Human Resource Management Challenges and Failures Cases Study Paper Example

Introduction

In the fiercely competitive business environment today, organizations have their well-defined human resource management departments that coordinate employee issues. Firms that do not have their in-house structured HR department resort to the outsourcing of services to keep them from poor decision-making with regards to issues concerning employee recruitment, performance evaluation, and general welfare of the employees. The HR professionals just like any other department in organizations, experience myriad challenges in their endeavor to create consistency in the employee recruitment and performance evaluation to align with an organization's core vision and mission statement. The HR is the custodian of the relationship between the organization and the employee; ensuring both parties commit to the end of the bargain to foster a positive workplace that is holistically engaging. Due to the heavy responsibilities that HR departments have, there are occasions in which unforeseen uncertainties results in grievous mistakes and unfavorable outcomes. The case studies under evaluation in this research study examined the various areas in which the HR fails the causes of failure and the recommended solutions to the challenges.

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Case One: Global Issues

Case Summary: U.N. Faces Scrutiny over Unpaid Intern Who Slept in a Tent in Geneva

United Nations faced a global backlash for their unpaid intern policy when an intern attached to them in Geneva resorted to sleeping in a tent since he could not afford decent accommodation. The intern, a 22-year old David Hyde from New Zealand resigned and mobilized all the interns all over the world to unite their efforts to fight for their rights against an oppressive approach (Rogers, 2015). While working at the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development in Geneva, Mr. Hyde found life too expensive and ended up squatting in tents in a beach frequented mostly by the U.N. staff.

In response to allegations for not respecting the rights human needs for remuneration, Stephanie Dujarric, the spokesperson for the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told news reporters that the policy to recruit unpaid interns was endorsed by the Secretariat (Rogers, 2015). Ms. Dujarric explained that the policy is not uniform for all the United Nations programs. International Labor Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization are the departments of U.N. that offer stipends as a form of remuneration.

Evaluation of the Factors that Contributed to the Failure

Poor intern recruitment policies

It is still not clear how UNCTAD secretariat built consensus and agreed that they would not be paying interns when other subsidiaries of the United Nations were doing otherwise. The recruitment policies are not intern-centric. The organization management is not interested in handling the welfare of the interns beyond giving them corporate exposure while attached to their organizations (Dickmann, 2016). The intern recruitment policies only focus on the needs of the UNCTAD organizations.

Exploitation of Cheap Labor

Most organizations are in need of cheap labor, and the only workforce group that is available to fill that void are the interns. Interns are ever willing to get attached to big organization because most HRs advises for that. Every intern is a potential job-seeker, and for that matter, any verifiable work relationship with a reputable organization helps to build their portfolio, thereby giving them leverage to get favorable employment in companies that provide desirable employment packages. UNCTAD is one of such organizations that are interested in harvesting cheap labor in a majority desperate and clueless interns who do not know their way around the job market.

Intern Naivety

As mentioned before, the majority of interns do not know what their rights are, and the ones who happen to know are too afraid to confront the issue. Organizations trick interns into signing contracts for unpaid attachment in the promise that they will gain experience to enter the job market with utmost ease. The question is if all the prestigious companies choose not to pay interns, where shall they get jobs? Internships today have become avenues for companies to avoid remuneration expenses for a big population of workers who deserve decent wages but their positions are occupied by unpaid interns (Dickmann, 2016). This is what is happening at UNCTAD, and it is largely the reason as to why Mr. Hyde was calling for a collective effort of all global UNCTAD interns to rise up and resist the oppression under which they are being subjected.

The breakdown in Communication and Feedback

UNCTAD lacks a work breakdown structure that connects the intern to the management. Interns are at the mercy of their excessively-strict supervisors with whom they cannot freely share their challenges. There is no clear approach through which an intern can walk to the welfare department and voice their concerns to be heard and addressed by the management, even if the case needs special attention and quick intervention.

HR Actions that Could Have Prevented these Failures

Since UNCTAD has provided internship opportunities to students globally, it is only fair to decode the information that they are interested in their career growth. However, the HR department needs to revisit their internship policy to accommodate the welfare of the people who have volunteered for an unpaid internship (Barmeyer & Franklin, 2016). The programs modeling needs a new design so that it would not look like it is a cheap way to outsource labor from vulnerable students. It is not mandatory that the HR department needs to place all their interns on the payroll, but it is also wise to have a structural adjustment that will take care of the welfare of the special cases of economically disadvantaged interns. The special cases need special attention; there should be a foolproof way of establishing need before the financially incapacitated students who need urgent help.

The organization should have a way of establishing a direct line with the interns so that the management can have the opportunity to hear firsthand their challenges and experiences. The interns need to be known to the HR head at a personal level so that their interactions with the influential people of the organization can improve (Barmeyer & Franklin, 2016). The HR needs to convince the interns of the benefits they are enjoying beyond tagging on the name of the organization and providing cheap labor.

Case Two: Diversity/Culture Problem

Case Summary: Abercrombie & Fitch Look Policy-No Muslim or Fat People

In May 2013, Abercrombie & Fitch reputation was punctured when their CEO's culturally-insensitive comment that does not appreciate societal diversity resurfaced online. The apparel retailer suffered the reputation nosedive when Mike Jeffries controversial statements in an interview with Salon in which he is quoted as having said he would not prefer "fat" and "not so cool" kids wearing his brand (Kasperkevic, 2015). The consumer perception among youths of 18-34 years changed drastically, consequently dropping the market share index to an all-time low in a less than two days. The company management also fired and refused to hire Muslim women whose religious doctrine include wearing head scarfs. The company thought of these people as not cool enough. The company public relation team attempt to remedy the dwindling brand image yielded fewer fruits since influential people like Kirstie Alley condemnation of the anti-fat comments had already penetrated the public domain thereby decimating the public apology efforts. The company changed their policy only after lawsuits.

Evaluation of the Factors that Contributed to the Failure

Abercrombie & Flitch just like most companies fail terribly in complying with employment laws that call for diversity and inclusion at the workplace to reflect the image of the society.

Emphasis on Similarities Rather than Differences

Abercrombie & Flitch policies focus most on the similarities of the different people who work for them, rather than the differences in cultural backgrounds. The organization, therefore, fails in its attempt to capitalize on its diverse workforce since the management is unable to leverage the diverse cultural practices that inform the Islamic style of dressing.

Unclear Inclusion and Diversity Policies

From the case study, it is clear Abercrombie does not even have a sound policy that defines their approach for cultural inclusion and diversity. The organization fails to understand that they operate in a market that is dotted with different people in terms of race, religion, culture and virtue orientation - the failure of the organization to establish clear and specific objectives for the inclusion and diversity initiatives efforts that are required for realizing the united company. Abercrombie does not understand the essence of organizational inclusivity and the impacts on brand image. Equally, the company does not have proper efforts of intervention to establish cultural diversity in its system.

Lack of Recognition for Stakeholders

The organization also fails to recognize who is the real client. Abercrombie & Flitch management does not understand that all clients buy the same products at the same price and therefore deserve equal treatment. The company management also fails to recognize the contribution of skilled Muslim workers but instead choose to discriminate against them in line with their religious affiliation.

HR Actions that Could Have Prevented these Failures

Building Diversity-Friendly Policies

For Abercrombie & Flitch to achieve their goal in facilitating workplace diversity, the management should create new policies and amend the current policy for the whole system, a process that begins from recruitment and performance appraisals and promotions. Abercrombie should embrace diversity by posting job openings with position descriptions that are tailored to embrace a wider audience (Collings, Wood & Szamosi, 2018). The management should understand that human cultures can never be the same, and the best way to achieve this is by creating a work environment that does not take away a worker's cultural identity and beliefs. Through this effort, the management of the company would not have had a problem with Muslim women. The organization ought to understand that body-shaming is against the ethical cultures of business practice.

The organization must create a conducive environment in which individuals feel free to express their cultural diversity without fear. The organization must create an inclusive culture that leverages the diversity of people in their corporate decision-making. When Abercrombie decides to incorporate an inclusive culture in which no one feels discriminated against, they will achieve effective problem-solving techniques, decision-making and innovation and all these lead to long-term profitability (Scott, 2010). In as much as companies are also interested in exploiting similarities to achieve inclusion by building connections. The goal of Abercrombie & Flitch should be to cultivate a culture and work environment that supports and encourage diversity.

The company should also accept liability for their insensitivity to the parties who have fallen victim to the insensitive words and actions of the management. The HR needs to organize for a public apology to the litigants and the plaintiffs who have taken them to courts for issues dealing with discrimination on the basis of gender and culture (Scott, 2010). The company should also consider replacing the CEO who is the face of the company as a way of reducing the bad publicity attached to their brand. Apart from just apologizing, the company sho...