BMGT 221 – Organization and Human Resource Management

Test 1

31 March 2021

4 to 6.30pm

Total marks: 100

Overall value of the course: 30%

All questions carry same marks.

Answer any four questions out of the five questions in this booklet.

You are to answer the questions using only the space provided in this booklet.

Answers exceeding the page limit will not be considered.

Each question starts on a separate page.

This is an OPEN BOOK test.

Please note: This test is an individual effort. During tests, communicating or collaborating
with other individuals is expressly forbidden. Test scripts will be analysed for evidence of
collaboration and penalties may be administrated.

TIME ALLOWED: 2.5 HOURS, 4pm to 6.30pm

You will still be able to upload after this time, but your test will be marked as late. A few
minutes will be acceptable. You can submit earlier if you so wish!

Before you start please complete the table below with your surname, first name and student ID number.

Surname Hammond
First name Paige
ID number 1134524
Q.1.
a) A 5-star hotel in Queenstown is working on its annual Human Resource plan. Briefly discuss any 5
key environmental influences that will influence its HR planning. (10 marks) (Max 1 page answer)

End of answer 1 (a)

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 b) Moana creative is a Gisborne based company in multimedia content development founded in 2020.
It employs about 80 people. The owner, Rose Poheta is keen to instil positive culture in the
company. Discuss any 5 KEY points that Rose can focus on to make it a happy and productive place.
(15 marks) (Max 2 page answer)

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 End of Answer 1 (b)

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Q.2. Read the following job description of a “retail sales professional” to answer the questions. (Max 3
page answer)

Job summary

Creates outstanding customer experiences, driven to succeed, loves a target, truly professional, values
diversity and inclusion. That’s about you. Since 1979, we’ve been sharing in brilliant moments with our
customers and earned the reputation for quality jewellery along the way. We are open, trustworthy and
share our knowledge. This is about us. Create your brilliance. This is what we can do together!

About The Opportunity

 Connect with our customers by providing superior and personalised service

 Achieve personal and team sales and profit targets
 Create exceptional in-store displays and maintain high presentation standards

More About You

 Enjoy a fast-paced, customer focused, team environment

 Driven to perform, meet performance targets and uphold service standards
 Have a desire to learn and share your knowledge
 Enthusiastic, friendly and well-groomed with an exceptional work ethic
 Have flexibility to work evenings, weekends, and public holidays

More About Us

We’re renowned for our ability to teach what you need to know to succeed. We’re committed to:

 Giving you confidence and coaching you to perform

 Helping you reach your full potential
 Providing a supportive, diverse and inclusive team
 Rewarding you financially for performance success
 Offering you discounts across our full range of brilliant products

a) Do you think the above job description presents a realistic job preview? Explain why or why not. (9
marks)
b) With reference to the matching model, list employee contributions (bullet points, no explanation
needed) in the above job description. (8 marks)
c) With reference to the matching model, list company inducements (bullet points, no explanation
needed) in the above job description. (8 marks)

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 a) The above job description represents a realistic job preview. This is due to it clearly outlining the
company that the job is for (a 40+ year old jewelry business) and also indirectly outlines their values
that we assume are aimed towards both the employee and the customer, “we are open,
trustworthy and share our knowledge. This is about us. Create your brilliance. This is what we can
do together!”. The job preview clearly shows the opportunity that they are willing to give to
potential employees, and these do not seem unrealistic or unachievable. In the “more about you”
section, the company states the type of person that they want to have working for them and they
are the normal values that an employer would want from an employee, but they do have a large
amount of points on this list, so it is probable that they will not all be fulfilled by applicants, which
will make it easier for the recruiter to narrow down the best candidates. The job preview brings up
the point that the company is known for their ability to teach the employee what they need to
know to succeed, which implies that they would be happy to employ anyone who has the
characteristics that they want from a retail sales professional. They state what they are committed
to giving the potential employee as many opportunities as possible, along with rewarding them
financially for their performance success and offering them discounts over the range of products,
these points are the only points in the job preview that seem slightly unrealistic, as although the
job may involve selling on commission, the way that it has been worded in the job preview makes it
seem as though the financial rewards will not be guaranteed.

b) According to the matching model, the employee contributions may be;

Ability – to be a good retail sales professional.
Education and experience – little education will be needed, but previous retail sales experience
would be a good thing for the applicant to have.
Creativity – due to the job being for a jewelry company, creativity may be a good quality to
have to enable the potential employee to curate jewelry looks.
Commitment – show up to work on time, be committed to helping the customer the employee
is working with.
Expertise and knowledge – prior knowledge of jewelry such as knowing the diamond grading
scale etc. could be helpful.

c) According to the matching model, the company inducements may be;

Pay and benefits – the company should be paying the employee fairly, and as stated in their
job preview there as an offering for discounts across the range of products and financial rewards
for performance success.
Meaningful work – the company should be placing an emphasis on what work is
meaningful to the employee.
Advancement – advancements within the company should be made available to employees
who work well, which ties into their statement about financial rewards for performance success.
Training – the job preview stated that full training would be provided so the company needs to
adhere to that.
Challenge – the company should work with their employees through challenges within life
such as family concerns and practice corporate social responsibility.

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 End of Answer 2

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Q.3. You have been tasked to do a job analysis for the following positions in a supermarket. (25 marks)
a) Check-out counter operator (max 1 page answer)
b) Fresh foods Manager- leads a team of 60 staff and 4 managers who head the fresh produce,
bakery and butchery department (max 1 page answer)

Hint: Begin with the job summary: should accurately reflect the type of work expected and level of
authority
• Position-specific tasks, duties and responsibilities
• Position-specific knowledge, skills and abilities

a) A check-out counter operator has a large range of specific tasks, duties and responsibilities. The
main tasks that they have to do are scanning products, weighing items, packing purchases, and
balancing the till at the end of their shift. The employee for this job will need to be able to clearly
identify unbarcoded items (such as fresh produce), which can be difficult when there are several
types of produce that look very similar (eg. Different varieties of tomatoes) and then put the
product into the till correctly. These employees also work on the self-checkout area, which requires
them to continuously be keeping an eye on the self-checkout machines and tending to customers
when they want to purchase alcohol or are having problems with the machine, this also means that
the employee is ensuring that items are being scanned and are being paid for since there is not an
employee at the machine physically scanning the item. If the employee is of the correct age and has
shown promise in the area, they may go through supervisor training and then have the opportunity
to get their liquor license, these advancements mean that they supervise the other employees on
checkout, and when alcohol is being purchased, they get called over to check the i.d of the
customer and confirm that that customer is able to purchase the alcohol, this also happens at self-
checkout. Supervisors will have a small amount of authority, but the base checkout operators do
not have any authority, except for towards customers. The knowledge and skills that the employee
needs to have is basic money handling knowledge and the skills to quickly count money and give
the customer their change if they are paying by cash. They need the ability to be able to be on their
feet for large amounts of the day due to the job being a job where the employee is standing all day.

End of Answer 3 (a)

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 b) A fresh foods manager has a lot more authority than a checkout operator, due to having to
organize several managers who work below them in the produce, butchery, deli and bakery
sections of the supermarket as well as managing the staff that works under those managers. The
tasks that this employee will be doing is things such as ordering more product, being aware of big
events (eg. Beginning to order stock for Christmas in April to cope with demand), hiring and training
new employees, following health and safety codes and occasionally stepping in wherever they are
needed if they are not busy but another department is. Fresh foods managers have a lot of
responsibility due to how many other employees they are in charge of, and they need to be aware
of where those employees are and what they are doing at all times. A fresh foods manager will
likely have meetings with the store owner once a week, and with their other managers several
times a week to ensure that they are all on the same page in regards to sales and ordering and
producing product.

End of Answer 3 (b)

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Q.4 Otago orchard employs about 2000 seasonal workers every year in the fruit picking season. They
mainly rely on experienced overseas workers and backpackers. This year they are faced with labour
shortages because of COVID-19 border closures. Discuss the internal and external methods it can use to
recruit fruit pickers. (25 marks) (Max 2 pages)

Internal methods to recruit seasonal employees for fruit picking are in two categories, computerized record
systems and job posting. In computerized record systems there are two methods that can be used, skill
inventories being the first and meaning that the skills of current employees are evaluated and the
employees are then shuffled around the business to find spots where they would be more effective,
replacement charts work similarly and neither of these are options for the orchard as they are already low
on employees and cannot afford to have fruit going to waste while they shuffle their current employees
around. The most effective way for the orchard to find new employees internally would be via job posting,
this involves posting job offers on bulletin boards, newsletters and on computerized posting programs to
pull potential employees in to work for the orchard. This is particularly effective with employing
backpackers who are often looking at bulletin boards and at newsletters. The option of computerized
posting programs is also a very viable option for the orchard, this can be used by employers by seeing prior
consumers of their product and then employing them to pick the fruit.

External methods to recruit employees are more likely to be effective due to it being easier to get the job
posting out for people to see. University recruiting is particularly popular within the orchard industry as a
large amount of the fruit that needs picking ends up needing to be picked during periods of time where
university students don’t have classes and they are therefore available to work. Stonefruit and cherries
which are mainly grown in the otago region come ripe and ready for picking when students are on their
summer holiday, and the otago region has lots of popular tourist attractions for domestic tourists, which
could encourage university students to go and work on an orchard. Employment agencies and management
recruitment consultants are an option for the orchard and will probably be very effective, however these
methods of recruitment are generally used for jobs that require the employee to have qualifications and to
pick fruit in an orchard, the employee does not need to have any qualifications.

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 End of Answer 4

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Q.5. We discussed person-job fit and person-organization fit in the lecture on ‘selection’. For the
following positions indicate what approach would suit better and why. (25 marks)

a) Content developer at Google (max 1 page answer)

c) Assembly worker in Toyota (max 1 page answer)

a) A content developer at Google would best fit a person-organization fit, this is due to the company
having very strong objectives, culture, and values. In a person-organization fit, the employees have
a lot of freedom in decision making, and for content developing, they will need to get the project
signed off, but it is still very likely that they will have a large amount of creative freedom and largely
get to do what they want, assuming that they stay within the guidelines given to them by their
superior. It is likely that there will also be a reasonable amount of teamwork and collaboration
within the organization, which further leads me to believe that this fit is what would work with the
position. Google is a very entrepreneurial company that encourages continuous learning and having
intelligence, motivation and interpersonal skills would be much needed in order to work for them.

b) An assembly worker in Toyota best fits the person-job fit due to the focus of the job having specific
job requirements (such as experience working with vehicles), skills, abilities and knowledge. The job
content is relatively stable, and performance standards are enforced and performance is monitored
by managers to ensure that the assembly of the product is being done correctly. Formal
qualifications are likely to be preferred, but experience is also highly valued.

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 End of paper

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