholders’ cohesion and teamwork 5 3.3.Recruitment of highly motivated, knowledgeable and influential leaders for training 6 3.4.Employee learning, mentoring and development 6 4.Human resource policy 7 4.1.Recruitment of highly motivated, knowledgeable and influential leaders policy statement 8 4.2.Employee learning, mentoring and development policy statement 8 5.Strategic Human Resource Plan 9 5.1.Objective One 9 5.1.1.Background 9 5.1.2.Strategic Recruitment and Maintenance Plan 9 5.1.3.Major Assumptions 10 5.1.4.Contingency Plan 10 5.1.5. Ethical considerations 11 5.2.Objective 2 11 5.2.1.Background 11 5.2.2.Strategic learning and development Plan 12 5.2.3.Major Assumptions 13 5.2.4.Contingency Plan 13 5.2.5.Ethical considerations 14 References 15 Australian Human Rights Commission Executive Summary A well analyzed and formulated strategic plan is very important for any organization or company that seeks to secure competitive advantage and fulfillment of set goals and objectives. The greatest task in accomplishing this is bestowed on the Human Resource department since human resource is the most important capital an organization can ever have. A major role is aligning any Human resource Strategy with organizational or company’s direction, mission and vision. Australian Human Rights Commission Human Resource is not an exemption in this and she seeks to deliver quality, timely and efficient services to everyone, everywhere and at any time. In this regard, the Human Resource manager in Australian Human Rights Commission seeks to deliver support services to her employees while promoting provision of high quality services to the community and employee development. 1. Analysis of the strategic plan The Australian Human Rights Commission identified five key strategic goals while formulating the strategic plan for 2008-2011.The goals include; innovation, monitoring, education, empowerment and leadership. These goals will result to success when accomplished in such a way that evaluation, monitoring, consultation and planning are done in a manner likely to promote team work and collaboration. With regard to leadership, Australian Human Rights Commission aims at being influential, courageous and visible in taking the lead where human rights issues are involved including having an influence on federal government human rights policy. She also intends to inspire and support others to involve themselves with issues relating to human rights such as reaching diverse communities thus empowering them. With regard to the education goal, Australian Human Rights Commission intends to assist people living in Australia understand and exercise their human rights while respecting the rights of others. Each individual, government or organization has an obligation to fulfill with regard to human rights (Gabric & McFadden, 2001). The four goal of Australian Human Rights commission is to monitor that these obligations are fulfilled. Lastly, the commission recognizes the importance of innovation in a fast growing and technologically developing society. As a result, she intends to develop a supportive, innovative and collaborative work culture so as to enhance the impact and quality of services offered. Currently, innovation is an integral part of organizational strategy that intends to maintain competitive advantage (Kleinman 2010). 2. History Australian Human Rights Commission (by then known as Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission) was established in 1986 as an independent statutory organization with the aim of promoting and protecting the human rights of individuals in every part of Australia at any time. She intended to educate individuals to understand and exercise their human rights. In addition, she aimed at empowering individuals to take action where their rights were not respected and ensure that every individual or organization and the government remained accountable to international and national human rights standards. The name Australian Human Rights Commission was adopted in 2008. 2.1. SWOT Analysis. This SWOT Analysis identifies the internal and external environmental factors that influence the Australian Human Rights Commission strategic plan. STRENGHTS WEAKNESSES Have a strong reputation within the Federal government and the communities living in Australia Good links with other organizations promoting Human Rights strong partnerships and relations Has already earned trust in Australian communities for delivering equitable and efficient services Commitment of individuals to learn their Human Rights and how to them. Professionally trained and efficient workforce. Lack of enough and timely funds to meet the growing need for education on human rights. Inadequate employees to meet the demands of increasing human rights related issue lack of coordination amongst the stakeholders Present professional leadership is thin for development of higher level professional skills. poor support from the government officials OPPORTUNITIES THREATS Growing emphasis on respecting Human Rights. Support from the Federal Government in influencing developed policies to promote respect for Human Rights Support from NGOs in Australia dealing with Human Rights Information and knowledge society that is concerned with learning and exercising their human rights Highly educated community that is easy to train. Media support in enlightening community members on their human rights and in highlighting incidences where human rights have been abused. Internationally renown Unreliable community leaders due to constant changes of leaders elected by the public Delays in making proposed changes by the federal government. Cultural issues contradicting human rights. 3. Human Resource Implications Four HR (Human resources) implications are identified from the SWOT analysis of Australian Human Resource Commission strategic plan for the period beginning 2008 to 1011. These are: Knowledge and leadership development and maintenance Stakeholders’ cohesion and team work. Recruitment of highly motivated, knowledgeable and influential leaders for training Employee learning, mentoring and development 3.1. Knowledge and leadership development and maintenance The Australian Human Rights Commission is committed to disseminating valuable, human rights information to the Australian communities using every possible means. Since this commission cannot accomplish her goal of enlightening every person in Australia via her limited number of staffs, she will involve the media, community leaders, and religious leaders among others. As a result, developing knowledge and leadership skills among these individuals is very important if relevant information is to be spread in an accurate and precise manner (Kleinman, 2010). This is especially important in consideration of cultural and religious issues which have for a long time hindered the communities from understanding and exercising their human rights. For each individual to understand and appreciate his or her human rights and how to exercise them without violating the rights of others, accurate and effective training is required. The greatest role of Australian Human Rights Commission is training and maintaining a highly knowledgeable team in relation human rights acts and federal laws relating to respect of human rights (Mullins, 2005). 3.2. Stakeholders’ cohesion and teamwork Australian Human Rights Commission has to network with a number of stakeholders if she is to succeed in executing the strategic plan. For instance, success cannot be attained where legal department are sidelined especially in dealing with issues of violation of human rights. Other important stakeholders in the success of the organization are community members. If the community members feel left out in the decision making process, the level of their engagement in executing activities aimed at meeting the strategic goal will be very minimal if any and this may halt the plan (Towers Perrin-ISR, 2006). Australia Human Rights Commission may consider engaging in activities; Holding stakeholders meetings four times a year Engage stakeholders’ representatives in team building activities such as retreats Developing an efficient and effective communication network to reach stakeholders whenever need be Conducting stakeholders’ views survey every year to determine any form of threat to stakeholder cohesion. 3.3. Recruitment of highly motivated, knowledgeable and influential leaders for training The Australian Human Rights Commission will be depending on community, religious and other leaders to spread information regarding human rights. The selection of such leaders is very tricky for the commission especially with a highly democratic society where leaders are required to run for a specific period of time. To realize the value of incurred cost in training these individuals, Australian Human Rights Commission must identify highly motivated leader and those that show interest in learning and community service such that they can still offer their services even after quitting their leadership positions (Towers Perrin-ISR, 2006). Developing leaders who will only quite their responsibilities after a year is not only costly but ineffective as well. The Human Resource therefore has a great task of identifying committed, hardworking, reliable, knowledgeable and highly motivated leaders. Australian Human Rights Commission Human Resource can consider Establishing a selection criterion for the community leaders Developing a training program for the recruited community leaders Developing a monitoring and evaluation program that assesses the efficiency of these leaders in delivering accurate and precise information in an effective and efficient manner. 3.4. Employee learning, mentoring and development Employees are a very essential component of any organization. It is the team that greatly determines the success of a strategic plan since employees are the implementers on the ground especially in such a circumstance where the main aim is to change people’s beliefs and impact them with necessary knowledge. Therefore, establishing an effective learning and mentoring program for the employees is very crucial (Monks and McMackin, 2001). This is to ensure that added value is developed in the workforce for purpose of improved productivity and efficiency in service delivery. Mentoring has been found to be an important tool in developing efficiency among employees a factor that translated to employee satisfaction and hence retention (Mullins, 2005). For Australian Human Rights Commission, retaining current and newly recruited employees is very essential in reducing the operating cost since the recruitment and training process for new employees is very expensive. The organization can therefore consider; Offering mentorship programs for new employees and those promoted to new positions. Offering employee development opportunities through group sharing or discussion in addition to seminars and workshop which are already well established. 4. Human resource policy In developing human resource policy, the two most important Human resource implications that will be addressed are Recruitment of highly motivated, knowledgeable and influential leaders for training Employee learning, mentoring and development The policy statements developed hence are; 4.1. Recruitment of highly motivated, knowledgeable and influential leaders policy statement This policy is aimed at ensuring that only motivated, knowledgeable and influential leaders take the role of educating community members. Influential leaders are able to reach large numbers of community members and influence their decisions or thought process very easily. This reduces operational costs and increases chances for meeting set organizational objectives (Gabric & McFadden, 2001). It involves the selections of individuals that are able to communicate to community members in a manner and language that they best understand. Such people should also be ready to endure any challenges and respect individual opinions, beliefs and culture while impacting precise and accurate information to the audience (Black, 2003). The leaders in this case must clearly understand the mission, vision, goals and the objectives of the new strategic plan to be able to align personal goals with organizational goals. As a result, community member will be involved in selecting potential candidates. However, the final decision is to be made by the Human Resource manager in collaboration with a team of experts. Australian Human Rights commission believes in the provision of equal opportunities for such leaders. 4.2. Employee learning, mentoring and development policy statement Australian Human Rights Commission recognizes human capital as the most important and cost effective investment the commission can ever make. As a result, the commission invests a lot in offering development programs for her employees. The aim is to develop a workforce that is in a position to deliver efficient and relevant services to the community (Bhattacharya & Wright, 2005). In the strategic plan, Australian Human Rights Commission aims at capitalizing on mentorship to develop employees’ satisfaction and ultimately employee retention. This will ensure a drastic reduction in the operating costs. This policy is intended to enhance mentorship of new employees as well as those that are promoted to new positions. In addition, trainings, workshops and seminars will be conducted in an increased frequency after identification of employee need to enhance employee development (Monks and McMackin, 2001). 5. Strategic Human Resource Plan 5.1. Objective One Recruitment of highly motivated, knowledgeable and influential leaders for training 5.1.1. Background Australian Human Rights Commission has mainly focus on recruitment of influential personnel to empower and educate community members on their human rights and to give advice on the steps for community members to take in case of violation of human rights. To enhance cost effectiveness in the recruitment, training and maintenance of such leaders, the new strategy focuses on the recruitment of motivated, knowledgeable and influential leaders who will have impact on the society even after quitting the leadership position (Gabric & McFadden, 2001). 5.1.2. Strategic Recruitment and Maintenance Plan Objectives Strategic Alignment Timing and Resources Milestones Measures 1. Identify and recruit highly motivated, knowledgeable and influential community leaders to enhance cost effectiveness. Building community leaders to align their leadership goals with the strategic plan. Involve community members in identifying potential candidates through a tree day consultation. Developing a clear recruitment criterion for community leaders. Number of community leaders that maintain their leadership positions for twelve months. Total number of interchanged leaders within one year The application rate for the position of community leaders Annual survey to identify the level of satisfaction of community members with existing community leaders. Opinion polls. Individual tests and group discussions analysis. 5.1.3. Major Assumptions Australian Human Rights Commission has an already well identified community leaders Existing procedures are easily adjustable to suit the strategic requirements Exiting communication network is efficient to reach community members regardless of the distance involved. 5.1.4. Contingency Plan Risk Risk Mitigation Strategies Unavailability of motivated, knowledgeable and influential community leaders already in leadership positions. Advertise position widely and in indiscriminative manner and involve community member in their identification. Selected community leaders politicizing their position and roles. Offer efficient training and develop policies to deal with those that engage in such behavior 5.1.5. Ethical considerations Ensuring equal opportunities for recruitment for interested candidates Respecting different cultures and religious beliefs in such a way that all community leaders are regarded equal and treated in equally. 5.2. Objective 2 Employee learning, mentoring and development 5.2.1. Background Australian Human Rights commission has always offered continuous training to enhance her staff development. However, in a knowledge based society where globalization as well as increased socialization has resulted to new concerns on human right and their violation, it is important that her team of employees be ready to deal with new challenges (Black, 2003). It is for this reason that the new strategy is aimed at developing employees through mentorship as an added advantage to normal training. 5.2.2. Strategic learning and development Plan Objectives Strategic Alignment Timing and Resources Milestones Measures 1. Develop a highly skilled and committed work force and hence high employee retention rate Establish a training and mentoring program aligned with the organization’s strategic plan Establishing and addressing employee need for training within 45 days after recruitment. Recruiting new employees and those promoted to new positions into the mentoring program within the first month. Establish consistent employee evaluation program to identify arising needs and employee efficiency in service delivery every six months. Number of employees successfully mentored and recruited as mentors every year. Number of new employees remaining in the organization for at least a year. Minimum number of employees in need of mentorship every year Tests after every training sessions Mentoring with the given time span. Total number of qualified mentors. Employee performance analysis. 5.2.3. Major Assumptions Australian Human Rights Commission has a well established training and mentoring program. There are readily available efficient and highly motivated employees to take the mentorship role. A culture of respect and desire for growth has been developed in the organization 5.2.4. Contingency Plan Risk Risk Mitigation Strategies Mentoring employees may demand a pay or other favors for time spent mentoring other. Inform employees on the mentorship program, organizations expectations and its importance in attaining the strategic goals. Mentoring and training resources and time limitation Reduce operational cost by utilizing community leaders rather that extra employees in empowering and educating community members 5.2.5. Ethical considerations Ensuring that respect for new employees being mentored. Recruiting employees on merit and in an equitable manner ensuring that there is no any form of discrimination with regard to sex, race or disability. Ensuring transparency in employee promotion or salary increase References Bhattacharya, M., & Wright, P.M. (2005). Managing human assets in an uncertain world: applying real options theory to HRM. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 16(6), 929-948. Black, R. J. (2003). Organizational Culture: Creating the Influence Needed for Strategic Success. New York: Prentice Hall. Gabric, D, & McFadden, K,2001, Student and Employer Perceptions of Desirable Entry-level Operations Management Skills, Mid-American Journal of Business, vol. 16 no.1, pp. 51-59. Kleinman, S, 2010, The culture of efficiency: technology in everyday life, New York: Peter Lang Monks, K. and McMackin, J. (2001). Designing and aligning an HR system. Human Resource Management, 11(2), pp. 57–72. Mullins, L. (2005). Management and organisational behaviour. Edinburgh: Prentice Hall: Pearson Education Towers Perrin-ISR (2006). Engaged Employees Help Boost the Bottom Line. US: Towers Perrin-ISR. Read More