FACULTY OF BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT SCIENCES BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT NQF LEVEL 7: 10 CREDITS WORK INTEGRATED LEARNING CASE STUDY STUDENT NAME : __________________________________________________ STUDENT NO : __________________________________________________ NAME OF CAMPUS : __________________________________________________ Registered with the Department of Education as a Private Higher Education Institution under the Higher Education Act, 1997. Registration Certification No. 2000/HE07/008 1 Work Integrated Learning (WIL) is a credit bearing module in our undergraduate programmes. Students are expected to complete their WIL experience before they can be cleared for graduation. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the national lockdown, our WIL policy has been amended to align with the Council on Higher Education guidelines, as well as cater for the restrictions and regulations associated with the Covid-19 lockdown. As a result of these changes, the following points with regard to WIL will apply: • Students will not be able to go to the workplace, rather this will be simulated by means of a case study. Each programme will have an appropriate and rigorous case study • Students who have outstanding WIL to graduate will complete the WIL (practical case study) and submit to their campus. The campus will mark the student’s work based on the case study and capture the mark after internal moderation • Once WIL is submitted, marked, moderated and captured at campus level, WIL marks will reflect on ICAS • The Certification Department will then be able to process the Certificate. The certificate can only be issued a week after capturing of WIL marks on ICAS. The above guidelines will apply until a memo on WIL is re-issued following a positive change in the Pandemic and changes in lock down stages that may allow WIL to be undertaken at the workplace. 2 The purpose of this case study is to: • • • • Assess student comprehensive knowledge prior to graduation, to ensure that each student is aware of the real world of works expectations and activities involved in their chosen discipline Assess programme outcomes. Facilitate students’ acquisition of a deeper knowledge and understanding of their chosen discipline. Enhance links with professions, business and public sector organisations in their area of study and enhance the attractiveness of studying at RGI. Allow RGI to gain a better profile among graduating students. Objectives of the WIL case study The student needs to achieve the following objectives with regards to this case study: • • • • • • • Communication Application of theory Integration of information technology Improving own learning & Performance Problem Solving Career Development Information Skills Instructions and guidelines for answering a case study • The length of the entire assignment must have a minimum of 10 pages. Typed with font size 11 Calibri. 1.5 spacing • • The quality of work submitted is more important than the number of assigned pages. Copying is a serious offence which attracts a severe penalty and must be avoided at all costs. If any student transgresses the institution Plagiarism policy, that student will be subjected to the penalty as per the institution Plagiarism policy. • While attempting the Assignments students are advised to comply with the plagiarism guidelines provided to you before the commencement of the academic work for the semester. Any deviation from the guidelines would attract undue penalty. • • Harvard Referencing to be adhered to at all times while attempting the assignments. The above provided Rubric is applicable only for theory modules and the Modules which are quantitative in nature will have different Rubric which will provided separately along with the respective assignment questions. 3 THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT IN A LARGE CONTACT CENTRE ENVIRONMENT IN KWAZULU-NATAL Human resources are the most important asset in any organisation. Human resources are not just about engaging in transactional activities like approving employees' leave but there many functions that the human resource department executes in an organisation. Hence, performance management is as popular in the call centre environment as in any other industry. The South African call centre industry is maturing at the same pace as the rest of the world as companies make important decisions around their outsourcing strategies. South Africa is also becoming the fastest call centre destination of choice for international organisations. The presence of larger brand names that have call centres in South Africa is helping other international organisations take note of South Africa's call centre landscape. The call centre environment is one of Africa's largest providers of technology, media, telecommunication and financial services, and is built around a powerful purpose, that is, to make life better through innovative technology. Call centre environments tend to be labour intensive and have several advantages and disadvantages. THE ADVANTAGES OF A CALL CENTRE INCLUDE: Handling overflow calls: Outsourcing some call centre agents to an external service provider in order to handle overflow call volume can be an excellent way to increase customer service and to make sure that no customer is left behind. 4 Ensuring business continuity: Business continuity is ensured by hiring an external service provider to handle calls when the call centre software goes down, in the event of a disaster or emergency and when in-house agents cannot make it into the office, Decreased call abandonment: When contracting overflow calls to an external service provider, long wait times and high caller abandonment rates will be eliminated. THE DISADVANTAGES OF A CALL CENTRE INCLUDE: Misuse of clients' data, by outsourced call centre employees: Young generation, familiar with the use of new communication gadgets are able to make the most use of the services, whereas the older generation are not able avail the benefits. London and Smither (2002) contend that performance Management (PM) is a constant development comprising of identification, measurement, and growth of performance in planned strategies of the organisation. Views on PM have transformed considerably over the last 10 years. Organisations have encouraged the move from mid-year and end of year appraisals to seeing PM as a constant procedure with the execution of distinct, formal performance feedback sessions (Bernardin, Hagan, Kane, & Villanova, 1998). Mpanga (2009) states that by increasing beyond the traditional annual performance review and ensuring constant progression (or preservation of good performance), the stigma that was once associated with the lack of devoting extra time and attention to growing and developing employees is rapidly diminishing. Morea (2011) states that employees are seeking out professional development activities, and when they feel they are missing such opportunities in an organisation, they many decide to leave. Aguinis (2009) contends that the efficiency of a PM platform is reliant on the strength of the proposal and implementation techniques. A structure lacking in appropriateness (of strategy, application, records, or user responsibility) will not only fail to develop employee performance but may essentially hurt the organisation. Deprived system implementation can result in permitted consequences, disagreeable employee observations and behaviours (for example, burnout, job dissatisfaction, turnover) and lost opportunities for improving productivity. Personnel today are progressively likely to follow self-guided occupation routes and not organisationally certain career routes. As commitment to the organisation becomes not much of a determining aspect in whether an employee stays or leaves to work for a competitor, organisations must increase efforts to preserve talent. Operative PM upsurges employee insights of chances and support for progression within the organisations (Ready, Hill, &Conger, 2008). Thus, in addition to providing an inexpensive benefit in market performance, efficiently intended and executed PM systems can offer organisations competitive advantages in terms of attracting and retaining top industry talent. SOURCE: Eshana Mohun 5 Performance Management System Performance culture BEFORE Linked to vision, mission strategic objective of the organisation Performance agreement Rating/appraisal DURING Personal development plan Feedback AFTER Top management (Commitment, communication Performance management effectiveness Rewards/ recognition/ promotion/performance related pay SOURCE: Eshana Mohun QUESTION 1 After you have read the case study and analysed the provided diagram. Critically examine underlying factors that have a major influence in performance management, before, during and after the performance management process. (50) QUESTION 2 Assuming you were appointed as an HR practitioner in a telecommunication industry. Design a strategic integrated performance management system that can be practically applied in any telecommunication industry. (50) 6
