Different Dimensions of Strategic Human Resource Management - Coursework Example

?Human Resources Management Table of Contents Executive Summary 3 Introduction 4 Objective 5 Purpose of the Report 5 Human Resource Department (HRD) 6 Changing Roles of HRD 6 Reasons behind the Changes 7 Dismissal of the Personnel 7 Legal Issues in Dismissal 8 Legal and Ethical Issues that the HR Department Considers 8 Advice for Ms Davison for her meeting with the Trade Union 10 Conclusion 11 Recommendation 12 References 14 Executive Summary The major responsibility of the human resource department (HRD) is to deliver its commitment towards the organization, such as motivating employees, deriving higher performance from them through proper training, maintain healthy atmosphere within the organization. The committed workers in the organization are assigned the responsibility to self-monitor or handle a group of employees. The aim was to explore the relation between the human resource management (HRM), industrial relations and trade unions. All these aspects are covered to understand the case study. If the employees were found positive then they were dismissed from their job. The company was dealing in controversial drugs. We would be focusing on the case of James, a sales team leader in the office. He was found guilty when a sudden drug test was conducted on him and results were positive. The company took the decision which was similar for all. He was dismissed. In this aspect the role and reach of the human resource department is analyzed. The legal reach of the HRD, ethical issues that the HRD has to keep in mind and the role of the trade unions in the organization are also discussed. The legal help that an employee may receive if he/she is unfairly dismissed by the company is also analyzed in the study to advice both the parties in the case the next steps that they can take. It is the duty of the HRD to solve issues within the company, so that they would not have to spend unnecessary money in legal cases. Generally companies solve issues through mutual talk with trade unions or compensate the employee for the loss that he/she had to bear for sudden unemployment. In this case Ms Davison was the bridge between the trade union and the management of the company. She was supposed to solve issues and settle the matter. It was recommended that the personnel should be given a second chance for improvement with strict notice of warning. Termination is a final and drastic step, which could be only taken after few oral or written warnings. Introduction In this study we are going to discuss in detail about the different dimensions of strategic human resource management. Strategic human resource management simply means to manage the employees or human resources of the company, by keeping in mind the long-term goals and profitability of the company. Organizations are looking for such human resources who would prove to be unique assets and can provide sustainability to the company. Due to drastic changes in the business environment, increasing diversity in the workforce, increasing focus on profitability and technology, the importance of managing the workforce efficiently has increased. The basic function of the human resource department is to ensure that the company has competent, willing and efficient workforce. There are several other functions that the human resource department of the company has to monitor along with recruitment and selection of the employees. These functions includes job analysis, training the employees, monitoring performance of the employee for appraisal, ascertaining the remuneration for the particular job position or employee, allotting incentives for good performance, taking care of the employee benefit policies of the company, acting as a communication channel between the employees and the top level management, developing employee welfare, safety and health care plans, taking care of promotions, transfers, maintaining industrial relationships, handling the issues of the Trade Union, solving disputes within the employees or departments, assessing the ethical issues in the department or organization, etc. This study would include the ethical aspects, legal policies and also the functions of the human resource management. The role of HRD in termination of employee and the role of the trade Unions in such cases are also discussed. The concepts of human resource management would be utilized to study the case study of Medwell Chemcare. The case revolves around James, the sales team leader of the company named, Medwell Chemcare, which was into selling controversial drugs. James was a well-performing employee of the company. As already mentioned every employee had to attend a surprise drug test which was mandatory. James was also called for such a test, in which his results were positive due to partying and consuming drugs in the weekend. He was terminated from his job due to this reason. Now in the backdrop of this situation, we are going to assess the functions, policies and position of the human resource department of organizations. Apart from this we will also include the significance of the trade union in this case study and what role can they play in saving an employee from being terminated just for partying on weekends. Objective The primary objectives of this study are stated below: Understand the relationship between legal policies, ethical issues and human resource management To assess the position of Human Resource department, their reach to take decisions against an employee and the utilization of law in such decisions To analyze the impact of strategic decisions of Human resources Department (HRD) on the culture, structure, and employees in the organization To understand the legal or ethical issues companies might consider in case of dismissal of any employee The secondary objective is to advice Ms Davison for her meeting with the Trade Union representatives of the company. Purpose of the Report The purpose of this report is to touch the less discussed aspects of human resource department of an organization. The primary function of the HRD is to recruit, select and manage the workforce of the company, but the issues discussed in this report are equally import but less discussed and studied. The purpose is to put forward some different dimension of human resource management (HRM). Human Resource Department (HRD) Human resource management was actually called personnel management. Actually the HR department of an organization is responsible for the employee experience during the tenure of his employment. It is the human resource management of the company who are responsible for organizational culture and leadership. The human resource department of the company also has the essential duty of monitoring that the employees work in compliance with the labor laws. It is also the function of the human resource manager to assist the top-level management of the company in maintaining a healthy relationship with the trade unions in the organization. They also provide help the management in support functions and chalk out strategies to reduce the internal cost of the company and risk reduction (Bhatia, 2008, p. 91-92). Changing Roles of HRD Changes in human resources management can be seen due to various implications. The human resource departments in organizations do not function in the similar manner it used to function previously. According to the traditional HRM practices, the sole purpose of having an HR department was to recruit employees for the organization and complete their documentation when they were recruited in the company, but the picture is totally different now, HR department has evolved as the strongest department in most of the large organizations because they have very important functions to perform. The introduction of strategic human resource management and total quality management in organizations has changed the HRD’s picture. The duty of the HRD now is to integrate their functions with the business goals of the organization. This is the reason the HRD also focuses on the visions, missions and objectives of the organization because now even the HRD is responsible for productivity, quality and cost reduction of the company, since the employees of the organizations are responsible for such activity (Elliott, and Turnbull, 2005, p. 73-75). Reasons behind the Changes The reason why organizations changed and redesigned their human resource departments and reallocated their duties is because of infusing innovation in development and production of products and services. All the factors that lead to the production of excellent quality products are related to the employees, their efforts and the quality of input they give for such functions. Indirectly the HRD is responsible for the performance of the organization. All these factors in the macro environment, lead to globalization, and development of a competitive global market. The external environment is changing rapidly and to match up the competition and quality in the global market, companies have to develop excellent strategies to retain their uniqueness, but it’s the credibility of the HRD to develop policies for recruiting the right person and also see to that, the environment provided to the employees to work must be suitable and encouraging for him. Dismissal of the Personnel Dismissals of employees are considered as the most painful task in human resource department. Dismissal is considered as the extreme punishment that is given to the employees after detailed internal enquiry and assessment. Generally in cases of gross misconduct or other legal offense, an employee is dismissed from his/her duties, like in the case study James, though being a good performing sales team leader was dismissed from his duties as his drug test results were positive. This was an absolute policy of the company. So it basically also depends on the policy of the company, as to which offense they consider to be of great importance. However, there should be enough grounds for dismissing an employee from his/her job, since in most of the cases; companies do not allot yard sticks for justifying the gravity of the offense. So certain circumstances are considered for taking important decisions like dismissal. It should always be seen that no innocent employee is punished wrongly or dismissed from job. It is the duty of the human resource department to investigate the case history before putting forward the complaint in front of the top level management. Several laws are there to support an employee if he/she is wrongfully dismissed by the company, or if the company has dismissed the employee on the basis of vague reasons, without giving the person a chance of improvement. Legal Issues in Dismissal In order to stop unfair dismissal from employment or service, the regulatory bodies had formed laws against such practice. Different countries have different regulatory bodies, and the companies offer the norms accordingly. A very important question that comes to mind is that, what would the employee do, or what would be the legal remedy for those employees, who have been unjustly dismissed by the organization? Reinstatement in the company may not be suitable in condition when the employee is found to be disloyal. As an alternative companies often offer monetary settlements as a compensation of the losses the employee bears of for being dismissed. In US there are several laws to combat with the system of unfair dismissal of employees. However, in countries like California, employers assign employees at-will, which signifies that they can dismiss the employees any time, without even offering a concrete reason for such activity. In such cases also unlawful termination is illegal and punishable under law. While in countries like UK unfair termination or dismissal is considered to be a breach of contract and this case is punishable under the wrongful dismissal act. The employee can claim his/her lost earnings, damage of reputation or other related compensation. In the case study James’ drug test was found positive, but he could be given warnings for improvement. Dismissal of employment in the first case is unfair. According to Form 12-2 of employee dismissal law, an employee should be given oral and written warnings before final dismissal (Goyal, 2005, p. 254). Legal and Ethical Issues that the HR Department Considers In this section we would discuss about the legal and ethical issues that the human resource department considers. In order to consider that the employees are protected against many legal issues such as discrimination, termination, safety, etc, the human resource department ensures that they develop effective laws and policies in the organization. It is also their task to monitor that the laws are being followed in the company properly. Leaders play a very important role in solving issues in workplace that might become legal problems if not dealt on time. It is important that the HRD of the organization should be well-versed with the employment laws in order to understand and take legal steps when ever required. The safety and health laws play a very important role in cases such as these. Physical dangers and accidents are specially taken care of. Legal Issues that the HR department of companies considers are in case of hiring, maintaining law and order within the company, the inter-departmental conflicts, accidents, misconduct of employee or employees, etc. In the recruitment stage, the HRD must be careful in not getting involved in any form of illegal discrimination, as discrimination on the basis of class, creed, color, gender or nationality is a punishable offence under law. Since in case of James, the quantity of drugs that he took or positive results of his drug test is not a legally punishable allegation. The pharmacy company cannot legally take any action against James as neither was James a drug addict nor was his performance in the company bad. In return James could take action against the company for sudden dismissal without prior warnings. The principles or guidelines through which wrong and right conduct can be differentiated are known as Ethics. Managers in companies profit illegally from selling away inside stocks of the company. Human resource department of every company create code of ethics so that the employees maintain the ethical standards in the company. Even ethics training programs are introduced in companies and ethical officers are hired by the companies so as to check the unethical decisions of the employees in the organization. Ethics and human resources are interrelated. Nowadays, the HR departments focus on ethics even before deadlines. Though employees can easily overlook the ethical aspects due to excessive work pressure, but the HRD is there to monitor the unethical practices. HRD also have the right to punish the employee for unethical practices. Even dismissal of job can be expected in cases of grave and serious unethical practice. The HR systems in the organizations are keys to the maintenance and development of the ethical culture. The HR manager can focus on fitting ethics and values in the strategic framework of the organization. In the case study if we consider the ethical aspects, then it was unethical on part of James to intake drugs, which was absolutely against the regulation of the company. The company has all rights to punish their employees against unethical practices, but termination from job is considered as the last step of punishment (Aswathappa, 2007, p. 594). Advice for Ms Davison for her meeting with the Trade Union Ms Davison is the board member in the Pharmacy company and responsible for solving the matter of dismissal of James, a sale team leader with the trade union of the company. This study would help her to understand the issues which she can put forward in front of the trade union representative, in support to the decision of the company regarding dismissal of the personnel. As stated above, the legal and ethical issues have to be considered while taking decisions regarding dismissal of an employee. So Ms Davison has to state the basis on which the company has taken the decision, the gravity of the unethical practice for the company, so the employee was terminated, the implications and affect of such practice on the other employees in the organization. In organizations, trade unions play vital role. The issues related to trade union are usually considered under industrial relation. The human resource management and industrial relation are interrelated. The basic objectives are stated below: Production of goods and services efficiently and at the same time it is important to determine the terms of employment, interest of the employer, employee and the society as a whole. Setting up communication mechanism in the organization and establishing co-operation in workplace so as to resolve serious issues at workplace, to avoid legal involvement. The settlement of disputes among the employee and the employer is also an important function of HRD. The human resource department negotiates and settles the issues. Lastly, providing social protection is also required such as child labor, healthy working environment etc. If we see in this case, the company usually gave one day notice to the employees before conducting a drug test, but in case of James, he was not given any prior notice regarding the test. It is clearly mentioned in the case that the latest test was conducted unannounced due to the concern and anxiety of the director of the company for flaws in their new drug testing programs. This proves that James could be given an opportunity to resume his duties. Here the management was at fault. Termination was an extreme punishment given to the personnel for a small issue. Another employee was dismissed along with James as she smoked legally on weekend, and her test result was also positive. It was not a reason to get terminated or dismissed from job. Ms. Davison should mutually solve this matter with the trade union representative and compensate the personnel who lost their job for just an unexpected drug test. The employee can be fined heavily or suspended from duty for few days but he/she should not be dismissed. So James and his colleague should be given strict warnings for their conduct, but dismissal would be a drastic step which the management should think twice before implementing (Storey, Salaman, and Billsberry, 2005, p. 239-240). Conclusion The study focused on the aspects of human resource management, which analyses ethical and legal practices in dismissal of employees in the organization. Human resource management not only involves recruiting and selecting people, but also monitors their performance for appraisal and develops a safe and healthy working environment for them. In the first part of the study we have discussed about the human resource department, its functions and changing roles of the HRD. The reasons for such changes are also assessed so as to understand the involvement of the HRD in employee dismissal. The functions of the human resource management have been discussed in the backdrop of the case study of Medwell Chemcare. It was a weekend and the employed enjoyed in parties and consumed small amount of alcohol, drug tablets or smoked too. Due to the sudden drug test, their results were positive, so they were terminated according to the company policy. In this case the trade union of the company also participated and supported the employees. The company sent a representative for solving these issues with the trade union. The situation in this case is dicey, but termination is not the solution to the case. From the point of view of the employer, the policy of the company was to terminate the employees found guilty of taking drugs. On the other hand, the personnel were not drug addicts and neither was they poor performers. James was a sales team leader and his was a good performer. Moreover, he was not informed beforehand about the drug test, which was the system in the company. So the personnel can take help of trade union for some solution. Recommendation The solutions for both the parties are stated here. The first party is the employer and the second party is the personnel, who are dismissed from their duties for a positive drug test. The company dismissed their employee according to their policy. However, according to the labor laws, it is important that the employee is given oral and written warnings before dismissal, if the crime conducted is not so grave. He should be given another opportunity to improve his conduct in the workplace. In this case, legal action can be taken against James if he has consumed drugs, which were prohibited, but it would hamper the reputation of the company further. James consumed drugs like cocaine, ecstasy tablets and joints, which were considered illegal. He can take help from the trade union, if he thinks that he is innocent. The trade union can solve the issue mutually with the company’s top level management. The trade union can ask the company to reassign him by giving strict warnings. If the management agrees then its good otherwise, compensation is the next solution. Legally fighting for the issue would not be good for both the parties and it would hamper their reputation (Silva, 2008, The Theory of the Conflict between Industrial Relations and Human Resource Management). References Aswathappa, K., 2007. Human Resource and Personnel Management. 4th ed. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Bhatia, S. K., 2008. Emerging Human Resource Development (Hrd) (Focus On: Strategic Approaches, Competency Development and Retention). New Delhi: Deep and Deep Publications. Elliott, C., and Turnbull, S., 2005. Critical Thinking in Human Resources Development. London: Routledge. Goyal, R. C., 2005. Hospital Administration and Human Resource Management. 4th ed. New Delhi: PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. Silva, S. R., 2008. Human Resource Management, Industrial Relations and Achieving Management Objectives. [Pdf] Available at: [Accessed 9 August 2012]. Storey, J., Salaman, G., and Billsberry, J., 2005. Strategic Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice. 2nd ed. California: SAGE. Read More