HRM3704: Assignment 02 Semester 02 (2023)

Assignment 02
(Written Assignment)
Lessons 02 and 03 on myUnisa
Chapters 2, 3 and 5 of the prescribed book
Due date:
14/08/2023 before 21:00
This assignment must be submitted on/before the due date, and it will
contribute 10% to your final mark for this module.

1. Introduction
This document contains assignment 02 and related information.

2. Format of Assignment 02
The assignment consists of essay-type questions that are based on case studies. You must answer all
the questions in the assignment. There are no electives or multiple-choice questions (MCQs) in this
assignment.

3. Assignment due date

Assignment 02 will be made available on myUnisa on 31 08 2023 at 08:00 and it is due on 14/08/2023
before 21:00. You may submit your assignment any time before the due date and time.

No extension will be granted for the submission of the assignment. The onus is on you to ensure that you
submit the assignment on time.

4. Technical presentation
Your assignment must meet certain requirements regarding layout and technical presentation. The
following guidelines apply:
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Open Rubric
Rubric
HRM3704: Assignment 02 Semester 02 (2023)

• You must submit your written assignment online (via myUnisa) in PDF. You should type your
answers (1½ spacing, Arial font size 11) and then convert your document to PDF.

• The cover page or the first page of your document should contain information such as the module
code, the assignment number, and your name and student number. Do also include a table of
contents, an introduction, and a conclusion.

• Each page of the completed assignment must be numbered consecutively.

• Include a reference list to outline the sources that you consulted. Use the Harvard referencing
method (refer to Tutorial Letter HRMALL6/301/4/2023) and remember to include the page numbers.

5. Submission of the assignment

The assignment must be submitted as a single document in PDF on the myUnisa module site.

See TL 101 for Guidelines on how to submit assignment 02.

6. Feedback on the assessment

Feedback on the assignment will be provided in Tutorial Letter HRM3704/202/1A/2023, which will be
available in the Tutorial Letters folder under Student Resources on the Moodle module site. The tutorial
letter will be available online once marking and moderation have been concluded. Kindly note that you will
be required to download the tutorial letter from myUnisa since it will not be posted or e-mailed to you.

7. Learning outcomes
After completing this assignment, you should be able to

• Discuss innovative approaches to human resource management. (Study unit 1)

• Distinguish between different types of flexibility regarding HRM functions (Study unit 2)
• Discuss the role of the different mindsets in maintaining the competitive advantage in the competitive
landscape. (Study unit 2)
• Distinguish between the different sources of competitive advantage (Lesson 2)
• Distinguish between the different flexibility types. (Lesson 2)

8. Dishonest academic practices

Please note that Unisa has zero tolerance for any form of academic dishonesty. It is therefore essential
that you familiarise yourself with the relevant policies and rules.

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HRM3704: Assignment 02 Semester 02 (2023)

PLAGIARISM

Plagiarism is the act of taking the words, the ideas and/or the thoughts of others
and presenting them as your own. It is a form of theft that involves several
dishonest academic activities, such as

• cutting and pasting text from any source without acknowledging the
source

• not including references, or using incorrect references

• paraphrasing text or ideas without acknowledging the original source of

the information

CHEATING

Cheating includes but is not limited to

• completing assessments on behalf of another student, copying work

from another student during an assessment or allowing a student to copy
work from you.

• using social media (e.g., WhatsApp, Telegram) or other platforms to

disseminate assessment information

• submitting corrupt or irrelevant files

• buying completed answers from “tutors” or internet sites (known as

contract cheating)

More information about plagiarism and cheating can be obtained from the Study
@ Unisa website. The Policy for copyright infringement and plagiarism should
also be consulted.

The university will institute disciplinary action if fraudulent or dishonest conduct related to any form of
assessment is suspected. This should not be regarded as a punitive measure but as a means of protecting
the integrity of all Unisa qualifications.

9. The assignment

Assignment 02 (Written) for Semester 1

Lesson 2 and 3
Due date Unique number
14 08 2023 894010

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 HRM3704: Assignment 02 Semester 02 (2023)
Question 1 [14]

Learning outcomes

• Discuss innovative approaches to human resource management. (Study unit 1)

• Distinguish between different types of flexibility regarding HRM functions (Study unit 2)

Read the following case study and then answer questions 1.1 – 1.3.

Human resource challenges in an organisation

Stephen Bismark lives with his ill mother. He is a biomedical engineer and he works in a research unit of
a health care company. He helps to design and produce artificial limbs and machines that enhance limited
abilities like hearing and vision disorders. His artificial machines have become very much in demand for
their reliability. Stephen combines his knowledge of computer science and mechanical engineering. A self-
motivated individual with a low need for interaction, Stephen performs his job with minimal effort. He is a
rare talent to have in the organisation and he has gained the trust of management because of his team
player mentality, strong organisational and communication skills, and reliability.

His mother has to visit a special clinic every Friday for medical check-ups. James has repeatedly asked
his company to allow him to do home-based telecommuting every Friday so that he can attend to his
mother’s illness but it has been three years now, and his request seems to have been ignored.

According to Stephen, he was not the only one who required flexible working arrangements, there were
many other employees. After gathering information about flex work requested by employees, HR
management and all the line managers held a meeting to discuss if this would be possible. A member of
the HR unit responsible for employee wellness who was in support of flexi work, said that flexible work
patterns could be used to support better work-life balance for employees. However, the HR head, Goliath
Williams, would hear none of it. He said that employees were trying to take away management’s power
and he asked the following questions: Who would manage employees’ performance if they were at home?
Which criteria should be used to determine how employees should be rewarded? In closing, Goliath
warned that the company had to be careful, as managers were about to lose their power and, as a result,
they would lose control of the organisation. The HR head’s sentiments were adopted by all line managers
and the implementation of flexible patterns was rejected. After the meeting, the HR head sent an e-mail to
all employees to report on the outcome of their meeting. In the e-mail, he mentioned that for now,
management will not be affecting flexible working arrangements because of the many challenges they
foresee to happen if flexible working arrangements is implemented.

After this failure by management to allow flex work, Stephen become very negative and started to realise
that there were many things that are not right with the healthcare company, which he previously was taking
for granted. He realised that the company does not have enough career advancement opportunities. He
further remembered that he had been side-lined several times in terms of promotion. His salary is similar
to everyone else’s even though he regards himself as a star performer, at least according to his view. After
some thorough introspection, Stephen decided to resign from the healthcare company. Stephen’s
departure has left a void. The company had to temporarily shut the unit down while looking for a suitable
replacement. The HR director proposed that they had to embark on the implementation of functional
flexibility to remedy the situation.

1.1 What could the healthcare company do to minimise the work/family challenges experienced by
Stephen? Substantiate your answer with good reasons and examples from the case study. (8)

1.2 After Stephen’s sudden departure, the HR director suggested the implementation of functional
flexibility. How could functional flexibility assist in the future?
(2)

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 HRM3704: Assignment 02 Semester 02 (2023)
1.3 Critically discuss the challenges related to the implementation of flexible work patterns at the health
care company. Support your answer by providing examples from the case study. (4)

Question 2 [16]

Read the following case study and then answer question 2.1

CompuTech

CompuTech is a computer company that has diversified into producing music gadgets and smartphones.
They look for agility in talent. The real key to their agility occurs post-onboarding. There is a cultural
expectation that after succeeding in one task, the employee will immediately move on to something
completely different. The employee knows that he/she will have to retool and learn quickly. This means
that they must mentally prepare and look forward to the next extraordinary challenge, even though they
will get almost no career guidance.

The rapidly shifting workload means that an employee that is bored with his/her work, will not be so for
long, because the work and the focus thereof will change. Looking at the big picture, CompuTech’s ability
to move into and dominate unrelated industries is only possible because of its extraordinary talent, the way
it is managed, and its approach to building an image that attracts the new skills needed to successfully
move into new product areas. In their yearly budget, they invest a lot of money in training talent and they
emphasise that every manager and leader at CompuTech is responsible for talent management.

They believe in performance culture differentiation based on performance, and it is clear that in this culture,
the top performers and those who are working on mission-critical products are treated significantly
differently. Treating top performers differently may cause some employees to be disgruntled, but treating
all employees the same will frustrate the high-impact performers and cause them to leave.

Recently CompuTech diversified once more into the making of electric cars by merging with Alpha Cars,
a new company that has become global. Alpha Cars produce small but affordable electric cars. In their
adoption of Alpha Cars, CompuTech has to solve the problem of an appointment that is frustrating
operations at Alpha Cars. The management of Alpha Cars is in a corner, being pressured by the dominant
Union at Alpha Cars to cancel the appointment of Mr. Hussein to a management position. Hussein is a
deeply religious man whose performance has for a very long time been known to be almost disastrous
because of his almost full-time involvement in his religious activities. Alpha Cars has done nothing about
his poor performance, and this has made his colleagues unhappy as they have to assist him when he fails
to meet due dates.

Hussein is now the new assistant HR manager. When the HR director introduced him to staff members
after his appointment, he pointed out that Hussen’s strength is his religion. He said that management
believe that because he is a religious man, he is better qualified to take the job of an assistant HR manager.
It then became obvious that religion became one of the criteria for Hussein’s appointment and another
criterion that was considered according to some people, is that management wanted a man and not a
woman. Alpha Cars management consists only of men and not a single woman. Their belief is that men
are by nature managers and leaders.

Source: Sullivan, J. 2011. Adapted from Talent management lessons from Apple: a case study of the
world’s most valuable firm. [Online]. Available from: < http://www.ere.net/2011/09/12/talent-management-
lessons-from-apple-a-case-study-of-the-worlds-most-valuable-firm-part-1-of-3/>

2.1 CompuTech operates in a competitive landscape. Identify, and discuss the mindset CompuTech seems
to have adopted to survive and gain a competitive advantage. Support your answer with relevant case
study examples. (6)

Read the following case study and then answer the questions 2.2 – 2.4.
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 HRM3704: Assignment 02 Semester 02 (2023)

Plumbing Excellence

Benjamin is a twenty-five-year-old with a background in a failed plumbing business. He got hired by

Plumbing Excellence, a successful plumbing company with a decade of experience and several branches
in minor and major towns of Mpumalanga. A few months after his employment, Benjamin was starting to
give his employer a challenge because after learning much about plumbing at Plumbing Excellence, he
decided to restart his plumbing business and the company did not know anything about it. As a front desk
worker, he used that opportunity to secretly channel customers to his own, private plumbing business. He
would tell some customers that he would help them at a reasonable price. He also would report sick and
would use that opportunity to do plumbing work for his private customers. After a year the company sent
Benjamin to a very highly regarded plumbing school. He studied there for three months and acquired a
coveted NQF level 5 certificate in plumbing. After he completed the plumbing course Benjamin was moved
to the next level in terms of remuneration and was made a supervisor for the front desk employees. All of
this motivated Benjamin to desire to make his private business even bigger and he purposed in his heart
that he would work at Plumbing Excellence another year just to make sure his business is strong and then
leave.

Source: Primary lecturer ,2022

2.2 According to the resource-based paradigm, a motivated employee is someone whose goals are
aligned with the goals of the organisation. Would you say Benjamin’s interests are aligned with the
goals of Plumbing Excellence? Support your answer by giving one example from the case study. (2)

2.3 Would you say Benjamin is violating his psychological contract with Plumbing Excellence? If so what
kind of violation is this and why is it called so? Provide two examples from the case study. (4)

2.4 Do you think extrinsic motivation can drive Benjamin to start working ethically at Plumbing
Excellence? Support your answer by providing examples of extrinsic rewards Benjamin has received.
(4)

Total = [30]
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