Every organization needs human resources in their appropriate number, experience and

expertise. For that appropriate number of personnel, there must be an effective framework
in place of planning human resource and Swiss Bank Corporation (SBC) with the aid to reach
higher productivity, it is essential for them to appropriately and effectively manage the
workforce.

The case “ALIGNING HR WITH THE BUSINESS AT SBC” is an analysis that focuses on
determining the root causes of the Human Resources issues the organization is facing and to
give recommendations on policies and strategies that needs to be implemented to manage
the human resources effectively.

1. Who were the customers of Mitchell and his HR staff? (3 Marks)

Mitchell and his HR staff were in charge of setting policies that was is needed to improve the
relationship of the organization with its customers and in the case, the line managers whom
the HR department serves are the customers.

2. What did Mitchell have to do so that his staff could do the things necessary to
reposition and customerize (3 Marks)

Mitchell had to undertake a four main areas strategic human resources management
approach which included

i. Gathering Information

Gathering the information was the first step to solving the problem by the human
resources. The problem needed to be identified and differentiated from its symptoms.
This stage simply meant getting the relevant information to understand the problem.

ii. Developing action agendas

Develop the action agendas was the second approach where Mitchell and his HR staff develop
best approach, alternatives and objectives of his practice.

iii. Implementing those agendas

This approach was the third approach to commence the best action agendas to determine
the success of the process and ensure all staffs understand the role they have to play.

iv. Evaluating and revising the agendas

This was the last approach which generally dealt with monitoring, controlling and improving
the new changes by Mitchell and his HR Staff.

3. Do you think the line managers would cooperate with Mitchell and his staff? (3
Marks)

The change in human resources policies to be successful depends on how well the change is
managed. The line mangers from onset are likely to deter the implemented change but if
those changes are well pushed and educated for them to understand the positive effect, they
would cooperate.

a. What would it take to get their cooperation? (3 Marks)

Communication is key in every organization when it comes to cooperation. When there is an

effective communication on the change being implemented by Mitchell and his team from
start to the end to the line managers, it is very likely for the line managers to resist the change
of the new HR management. The change implemented can to communicated to the line
managers in group preferably small or even individually if possible and should be
communicated to the entire organization.

Another way it would take to get the cooperation of the line managers is motivations such as
attractive salaries and benefits to ensure their loyalty to the organization and also continuous
appraisal to enable them perform effectively and efficiently and also in line with the new HR
policies.

b. Why might they resist a partnership with the HR department? (3 Marks)

The line managers noticed the changes by Mitchell and his staff were implementing were
coming to replace their positions in the organization and also reduce their power. To prevent
that and better understand the changes, they may have to resist the partnership to fully know
the changes are also for their benefits.

To conclude the case, Mitchell and his HR staff used a strategic human resources issues
management approach in four major aspects to analyze the issue and come up with policies
to address those issues.

The department at the end supported the policies and ensured that they were well
implemented except for the line manager’s resistance to that change that became the only
issue.