CASE STUDY 01: The Human Resource Managers
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The Prime Manufacturing Company has suffered from a decline in keeping
employees and productivity. Due to Mr. Rod Santos’ inefficient handling of
the human resources office. Mr. Rod does not possess the skills and vision
essential to cope with HR responsibilities in a challenging clothing
manufacturing environment, despite his experience working in a different
industry. High turnover, delays in production, and discontent among
employees and foreign clients have been caused by his failure to engage
with employees, conduct proper exit interviews, and make timely decisions.
Coordination and teamwork in the department suffered because of the
increasing lack of confidence in his leadership. Employees create a
poisonous work culture through feeling neglected and unappreciated. The
company may still suffer from operational inefficiencies and a bad reputation
unless the issues persist.
CASE FACTS
Prime Manufacturing Company, a garment factory, faces a severe HR crisis
within three months of the new hire, Human Resources head Mr. Rod
Santos. He comes from a construction firm with limited HR responsibilities,
which results in him lacking some relevant experience and exhibiting poor
leadership and failing to address the issue proactively. 20 percent of women
employees and 12 percent of male employees resigned for unknown
reasons, as there was no exit interview conducted. Resulting in production
delays and negative impact on customer relationships. The general
manager received complaints from the subordinates about his
indecisiveness and for not taking action regarding the problem within the
HR department. He became more withdrawn and lost interest in his job,
resulting in losing control of his job managing the department.
HYPOTHESIS
• Santos' former employer cited the company's closure due to the
economic downturn, but it is unclear whether this is affecting his
current performance. The root cause of the employees leaving was
not identified due to the lack of exit interviews, so this emphasizes
improving HR leadership skills to address the underlying issues and
prevent recurrence.
• If the Human Resource Manager improves communication, conducts
exit interviews, and addresses employee concerns, then employee
turnover will decrease and production delays will be reduced.
• Due to Mr. Santos's lack of experience as a manufacturing manager
and familiarity with its work, the poor handling of the HR task may
have led to the high number of employees resigning early in his term.
• Mr. Rod Santos 'lacks human resources experiences, and this has
contributed to poor employee relations, ineffective management
practices, and increased employee turnover, ultimately leading to
production delays and dissatisfaction among clients.
• Since Mr. Santos showed a passive attitude and didn’t take much
initiative, employees and subordinates lost trust in him, which led to
complaints, and eventually, his failure to meet the expectations of his
position.
ALTERNATIVE COURSE OF ACTION
Action #1
Support Mr. Rod Santos with Targeted Human Resources Training
One good action the company can take to move forward is to give Mr. Rod
Santos proper training in human resources and leadership. He may not
have the requisite knowledge to properly deal with employee issues or lead
a department, since his university training was in engineering and his
experience is limited to payroll and accounting. In fact, the Society for
Human Resource Management (SHRM, 2020) states that HR training for
HR practitioners is a critical component of providing HR value to
organizational performance through employee engagement and turnover.
Thinking through development options for Rod will allow Deloitte to develop
Rod instead of replacement. Although investment in development will take
time and some expense, it is a better outcome in the long run and in the
meantime as Rod will grow in to his new responsibilities. Some results will
not happen quickly but it will show that the company supports Rod in the
profession of HR and a process to improve his understanding and
confidence as an HR leader.
Action #2
Provide Mr. Santos with an Experienced Mentor
Another course of action that Prime Manufacturing Company may consider
taking is to provide Mr. Santos with an experienced HR manager
professional within the organization to act as a mentor and share their
experiences. Mentors can provide direction, share experiences and best
practices, and provide emotional; help when things get difficult. Research
conducted by Harvard Business Review (2019) indicates that mentorship
improves management performance and helps new leaders adjust more
quickly to their roles. This option is cost-effective and supports participatory
learning within the organization. The only difficulty could be finding a mentor
that has time and a genuine willingness to contribute as a mentor.
Nevertheless, it represents a creative and supportive process within the
organization for Rod to learn within and eventually lead with increased
confidence.
Activity #3
Conduct exit interviews and Employee Feedback Sessions
The HR department should also conduct thorough exit interviews, as well
as regular feedback sessions with employees. The HR department should
try to determine some of the reasons so many employees, in particular
women, are leaving for other opportunities and what the organization needs
to change. As Noe et al. (2021) indicate, it is important to identify employee
needs in relation to turnover because organizations can then respond with
ways to improve their retention strategies. This demonstrates to employees
that their opinions are valuable and that the organization cares and is acting
on what they are hearing. Although in the beginning it may be difficult to
elicit genuine feedback from employees, and trust may play an issue,
through recommitting to always listening, seeking feedback, and
responding, employee confidence can grow, and eventually the culture of
the organization will improve upon itself.
RECOMMENDATION
In this case, we recommend Action #1 as our course of action.
We recommend that Mr. Rod Santos be trained in specialized HR
procedures to facilitate a smooth transformation into the HR role while filling
knowledge gaps. While he is quite skilled in engineering and payroll,
currently, he does not have the technical HR knowledge needed for efficient
employee-specific handling (SHRM, 2020). Although he is not yet fully
qualified in this area, Mr. Santos shows a strong likelihood of growth and
development (Jones & Smith, 2019). Once trained, he may come to
understand better the needs of the company and, therefore, contribute to
improved operations and employee satisfaction (Brown, 2021). This
strategic move will also contribute toward improving employee
engagement, retention, and innovation in line with the long-term goals of
the organization. His contribution to company success or commitment will
bring fresh ideas and more leadership to the HR department through proper
mentoring and guidance.
MEMBERS:
CLAUR, Jemina
MANIQUE, Dhaysyn Neth
MENDEZ, Princess
MONISIT John Rey
SAROMINES, Charisse Angela
