GHRM5113 Strategic Human Resource Management Mid Term Assignment 2026

GHRM5113 Mid Term Assignment

Case Study: FairWork Solutions Sdn. Bhd.

FairWork Solutions Sdn. Bhd. is a Malaysian business services company with approximately 450 employees working at its headquarters in Kuala Lumpur and regional offices in Johor and Penang. The company employs individuals from different age groups, educational backgrounds, ethnicities, and levels of work experience. Due to rapid business expansion, management recently introduced an integrated digital human resource system to manage attendance, performance, compensation, promotion, recruitment, and workforce information. The system is intended to improve efficiency and support faster decision-making. However, employees have raised concerns about whether the system is fair, transparent, and inclusive, particularly because it was introduced with limited consultation and minimal explanation.

The new HR system evaluates employees mainly through attendance, punctuality, monthly output, overtime hours, customer feedback, and achievement of performance targets. Employees from the customer service department argue that the system does not consider the complexity of certain cases, teamwork, mentoring, creativity, or problem-solving. Remote employees also believe that they receive lower ratings because their contributions are less visible to supervisors. In addition, some employees claim that managers give higher ratings to staff with whom they have closer working relationships. These concerns have created doubts about whether the performance management system treats all employees fairly and whether the HR metrics provide a balanced assessment of employee contribution.

Concerns have also been raised about compensation, recruitment, and selection practices. Employees performing similar duties sometimes receive different salaries, allowances, and bonuses because management considers qualifications, experience, previous salary, and negotiation skills. Longserving employees believe that newly recruited staff sometimes receive better compensation despite having similar responsibilities. The recruitment system also automatically screens applications based on qualifications, years of experience, and selected keywords. Although this process saves time, some qualified applicants may be excluded because they do not use the exact keywords required. Employees are concerned that older applicants, individuals with career gaps, persons with disabilities, and candidates from non-traditional educational backgrounds may be unfairly disadvantaged.

Many employees are resisting the new HR system because they do not understand how their information is collected, evaluated, or used in decisions involving promotion, salary, and job security. Some employees are also worried about privacy, excessive monitoring, and inaccurate data. Senior management has therefore instructed the Human Resource Department to review the system and recommend improvements. The department must respond to employee concerns, improve participation and communication, and ensure that HR practices promote fairness, equality, transparency, and inclusion. At the same time, the company expects the system to remain efficient and support its future growth.

Answer ALL questions below

Question 1

Discuss the fairness and inclusion concerns arising from the HR metrics and performance-rating practices. Suggest how HR should respond.

(5 Marks)

Question 2

Discuss the equality and transparency concerns in the compensation system. Explain an appropriate organisational response.

(5 Marks)

Question 3

Discuss how automated screening and recruiter preferences may disadvantage certain applicant groups. Suggest inclusive responses.

(5 Marks)

Question 4

Discuss why employees are resisting the system and how management should respond through communication, participation, and engagement.

(5 Marks)

*** End of Questions ***