Megasports Company Human Resources Case Study

MegaSports Company

Company background

MegaSports is a company specialized in selling sports apparels and accessories of various major brands, and well-known for offering better bargain than its competitors. The company has 20 retail outlets in Hong Kong currently, and each retail outlet has 1 shop manager, 2 assistant managers, 4 full-time salepersons and 2 part-time salepersons. Of its 250 staff in Hong Kong, 200 work in the sales outlets and the rest (including the management) in the office. The management is responsible for such key departments as administration, accounting, operations, retails, marketing & sales, information technology and warehouse departments.

Restructuring plan

The company is seeing its profit declining recently owing to the changing circumstances, including increases of the outlet shops rental, the e-commerce trend of buying behavior and some other changes of buying pattern. In response, the management has decided to restructure the company and close 10 outlet shops in the coming 6 months. At the same time, a new department will be formed to cater online sales and promote e-commerce business and marketing. Below is a summary of the proposed restructuring plan for internal review and discussion:

• With 10 outlets being closed in 6 months, the performance of each outlet will be reviewed and the necessary actions devised for implementation.
• The performance of the outlet frontline staff will be reviewed, leading to a layoff affecting 30-50% of them as appropriate.
• With the setting up a new “Online Sales” department, the HR department has to recruit additional technical staff and supporting customer service staff.

QUESTION 1

Define and distinguish between the terms “Human Resources Management” and “Human Resources Planning”

ANSWER

Human Resources Planning (“HRP”)

• HRP activities include looking at where the company wants to be next year and several years into the future and developing an organization chart that ensures the business has the expert staff needed to reach its goals.
• Once it has developed an organization chart, the HR planning person creates written job descriptions for each position and sets compensation packages to be able to attract the best employees.
• HR reviews sales projections and production schedules to ensure proper staffing levels to avoid interruptions in the production process and to avoid the use of more expensive contractors or overtime workers.
• The planning process also includes creating a policies and procedures guide, which outlines areas such as expense report submissions, applying for vacation days, office dress, harassment polices, safety procedures and the employee review process.

Human Resources Management (“HRM”)

• Once HR has planned the company’s personnel needs, it takes steps to ensure they are fulfilled. This includes training managers how to supervise staff, making sure employees have the training and tools they need to do their jobs, communicating to staff the company’s hierarchy, policies and procedures and managing HR processes such as paying employees, enrolling them in benefits programs, answering staff questions, performing reviews, awarding bonuses and giving promotions.
• A key part of the management process is to analyze goals set during the planning process, such as reviewing payroll costs, productivity and retention levels.

Total 241 words in Question 1