Overview of HRM in Australia

The organizational culture of the workplace effectiveness is a significant issue in the modern world of business (Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2015). The organizations are striving towards the generation of increased amount of revenue and in order to achieve that, they are observed to be associated in the mergers or acquisitions and business expansions. The organizations with such intention of market expansions are observed to restructure their strategies with a precise focus on the culture of the organization and the effectiveness of the employees in achieving the change (Cameron & Green, 2015). The paper is focused in describing a case of Lakeland Wonders. The paper discusses the various aspects of the change took place in the mentioned organization.

Van de Ven and Poole’s Framework of Change:

The organization, Lakeland Wonders, was observed to face significant amount of issues in the manufacturing and the design section as both the departments were observed to pull down the growth of the organization. Hence in order to manage the decline in the quality of the products of the organization, the CEO of the organization, Cheryl Hailstrom introduced the idea of recruiting Cecil and Pat Sampsen as both the employees were renowned for their good works and were recognised as well. Apart from that, Cheryl wanted the organization to shift to the mid-market from the upscale market in order to reduce the manufacturing cost so that they be able to catch the Bull’s Eye deal. It is evident that the change proposed by Cheryl was following the dialectic approach of change according to the Van de Ven and Poole’s framework of change.

The CEO of the organization Cheryl Hailstrom wanted the changes to be implemented with significant amount of urgency as the lucrative Bull’s Eye deal was available for a very short period of time. Cheryl wanted the organization to start manufacturing from mid-market. But when Mark Dawson shared his doubts on the absence of the infrastructure, Cheryl was prompt in her approach to mention the concept of offshore manufacturing and the outsourcing (Castellani & Pieri, 2013). With the contract between the labour unions and the organization approaching its end, Cheryl’s decision was significantly risky and rapid in nature (Hornstein, 2015). With a series of change proposal starting from the recruitment of efficient employees to the shift in focus for the market, the organization was facing a large scale change of turbulent nature. It is visible from the mentioned change proposals that the change was following the structural form.

Trends and Challenges in HRM in Australia

Cheryl felt that two of the departments of the organization is not properly operating. Hence she tried to introduce two new employees. But it is felt that the exchange of the concern from the part of the management to the faulty sections of the organization was in need to be taking place. It could have been significant in order to increase the efficiency of the existing employees and on the other hand considering the approaching contract end between the employee’s union and the organization, the risk element associated with the proposal could have been minimized. Apart from that, Cheryl was not observed to comment anything on the monitoring of the quality in the mid-market manufacturing which was also a significant gap in the proposal as the outsourced employees may or may not be able to provide quality in their products (Plugge, Bouwman & Molina-Castillo, 2013).

As mentioned earlier, the organization was affected in a significant manner due to incapability and intentional drop in efforts by two major departments of the organization. The design section of the organization was associated in unethical business conduct where the department was observed to promote the ordinary design firm instead of using the quality firms. This was significantly reducing the quality of the products of the Lakeland Wonders compared to other competitors. Apart from this, manufacturing section of the organization was not interested in increasing the workload so that the productivity of the organization can be increased and the organization gets the chance to achieve their desired growth. Under such condition, Cheryl was feeling the need to introduce new and effective employees into the workforce to make sure that the workforce becomes more productive and the presence of politics around the organization gets reduced (Christopher, 2016).

Along with this, the organization was facing a significant opportunity to meet their desired growth with the Bull’s Eye deal. But in order to achieve that, the organization was in need to make sure that the pricing of the products of Lakeland is in perfect alignment with the Bull’s Eye. Cheryl felt that can only be managed by the manufacturing the products from the mid-market instead of upscale market. In order to go for the mid-market manufacturing, Cheryl tried to introduce the concept of outsourcing. The outsourcing of the infrastructure could have made it easier for the organization to achieve the Bull’s Eye deal.

The proposal specified by Cheryl Hailstrom for the change in Lakeland Wonders was partially appropriate for the organization. Cheryl had no option left other than introducing the efficient employees like Pat Sampsen and Cecil in order to make sure that the non-productive operation of the departments like the manufacturing and the design gets reduced. On the other hand Cheryl was not able to transfer this concern to the actual responsible ones inside the organization so that they could improve their performances by themselves and be away from the unethical operations. Apart from this, Cheryl’s idea of the outsourcing the infrastructure in the mid-market manufacturing was a notable step for the organization in achieving the Bull’s eye deal that had the potential to see the organization achieve the desired sales goals. But the specified speed requirement for the organization by Cheryl had considerable amount of risk element associated with it according to many researcher.   

The Case of Lakeland Wonders

With reference to the Burne’s Speed and Scale Framework of change, Cheryl Hailstrom should have communicated the gaps in the performances to the employees of the mentioned departments of the organization with rapid speed and was in need to make sure that the concerned employees be able to understand that the organization had every knowledge of their misconduct. So they need to improve their operations.

The specified change of the market for the manufacturing and the viability of the proposal of the outsourcing of the infrastructure in the mid-market needs to be evaluated by the organization on the highest priority so that the implementation of the significant amount of structural change required by the organization to achieve the Bull’s eye deal becomes easy.

The formation of the quality analyst’s team for the mid-market manufacturing is much needed as the concern regarding the quality will also be there for the mid-market manufacturing.

Conclusion:

On a concluding note, the organization was facing a significant decline in the quality of the products and the sale of the products as well. In order to counter that, the management of the organization introduced some effective plans. The plans were able to meet the concerns of the management but it lacked some basic ideas like the introduction of the faults to the design and manufacturing sections that they were conducting and also the management was not able to communicate any plan for monitoring the quality of the work in the mid-market manufacturing. The plan will be a great success for the organization if these gaps are addressed properly by the organization.

References:

Alvesson, M., & Sveningsson, S. (2015). Changing organizational culture: Cultural change work in progress. Routledge.

Cameron, E., & Green, M. (2015). Making sense of change management: A complete guide to the models, tools and techniques of organizational change. Kogan Page Publishers.

Castellani, D., & Pieri, F. (2013). R&D offshoring and the productivity growth of European regions. Research Policy, 42(9), 1581-1594.

Christopher, M. (2016). Logistics & supply chain management. Pearson UK.

Ellram, L. M., Tate, W. L., & Petersen, K. J. (2013). Offshoring and reshoring: an update on the manufacturing location decision. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 49(2), 14-22.

Hornstein, H. A. (2015). The integration of project management and organizational change management is now a necessity. International Journal of Project Management, 33(2), 291-298.

Plugge, A., Bouwman, H., & Molina-Castillo, F. J. (2013). Outsourcing capabilities, organizational structure and performance quality monitoring: Toward a fit model. Information & Management, 50(6), 275-284.