Question

Answer the FIVE questions in this section. You may include diagrams, flowcharts or bullet points to clarify and support your answers, so long as you provide an explanation of each.

The external contexts of organisations are often identified as: Socio-cultural; technological; economic; environmental; political; legal; and ethical (STEEPLE). Identify and explain the THREE external contexts that particularly influence your organisation. Justify your answer.
Risk analysis is now an accepted function in organisations. Strategic risks are those that can threaten high-level issues, such as market-share or even the survival of the organisation. Operational risks are concerned with short-term goals in the form of immediate and/or obvious threats.
Identify up to THREE ways that organisations can encourage line managers to manage operational risk.

AND

Evaluate the effectiveness of your organisation’s approach to operational risk.

Your answer should draw upon research and/or reputable sources.

Your CIPD group are planning to discuss whether recessionary changes to the labour market ‘push firms away from commitment-focussed HRM and towards more hard-line practices’ (Cook et al, 2016:557). In your preparatory notes outline what form hard-line practices may take, and prepare the case EITHER for OR against adopting such practices in response to a recession. Justify your answer.
Spontaneity and adaptability are regarded as crucial characteristics for organisations that operate in conditions of hyper-competition. These organisations are characterised by such things as rapid technological change; uncertain markets; price wars; continual internal reorganisation and diverse global players.

Compare and contrast any TWO named organisations by analysing how each deals with the characteristics of operating in a hyper-competitive environment. From your analysis, which organisation do you consider the more spontaneous and adaptable? Justify your answer.

There are many types of organisations that act as pressure groups to influence, advise and advocate on behalf of their members. Their respective levels of power are determined by a number of internal and external factors. As a specialist in HR you may interact with a number of these pressure groups.
Identify any ONE pressure group you are likely to come across in your professional capacity, providing examples of how it could or has influenced government.

AND

Justify your choice of pressure group and explain what ONE cause within its remit you would like it to take up. Justify your answer.

Solution/Answer

Question 1

External Contexts of Organisations

As noted in CIPD (2020) the rationale of conducting an organisation external environment analysis is informed by the need of generating professional insights in the external factors that impact an organisation. This form of analysis is normally flexible with a potential of organisations adopting it in a range of diverse scenarios. The people professionals and senior managers could adopt this approach in gaining results for guiding them in a strategic decision-making process. One of the tools that can be adopted is the STEEPLE which evaluates the Socio-cultural, technological, economic, environmental, political, legal and ethical factors. This tool is applicable in Organisation A operating in the UAE telecommunication sector in evaluating the impact of the external contexts influencing the organisation.

Political– Since Organisation A operates in UAE, the current political conflicts among the UAE and the neighbouring countries in the Middle East influences the extent in which the organisation operates in the different locations where they have based their operations. For instance, the telecommunication gadgets previously installed in Kuwait and Iran had been threatened by lack of political stability in the region. Further, for UAE government has encouraged organisations to ensure they enact the ICV or Emiratisation policy (Lexology, 2020). Since Organisation A majority of employees are non-locals, this has impacted the employee relations in the organisation hence threatening their sustainability.

Economic– As noted in e-ir. Info. (2020) the UAE economy has contracted by -3.5% as at the end of 2020. This has been impacted by the current COVID-19 pandemic. Taking this into account, the Organisation A sustainability and profitability is threatened by this trajectory. Also, majority of the Organisation A employees have been encouraged to operationalise flexible working strategy. In this case, Organisation A has been prompted to incur immense costs in facilitating their operations and existence in the competitive UAE business environment.

Technology– According to a report in UAE United (2020), UAE is the number one for innovation in the Arab World in 2019. This has a direct implication in encouraging new thinking and ground-breaking solutions in different areas. One of the areas is telecommunication where Organisation A operates. The organisation has been prompted to significantly invest in modernised technology equipment to assist their employees in advancing their functions in this sector. Also, Organisation A leverages on social medial platforms in sourcing for customers and also engaging them in regard to customer care provisions.

Question 2

Risk Analysis
- Ways Organisations can encourage line managers to manage operational risks

Asking the right questions to the line managers– Part of the operational risks management is ensuring that the stakeholders expectations are appropriately managed. For instance, the customers are supposed to benefit from the line managers measures put in place for handling the operational risks. Despite of the clients being key stakeholders in the management of the operational risks, they are required to note on their organisation expectations in creating and preserving value for their assigned roles. According to Yilmaz and Flouris (2010) through this, the line managers would guide the rest of the team in coming up with sustainable strategies and plans to manage any prevailing uncertainty and endless likelihood of prediction of outcomes with a high-level accuracy.

Creating the right culture for the Line managers– As defined in Everson (2002) the operational risks right culture is evidenced by a group of shared attitudes, values, goals and practices characterising the manner in which an organisation prioritises on their risks on a daily operation. Hence, the line managers would always be involved in management of their organisation operation risks which presents a great opportunity for collaboration. In such a culture, the line managers would operate in a high-level clarity with clear communication on the best acceptable behaviour being evident. The line managers would ensure that they are managing detailed engagements on the scope of internal control of the operation risks for the key stakeholders effective management. Eventually, they would collaborate with the rest of the team in encouraging learning and mitigation of any organisation error in a successful manner.

Clarifying responsibilities and rules– An awareness must be created among the line managers to understand their diverse charters, protocols, instructions and other key policies and procedural documentation. As a result, the line managers would have to collaborate with the rest of the team in designing appropriate structures and systems with an intention of successfully managing the existing risks. All the gaps would be eliminated, overlapping instances and inconsistence organisation rules management being evaluated. This is supported by Sjödin et al. (2016) report that note that clarifying of all the responsibilities and rules in an organisation, a possibility is created of eliminating any ambiguity and relational coping strategies to the maximum benefit of such an organisation.

Effectiveness of Organisation an Approach to Operational Risks

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