Harrison Slattery

Human Resources – Strategies

HR managers need to decide what strategies to put into place to best manage the employee
– employer relationship. These strategies will need to align the management of staff with
the business goals, they also need to make sure the management of staff is cost-effective
and achieves the business goals.

Strategies include:
 Leadership style
 Job Design
 Recruitment process
 Training & development
 Performance management
 Reward Systems
 Global strategies
 Workplace disputes.

 Leadership Style
Leadership style is the manner & approach in which leaders of a business interact with staff.
This interaction is based off motivating, organising and instructing staff with directions
around the workplace effectively.
Workers today are looking for workplaces where they are consulted, recognised for their
achievements and receive feedback. Workers also want leaders who communicate
effectively and support staff.
Leadership styles include: Autocratic, democratic or delegative.

Leadership styles Advantages Disadvantages

Autocratic  One person makes final decision  Limited flexibility
 Defined levels of command  Limited employee
 Works well when a group has to participation
be told what to do (natural  Strict rules, may hurt
disaster) employee productivity
 High obedience
Democratic  More employee participation  One person still has to make
 Employers can gain valuable info the final decision
for employees
 Can increase businesses
effectiveness (because of the
clear communication)
 Harrison Slattery

Delegative  Lots of trust  Little leadership from the

 Employees will have lots of manager
knowledge and skills

CASE STUDY: APPLE, Steve jobs leadership style

Steve jobs was an unconventional leader. He demanded excellence from his staff, was no
consultative with employees, and was blunt with his criticism. However, despite all this,
Steve jobs ‘vision’ exerted on every aspect of employees job. Turnover was low, despite the
demanding corporate culture, all because of the employee’s passion to advocate for his
vision.

 Job Design – General or Specific Tasks -

This is the process of designing the content of the job and how it will interact with other
jobs and employees, as a means of motivating employees and achieving business goals.
Effective job design specifies:

 Requirements of an employee to carry out the task

 The tasks a job will entail
 Scope of decision making
 Level of productivity, efficiency & quality
 WHS
Often job design involves creating a job description (titles, roles, duties) and a person
specification (skills, experiences, personal attributes)
Key Benefits include:

Business Benefits Employee Benefits

Increased productivity & efficiency
Less need for close supervision
A skilled, flexible and responsive workforce trained
in the right areas.
Targeted training to suit job design
Improved talent management and succession
planning
Safer and healthier workplace
Improved employee attraction, engagement and
retention
Greater clarity of work role, purpose and
accountabilities
Shared understanding of work expectations with
supervisor
Good team cohesion as roles, relationships and
resources are clearly defined
Increased job satisfaction
Targeted training to meet staff needs
Better career pathways due to job design
Safer and healthier workplace

Job design can be general or specific tasks. These are methods of how jobs are designed to
suit employees.
Harrison Slattery

General tasks
These include:

 Job enlargement
Where the job changes so more tasks are added to be performed. Increases employee
responsibilities, but may overload and stress the employee.

 Job Rotation
Moves employees from one task to another. Multiskills staff, experienced employees may
resist an opportunity to learn.

 Job Enrichment
Gives employees more responsibility & independence as they are given new tasks. More
employee satisfaction this way.

Specific Tasks
Jobs can be broken down into specialised areas In order to improve levels of skill and
knowledge. Increase efficiency and productivity, and reduces errors

 Recruitment
Involves attracting the best suited candidates to fill employment vacancies.
Business must consider applications from internal and/or external candidates. Internal
recruitment involves appointing an existing employee into an open position, external
recruitment involves appointing a candidate from outside the business.
Recruiting external can bring new skills and new ideas to the business, however internal
recruitment is a better assessment of the employee’s skills at a lower cost.
Businesses may choose to spend lots of money employee something with a high skill set
from overseas, or opt to spend only a small amount advertising locally. Cost is a big factor in
recruitment.
Candidates need general skills that can apply to any business scenario such as flexibility and
motivation. Sometimes a business requires candidates to have specific specialised skills that
can be used in the business, EXAMPLE a large finance firm may need an employee with
appropriate IT skills.

 Training and Development

Training is aimed at introducing and developing various bits of skill and knowledge an
employee can use in a business environment
Harrison Slattery

Development however is focused on enhancing these new skills to adapt to the

future/changing needs of the business

 Performance Management
Refers to the process of recognising the efforts & contributions if employees in their work.
There are 2 main objectives to performance management:
1. Evaluating an individual’s performance
2. Using the info to develop the individual
Benefits include:

 It identifies opportunities for productivity management on employees.

 Assesses performance against industry standards
 Provides feedback and recognition
 Identifying training and development needs.
 Justifying staffing decisions.
Skills of an employee can be praised and developed to improve their effectiveness.

 Rewards
A rewards system is key to motivating, attracting and retaining employees.
Rewards can be monetary (money) or non-monetary (nothing to do with money, i.e social
activates).
Rewards can also be Intrinsic (a reward the individual derives from the job, i.e a sense of
achievement) or extrinsic (rewards given outside a job, like a flexible work schedule).
Rewards can be given to individuals or groups/teams.

 Global – Cost, skills, supply

Businesses have been pushed to operate global because of its cheap cost, the access to skills
and the supply of materials and labour.
This is done through outsourcing, which has grown rapidly.

 Workplace Disputes
This is a disagreement over and issue between an employer and its employee. If unresolved,
issues can lead to high levels of absenteeism, low productivity, high turnover, legal claims
and even industrial action.
Disputes generally relate to the negotiation of awards or enterprise agreements. So things
like wages, employment conditions, job security issues.
Harrison Slattery

Luckily for business owners, disputes can be resolved. There are three processes whereby
disputes are brought to an end. These processes are:
1. A negotiated outcome
Negotiation is a method of resolving disputes where discussions between the two parties
result in a compromise and a formal/informal agreement. Does not require the intervention
of a third party (like Fair Work). 2 parties thrash out difference in awards or over the
dispute, leading to an agreement. (generally).
2. A mediated outcome
This is a discussion between two parties, like a negotiation, however a neutral third party is
present. Third party can be Fair Work Australia for example. Mediation reduces the risk of
disputes escalating and leading to expensive legal costs/industrial action.
3. Grievance procedures
These are formal procedures that state agreed processes to resolve disputes in a workplace.
Most Australian businesses have established formal processes. These formal processes are
useful for reducing the risk of an issue rapidly becoming a serious dispute.
The figure below states the steps of a typical grievance procedure:
Harrison Slattery

Workplace disputes may escalate to a level where courts and tribunals become involved,
generally when negotiations between the two parties has failed. Disputes not resolved on
the negotiation table can be referred to Fair Work Australia, who act as the 3rd party in
during Conciliation and Arbitration process.
Conciliation = A 3rd party helps the 2 conflicting parties reach an agreement. If this fails it
moves over to Arbitration.
Arbitration = A 3rd party hears both sides of the dispute, and then makes a legally binding
agreement. A decision is made, but the two parties may not like the outcome made by the
3rd party. This is referred to a common law action.
On rare occasions, the business (or part) may be closed down to resolve a dispute.

Thnx for reading. H.S