Part -1:
Red Star
Red Star, a cardboard box company, has just been advised by OZ Breweries Ltd and healthy roods lad its tenders to supply card board cartons have been successful. The contracts mean a major expansion in plant and personnel for Red Star. After a review of the qualifications, experience, skills and availability of existing per. sonnet, the company has developed a priority list of factory positions that need to be filled immediately.
The list includes:
- eight factory supervisors with a trade or mechanical technical background and a minimum of two years related supervisory experience
- six graduate trainees (two with a Bachelor of Science degree majoring in Chemistry and four with a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree)
- 60 factory workers with no special job skills or experience (training will be done on the job) with the ability to read, write and converse in basic English.
At a team meeting, staff members discussed how they would address this skills shortage.
Mary Walters, the FIR Manager, sighed, 'Where do you expect us to get these people - they are just not available!'
I know, I know, but we have to get the People somehow. If we don't, we will lose the new business. We need to think outside the box if our traditional labour sources have dried up. And I don't need to remind you that these are the biggest contracts that this company has ever obtained,' replied the General Manager, John Webb.
'Advertising in the news this company is waste of time, and the people we get from the employment agencies - ugh! It is a waste of time even meeting with them, they are generally substandard, or just plain work shy. Our best source of factory people comes from recommendations made by our present workers,' commented Sally Lee, the Factory Supervisor.
Well, let's offer a bonus - say $500 for each successful recommendation?' suggested John.
'That sounds okay, but as you are aware most of our factory workers are male and from ethnic backgrounds and the people they recommend tend to be the same,' Mary replied.
'So what?' snapped John. 'They are good workers - we need more like them.'
'Yes, but the problem is that by asking our people to recommend friends and relatives, our employment practices could be seen as discriminatory by the Equal Employment Opportunities people,' said Mary.
'That's terrific!' barked John sarcastically. 'It's alright for public servants to raise such issues but they don't have a business to run.
What do they expect us to do?'
'What about outsourcing?' It was the voice of Anthony Pascolli, the Chief Accountant. 'We could have all the factory cleaning and maintenance performed by contractors-that would free up our existing people for other jobs. Some of the maintenance people, for example, have the potential to be excellent factory supervisors:
'That's a good idea, Anthony, but I wonder if the Cardboard
Box Workers Union (CBWU) will agree to it?' wondered Red Star's
Manufacturing Manager, Lily Chu.
'Why not?' asked John.
'The CBWU believes that using contractors reduces their members pay and conditions and that it is a management ploy to reduce their power and influence,' said Lily.
'Why don't we do what Ajax Industries did and import labour from China? It has worked really well for them; said Sally.
'Now that seems to be a good idea ... but are there any problems?' asked John.
'Only the time it will take because of all the government red tape,' replied Sally.
'Not to mention that the unions will probably be against it.' added Mary.
'Goodness me, doesn't anyone realise that getting suitable people is the number one issue in this country at the moment? Snapped John.
'Well, there are older workers. We could introduce some incentives so that our existing employees who are approaching retirement will want to stay on. We could also promote our contacts with older workers in the community to attract them back into the work force,' said Mary.
'So far, we have focused on the factory workers, interrupted Sally.
'We still have to discuss the supervisors and graduate trainees:
'The science graduates will be difficult but the mechanical engineers will be impossible - they all want to work for mining companies where they can earn 30 to 50 per cent more than we are paying,' said Mary.
'Heaven help us,' sighed John.
'Even though it will be hard, I don't believe we should use less stringent selection techniques or lower our selection standards,' Mary continued.
'I agree,' said John. 'We need to make sure all new employees are compatible with our corporate culture. We need people who are smart and comfortable with our core values. We want people who will fit in and go through our psychological assessment program.'
'Okay,' continued John. 'I've heard enough. Mary, I want you to get together with Lily and Sally and make some recommendations for the consideration of the executive committee.'
Questions
1. Which stakeholders are likely to be involved? What will be their likely attitudes to the various proposals? Explain your answer.
2. Which approach to solving the labour shortage problem do you favour? Would you use the same approach for each labour group? Why? Why not?
3. is it appropriate management Seeks people with similar values to those of the company? What are the advantages and disadvantages of doing this? Are there any ethical issues involved?
Exercises
1. Form into groups of 4-6. Imagine you are members of the management team assigned to consider the various proposals. Make a list of your recommendations for the executive committees' consideration Clearly identify the advantages and disadvantages of each proposal.
2. Form into groups of 4-6. Imagine you are union shop stewards with the Cardboard Box Workers Union. Mary Walters, the HR Manager, has informed you the company is planning to import 60 factory workers from China. You are meeting to decide what your reaction to the company's proposal will be. What are your thoughts?
Part -2:
City Cinemas
George Cooper had spent 15 years working for the City cinemas Company, finally becoming General Manager of their St Kilda cinema complex in 2005. In June 2007 City Cinemas Company received notice to vacate the St Kilda cinema premises so it could be completely refurbished over a twelve-month period. After receiving the notice to vacate, City Cinemas deployed its staff, except Mr Cooper, to other areas of the company. They looked for a comparable position for him, but none were available within the company. Subsequently, Mr Cooper was terminated when his pos¬ition was made redundant on 26 July 2007.
Mr Cooper applied to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) for relief as he argued that his termination was 'harsh, unjust and unreasonable' and constituted an unfair dismissal. The Workplace Relations Amendment (WorkChoices) Act 2005 (Cwlth) limited the circumstances in which such an appli¬cation might be made. The Act stipulated that an unfair dismissal claim must not be made 'if the employee's employment was termi¬nated for genuine operational reasons or for reasons which include genuine operational reasons.
City Cinemas applied to the AIRC to have Mr Cooper's claim dis-missed on the basis that the claim was excluded from the unfair dis¬missal provisions of the Act. At the hearing, Commissioner Brown decided that Mr Cooper's claim was not excluded, as he considered his employment had not been terminated for genuine operational reasons. In reaching this decision, the Commissioner decided that certain matters, including Mr Cooper being the only person whose position was made redundant, that he was eminently re-deployable, that he had offered to take his entitlement to long service leave in the hope that a position would become available, and the fact that he was never asked whether he would consider or accept a lower status position were all relevant in assessing whether there was a genuine operational reason for the termination.
City Cinemas appealed the decision.'
Questions
1. Do you think a Full Bench of the AIRC would have overturned Commissioner Brown's decision, or upheld it? In assessing the situation, consider arguments both for and against genuine operational reasons being at the core of this dismissal.
2. Consider the outcome for MR Cooper in the situation of city Cinemas employing:
(a) fewer than 100 workers
(b) more than 100 workers
3. Had the dismissal occurred in 2009 under the Fair work Act would the outcomes have been different?
I want you to prepare tow different reports on two different parts which are from the book called "EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS in Australia" by Balnave/Brown/Machonachie/Stone. 2nd edition?
This must cover all the issues and their possible solutions in the report from the given topics of the chapters. In each report, It should be 2100-2200 words each. There must be 8-10 references each.
First chapter is 'Employing people' which has different topics about roles of organizational stake holders, contracts, environmental influences on employing people and equal employee opportunities. There is a case study called red star which we have to relate while giving answers to the issues in the whole chapter. In the end we must tell which is a better way we have decided while employing people.
Second chapter is 'Managing dismissels' which also has the same scenario as in the first chapter. It also has the case study called the 'city cinemas' which needs to be relate while giving answers to the issues in the topics...must tell one better way to handle the situation.