The Case: Manging human resource for competitive advantage at System IT Company

The Case Study

The System IT Company is what might be called a traditional IT spare part manufacturing organization.

The company is very hierarchical shopfloor workers report to works supervisors, who report in turn to production managers. Managers and supervisors wear shirts and ties.

Shopfloor workers say that the only time they see a manger is when the manager is firing someone or when there is a problem with production. Communication is one way, i.e top-down. There is no opportunity to vent their grievances if problems occur.

There is a large central Personnel Department with much emphasis on its administrative roles. A recent survey has shown that production managers are spending less than 10% of their time on people issues and that the focus of their attention is driving the task of their teams.

The production managers do not play an active role in recruiting production operators. The responsibility for selection lies with the Personnel Department. It is quite common for mangers to meet the new members of their section for the first time on the morning they start work.

There is no real attempt to measure the skills of applicants other than a brief interview and a medical. With an hours training, they are put on the job.

Similarly, training is handled entirely by specialists; there is no involvement of line managers, supervisors or indeed shopfloor staff in the process.

Question

Prepare a report (1000 Words)

As a consultant to System IT Company, prepare a report for the organizations senior management commenting on the effectiveness and efficiency of current practices in its human resource management.

Note: It is permissible to make assumptions by adding to the case details given, provided the essence of the case study is not changed.

Answer requirement:

• Able to critically discuss on the HRM practices of the company
• Analyse the HR functions in human resource management on overall company performance.