Give suggestions to the management on how to conduct human resource planning to meet the decreasing needs of their business in coming two years.

This is the final Take-home Assessment. Instructions to Candidates: 1. Answer all the questions in Section A. 2. Answer any TWO out of three questions from Section B. 3. Total marks for this Assessment are 100. 4. Answer succinctly using narrative, diagrams and lists, if appropriate. 2 Section A. Case Study – Answer ALL Questions relating to the Case Study J & M Group is a multinational corporation being engaged in manufacturing and supplying health care and daily-use consumable products. It was established thirty years ago. Now it has a total of about 5,000 employees in various regions worldwide. Its brands are quite famous in the world, covering family care, baby care, feminine care and other personal care products for skin care, hair care and oral protection, etc. In the past years, the company performed well and developed strong networks to most of the developed economies in various continents. Yet there are several large corporations which have a longer history in the industry and three of the competitors have got larger market shares in the world when compared with J & M. J & M intends to expand to increase the varieties of product lines and explore new markets in other developing countries in Eastern Europe and Southeastern Asia. One strategy is to develop new types of health-care products to meet the rising needs of customers in different regions. They rely on the sales and marketing people to understand and give feedback on customers’ preferences in various markets. In addition, those scientific officers in the research and development department are vital to develop appropriate new health-care products in a fast pace to meet the dynamic changes in the market. They consider the needs of people in different cultures or regions and what kinds of natural ingredients to be used in the products. Also, environmental protection is another factor because many customers consider choose commodities made of environmental-friendly raw materials. To serve the functions of the storage and distribution of large variety products to different parts of the world, the company had established computerized information systems in product lines, various types of large customers, inventory controls, distribution networks, etc. Last year, they upgraded further the information system with the advanced technology of artificial intelligence (AI). The top management was satisfied with such new AI system as it could greatly increase the efficiency of the company’s product development and logistics functions. However, the company faced the problem of low employee engagement as reflected by the employee satisfaction surveys being conducted in recent two years. Surveys showed that among the others, scientific officers, logistics assistants and experienced sales representative were those who had the lowest satisfaction and engagement rankings in the company. Some staff reflected that they had very high work pressure as their job nature changed rapidly to meet the rising number of new products and wider distribution networks in various parts of the world. Many experienced sales representatives had to travel frequently to develop new markets in some developing countries but the company’s supports were not sufficient. Another problem was that some staff reflected their supervisors giving unfair appraisal rankings to them because supervisors always changed the job demands and performance targets to meet the needs of the rapid development of new products and new markets. With job dissatisfaction due to various sources, many employees quitted the jobs to join other 3 firms. Those competitors would like to hire J & M’s experienced staff and gave better employment terms and conditions. Thus, there are always insufficient manpower to fill the vacancies and the workload and pressure become more serious in those key departments. Many meetings were held among the senior managers including the human resource manager to tackle the problems including employee engagement, performance management, and the need to recruit large number of new employees. They also consider use the new technologies like advanced information system and AI to support human resource management. Questions relating to the Case Study (Section A, 54 marks) Answer all the TWO questions relating to the Case. Provide examples or case information to support. You should use complete sentences mainly. Students need to cite and give references if you quote or reproduce sentences or phrases from any sources of published materials. Question 1 Make suggestions to the J & M’s management on how to improve employee engagement in those staff who have lower job satisfaction in the company. (The maximum length of answer for this question is 300 words.) (13 marks) Question 2 If you were invited as a consultant for J & M Group. Explain and suggest the key uses or practices to the J & M’s management on using artificial intelligence (AI) in following HRM functions to tackle various human resource problems mentioned in the Case. 2(a). Recruitment and attraction of applicants for various job vacancies. (The maximum length of answer for this question is 200 words.) (10 marks) 2(b). Selection and screening of job candidates. (The maximum length of answer for this question is 300 words.) (13 marks) 2(c).Performance management of current employees. (The maximum length of answer for this question is 200 words.) (8 marks) 2(d). The outcomes or issues that the company need to consider in using AI in HRM. (The maximum length of answer for this question is 200 words.) (10 marks) (Go to Section B in next page) 4 Section B. Essay Questions–Answer any TWO questions in this section. (46 marks) You may make appropriate assumptions and examples to support and illustrate your arguments. Use complete sentences mainly to answer these questions. Students need to cite and give references if you quote or reproduce sentences or phrases from any sources of published materials. Question 3 HKDPC is a new, private post-secondary college aiming to become a private university later. Now, it has a total of about six hundred staff including about five hundred teaching staff and a hundred administrative staff. Its current employee compensation plan has not been wellestablished yet. Suppose you are appointed as the college’s new human resource manager. 3(a). Describe in detail how you would formulate a more systematic and competitive pay plan for the college. (14 marks) 3(b). Give suggestions to the management on further revising the benefits plans for various staff of the college. (9 marks) (The maximum length of your answer for this question is 400 words.) (23 marks) Question 4 A large Hong Kong food manufacturing company found that many frontline workers and line leaders had not updated themselves in using new production technologies. Some middle managers lack effective managerial skills. Facing the rapid changes in technologies and customers’ preferences, the company intends to upgrade the training and development plans for employees. Make suggestions on the training and development plans and programs for frontline workers and leaders, as well as for middle managers. (The maximum length of your answer for this question is 400 words.) (23 marks) Question 5 Glady Travel is a large travel agency with bases in Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand. Facing the economic downturn due to Covid-19 pandemic, they need to reformulate their human resource plans. 5(a). Give suggestions to the management on how to conduct human resource planning to meet the decreasing needs of their business in coming two years. (13 marks) 5(b). Provide professional advice to the company if they need to carry out redundancy of workforce. (10 marks) (The maximum length of your answer for this question is 400 words.) (23 marks)