At its inaugural meeting, the newly appointed Board of Directors for JERFAI PLC directed Management to engage a consultant to provide consultancy services for organization review and job evaluation exercise. The directive was against the backdrop that the Board of Directors of JERFAI PLC had just adopted a decline strategy owing to the stiff industry competition, resulting in reduced profit margins. Additionally, the labour costs as a percentage of the total revenue was very high. Furthermore, some board members stated that there was need for JERFAI PLC Management to leverage on technology in order to contain the escalating payroll costs. Some of the recommendations emanating from the organization review and job evaluation exercise included the following: (a)In order to save costs, the Department of Human Resource should be disestablished (abolished) as HR risks did not pose major threats to the business; (b)HR services should be outsourced since they were not critical compared to other functions such as finance and marketing functions; and (c)Since the Department of Human Resource will be disestablished, the position of HR Officer be introduced and that the jobholder should report to the Director, Finance for purposes of coordinating the out sourced HR functions. Given that the Department of Human Resource will be the most affected by these recommendations, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) has requested you as Director, HR to prepare a position paper for presentation at the next board meeting, justifying why the Department of Human Resource should not be disestablished as it was equally a strategic function, just like finance functions. The CEO emphasized that the position paper should clearly outline the following: the significance and benefits of maintaining a dedicated Department to oversee HR functions; and how the HR Strategy is linked to JERFAI’s Strategic Plan. Required: (a)As guided by your CEO above, prepare a position paper, outlining clearly with practical examples the following: the significance and benefits of maintaining a dedicated HR Department at JERFAI PLC; and how the HR Strategy is linked to JERFAI’s Strategic Plan; (b)Develop and recommend a fitforpurpose, with justification, JERFAI’s organisational structure, depicting clearly all the major HR functions under the Department of Human Resource; (c)Using your job analysis knowledge and skills, prepare a comprehensive job description, including job specifications for the position of Director, Human Resource at JERFAI.
