Summary of the BBQ Fun Case Study
- JKL Industries is an Australian owned organization which deals in selling forklift, small trucks and spare parts to the industries.
- Range of large and medium trucks from overseas suppliers.
- Strong growth in truck and forklift sales.
- It intends at recruiting re-skill or up-skill the existing employees.
- Lack of overarching approach towards information management.
- Slow responses towards external and internal customer needs.
- Ineffective and slow communication.
- No use or ineffective use of the modern communication technologies.
- Insufficient consultation.
- Lack of efficient employee engagement.
- General awareness is quite poor.
JKL Industries is Australian owned organization which deals in selling small trucks, spare parts and forklifts to the industries. It delivers value to the investors and customers through highly motivated, expert and trained workforce. It believes in unlocking and developing potential of the people associated with the firm so as to make it a leading supplier of small, large and medium trucks and forklifts in Australia.
- Providing value to owners and investors
- Increasing overall profitability over the next three years by 10%
- Reducing costs by negotiating with the suppliers
- Reducing costs by efficiencies of HR management
- Increasing revenue by providing higher customer value
Main customers of the firm are the transporters or the firm which are engaged in the transport business and the firms which provide delivery services.
The main stakeholders of the firm are customers, suppliers, government and the employees.
Communication objective |
Audience |
When |
Communication method |
Person responsible |
Increase overall profitability by 10% over next three years. |
Senior management |
20th May |
· Email (invite with agenda). · By providing higher customer value |
· Director · Product Department |
Provide value to customers |
· Senior management · Work teams · Individual employees |
September |
· Email (invite with agenda). · Providing customers with better services, products and all the necessary information. |
· Marketing department · Managers |
Continuously improve operations and management efficiency |
· Senior management · Work teams · Individual employees |
Every six months |
· Email (invite with agenda). · Accomplishing the set target on proper time. |
· Customer Service Department · HR department |
According to (), grievance is a feeling of injustice or resentment which is been treated unfairly. Grievances are of three types: legitimate, imagined and political.
Grievance handling procedure can be understood by the following three stages:
Listen: In this the employee is being welcomed and a fair hearing is being assured. This helps in getting grievances off his chest. Proper interest is been shown in his story and notes are prepared for the important areas.
Clarify: In this, the grievances are being re-stated and an agreement is taken from the respective employee. After that corrections are been done to the same and further clarifications are been obtained. The employer takes care of the fact that there are no unpleasant arguments.
Act: In the last stage, the employer gives his decision and provides an appropriate reason for it. He also indicates clearly the thing he wants to do and gives him genuine promises as well for providing him a sense of comfort.
This act prohibits the unlawful sexual, racial and other kind of discrimination under certain circumstances and also promotes equal opportunities for all the people.
This policy is based on the belief that well being of employees at the work is the main priority and should be considered while performing all the works at the workplace. People are the most crucial assets for the company and their safety and health is its greatest responsibility (Storey, 2007).
The objective of this policy affirming, in comprehensive statement, the required standards of practices and conducts with respect to some kind of political contribution and payments. Actions of an employee under this policy are essential indications of judgment and competence of the employee.
- People from various cultures bring various perspectives, ideas and personalities in workplace activities and strategic planning processes (Rutherford, Buller and McMullen, 2003). A culturally aware and diverse workforce can create an environment of mutual dignity and respect.
- Ethical values and cultural diversity can be enhanced in the cited firm by reducing the communication gap among the employees and the employers and by developing mutual respect among everyone.
- The team can also be approached online through mails.
- Lack of updated information with the employees and lack of proper communication or feedbacks is yet another problem faced with the employees.
- The team can also be confronted by encouraging feedback from their side and providing them a sense of belongingness.
- There are four types of communication styles: passive, aggressive, passive-aggressive and assertive.
In the given case, assertive style of communication is the most appropriate as it involves communicating without manipulation or resorting to the games. It involves providing clear boundaries and well defined instructions as well.
Objectives and Goals
Employee conflict is one of the significant issues within different businesses. Well defined means of communication style is adopted for the same in order to attain effective results. I adapted to the aggressive communication style once in order to handle the situation and manage the conflict issue in an effective manner (Lawler, 2005). It helped in handling the situation in an effective manner and attains significant results for business growth and development.
Networking is one of the major and most crucial aspects of attaining significant business results within the market. It helps organizations in enhancing their performance and growth within the economy (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). The strategies which may help the companies in developing effective networking to build a positive relationship are socializing, building digital infrastructure and developing effective database are the common measures which can be adopted to build a positive relationship within businesses.
Social networking sites are the most effective and significant strategies for building network (Khanka, 2007). The digital presence of the companies are critically analyzed and evaluated by the businesses, clients and consumers as well.
I joined the network group six months back in order to attain the organizational goal of sale and client base
I joined LinkedIn network which helped me in enhancing opportunities to approach new clients and understand their needs and demands. I was also able to seek competitive employees for the firm through the site.
I developed my profile and followed professional groups on the site which helped in racing to wide number of consumers and businesses
Networking helped me in developing a strong database and growth aspects for my business.
Networking activity |
Person |
Schedule |
Meeting with suppliers to negotiate a deal which everyone is happy about |
Sam |
Starting – 20th may On a –monthly basis. |
Meeting with clients to make them aware of the good deals they are getting |
Alex |
Starting – 25th May On a – weekly basis. |
Joining a sales team community to help better understand negotiation |
Sam |
Starting – 20th May On a – weekly basis. |
Meeting with other sales teams to understand how they work |
Alex |
Starting – June 15th On a –monthly basis. |
The overall scenario reveals that:
- High job insecurity within employees
- High level of employee dissatisfaction
- Employee grievances is not structured effectively
- Process of grievance management is outdated (hierarchy approach)
- No implementation of collective bargaining or employee negotiation
- Communication with top management is minimum which is ineffective for employee motivation.
The manager of Brisbane branch has analyzed that employees are not satisfied with work environment, salary and communication aspects in the firm. The manager is the first person to be approached in the grievance process. The manager focuses on employee negotiation and collective bargaining (Hendry, 2012). It was analyzed that employee frustration and anger was very high which resulted in creating major dispute between employee and employer. The manager communicates the issue to higher management in order to stop the strike within the firm.
a). Building trust within employees demand effective communication and ethical working aspects and significant leadership with structured code of working.
b). Assertive communication style will be adopted to meet the emotional and technical needs of the employees. This will provide emotional support and effective advocating to the employees.
Grievance policies include collective bargaining, employee negotiation and trade union aspect.
The strategies which can help in analyzing root cause of conflict are bottom up communication, arbitration and collective
bargaining.
Action/activity |
Timeframe |
Person/s responsible |
Description of strategy/ tactic/rationale for action |
Resources, if required |
HR meeting with manager (rental) |
Weekly meetings for next 1 month |
HR Business Partner |
Speak to the Manager from Rental to see how we can resolve his grievance and understand his point of view. |
Computer Meeting room Meeting agenda |
Discuss relevant grievance policies and procedures for JKL industries: ? JKL Industries’ grievance policy ? JKL Industries’ grievance procedure ? JKL Industries’ code of ethics and anti-discrimination policy. |
Weekly meetings for next 2 months |
HR Business Partner |
Using effective communication strategies or tactics. This will help the Manager to understand JKL’s policies and procedures. |
Computer Meeting room JKL policy and procedures handbook |
Provide guidance, counselling and support to assist the manager in resolving their work difficulties. |
Monthly basis for 3 months |
HR Business Partner Counsellor |
Using effective communication strategies (Ngo, Lau and Foley, 2008). Counselling session might help them to understand and see what JKL Industries is trying to achieve. Mediation class (who will help resolve the problem in the workplace) |
Computer Meeting room |
Provide as must plans about the restructure in the business and what this means to all employees of JKL Industries. |
1 month |
HR Business Partner |
Once the Manager as more information about the restructure, we hope he can understand what JKL is planning to achieve. |
Computer Meeting room Restructure Plans |
Regularly following up with the employee to ensure the conflict has been truly resolved. |
Monthly meeting for the next 3 months |
HR Business Partner |
This will help the employee to provide feedback on a regular basis as to how he/she is going (Tsui and Wu, 2005). The employee will have the opportunity to advise us of any changes they are experiencing. |
Meeting room Computer Meeting Agenda |
References
Books and Journals
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Hendry, C., 2012. Human resource management. Routledge.
Khanka, S.S., 2007. Human resource management. S. Chand Publishing.
Lawler, E.E., 2005. From human resource management to organizational effectiveness. Human resource management. 44(2). pp. 165-169.
Ngo, H.Y., Lau, C.M. and Foley, S., 2008. Strategic human resource management, firm performance, and employee relations climate in China. Human Resource Management. 47(1). pp. 73-90.
Rutherford, M.W., Buller, P.F. and McMullen, P.R., 2003. Human resource management problems over the life cycle of small to medium?sized firms. Human resource management. 42(4). pp. 321-335.
Storey, J., 2007. Human resource management: A critical text. Cengage Learning EMEA.
Tsui, A.S. and Wu, J.B., 2005. The new employment relationship versus the mutual investment approach: Implications for human resource management. Human Resource Management. 44(2). pp. 115-121.