The Values Statement Of Medine Limited

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Introduction

In today’s working environment, employees are considered as major assets and it is crucial that they are well managed within the company. The Human Resource Department, in quest of upholding a sound working environment as well as meeting the organizational goals, has a vital responsibility in devising and implementing HR strategies and policies. A purposeful objective of the HR department is to recruit, develop and retain its motivated and committed workforce. This leads to the crux of this project which is based on four major HR activities that are in place at Medine Limited (Agriculture Cluster) namely:

Recruitment and Selection (R&S),

Training and Development (T&D),

Performance Management (PM); and

Reward Management.

The above functions need to be handled efficiently and effectively so as to ensure the overall high performance of the HR department as a service provider. This project elaborates on the applicability, suitability and pertinence of the Quality Management System (QMS) as an aid to improve Human Resource practices.

This assignment consists of making an assessment of the current HR structure, management style and work methods and to subsequently determine whether the QMS is the right tool to boost the HR department. Focus will be on five of the eight generic principles of Quality Management and three clauses of the norms of ISO 9001:2008.

Table 1.1 Chosen generic principles

Table 1.2 Clauses of the ISO 9001:2008 norms

It is expected that the application of the above mentioned principles would lead the way:

Firstly to the arousal of awareness amongst all stakeholders about potential benefits of quality philosophies;

Secondly securing a general acceptance of the proposed organizational change that QMS would call for;

Thirdly through participative management encouraging collaboration at all levels; and

Fourthly devising appropriate implementation plans and finally effecting an evaluation of the impact of QMS upon HR service delivery.

1.2 Company Background

1.2.1 History

Medine Limited is a sugar estate organization founded in 1911 by Mr. Raoul Raffray. Medine has celebrated its 100 years in 2011, whence the business has grown and diversified itself throughout these years.

Medine Limited started with its core activity being the plantation and production of sugar, even though the factory was not in a good state, they worked and struggled through difficulties. The First World War brought a new turn to Medine; the increase in price of sugar helped the Company to pay off its debts and this situation brought new partners.

In the years 1930, Medine acquired more lands and diversified activities such as aloes and rum from the distillery. Medine extended its activities through the cultivation of vegetables, fruits and plants, landscaping services, breeding of poultry, deer and Tourism.

Mr. Raffray’s forecast that Medine’s factory would be prosperous, turned out to be real since the factory now forms part of the four factories which are eligible to operate in Mauritius.

1.2.2 Vision and Values Statement

The Vision statement of Medine Limited posits a unique lifestyle provider through an integrated sustainable development of property, leisure, agro- business and services clusters.

The Values statement of Medine Limited depicts the seven core values, as set out below, that they want to inculcate within the culture of the Organization:-

Customer Focus

Innovation and Creativity

Responsibility

Quality

Entrepreneurship

Dedication

Proactivity

1.3 Problem Statement

This project:

assesses the current HR practices at Medine Ltd;

identifies performance and achievement gaps;

determines the suitability of Quality Management Systems’ principles to bridge the possible gaps;

devises action plans; and

aims at gaining participation and commitment of all parties concerned to put in place the required quality instruments.

As this quality management project’ involves a change management process, it is most likely that it will meet with resistance from the part of employees and their respective Trade Unions, hence leading to industrial unrest that could adversely affect the image and smooth running of the company.

The QMS framework involves the maintenance of cumbersome work details that could be viewed by the administrative staff as tedious and this may lead to their reluctance to comply and/or to give the best of their capabilities in implementing same.

It goes without saying that the new system will require training of all staff concerned, implying cost and time considerations.

1.4 Aim of the Study

The purpose of this study is to assess the present human resource practices at Medine Ltd and to work out a plan for effective implementation of a Quality Management System with a view to:

improving HR functions;

demonstrating that quality management philosophies and practices can bring positive and effective outcome by eliminating and/or preventing inconsistencies arising from existing practices; and

showing that this can help the department to end up into deploying best practices.

So, within this new era of fierce competition, companies cannot rest into satisfaction through indolence. They should therefore always aim at better and undertake continuous improvement not only to gain competitive edge, but also to cater for the changing needs of customers, both internal and external.

1.5 Research Objectives

To evaluate the actual HR practices focusing on Recruitment and Selection, Training and Development, Performance Management and Reward Management at Medine Ltd.

To analyze the suitability and worth of a Quality Management System upon the HR activities.

To estimate the possible benefits to be derived from the adoption of such quality instrument.

To make appropriate recommendations to Medine Ltd.

1.6 Research Questions:

Are the human resource practices well harmonized and standardized at Medine limited?

To what extent are employees satisfied with the way R&S, T&D and PM& Reward are conducted within Medine Ltd?

What is the feeling of the employees about the introduction of quality management systems in the HR functions?

What is the likelihood that the adoption of QMS upon HR practices could increase effectiveness?

What is the level and degree of acceptance of the employees towards the introduction of new management processes and practices?

1.7 Rational of Study

Undertaking this research will have its importance in the enhancement of human resource management practices deployed at Medine Limited. Using a Quality Management System as a tool in the coordination of human resource activities is expected to result in some advantages. These would include increasing the level of satisfaction of managers and employees, work expediency, efficiency and effectiveness to prevail.

Adding a Quality management touch to the actual process will most likely bring a positive end result to the activities. The QMS would help to identify all steps which both employees and workers have to undertake within the four main human resource management areas which will be delved into in this research. The QMS would bring an added value to the processes by helping to stick to a specific or even systematic way of working so as to prevent any misunderstanding or delaying of work, or wastage to disrupt the work flow.

It is worth highlighting that being quality conscious would have a positive bearing upon the behavioural approaches and performance ratings at managerial, supervisory and operational levels. It needs also to be pointed out that Quality is the 4th determinant that Medine limited aims at introducing within its Organization generally, as mentioned on its website, emphasizing the importance of performance that would in turn raise the trust that customers place in them. With this perspective in view, maximum efforts are deployed to create excellence in their business strategies and they "strive for continuous improvement and respond vigorously to change". (http://www.medine.com)

1.8 Structure of the dissertation

Title

Acknowledgement

Abstract

List of Tables

List of Figures

List of Abbreviations

Figure 1.1 Different dissertation chapters