HR comparative online case study

Human Resources is the process of managing an organisation's workforce. For any business to be successful it is essential that it develops a highly skilled and motivated group of employees.

-a team that is able to work together to achieve the organisation's objectives. Change is a part of every business and it impacts on all areas of a business's operations, including employment relations. This change may come from government legislation and policy, social influences or economic activity. It is essential for a business

 to develop programs and initiatives that allow it to consider how these changes impact on its employees and how to respond to these impacts. Much of employments relationship is regulated through government tribunals and legislation. This extends to the processes of wage negotiation, working conditions and workplace conflicts. The extends to which stakeholders within the employment relationship work cooperatively in resolving their differences can have a considerable impact on the success of the business.

Task 1

A key component of the Woolworths culture is the recognition of high achievers. There is a range of awards the recognise high achievers and outstanding contributors to the company. Some of these awards include:  

The Annual Woolworths Heroes Program

The annual Woolworths Heroes Program recognises 27 outstanding contributors to our business, community and environment. Nominated for consideration by their own division, the ‘Heroes’ are flown to the Company conference and thanked in front of thousands of delegates.

Paul Simmons Award

Established in 1995, the Paul Simons Award is an annual program that recognises the development of young people within the Company. Participants are nominated from all divisions and a winner is selected in each category.

Joe Berry Award

The Joe Berry Award is an external competition acknowledging and recognising outstanding young (35 years and under) achievers in retail. Some of the country’s most prominent retail and supplier managers have won this competition, which began in 1986.

As well as the Woolworths recognition awards, we offer a range of financial and non-financial employee benefits. These include:

Flexible Work Options

Flexible work options tailored to individual needs have proven to be an important factor in retaining people as their work-life balance needs evolve. Our job-share opportunities offer further flexibility to our staff.

Parental Leave

Following the introduction of paid maternity leave in 2008, there were 1,436(3) women who commenced parental leave during the 2010 financial year, compared to 1,080 during the previous year. 

With the introduction of the Government Paid Parental Leave scheme in January 2011, Woolworths will still continue with its current Paid Maternity Leave initiative (introduced in 2008) which includes six weeks paid maternity leave, two week return-to-work bonus and up to 104 weeks parental leave.

Remuneration

Woolworths prides itself on market competitive benefits and remuneration. In the case of operational roles the entry-level rate of pay is at, or in excess of, the modern award. With the introduction of this award,  the Supermarket Division is paying between 2–6% of the standard entry level minimum wage across Australia.

The remuneration structure includes two components - 

1. The cash-based short-term incentive plan is made available to all managerial salaried employees.
2. The long-term incentive plan is offered to managers who play a critical role in the long-term success of our business, including executives, store managers and buyers.

Qantas Rewards

Qantas use its rewards management scheme (both financial and non-financial) to attract, retain and motivate its employees. The reward system seeks to be equitable, clearly communicated, defensible, consistent, relevant, cost-effective, and integrated withQantas' corporate strategy.

Monetary rewards

Competitive wages and salaries are the main financial rewards for Qantas employees. Qantas also uses performance-based pay for some employees (particularly its senior managers). This means that a direct remuneration (direct cash elements of pay) is tied to individual, team and company performance. For the third consecutive year, Qantas paid a cash bonus to each eligible staff member in recognition of their contribution to Qantas' record profit results. Other financial rewards provided include entitlements that Qantas must provide by law to its employees like superannuation as well as benefits provided as the discretion of Qantas like company cars, additional maternity leave, health assessments, child care facilities and flight/travel discounts. In 2009, there were no cash bonuses and executive team remuneration was down by 20% due to the global economic downturn.

Non-monetary rewards

Employees are often willing to join Qantas for the non-monetary rewards they offer like interesting and challenging work, job recognition, job performance feedback, promotion, autonomy in the job, good relationships with co-workers and a safe and healthy environment.

Questions

1. Identify the rewards strategy used by Woolworth and Qantas?
2. Evaluate each strategy and outline its impacts on the Business?
3. Assess and explain the strategy that can be in most benefit for the Business? 

Task 2

CASE 1 (MATTER NO. IRC 2000/1504):

 An assistant catering manager from a local services club was
dismissed for allegedly stealing from the till at the end of a shift. The assistant catering manager was a young man who vehemently denied the allegation and lodged an unfair dismissal claim mainly to clear his name, especially for future career prospects in the hospitality industry. At the conciliation hearing, the employer, who represented himself because the employer association representative failed to appear, admitted that the employee was an extremely good worker, that
the employees were under constant video surveillance in the work area and this produced no evidence of theft. The only basis for the accusation of theft was that the till takings did not balance. The employee explained that the till imbalance was caused by a discount to a member for meals were not being correctly recorded on the till. The employer refused reinstatement but offered a few weeks pay. The employee accepted this deal on the condition that he received a reference from the employer, which the employer was happy to provide. It emerged later that the employer had one too many catering managers and needed to shed one and took this approach to doing so. The good news for the employee is that he has gone on to a much more senior management position at another services club. The hearing and settlement of this matter took about one hour.

CASE 2 (MATTER NO. IRC 2217/2001): 

The employee began employment as a permanent part-time courier driver and was on probation for the first three months and was paid under the Transport Industry (State) Award. About eight months after starting employment the employee, having confirmed with his employer that he was permanent part-time, pointed out to his employer that he was entitled to public holidays and annual leave on a pro-rata basis. The employer became abusive and said that he would look into it. Two weeks later the employer informed the employee
that he was not going to get public holidays or annual leave. The employer added that he was prepared to give a pay rise if the employee dropped all the issue with public holidays and annual
leave. The employee wanted time to think about this. A few days later on a Friday the employer asked the employee whether he was still insisting on his claims and when told that he was, the employer said that he would not be needed next week. At the end of the following week, the employer rang the employee to say that he should start back at work next week as a casual employee on casual rates and shorter hours. The employee refused this offer and lodged an unfair
dismissal claim on the basis that he was constructively dismissed on the previous Friday. At the conciliation conference, it was established that the employee was ‘unfairly’ terminated by the employer and a settlement was reached that resulted in the employee being paid ten weeks pay, which included one weeks notice and public holiday pay owed. The employer, who represented himself, was a little surprised by the result, despite the fact that he suggested the final settlement
amount and asked for time to pay the compensation amount (eight weeks pay). The applicant and the employer came to an arrangement on the matter. The employee was satisfied that he had been vindicated in asserting his industrial rights to annual leave and public holidays, but as a result, had no job to go to.

Questions

1. Outline the causes of the workplace disputes in both case studies?
2. Compare the consequences of both case studies? Analyse the strategies to resolve them?
3. Analyse the strategies to resolve them?
4. Discuss ONE dispute resolution method a business could use to resolve workplace conflict. 

Task 3

What is the Qantas dispute all about?

Updated 22 Nov 2011, 9:43amTue 22 Nov 2011, 9:43am

PHOTO: The fleet grounding will impact 108 planes at 22 airports, domestically and internationally (AAP: Mick Tsikas)

Fair Work Australia has ordered a termination of an industrial dispute which led to the grounding of the airline's entire fleet.

Here are some facts about the situation:

• Industrial action by three unions, representing engineers, baggage and catering staff and long-haul pilots, has been ongoing for several months over pay and conditions.

• Qantas says the strike action resulted in at least 80,000 passengers being affected, more than 600 flights cancelled and seven aircrafts grounded.

• The fleet grounding impacts 108 planes at 22 airports, domestically and internationally.

• The Fair Work ruling to terminate the industrial dispute means Qantas flights will resume some time today.

• Jetstar flights, QantasLink flights and Qantas flights across the Tasman operated by Jetconnect are continuing. Jetstar capacity is very limited.

• Express Freighters Australia, Atlas Freighters operating.

• Virgin Australia has put on extra services.

• The dispute has cost Qantas about $70 million in damages so far, with costs mounting at $15 million each week. Grounding the entire fleet is estimated to cost $20 million a day.

• In July Qantas pilots on international routes began their first industrial action in 45 years with unauthorised in-flight announcements telling passengers about their dispute. Rolling strikes by engineers also began delaying thousands of passengers.

• In August Qantas announced a restructure which will see 1,000 jobs slashed as part of a new emphasis on Asia, a move met with a firestorm of criticism from unions.

• Later that month Qantas announced it had more than doubled its full-year net profit to $250 million but warned of challenging times ahead as it revamps its loss-making international arm.

• In October, Prime Minister Julia Gillard urged unions and Qantas to sort out their differences.

• The airline flies to 208 destinations in 46 countries, operating more than 5,700 flights a week across all its brands domestically and more than 970 international flights. It moved 44.5 million passengers in the year ended June 2011.

Questions

Task Outline: Using the QANTAS Industrial Dispute Case Study, you are to write an extended response on the following: (Format: Essay (extended response) Length: 800 words)

1. EVALUATE THE IMPACT OF FOUR KEY INFLUENCES ON QANTAS’ HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT. You MUST choose 4 of the following key influences from the list below:

• stakeholders
• legal
• economic
• technological
• social
• ethics and corporate social responsibility 

2. Assess the costs of the recent industrial disputes at Qantas for the employees and the employer.

The on-line comparative case study

There are Three case studies designed for this task. Students are to read the following case studies and answer the questions. the first case study compares and deals  with the rewards and achievements of the employees of two big Australian companies: Woolworth and Qantas. However, the second case study deals and compares two workplace disputes resolution case studies and the third case study is Qantas industrial dispute case study. There are also a question regarding the image in the Evaluation tab. Students have to answer all questions in pairs on a Word document and email it to the teacher email address previously provided.

The following text may be helpful for your research. Also, extra links can be found in the Credits tab in case of any additional  research needed. The textbook for this subject can very beneficial for answering these questions. 

Rewards Strategy

There are five elements of total rewards, each of which includes programs, practices, elements and dimensions that collectively define an organization’s strategy to attract, motivate and retain employees. These elements are:

• Compensation
• Benefits
• Work-Life
• Performance and Recognition
• Development and Career Opportunities

WORKPLACE CONFLICT RESOLUTION TIPS AND STRATEGIES

Workplace Conflict Resolution Tips and Strategies

1. Act immediately. Conflicts do not go away. Unresolved conflicts can lie dormant for days, weeks or months, only to explode on another occasion. Avoiding conflict is one of the main causes of claims being made against an organisation. Workers that make claims often feel that no one has listened or done anything to resolve the conflict. They feel they have no choices but to seek the help of professionals. Unresolved workplace conflicts can quickly impact on workplace climate or culture (in smaller organisations). Whole teams are quickly affected as conflict spreads and other employees become involved. Productivity, performance and workplace relationships are impacted quickly when conflict takes hold.
2. Meet with people involved in the conflict separately. Get a clear understanding of the issues before you try to intervene. People often have very different perceptions of what has occurred. Understanding their perceptions will help you to focus on what is important to each person, and to find common ground.
3. Perception is reality. Focus on what the people involved need and what’s important to them, not on trying to judge who is right or wrong. Often both people have contributed something to the situation. Judging who is right and wrong, and particularly commenting on these judgements, can escalate conflict quickly.
4. Decide whether to mediate or to call in others to help. Once you have discussed the issues with all or both of the people involved, decide whether you will be able to mediate yourself or you will need the help of HR or external mediators. Managers often successfully resolve simple disputes involving two people that have only been alive for a few hours, days or weeks. Generally complex and long-standing issues involving a number of people are best left for experienced mediators to deal with. These kinds of workplace conflicts are often sensitive and require high-level skill to bring them to a resolution.
5. Arrange the next stage as soon as possible. While it can be difficult to arrange meetings in busy workplaces ensure resolving the conflict is a top priority. Generally the longer the conflict goes on for, the harder it is to resolve.

Questions

1. Identify the link between the four functions of the Business?

Syllabus

Business Studies HSC Topic: Human Resources

Course Time: 30 indicative hours (25% of course time)
Focus: The focus of this topic is the contribution of human resource management to business performance.

Outcomes

The student:
H2 evaluates management strategies in response to changes in internal and external influences
H3 discusses the social and ethical responsibilities of management
H4 analyses business functions and processes in large and global businesses
H5 explains management strategies and their impact on businesses
H6 evaluates the effectiveness of management in the performance of businesses
H7 plans and conducts investigations into contemporary business issues
H8 organises and evaluates information for actual and hypothetical business situations
H9 communicates business information, issues and concepts in appropriate formats

Students learn to:

examine contemporary business issues to:

• discuss the influence of government on the process of determining employment contracts
• explain how businesses exhibit corporate social responsibility in the management of human resources
• analyse the causes of two workplace disputes and the strategies used to resolve them
• examine the advantages of a diverse, culturally competent workforce for a global business

investigate aspects of business using hypothetical situations and actual business case studies to:

• explain the interdependence between human resources and other key business functions
• compare the process of negotiating enterprise/collective agreements with the negotiation of individual contracts
• discuss the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing in the global market
• evaluate the effectiveness of human resource management for one business and recommend appropriate alternative strategies

For extra research on the tasks view the following links:

http://www.woolworths.com.au/wps/wcm/connect/Website/Woolworths/About+U…

http://workplaceinfo.com.au/hr-management/performance-management/news/k…

http://www.mindfulmediation.com.au/workplace-conflict-resolution/

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-29/qantas-factbox/3608330

http://workplaceinfo.com.au/hr-management/hr-strategy/rewards-strategy

Marking Criteria Task 1
• Provides characteristics and features of employee rewards to show how they can be used to improve business performance, with the use of an appropriate example 9-10 
• Provides characteristics and features of employee rewards which could be used to improve business performance 7-8
• Sketches in general terms some features of employee rewards 5-7
• Names an employee reward 1-4

Marking Criteria Task 2 

• Identifies issues and provides points for and/or against one dispute resolution method which could be used to resolve workplace conflict 9-10
• Provides characteristics and features of one dispute resolution method 7-8

• Provides a point for or a point against this method  5-7 
• Sketches in general terms one dispute resolution method 3-5 
• Names one dispute resolution method 1-3

Assessment Task 4 Marking Criteria  Task 3

Outcomes: H2, H4, H8, H9
Marks
• Provides a sustained, logical, cohesive and well-structured response and communicates
clearly using relevant business terminology and concepts
• Provides highly detailed, relevant information on the theory behind 4 of the key influences and the QANTAS case study
• Makes reasoned and supported judgements on the impact of the outlined influences on QANTAS’ human resource management
17–20
• Provides a logical and well-structured response and communicates
using relevant business terminology and concepts
• Provides detailed, relevant information on the theory behind 4 of the key influences and the QANTAS case study
• Makes valid judgements on the impact of the outlined influences on QANTAS’ human resource management
13–16
• Provides sound response and communicates using business terminology and concepts
• Provides information on the theory behind 4 of the key influences and the QANTAS case study
• Attempts to make a judgement on the impact of the outlined influences on QANTAS’ human resource management
9–12
• Provides a response which attempts to communicate some business terminology and concepts
• Makes reference to the 4 key influences and may include the Qantas case study
• Mentions some impacts on QANTAS human resources management
5–8
• Attempts to provide a response and may or may not include any business terminology
• May mention the key influences and/or the QANTAS case study
• May or may not refer to human resource management
1–4
KEY WORDS USED IN THIS ASSESSMENT TASK:
Evaluate: Make a judgement based on criteria; determine the value of
Comments:
__________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________
Teacher’s signature: Date:
Student self-reflection:
What did I do well? ____________________________________________________
Where can I improve? __________________________________________________