Human
Resource Development – Singapore December 2014
The task - Case Analysis
Drawing from theories and models that inform adult and organisational
learning, analyse the case below and make recommendations for action.
You may identify a number of issues or concerns in the case. In framing your response to the case it is
recommended that you concentrate your efforts on the most critical. It is important that you explicitly establish
a link between the critical issue and the relevant literature.
Academic references: You will
need to demonstrate that you have a good understanding of the relevant academic
literature. While an exact number of
academic literature cannot be given, it is expected that you will use between
five and eight academic references.
Words: 2,500
Due: 21 March 2014.
Human Resource Development
Scenario
Akaline
Inc is a Singaporean based petrochemical company. It produces approximately one million tonnes
of ethylene per year. The Singapore
plant has an enviable safety record and in the last financial year it recorded
the following incidents:
1.
Fatalities:
0
2.
Permanent
injury: 1
3.
Lost
time or restricted capacity to work: 10
4.
Minor
First Aid: 21
Five
years ago Akaline Inc formed a joint venture with a Vietnamese company to build
and operate a petrochemical plant in Vietnam.
Akaline brings to the joint venture international expertise in
operations and plant systems.
The
plant was completed approximately eighteen months ago and after an initial
period scaling-up it is supposed to be operating a full capacity. While the plant was under construction the
Human Resources department was busy recruiting local engineers, operational
staff and maintenance personnel. The Human
Resource Development team of which you are a member, devised a comprehensive
training program for all staff that had been recruited for the new Vietnam
plant. The training included
occupational, health and safety, standard operating procedures,
plant/maintenance operation and where appropriate team leadership. All the new operators and the majority of the
new maintenance recruits spent between three and six months at Akaline’s
Singapore training facility.
While
the Vietnam plant performed according to expectation during the six month
scale-up period it has struggled to reach its production targets in the ensuing
12 months. Management based in Singapore
have struggled to understand this. One
reason could be that during the scale-up stage experienced engineers and
managers from Singapore were ‘on-hand’ to assist. Another possibility is that the targets that
were set by Singaporean operational management were too ambitious. However operational management were under
pressure from executive management to establish those targets given the need to
meet the financial targets and satisfy the banks that had provided capital for
the Vietnam plant.
It
is already apparent that safety is a cause for concern. Two weeks ago one of the plant’s maintenance
staff was killed when he entered a chamber and was overcome with ammonia. Four other staff was also injured and
required hospitalisation. This was the
latest in a series of incidents. An
initial investigation revealed that the Standard Operating Procedures that were
based on the Procedures used in Singapore were not being implemented in the
manner intended. The SOPs covered both
operations and maintenance. The maintenance
area in particular would appear to require urgent attention.
Senior
management in Singapore have decided that urgent action needs to be taken. As a
senior HRD practitioner you have been given the task to develop a HRD intervention.
Assessment
criteria and their indicative weighting are:
- Analysis of the case – identify critical
aspects of the case (6)
- Critical review of appropriate HRD models,
concepts or theories (12)
- Evaluation and recommendations (14)
- Clarity of writing (6)
- Appropriate acknowledgement of sources (4)
- Overall coherency and quality (8)
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