Learning Outcomes

1. Evaluate and apply the policies, practices, and procedures that an employer/manager needs to be familiar with.
2. Discuss the key skills of HRM including recruitment and selection of staff, training and development of staff, performance management and reward management.
3. Analyze current best practice in the HR function

Assignment Brief:

What is the Problem at Griffith Manufacturing?

Peter Griffith, President of Griffith Furniture Manufacturing, has a problem. No matter how often he tells his employees how to do their jobs, they invariably “decide to do it their way”, as he puts it. As a result, arguments ensue between Peter, the employees and the employee’s supervisor on a regular basis.

One example is the furniture design department, the furniture designers are expected to work with the architects, to design the furniture and meet the specifications. While it is not “rocket science “ as Peter puts it, the designers invariably make mistakes- such as designing in very expensive materials, this is a problem that can cost Griffith Manufacturing a lot of money especially when customers are not will to pay over the price for furniture.

The order-processing department is another example. Peter has a specific and detailed way he wants the orders written up, but most of the staff in this department do not understand the process. They simply improvise. The current training process is as follows, none of the employment positions has a training manual, and although several have Job Descriptions, these are outdated. On the job training, is the method the company uses to train its new people. The person leaving the company normally carries out this training during the one-week overlap period.

If there is no overlap, the person is trained as well as possible by other employees, who in the past have filled the position occasionally during employee shortage emergencies. The training is the same through the company – for the machinist, admin staff, assemblers, design staff, etc.

Read the case study above and answer all the questions using Research and Examples to support your answer.

Questions

1. Examine Griffiths training processes. What issues/problems can you identify? (use research and examples to support your answer)

2. Consider why do you think employees “do things their way”? (use research examples to support your answer)

3. Explore the role; a job description can play, in developing training events at Griffith Manufacturing? (use research and examples to support your answer)

4. Explain in detail how you would improve the training process at Griffith Manufacturing (focus on real details ) (use examples to support your answer)