Answer

Case Study Assessment: Changes at Oz Industries

1. Identify the changes at Oz Industries and determine the reasons for the new direction

            The changes at the OZ Industries include the appointment of new personnel to the Board and senior management positions such as appointment of vice president people and culture, Meg O’Brien; Redundancy and retirement of former employees; Workforce diversity to, for instance, the separation of payroll and Human Resource divisions (Stone, 2017); policy and reporting requirement changes, that is, replacement of new programs with new ones; Efforts are geared towards cost reduction and meeting performance targets; Employees’ academic qualification is preferred to seniority in the various posts and introduction of new performance appraisal program based on individual accountability and goal setting.

            The above changes and the new direction is initiated to respond to contemporary development in the business operation especially the internal factors that led to massive financial losses. For example, the new management is introducing workforce diversity to improve work-life balance. To realize the full potential of the employees, the workplace must be productive and diversity- driven with employees leading fulfilling lives away from the office. The management also introduces goal setting and accountability to enhance performance thus improving profitability chances.  

2. Describe the issues which contributed to Carmelita’s resignation. What are the possible repercussions for the organization?

            Carmelita’s resignation is attributable to various issues. Firstly, she is frustrated by the new policy changes and reporting requirement especially the replacement of her original human resource and administrative programs by the new management initiatives (Stone, 2017). Secondly, Carmelita resents the relentless focus on performance and profits as well as the introduction of the new performance appraisal program based on individual accountability and goal setting which according to her is not appropriate for OZ Industries. Again, she was against the promotion of junior academically qualified employees instead of senior and experienced long-term workers

            Despite her resignation, Carmelita is a hardworking employee with unquestionable experience. This is one of the reasons she was retained by the new management even though her colleagues were sidelined. As a result, the organization may face some consequences due to her resignation. For instance, the company may lack equally experienced employee to replace Carmelita. According to Todnem By (2012), the organization requires senior workers to guide the younger academically qualified employees who lack adequate job experience and leadership skills to deliver during the change process.  

3. What ethical and HR issues may arise to challenge the proposed changes?

            Ethical Issues that may arise to challenge the implementation of the new changes include luck of consideration of long-term employees’ rights (Champlin, 1998). The new management failed to consider the opinions of both released and retained workers to ensure that they were satisfied with the new changes. The administration need to correctly identify all the employees and select those that will be retained and those released so that their rights are respected. Again, the new leadership failed to follow ethical methods of dismissal of employees. Integrative Social Contracts Theory, some of the ethical ways of dismissal that were not followed include open communication, advance warning of release, and support from the institution.

            Human resource issues that may challenge the proposed changes include failure to retain critical employees. Carmelita is an experienced employee vital to the OZ industries operations; thus, she should be retained. Instead, she was retained temporarily and later released. Secondly, the organization failed to establish a proper communication channel to address redundancy issues before implementing the changes.     

4. How will the changes impact on current employees?

            Changes will improve the productivity of the current employees. Introduction of new divisions such as the payroll or accounting division separate from human resource and administration reduces overlapping task thus promoting employee productivity. Secondly, the new changes are likely to encourage diversity in the workplace, therefore, promotes mutual respect between employees. Since the organization is hiring young employees from school, they are likely to have different talents, characteristics and working styles thus they will recognize each other’s skills and strengths (Stockdale & Crosby, 2004). Again, the implementation of the new performance appraisal program based on individual accountability and goal setting will improve the general performance of the current employees. When employees’ contribution to the company is measured by how they performed towards certain goals, they will strive to reach their targets. The changes will also enable the current management to increase the company’s profitability situation that has been an issue in the recent past. When employees meet their targets, OZ industries attain its financial objectives.      

5. Based on the topics you have studied, explain how the restructure could have been better managed:
6. What additional initiatives could be proposed in order to avoid resignations and redundancies?

            To avoid redundancies and resignations, the management should engage all employees before the implementation of the new changes through a proper channel of communication so that they are convinced on the need for change. Once the change is proposed as the most appropriate solution to financial losses, the management together with the employees should form a shared goal for changes.  Also, changes management should take place at different levels in the organization as opposed to the executive level alone (Stanleigh, 2017). Furthermore, the change process should be done on a step by step basis to allow the employees to adapt to new ways of operation before deciding to release them.    

1. How would these benefit the organization?

            The initiatives mentioned in (a) above enables the organization to retain its critical and experienced employees to help in the transition process. Even though OZ industries employ younger employees, they may not have the leadership skills and work experience hence they need direction from the senior employees. The initiatives also reduce as many redundancies and resignations as possible thus promoting a smooth transition process.