Question 1 Extended Response - aceh.b-cdn.net

 Question 1 Extended ResponseQuestion 1: Explain how the current legal framework affects the processes of human resources management. Explain: Relate cause and effect; make relationships between things evident; provide why and/or how.AcquisitionSyllabus point: EEO and Anti- DiscriminationDiscrimination: occurs when a policy or a practice disadvantages a person/group because of a personal characteristic that is irrelevant to the performance of the work.Under discrimination laws (e.g. NSW Anti-Discrimination Act 1977, Cwlth. Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986) it is illegal to take adverse action in employment on grounds of age, sex, race, sexual orientation, education, disability etc.Equal employment opportunity (EEO): equitable policies and practices in recruitment, selection, training and promotion. Affirmative action: measures taken to eliminate direct/indirect discrimination and implementing positive steps to overcome current/historical causes of lack of equal employment opportunity for women.Some specific strategies businesses can use to improve EEO and anti-dis. include:developing policy statement + informing staff of affirmative action program.developing code of practice to communicate firm’s commitment to equityimplementing a system to gather, monitor and evaluate statistics on employmentmaking awareness of EEO a criterion in performance appraisal and promotionIn FY13, IKEA launched the D&I Approach, promoting inclusivity. Part of the Approach are the Human Rights & Equality Policy & Standards (HREPS) featuring initiatives including the Women’s Open Network, and LGBT IKEA Project. From FY11 to FY15, women in managerial positions have ↑ 40% to 48%; a strategic goal to have 50% of women as managers by 2020.DevelopmentSyllabus point: WHS and Workers’ CompensationSafe Work AU established to conduct research and develop national standards, codes of practice and common approaches to WHS legislation, endorsed by state governments.In NSW, under Work Health and Safety (WHS) Act 2011:Employers must ensure the health, safety and welfare at work of all employees.All employers must take out workers’ compensation insurance, or face imprisonment/$55 000 fine.Health and safety committees must be established at workplaces with more than 20 employees if requested by a majority of employees or if directed by WorkCover.Businesses must develop WHS policy and related programs; establish a training strategy for new and existing staff of all skill levels; establish a hazard identification and workplace assessment process. E.g. regular safety audits; develop and implement processes of risk control and promote, maintain and improve programs through feedback.State legislation covers employees for workers’ compensation matters, unless they are Cmwlth. Gov’t employees. WHS laws and workers’ compensation matters administered by WorkCover (NSW) (a statutory body responsible for achieving safe workplaces + security for injured workers).Workers’ compensation system supports injured workers through providing the benefits and assistance needed to recover and return to safe, durable work, if that is possible.No fatalities recorded during IKEA FY15. Annual ‘SecCheck’ involves auditing of IKEA facilities for safety/security matters. Employees receive safety training for bomb threats, robbery situations, fire prevention and evacuation procedures. In FY13, IKEA launched ‘Health and Safety Standard’ which addressed physical, mental and social well being; in FY13 there was a 37% improvement in accident rate vs. FY12.MaintenanceSyllabus point: Minimum wage rates A ‘minimum wage’ is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their workers—the ‘price floor’ below which workers may not sell their labor. Purpose of the minimum wage is to stabilise the economy and protect the workers in the labour force. The minimum wage is designed to create a minimum standard of living to protect the health and well-being of employees.From 2010 in Australia, an employee’s base rate of pay for ordinary hours worked has been determined by two factors. These are:The award or agreement that covers the employee. The national minimum wage, reviewed annually by Fair Work Commission (FWC).In 2013, US McD’s published a sample ‘personal’ budget, failing to include basics (e.g. groceries) and showed that, to cover expenses, employees would need to acquire a second job. ‘Fight for $15’ campaign argued for minimum wage in all US McD’s to be set to $15 per hour. Campaign claims that current wage levels are too low to live on. SeparationSyllabus point: Employment contracts (Enterprise Agreements)AU has become increasingly reliant on statute law (legislation) to govern employer-employee relationship under the Fair Work Act 2009 - created a national approach to workplace awards and agreements. Employment contract: a legally binding, formal agreement between employer and employee. Written contract guarantees more protection, but a contract doesn’t necessarily have to be written. Key features of employment contract include: salary/wages, superannuation, hours etcEmployer obligationsEmployee obligations Providing workPayment of income and expensesMeeting requirements of industrial relations legislation and duty of care.Obey lawful and reasonable commandsUse care/skill when performing activitiesAct in good faith and in the interests of the employer.Enterprise agreements: collective agreements made at a workplace level between an employer and a group of employees about terms and conditions of employment. Consists of: Single-enterprise, Multi-enterprise and Greenfields agreements.Must be approved by FWC who must be satisfied that a number of conditions have been met, including Better Off Overall Test (BOOT): requires that each of the employees to be covered by the agreement is better off overall than under the relevant modern award.Av. annual employee turnover rate ranges from 40-45%. All McD’s AU employees are under the McD’s AU Enterprise Agreement 2013, negotiated between McDonald’s and SDA (Union for Retail, Fast Food and Warehouse Workers). Vast majority of workforce perform very similar tasks; enterprise agreement is quicker, easier and fairer method of industrial relations negotiation than individual contracts. Fair and equal enterprise agreement therefore enables clean and easy separation. Question 2 Extended ResponseQuestion 2: Analyse the response of human resource management to economic, technological and social influences.Analyse: Identify components and the relationship between them; draw out and relate implications. EconomicStrategy: Management of workplace disputesStructural change: a change in nature and pattern of production of goods and services within an economy. Includes significant growth in level of services in an economy compared to other sectors.As each sector grows, recruitment, selection and remuneration become important industrial issues; In manufacturing, removal of protective tariffs and quotas has increased business exposure to international competition.The economic cycle also influences the ability of the business to retain valuable employees, and the responsibility of legally and ethically making others redundant.The ethics of redundancy must be considered seriously, as false or misinformed decisions may lead to workplace disputes between individuals or groups.Disputes: conflicts, disagreements or dissatisfaction between individuals and/or groups.Disputes may be informal, formal, overt or covert, and can be very costly to businesses at the time of the dispute, but also to its reputation and to its employees.Employers and HR managers need to be aware of and respond to workplace conflicts as they can escalate to legal actions e.g. formal (overt) claims of harassment or bullying.The major causes of disputes recognised by the ABS are disputes relating to negotiation of awards and enterprise agreements. These issues typically include disputes about:remuneration (e.g. wages, allowances, entitlements and superannuation)employment conditions (e.g. working hours, benefits, employment conditions)job security issues (e.g. retrenchment of employees, downsizing, restructuring, use of contractors, outsourcing, re-classification of the workforce, and other industry-related matters)2008 GFC severely affected consumer and co-worker confidence; housing market closely linked to GFC, ∴ decreased demand for furniture ∴ decreased IKEA sales. During GFC, IKEA made 5 000 redundancies primarily for manufacturing and logistics operations, as sales were 7% below target. IKEA business model is firmly based on selling low-priced products; somewhat safeguards against economic influences. TechnologicalStrategy: Recruitment Many businesses are reengineering and restructuring as networks, often offshore, make increasing use of ‘virtual teams’ using video technology.Suite of electronic comm’s options allow firms to operate ‘anywhere, anytime’, harnessing staff through telecommuting - opportunity for businesses to access employees at home.As business becomes more globally-oriented, recruiting diverse workforce is paramount. Most businesses use mix of internal/external recruitment and require mix of general/specific skills.AdvantagesDisadvantages ExternalWider applicant poolDilutes internal politicsMore diversity in employmentNew ideas, perspectives, skillsRisk of unknown staffTakes a lot of effort and timeRisk of legal claimsLost productivity during orientation.High demand for Apple products creates employment opportunities; Around two-thirds of Apple’s employees in the USA are employed in Apple retail stores. Employment opportunities can be advertised globally using the company website and other internet resources. This broadens the potential pool of applicants as geographical boundaries become less relevant, giving rise to greater mobility of the labour force. SocialStrategy: Job design Over the last two decades there has been a dramatic growth in part-time and casual work, leading to ‘workplace fragmentation’.The main areas of change within the workplace include: career flexibility/mobility, rising female participation rate, ageing workforce and early retirementFlexible work structures: Employees are offered flexible options to meet personal needs e.g. casual, part-time work, job sharing, flexible working hours and telecommuting.Career flexibility and job mobilityBoth have increased; Around 14–16% of employees considered job mobile; only 44% of full-time employees have worked for their current employer for > 5 years.Many employees must learn new skills to adjust to changes in jobs.Rising female participation rateIncreasing feminisation of the workforce has been reflected in a rising female participation rate (60.5% in 2018).Female participation rate: proportion of women aged 15–69 employed and/or actively seeking employment. Their influence reflected in increasing calls for work–life balance, and in recent improvements to parental/carers leave conditions.McDonald’s ‘work from home’ policy allows greater flexibility of when and how work is completed; offers 18 weeks’ parental leave for company employees.For returning parents, the policy offers discounted child care and designated breast-feeding rooms (catering to female demographic in the workplace).McDonald’s reports that more than 70% of its US workforce is either female or from a minority group. In AU (2012), 56% of senior leadership team was female and 44% executive management positions were held by women.Question 3 Extended ResponseQuestion 3: Explain how businesses exhibit ethics and corporate social responsibility in the management of human resources.Explain: Relate cause and effect; make relationships between things evident; provide why and/or how.Working conditionsStrategy: Performance management Ethical employers expected to achieve safe and fair working conditions that improve workers’ welfare (whilst also ethically cutting costs), including:Establishing code of practice for customers, employees and suppliersImproving communication, teamwork and empowerment amongst employeesOffering flexible work and hours to encourage work-life balanceProviding safe and healthy work environment, practices and equipment etc.Ethical businesses respond by demonstrating corporate social responsibility through such strategies as regularly undertaking audits of their factories abroad, and by working w/ agencies to support ethical practices in local/offshore operations.Directive management: emphasis on immediate compliance from employees; autocratic, dictatorial, coercive. In 2010, there were 18 reported suicide attempts and 14 confirmed deaths of Longhua Foxconn labourers, in desperation and in protest of conditions. Forced overtime, unpaid meetings and abusive & directive performance management are major issues. Instead of discussing performance privately, managers stockpile complaints until later and humiliate employees by scolding them during meetings.Despite Apple’s claims of ensuring suicide prevention at Foxconn, a BBC report (2014) showed that employment laws continue to be breached by Apple’s outsourcing partners.Human RightsStrategy: RewardsBest practice: business practices regarded as best of highest standard in the industry.The ability for employees to engage in the correction and upholding of human rights provides an intrinsic job satisfaction and the feeling of contributing to a greater cause. Thusly, consumers and employees alike will often take into account the ethical and CSR values of a corporation prior to initiating an employment or customer relationship, therefore impacting the value and types of employees being acquired. Rewards can be monetary or non-monetary (no financial value, e.g. social activities).They can be intrinsic (that the individual derives from the job itself, e.g. achievement) or extrinsic (provided outside the job itself) and may be monetary or non-monetary.Rewards are to be distinguished from benefits, which are available to all members of staff.IKEA ‘IWitness Program’ immerses co-workers in foreign countries within developing world to witness the positive impact of good cause campaigns e.g. Soft Toys for Education and Brighter lives for Refugees Campaign (campaigns donating a portion of funds from the sale of specific IKEA products to these initiatives). Co-workers can share their experiences on the ‘IWitness Global Citizens Blog’.DiversityStrategy: Recruitment (External)Race diversity isn't just a moral issue. The business case for diversity shows that companies can benefit greatly from opting for a more diverse workforce. Not only by simply better understanding the demographic of the marketplace that they serve, diversity in the workplace allows companies to secure a competitive advantage, as markets become increasingly global, whilst enabling them to discover untapped opportunities in new customers and products or services. HR’s key role in diversity management and leadership is to create and empower an organisational culture that fosters a respectful, inclusive environment where each employee has the opportunity to learn, grow and contribute to the organisation's success.Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) laws in South Africa address inequalities. BHP Billiton established Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) Procurement Policy and central BEE Supply Unit (SU) in South Africa. Addresses socio-economic imbalance by ↑ participation of previously disadvantaged groups. Gives black suppliers opportunity to supply to BHP, who provide 50% funding for training of BEE suppliers. Many organisations supply range of goods/services to BHP Billiton. BEE Supply Unit established to give black suppliers the opportunity to supply to BHP Billiton.BHP Billiton develops partnerships that foster sustainable development of host communities and help reduce poverty. ................
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