HRM Systems, Leadership, And Tacit Knowledge: A Case Study Of The University Of Queensland

Laws and regulations

Discuss about the HRM Systems, Leadership, and Tacit Knowledge.

In the recent competitive market, every organization is trying to achieve more to survive and thrive in the market. The technological advances, preferences of the customers and the globalization factor are the major factors that are driving the growth in the organizations. The higher education institutions in Australia have undergone major changes in the recent years and it is said that these will continue in the future as well.

The University of Queensland is located in the capital city of Queensland that is Brisbane. It is one of the top universities with respect to life science and business in Australia. The campus is spread across the inner suburbs of St. Lucia to the southwest end of the central business unit in Brisbane. The university was established in 1911 and is often referred as Sandstone University by the local people.

The mission of the university is to influence the society in a positive way by engaging the excellence through application, transfer, creation and preservation of knowledge. The university helps in shaping up the future of the leaders, which will help in inspiring the future generation.

The vision of the university is to impart knowledge, which will help in building leaders for a better world (UQ’s Mission, Vision and Values 2017).

The strategic HRM model of Jackson and Schuler helped in linking the competitive strategies such as cost reduction and innovation with the HRM practices.

Laws and regulations- Australia has around 39 universities that are governed by the legislation that is present in the state or the territory. These higher education institutions help in serving the public in a traditional method (Schuler and Jackson 2014). The University of Queensland was established to serve the interests of the public for the international communities, Australian and the Victorian communities respectively. The university has the right to enjoy freedom of information that is present in the Australian jurisdiction, which will help in the creation of general rights to gain access to the information that is in possession of the local authorities. The Australian Federal Court has a provision to solve the disputes of the students regarding the federal matters but the forum is not appropriate to solve the disputes of the students that are non-federal in nature (Chuang, Jackson and Jiang 2016).

Culture- The students face many challenges when they travel to new countries to pursue higher education especially if the culture of the home country of the student is strikingly different than the county in which the student goes to pursue the education. The psychological and the physical changes in the students hamper their performance in the educational sectors because of the adjustments they have to undergo on a regular basis. The students who come with a particular aim for a short period of time experiences culture shock, which happens due to the loss in the signs and symbols of an everyday life. These factors lead to a psychological stress in the individuals because they find it hard to cope with the strategies that are being exposed to them (Veloso, Tzafrir and Enosh 2015).

Culture

The factors that have an influential effect on the students are the cultural differences of the host country with respect to the language, gender, proficiency, level of education, age and the self-esteem experience. Another major factor is the length of stay, which adds major discomfort as in the international students because of being exposed to new cultures (Hauff, Alewell and Hansen 2014).

Politics- According to the review that was conducted by the Howard government in 2002, it was seen that provisional costs of the courses that were offered in the universities has increased because of the pressure that came came from local and international institutions. The students that come from underprivileged backgrounds including the socioeconomic backgrounds are not regularly present for the higher education in the universities (Ostroff and Bowen 2016). The attribution level accounted to well over 30 percent because of these factors. The government had a model that was based on discipline where the places of distribution of the funds were allotted to the universities. The government also entitled the students to a variable rate for their learning, which ensured that the students would only pay for the course that they were pursuing to complete their higher education. The recommendations that were provided by the government were that the student funding was to replace the old grants that were present with respect to teaching and learning with the new Commonwealth Grant Scheme (CGS) system. The contribution by the student was increased by 30 percent except for those who were pursuing the nursing and the teaching as profession. The government would also fund the Higher Education Equity Program (Su, Wright and Ulrich 2015).

Unions- The education union that is present in Australia is licensed under the Fair Work Act 2009. It acts as a representative body for the employees who are working in the various schools and the universities. According to a survey that was conducted in the Queensland area, it was seen that the loss of the teachers led to a loss in the expertise, shortages of teachers and an increase in the partial wastage of investment (Adriaenssen, Johannessen and Saetersdal 2016). The globalization, modernization and the technological impacts faced challenges in the societies due to the post-industrial and knowledge-based foundations. This posed a great threat on meeting the daily challenges that the higher education sector faced in the recent times. To prevent this in the future, proper workforce planning is required across all the jurisdictions. This has to be done with the help of introducing minimum entry requirements in the academic standards (Budhwar and Debrah 2013).

Politics

Labor Markets- Although there have been structural reforms in the last few decades, it is seen that Australia is in need of a higher education system that can adapt to the modern society and the challenges that it faces in the economy globally. The government has committed to make the higher education system better so that it can meet the future needs of the students (Bondarouk and Brewster 2016). One of the major factors that will help in reshaping the education system is to make the funding of labor based on demand and enrolment system needs to be implemented. One of the major needs is to identify the skills that are required to pursue in the higher education market. It is seen that the average age of the persons are between 25-29 years that have proper degree qualification and is eligible to continue in the education system. It was seen that the growth of jobs in Australia increased by 31.5 percent in between 2000 and 2009 (Buller and McEvoy 2016).

Industry Characteristics- The scope and nature of the various universities that are present in Australia has to be studied critically for the process that is used in the strategic human resource management structural development. Most of the universities in the country are growing at a faster rate, which has increased the rate of competitive factor between each other. The flexibility in the prices under the best conditions has enabled the universities to gain access to the different funds that are present in the country for the future (Kaufman 2015). It needs to see that there is maintenance in the balance between price and the flexibility with respect to equity. This will help in critically evaluating the social and economical agenda. From these factors, it can be seen that over the next fifteen years Australia will become a dominating character with respect to universities. The public universities need to be related to the current model that is being used in the institution along with the strategies that they follow within the organization. The models need to address the issues that are based on the student segment and the type of services that they would require. The marketing channels in the universities needs to be supported by the value chain system (Hauff, Alewell and Katrin Hansen 2016). 

The laws and regulations of the university states that any federal matter that arises within the university can be solved in the court while the other issues need to be solved within the campus. This will help in maintaining a strong bond in the university. The culture in the university is that the foreign students get help from the faculty members in all means so that they can become fully equipped with the norms in the campus. There is strict regulatory body that looks after the ragging part inside the campus. If anyone is found guilty of it, then they are subjected to the decisions that will be taken by the higher authorities. From the political point of view, the university is entitled to receive grants from the government, which help the organization to expand its infrastructure and support the educational system. The union that is present in the organization is strong that helps in the retention of the employees and the faculty members. The salaries that they receive are in accordance to the job that they do in the organization. The organization conducts various workshops that help the labors to increase its productivity level. This ensures that the work is carried out in an efficient manner in the organization. The industrial characteristics of the organization are very strong as it is one of the topmost universities in Australia. This is due to the planned resource and the knowledge-based learning that is present in its premises. This has helped in spreading the knowledge that is imparted in the organization to various parts of the country (DeNisi and Smith 2014).

Unions

Planning is one of the first phases in the employment cycle, which helps in calculating the number of employees that are available in the market and the number that is required to achieve the future demands of the organization. The planning has to be in line with the strategies that are adopted by the organization. One of the basic strategies for all organizations is to increase their profits, which can only be achieved by reducing the operational costs within the organization (Armstrong and Taylor 2014). The HR has to foresee the future demands of the organization and hire employees accordingly. If this is not done properly, then it may lead to a number of employees being available on the payroll of the organization. If there is an excess in supply of employees that what is demanded by the organization, the HR needs to reduce the number of employees. Therefore, it is important that human resource planning is related to the business strategies of the organization for it to succeed in the future. The technological changes and the rate of economy globally is increasing on a faster pace, which needs to be adopted by the organization for it to survive in the market. Thus, planning is the first phase of the employment cycle, which determines the number of employees that are requires along with the skills, experience and knowledge of the employees and the classification of the employees in to various departments in the organization (Fee 2014).

Recruitment helps the organization in finding the suitable employees through proper advertisements, word of mouth and the various employment agencies. It helps the organization to recruit staffs so that it can meet the specific targets. The method of recruitment process is mainly of two types such as internal and external (Wilton 2016).

Internal recruitment is the process through which the employees that are currently present in the organization applies for any available positions within the organization. This kind of recruitment happens when there an employee is promoted and it acts as a motivational factor for the current employees. This happens when the organization is big in size and there is a scope for this recruitment. The internal recruitment process helps an organization to develop the skills of the existing employees. This allows the organization to lower its cost in the recruitment process and helps the organization in replacing the vacant position with an employee who is familiar with the operations. Another way in this recruitment process is by using the referral scheme, where some of the employees are identified and are referred to the higher authorities by the existing employees (Storey 2014).

Labor Markets

External recruitment is the process where the suitable candidates apply for the job from outside the organization. An organization will use this process when they are in need of different attitudes and ideas. This process is usually done when the organization is large and there are various positions that are available within the organization. The organization also needs to identify the particular labor force that is present in the current location. This will help them in maximizing their use of resources that is available locally (Aswathappa 2013).

The HR department does selection of the employees in the organization and it is one of the most important tasks for them. This helps in screening and the sifting the employees according to their knowledge and skills so that they remain productive in the workplace. Interviews and various tests that are conducted on the employees are all a part of the selection process. Selection of the employees is an expensive procedure because effort and quality time has to be invested. Sometimes the selection of the employees may be of poor quality, which may lead to increase in the cost of training and the productivity level of the organization may be low (Tyson 2014).

While selecting the employees for the suitable position in the organization, certain options needs to be taken in to account by the HR of the organization. Some of the useful tools in the selection process can be the application form where the employees provide background of themselves, which helps the organization in understanding the needs of the candidates. Another tool can be the various tests that are conducted, which are written and practical in nature. It helps in understanding the intelligence and the abilities of the employees. Interviews are a common medium, which is used in the process of selection. These interview rounds need to have a structure and the questions needs to consistent and common in nature. This helps the organization in knowing the potential candidates better and the suitable positions that they deserve in the organization (Stredwick 2013).

The remuneration is the financial statement that the employees receive for the service that they render within the organization. The mode of payments for the employees is in the form of wages and salary. Wages are the rate of payment that is paid to the employees on an hourly or weekly basis. Remuneration helps in increasing the productivity and the efficiency of the employees and keeps them loyal and committed towards the organization for the services they are rendering (Purce 2014). The payment that is made to the employees needs to be fair and appropriate, which will help in motivating the employees that in turn will help in lowering the absent rates of the employees. Remuneration acts as a part in motivating the employees but attracts and ensures that the employees are retained in the organization. Most of the organizations in the current scenario reward their employee who achieve more than the target that was set to them these rewards are done so that the employees remain in the organization and remains motivated (Hauff, Alewell and Katrin Hansen 2016).

Industry Characteristics

The extra payment that is made to the employees can be of different types such as giving them financial benefits such as incentives, commissions, bonuses and some allowances when they are able to meet the specific target. Some other rewards that the organization gives are the use of a company car, extra period of holidays, personal laptops so that they can perform the duties whenever it is required for the organization (Fee 2014).

Training and development of the employees help in upgrading the abilities and the skills of the employees. These are necessary because it will help in the growth of the organization and the employees will have personal development with the training that they will receive. It is important to give training to the new employees, as it will help them in gaining knowledge about the task they will be performing within the organization. The existing employees also receive training process, which helps them in developing their skills. Training helps in bringing changes in the skills, knowledge and the attitudes of the employees, which will help in enhancing the performance levels of the employees. It is seen that many organizations do not allot a period for the proper training of the employees, which is a drawback for the organization, as the productivity levels of the employees remain poor (Aswathappa 2013). When a proper training is provided by the organization, it not only increases the skill set of the employees but also helps the organization in gaining a competitive advantage over other firms. There are various forms of training such as off-the-job training, which can be done through various classroom programs, on-the-job training where the organizations provide the training facility within the workplace through proper coaching and job rotations. The other two types of training are action learning, which is done by making the employees solve the problems that are present in the work environment and competency-based training helps in identifying the strengths that the employees possess and helps them in developing it (Wilton 2016).

In an effective organization, rewards and recognition program helps in attracting, retaining, and motivating the employees. It helps the employees to get acknowledged and stand out amongst his peers. These acknowledgements may include bonuses for the employees who have rendered better service within the organization. These facilities help in putting the strategies of the organization in a better way, which will help in changing and supporting the values that are present in the corporate. The rewards can be non-financial or financial and extrinsic or intrinsic in value. Extrinsic rewards are the ones that are provided by the organization outside the nature of the job such as incentives in financial benefits and work schedule flexibility under the non-financial benefits. Intrinsic rewards are those kinds through which the employees gain from the job that they are assigned such as the sense of achieving the target (Storey 2014).

The HR department of the university works efficiently so that it meets all the requirements and helps the organization by supplying the best employees who are committed to their work. The planning is done in such a way so that the vacant positions are filled in with the appropriate employees, which will help in achieving the productivity level of the organization easily. The recruitment process is based on interviews and various aptitude tests that help in selecting the suitable employees for the job. This helps the organization, as the employees that are selected in the process are usually capable of handling the issues that arises in the university. The university has a training period of ten days for the new employees, which helps them in acquiring the knowledge that is needed to carry out the responsibilities in the university premises. The HR department of the university meticulously plans the remuneration that is seen appropriate for the employees, which helps in retaining the employees. The employees receive the remuneration according to the positions they have in the university. There are various rewards for the employees, which helps them to be motivated in the workplace (Marler and Fisher 2013).

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