HR Management at Office Space Inc.

Office Space Inc. is a manufacturing company specialising in the supply and distribution of office furniture, equipment, and stationery. The organisation was founded in 2005 and grew from 10 employees to a workforce of 98 employees. This gradual expansion was needed due to the ever-increasing demand for the high-quality products offered at affordable prices by Office Space Inc. Thabang Moraka is an HR consultant and periodically provided consultation and advice to Office Space Inc. as the need arose. The recommendations made by Thabang were always valued and approved by top management. Until recently, the action plans, as suggested by Thabang, were implemented by Abdul Deedat, the procurement manager at Office Space Inc. This implied that apart from his duties as procurement manager, Abdul and his two assistants, Indira and Portia, had to ensure that the organisations human resources were managed effectively. In 2023, Office Space Inc. bought over Fabulous Office Equipment Pty Ltd. and the workforce suddenly expanded from 98 to 312 employees. At the first strategic meeting after the merger, top management announced that the operations of Office Space Inc. will be further expanded and that a second and third warehouse would be built over the next three years. Top management further made it known that they wanted to expand the workforce and foresaw that the workforce would triple in the next five years. Abdul raised his concern to the executive board. He explained that with the greater workforce, the workload would be too much for him, Indira and Portia. They would not be able to manage such an extensive workforce. Abdul successfully argued that the organisation now needed a dedicated HR department. Apart from objections made by one executive, Peter Marx, top management approved the recommendation made by Abdul. The majority vote was that Office Space Inc. should again consult Thabang Moraka to guide the process of setting up a dedicated HRM department. During the meeting, Peter Marx made two comments: 1) He stated that tasks should merely be simplified and then employees would know what to do, and that if employees knew what to do, it would be easy to manage them. 2) He stated that employees are only interested in earning as much money as possible. If management ensured that employees were paid enough, no problems should arise and the task could easily be managed by Abdul, Portia and Indira. After the meeting with the executive board, Abdul phoned Thabang and says, Thabang, I have some exciting news! We are embarking on an organisational growth strategy, and we need you to assist us with the establishment of an HR department. That is good to hear! responds Thabang. And I would love to assist you thank you for the opportunity! The effective implementation of Office Space Inc.s growth strategy is going to be dependent on the employees. This will mean that we absolutely have to put in place an HR strategy which is aligned with the organisations growth strategy. That makes sense, responds Abdul. I must say that it is very encouraging that Office Space Inc. is now giving HR management the attention it deserves, comments Thabang. Developing an HR strategy and establishing an HR Department will go a long way in helping Office Space Inc. to address some of the issues which employees raised in the employee engagement survey we conducted three months ago. What issues were those? queries Abdul. Please remind me. Well there were a whole host of issues, responds Thabang. The ones that I can remember off the top of my head are: Concerns amongst the female employees about the glass ceiling why is it that male employees are always being promoted over female employees at Office Space Inc.? The low levels of productivity and low levels of employee engagement in certain departments. The increase in the number of single parents amongst our staff, who have specific needs in terms of flexitime and family-friendly working conditions. And of course, the poor levels of customer service. Ah, yes! I remember now, comments Abdul. Thabang, lets meet soon to discuss these issues as well as the development of the HR strategy, and the establishment of the HR department. Are you available tomorrow at around 10am? Adapted from: Markham, L. and Gobind, J. (Ed,). (2022) Introduction to Human Resource Management. Third Edition. Cape Town: Pearson South Africa. Answer ALL the questions in this section.

Question One (25 Marks) Abdul successfully argued that the organisation now needed a dedicated HR departmentThe majority vote was that Office Space Inc. should again consult Thabang Moraka to guide the process of setting up a dedicated HRM department.

You are Thabang Moraka. As the first step in assisting Office Space Inc. with the establishment of the HR department, write an email to the executive board in which you identify and explain the important functions of an HR Department. Include examples of the HR functions, that are relevant to Office Space Inc.s context, in your email.

Question Two (25 Marks) Discuss whether Peter Marx advocates a Scientific Management approach or a Human Resource approach to the management of employees at Office Space Inc. Illustrate your answer with examples, appropriate to the context of Office Space Inc., of both the Scientific Management approach and the Human Resource approach.

Question Three (25 Marks) The effective implementation of Office Space Inc.s growth strategy is going to be dependent on the employees. This will mean that we absolutely have to put in place an HR strategy which is aligned with the organisations growth strategy. Discuss the key components of the HR strategy which Office Space Inc. must put in place to support the effective implementation of the organisational growth strategy.

Question Four (25 Marks) Discuss the sustainability challenge impacting HRM and analyse the extent to which it is evident in the case study.