5CO01 Organisational performance and culture in practice

5CO01 Organisational performance and culture in practice

1. Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of both a divisional structure and a matrix structure. Within the evaluation, you should include the reasons underpinning each structure. (AC 1.1)

Goals and objectives are critical features of any corporation, and organizational structures must be established to achieve them. They define behavior, integration, and control of activities. There are four main organizational structures: flat, matrix, divisional, and functional, each with unique strengths and weaknesses (Kennedy, 2020). They have a crucial function in determining how activities are related, the responsibilities assigned, and an organization’s performance (Westland, 2022).

The organization structure under divisional structure is based on products or services, market, or geographical area. Every division works autonomously and has resource centers, such as the marketing and finance divisions. This structure benefits an organization with various products, focusing on a centralized decision-making system to solve flexible customer needs (Gillikin, 2019). However, it may lead to a lack of synergy between divisions, duplication of roles and responsibilities, increased communication gaps, and Operational costs due to ineffective organizational structure (CIPD, 2021).

The matrix structure combines the functional and the project-based organizational structure; the workers are organized in a grid for which they are responsible to two bosses- the functional manager and the project-line manager. This structure helps flexibility and the ability to adapt to existing markets, especially in changed situations. Organizations may meet the dynamic customer needs and the cross-functional communications that facilitate coherent decision-making. However, the matrix structure might lead to confusion and conflict, delays in decision-making, and role ambiguity, potentially lowering employee morale and extending the time it takes to coordinate them (CIPD, 2021).

Thus, the decision to use the divisional or matrix structure depends on the size of the firm, strategic issues, and learning points, respectively. Employees working under the divisional structure will be larger institutions hoping to cater to specific markets or wishing to create numerous products. In contrast, companies will benefit from the flexibility offered in the matrix structure besides the quick adaption process to market demands. Each structure has its advantages and limitations to meet the organization’s overall objectives to ensure that organizational design is consistent with the objectives set.

Word Count: 337 Words

References

Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). (2021). Organizational design and development. Retrieved from https://www.cipd.co.uk

Gillikin, J. (2019) Advantages & Disadvantages of Divisional Organizational Structure, Small Business–Chron.com. Chron.com. Available at: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-disadvantages-divisional-organizational-structure-611.html

Kennedy, R. B. (2020). Strategic management. Pamplin College of Business in association with Virginia Tech Publishing.

Westland, J. (2022) Matrix organizational structure – A quick guide, Project Manager. ProjectManager.com. Available at: https://www.projectmanager.com/blog/matrix-organizational-structure-quick-guide.

2. Analyze the extent to which the organizational strategy in your organization (or an organization with which you are familiar) helps to ensure products or services meet customers’ needs. (AC 1.2)

Organizational strategy is the planning and direction mechanism used to realize overall objectives while considering the organization’s competitiveness in the future-producing sector Dr. Bhumika Achhnani (2021). RetailCo’s strategy is analyzed in this paper based on the following goals of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) to deliver customer needs.

Ideally, RetailCo should use a customer-centric perspective to formulate a strategy that will create competition. The data obtained from market research and focus groups allow for an idea of the customer radar and changes over time (CIPD, 2022).

RetailCo ensures that they change with the customers’ changing needs by incorporating their feedback into their planning. For instance, catering to a customer’s preference for environmentally friendly products ensures that the Company can supply such products to customers. Improving the satisfaction of customers is crucial; making the employee recognize satisfaction as a priority creates an appositive brand-related interaction, thereby mirroring the brand value (CIPD, 2021).

As discussed further, innovation is a critical element of RetailCo’s strategic plan to provide the Company with the capabilities it needs to adapt to current market conditions. The policy on research and development allows the firm to make changes quickly to seize a new trend, for example, the production of environment-friendly products due to a shift in customers’ preferences.

Supply chain management is also an important strategy, with suppliers addressing issues related to the quality delivery of products to customers while satisfying the price and availability criteria. Thus, this approach creates increased value for companies Holbeche, L. (2022). Performance measurement is a critical component of RetailCo’s strategic activities; currently, the organization measures the clients’ satisfaction by the Net Promoter Score and their retention rate. Through these indicators, RetailCo establishes its programs’ fit and alignment with customers’ expectations and improves to increase satisfaction.

Therefore, the organizational strategy RetailCo customer needs analysis as a customer-centered strategy, change, innovation, supply chain management, and performance enhancement to ensure the Company’s success in a competitive retail industry.

Word Count: 328 Words

References

Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). (2021). People strategy: A guide to aligning people and organisational strategy. CIPD.

Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). (2022). Understanding and meeting customer needs. CIPD.

Dr. Bhumika Achhnani (2021). Strategic Leadership: Navigating Organizational Success. Inkbound Publishers.

Holbeche, L. (2022). Aligning human resources and business strategy. Routledge.

3. Analyse the current impact of interest rates, inflation and one other external factor on your organisation (or one with which you are familiar). Identify organisational priorities arising from your analysis. (AC 1.3)

When looking at how interest rates, inflation, and geopolitics play out in an organization, one has to be familiar with how these factors influence the business climate. This discussion focuses on RetailCo, a UK-based retail organization, to describe the common issues faced by different business forms and to include the CIPD findings on the human resource implications.

Interest rates significantly impact businesses because they directly impact the cost incurred in borrowing and the amount of money consumers are willing to spend (Jobst, et al 2016). Elevated interest rates reduce RetailCo’s capacity to invest in capital projects, thus limiting its expansion. Such an environment may make the consumers save more than they spend, which, in the process, reduces the sales and, therefore, the company’s revenues. On the cost constraint side, it adopts a stricter approach to cost management as the CIPD suggested that firms return to human resource cost controls, putting off pay increases or refusing to hire new employees (CIPD, 2022).

Inflation also brings costs of products or wages that reduce the money available to the firm’s profit. Increased input costs may lead to the mobilization of the price factor, which may discourage the customers. Moreover, employees lobby for pay raises due to the effects of inflation; hence, operational costs are affected (O’Neill, R, et al, 2017). Human Resource Management is aware of uncertainty during uncertain economic times, and the CIPD highlights this in its observation that while determining the strategies for addressing this issue, firms have had to examine other ways of encouraging the personnel besides monetary incentives (CIPD, 2022).

External factors, such as trade relations and political stability, profoundly influence the functioning. Occurrences like Brexit change trading policies, affecting imports and exports. To manage these uncertainties, RetailCo should first devise an excellent approach to workforce management and training of its employees and a variety of suppliers.

Therefore, economic changes necessitate flexibility in workforce management, assessment of financial sustainability, and employee satisfaction and recruitment as strategies for overcoming obstacles resulting from the changes in economic conditions.

Word Count: 332 Words

References

Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). (2021). People strategy: A guide to aligning people and organisational strategy. CIPD.

Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). (2022). Understanding and meeting customer needs. CIPD.

Jobst, A. and Lin, H. (2016). Negative Interest Rate Policy (NIRP). International Monetary Fund.

O’Neill, R., Ralph, J. and Smith, P.A. (2017). Inflation : history and measurement. Cham: Springer International Publishing.

4. In February 2024, Peter Cheese, current CEO of CIPD stated, “AI is transforming jobs, careers, and workplaces. People professionals have a key role to play in encouraging safe experimentation and rapid learning, so that we can reap the benefits and mitigate the risks.” Assess the extent that AI is, or could be, used in your organisation (or an organisation with which you are familiar) and assess how AI impacts work. (AC 1.4)

Transforming was described by Peter Cheese, the CEO of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, in jobs, careers, and workplaces with the help of AI. He says that it is a tool that can change people and professionals in the most profound ways, and it causes people to want to safely and quickly test and learn from the potential benefits while avoiding the dangerous implications. AI is introduced from the operating and toward the organizational strategic level (CIPD, 2024)

Organizations need to consider what today’s use and future uses will do. For instance, a retailer can enhance some or all of the haulage, like demand forecasting, inventory, chatbots, and other cognitive channels. Such tools enable strategic human resources to focus on more complex tasks as analytics predict the fluctuations to reduce inventory and staff (Dong et al., 2024).

Of all the areas within the HR field, AI is taking the most active role in the recruitment and talent management sectors. AI scans and sorts resumes, and when employing AI, it can also predict that employers do not automatically hire recklessly and on biased first meetings (Agrawal A. et al., 2024). However, human supervision does not run 24/7 because, to some extent, algorithms may reproduce prejudice, which is ethically questionable. According to the author’s report of CIPD in 2021, monitoring is needed to mitigate any discriminating outcomes (CIPD, 2021).

Furthermore, AI and algorithms for natural language processing by analysing feedback can enhance worker engagement because they lead to the development of training applications that will support and augment the employees’ abilities. However, the use of AI is hinged on the technological openness of the organization to the use of AI (Thomson, B. 2024). Reliable participants from diverse interdisciplinary organizations and people professions come into the process of safe experimental use of AL and its civil applications from the fold.

The future entails more consistent job robotic outsourcing, leading to greater job polarization requiring more compute-intensive skills. Lastly, AI opens up further possibilities for people, including lifelong learning. It is now up to HR professionals to ensure that AI will not be abused by organizations and maintain harmony between humans and machines.

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References

Agrawal, A., Gans, J., Goldfarb, A. and Tucker, C. (2024). The Economics of Artificial Intelligence. University of Chicago Press.

Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). (2021). People strategy: A guide to aligning people and organisational strategy. CIPD.

Dong, X., Tian, Y., He, M. and Wang, T. (2024). When knowledge workers meet AI? The double-edged sword effects of AI adoption on innovative work behavior. Journal of Knowledge Management. doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/jkm-02-2024-0222.

Thomson, B. (2024). Management from A to Z and back again. Critical Publishing.

Pooja Vishwanathan (2024). Employee Wellbeing. Taylor & Francis.

5. Explain Charles Handy’s model of organisational culture and explain David Rock’s SCARF theory. (AC 2.1)

David Rock developed his SCARF theory (Beard, 2021), while Charles Handy developed the organizational culture model to provide information about workplace behavior (Liddle & Ulrich, 2021). Handy’s model defines four types of organizational culture (Steven Ten Have et al., 2013):

Power Culture is tightly associated with decisive leadership, which emphasizes the rapid decision-making process but can hamper personal initiative and cooperation.

Role Culture: It has narrower responsibilities delineated responsibilities; its structure is bureaucratic; it offers stability and regularity typical for big companies but may harm flexibility.

Task Culture: Concentrated more on goal accomplishment with the help of teamwork, it is currently used in efficient-centric fields such as technology. However, it can sometimes, in a way, disguise its contributors – absorb individual efforts.

Person Culture: This culture encourages self-organization, decision-making, and reliance upon individual professional judgment. They are commonly observed in educational and research organizations; however, their structure and operation might not be very consistent if workers’ personal goals are opposite to the organizational ones.

Handy’s identified model also underlines the role of culture in accomplishing organizational goals and objectives. For instance, if an organization is a government agency, then clearly, role culture will be acceptable and ideal. In contrast, task culture will be ideal and acceptable for a technical college or firm.

Complementing this, Rock’s SCARF Theory identifies five elements that impact employee behavior: Powerful forces work together in an organization to generate Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, and Fairness. That is, status has something to do with an employee’s self-esteem; certainty has something to do with the level of predictability in the organization; autonomy has something to do with control over one’s work; relatedness has something to do with how related people and things are to each other in the organization; and fairness is about how people are treated or rewarded in an organization (Safir, 2017).

The combination of SCARF and Handy’s models helps comprehend how organizations can make their work environments fulfilling to all parties and foster the growth of employees and the whole company.

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References

Beard, S.M. (2021). The Concept of NeuroLeadership SCARF Domain Theory on the Self-efficacy and Emotional Intelligence of Executive Leadership.

Liddle, D., & Ulrich, D. (2021). Managing culture : develop a people-centred organization for improved performance. Koganpage.

Steven Ten Have, Wouter Ten Have, Frans Stevens, Marcel Vander Elst and Pol-Coyne, F. (2013). Key management models : the management tools and practices that will improve your business. London ; New York: Financial Times Prentice Hall.

Safir, S. (2017). The Listening Leader. John Wiley & Sons.

6. Assess how employee selection or employee development impacts organizational culture and behavior in your organization (or one with which you are familiar). (AC 2.2)

People’s practices are strongly related to organizational cultures and behaviors (Bock, L. 2015). Understanding these practices can determine how the work environment, employees’ attitudes, and performance are influenced.

Recruitment and Selection: An organization’s recruitment and selection methods greatly determine its culture. When selecting people for jobs, an organization’s management can uphold the company’s culture and standards (Farr and Tippins, 2017).

Training and Development: It is essential to train employees. General Electric’s (GE) leadership programs foster a learning environment where sustainable performance improvement is fostered. Such growth opportunities create the right mindset for improvement and generate leaders propagating this concept.

Performance Management: Finally, it affects the culture since the performance management system plays a massive role in the company. In contrast, Netflix discards traditional annual appraisal methods and centers on the number of points made instead of employee points. This fosters decentralization and decision-making—the key to moving a business forward.

Reward and Recognition: Info 890 – Learning/Performance – Selection/Training – Reward systems support expected behaviors and values yearning in an association. For example, Southwest Airlines has a special honors award program for employees who provide excellent customer service to the organization’s clients. This practice pressed into the employees the importance of the best customer attitude and showed the importance of every organization member (Nikolaou and Oostrom, 2015).

Diversity and Inclusion: The observation reports clearly show that diversity and inclusion are beneficial practices in culture change. Salesforce uses diverse programs, including equality paychecks and diversified leadership programs, to show that it supports diversity. This creates respect and inclusion for all employees, impacting their working behavior.

Altogether, an organization has substantial potential for managing and influencing the organizational culture and employee behaviors by employing rational people strategies for staffing, learning, and development, performance appraisal reward, and Human Resource Diversity (Oswaal Editorial Board, 2023).

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References

Bock, L. (2015). Work Rules!: Insights from Inside That Will Transform How You Live and Lead. Twelve.

Oswaal Editorial Board (2023). Oswaal Karnataka PUE, Chapterwise & Topicwise, Solved Papers (2017-2023), II PUC Class 12, Business Studies. Oswaal Books.

Farr, J.L. and Tippins, N.T. (2017). Handbook of Employee Selection. Routledge.

Nikolaou, I. and Oostrom, J.K. (2015). Employee recruitment, selection, and assessment : contemporary issues for theory and practice. New York: Psychology Press.

7. An organization is planning a change relating to hybrid working. Many employees moved to home working during the Covid-19 pandemic. Whilst this approach worked well at the time, the organization now wants all employees to work at least two days a week on site. Explain how Kotter’s approach to managing change could be used to successfully implement this change. (AC 2.3)

The Eight-Step Model by John Kotter outlines a strategic process of dealing with change, especially those relating to the transition from remote to hybrid work. The three significant components discussed are the pre-implementation plan, implementation drive, and sustainability (McGrath and Bates, 2017)

Create a Sense of Urgency: Managers need to make people understand the importance of face-to-face work, for example, to increase team cohesiveness and productivity. Making change seem urgent ensures that the employees are informed on why change has to happen, thus improving the rate of change and reception (Kotter, 1996; CIPD, 2021).

Build a Guiding Coalition: The hybrid work strategy should be supported by a diverse group of leaders, HR specialists, and department heads. This coalition can demand change, voice concerns, and provide examples of positive behaviors (Norton Rose Fulbright, 2020).

Form a Strategic Vision and Initiatives: We need to identify how flexibility in working will transform work outcomes and positively influence employees’ quality of life. When employees understand what the states need to achieve, they will be eager to perform (CIPD, 2023).

Enlist a Volunteer Army: Another way is to get the employees excited about working in a hybrid model and promote it to others by leading by example or convincing others to work in such a manner. Top-down approaches are sometimes resistant, mainly because change is challenging (Messenger, Jon C. (ed.). 2019).

Enable Action by Removing Barriers: Other challenges include mechanical challenges, such as the cost of commuting and technological requirements, which must be addressed to facilitate a smooth transition (CIPD, 2021).

Generate Short-Term Wins: It is possible to sequence activities highlighting initial improvements, such as identifying and establishing collaboration indices and then utilizing them to create assets for credit for future change (McGrath, J et al., 2017).

Sustain Acceleration: CIPD (2023) indicates that it is suitable for organizations to implement more aspects of hybrid work and adjust based on the organizational reaction.

Institute Change: To adopt Hybrid work in organizations, it should be integrated at policy, value, and training domain levels. This sustainable change is strategic because it is consistent with long-term objectives and blends into organizational culture.

Overall, the study reveals that adopting the hybrid work model at the enterprise level entails balancing set work models and employees’ expectations.

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References

ACAS (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service). n.d. “Working from Home”, available at https://www.acas.org.uk/working-from-home.

American Psychiatric Association Foundation, Center for Workplace Mental Health. n.d. “Working Remotely During COVID19: Your Mental Health and Well-being”.

McGrath, J. and Bates, B. (2017). The Little Book of Big Management Theories … and how to Use Them. Pearson.

Messenger, Jon C. (ed.). 2019. Telework in the 21st Century, an Evolutionary Perspective, ILO Future of Work series (Edward Elgar and ILO).

Norton Rose Fulbright. 2020. “COVID-19: Working from home and employer reimbursement of remote-work expenses in California and beyond”.

 

8. Using the Kubler-Ross change curve, discuss how change is experienced. (AC 2.4)

Transition is a natural process that concerns everyone and implies different emotions and problems. For managers, understanding how people deal with change is essential, whether personal loss or organizational change (Malone, 2018). The functional tool by Kübler-Ross for Change Management referred to in the occasional paper as the Kübler-Ross Model of Change, is well established, and its central idea is built around the phenomenon referred to in the Model as stages of grief.

Kübler-Ross identified five distinct stages individuals typically navigate when faced with a significant change: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. These stages are not entirely sequential, though the process might take very different turns depending on the person (Williams and Braddock, 2019).

Denial is the first phase in which people may fail to believe that change is accurate and deny it. This defense mechanism helps to deal with overwhelming emotions because people tend to grasp at straws and keep something familiar as their main priority (Wilson, 2014).

Anger: During the denial stage, people feel hopelessness, while when it disappears, they may have severe anger and frustration. This anger may be of change, of others, or even self-destructive, which shows a rejection of the change.

Bargaining: During this stage of change, people try to reduce the change effect or regain control through bargaining or using hypothetical or if-and-but scenarios. They desire to maintain familiar contingencies, but constraints are quickly realized.

Depression: Characterized by despair, this phase results in symptomatic depression withdrawal and social isolation as people grieve what has been lost.

Acceptance: Relative to the last stage, people begin to accept the possibility of moving to another stage and search for new options. Acceptance means acknowledging new situations in contrast to being glad about something.

The Kübler-Ross Model demonstrates how multi-faceted emotions are when people are in transition; it brings value for improving support initiations in different areas such as management and counseling (Kübler-Ross and Kessler, 2005).

Figure 1: Kubler-Ross change curve

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References

Malone, E.D. (2018). The Kubler-Ross change curve and the flipped classroom: Moving students past the pit of despair. Education in the Health Professions, 1(2), p.36. doi:https://doi.org/10.4103/ehp.ehp_26_18.

Williams, M. and Braddock, M. (2019). AI Case Studies: Potential for Human Health, Space Exploration and Colonisation and a Proposed Superimposition of the Kubler-Ross Change Curve on the Hype Cycle. Studia Humana, 8(1), pp.3–18. doi:https://doi.org/10.2478/sh-2019-0001.

Wilson, C. (2014). Performance coaching : a complete guide to best practice coaching and training. London: Kogan Page.

Kübler-Ross, E. and Kessler, D. (2005). On Grief & Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss. London: Simon & Schuster.

9. The CIPD’s Health and wellbeing at work survey 2023 found the percentage of organizations that have a standalone wellbeing strategy has risen from 40% in 2018 to 53% in 2023. Although the percentage has increased, this means that 47% of organizations do not have a standalone wellbeing strategy. Assess the importance of wellbeing at work and assess how good work could impact wellbeing. (AC 2.5)

Happy, healthier, and engaged employees at the workplace continue to be part of many organizations’ current management strategies. A survey conducted by CIPD Health and Wellbeing at Work 2023 shows that 53% of organizations have a well-being strategy different from HR. Still, 47% of businesses respond that they do not possess a defined procedure for managing change, which points to high levels of ineffectiveness (CIPD, 2023).

From the well-being perspective, personality encompasses mental, physical, and emotional fitness essential for efficiency. One way to prevent sickness and promote well-being is to adopt strategies that proactively augment effectiveness by decreasing staff absence, increasing morale, and strengthening one’s ability to be stress-resistant (Pooja Vishwanathan, 2024). . On the other hand, a lack of approach to well-being results in employee fatigue and high attrition rates. Research shows that organizational development and healthcare costs significantly improve among firms after a pandemic by supporting organizational well-being (Clifton and Harter, 2021).

Another concept—good work—implies that a worker has received relatively paid work, tools, compensation, knowledge, and discretion. Good work is adequate and healthy for the spirit and body, bringing contentment. Purposes perceived to be meaningful by the organization’s members would make them report high satisfaction levels, affirming that good work leads to low stress and a high level of well-being (Butler and Hasson, 2020).

Good work influences well-being through several avenues: Fulfilling the varsity’s affirmative obligation to promote employment satisfaction, enacted engagement, balance, development, and psychological safety. Employers focusing on well-being and good work win by receiving higher participation, productivity, and staff loyalty.

Investment in well-being also enhances the employer’s branding strategies; in addition, the employee will be able to cope with change issues like restructuring (Cuff and Forstag, 2019). Mobile Care states that organizations that have enhanced their wellbeing policies are in an excellent position to tackle mental health issues and improve performance. Therefore, it is essential to manage well-being at work to ensure optimum productivity and productivity for everyone with constant work to improve the healthy employee’s workplace.

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References

Butler, D. and Hasson, G. (2020). Wellbeing & Mental Health In The Workplace. S.L.: Capstone Publishing Ltd.

Clifton, J. and Harter, J. (2021). Wellbeing At Work. S.L.: Gallup Press.

Cuff, P.A. and Forstag, E.H. (2019). A design thinking, systems approach to well-being within education and practice : proceedings of a workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

Pooja Vishwanathan (2024). Employee Wellbeing. Taylor & Francis.

10. Provide a brief overview of the employee lifecycle and discuss people practice roles at the recruitment, development, and separation stages of the lifecycle. (AC 3.1)

The employment cycle can be described as a cycle through which an employee goes into an organization/joins an organization, remains with it for some time, and then leaves it. All of them are critical to the factors of talent management and practices used by HR professionals. Employee lifecycle can help improve organizational resource usage, satisfaction, and turnover (Waite, 2021).

Critical stages of the employee lifecycle include:

Attraction and Recruitment: It focuses on talent acquisition in terms of personality, behavior, and appearance that meet the organizational culture. Employment entails job analysis by the HR teams, employer branding, and using a fair system that favors selections.

Onboarding and Induction: Newcomers are socialized regarding the culture and beliefs of the workplace.

The development includes increasing competencies through training and professional development plans and sessions (Fulcher, Cote, and Marasco, 2021). Skills enhancement leads to reception and interest in career development, improving learning and development, and increasing engagement.

Retention: Concepts and techniques for retaining employees, as well as maintaining their interest for the long term.

Separation: Proper exits prevent negative impressions about the company, which wins the employer brand. Learning management Professional HR managers are responsible for conducting exit interviews and off-boarding without compromising the firm’s image (Macey and Fink, 2020).

In the life cycle of people, good people practices enhance the employee’s lifecycle. They pointed out that the challenge of developing human capital delves into the shoulders of HR professionals, thus improving workers’ retention and organizational performance (R, 2016). Consequently, this can improve employer branding chances and pre-establish signs to future work relations with previous employees.

Word Count: 260 Words

References

Fulcher, J., Cote, T. and Marasco, K. (2021). People operations: automate HR, design a great employee experience, and unleash your workforce. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley.

Macey, W.H. and Fink, A.A. (2020). Employee surveys and sensing: challenges and opportunities. New York, Ny: Oxford University Press.

R, J. (2016). Learning analytics: measurement innovations to support employee development. London ; Philadelphia, Pa: Kogan Page.

Waite, K. (2021). People practice: a complete guide. London, United Kingdom: Kogan Page.

11. Analyze how people practice supports organizational strategy through vertical integration and how people practice supports wider people strategies through horizontal integration. (AC 3.2)

Based on the presented literature, people practices are essential for vertical and horizontal integration concerning organizational strategy. This is because vertical integration enhances the alignment of HR activities with the overall organizational objectives to support the recognition of HR as a strategic business unit (Verhulst and DeCenzo, 2024). For instance, if the organization’s strategy is to increase innovation, then HR should create ways of hiring and retaining innovative employees, for example, by emphasizing problem-solving as a competency during the hiring process and stressing the importance of learning in the workplace (CIPD, 2022). Armstrong and Taylor (2020) posit that this relationship is essential since HR is involved in strategy formulation.

Examples of vertical integration include:

Talent Acquisition and Retention: Strategies directed at people with the needed skills and personal characteristics.

Performance Management: Establishing goals aligned with strategic objectives, such as improving customer satisfaction.

Learning and Development (L&D): Project activities as per the organizational mandate may entail, for example, a leadership development project.

As horizontal integration makes it possible for the various practices to be coherent in the human capital management course, though recruitment, performance measure, or appraisal and development are interrelated, an organization strengthens its culture and objectives by addressing these and thus improves the tones of the employee. According to Boxall and Purcell (2016), it was suggested that several HR practices should be mutually supported for the corporate motivation of individuals.

Examples of horizontal integration include:

Recruitment and Onboarding Consistency: In this case, culture and expectations are communicated.

L&D Alignment with Career Development: Promotional training labeled.

Reward Programs: Characterizing bonuses according to corporal values and appraising organizational performance.

Both vertical and horizontal HRM integration are essential for developing a sound HR plan to improve organizational performance. Thus, integrated systems significantly contribute to organizational objectives, enhancing communication and participation, with reinforcement of promotional company culture (Townsend, Bos-Nehles, and Jiang, 2022).

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References

Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S. (2020). Armstrong’s Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. 15th ed. London: KoganPage.

Boxall, P.F. and Purcell, J. (2016). Strategy and Human Resource Management. 4th ed. London: Palgrave.

Townsend, K., Bos-Nehles, A. and Jiang, K. (2022). Research Handbook on Line Managers. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Verhulst, S.L. and DeCenzo, D.A. (2024). Fundamentals of Human Resource Management. John Wiley & Sons.

12. An organization is planning to introduce a four-day working week. Discuss the processes the people function could use to consult and engage with managers and employees to understand their needs when moving from a five-day to four-day working week. (AC 3.3)

When an organization is contemplating the possibility of moving from a five-day to a four-day week, the primary feeder of this notion is the HR function, which makes contact with managers and employees to feel the pulse of the entity’s workforce. Stakeholder consultation is crucial to identify the possible effects on productivity and personnel. Here are vital processes HR can utilize:

This section focuses on identifying stakeholders and the consultation process, which is the first essential step in needs assessment training.

To achieve this, HR should involve other organizational stakeholders and get their feedback to ensure they are trustworthy and engaged. Methods include:

Focus Groups and Interviews: Such discussions provide qualitative measures of the issue and perceived advantages (Armstrong & Taylor, 2020).

Surveys and Questionnaires: The above tools capture quantitative data on aspects such as their choice of vacation, allowance for work-life balance, and, in the process, consider everyone’s opinion (CIPD, 2023).

Managerial Consultations: New managers must be involved from the onset because they shall manage the new arrangement. Proposed changes and solutions to issues encountered by operational teams should be discussed in workshops facilitated by HR (Daniels et al., 2021).

Pilot Programme and Feedback Instruments: A trial program thus enables organizations to assess the practicability of implementing the four-day workweek before a large-scale implementation. Key activities include:

Structured Feedback Collection: When designing the pilot to implement the compensation structure, feedback channels for the employees and managers help make real-time adjustments (Armstrong, 2021).

Monitoring KPIs: Human Resource managers can objectively evaluate the new settings by focusing on productivity and satisfaction with working hours (Greene, 2020). They include AU Research Week Workshops & Information Sessions, International Research Day Workshops, and Society for Research & Computing Symposium & Workshop.

Workshops can clarify the four-day workweek concept:

Expectation-Setting Workshops: Synchronize the standards regarding performance and the new schedule while trying to tackle existing workload issues.

Skill-Building for Managers: Thus, workshops on time management and other aspects of employee well-being provide managers with the necessary tools for change ((Holland, Brewster, and Kougiannou, 2024)).

Continual Communication and encouragement

No fixed, unbroken, errant social media platforms are crucial in overhauling the day-by-day cooperation with engaged employees. Human resources should report updates frequently, respond to possible questions, and create opportunities for submitting options to improve anonymity during the change.

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References

Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S. (2020). Armstrong’s Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. 15th ed. London: KoganPage.

Brough, P. and Kinman, G. (2024). Wellbeing at Work in a Turbulent Era. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). (2023). Economic Outlook and Workforce Planning. [Online] Available at: https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/strategy/economy

Greene, F.J. (2020). Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Holland, P., Brewster, C. and Kougiannou, N.K. (2024). Work, Employment and Flexibility. Edward Elgar Publishing.

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