TASK 1

i)The factors include:

Internal factors
· Leadership
· communication
· weaknesses
· strengths
· Employees
External factors
· economic
· social
· legal
· political
· competition

ii)
The following internal and external companies impacted mwansa’s kitchens business to move
forward:
Internal factors
Internal factors are Inner strengths and weaknesses that mwansa’s kitchen. Internal factors
strongly affected mwansa’s kitchens to meets its objectives, and might be seen as strengths if
they have a favourable impact on the business, but as weaknesses if they have a deleterious effect
on the business. Internal factors include:
1.Leadership
Great leaders inspire and direct. Often the way they do that most persuasively is by example.
Thus, mwansa’s kitchens leader indeed led by example, inspired his workers, he motivated them,
encouraged them, mentored them which led to improved organisational performance.
2.Communication
Successful organizations thrive on robust communication practices, where teams and team
leaders communicate freely and often to improve results. Mwansa’s kitchen exhibited great two-
way communication withs its employees which was free from errors, less distortion, less
misunderstandings and effective which led the business to grow.
3.Weaknesses
Weaknesses are the areas which have scope for improvement. In the last 12 months, at mwansa’s
kitchen staff turnover started to increase alongside complaints about the interfering and
domineering style of management and increasingly unrealistic demands that were being made by
the founder. Staff admitted that they were unwilling to challenge ideas for fear of a backlash,
with local managers saying they “just do what they are told” and have no real authority to make
decisions
4.Strengths
Strengths are the features of mwansa’s kitchen which allowed it to work more effectively than
competitors. Its founder kept a very tight control of the company, managing menus, sourcing and
also using its own local network to drive hiring.
5.Employees
Mwansa’s kitchen needed motivated workers that understood its expectations and were given the
tools, training, support, and encouragement to not only meet those expectations but to exceed
them. Thus. That was why it hired a finance and HR team. For a company to consistently
produce high results, mwansa’s kitchen ensured that they were in constant communication with
employees and that any problems or dissatisfaction within the rank-and-file is handled in a
timely manner. When employees feel valued and rewarded, they will go above and beyond to
maintain a high organizational standard
External factors
External factors are outside influences that can impact a business. Various external factors can
impact the ability of a business or investment to achieve its strategic goals and objectives. These
external factors might include competition; social, legal and technological changes, and the
economic and political environment. The following external factors impacted mwansa’s kitchens:
1.Economic factors
Economic factors that influence the business are the collective of the nature of the country’s
economic system, its structures, and economic policies, how the capital market is organized, and
nature of factors of production, business cycles, and socio-economic infrastructure. Mwansa’s
kitchens pictured that economic factors affected the business, anticipated the prospective market
situations and worked to minimize the costs while maximizing the profits. The finance manager
of mwansa’s kitchens identified that profit levels appear to be falling and has voiced concern that
the rising price of some staple food items such as maize may further reduce profitability.
2.Social environment
Social factors affected the functioning of mwansa’s kitchen since they determined the value
system of the society. Sociological factors establish the culture of work, labour mobility, work
groups etc, hence, business operation of an enterprise. These factors include cost structure,
customs and conventions, cultural heritage, peoples’ view towards wealth and income and
scientific methods, seniority respect, mobility of labour.
3.Legal factors
Legal factors affected mwansa’s kitchen greatly. Legal factors involved how flexible and
adaptable the law and legal rules that governed the business were. Mwansa’s kitchen adhered to
the laws, safety precautions and was environment friendly and traded within the confinements of
the law.
4.Political factors
The political environment of any country influenced Mwansa kitchens to a larger extent. This
political environment is influenced by the political organization, philosophy, government
ideology, nature and extent of bureaucracy, the country’s political stability, its foreign policy,
defence and military policy, the country’s image and that of its leaders both locally and
internationally.
5.Competition
As time went by mwansa’s kitchen business noted a number of companies entering the same
business with better customer services, advanced technologies and newer way of doing stuff. The
finance manager of mwansa’s kitchen was concerned about increasing competition as the model
of business can easily be copied.

iii)
A Personnel research can be defined as a systematized investigation into the matters of
employees with an objective to solve their problems. The research will undertake the following
steps:
1. Statement of Purpose:
In simple words, statement of purpose is a statement to justify the research. In other words, the
researcher has to state what he/she actually proposes to study and why. It also needs to be
pointed out that given the problem, the present research is the most parsimonious way of seeking
answers to the problem.
2. Statement of Problem:
Research,is carried out to solve problem faced by an organisation/individual. Therefore, the
foremost step involved in carrying out personnel research is to state the problem to be studied
clearly and concretely. Better the problem is stated, better will be possibility of realistic research.
Problem can be identified by going through the existing literature, discussion with
knowledgeable persons in the subject and getting first-hand information and observation on the
matter. The problem so identified should be reduced to manageable size. Once the problem is
clearly identified, the next step is to develop the hypotheses, also called ‘suggested answers’.
3. Statement of Method:
Method refers to the manner followed to collect data / information for the study. Yes, the method
will differ across researches depending upon the nature of research problems and hypotheses set
for them. An important aspect of methodology is the identification and selection of study group.
In case of large universe, it may be difficult to contact each unit/individual of the universe.
4. Statement of Results:
Results, based on information gathered, refer to the relationship between dependent and inde-
pendent variables of the study. They may support or reject the hypotheses set in the beginning of
the study. The results can be found out by applying statistical tools and, then, can be presented in
the form of tables, graphs, charts, bar diagrams, etc.
5. Statement of Analysis and Implications:
No doubt, results of the research can be utilized to solve the specific problem. Besides, the
concern of a personnel research is also to visualize the implications of the results and also utilize
them for policy formulation and decision-making.

(iv) Peripheral to the business and only there to ensure administrative compliance.

A peripheral includes employees whose duties are only temporary or that do not contribute to the most
essential tasks the business must complete.A central finance and HR position was created so these were
outside or only slightly connected with the business or only slightly involved .Peripheral roles, by the
very nature of the jobs and duties, are usually often Ill-defined, occupy part-time, and unstable positions.

(v) 1.Level of Growth

The company's rate of growth.The business experienced aggressive growth and rapid expansion
which required its human resources department to focus on recruitment and staffing. The
company may place a greater focus on efforts on employee retention and improving the
company's culture and workplace environment through upgrading job descriptions and
enhancing compensation and fringe benefits programs.

2.Use of Technology

The companies would have made greater use of tools for processing and mechanisms
.management,Rapid technological changes and innovations are taking place all over the world.
As a result of these technological changes, technical personnel are increasingly required. Hence,
procurement of technically skilled employees is necessary to match the changing job
requirements.

3.Economic Environment

As the business was easy to copy, many demotivated workers are leave their jobs, causing the
business to hire new employees to receive a higher volume of applications from qualified
candidates. .As the profit levels were going down .

4.Emerging Industries

As the business in the previous year had grown mssively.the business was supose to hire
additional staff at rapid pace. Employers in these fields are in direct competition with one
another for the top candidates

5.Legal Factors:

One of the most important external factors that affect HRM is the legal environment. The
management cannot manage the human resources unilaterally.It is now compelled to manage its
employees according to the legislation enacted by the government at the centre and the states.

(vi) (It is not a learning organisation)

A learning organization is an organization skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring

knowledge, and at modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights,that encourages
and facilitates learning in order to continually transform itself to survive and excel in a rapidly
changing business environment. If an organization was learning is a difference in the quality of
dialogue. Their is no real freedom among people to acknowledge what they don’t know. An
atmosphere of questioning and experimentation does not exist at all levels of the organization.
Employees dont feel comfortable saying, “Here is where our thinking and here is where we want
to be,” and would actively search out new ideas and input.In a learning organisation their is flow
of information, communication is both vertical and horizontal.

TASK 2
The main approaches to SHRM are divided into two main categories: universalistic and
contingency

Best fit in HRM?

The best fit approach emphasizes the importance of ensuring that HR strategies are appropriate
to the circumstances of the organization, including its culture, operational processes and external
environment. HR strategies have to take account of the particular needs of both the organization
and its people. Best-fit approach also known as the contingency model and proponents of this
approach assert that there is no universal way of doing things as what might work well in one
place may be unsuccessful in another place. This vertical integrated approach the proposition that
organizations will be more effective if they adopt a policy of strategic configuration by matching
their strategy to one of the ideal practices, where leverage is gained through the close line.Best-
fit approach to HRM “stresses the need for practices that are contingent with organisational
circumstances, but in addition emphasizes the need for horizontal or internal fit.

Best practice approach?

'Best practice' approach to HRM relates to the viewpoint that there is a set of best HRM practices
and their adoption is going to generate positive results regardless of the circumstances associated
with organisations.The Best-practice model claims that certain bundles of HR activities exist
which universally support in improving any organizational performance in reaching a
competitive advantage regardless of the organizational setting and irrespective of the location &
size. what works well in one organization will not necessarily work well in another because it
may not fit its strategy, culture, management style, technology or working
practices.Universalistic approach states that ‘best practices’ in relation to a wide range of HR
issues such as employee recruitment and selection, training and development, employee
motivation is equally applicable to each organisation regardless of the nature of unique aspects
organisations might have.Contingency or ‘best fit’ approach on the other hand, disagrees with the
presence of universal prescriptions to HR issues and stresses the need for integration between
HR policies and a wide range of other organisational policies.best practice’ approach to HRM
relates to the viewpoint that there is a set of best HRM practices and their adoption is going to
generate positive results regardless of the circumstances associated with organisations.
At the most general level, best fit is a contingency approach while best practice is a universal
approach. Best fit is based on the premise that picking the most effective HR policies and
practices depends on matching them appropriately to the organization's environment.In human
resource management, there are useful best practices that positively influence organizational
performance, such as motivating jobs, positive selection, regular performance appraisal,
performance-related pay or systematic training, but their application requires best fit to external
and internal conditions that determine the positive effect of applied best practices in human
resource management on achieved organizational performance. Best practices help to deal with
the performance and competitive challenges. They serve to optimize the system of human
resource management. They help to change the philosophy and style of management and
leadership of employees.