Human Resource Analysis of Jinnikins Jeans - Assignment Example

? Human Resource Analysis of Jinnikins Jeans Executive Summary This paper aims to explore the mode of organizational design applied by Jinnikins Jeans in the process of selection and recruitment of staff. Jinnikins Jeans offers a managerial design that is founded on informal standards, procedures, strategies, and practices. Furthermore, informal initiatives have negatively influenced communication lines, resulting to boardroom wrangles amongst its top brass. This paper analyzes the impact of such practices, as well as the overall impact of a weak and unstructured organizational culture. A weak organizational culture can negatively affect an organization’s financial performance through lowering its turnover. An organization with weak structures and unclear processes incurs high operational costs. Furthermore, this can present negative future implications if the situation is not handled well. This paper explores the human resource situation at Jinnikins jeans and suggests possible courses of action. Introduction Jinnikinns jeans was founded in the late 90s by two brothers, namely Trevor and George who were both born and raised in East London. Their business model specialized in fashionable girl’s items, which were sourced from India. Local and value for money concept drove the business model. In their township, they established numerous cloth stalls from in London and Birmingham, and by the end of the 1190s, their business was held as a model of youthful entrepreneurship. Amos (2008, p. 180) categorically states that the business model of Jinnikinns was more informal as this was in line with their business style. It was equipped with a combination of their value of entrepreneurship, determination, creativity, and design. The two brothers accelerated their expansion in the mid 2000 through buying existing textile firms and conforming them to their own business design. Despite the vigor and psyche associated with this business model, the organization has continued to experience a low turnover in the recent past. The heavy investment in high-tech, state-of-the art building in Moseley has made its turnover to the tune of multi-millions (Kidner, 2012, p. 54). The new secretariat houses the Chairman of the Board, Managing Director, marketing, Finance Department, Information Technology, Human Resource Management, Design, Distribution and Fleet, and recently Production Department. The brand continues to generate volume sales basically through departmental stores in major cities. Others include leisure and outlets for children's clothing. The board is considering using their own identity chain stores with the aim of expanding the firm’s market share from the current 9.75% (Kidner, 2012, p. 189). According to the latest financial reports, the firm’s gross turnover decreased by 31% and there is no clear explanation of the fall (Kidner, 2008, p. 190). This incidence; however, has caused no panic, as the brand “denim/jeans” is a universal brand, but its relative performance is high compared to its main competitors (Amos, 2008, p. 54). People Management The human resource department (HRM) is crucial in the implementation of policies regarding the workforce. The department is vital as it acts as a mediator between the employees and the employer, thereby bridging the gap between the two. One of the important roles that the department undertakes is to communicate the needs of the employees to the employer. On the other hand, the needs of the employer are communicated to the employees through the human resource department. An effective h resource human resource department can eliminate the need for trade unions as is represents the interests of both sides without bias. A human resource department that is not representative of employees’ interests can result to riots, strikes, go-slows wich can directly affect the productivity of the organization. Upon completion of their new building, Jinnikin’s top brass is housed in a single unit. George is the Chair of the board and carries out a daily review of the firm’s production, delivery,a, and sale parameters. Trevor is George’s younger brother, and the firm’s Managing Director. And is known to create conflicting pressures for the employees because of his routine involvement. Lionel is the production manager, whose recommendations led to overseas outsourcing of production. Dan is the Distribution Manager and is in charge of the Warehouse and Distribution Centre, whose capacity is in dire question. Furthermore, his financial and domestic commitments are a threat to his efficiency. Sandy is their new finance manager, who was appointed through the bank’s influence in 2009 (Amos, 2008, p. 101). Etty is the Human Resource Manager is one of the brother’s kin and also their loudest critic. He is innovative and effective, but also professionally unqualified for the position. Asha is the senior designer and also a member of the management team. She does not have the capacity to be an executive member, but the company has used this promotion to retain her because of her superior design skills. Kidner (2012, 225) categorically argues that the two brothers, who represent the top-decision making organ, have not yet developed a succession plan. The only effort is their insistence of their permanent stay in the company. Information has it that she is secretly dating Trevor. The firm has no Marketing Director, as Dinash; the former Marketing Director, resigned to accept the position of Marketing Manager in one of the firm’s rival companies. There are also regional sales managers, who are responsible for sales and accounts in their regions. There is no swift working relationship between the sales managers and the marketing Director. Liam is the Product Development Manager, who reports to the Marketing Director. Currently, he is the acting Marketing Director. People Management-Recruitment and Selection Jinnikins Jeans people management is loosely structured and informal. It presents a human resource technique that does not completely conform to standard human resource practices. Furthermore, it lacks human resource strategic components and policies. In this light, the informal and loose approach reflects a weak selection and recruitment staff, and this can explain why the firm’s gross turnover fell by more than 30% in the last financial reporting (Dransfield, 2008, p. 99). Organizational culture is crucial in the process of recruitment and selection as it helps determine the ensuing organizational culture. This is because employees are the determinants of an organization’s culture. When leadership establishes a certain culture, competent employees will take a short time to adapt to the elements of the new culture, whereas incompetent employees are a liability in terms of adapting to a new organizational culture. Furthermore, incompetent employees take a long time to implement some organizational behaviors and expectations (kidner, 2012, p. 300). Their level of efficiency and workload rate is also low. For instance, the case study presents a management paradigm that is informal in nature, and which is characterized by high family engagement. Furthermore, the “family influence” has determined the selection of unprofessional and unqualified members of the management board. Jinnikin’s organizational culture, with respect to recruitment and selection is flawed, from the top management down. Organizational culture refers to observable, persistent trends in an organization. Individuals are what they consistently do, in this light, repeated behaviors and habits represent the core of culture in an organization. Moreover, it de-emphasizes the feelings, thoughts, and beliefs of people.an organization’s culture also helps to focus attention on the determinants, which shape behavior in firms. In effect, it highlights all the ingredients, including processes, structures, and incentives that affect the efficiency of an organization (Kidner, 2012, p. 331). Impact of Flawed Culture Jinnikin’s management structure reflects various features of informal structures. For instance, for instance the recruitment process’ most important element is collaborative creativity. Academic qualifications do not matter much. The emphasis is on informality, casual, and laid-back. The majority of the employees fall below the 35 year old line, apart from the two brothers (Dransfield, 20008, pp. 120). Informality is also experienced in the firm’s communication channels. For instance, during board meetings, there is always a rift. One camp comprises the designers who design the garments and the other one is made of financial and administrative experts. Clearly this is a collision between formal agents against informal agents at the firm. These structures were established in response to the firm’s development and are always faced with changing dimensions. The top brass of Jinnikins, who are the two brothers. Trevor and George seems to have little control in the affairs and tension (relationship/organizational structure) in the firm. This can be explained by two reasons. Firstly, the management is impressed by the firm’s financial performance, and secondly, the top brass has little autonomy in the management of the firm. This helps to explain their hesitation in restructuring the informal leadership prevalent in the organization (Pattanayak, 2005, p. 74). Informal structures are shaped by assumptions. They are formed by people themselves to help illustrate their corporate culture. Just like formal structures, informal structures also interface with each other in the organization. There is also informal communication at Jinnikins. This especially applies to the management of the company, amongst the executive members. There are no formal procedures for promotion and this explains the firm’s weak retention capacity, to the point of losing a crucial employee like the Marketing Director. Lack of well established promotion, motivation, staff morale boost and sundry led to the loss of their Marketing Executive; Dinash, who was lured by the one of Jinnikin’s rivals. Selection refers to the procedure which organizations follow in determining the right job applicants for a particular job (Dransfield, 2008, p. 250). The criteria is useful because it helps to define the candidate who is most successful in meeting the demands of a certain position in the organization. Selection also helps to identify the right candidate, who will fit with a specific Workgroup or organizational culture. A poor selection process insinuates unnecessary expenses in the organization. With respect to respect to recruitment and selection, an organization hires the most qualified and most suitable candidates, whether they are current employees or job applicants. The recruitment process usually attracts many candidates for a particular job vacancy. Nevertheless, the process of selection is vital as it helps to reduce the numbers to manageable levels (Pattanayak, 2005, p. 119). The candidates who have applied for a job in the recruitment process are screened to an ample number. Consequently, those that prove most suitable for the position are selected, whereas unsuitable ones are rejected. Selection offers executives an opportunity to analyze the candidates and employee’s personality and character. This ensures that only the individual with the most suitable personality and character is offered the job. The process gives organizations an opportunity to take notice of individual adaptability and flexibility of a certain candidate. This helps to guarantee that such an individual can swiftly adjust to the tough demands of the job. Impact of Flawed Selection and Recruitment Jinnikin’s informal culture and structures can be attributed to its inferior selection and recruitment process. Even though its financial records do not reflect the impact of the weak organizational culture in its human resource, analysts have suggested that a failure to address the issue can make the company lose its competitive advantage (Pattanayak, 2005, p. 120). The business world is drastically changing, as well as dimensions, patterns, and conditions. Soon or later, there will be no place for informal practices, rather a mixture of formal and informal measures, practices, policies, initiatives, and strategies. Aside from determining that the organization recruits the best behaved employees, recruitment and selection also help an organization to sustain a high employee retention rate. This prevents low employee turnover, both in the current period as well as in the future (Dransfield, 2008, p. 299). Applying the best selection processes in the process of recruitment ensures that only the most suitable and qualified individuals are chosen to fill a vacant position. Employee retention is vital to an organization. This is because the process of hiring and training is costly. This analysis identifies that in the recent past, the company’s cash-flow has been irregular and this calls for long-term administrative reforms, as opposed to short-term measures like expanding its brand base to include ladies leisure wear; the “high street giant.” Moreover, the new venture has presented negative financial to the firm, as the All Saints Limited has not turned out to be the money making machine that the company hoped for. Low sales and boardroom tug wars explain the enterprise’s failure. Informal initiatives and practices have greatly promoted inefficiencies in communication among the senior management of the company (Pattanayak, 2005, p.124). As earlier mentioned, the firm’s boardroom wars have crippled important deliberations because of personal attributes like egoism and self-centeredness. Furthermore, other personality deficiencies like low self-esteem greatly defines the top brass of a Jinnikins jeans company. To make matters worse, there are no clearly defined conflict resolution measures. This can be explained by the lack of professionalism in the organization, especially in the management tendencies of the two brothers. For instance, Trevor is in constant collision with junior and other senior employees, and some executive members. As Managing Director, he has an operational role but his approach seems to contradict to this provision. On the other hand, George appears a little unprofessional in keeping details of recruitment and selection of a new Marketing Director to himself. This represents a weak recruitment and selection process (Dransfield, 2008, p. 330). The jobs differ greatly in terms of salary and responsibility, as opposed to job functions and descriptions. If the organization had well defined recruitment and selection procedures, then it would also reflect ample mechanisms for allocating job functions and descriptions. A mere perception of a department’s level of responsibility presents a weak criteria for structuring the hierarchical structure. Job descriptions help to extend security to the business and its employees. Action Plan This analysis identifies that Jinnikins should adapt standard formal organizational practices and align them with the most necessary informal standards. The unprofessional culture at Jinnikins cab be best understood through the theory of organizational culture. The theory of organizational culture provides that individual behavior within a firm is not exclusively controlled by formal and informal structures and regulations. Instead, the framework holds that cultural norms, beliefs, values, and assumptions offer unconscious guidance and direction. This in turn works to shape the consequent behavior of the employees. The greatest problem affecting the company is the use of unprofessional standards and practices. For instance, there are no formal titles to reflect formal responsibilities. The theory of organizational culture provides that to be able to comprehend the current behavior of Jinnikins, as well as a possible prediction of future actions, one needs to understand the underlying basic assumptions, which comprise the abstract framework of its organizational culture (Jinnikins, 2008, p. 450). Theories of professionalism provides that individuals tend to depend on the knowledge and expertise of people and groups considered to have superior skills and professional standards.organizations seek such people as they are viewed as more productive and help to give the organization its competitive advantage in the industry. For instance Jinnikins Jeans is renowned for its hiring of talented designers, regardless of their academic or professional background. This has in turn promoted the recruitment of both professional and unprofessional employees, both at the executive level and in other positions (Pattanayak, 2005, p. 543). According to the framework of organizational culture, the top management is crucial in the determination of an organization’s culture. This explains the unprofessional behavior rampant in Jinnikins jeans. This analysis has explored the form and nature of human resource management, and weighed the impact of human resource strategies employed at Jinnikins jeans. The underlying problem at the firm is a high level of unprofessional standards, policies, strategies, and practices. This is attributed to the firm’s weak recruitment and selection criteria, which is not clearly defined and lack formal procedures. This analysis recommends either the full adaptation of formal procedures in the management of its human resource or a mixture of both professional and unprofessional standard (Dransfield, 2008, p. 500). 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