Finals Notes

Week 5: Human Resource Management & The Law

Provide a case study of a summary dismissal from your LCO. Explain the reason
for the dismissal & the process you used.

Summary Dismissal:
On the spot dismissal: dismissal from employment the instant that the
employer states that the employee is discharged
Employee loses the right to work out a notice period or be paid in lieu of notice.
If summary dismissal is a consequence of serious and wilful misconduct by the
employee; other entitlements (award and statutory) may not be granted.

Case study:
The HR Manager of CSNY had received reports of a full time tax services
employee falsifying company documents (time sheets) and stating they had been
working overtime when they hadnt, and vandalising company property whilst
at work (computers and fire extinguisher), and using inappropriate language in
front of clients and has 1 year employment with company.
Received complaints from other employees in that department, and the line
manager of tax services.
Is a witness to the use of inappropriate language in the workplace and has CCTV
footage of company property allocated to the employee being vandalised.
Has an obligation to maintain a safe working environment
Reasons for dismissal
o HR Manager has the responsibility to keep a safe and honest work
environment
o Employee has demonstrated gross misconduct through vandalism,
dishonesty, falsification of company documents, and harassment
(verbal).
o The company has a zero tolerance policy regarding harassment.
o The company must fulfil obligations to clients in providing honest
information and not overcharge clients for billed hours.
Procedure for dismissal
o HR Manager has issued both verbal and written warnings regarding
inappropriate behaviour in workplace.
o HR Manager has issued both verbal and written warnings regarding
falsification of documents and monitored employees worked hours and
found they have not been working overtime hours.
o Health check of Tax agent by CSNY employed medical professional.
o Written notice of termination effective immediately.
Employee submitted an unfair dismissal query to Fair Work Australia

Which laws are most relevant to your LCO & why?

Fair Work Act 2009
Attempts to achieve more fairness by giving bargaining power back to
employees.
Mainly focuses on issues of mutual trust, confidence and fair dealing.
Fair Work reforms shift focus back towards collective bargaining (over
individual bargaining)
National employment standards
Regulates industrial action
Develops OH&S Legislation, Discrimination, Bullying, Termination of
employment etc.

Occupational Health and Safety Act 2000 (NSW)
Aims to protect the health, safety and welfare of people at work.
Covers self-employed people, as well as employers and employees.
Employers must ensure the health and safety of people visiting or working at
their places of work, by not exposing them to risk
All persons must not: interfere with, or misuse things provided for the health,
safety or welfare of persons at work.










































Week 6: Attraction and Selection of Talent

Explain the strategies you will adopt to make your LCO an Employer of Choice.
Include an EVP

Employer of Choice:
An organisation that outperforms its competition in the attraction, development
and retention of people with business-required talent, often through innovative
and compelling HR programs
When a person will prefer to work for CSNY as compared to other accounting
firms

CSNY Strategies to become an employer of choice:
Company Image: good reputation and respectable history
Organisational culture: high standards and values (sense of community) and
includes employees in decision making
o Face to face meetings
o Delegating decision making power to employees
Respected leadership
Caring of people: Good life-balance
o Childcare facility (personalised for employee and discounted, inside
building of CSNY)
o Job share roles available
o Flexible work hours (early start/late finish/weekend) to accommodate
employees lives outside work
o Maternity/Paternity pay Job held for 4 months.
Growth and opportunity (Personal and professional growth)
o Training: Job rotation available
o New employees and interns partnered with more senior employee
o Off the job training
o Annual performance reviews
o Employee of the month for each division certificate and reward to
thank them and recognise effort and dedication
Meaningful work
o Interesting yet challenging in area of interest: tax services, HR,
marketing and communications, advisory, clients services.
Compensation and benefits (monetary and non-monetary time off , health,
childcare)
o Monetary reward paid annually end of financial year bonus available to
excelling employees determined by performance review.
o Employee Share scheme (offers shares in company to be purchased and
earned by employees).
Participating in community initiatives
o Indigenous employee program
o Hosting fun runs/fitness events for charity City2Surf etc.

EVP: Employee Value Proposition
The balance of rewards and benefits (work life balance), opportunities
(development, future career), organisational culture, and respected people and
leadership received by employees in return for their performance at the
workplace
CSNY EVP
o Flexible working conditions
Understand each individuals need to accommodate and ensure
employees are provided with a good work life balance
o Salary and compensation
Allow us to reward our employees for their hard work
o Aim is to give back to the community
And make a difference be a good corporate citizen
o Employees are of immense value and lead to our success
o Friendly and comfortable organisational culture
Pride ourselves on our diversity
o Emphasise the importance of continuous learning and development

Explain the selection process you will use to select management positions for your
LCO

Steps in selection process
1. Recruiting process completed
2. Initial screening
a. Through CV, application form and cover letter.
3. Collect information about applicant
4. Evaluate qualifications of each applicant
5. Application blank
6. Interviews
7. Employment tests
a. Interest tests
b. Aptitude tests/cognitive ability tests
c. Personality tests
i. Introvert
ii. Extravert - Well looked upon for management role
d. Intelligence tests
8. Reference checks
a. Understand applicants previous; motivation, technical competence,
ability to work with others.
9. Final selection by line managers
10. Medical check
11. Appointment
12. Placement on the job (induction begins)

Requirements of management positions:
Tertiary qualification: Bachelors Degree in Accounting and Masters in
Accounting an asset
At least 5 years work experience in management position
Exceeds expectations on former performance reviews
Good history of low absenteeism and low sick days

Structured interview
Prepared list of predetermined questions
o Situational questions
E.g. How will you allocate work when multiple employees are
absent
E.g. how will you motivate employees to improve performance in
times of stress
o Job-knowledge questions
What do you know about CSNY?
Week 8: Induction and Talent Retention

Design an induction program for your LCO

Importance of induction:
3 stages of induction: induction (short term, understand basic job requirements,
remuneration), orientation (employee enters workplace, includes employee
pack and tour, meeting others and expectations and socialisation (longer term
settling in stage)
2 way process: ensure employers can set out standards and their expectations
and employees arent overwhelmed with their new work environment
Increase satisfaction; reduce employee anxiety and feels more connected to the
organisation and part of the team
Saves time and money of finding new employees if employees are inducted
properly
Sets a standard so employees are retained

CSNY induction program:
Day 1: Induction phase
9:00am Basic organisational details
10:00am Introductions to each other
11:00am Morning Tea
11:30am Letter of appointment
11:45am Job description
12:30pm Starting salary
1:00pm Lunch Break
2:00pm Conditions of employment
2:30 First day instruction
Mission statement, Logo and Organisational structure
4:00pm Orientation phase: Meeting David our Talent Coordinator
Day Two: Continue orientation phase and




Describe the strategies you will use to retain talent in your LCO

Offer a competitive benefits package that fits employees needs
o Health insurance/life insurance/retirement savings plan.
o Flexible working hours, option of telecommuting
o Show employees CSNY is willing to accommodate their personal lives
Provide small perks
o Casual dress Fridays and Free morning teas daily (tea/coffee/biscuits)
o Free dry cleaning and delivery
o Helps employees manage their lives
Contests and incentives to help keep workers motivated and feeling rewarded
o Keep employees focused and excited about their jobs
o Inter-department quarterly competitions
o Increase performance from previous financial year quarter.
Conduct stay interviews (and exit interviews)
o In addition to performing exit interviews (and find out why employees
are leaving); ask long-tenured employees why they stay.
o Why have you stayed? What would you change or improve?
o Use information to strengthen employee-retention strategies
Promote internally where possible
o Give employees a clear path of advancement
o Promote loyalty with company
Foster employee development
o Training to learn a new job skill or tuition reimbursement to help further
employees education
Create open communication between employees and management
o Hold regular meetings in which employees can offer ideas and ask
questions.
o Open door policy that encourages to speak honestly with managers
without fear of repercussion
Get managers involved
o Require managers to spend time coaching employees, helping good
performers move to new positions and minimise poor performance
Offer financial rewards
o Offering stock options or other financial awards for employees who meet
performance goals and stay for a predetermined period (e.g. 3/5 years).
o Provide meaningful annual raises
o Create a bonus structures where employees can earn an annual bonus if
they meet prescribed performance goals
Offer job rotations













Week 9: Staff Development and Career Management

Using Blooms Taxonomy as a framework, describe the learning methodologies
appropriate to 2 specific section/departments of LCO

Blooms Taxonomy:
The classification of learning activities into 3 domains:
1. Psychomotor domain: concerned with learning of tasks
2. Cognitive domain: concerned with acquisition and application of knowledge
3. Affective domain: Concerned with attitudes and values

Specific departments of CSNY
Development and Client Services
o Utilising cognitive learning methodology as this involves acquiring
knowledge and apply knowledge regarding
Solutions that are based around commercially appropriate advice
Identify opportunities to introduce the expertise of other areas of
businesses to maximise client value
Deliver audits that consider the business and financial risks of
the company
Assist in providing credible financial statements
Helping business adapt to new regulatory environment
o A expert knowledge of all these areas is crucial to deliver excellent
service to clients and ensure client loyalty
o Learning through:
E-learning (interactive computer based learning)
Self-directed learning
Coaching (ongoing one to one development by turning everyday
experiences into learning experiences)
On-the-job training (learning by doing, new employees learn by
doing the job under guidance of supervisor)
o Affective learning methodologies can also be utilised to improve
employees attitudes and values regarding acquiring and applying new
knowledge particularly in employees resistant to change
Simulations
Case studies
Human Resources
o Utilising affective learning methodologies as this involves
Talent management and workforce planning
HR measurement, benchmarking and analytics
HR function effectiveness and transformation
HR transaction services
o The ability to change attitudes and values is crucial in the HR department
particularly, with the implementation of OH&S policies where employee
attitudes and values are extremely important
o Learning through:
Action learning (given challenging project that extends skills and
experiencing with supervisor)
Simulations (role plays situations that simulate the workplace
and give constructive feedback on how they handled the
situation)
Case studies (description of scenario followed by discussion
questions facilitating analysis)

Describe the career development strategies you will use in your LCO

Traineeship/Intern ship programs
Graduate development program
o 9 month program which helps to build critical business skills graduates
will need
o consists of a 1 day class room event where graduates can come together
and have fun by exploring our vision and values, and develop self-
management techniques to help graduates stay commercial and
innovative.
o Coaching, virtual classrooms, learning blogs, e-learning, facilitated
discussions, reflection activities and a research project
Mentoring
o Get managers involved by requiring managers to spend time coaching
employees, helping good performers move to new positions and
minimise poor performance
Personal development programs
o Help to structure performance, coaching and development to assist new
starter.
o 6 monthly development reviews
o Possibility for further tertiary study
o Potential to move interstate
o To give employees a clear path of advancement
o Monetary/non-monetary rewards





























Week 10: Managing Performance

Describe 2 rating techniques you will use and explain why they are relevant to
your LCO

Most common rating techniques:
Forced ranking (also known as peer ranking)
Ranks employee performance from best to worst.
Person-to-person comparison
Potential disadvantage: does not assess an employees progress in
mastering certain job-critical skills
Relevant to CSNY as in specific departments (development and client
services, tax services, advisory, marketing) as
Ensures distribution requirements will be met
Individual rankings will determine monetary and non-
monetary rewards
Additional training will be given to those at the bottom of the
rank.
A person-to-person comparison allows to identify key
performers and reward them for their effort and dedication by
extending their career development and promotion
opportunities
Outlines if employees have interest in their department, and if
they do not, offer job rotations to measure performance in
other departments to ensure better job fit for individual
Forced distribution
Aligns employees in accordance with pre-assigned performance
distribution fields.
Person-to-standard comparison; meets expectations, exceeds
expectations, does not meet expectations.
Relevant to CSNY as in specific departments (development and client
services, tax services, advisory, marketing) as
Assesses employees progress in mastering certain job-critical
skills
Identifies if an employee has obtained all knowledge in area
and is suitable for promotion
Allows for employees to be given monetary and non-monetary
rewards for mastering knowledge
Employees at bottom of rank can be mentored by employees at
top of rank.

Reasons for use of rating techniques:
Create and sustain high performance by eliminating weak performers and
retaining strong performers
Establish well-defined consequences such as larger salary rewards
Make performance management a priority
Inform employee about their standard of performance






Identify the individuals or groups you will use to rate performance in your LCO

Line managers
Conduct performance appraisal (formal and mutually agreed upon system of
planning and reviewing employee performance responsibilities and
performance, improvement, short and long term goals)
Most involvement with employee on day to day basis
Assess involvement and effort within the team as a whole
Assess loyalty to the company and identify factors such as absenteeism, sick
days etc.
Provide honest and direct feedback
Human resource practitioners
Have own set of performance objectives that must be met
Self-appraisal
Self-performance questionnaires will be implemented at CSNY to determine how
motivated an employee believes they are and how much effort they put into
their work
Customer appraisals
Performance analysis by customers is crucial to determine how much dedication
and effort the employee put into completing their task effectively and efficiently,
and to the standard of the customer and CSNY requirements.
Subordinates
Determines how effective their management skills are and how satisfied
subordinates are with leadership skills





























Week 11: Diversity & Employment Equity

Design a policy for minimising the incidence of sexual harassment in your LCO

A form of sex discrimination and involves unwelcome sexual advances, requests for
sexual favours, or unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature that offends, humiliates or
intimidates.

Sexual harassment is unlawful behaviour under Commonwealth Sex Discrimination Act
1984, NSW Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 and the Victorian Equal Opportunity Act 2010.

CSNY is committed to provide a safe work environment free from sexual harassment, as
it considered unlawful and CSNY has a zero-tolerance towards it under any
circumstances.

Staff have a responsibility to:
Comply with organisations sexual harassment policy
Understand the negative effects of sexual harassment
Model appropriate behaviour

Managers and supervisors have a responsibility to:
Monitor working environment
Promote organisational policy
Treat all complaints with serious, immediate action and confidentiality

CSNY anti-sexual harassment policy
Defines and prohibits sexual harassment
Encourages prompt reporting of all complaints to an independent representative
of the employer
Includes a procedure for bypassing ones supervisor where the supervisor is the
offender
Ensures the thorough and impartial investigation and resolution of all
complaints
Provides for the immediate and appropriate remedial action, up to and including
termination for violations of the employers policy
Provides for progressive discipline if harassment recurs
Applies to all employees, including managers and supervisors
Prohibits retaliation against employees
Does not conflict with contractual or civil service rights of employees.

Purposes of policy:
1. Reduces the likelihood of a claim by preventing harassment
2. Providing a prompt, effective means for addressing harassment when it occurs
3. Provides the employer with a legal defence to a hostile work environment claim

Identify the major diversity issues in your LCO and explain how you will manage
them

Approximately 315 staff in 32 branches in Qld, NSW and VIC (plans in WA)
Australian males and females 50%
Racial and ethnic minorities
o Indigenous Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal employees
o English speaking staff of Asian, European and Middle Eastern descent
Aged between 25-55
Differ in communication styles/conflicting perspectives
May hinder; trust levels, team cohesion, team morale, employee productivity
Benefits: competitive advantage (widen client base, increased innovation
wider range of perspectives, younger gens teach older employees use of
technology)

CSNY:
Age diversity
o High employee retention within company
o Older employees strategic position
o Middle-aged staff; supervisors and line managers
o Younger employees generally bottom of ladder
o GEN X/Baby Boomers: resistant to change, dislike of technology
o GEN Y: Overreliance on technology, unmotivated, unwilling to commit to
one organisation

The primary dimensions of diversity are; age, ethnicity, gender, physical and intellectual
ability and race.
University vs. TAFE educated
Age differences
Ethnic differences
Racial differences

Process for managing diversity:
Stage 1. Organisational leaders (raising awareness, buy in, commitment)
Stage 2. Diversity Council (formation, strategic planning and deployment)
Stage 3. Environmental scan (climate survey, culture audit)
Stage 4. Data analysis (Results, benchmarking, strategy planning, action plans,
measurements, communications)
Stage 5. Interventions (Cultural fixes, training profile, improvement)
Stage 6. Progress checks (organisational, environmental, personal)
Stage 7. Maintenance and measurements

Implementation strategy
Cultural sensitivity and diversity training (promoting communication and
tolerance)
Mentoring/buddy program for new employees
Workforce collaboration (formal meetings in diverse teams, informal employee
facilitated through social events)
Leadership Modelling Behaviour (model acceptable behaviour)
Establish company culture of equality (access to resources, respecting diversity
differences in colleagues)










Week 12: Organisational Renewal & Change Management

Describe 2 conceptual model-building approaches to organisational change that
are appropriate to your LCO

Equilibrium change model: Unfreeze-Change-Refreeze (Lewin 1943)
Unfreeze
o Unfreeze existing work practices
o Gaining acceptance
o Increasing driving forces and reducing resisting forces that restrain
change
Change
o Implementing the change
o New ways of behaving; changes to organisational components and action
o Need to be visible in workers behavioural patterns and values
Refreeze
o Consolidate changes
o Stabilising the change, includes the reward for desired behaviours and
selling benefits of change, whilst providing ongoing support
o Through support systems, resources and training programs
o Prevent regression

Factors that need to be taken into consideration when investigating change; systems
culture, technology, choice of change, approaches, environment

Examples of change in CSNY;
New management,
New organisational structure (remove middle management flatten
organisational structure shorten developmental progress in corporate
ladder),
New technology,
Changes to accommodate to emerging markets/trends/competition
New identity/vision/mission/objectives
New strategy/leadership
New products
New culture (at organisational, divisional, business unit and functional levels)

The Contingency Model:
Aka situational model
One in which strategy is selected by managers to fit organisational requirements
and the environment.
Although operates as a contingency approach; takes place on a continuous basis
and should be viewed in a continuous change mode.
Continuous change implies recurring changes to accommodate highly
competitive and turbulent environments in which organisations operate as
complex systems.
Characterised by:
o It accommodates continuous innovation and change in organisations to
reflect changes in their core competencies and culture.
o Accommodates evolutionary instead of revolutionary approaches to
change, thus retaining the core elements to align an organisation with
environmental change.
o Reflects the alignment with the concept of organisational continuity
(process of transformation on the past by identifying things that need to
be enhanced)
Assumes the change can take place to cope with large, unexpected
environmental shifts and therefore avoid the need for punctuated change.

Describe the reactions to change you might expect for 3 specific departments of
your LCO

Disengagement
Dis-identification
Disenchantment
Disorientation
Cynicism
Sabotage
Fear
o Common human reaction to any sort of change
o For employees, fear about organisational change can manifest into
questions about job security and satisfaction, demotions or pay cuts.
o When fear is severe, some employees may refuse to believe that they are
capable of making the change or develop health concerns due to panic or
stress
Anger
o Change to the status quo can spark hostility from employees
o Anger may be visible (emotional outburst) or repressed (long time
employee who suddenly quits).
o Frustration may also cause employees to publicly question company
leadership (especially if an already angry employee is assigned to a new
boss)
o Gossiping and backstabbing, which can have sabotage effects can result if
employer anger is ignored or mismanaged
Ambivalence
o No reaction to organisational change is negative.
o Some employees may remain neutral or slightly positive to change
o If a small business leader manages change effectively, this group of
employees may become willing participants in new policies and
procedures, especially if they observe commitment from management,
receive regular communication from company leaders and feel that they
are part of the change process
Enthusiasm
o Some employees may warmly embrace a leaders call for change see it
as an opportunity for themselves or perceive the change as a natural
next step in the life of the company
o Others may understand that the change is necessary for the companys
survival
o A small business leader should acknowledge and support this type of
employee. In addition, they should delegate some sort of change
management to supportive employees because this group can positively
influence undecided co-workers.