Task 1 – Identification of Two People Management Issues

The report throws light on the analysis of the HR functions which are required in the contemporary business environment. The case study is related to the British Gas wherein the two people management issues are required to be identified and the strategies are required to be analyzed effectively. With the different examples, the HR planning is required to be identified which will be essential in managing the problems of the staffs.

The wellbeing of the different customers is the other issue discussed in the case study, in which the discussion of the HR practices along with performance management aspects are required to be analyzed. Lastly, the influence of the different employment legislations on the HR practices is required to be discussed in an appropriate manner.

British Gas is the energy along with provider of home services in United Kingdom which was founded in the year 1997. The areas served by the company is in the entire United Kingdom market in which the main products which are being sold by them are gas, electricity along with home appliance services.

In the present competitive business environment, this can be seen and identified that the different organizations are customer centric and the main focus of the organization is to succeed in the organization in order to become successful. From the case study, this has been noticed that the British Gas Corporation wanted to be competitive in nature and focused mainly on the different retention techniques for retaining the different customers which will be beneficial for the success of the organization (Afsar, Badir and Kiani 2017).

Due to the same, this has been noticed that there are different issues which are being faced by the employees in the organization and their morale have been decreased as well. The two people management issues which are being faced by the British Gas are that there is no such proper workforce planning along with employment. Furthermore, the motive of the organization is to satisfy the needs of the customers as to retain them. Due to the same, there was lack of employee relations in the organization (Massenberg, Spurk and Kauffel 2015).

Human resource must be a kind of function which is business driven which will help in providing thorough understanding of the company and provide a big picture of the organization as well. The workforce planning is essential in nature in receiving the right amount of the staffs with right kinds of skills along with competencies at the right time (Jayaweera 2015).

Hiring the right candidates for the job along with administering the various ability of the employees is being tested which is helpful in increasing the overall efficiency of the organization in an appropriate manner. The HR manager of the British Gas Company needs to mainly focus on the different recruitment and providing training to the different employees in an efficient manner which plays a crucial role for the organization and the organization will experience growth.

Furthermore, the HR of the company needs to include proper policies and procedures which are required for maintaining positive relationship with the different employees working in the firm. From the case scenario, this can be analysed that the company is mainly focused on gaining profitability and retaining the different employees.

Role of Functional HR Department in Managing Issues

The functional aspect which is required to be followed by HR manager of the organization is to become resource for the employees wherein the satisfaction of the employees is the major aspect as they are the assets of the organizations. The employee relationship is essential in the organization which will improve their morale in performing the different activities efficiently and this will show its effect on the performance of the organization as well. In a unionized working environment, strengthening the relationship between employee and employer is essential as this will provide job satisfaction to them and this will resolve the workplace conflicts as well.

Therefore, from the above, this can be seen and identified that the employee relations and the hiring of the suitable candidates for the different job positions is essential for gaining competitive advantage.

There are several external factors, which are continuously driving rapid changes to the business procedure following which organizations are managing human resources and planning to deal with it in future through challenges. The business industry has become extremely global and industries are facing consistent challenges while meeting the dynamic requirement of customers’ changing preferences.  It has been realized by most of the business industries that successful implementation of venture depends on management’s design and execution of HR strategies.  British Gas considering the positive feedback received from native land, has decided to follow the trend of internationalization in order to grow and gain better revenue. However, it takes strategic planning to manage both the monetary and human resources strategically to receive successful results.

For instance, a detail reading of Dolata (2017) has described that Apple has strengthen the power of headquarters to supervise local managers while controlling the different international units. This is called centralization. This process helps to maintain strict brand identity and ensures quality as well. Besides, local trends are needed to follow. No better executives than a native man can do this. Making the entire process localized would help to satisfy customer needs locally. Therefore, as described in Caruth, Haden. and Caruth (2013), outsourcing would be appropriate in terms of cost effectiveness yet ensuring efficient staffs. A combination of these two is possible with advanced technological aids. Above all, maintenance of digital communications must be improved in order to get through cultural and geographical boundaries.

According to Gomes et al. (2013), there are several operational strategies like exporting, contract dealing, establishing franchise chain and joint venture. In order to be successful in future aspirations and ensure customer satisfaction, British Gas needs to undertake engineers with finest technical knowledge to deliver premium customer service. Therefore, the motive would be to arrange a mixture of financial and non-financial benefits to retain efficient employees.

After a detail market research and selection of the operational strategy, future needs of the employees must be decided first. According to that, designing a recruitment process would help to include new people into the system. Further, as per the study of Huong (2014), it has been observed that, British Gas must arrange training sessions to develop the skills of existing employees according to the organisational needs regarding internationalization. In case British Gas can come up with justified pay scale, effective training programs for career development of employees and give them opportunities to invest into the business procedure they will be able to retain efficient and skilled staff. Moreover, it would be cost effective to retain rather than employing new staff and train them accordingly.

Task 2 – HR planning to meet the global business requirements

Recently, the company has lost a good deal of customers due to a hike in price of their services. Reducing the price is difficult as well. Therefore, the company must equipped with an efficient quality assurance team who can manage to deliver brand quality keeping the budget and still make profit from the market. As the study of Dolata (2017) suggests, ccentralising the procedure with the localized market need is the strategy Apple followed while going global and applying this strategy British Gas will receive benefits as well.

A HR plan framework can be designed in order to plan precisely. Analysing the objectives regarding internationalization a report must be presented estimating the current competence of existing human resources. It will help to deliver a clear idea of future investment necessities of HR department and loopholes as well. According to that, training sessions, new recruitment methods and operational plan must be designed. In the addition, a consistent process of sharing feedbacks and supervision will help British Gas to overcome its issues with internationalization.  

Employee well being along with the employee satisfaction are the two major aspects which is essential to be taken care by the higher officials of the organization. The employee’s wellbeing is essential in nature which helps in making the different employees engaged towards the tasks which are being performed by them. Those employees are the major assets of the organization who are required to be motivated as this will increase the overall effectiveness of the organization in a positive manner (Bredahl et al. 2015).

From the above case scenario, the developmental activity which can be taken into consideration by the functional HR department is the Emotional Intelligence Developmental Training is the aspect which is required to be followed in managing the different activities effectively (Gerhart and Fang 2015). It is the duty of the HR manager and one of the major roles of the HR manager in managing the different aspects of the employees in a positive manner (Reb, Narayanan and Chaturvedi 2014). With the implementation of the respective emotional intelligence developmental training, this is seen that this will help the employees in feeling motivated and this will increase the morale of the employees as well.

The HR department of the British Gas is required to understand the different training and developmental programs which is mandatory to be provided to the employees as this will be beneficial for the overall success of the firm. The rewarding, guiding along with motivating the employees is essential in nature in maintaining the well-being of the individuals in an appropriate manner (Njoroge and Yazdanifard 2014).

For instance- Proper work life balance and the employee well-being are mandatory in nature which will be improve the morale of the employees such as in Amazon and in Walmart, the employees are provided with financial and non-financial incentives which will be beneficial in nature in managing the overall effectiveness of the firm and this will increase the overall productivity of the firm.

The rewarding can be the other aspect which is helpful in managing the different skills of the employees as this will be beneficial for the overall success of the firm in an efficient manner (Bakker and Demerouti 2015). The motivation is the main and major essence which plays a vital role in understanding the different requirements of the employees and this will provide them the morale to perform well effectively and appropriately as well. With the developmental training, this will be beneficial for the organization along with the employees to understand the importance of the well-being in accordance to perform well in the organization and generate huge productivity (Bakker 2018).

Task 3 – Effective HR practices and performance management in organisations

The Human resource management of an organization is often bound by various legislations and other regulations in order to ensure that the rights of the different members of the company are maintained and that the employees can enjoy a successful workplace tenure. In the previous workplace whereby I have an experience, the organization took into consideration the laws as well as the regulations very seriously whereby the practices were greatly influenced by the regulations and this had a positive impact on the working of the different employees at large who were treated in the right manner.

The equality and diversity can be stated to be a term which is used to describe a sense of equality, diversity and human rights at a workplace whereby it promotes equality opportunity for all the members, providing them to show their potential and allow them to live freely and be protected from discrimination as well as prejudice (Bratton and Gold 2017). Equality seems to ensure that the different members are treated equally irrespective of their particular background in order to see to it that the workplace prospers at large (Briscoe, Tarique and Schuler 2012). The different members of the organization due to globalization have migrated from the different countries and other regions along with different life experiences which often makes them prone to discrimination at the workplace. For this reason, it is always considered important that diversity is promoted at the workplace and that the different members are supported. In Australia, there are various legislations which are required to be taken care of like the following:

• Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986
• Age Discrimination Act 2004
• Disability Discrimination Act 1992
• Racial Discrimination Act 1975
• Sex Discrimination Act 1984

The work practices at the workplace have been greatly influenced by this act and that the different organizational members are motivated to treat one another with respect and the employees are constantly involved in a sense of communication with one another. The workplace conducts various team outings and other meetings so that all members of the organization feel at ease (Taylor and Woodhams 2012).

The rewards and compensation given to the employees can be considered to be one of the biggest motivating factors for them which acts as an inductive for the employees to perform in a better manner and also forms a measure to thank the employees for their constant effort at the workplace (Reiche, Harzing and Tenzer 2018). The different employees present often make it a point to ensure that they work harder so that they are rewarded. On the other hand, Compensation also forms a critical aspect of the employee workplace and for this reason, it becomes increasingly important for the firm to ensure that a proper compensation package is provided to the different employees as per their capabilities and their contribution towards the workplace. The government and the different workplace councils have ensured that they come up with different rules as well as regulations so as to ensure that the different members and management of the workplace are able to provide a standard rate of payment to the different employees at large (Collings, Wood and Szamosi 2018). The different laws which govern the rewards and payment of compensation at the workplace has been given as follows:

• Fair Work Act 2009 
• Fair Work Regulations 2009
• Fair Work (Registered Organizations) Act 2009 
• Fair Work (Transitional Provisions and Consequential Amendments) Act 2009 
• Fair Work (State Referral and Consequential and Other Amendments) Act 2009 
• Fair Work Amendment (State Referrals and Other Measures) Act 2009 

Task 4 – Influence of Employment legislation on HR practices in organisations

At my workplace, there exists a high impact of these legislations on the overall functioning of the organization and all the compensation policies at the workplace. My workplace pays equal compensation to all the employees and as per the law also allows them to pay extra if an overtime is done (Reiche et al. 2016). Hence, this tends to have a positive impact on the employees whereby they feel protected.

Conclusion:

Therefore, from the given assessment it can be rightfully stated that the human resource function of an organization forms an essential aspect of it and possesses the power to motivate the employees of the firm and make them function as per the goals of the workplace. The particular report examined the case study of British Gas in line of the people management issues and was divided into four parts with each part analyzing the manner in which the human resource function plays a key role in ensuring overall success of the firm. The second task presented an example of the Apple organization with the help of which the key function of HR could be understood. Lastly, the activities and legislations, which can be used to improve the overall welfare of the workplace, have also been discussed at large.

References: 

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