Support your explanation with references

Support your explanation with references

Case study: Warbings Office Systems PlcBackground Warbings Office Systems is small but rapidly growing
company, focusing on delivering and supplying office based products
to a target market of small businesses in the U.K. and,
increasingly, Europe. As the trend for homeworking continues much
of their new business is in supplying office materials to
individuals working from home. Currently offering some 18,000
different product lines in store and 39,000 via catalogue ordering,
it intends to double its product turnover in the next three years
by increasing its web-based ordering capabilities. With the
marketing strapline ‘you need it we’ve got it’, Warbings aims to
make office supply shopping as easy as possible for customers.
Priding itself on being a ‘thoroughly modern company with old
traditions,’ Warbings has used technology to evolve into a
customer-focused business, striving to give each customer a
‘personal service second to none,’ with a variety of different, but
easily accessible, ways of ordering and receiving products tailored
to their individual needs. The more cynical of their staff
occasionally reflect that the customers even dictate the lavatory
breaks and bedtimes of the Warbings’ employees. Graffiti on one of
the depot walls, that intriguingly reappears every time it is
removed, says ‘you need it we bleed it’ and occasionally ‘Wosp
stings’.The Warbings CEO is passionate about delivery and customer care
and he is convinced that the way in which customers are treated is
the key to repeat business. The Warbings mission statement reflects
this philosophy, stating that:‘Our mission is to cost-effectively supply both the professional
and home office with a complete range of supplies, including
stationery, filing equipment, office equipment, computer
consumables and cleaning materials. To do this we are committed to
meeting the needs of each and every customer by delivering quality
products, with innovative functionality and modern design. Our
daily objective is to ensure that our customers, wherever they are,
whoever they are, whether they purchase in one of our shops,
through our direct sales department or over the internet, receive
the same level of care, courtesy, service and respect to which they
are entitled. It is this service that makes the essential
difference.’(The company sees no need for a values statement insisting that
everything necessary is contained within the mission one.)Evolving from an 19th century printing shop in the East End,
Warbings has been formed over the years by acquisition and merger.
(At one stage it considered further growth by expanding to supply
goods to office supplies distributors, but decided against this
and, for the short term anyway, is now intent on consolidating
rather than expanding its present base.) Based in East London, it
has a warehouse and driver depot in Basildon and an additional two
warehouses in Leeds and Manchester. As well as its delivery service
it has three out-of-town retail superstores (Farnham, Marchington
and Lewis) a European office in Ulm (West Germany), together with a
call-centre and a small copying and printing service attached to
its head office in Bow, East London. Around 600 employees work in
the company, of whom 210 are part-time and based in the three
superstores. (See chart at the end of the case study.)Business and personnel climateAs the business has grown and become geographically diverse, the
company faces a growing challenge of cohesion. Communicating
between the divisions is becoming more and more difficult as the
company tries to achieve uniformity in vision, performance and
delivery of information to all employees in a timely and efficient
way. The IT department has become crucial in this, and is in the
process of organizing and replacing the business PCs – which are
reaching the end of their life cycle – with a system that supports
Warbings’ expanding product and customer base, while still
delivering an intranet interface which is efficient, user-friendly
and less prone to break down under the pressure of use.The Directors at the head office are delighted with the way in
which the new system is becoming embedded and enthuse about the
ways in which they can access performance data at the drop of a
hat, spot buying trends in the market and yet still use the same
system to communicate new targets and schemes instantly to the
workforce. There are plans to introduce a monthly electronic
newsletter for all staff, discussing the virtues of new product
lines, showing which divisions are exceeding targets, explaining
any changes to the company, and perhaps highlighting the top
salesman for that month. “E-updating by unobtrusive drip feeding”
is part of the thinking behind this. A monthly competition to
‘guess the quickest route’ is likely to be incorporated, as the CEO
says he knows that this will ‘keep the drivers on their toes’; he
has suggested that lunch with him will be a suitable prize. The HR
manager who has been told that he will have to coordinate and
produce this experimental missive was reputed to have been
overheard muttering something along the lines of ‘I’ll have a guess
the weight of the CEO competition.’A number of the staff see the shift to electronic communication
as a necessary evil, increasing the ease of communicating with
customers but reducing telephone or face-to-face contact between
employees. There is an additional degree of unrest because the
information system is also used as a way of recording details about
staff performance – sales staff and call centre employees in
particular are now required to input data about their daily
activities, expected calls and actual calls. Many regard this
increasing level of surveillance as indicative of the impersonal
way in which Warbings regards them as a means to a profitable end.
Indeed the lack of consultation about the type of computers to
install and their potential use so infuriated two of the sales team
that they left, moaning about the ways in which their jobs had
become unrecognizable, and the fact that they were supposed to
adapt to the new ways without comment. Among the remaining staff
comments such as ‘no one asked us, yet we are the people who have
to use this system: it is such a waste of time’ and ‘when
everything goes wrong, as it probably will, we will be the ones who
have to work harder just to stand still’ are commonplace.
Ironically the system that was supposed to make things easier may,
in some instances, be making them worse.The constant pressures to hit targets, increase sales, improve
the portfolio of products and increase points of sale, while
decreasing the time it takes to process goods through the system,
has resulted in a rather frenetic culture where there is little
time for reflection, where strategic decision making comes a poor
second to reaction to the market-place, and where supervisors and
managers feel obliged to push their teams to the limit. Absence
levels have gone up by a third over the last quarter and
half-a-dozen people have had their contracts terminated because
they were taking extended sick leave due to stress. The Unite
representatives have, on a number of occasions, brought up health
and safety issues linked to increasing workloads and shorter
delivery times. The company is therefore aware that the drivers in
some of the divisions are members of Unite but it tries to have as
little to do with the union as possible. (Indeed part of the
determination to keep outside forces at bay is epitomized by its
attitude to the employers association for the sector, the Road
Haulage Association. It acknowledges that this sets national pay
rates, but is unsure whether or not these apply to Warbings and
does not want to ‘find out for sure’ in case the knowledge commits
the company to delivering terms and conditions out of line with the
regionally based ones it currently offers.) A number of lost
tribunal cases, coupled with numerous lengthy and unsettling calls
to the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS)
help-line, resulted in the CEO rather grudgingly, and some would
say belatedly, appointing the new HR Manager and assistant. He is
confident that these two can ‘tidy up’ the way in which the company
operates, and has set them a target of six months to ‘iron out any
controversy’ and phase in any procedures they feel appropriate.Training in all sections is ad hoc, given when necessary and
usually delivered in-house by an already proficient member of the
team.In terms of recruitment and selection, outline job descriptions
are produced but recruitment and selection of staff is fairly
informal and varies between the different sites. The most popular
selection methods are an application form, interview (which often
takes the form of an informal chat) and references. The main
recruitment methods used are the local paper, word-of-mouth and
specialist agenciesThe CEO makes a point of delivering a ‘state of the nation’ pep
talk to all divisions during the slacker summer period. The HR
manager feels these talks are possibly counter-productive but has
enough to do firefighting and coping with the additional paperwork
generated by bi-monthly board meetings without jeopardizing his
career by interfering and offering the CEO ‘helpful’ suggestions.
Since it has become known that he is to rationalize the ways that
each division works he has received at least thirty e mails a day
from a range of individuals demanding changes to a variety of
things and seeking clarification on others. Typically these
missives cover such topics as: • The shift system, • Overnight
allowances • On site chiropody • Flexible working • Different ways
of complaining • Abolition of staff monitoring • Heavy handed line
management • Health and safety • Holiday pay • Training • Quality
of cleanliness, soap, and lavatory paper in the washrooms • The
introduction of a faith room • Different ways of setting and
communicating targets.The state of the business and employee relations in each of the
firm’s main units are as follows:• Bow Based Sections: Head office, Call-Centre and Printing
Division. In an effort to achieve greater integration of the total
business, the directors have increased the role of head office in
developing financial and administrative procedures (particularly
those associated with IT) that can be applicable throughout the
organisation. The HR function has been strengthened by the
appointment of a full-time HR Manager and assistant, whose tasks
will be to impose uniform procedures on the currently chaotic areas
such as pay, disciplinary and grievance policies and resourcing
returns. They are expected to produce a new staff handbook and
ensure essential compliance with the law by the end of the year.
This task is unenviable. Even where there are uniform procedures
they are not always followed consistently, and some are capable of
being interpreted in a variety of ways. The call-centre operators,
admin/clerical staff are mostly local people, and turnover is very
low. The new computer system has engendered a lot of muttered
discontent (in the main because changes were imposed and not
discussed). Sickness levels have risen by 12% since its
introduction. The sales team are young, male, and rely on
commission to maintain their income levels. The two members of the
sales team who covered Wales and the South of England respectively
left the organisation within the last six months, see above, and
have not been replaced. The technical staff based on this site
regard themselves as essential to maintaining Warbings’ market
position, but the CEO regards them as an increasing cost to the
company, even although some of their salaries are below the
national average. Although morale seems high, there is nevertheless
a relatively high level of turnover of sales representatives and
technical support staff, most of whom are young, ambitious and
highly marketable in a very competitive market.• Basildon warehouse and driver depot. Because the business is
expanding, and the company has increased its market share in the
London/Europe area, this division is extremely busy. Drivers are
now routinely expected to deliver in Europe as well as at home, and
this means that they have, on occasions, to spend several days
abroad at short notice. The CEO is aware that driving for long
periods can be a health and safety risk , but it is one that he is
prepared for his drivers to undertake, assuming that they will be
extra careful when they think the additional overtime payments.
Wages and salaries are higher than in the other divisions, but
staff turnover is quite high too.• Leeds warehouse and driver depot. Business here is rather
static and the company is struggling to maintain market share.
Wages and salaries are lower than in the other divisions, and staff
morale is low but labour turnover over the last year has been
unexpectedly static.• The Manchester warehouse & driver depot. This is an
extremely busy division with drivers and depot workers frequently
expected to work overtime with little or no notice. Pay is below
average for the region, turnover high and union membership
increasing. The depots recruit drivers primarily through
word-of-mouth; when vacancies occur the drivers are asked if they
know of anyone who might be interested and would be suitable. Only
if this doesn’t produce enough applicants are other recruitment
methods used – primarily a specialist agency. So far this approach
is sent to work reasonably well in filling vacancies.• The three superstores are maintaining sales in the face of
fierce competition from High Street franchise operations. The
workforce is mostly female and part-time, and the employees are
generally older than in other divisions. The rates of pay and
holidays vary across the stores and reflect regional
variations.• Ulm is staffed mostly by local employees with the exception of
the director and four expatriate (expat) sales staff. Pay is higher
than average and the expat staff are paid an additional number of
supplements including a ‘working abroad bonus’, housing allowance,
any school fees, and health insurance. Turnover is low and staff
recalled to the UK tend to resent their loss of supplementary
benefits.Current strategy Key strategic targets include: o
Rationalization of staff processes o Increase the competitiveness
of every decision in every division o Speed up the introduction of
computerised systems o Reduce costs in relation to sales/output by
necessary restructuring, even if this means compulsory redundancies
o Increase the European market sharePart B QuestionYou are the new HR Manager recently appointed by Warbings Office
Systems plc and, as outlined in the case, you and your assistant
were initially given six months to “phase in any procedures that
you felt appropriate”.The CEO clearly expects you to introduce procedures that will
reduce sickness absence and employee turnover and increase the
commitment and motivation of the workforce. However, it is clear to
you that this cannot be done by simply developing new procedures,
and that you will only be able to address his concerns by
demonstrating to the employees that their complaints have been
heard and that Warbings regards them as more than just “a means to
a profitable end”.Looking through the list of emails that employees have sent you
asking for changes in the way the company operates, you noticed
that most of the concerns relate to three issues: heavy-handed line
management, lack of training, and different ways of setting and
communicating targets.From your years of experience, you know that all of these
problems are linked and could be addressed by a formal system of
performance appraisal and training for all employees, but
especially for those with line management responsibility. You also
understand that addressing the employees’ concerns will help to
achieve the CEO’s priorities of reducing sickness absence and
employee turnover, and increasing the commitment and motivation of
the workforce.Drawing on your learning from this module, write an explanation
for the CEO of how and why introducing performance appraisal and
appropriate training for all levels of staff can address the
employees’ complaints of heavy-handed line management, lack of
training and requests for different ways of setting and
communicating targets, and also support the CEO’s priorities of
reducing sickness absence and employee turnover and improving
employee commitment and motivation.Support your explanation with references to your learning from
your lectures and seminars and from your wider reading

 

Is this the question you were looking for? If so, place your order here to get started!