Assessment Brief
Program Bachelor of Business
College
William Blue College of Hospitality Management APM College of Business and Communication
Code and Subject HRM101 Introduction to HR and Leadership
Assessment Case Study - Assessment 2
Group or Individual Individual – (900 words +/- 10%))
Learning Outcomes B,C, E and F
Submission Date Week 11 (Sunday 11:55pm)
Total Marks 100 marks
Weighting 20%
Assessment Brief:
Students are required to complete the questions at the end of the Case Study. Use a Question and Answer format.
Your Assessment should:
1. Be submitted electronically via the Blackboard Portfolio submission link.
2. Be referenced according to APA 6th referencing as per the Academic writing guide.
Changes at Oz Newspapers
The atmosphere in the room was tense. Ted Kimoski, chief financial officer for Oz Newspapers, had just finished his presentation. The general manager, John Campbell, sat quietly making notes. After pausing he broke the silence. ‘From what you have shown us, Ted, it seems that we face the problem of our costs not being competitive. Benchmarked against local best practice, our printing and distribution costs are the highest in the industry, but by rationalising our operations we can save $50million in annual costs. It is clear that our low productivity and high labour costs are killing us. Our newspaper sales and advertising income are both failing rapidly – people simply are not reading newspapers anymore. In short, we must use technology to make our operations more competitive. We have to change and move into the 21st century’’.
Ted looked directly at John. ‘John, that’s it in a nutshell. The Internet is a disruptive technology. We have to get readers to pay for online content. Readers have changed and they are not going to go back to buying newspapers. All our print operations are bleeding badly. Worse, the company’s overall financial position is deteriorating rapidly. If we don’t do something soon, we risk either being taken over or going out of business. Our share price has dropped 60 per cent in the past 12 months and it is now widely rumoured in the market that we are a takeover target.’
John nodded in acknowledgement, and then turned to face Paul Jaworski, editor in chief. ‘Paul what do you think?’
‘Of course, Ted is right – our performance is appalling. Our problems are several. We have to rationalise our printing operations, we have to reduce our headcount and we have to make a massive push to embrace all things digital’.
We have terrible productivity because we don’t have labour flexibility’, interjected May Wong, HR manager. ‘Union restrictions make it impossible to work efficiently. Absenteeism and labour turnover are ridiculously high. Our workers are not motivated. We constantly face fights with the unions over change issues, outsourcing and the use of contractors. Yet, our pay rates and conditions of employment are in the top quartile for the industry’.
‘What’s more’, snapped Ted, ‘our people have a history of resisting change and management authority. We need to consolidate all printing at one site which will mean closing our plants in South Australia and NSW. The unions will resist the loss of 500 jobs. We are at the breaking point. The government’s FWA legislation is really encouraging the unions to flex their muscles. These IR changes could not have come at a worse time for us.’
‘Well, you can understand that’, said May. “Their jobs are so specialised they will find it difficult to get similar high paying jobs elsewhere.’
’Well, the world is changing and they have to change too – if not they are going to be road kill like the rest of us’, snapped Ted.
‘Nevertheless, our employees and especially the unionised ones are not going to accept such decisions without a fight’, added May.
‘Well, if they haven’t noticed, newspaper publishing is a shrinking industry. Our shareholders are demanding action. They have to realise change is unavoidable. Technological and social changes are like a tsunami washing over this industry’, John concluded.
Source: Stone, R (2014) Human Resource Management, 8th ed, John Wiley and Sons, Milton, QLD.
Questions:
When responding to the questions below please consider the theory / key concepts that have been covered during your studies so far. Be sure to integrate the key concepts into your responses using academically reliable sources. Your responses should demonstrate further reading / research on the key topics.
1. Identify the key stakeholders and their likely reactions to the situation at Oz Newspapers.
2. What are the HR issues raised in this case? Explain how you would deal with them, supporting your assertions with research.
3. What are the key environment factors at play in this case? Explain how these environmental factors impact HR practice at Oz Newspapers.
4. Describe the role that the HR manager will need to take to support the company’s plan.

Marking Criteria
• Use of theoretical knowledge to support responses where appropriate
• Theory is supported with appropriate references that are cited correctly both in-text and in the reference list.
Note: The completed Submission will be graded using the following rubric
Theory used is accurately explained and applied to support answers /40
33-40 25-32 17-24 9-16 1-8 0
All responses to questions are supported with relevant theoretical knowledge that is explained correctly and integrated seamlessly into the answer to the question. All responses to question are supported with relevant theoretical knowledge that is explained correctly BUT not integrated well into the answer Majority of responses to questions are supported with relevant theoretical knowledge. Explanation of theory has minor errors or clarity issues, but integrated well in the answer Majority of responses to questions are supported with relevant theoretical knowledge that is explained with minor clarity issues and not integrated into the answer Majority of responses are NOT supported with relevant theoretical
knowledge OR
majority of theory used is explained incorrectly. No response to questions is supported with theoretical
knowledge OR Responses are supported with theoretical knowledge that is not relevant to the response OR explained incorrectly.
Scholarship /25
20-25 15-19 10-14 5-9 1 - 4 0
All responses provide a direct and accurate answer the
question that is communicated clearly with no grammatical or spelling errors Majority of responses provide a direct and accurate answer to the question that is clearly
communicated with minor grammatical or spelling errors Majority of responses provide a direct and accurate answer to the question but the communication lacks clarity OR has major grammatical or spelling errors Responses have an implied answer to the question asked but do not directly answer the question OR communication is poor with major spelling or grammatical errors Majority of responses do not answer the
question asked AND
communication is unclear with minor spelling and grammatical errors. Majority of responses do not answer the question asked AND are not communicated
clearly with major spelling and grammatical errors
Conclusions /25
20-25 15-19 10-14 5-9 1 - 4 0
All responses provide a direct and accurate answer the
question that is communicated clearly with no grammatical or spelling errors Majority of responses provide a direct and accurate answer to the question that is clearly
communicated with minor grammatical or spelling errors Majority of responses provide a direct and accurate answer to the question but the communication lacks clarity OR has major grammatical or spelling errors Responses have an implied answer to the question asked but do not directly answer the question OR communication is poor with major spelling or grammatical errors Majority of responses do not answer the
question asked AND
communication is unclear with minor spelling and grammatical errors. Majority of responses do not answer the question asked AND are not communicated
clearly with major spelling and grammatical errors
Appropriate references that are cited correctly /10
10 8 6 4 2 0
Both in-text and reference list citations are used perfectly according to the Think: Education standards In-text and reference list citations used accurately but have minor errors according to the Think: Education Standards. Referencing style used is used correctly but is not the referencing style required according to the Think: Education
Standard
In-text and reference list citations are present but do not follow a particular referencing framework Either in-text or reference list citations are not used. No in-text or reference list citations used.
Total mark / 100