HRM roles and functions in ethical, moral, regulatory and practical domains

Introduction:

Whittaker’s chocolates was founded by J.H Whittaker in 1896. Initially he started his business in Wellington (Whittaker's, 2019). There are many collaborations and many inventions were made out of this passion. Most essentially, the constant family support resulted in winning many significant awards since last 6 years. In this report, human resources and team support of the company is discussed which helped this organization to attain this position in the market. The objective of the report is to study about various HRM roles and functions in ethical, moral, regulatory and practical domains so as to build constant team support and hence fostering in development of organization.

Question 1:

(a) Three HRM roles in Whittaker’s NZ:

1. Recruitment and Onboarding: In Whittaker’s recruitment and selection criteria is observed as an important aspect and it is handled with extreme care. Various staff members have been shifted over the businesses on request. In this process communication has the vital role and it has made things really smooth (Geare & Stablein, 2017). This communication helps the members to work with flexible nature and direct communication with staff members is carried in order to set the specific standard.
2. Employee Satisfaction: Performance appraisals are really important for development of employees and hence for the company. Specialists in Whittaker’s aid the company in achieving high performance and gaining satisfaction levels in entire workforce (Moore & Jennings, 2017). In this organization, HR specialist creates the strategies for strengthening the relationship among employees. They have an entire control for conducting focus groups and looking for inputs from employees for job satisfaction (Massey, 2004).
3. Training and development: HR specialist in training and development always look forward for new ways in employee orientation and with the help of team support Whittaker’s has been voted as “New Zealand’s Most Loved Brand” for past six years and also Reader’s Digest has awarded this organization with “Most Trusted Brand in New Zealand” for past seven years. They provide fair processes for mentoring aspiring leaders and management roles (Rodrigues, et al., 2017).

(b) Five HRM functions in Whittaker’s NZ:

1. Planning: One of the main functions in which number and various type of employees are needed to attain goals for organization are observed. Strategic planning in HRM also helps in the management practices for collecting, analyzing and identifying the present and future requirements inside the organization (Boxall, Bainbridge, & Frenkel, 2018).
2. Controlling: This includes organizing and directing, performance of staff members is monitored and it gets verified with their KRA’s and goals in the organization. If actual performance is observed off track from the desired plan and flow then desired measures and controls are taken (Du Plessis, 2016). In Whittaker this helps in extracting maximum potentials and tapping their abilities of employees by giving them regular motivation and command which is considered to be the prime focus of the company. In this way employees contribute maximum towards their and organizational goals.
3. Orientation: In Whittaker’s, this is one of the fundamental step to assist new employees and helping them to adjust with the present employer and also with the tasks and the processes. Employee orientation procedure involves the goals of the company and also to guide the staff members where they can achieve long term and short term goals of the company (Hutchison & Huo, 2017). This program helps the staff members to be aware of allocated duties and the kind of relationship he shares with other positions.
4. Managing Employee Relations: This is one broad area and in this company, it is one of the crucial aspects of human resource management. This helps in fostering good relations with staff members. They have this ability in influencing the nature and outputs of the work processes (Obi, Leggett, & Harris, 2017). Management in this company organize several activities that helps to know employees at all levels. Employee relations in this organization is well planned and it helps in promoting balanced relation between employee and employer.
5. Training and Development: These are crucial functions of human resource management. This is the attempt in improving the present of upcoming performance of staff members by enhancing capabilities by educating them. This company encourages talent management and hence employee motivation remains the top priority during all the processes (Geare & Stablein, 2017).  

Question 2:

a) Two Moral Issues and Practical Issues:

Moral Issues:

1. Privacy: Private life of staff members which is totally different from his professional career should be indifferent from disturbing actions. Requirements of organization for details and information specifically about employees while employed. Here managers are at dilemma related to information technology. Tapping phones, accessing the computer files of staff members may be at odds with the privacy of employee. Another dilemma is in reference with whistle blowing. Generally staff members do not come forward and speak against their employees as they tend to be loyal for the organization, but if there is any considerable situation it is mandatory to blow the Whistle (Brown & Lawrence, 2017).
2. Safety and Health: Working with machines is often considered to be dangerous to the safety and health of staff members. There are laws been made which is mandatory for organizations and supervisors for giving compensation to the victims during these situations (Collings, Wood, & Szamosi, 2018). Moral dilemma is observed when sometimes justice is denied to the victims.  

Practical Issues:

1. Embracing change: One of the repetitive challenges that HR professionals face is related to adapting change in the management. Human resources, in Whittaker’s, are thus trained for managing morale of staff members, their cooperation through change management and also they need to motivate employees constantly for meeting the outcomes (Fryer, 2018).
2. Providing positive culture: Generally in the companies now a days staff members are leaving their jobs as there are no opportunities in development and hence training must be provided so as employees remain engaged and loyal towards company (Pimenta, 2015).

b) Two Ethical and Regulatory Issues:

Ethical Issues:

1. Diversity: In New Zealand there is blend of British and Maori, also there are many immigrants from Indian and Polynesian migration from Samoa to the rich cultural mix (Chan, et al., 2018). Diversity in the workplace enhances the qualities and experiences that changes the work form another. HR management has to implement the policies that help in promotion of diversity in the organization and also giving equal chances to Maori community as well (Davies, 2016).
2. Fair Recruitment: Decisions related to recruitment and termination should be made with no consideration of ethnicity, gender, or any kind of religious beliefs (Barak, 2016). HR management should take proper precautions for eliminating any kind of biased decisions from recruiting or firing by making proper actions that are adhered to strict business flow.

Regulatory Issues: 

1. Legislation: These matters modify as per the political environment, economic situations and various internal and external factors that includes new form of legislation and pending procedures that impact the company and their staff members. In Whittaker’s HR management should make each employee aware of the issues related to HR regulatory that needs careful follow-up at regular intervals of time and proper understanding of various roles that different agencies come in action.
2. Professional Networking: Best practices of HR doesn’t come in action just with the assumptions or interpretations. HR management should make employees read the important articles regarding human resources and send an email on daily basis for creating attention towards regulatory issues. It takes effort and trials in the professional networking and many exchanges with concentrated analysis with the change in policies.  

Question 3:

a) Two Moral and Practical Issues:

Moral Issues:

• Alteration in the job description: Sometimes the recruiter may present the job description with several strategic changes so that it looks more promising. The most common way is to increase the salary and also to include other compensations, they may also make other responsibilities more admired as compared to real position. Supervisors must pay attention and take strict actions against these dishonest actions (Crane & Matten, 2016).
• Clear and transparent communication: When recruiter sends offer to candidates then there is only limited to make the decision for desired offer, else offer gets expired. The recruiter, hence, tell the candidates regarding the time limit for making the decision and also they must double check the offer before sending an offer.

Practical Issues: 

• Ghosting: This is one phenomenon where an interview is scheduled for candidates but they fail to show up (Hough, Green, & Plumlee, 2015). This gets hard to judge such behavior. In this case organization must acknowledge all the applications by sending an email to reduce the outcomes in the recruitment processes. Company should set an automated mail.
• Slow decisions: Taking slow decisions is one of the major problems in recruitment section. Supervisors must judge these situations and compress the amount of time it is taking for recruiting employees. There are several rounds of interviews that are being conducted, then professionals must consult with colleagues regarding qualification of candidate as soon as person leaves the room after interview. In many cases, there is no specific reason that recruitment process take more than 3-4 days.

b) Two ethical and regulatory issues:

Ethical Issues:

• Modifying resume of candidate: Sometimes recruiter may makes changes in the resume in order to fill the position (Carollo & Guerci, 2018). Hiring managers should make it clear that they should ask in the format where no additions can be made. The main objective of recruiter in this case to get candidates in front of supervisors for interviews.
• Avoiding wrong advertisements of jobs: Wrong advertisements of jobs attract wrong group of people for the job. And also enhance the inefficiency of department for the hiring manager. Hiring manager should collaborate with their professionals and supervise their processes (Crane & Matten, 2016).

Regulatory Issues:

• Minimum Wage: There is the act in New Zealand that provides minimum wage that is reviewed annually by the governed bodies.
• Equal Pay: This act prevents any kind of discrimination in the pay rates of workers which is based in the sex of the staff members (Lehnert, Craft, Singh, & Park, 2016). Organization should be aware of the system and procedures and laws related to the wages.

References

Boxall, P., Bainbridge, H., & Frenkel, S. (2018). Styles of HRM in Australia and New Zealand. Handbook of Research on Comparative Human Resource Management.

Carollo, L., & Guerci, M. (2018). Employee control, ethics and politics–GHRM in context. Contemporary Developments in Green Human Resource Management Research, 97, 97-115.

Collings, D., Wood, G., & Szamosi, L. (2018). Human resource management: A critical approach. Human Resource Management , 1-23.

Crane, A., & Matten, D. (2016). Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press.

Davies, P. (2016). Current issues in business ethics. 

Du Plessis, A. (2016). Suggestion system as an HRM tool to be successful in organisations: some empirical evidence in New Zealand.

Fryer, M. (2018). HRM: an ethical perspective. Human Resource Management, 98-116.

Geare, A., & Stablein, R. (2017). Human resource management in New Zealand. Human Resource Management on the Pacific Rim: Institutions, 60, 151.

Hough, C., Green, K., & Plumlee, G. (2015). IMPACT OF ETHICS ENVIRONMENT AND ORGANIZATIONAL TRUST ON EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT. Journal of Legal, Ethical & Regulatory Issues, 18.

Hutchison, A., & Huo, M. (2017). Performance Management in New Zealand: Human Resource Practitioners', Managers', and Employees' Perspectives. New Zealand Journal of Human Resources Management, 17.

Lehnert, K., Craft, J., Singh, N., & Park, Y. (2016). The human experience of ethics: a review of a decade of qualitative ethical decisionmaking research. Business ethics: A European review, 25, 498-537.

Moore, L., & Jennings, P. (2017). Human resource management on the Pacific Rim: Institutions, practices, and attitudes (Vol. 60). Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG.

Obi, C., Leggett, C., & Harris, H. (2017). National culture, employee empowerment and advanced manufacturing technology utilisation. Journal of Management & Organization, 1-23.

Pimenta, M. (2015). Ethics in human resource management: a study on ethical perceptions of HRM practices.

Rodrigues, S., Selway, N., Morgenstern, M., Motoi, L., Stokes, J., & James, B. (2017). Lubrication of chocolate during oral processing. Food & function, 8, 533-544.