Order Description
HRM320
Issues in Human Resource Management
Word Count:
Table of Contents
Introduction 2
Organisation 3
Human Resources Challenge 4
Realignment and Restructuring in TAFE NSW 4
Recommendations 7
Conclusion 8
References 9
Appendixes 10
Introduction
For the purposes of this assessment task, the author has chosen to use TAFE NSW.
The author has been employed with TAFE NSW for 24 years of which the past 16 years have been within a Human Resources environment. The author currently works in Northern Sydney Institute and is based at St Leonards. Prior to this appointment the author was in a similar role in Riverina Institute, Albury.
The author is responsible for the management of Workforce Planning, recruitment and Capability Development and currently manages a team of nine.
The author has chosen TAFE NSW due to the strong relationship and in-depth knowledge of its strategic directions and key deliverables, which has been gained over the period of employment.
Working in a Human Resources environment within an educational, institution has been challenging due a number of factors, specifically the public sector legislative guidelines and policies that impact on the provision of services.
TAFE NSW is currently embarking on a new journey through an exciting modernisation program to become more efficient and commercial. One of the biggest changes will be the move to a One TAFE NSW model with a central Corporate Office rather than 10 autonomous institutes that duplicate resources such as HR, Finance and Information Technology.
The NSW Vision for TAFE NSW and the TAFE NSW Strategic Plan both emphasize the need to establish a workforce as the foundational building block for the future. As the Corporate office evolves over the upcoming months, Institute HR units need to develop a plan to employ a highly professional, flexible and capable workforce which is able to transition to the One TAFE model. The current challenge for HR is how to align or change its existing organisation structure to be more responsive whilst having to rely on out-dated recruitment and selection methods.
For this assessment task, the author will relate this particular challenge to the assessment topic ‘realignment and restructuring’.
Organisation
TAFE NSW is Australia’s leading provider of education and training. There are over 355,000 students participating in more than 424,000 course enrolments at rural, regional and metropolitan campuses, online, and in workplaces.
TAFE NSW enrols students in over 1,200 nationally recognised vocational education and training skill sets, qualifications from Australian Qualifications Framework Certificate I to Advanced Diplomas and nationally accredited higher education qualifications such as Bachelor Degrees, Graduate Diplomas and Graduate Certificates.
TAFE NSW’s formal agreements with industry, universities and community groups ensure that students graduate with the practical skills they need for work or further education and training. TAFE NSW offers specialist apprenticeship and traineeship programs and diploma-to-degree pathways.
Human Resources Challenge
Realignment and Restructuring in TAFE NSW
CD comment – need to be reviewed and strengthened and more theory added.
Background
Technical education began with the founding of Sydney Mechanic’s School of Arts in 1833 with the State Government assuming responsibility for Sydney Technical College in 1883, which is often quoted as the year TAFE NSW was born.
TAFE NSW has been skilling the workforce since its early beginning to ensure that the State prospers and that the goals of individuals are achieved.
Throughout the years, meeting the skill needs of industry and communities has been a driving force for continued success. Courses and services have adapted and changed over the years to meet the changing skills needs of the economy.
Why the need for Change
External factors such as new technology, demand for online learning, changing student needs, new skills requirements by employers and tough competition from other providers form a significant case for change.
Internal factors that limit the ability to operate as a financially viable business include an out-dated operating model that has duplicated services across 10 autonomous Institutes currently competing against each other for business.
What needs to Change
TAFE NSW needs to transform into a modern, operationally and culturally viable organisation. This will include the establishment of 5 regional business areas to replace existing Institutes and the creation of a corporate office where the functions will be geographically spread across the state. Corporate functions will include Marketing, People & Safety (HR), Finance and Strategy, Property and Logistics as well as Governance, Legal and Risk.
Why is this a Challenge
TAFE NSW has already been subject to significant reform over the past 3 years as a result of the NSW Governments Smart and Skilled reform of vocational education and training. This reform resulted in significant job losses through structured change management programs with over 2000 employees leaving the organisation through a voluntary redundancy process.
As the NSW Government needs TAFE NSW to look at further ways to become less reliant on funding and operate more efficiently, further reform will take some time to implement. Keeping staff engaged and focused on business as usual to ensure customers remain front and centre during the transition period will be a challenge for Management.
What this Challenge means to People & Culture, Northern Sydney Institute
As the author is employed in Northern Sydney Institute, the TAFE NSW modernisation program will have significant impact on the services provided by the People & Culture team (P&C) as detailed below.
Morale within the P&C team has declined due to the implementation of existing change management programs. The concern is that this may lead to resistance against future significant periods of change.
One of the key challenges for the P&C team will be how to support Institute staff through this change, when they are directly impacted and face an uncertain future.
For the author, the modernisation program changes have already started to have an impact. As the corporate office structure is being established, expertise from the author’s team is being drawn upon to provide recruitment support. Due to this support being a high priority, re-engineering of existing processes is paramount because current ‘business as usual’ processes do not fit the new/changing requirements. The re-engineering process involves four steps: identifying the process to be re-engineered; understanding the process; redesigning the process; implementing the new process. Kramar p 640.
How does the changes within TAFE NSW align to the topic Contemporary Realignment and Restructuring
The workplace challenge identified by the author correlates to the content identified in the topic. Specifically the move from individual Institute developed and driven strategic directions to a ‘One TAFE’ plan, the subsequent organisation re-design that will result in significant job losses and formal redundancy program.
Theory and practice
Although strategic human resources planning and forecasting at an organisation wide level will determine the future for TAFE NSW as a whole, the author will focus on HR effectiveness for Northern Sydney Institute through workforce planning, process redesign, organisation development and the development of staff to enable a smooth transition to the new business model.
Recommendations
CD comments – things to include here would include transition to centralised model and impact on staff whilst performing business as usual so transition, morale, acceptance of change and fear of the unknown.
Transition is the psychological process people go through to come to terms with the new situation. change is external, transition is internal.’
Source: Managing Transitions,Making the most of change William Bridges
Planning resources, contingent labour to assist with peak period
Change of structure – BP
Planning to support one tafe strategic diretions
Plan to cope with stress anxiety
Job losses and vr program
Change of priority from bAU to corporate
Development of a transition program that will include regular update meetings with management to discuss timeframes, skills development opportunity to update existing skills through involvement in projects, job shadowing, formal recognition of skills through RPL.
Conclusion
References
Kramar, K., Bartram, T., De Cieri, H., Noe, R., Hollenbeck, J., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. (2014). Human Resource Management in Australia – Strategy, People, Performance. Sydney: McGraw Hill Education. (Chapter 18)
Appendixes
TAFE NSW Strategic Plan
One TAFE Your Future
A Vision for TAFE NSW – NSW TAFE COMMISSION (TAFE NSW) July 2016
