Hunter Waters new Managing Director is facing a number of challenges. First, the organisation is reeling from the after effects of continual change over many years leaving staff change fatigued, de-motivated and disengaged. Second, a ‘Brain Drain' is looming as many of the highly technical and experienced ‘Baby Boomer' generation move into retirement. Third, as a result of NSW Government Policy, wages are capped and any increases must be offset. This is further exacerbated as the terms of the APESMA EA provides for an annual increase to base salary for the engineers. Constant change has created a lean organisation, making areas for further savings particularly difficult. The old super scheme that the impending retirees are on encourages early retirement and, in spite of the investment HW has made to develop leaders, employees continue to rate leadership (or lack thereof) as the biggest issue.

Part 1 - (You will be assigned either ass1 or ass2 from Part 1)

Your job is to write an informative report to the new MD to help stabilize the organisation and avoid a succession crisis.
NB as a result of the wages freeze you cannot use money as a motivator

Assignment 1

Focus - Organisational change

1. Comprehensive report/background on organisational change in the strategic and operational context of HW

2. Drawing from your background report a series of HR recommendations for HW to move forward to stability and longer term health

3. HR Risk management strategy for each recommendation- Consider risk matrix, risk appetite background and models, review processes etc.

Consider as a starting point: Change, pros/cons, fatigue, revitalisation.

Part 2 - Common - all groups must do this.

The Fair Work Commission has been trialling a new form of bargaining that replaces the ‘old' ‘outcomes based' approach with a new ‘interest based' approach. As Hunter Water are committed to ensuring strong healthy relationships with their workforce, interest based approaches sound most appealing. You are expected to use your recommendations from Part 1 to provide overall context for this section of the report.

Your job:

Part a)Write a full and comprehensive background report within the context of the assignment to the new MD explaining:
- how the new bargaining approach is different from the old bargaining approach,
- what it entails,
- why is it suitable for HW, and
- how can Hunter Water benefit from the participation in the new approach (you should draw from your recommendations here)
Part b)Write a policy document that sets the terms for ALL parties to engage in the new approach.

NB The above advice should be viewed as a starting point only. Refer to the section marked ‘general' at the end of this document for further advice for consideration.

General

Remember the above overviews are a starting point only. It is expected that your final report will be comprehensive so consider other key points that should be included in a report of this nature.

The report provides a full background investigation which will inform your recommendations and be reflected in context in part 2. In general you will take into account: (These points are not in any designated order and are not all inclusive. You should add to them and structure your report in a way that suits your group and assignment)

- Recent background to organisation/workplace characteristics
- Industry characteristics
- Introduction to issue
- Who are the stakeholders?
- Why is it an issue - characteristics of issue
- Provides a comprehensive insight into the issue (this is the bulk of the assignment)
- What is the depth and breadth of the issues?
- What legal factors need to be accounted for?
- What are the implications of not getting it right?
- How do we deal with the issues
- Write policies based on legal and ethical principles in accordance with recommendations
- You will need to consider
-
o What are the legal/ethical/strategic issues?
o Who do you need to consult - the employees? the unions? Consultation clause in EBA?
o What forms may the legal/ethical/strategic issues take
o What legislative provisions does the policy need to consider?

Questions for HW:

1. Could we have access to what we believe Alix said was a ‘snapshot report' about feedback from a survey that was taken?

2. What was the leadership style of the previous CEO?

3. Can we have an updated Financial Report?

4. Were employees informed of the decisions made concerning restructuring?

5. Do work teams have KPIs?

6. Has the new Annual Report been released yet?

7. With the restructuring activities, no doubt those remaining would have had bits & pieces added to their workload. Have those been formalised?

8. What is the new CEO's brief? What is he focusing on?

9. When and in what form are performance appraisals done?

10. Is there a reward system other than wages & salaries?

11. Have HW ever used an external diagnostic agency such as KPMG?

12. Is it possible to get access to the strategies behind previous business structural etc. changes?

13. Do HW currently use any form of mentoring relationship?