Question

Human resource management activities like recruiting, selecting, training, and rewarding employees is not just a job for a centralized HR group for an organization, but is rather a concern for every manager and something they all should engage in. This is especially critical for small businesses where there is usually no specified HR staff to reply upon. The success of the entrepreneur is often dependent upon their effectiveness in recruiting, hiring, training, evaluating, and rewarding. Each week you will be given a case study to complete based upon a single company. The company is Laurel Laundry and is co-owned and managed by Erica Laurel.  

Laurel Laundry Services

Erica Laurel graduated from college in January, and, after considering several jobs and job offers, decided to do what she always planned to do - go into business with her father, Jack Laurel.

Jack Laurel opened his first coin laundromat in 1999 and his second in 2002. The main attraction of these coin laundry businesses for him was that they were capital - rather than labor intensive. Thus, once the investment in machinery was made, the stores could be run with just a single unskilled attendant and none of the labor problems one normally expects from being in the retail service business.

The attractiveness of operating with virtually no skilled labor notwithstanding, Jack had decided about 5 years ago to expand the services in each of his stores to include the dry cleaning and pressing of clothes. He embarked, in other words, on a strategy of "related diversification" by adding new services that were related to and consistent with his existing coin laundry activities. He added these for several reasons: he wanted to better utilize the unused space in the rather large stores he currently had under lease, he was tired of passing along profits to a dry cleaner 5 miles away. To reflect the newly expanded line of services, he renamed each of his stores Laurel Laundry Services and was sufficiently satisfied with their performance to open four more of the same type of stores over the next 4 years. Each store had its own on-site manager and, on average, about seven employees with annual revenues of about $500,000. It was this six-store chain that Erica joined after graduating.

Her understanding with her father was that she would serve as a troubleshooter/consultant to the elder Laurel with the aim of both learning the business and bringing it modern management concepts and techniques for solving the business's problems and facilitating its growth.

She is asking for your help. Acting as a consultant for Erica, prepare a report on the following:

1. List and describe several (at least 4) human resource management issues Laurel Laundry might encounter, either now or in the future?
2. Which of those concerns would you look to take on first and why?

Be sure to provide actionable suggestions to Erica while keeping in mind the costs associated with any suggestion made.

Answer 1

Some human resource management issues that Laurel Laundry might encounter are:

1. Compliance Management - Rules and regulations with regard to you working of people in a specific environment, number of people working for organization and other relevant rules for organization to employ people keep changing from time to time. Every organization must ensure what category of organization they fit in as per the definition of organization define by legal authorities. Whatever relevant rules with regard to employment, leaves, statutory benefits like provident fund and other mandatory compliances like medical insurance need to be done and renewed from time to time should be known to Laura laundry and updated so as to avoid any kind of legal hassles.

2. Work Management (Productivity, Expectations, Feedback) - Clear and direct instructions with regard to two specific roles of employees should be conveyed by the management along with the charter of discipline that must be observed with regard to safety and operational requirements like hygiene management etc in the work area. The employee should be aware of the kind of work culture and discipline that is expected of them and at the same time should be able to raise their concerns through a proper feedback mechanism up to the management with regards to any issues that may come during their operation or otherwise.

3. Workforces Retention - The skilled manpower is always an asset to every organization and Lauryl Laundry is no different. Other than the individual skill of managing the given role another important aspect is the trust development that happens as a result organization and employees partnering each other for a long period of time. It is therefore important that any human resource manager gives regard to workforce retention and takes into account every reason that may lead to attrition of manpower right from competition offering better wages, individual needs of employees, compensation and benefits, general atmosphere in the working area and relationships between team members. The human resource manager must ensure that there is is a positive outlook in all these criterion to ensure that there is sufficient reason for workforce retention.

4. Health, Safety and Benefits - the health safety and benefits for employees working at Laurel laundry is also and other important issue on which the human resource manager must not only work proactively but also keep previewing it from time to time to ensure its coherence with regulatory compliance is with regards to health and safety of employees as well as due benefits in terms of compensation leaves and medical insurance extra along with gifts and bonuses that would keep employees and carried to work with the organization and feel respected and associated with the organization as a valued member.


Of the above issues work (operations) management it is the central issue. While other issues are no less relevant and every organization willing to operate successfully must ensure that these are given due attention and any issues pertaining to them are resolved at the earliest the operations management forms the backbone of any organization. The quality of output is what essentially decides whether all the customers will be satisfied or dissatisfied and consequently whether the organization will survive or perish specially in face of competition. therefore very clear well laid out standard operating procedures must be handed to employees and everybody should be given clear communications with regard to their duties the expected discipline on shop floor as well as other behavioural aspects of communication within the team. Additionally employees also must be able to raise concerns and give feedback so as to improve upon operational excellence in the organization. This will also help the organization in making employees feel valued contributors to the growth of the organization.

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