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Student ID number: A001426098

Student name: Gopi Rajaratnam

Course name: AIB 12 MONTH MBA

Subject name: Strategic Human Resource Management

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No. of pages: 16

Word count: 2720

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Title: Strategic human resource management, a motivational workforce enabler

Assignment topic

You are required to identify a specific Human Resource Management issue in your
organisation and develop a proposal that includes the following

 Background information on the issue,

 An explanation of what you think needs improvement and why the change is
required; and
 Benefits you plan to achieve.

Your analysis should be linked to the Human Resource Management literature and
include the citation of relevant references throughout that help to validate your
proposal.

Executive summary

Wonderware Australia (WWA) is a small to medium enterprise (SME) company,

selling manufacturing software in Australia. Besides the sale of MES software, WWA
provides some core support services in the areas of help-desk, training and basic
consultation in product selection.

This paper outlines the strategic planning roadmap for WWA in restructuring its
current business model, taking advantage of its existing internal resource and
capability, thereby positioning WWA to be the best-in-class in MES project
implementations. Prior to this a concise market force analysis is drafted using proven
strategic management tools and methodology.

Although WWA has an exceptional product portfolio, the linchpin of its strategic
objective success lies in its greatest assets, which are its human capital. Especially in
today’s knowledge driven economy, a motivated and hence productive staff will
determine the success of a company. This paper will cover aspects of staff motivation
and the role strategic human resource management plays

Keywords: Staff motivation, SME; job rotation; project work; knowledge staff

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Table of contents

1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 5

2 Background information ..................................................................................... 5

2.1 Strategic Planning ....................................................................................... 5

2.2 Human resource management issue ............................................................. 6

3 Job design .......................................................................................................... 7

4 Staff recruitment................................................................................................10

5 Training and development .................................................................................12

6 Compensation ...................................................................................................13

7 Performance management .................................................................................14

8 Conclusion ........................................................................................................15

References................................................................................................................15

Index of figures

Figure 1 – WWA AS-IS and TO-BE company portfolio ............................................ 6

Figure 2 – WWA staff motivation factors and desired outcome ................................. 6
Figure 3 – WWA Job design ...................................................................................... 8
Figure 4 – WWA Organisation structure.................................................................... 8
Figure 5 – WWA HRM quadriad (modified source: Bredin & Soderlund 2011) ........ 9
Figure 6 – WWA is everywhere (Source: http://www.techvalidate.com)...................11
Figure 7 – Excerpt from figure 2: WWA staff motivation factors..............................14

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1 Introduction

Wonderware Australia (WWA) sells and supports the sale of its manufacturing
software within Australia. Having a staff count of 20 people, WWA can be considered
a small to medium enterprise (SME) as alluded by its categorizations (Innes &
Wiesner 2012).

Strategic human resource management (SHRM) issues that affect staff motivation,
along with the benefits and pitfalls of the motivational level are the central theme of
this paper and will be considered, both from an intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
perspective (Salie & Schlechter 2012), within the boundary of SME size constraints
(Salie & Schlechter 2012; Hargis & Bradley 2011).

This paper has eight sections, starting with background information pertaining to
WWA SHRM issue, then followed by its job design methodology, leading to staff
recruitment considerations, training, development, performance management and
compensation, finally wrapping up with the conclusion.

2 Background information

2.1 Strategic Planning

WWA strategic plan is to expand into a project based work, which is predominantly
carried out by Systems Integrators and gain market shares in this lucrative area.

Figure 1 show the transition WWA is aligning itself to achieve, with the addition of a
projects division branching from its software sales support. WWA key strategic
drivers are to satisfy customers through an efficient and on time project
implementation, excellent product user training program, help-desk support and basic
consultancy.

Multi-tasked staffs from the supporting group are very knowledgeable in WWA
products and customer services, hence are able to easily migrate to their new role into
project works. WWA hopes to strategically differentiate itself from its competition
whilst gaining market advantages (Neo et al. 2015, p.75).

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Figure 1 – WWA AS-IS and TO-BE company portfolio

2.2 Human resource management issue

The main issue WWA faces is to improve and maintain the motivation level of its
staffs whilst embracing its strategic plan. In addition to this, WWA would like to
avoid high staff turnover, low creativity, low productivity, bad customer service that
opposes the company’s differentiation strategy. This paper covers the SHRM factors
that need to be considered, central to staff motivation as illustrated in Figure 2 below.

Figure 2 – WWA staff motivation factors and desired outcome

Research has shown the value of compensation in uplifting motivation and thus
reducing staff turnover (Salie & Schlechter 2012). WWA hopes to use SHRM
methodology to equip itself with skilled and knowledgeable staff that are challenged,

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driven and motivated thus driving creativity and productivity (Hargis & Bradley
2011). It has also been shown that high motivation leads to an improved customer
experience and hence a customer value driven company (Salie & Schlechter 2012).
WWA being a SME has its drawbacks in terms of SHRM as it is limited by resource
(Hargis & Bradley 2011). However, without considering the drivers of motivation, the
output required in Figure 2 will not be possible and WWA strategic plan will fail.

3 Job design
WWA staff’s in-depth product knowledge and excellent customer service know-how,
accrued whilst in support role have led them to be equipped to move to a hybrid
project based organisation (Bredin & Soderlund 2011). This migration has alluded
towards a more knowledge based workforce (Becker & Huselid 2010), thus narrowing
the divide between human resource management and job design. Figure 3 illustrates
WWA staff groups, that of existing supporting and the new project group.

Figure 3 shows that project methodology, solution design, systems integration are
skills required to complete successful projects. The final output of project is the
software system customer solution. On the other spectrum are the training, help-desk
and product consultancy skills required to support both the software product,
purchased and implemented by both customer and WWA project team. The strategic
link is the reciprocal group knowledge gained through job rotation.

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Figure 3 – WWA Job design

Focus of the illustration in Figure 3 is the job itself, as it is central to achieving the
organisations strategic goals (Becker & Huselid 2010). Bredin & Soderlund (2011)
has identified some challenges relating to HRM from being in a prolonged project role
such as excessive workloads and lack of time for competency development, which in
turn could lead to a depletion of staff motivation level.

To counter for this, WWA will rotate group members once a project has been
completed, sending them back to the support group where they will have more time to
‘recharge’ and upgrade their product knowledge. The next project implementation
will be allocated to the support group staff. This job design has the added advantage
of assimilating the skills of implementing a project back to the support group and wise
versa. Enhanced employee satisfaction has been tied to job rotation leading to job
enrichment (Neo et al. 2015, pg. 472). A balanced approach is paramount.

Bredin & Soderlund (2011) has identified the importance of HRM in a project based
organisation’s operational level due to the inherent ‘flatter’ nature of the
organisational structure as indicated by WWA’s own, in Figure 4.

Figure 4 – WWA Organisation structure

Lending from Bredin & Soderlund (2011) work, a revised human resource ‘qaudriad’
structure was formulated, however here the line manager’s role is replaced with the
support manager , HR specialist’s role with the WWA Directors and project team is
combined with the support team. This is shown in Figure 5, emphasising that all the
parties have a role to play in the HR functions.

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Figure 5 – WWA HRM quadriad (modified source: Bredin & Soderlund 2011)

Career development, performance feedback, relationship, mentorship, staff

requirements are intertwined amongst the members in Figure 5, whilst the traditional
HR duties are carried out by the directors and admin requiring specialist knowledge
(Bredin & Soderlund 2011). The complementary role of the project and support
manager takes this study further than previous studies (Bredin & Soderlund 2011).

Innes & Wiesner (2012) mentions of a more coercive engagement and

‘configurational’ approach of the HRM practice increases staff motivation, turnover,
productivity and creativity. This framework is ideal for WWA being an SME with
limited HRM resources and capabilities.

Becker & Huselid (2010) stated that the HR system must be valuable and inimitable
for example, WWA’s staff tacit knowledge (Neo et al. 2015, p.290).The unique nature
of WWA job design whereby rotating the staff has this advantage. “Strategic jobs” a
term mentioned by (Becker & Huselid 2010) plays well here as WWA approach
compliment both the supporting group and the project group.

Another strategic advantage is such that both groups complement each other, feeding
into each other and growing cyclically. In other words, more projects generate more
training, help desk support, consultancy and license revenue and vice versa. These
added values, rareness not practised in many organisations, difficulty to imitate due to
the staff knowledgebase and non-substitutable due to the embedded nature of the
software system is in line with resource based view (Hargis & Bradley 2011). All
these boils down to having the best the human capital, which brings us to our next
section where we will cover staff recruitment.
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4 Staff recruitment

Human resource capabilities are one of the key differentiators of product and services
for a company’s competitive advantage (Hargis & Bradley 2011). This is especially
true in a SME (Hargis & Bradley 2011). An effective staff recruitment practice and
retained motivation clearly correlates to product creativity, customer satisfaction and
productivity (Hargis & Bradley 2011).

WWA has knowledgeable staffs that are able to accommodate the current work load.
However, there are no contingencies should the workload increase or demotivated
staffs suddenly leave. Furthermore, additional project work is in the pipeline and more
staffs would be required in the near future. Labour shortage can lead to staffs taking
on more task than they can handle. This may cause stress and fatigue leading to a
depletion of motivation (Bredin & Soderlund 2011).

Recruitment strategies would include cost effective internal hire, practised by most
SME or external hire which may require expensive advertisement and screening
processes to attract the best candidates (Hargis & Bradley 2011)

WWA hopes to double the project and support team numbers thru external hire via
university graduate recruitments (Hargis & Bradley 2011; Innes & Wiesner 2012).
New staffs would first start of in the support group to learn the basics. Additional
project and support manager positions are filled thru identified qualified internal hire
(Hargis & Bradley 2011). This will motivate the existing staff to strive for promotion.

WWA will also take advantage of image advertising (Neo et al. 2015, p.222) thru the
possibilities of exposure to the latest technology in manufacturing software, enticing
new recruits without spending too much on marketing, roadshows and advertisements.
WWA has been the pioneer in its industry and has an extensive history. WWA enjoys
a large install base and history in Australia, refer Figure 6 below.

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Figure 6 – WWA is everywhere (Source: http://www.techvalidate.com)

WWA software product is a leader in the industry, first to embrace Microsoft

technology while the rest was catching up (http://www.controldesign.com , 2005).
WWA provides value to customers allowing operational excellence
(http://www.processonline.com.au, 2012). These traits of value and rareness provide
WWA with competitive advantage (Hargis & Bradley 2011). These traits also make
WWA inimitable and non-substitutable, thus giving it sustainable advantage (Hargis
& Bradley 2011) both from a product and human resource capabilities. WWA will
capitalise on these perceived image to attract high calibre job candidates.

The output from job design needs to be clearly defined in the recruitment process
along with the remuneration package (Hargis & Bradley 2011) as these can have
direct impact on staff turnover and motivation. Without capable staffs a company will
have difficulties realizing its differentiation strategy (Hargis & Bradley 2011). Having
addressed these requirements, minimising cost and successfully recruiting the staff,
the next focus will be directed towards training and development as covered in the
next section.

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5 Training and development

Kennett (2013) identified three training and development models that affect staff
turnovers. These are Individual, team and organisational development. Within this
context, junior staffs that receive specific training and development coupled with
growth opportunities, higher wages had a lower turnover (Kennett 2013). Team
orientated training and development in a high performing and favourable employment
practice had a lower turnover (Kennett 2013). Team development embed employee
further and enhances staff satisfaction (Kennett 2013) and motivation.

Organisational training and development with role clarity and high job satisfaction
had a lower turnover (Kennett 2013). These types of trainings can be targeted to
managers as they would be the coaches driving staff motivation in non-threatening
manner (Collins & Bell 2013). It has been established that there is direct correlation
between employee development and employee performance and commitment
(Hameed & Waheed 2011).

While in support group, both new and senior staff members will predominantly carry
out formal in-house training, a method used in great majority of SME’s due to
resource limitations (Innes & Wiesner 2012; Hargis & Bradley 2011). WWA will also
adopt on-the job training for its new staffs, supported by the senior staffs (Neo et al.
2015, p. 311). WWA Staffs will utilise the skilled learned immediately while talking
help-desk cases, client training and product consultation via transfer of training (Neo
et al. 2015, p. 303) and opportunities to perform (Neo et al. 2015, p. 306) reinforcing
theories with practicals.

While being in project group, team building methods is utilised to strengthen the
team’s coerciveness (Neo et al. 2015, p. 318). Motivation to learn (Neo et al. 2015, p.
300) is encouraged by managers when gaps are identified during project
implementation. Staffs will have opportunities self-manage their skills (Neo et al.
2015, p. 307). These initiatives are tied back to WWA compensation approach
covered in the next section.

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6 Compensation

(Salie & Schlechter 2012) postulates that if staffs can distinguish excellent
performance with compensations, then motivation will increase. This is in agreement
with (Hargis & Bradley 2011) who has identified that it is one of the most important
tools utilised by firms to motivate staff, positively impacting job performance,
teamwork and corporation, organisational effectiveness and employee commitment.

According to (Hargis & Bradley 2011; Salie & Schlechter 2012), compensation
should be directed toward encouraging behaviours congruent to corporate strategy.
WWA will improve its compensation offered improving staff motivation with the
following characteristics as summarised (Salie & Schlechter 2012):

 Contains intrinsic and extrinsic motivators: Diversity in staff’s expectations

can make a generic compensation scheme a daunting task, hence employee
participation and communication is very important (Neo et al. 2015, p. 513).
As part of WWA’s performance management communiqué, staff will be
confided individually on what motivates them. For example financial, more
travel, excess to further studies or health benefits.
 Team Award: WWA will provide compensation for teams that are able to meet
project deadlines (Neo et al. 2015, p. 555). This will foster a competitive
group dynamics (Figure 3). Collins & Bell (2013) has identified motivational
drivers for staff that transcends lifecycles, in other words, feedback and nature
of work is done at an individual level and compensations done at a higher
group level.
 Reflects the company’s culture: Aspects of compensation for both individuals
and team will evolve around excellent customer service feedbacks
 Aligned with company’s strategic goals: Team award mentioned in point two
above will drive company’s goal to capitalise on project works through speedy
and successful implementation.
 Clear link between improved performance and reward: As per ‘Expectancy
theory’, (Neo et al. 2015, p. 537) staff must believe that if all of the above
points are achieved, this will lead to the appropriate compensation.

13
It is up to WWA to interrelate all of the above through staff participation (Neo et al.
2015, p. 561). So that they are motivated, knowing what they are striving for (Salie &
Schlechter 2012) thru discussion in performance management, which will be covered
in the following section.

7 Performance management

A famous quote by Peter Drucker, a management consultant is that “if you can't
measure it, you can't improve it”. Similarly staff performance needs to be measured
and more importantly fed back so that positive improvements can be made.

Hameed & Waheed (2011) has defined that staff performance is tied to the
individual’s productivity as a result of his or her development and contributes to
organisational effectiveness. Collins & Bell (2013) have stressed that the effectiveness
of any performance management tool has to be in line with enhancing staff
motivation. Collins & Bell (2013) has further gone on to stress that job
meaningfulness is one of the basis of staff motivations.

Although performance feedbacks from managers are very useful, if these are tied back
to compensation alone, they can have a detrimental effect to staff morality (Collins &
Bell 2013). For these reasons WWA has delineated the sub component of
performance as shown in Figure 7. Performance feedback should come from a higher
range of rates and not limited to one person to avoid biasness (Collins & Bell
2013).WWA formal evaluation is tied to compensation and thus involves the support
manager, project manager and staff as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7 – Excerpt from figure 2: WWA staff motivation factors

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Performance feedback should be done at a higher frequency compared to annually as
performed by most organisations, to prevent inaccuracy as managers tend to focus on
the most recent event (Collins & Bell 2013). Staffs would also be motivated to
improve and learn from mistakes if regular feedback was forthcoming (Collins & Bell
2013). WWA will conduct performance discussion on a quarterly basis with an ‘open
door’ policy feeding back to training and development as illustrated in Figure 7, thus
ensuring that the motivation level of staffs are always on the forefront of WWA.

8 Conclusion

The motivation of WWA staff member has been the focal theme of this paper. A
clearly defined job definition tied to WWA strategic plan, which is to expand into
project works, sound recruitment process geared towards equipping itself with staffs
of the right ‘fit’. Nothing motivates more than being in a career ones passionate about.
Knowing that the organisation is serious about its staff development and
compensation for ‘Excellency’ provides a sense of belonging to the staff members
who would, in turn be motivated to perform optimally. Couple this with constructive
feedback and performance evaluation that ties back with the staff’s career and
company’s goal is a recipe for success in WWA quest for a sustainable competitive
advantage in its business endeavour.

References

Becker, B, & Huselid, M 2010, 'SHRM and job design: Narrowing the divide',
Journal of Organizational Behavior, 31, 2/3, pp. 379-388

Bredin, K, & Soderlund, J 2011, 'The HR quadriad: a framework for the analysis of
HRM in project-based organizations', International Journal of Human Resource
Management, 22, 10, pp. 2202-2221

Collins, C, & Bell, B 2013, 'The State of the Art in Performance Management', People
& Strategy, 36, 2, pp. 50-52

Hameed, A, & Waheed, A 2011, 'Employee Development and Its Affect on Employee
Performance A Conceptual Framework', International Journal of Business & Social
Science, vol. 2,no. 13, pp. 224-229

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Hargis, M, & Bradley III, D 2011, 'STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT IN SMALL AND GROWING FIRMS: ALIGNING VALUABLE
RESOURCES', Academy of Strategic Management Journal, 10, 2, pp. 105-125

INNES, P, & WIESNER, R 2012, 'Beyond HRM intensity: Exploring intra-function

HRM clusters in SMEs', Small Enterprise Research, 19, 1, pp. 32-51

Kennett, G 2013, 'The Impact of Training Practices on Individual, Organisation, and

Industry Skill Development', Australian Bulletin of Labour, 39, 1, pp. 112-135

Noe, RA, Hollenbeck, JR, Gerhart, B & Wright, PM 2015, Human Resource
Management: Gaining a Competitive Advantage, 9th edn, McGraw-Hill Irwin, New
York

Salie, S, & Schlechter, A 2012, 'A formative evaluation of a staff reward and
recognition programme', South African Journal of Human Resource Management, 10,
3, pp. 1-11

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