CASE STUDY - FAR OUT SURF CLOTHING Huw McPherson contemplated the safety record for the retail division of his company, Far Out Surf Clothing. While the figures were not too far above the average for the company, the increase of 17 per cent in lost time hours over the last 3 months was concerning, this is measured as the time lost to safety concerns. ‘And the retail area is not really a dangerous place,’ thought Huw to himself, ‘especially when compared to the production division. I know, I’ll ring Andrew up, he’ll give me some answers.’ Andrew’s telephone rang for some time before it was answered by Shirley, one of the customer service assistants. Huw asked if he could speak to Andrew. ‘No, he’s off sick,’ said Shirley. Huw asked for one of the supervisors. ‘Well, Amanda is the only one on, but she is tied up with two customer complaints about customer service at the moment,’ she replied. Huw thanked her and hung up. Andrew was the assistant manager and having him away as well as two of the supervisors was quite unusual. With a flash of intuition, Huw used his computer to call up the sick leave records for the retail division. A quick analysis of the data showed that the sick leave records in the retail division had increased over 20 per cent in the past 6 months. Looking at the Daily Sick Leave Report, Huw was amazed to see that Fridays and Mondays were the most ‘popular’ days for sick leave with one memorable Friday having 42 per cent of the staff in the division away. ‘That’s a significant problem! Why has it not been identified previously,’ he thought. He mused on, ‘Well, I had better do something about it.’ Huw called in Alicia, the Human Resource Manager to question her about this issue. Alicia, had been with the company in the position of Human Resource Manager for 7 years, and she could not believe the change in morale that had happened in that time. When Huw called, he asked Alicia ‘How come this issue has not been identified previously?’ when explaining the data. Alicia was shocked by the statistics, annoyed with Huw because of his accusatory approach, and this added another dimension to the already complex issues she was dealing with in her role. In the clothing production area costly mistakes were being made for little apparent reason by the staff. Most of the staff in production had been with the company for over 5 years, but recently due to the increased demand and the new production computer system, there had been a need to hire additional casual staff. There was a belief amongst the permanent staff that the casual staff did not know enough and were not prepared for work in the production area which resulted in casuals feeling alienated and isolated from the permanent staff, as well as high casual employee turnover. The computer system had added to the complexity of the problem as only very few staff had volunteered for the training on the new system. Jack was one permanent staff member who had volunteered, but he has since left the company. In the exit interview, Alicia discovered that there were a belief that the working environment in the production area was toxic, and Jack had better opportunities for his career advancement personal development elsewhere. Upon reflection of all the issues that the company was facing, Alicia said ‘Right, I had better do something about all these issues, and it is going to take more than a band-aid approach!’ Adapted from: Delahaye, B.L. 2005, Human Resource Development: Adult learning and knowledge management, 2nd edn., John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd. Milton, p. 138. Question: Select one of the Organisational Transformational interventions from following options, and outline how the intervention could be used to bring about change at ‘Far Out Surf Clothing’. What outcomes would you expect as a result of the intervention? Human Process Based Intervention Techno-Structural Intervention 3) Socio-technical Systems Designs 4) Organisation Transformation Change
CASE STUDY - FAR OUT SURF CLOTHING
Huw McPherson contemplated the safety record for the retail division of his company, Far Out Surf Clothing. While the figures were not too far above the average for the company, the increase of 17 per cent in lost time hours over the last 3 months was concerning, this is measured as the time lost to safety concerns. ‘And the retail area is not really a dangerous place,’ thought Huw to himself, ‘especially when compared to the production division. I know, I’ll ring Andrew up, he’ll give me some answers.’
Andrew’s telephone rang for some time before it was answered by Shirley, one of the customer service assistants. Huw asked if he could speak to Andrew. ‘No, he’s off sick,’ said Shirley. Huw asked for one of the supervisors. ‘Well, Amanda is the only one on, but she is tied up with two customer complaints about customer service at the moment,’ she replied. Huw thanked her and hung up. Andrew was the assistant manager and having him away as well as two of the supervisors was quite unusual. With a flash of intuition, Huw used his computer to call up the sick leave records for the retail division. A quick analysis of the data showed that the sick leave records in the retail division had increased over 20 per cent in the past 6 months. Looking at the Daily Sick Leave Report, Huw was amazed to see that Fridays and Mondays were the most ‘popular’ days for sick leave with one memorable Friday having 42 per cent of the staff in the division away. ‘That’s a significant problem! Why has it not been identified previously,’ he thought. He mused on, ‘Well, I had better do something about it.’ Huw called in Alicia, the Human Resource Manager to question her about this issue.
Alicia, had been with the company in the position of Human Resource Manager for 7 years, and she could not believe the change in morale that had happened in that time. When Huw called, he asked Alicia ‘How come this issue has not been identified previously?’ when explaining the data. Alicia was shocked by the statistics, annoyed with Huw because of his accusatory approach, and this added another dimension to the already complex issues she was dealing with in her role.
In the clothing production area costly mistakes were being made for little apparent reason by the staff. Most of the staff in production had been with the company for over 5 years, but recently due to the increased demand and the new production computer system, there had been a need to hire additional casual staff. There was a belief amongst the permanent staff that the casual staff did not know enough and were not prepared for work in the production area which resulted in casuals feeling alienated and isolated from the permanent staff, as well as high casual employee turnover. The computer system had added to the complexity of the problem as only very few staff had volunteered for the training on the new system.
Jack was one permanent staff member who had volunteered, but he has since left the company. In the exit interview, Alicia discovered that there were a belief that the working environment in the production area was toxic, and Jack had better opportunities for his career advancement personal development elsewhere.
Upon reflection of all the issues that the company was facing, Alicia said ‘Right, I had better do something about all these issues, and it is going to take more than a band-aid approach!’
Adapted from: Delahaye, B.L. 2005, Human Resource Development: Adult learning and knowledge management, 2nd edn., John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd. Milton, p. 138.
Question:
Select one of the Organisational Transformational interventions from following options, and outline how the intervention could be used to bring about change at ‘Far Out Surf Clothing’. What outcomes would you expect as a result of the intervention?
- Human Process Based Intervention
- Techno-Structural Intervention
3) Socio-technical Systems Designs
4) Organisation Transformation Change
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