HRM3704 Assignment 2 Semester 1 Memo | Due 24 April 2025

HRM3704 Assignment 2 Semester 1 Memo | Due 24 April 2025. All questions fully answered. QUESTION 1 [16] Read the following case study and then answer questions 1.1 to 1.4. Zelensky Ivan Zelensky was a civil engineer and a South African who emigrated from Ukraine long before the war between Russia and Ukraine started. He established a successful civil engineering business in South Africa in early 1990 and named it ‘Zelensky’. His company grew to have branches in most provinces of South Africa. Apart from studying engineering he also acquired an HR degree from a local university to strengthen his knowledge of people management. He then created a strong HR department that would support employees of Zelensky and also appointed a strategic HR business partner to represent HR at senior management levels. He tragically passed on at the beginning of 2021 because of COVID-related complications. Maksym, his youngest son, an electrical engineer took over as CEO after his father’s death. Immediately after taking over, he concentrated on investing in physical capital resources because he added the electrical engineering component to the business. His focus on the unplanned addition of the electrical engineering component of the business caused the company to start incurring debts because of the size of the electrical engineering unit. The finance unit disagreed with Maksym about the addition of the electrical engineering unit citing not having enough funding to start the unit as a challenge. Their advice was that the unit could be implemented gradually from the year 2026 but Maksym started it in 2022. HR was also critical of the fact that because of financial challenges, it would be difficult for the company to attract well-qualified people to start working in the electrical engineering unit. The HR unit was a well-recognised component of strategic management at Zelensky and an HR representative in the form of an HR business partner participated in the top-level meetings of Zelensky. However, when Finance complained about the lack of funds, Maksym criticized his late father’s emphasis on investing ‘too much’ in human capital resources and as a result, he cancelled the position of an HR business partner from senior management. He said that HR representatives may not be necessary at the senior management level because of their specialised background in people management which makes them not understand the serious business matters that are discussed at senior management meetings. The company culture, structure and even reputation started to collapse under Maksym’s leadership. He also temporarily cancelled a training and Development subdivision of the HR function because of temporary funding challenges. He used those funds to strengthen the physical capital resources of the new electrical engineering unit. He said that he did not see training and development as benefitting Zelensky because they had trained many people in the past who had left the company and their training and development was a waste of resources. When the HR function was no longer prioritised, talented people started leaving the organisation. Quality had also become a challenge in their newly added electrical engineering unit because of the failure to attract correctly skilled individuals. Two of the buildings in which they did electrical installations burned down because of faulty installations. The company started to run short of customers because of reputational damage. After all these challenges the board was no longer happy with the leadership of Maksym and as a result, they removed him as the CEO. Oleksandra Zelensky, a brother of Maksym was temporarily asked to take the position of CEO. On his first day in office, he said that the company needed to conduct serious leadership training and development to strengthen Zelensky. He organised monthly training for all managers and leaders to improve their skills. Source: Gumede (2025) 1.1 Explain the basic principles of strategic human resource management (SHRM) and apply them to the case study. (6) 1.2 Critically discuss the relationship between strategic management and strategic human resource management at Zelensky. (2) 1.3 Discuss the resource-based view as one of the foundational theories that informs contemporary strategic human resource management concerning the challenges of cost-cutting that resulted in the temporary closing of the training and development unit. (4) 1.4 Discuss two techniques of leadership training and development that could be used to empower Zelensky’s leaders. (4) QUESTION 2 [34] Read the following case study and then answer questions 2.1 to 2.5. Hlala Properties Zonke was the HR director at Hlala Properties. She and the CEO, Londi, and also the COO, Pam, were always in agreement even where they should disagree, as per one senior employee, ‘they had too much power’. Londi, at one point, asked the managers of all business functions, such as marketing, HR, and so forth, to think of ways to cut costs because the company was under dire financial stress due to an increase in property maintenance fees. The HR director, in her exaggerated cost-cutting mission with no support from the finance unit, made a decision that all managers of various buildings had to pay full rental fees for their stay in the buildings they manage. Finance suggested that the change may be gradual, such that managers are made to start paying the full amount in a year and a half so that they have time to prepare for the change. In Zonke's desire to make the CEO, Londi, happy, ignored the advice from finance. Managers had always paid only half the rental fee; this change, whose rationale had never been discussed beforehand, upset managers. They then decided to continue staying in their residence but only paid half the rent, just like they used to. In an unprecedented move, Zonke suspended all managers for gross insubordination and defiance. The buildings became chaotic in the absence of managers; temporary managers who were hired were not able to manage the buildings well, and people started to cancel their lease agreements. There were severe financial losses for the company. Zonke argued that the agreement for managers to pay half the rental price was only verbatim and not on paper. Suspended managers said that the previous HR director would always have meetings with them if there were changes to be made that would affect either them or their customers. He would want their opinions on various matters of business. Zonke does not want meetings. She sends emails. One manager was heard saying, ‘The previous HR director never created such disunity in my 16 years of working for Hlala Properties. In another unprecedented move, Londi suspended Zonke and asked the finance manager and the COO to handle the situation of suspended managers through negotiation and agreements. The finance manager, the CEO, and the COO decided to talk with the suspended employees to try and resolve the impasse. Management communicated their reasons for cutting costs, but employees also told them that this was never discussed and also affected their lives as they had not received their salary increase for the past two years. However, the gesture of allowing talks by management also proved to be a positive sign for both parties. A chance for bargaining and making agreements was created where employees agreed that they would be happy if the change could be implemented gradually and may start in a year and a half as management had suggested. Management also agreed that they would be working on a plan to ensure each individual’s pay is connected to performance. In the future, management promised that there would be continuous and constant sharing of information so that employees would always know what was going on in the business. The suspension was also cancelled with immediate effect. Management promised to work on the issue of increment that had not happened for two years. The engagement was a success, and further losses in company profits were avoided. Source: Gumede (2025) 2.1 Distinguish between successful and unsuccessful leadership styles and apply that to the case study. (6) . 2.2 Discuss the competencies of leadership that an HR practitioner such as Zonke needs to efficiently manage her directorate. (6) 2.3 Discuss the leadership management role that Londi performed in the suspension of Zonke and the temporary deployment of the finance manager and the COO to handle the situation. (4) 2.4 Debate the merits of a relevant best-practice approach to strategic human resource management at Hlala Properties in relation to the conflict that caused the suspension of managers. (3) 2.5 Critically analyse managerial-based leadership as one organisational model of leadership and apply it to how the CEO, the COO, and the finance manager handled the matter of the suspended employees. Provide relevant case study examples to support your answer. (15)