STAFF DEVELOPING ISSUES AT NATURAL KNIBBLES

Assignment BUHRM 1501

Introduction to Human Resource
Management, Semester 3, 2011
School of Business

GROUP REPORT

CASE STUDY 3

“STAFF DEVELOPMENT ISSUES AT NATURAL

KNIBBLES”

Lecturer & Tutor: Dr.Vanaja Karagiannidis

Xin Su

(UB30090884)

Canhuang Chen (UB30091021)

Ruiqi Su (UB20091630)

Smital Patel (UB20067005)

STAFF DEVELOPING ISSUES AT NATURAL KNIBBLES

DOCUMENT CONTROL
Name Responsibilities ID
Xin Su Introduction and question 1 UB30090884
Canhuang Chen Question 2 and Conclusion UB30091021
Ruiqi Su Question 3 and Summary UB20091630
Smital Patel Question 4 and Question 5 UB20067005

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STAFF DEVELOPING ISSUES AT NATURAL KNIBBLES

Table of contents

DOCUMENT CONTROL...................................................................................2

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..................................................................................4

1.0 INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................5

1.1 Background.........................................................................................................................................5

1.2 Scope....................................................................................................................................................5

2.0 STAFF DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM ........................................................5

2.1 Natural Knibbles’ New Employee Development Program.............................................................5

2.2 Training and Development Program................................................................................................7

2.3 Advantages and Disadvantages of Peer Evaluation........................................................................8

2.4 HR strategies for effective career planning processes....................................................................9

3.0 RECOMMENDATION..................................................................................9

4.0 CONCLUSION...........................................................................................12

REFERENCES:...............................................................................................13

APPENDICES..................................................................................................14

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STAFF DEVELOPING ISSUES AT NATURAL KNIBBLES

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This assignment examines the case study of Natural Knibbles’ staff development
program which shows the performance development program run by the company.
This program as analyzed in the report provides new employees opportunity to get
familiarize themselves with the processes of the company and do hands in the new
ways of doing things that company is moving to. There are positives and negatives of
this program that requires a lot of ground work for the new employees as well as has
its unique benefit of leaning from an experienced employee. However the report will
cover how the pressure of inadequate time made the ground work for new employees
difficult and the loose ends that the training method caused, The report will cover the
strategies and recommendations for the company that could help in improvements and
reduce the chances of failure e.g., job rotation as a method thathas not been used
effectively for more recall value for new employees who have actually found it hard
to recall certain routines because of being trained only once and in a short time period.
There will be recommendations focusing on the importance of training and
development and continuity in training efforts.

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STAFF DEVELOPING ISSUES AT NATURAL KNIBBLES

1.0 Introduction
1.1 Background

Natural Knibbles is a health food company that has been established since 1998. It is
currently run by a couple, Brandon and Cherrie Wheat. Natural Knibbles produce the
healthy food items, using only high quality organic produce, and are planning to enter
a new niche market to expand their operation. There are various changes required
within the company towards this innovative move such as the introduction of new
production equipment, modified work schedules, job redesign, team-based work
methods, staff development and an HRIMS (Human Resource Information System).
The changes require the company developing a program that would increase the
values of the employees to the company, help create differentiation and contribute
substantially to employee interest, satisfaction and growth.

1.2 Scope

The purpose of this report is to provide a detailed analysis of their employee

development program, which includes a company orientation program, a new training
process in sync with the new company strategy. Furthermore the report will discuss
the good and bad of their peer evaluation approach part of the performance
management process, the probable strategies to achieve an effective development
program, steps required to design and deliver the programs needed at the company.
The scope also includes appropriate recommendations and path forward for Natural
Knibbles with a focus on the training and development needs.

2.0 Staff Development Program

2.1 Natural Knibbles’ New Employee Development Program

New employees development practices plays a key role in the effective management
of employees in organization, it is particularly important when employees enter an

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organization since these practices often socialize the employees when entering the
organization by introducing them the organization’s value, norms and culture. The
employee development such as training may influence organizational socialization
and ultimately employee attitudes and organization performance. Natural Knibbles’
orientation program gives a systematic introduction to the new employees about their
job, colleagues and the organization (Slattery, 2008). The New Employees
Development Program includes three parts helpful to familiarize new employees with
the new environment/ equipment. First is the formal orientation program which covers
all important information about the job (duties and responsibilities, safety
requirements and office equipments, so on) (see figure 1). Second is the on-the-job
training process, to pair up the new employees under a ‘buddy system’ with a more
experienced employee who would be responsible for showing them the ropes and
tasks associated with their position. The new employees can explore this opportunity
to learn new skills and knowledge at the job site. Lastly, the orientation has the
follow-up interviews; the HR department interviews the new employees and their
‘buddies’, making sure that any unanswered questions or misunderstandings are
clarified. An example could be the concerns of the two new employees Kane and Lisa
about the reflected reviews from their ‘buddies”.
The organization goals of the Natural Knibbles is to develop an organization that is
seen as an attractive place to work, that helps employees to make the most of their
potential and offers secure, long-term employment (Stone, 2008, p.375). Their
company strategy designed to improve the profit margin by maintaining and improve
this existing market and developing new market through the new product lines. They
want their employees could grow and develop alongside the business. By support the
organization goals, the HR department creates a orientation program giving
opportunity for the new employees to learn from the work, the working ‘buddies’ is
the mentors who act as advisers and role models for the new employees, impart
organizational culture through their dress, association and actions, as well as by what
they say to the new stuffs. Moreover the new stuffs are given the chance to work into

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different positions, gain multiple skills to do the job into different position. The
orientation program benefited them having a more overall picture of how the
company operated; they can now know: what are the personalities of the people they
will be working with, what is really like to work here. The new employees be trained
to have multiple skills to work into different position within the organization, they can
occasional shift to one of other positions to cover for employees who were away or to
assist when the workload was heavier. The orientation program provides opportunities
to new employees improve their skills and knowledge, helps them identify different
ways they can approve and further their career with Natural Knibbles. The Program
also contributes in increasing the value of the employees to the company, help create
differentiation and contribute substantially to employee interest, satisfaction and
growth.
2.2 Training and Development Program

The company offers the training and development process to the two new employees,
through different positions. The organization tried to make the employees better
perform their different roles. The HR manager offered the ‘buddy system’ to train the
employees for the organization’s current proposed change. After one month’s training
with an experienced employee, then the new employee needs to work in different
position with another experienced employee for another three months. After that, they
would work one full-time position, with occasional shift to cover other employee if
required.
Lisa worked in a retail clothing outlet and had experience in sales and marketing. She
had a TAFE certificate in computing and management that qualifies for her job. She
may be more sensitive on the management, she learn new staffs more easily. She was
a little confusing in the training process; but she has already settled in well to her new
role. From the training program, Lisa already got a great allover view of the whole
organization process. It could help her to get into her new role more quickly. After her
training process, she also got opportunity to learn more tasks, and has enrolled in a
certificate of Marketing at the local TAFE. The training and development program

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help Lisa to perform her work better in the future.

Kane as an employee without tertiary qualifications; and he had two years experience
working for a large juice manufacturing company. He did not receive many benefits
from the training program rather he got confused as he found that it was difficult to
adjust between the different positions. He found it difficult to recall every procedure
whenever he moves to a different position He even can not get help from the boss and
could not learn the tasks properly, and ask assistant for help. It makes her peers to be
more negative. It makes that there is not further development opportunities available
for Kane.
2.3 Advantages and Disadvantages of Peer Evaluation

The foremost advantage of peer evaluation is that peers are able to relate well with the
one being evaluated. Peer reviews improves the quality of work and subjects the
ideas to scrutiny of others (Ware, 2008) Peers while working together are able to tell
whether or not the person is doing better than the other as they perform similar
activities. Peers are motivated to work while doing the job and learn from each
others’ right steps/ actions as well as mistakes. With an element of feedback involved
on the peer evaluation methods, a company can also improve its processes. The same
processes can be evaluated from peers’ different perceptions and way of doing tasks.
The company is using the peer evaluation approach with its family oriented culture
and focus on employee consultation. The company believes that the improvements
and good performance originate from the ability of employees to work effectively
with their co-workers and to give as much help as possible to each other.
The disadvantages of peer evaluation include an element of bias and a common
expectation from peers despite their individual capabilities. In other words, if one
person is performing better, the other peer is also expected to be equally better in that
task. Sometimes the evaluating peer being a friend to the person being evaluated
might make subjective judgment. In the present case, Kane received negative
feedback at a later stage when he was not able to deliver on his job despite the fact
that he complained initially that he has not been trained adequately. The management

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relaxed him by arguing that he would learn eventually that did not happened because
of the gap in training and actual deployment of tasks.
2.4 HR strategies for effective career planning processes

The HR strategies should be defined cleverly as they bear great impact on career
planning processes. It has been pointed out in the case study that the company has a
family atmosphere. The strategies should involve better training and development
schemes that should be more motivating for the employees. With the disappointment
of Lisa and Kane, it is evident that there is a need for the continuous enhancement on
employees’ skills, abilities, knowledge. Each employee looks for development
potential that not only helps them but also helps the company.
Job rotation should not be opted for the employees so that if they do not get adequate
hands on the processes and a grasp in the technology, they could practice more in one
area and prove themselves. They should have an opportunity to spend more time and
learn all the aspects of a process / area of the company. They will be better while
performing a typical role as they will have a sound understanding of that business
area/process. This also would prepare employees of this small company to face any
situation and adapt to the environment by working with a core experience in the
company. To completely understand company’s system, an employee must be given
ample time to master the processes as a whole that was clearly lacking in the training
of Lisa and Kane. When an employee is satisfied with the skills he has gained in one
area, he should be moved to another area/process. This will cover all gaps without
leaving chances of mistakes and lack of confidence with any one employee as it
happened with Kane.

3.0 Recommendation
Brandon and Cherrie as owners understand their company better as
they have their focus on making the company as one of the best to
work in. As the company has a small family type environment the
requirement for an HRD consultant does not seems suitable. If at all

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a consultant is hired, he should well understand the culture of the

company and be able to mix up well with the Knibbles team. A very
close integration of ideas is required. Adapting to the culture of the
company and designing processes to improve the processes
requires deep focus on the existing issues that well suits the owners
of the company in the present situation. Nobody knows the
company better than Brandon and Cherrie; the two of them will be
able to make better decisions for the company. The HRD consultant
should be hired if Cherrie and Brandon lack appropriate time to
dedicate to improve the training and development system and make
improvements in their new employee strategy. There is a sense of
urgency for these matters as competitors may hire Kane or any
other employees who would resign in the similar circumstances as
Lisa and Kane to dig out the processes used in Knibbles or other
important knowledge about the company. The weaknesses of
Knibbles as a company may expose them in the market and
competitors may take advantage of luring Knibbles staff for their
personal gains.
Training & Development is very important for any organisation and
helps workforce in an organisation in development of skills, abilities
and knowledge that is required for organizational as well as personal
growth. Youndt et al (1996) emphasise that training is one of the
most fundamental aspects of best practice for organisations.
Knibbles management seems to lack the right way of addressing
training needs of their employees and require betterment in the
design of training. After the formal training program, no other
training and development opportunities were offered. As the owners
understand their company better they can contribute to big returns
for Knibbles by documenting procedures with their experience and

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knowledge and also designing development programs that could

progressively train employees while in job. This would make
employees feel more confident with a guideline they could adhere to
and ask questions at the time of need even if they are not able to
recall procedures as what happened with Kane. With development
programs, employees will be more productive and feel motivated
that will contribute towards growth of the firm. For an organisation
skilled employees are valuable assets who would stay on board with
increased knowledge and for an employee it leads to motivation and
better performance. With the right efforts in training and
development, Lisa and Kane would have stayed with the company
for long, would have utilized the acquired knowledge for a sustained
growth of Knibbles.
A continuous improvement is required in training and development
needs and the program should be re-assessed every now and then
especially when it fails to deliver like in the current case of Kane and
Lisa. Employees also want enhancement of their skills, abilities,
knowledge, and more is always desirable to the employees. They
would like to expand their knowledge horizons and to achieve this,
they should be able to learn more as they go through different
situations presented to them in dissimilar work experiences. Job
rotation may be used more effectively so that employees would be
able to have a grasp of almost all, if not the entire business
processes. The employee should be moved to the next stage in job
rotation only when they feel confident of their knowledge about that
area/process to be able to have employees as assets available to fill
in for any role that is required by the company. After all,
organizational success depends on the knowledge, skills and
abilities of the workforce (Hendon, 2008)

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4.0 Conclusion
The case study analysis has revealed that participation in training
courses was voluntary for existing staff and there were Limited
opportunities for promotion or transfer. According to me this is a
weakness of Knibbles coupled with lack of focus on training of
employees and the result is in front of us where inadequate time
was not given in training for new employees. They were not
satisfactorily familiar with the tasks required in one position that led
to disappointment and failure in job. Training and development
needs need attention and the buddy program that seems to be
useful for performance management needs some improvement as
Kane was criticized by the buddy without having any concerns for
his original disposition for more training need that was postponed by
the management e.g., the “Don’t worry, you’ll catch on” attitude of
Cherrie. Despite all this, Knibbles seems to be a good company to
work with that is ready to offer opportunities to new people by
training them as they are entering the health-food market
capitalizing on their existing reputation.

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References:
1 Slattery, P.J., Selvarajan, T.T., and Anderson, J.E. (2008). The influence of new
employee development practices upon role stressors and work-related attitudes of
temporary employees. The International Journal of Human Resource
Management 19 (12) Accessed online from Ebscohost Database via
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?
hid=108&sid=d9843d71-4c33-4704-ad5c-
e3a629882068%40sessionmgr112&vid=2
2 Stone, R. (2008). Human resource management (6th ed.). Milton QLD: John
Wiley & Sons Australia.
3 Youndt, M. A. et al (1996) Human Resource Management, Manufacturing
Strategy, and Firm Performance. Academy of Management Journal, 39(1), p836-
66, Accessed online from Ebscohost Database
4 Ware, M (2008) Peer Review: benefits, perceptions and alternatives. Accessed
online from Journal of Human Resources, 11(2) from Ebscohost Database
5 Hendon, H. (2008) Research Quarterly: Strategic training and development: A
gateway to organizational success. Accessed online from
http://www.allbusiness.com/labor-employment/labor-sector-performance-labor-
force/11423292-1.html

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STAFF DEVELOPING ISSUES AT NATURAL KNIBBLES

Appendices

 Provide group feedback about members contribution to project

and participation/Documentation of Meetings.
 Provide suitable diagrams & tables that you are using to answer
the case Qs.
 Provide suitable graphs/labeled that will support the case
answers/optional.

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