Strategic Human Resource Management Lion Food and Beverage Company

Question: Discuss about the Strategic Human Resource Management for Lion Food and Beverage Company. Answer: Introduction The report depicts a major human resource management issue that affects the backbone of the organization namely as Lion (HRM online 2016). The report will reflect on the HRM practices maintained by Lion and also on the most crucial issue affecting the overall structure of the organization. Apart from this, it will also frame a comparative study between the HRM practices of Lion and other well known organizations of Australia. Additionally, it will also demonstrate on why improvement is required in the particular HRM practice. Though, the organization is facing different HRM (Human Resource Management) based issues however, among job analysis and design, recruitment and selection, training and development, pay structure and benefit the most affecting issues is training and development (Prayag and Hosany 2015). The report will also deliver certain recommendations to Lions HRM practices in order to improve the structure. Additionally, it will also produce an organizational report that can explain the structure and development of the organization. Background of the organization and the major HRM issue Australias largest food and beverage company, Lion is founded in the year of 1923 (HRM online 2016). The office is headquartered in Sydney, The number of employees working for the company is above 7000 (Mahadevan and Mohamed (2014). The current revenue of the organization is about 5.69 billion and the products served by the company are beer, wine, diary and juice (Barrick et al. 2015). It is found that, the people and cultural director of Lion has either hired or promoted every individual employee of their company to the senior management team. The longevity of the chair person helped him to gather experiences regarding traditional HRM practices and policies (Franz 2013). The role of the HRM employees has developed over the time and helped to gather success throughout. According to Giauque, Anderfuhren-Biget and Varone (2013), gradual development in Lion HRM, have been enough impactful and the HR is bound to take the leading role in order to create such an environment where the business can listen and respond fast and clearly. In addition to this, the HR is also working in a way that the purpose and direction of the employees are also clear towards the ultimate objective of the organization. In order to take fundamental challenges, Lion has developed the background and also the culture. In Lion food and Beverage Company, though the HRM practices are efficient enough, still certain issues are associated with it. Among those training and development of the employees is found to be the major issue. There are many organizations that look for different ways to become employer of choice (Barrick et al. 2015). Lion maintains this policy in order to engage more number of employees and to attract outsider employees too. Resolving the HRM issues, can improve the overall structure of the organization. The issues are as followed: Issues Impact Employee satisfaction This is an important factor that comes under consideration while developing the HRM practices (Thite, Wilkinson and Shah 2012). If the employees working for the organization are not satisfied with the working environment, then the rate of employee disengagement will start to increase at a rapid rate and that will surely hamper the HRM policies. Turnover The rate of employee turnover is highest in the travel and tourism industry. However, in Lion the termination rate is not high but gradually, the rate is increasing (Keegan, Huemann and Turner 2012). Apart from this, turnover in specific department might also signal ineffective leadership quality of the leaders. Strategic relationship Some of the organizations think that the HR management team is one of the mere administrative functions handling department and this the reason for which the strategic direction fluctuates from the objective (Franz, 2013). This is another major issue. Recruitment and selection The selection panel should be enough experienced so that proper selection can be made. They must also concentrate on the strategic development instead of pushback from the leaders (Barrick et al. 2015). Clear vision of the HR management team, also enhances the sustainability power. Pay structure and benefit The payment structure of the employees always motivates them to do their work with cent percent dedication but if the benefit level is found to be commercially weak to the employees then, it will affect the current position of the organization (Meijerink, Bondarouk and Lepak 2016). In order to reduce this issue proper analysis of job and additionally design of every individuals role play is very crucial. From the analysis of the HRM practices it is defined that among these issues the most effective issue is training and development of the employee (Palagolla and Wickramasinghe 2015). After recruitment and selection of every employee, the organization should organize a proper training and development program so that they could adopt the policies perfectly. Analysis of the HRM issues in Lion Detail description of HRM Issues at Lion While identifying the issues of HRM team of Lion it is defined that, the major issue is Training and development (Franz 2013). Six major problems involved with training and development are as follows: A faulty identification: Implementation of training and development program for the employees must be conducted in a proper manner so that, whatever the company is investing for them not went in vain rather the investment bring fruitful result to the organization (Barrick et al. 2015). However, in Lion the training and development team organizes all the required programs as per employees requirement, but they are unable to structure the specification appropriately (Husin, Chelladurai and Musa 2012). Thus, failure in proper identification of the needs of the employees creates organizational issues. Wrong objective setup: Every organization should setup a list of objectives and before implementation of the aim they must maintain it. Nevertheless, in case of Lion, setup of the objectives is improper and that is main reason that interrupts the HR management objective during the execution time. Faulty time preparation: In order to accomplish the objectives of the HRM management of Lion, time is another vital factor that must be considered (Alfes et al. 2013). Management policy should frame up with proper time management system but Lion food Beverage Company does not consider it. Development responsibility: The senior HRM team of Lion is consists of about 200 employees and the work is divided accordingly (Barrick et al. 2015). If the responsibility of every individual increases at a large rate then, it would be difficult for the top level managerial team to monitor it all over. After considering the HRM practices, the Hertzberg motivation theory implies that, there are six factors that help to improve the employee empowerment. Once employee gets recognition then, the responsibility will enhance accordingly (Tzabbar, Tzafrir and Baruch 2016). However, in Lion, responsibility increment leads to HRM issue. Figure 1: HRM tools in Lion (Source: Barrick et al. 2015, pp- 115) Requirement of Improvement of the Issue in Organization In order to gain financial benefit from the competitive marketplace, Lion food and Beverage Company should improve their HRM practices (Palagolla and Wickramasinghe 2015). Based on certain survey results it has been determined that, HRM workshop can improve the overall structure of the company. From the statistical matrices, future challenges can identify the section where the improvement is strictly needed by Lion. If the issues get resolved then, these will lead to sufficient flexibility. Improvement is required as it will lead to overcome future challenges that are going to be faced by Lion. These factors are as followed: Motivation: If the HRM team of Lion is improved then it will be able to provide motivation to the employees of the company. Motivation among the employees will lead to job satisfaction. It is referred to as a multifaceted and complex phenomenon (Franz 2013). The dynamics of people along with an appropriate working environment can be provided to the employees with the help of organizational motivation. Change management: Development is required to improve the change management system of Lion. For statistical production and services, successful modernization is needed to be implemented. Sometimes it happens that bringing changes in the attitudes of the staffs are not possible then, environmental changes will help to manage the employees (Meijerink, Bondarouk and Lepak 2016). From focus and leadership efficiency it can be said that, the scope of development is wide in organizational contribution. Apart from time and focus, management commitment also plays motivating role play within Lion. Knowledge management: Whatever knowledge the employees obtained from their experiences can be increased with developed knowledge management system (Alfes et al. 2013). The employees got recruited and selected as they are appropriate for their job role but still, with further enhancement they can improve their knowledge level. Working environment and mobility: The physical and social environment of workplace is another crucial sector that needed to be developed. Technical improvements including flexible working ambiances enhance the business strategy of Lion. On the other hand, mobility of the employees always brings huge benefit to the organization (Tzabbar, Tzafrir and Baruch 2016). It is a major motivational factor that provides the employees various opportunities and enables them to be more flexible in the working environment. Additionally, it can reduce the enhanced work load and cultural oppositions. Training and skills development: Training and development of the HR employees are needed to enhance their skills as it comprises a broad range of activities (Thite, Wilkinson and Shah 2012). Training can either be formal or it may be informal. Electronic learning helps to gain training on a regular basis in a systematic way. The development planning is also referred to as competence management. Management development: Development in management program of human resource is another important factor that comes under consideration during the implementation. The main focus of the HR management team should be focused on attracting and retaining people. The management team should develop their policies in such a way that all the employees feel engaged to the Lion HRM (Tzabbar, Tzafrir and Baruch 2016). Apart from this, digital innovation is needed to be implemented to attract more number of employees with their attractive business panning. Comparative discussion of HRM practices in Lion and other organizations Comparative consequences of different empirical study has been defined that, with increased globalization in international and domestic level, destruct the traditional HRM of Lion (Franz 2013). As dynamic changes are occurring in every organization and all of them are improving their performance level thus, Lion should also improve their cultural ambiance on the basis of conceptual studies. During the analysis it is defined that there are certain factors of HRM that Lion does not maintain and the gap analysis will help Lion food and Beverage Company to improve their HRM strategies. Mahadevan and Mohamed (2014) stated that, culture has a significant impact on different managing approaches. Apart from this, the cultural gap put significant impact on the management practices. It is required for organizations to recognize and figure out model for the cultural differences. Norms, values, acceptable leadership styles are factors that are complimentary to each other as national elements suc h as economic, legal, environmental, technological, political, social systems collaboratively shape the HRM framed model. Figure 2: Strategic HRM model (Source: Giauque, Anderfuhren-Biget and Varone 2013, pp-125) The objective of the study is to determine the HRM practices of Lion and other leading organizations. The differences between the HRM practices are as follows: Aspect HRM practices of Lion HRM practices of other organization Communication Lion maintains open communication among the employees. It means all the employees from the lower level to the upper most level can communicate with each other without any kind of interruption (Prayag and Hosany 2015). Though the manager of the HRM took the final decision still he takes suggestions from all the working employees of HR team. Other food and beverage companies of Australia, uses upward communication and it means the top level managerial HR department took the final decisions (Giauque, Anderfuhren-Biget and Varone 2013). Though in meetings they take suggestions from others but while taking the final decision they never give an opportunity to the lower level working employees. Leadership Lion HR management team believes that the leadership is one of the most important job. In other organizations the managers and leaders generally play a similar role therefore, a contradiction occurs during the implementation (Armstrong and Taylor 2014). Activity HR department of Lion says that on a daily basis they act on market analysis, business structure, and break down of data and they also conduct survey twice in a year (Kaufman 2015). This is the reason for which Lion is the largest food and beverage company of Australia. Business survey took place in all the leading organizations of Australia once in a year and sometimes in two years one survey for the market revenue analysis. Appraisal Yearly appraisal motivates the employees. The appraisal program is not fixed in all the organizations and takes place according to the performance the appraisal program. Recommendations to improve the HRM issue occurred in Lion In order to reduce the HRM issues of Lion certain recommendations are provided to the company. These are as follows: Leadership: In food businesses issues are determined by marking the current leadership style (Barrick et al. 2015). The leaders should be capable of taking all the responsibilities throughout. The necessary directions and commitments with a perfect community should be provided by the leader of the company. Mentoring: The managers should also act like a mentor of the other employees. They should setup a pre determined objective for the company. It is a powerful tool that facilitates the retention and the transmission of knowledge of the employees. Reward function: Required reward function should function must be arranged for the employees of the company to motivate them (Foss, et al. 2015). In order to accomplish continuous improvement reward function should be introduced based on the performance of the employees. Training: This is another important factor that should be maintained by Lion in order to reduce the HR issues. Appropriate training and development program should be incorporated to develop the HR structure of the company. Payment development: The payment should be increased based on the performance of the employees (Prayag and Hosany 2015). Pay scale of the employees will motivate them and help them to keep engage to their job roles. Not only this but also it will help them, to be more loyal and dedicated to their job role. Conclusion From the overall conclusion it can be concluded that, the report has majorly covered all the HRM issues that is affecting the traditional HRM practices of Lion. There are different issues such as recruitment and selection, training and development, performance management, pay structure and benefit affecting the organizational HR structure however, among all these the most affecting issue is determined to be training and development of the HR employees. Apart from this, the report also described the common HR practices that is maintained by the selected organization namely Lion. The major issue of the HRM management is discussed elaborately and additionally required recommendations are provided to the company. References Alfes, K., Truss, C., Soane, E.C., Rees, C. and Gatenby, M., 2013. The relationship between line manager behavior, perceived HRM practices, and individual performance: Examining the mediating role of engagement.Human resource management,52(6), pp.839-859. Alfes, K., Truss, C., Soane, E.C., Rees, C. and Gatenby, M., 2013. 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