Design Management Audit & Employee Engagement Plan Case Study Sample

Design Management Audit & Employee Engagement Plan

Management – Case Study

Case Scenario:

• Sarah is the vice president of HR at ‘AccountingFast’, a midsize financial services  company.

• AccountingFast is facing a major problem with employees’ satisfaction, engagement, and retention.

• Sarah has hired you as their HR consultant to urgently tackle this major problem.

• Sarah wants you as their HR consultant to create and roll out a management audit that will help her uncover the reasons behind the high employees’ turnover and then based on the management audit results, help her put new employees’ engagement programs and policies in place.

o Here is the information Sarah gave you in your first meeting with her:

▪ “Nearly 100 employees had given the notice to leave the company in recent weeks.”

▪ “Our turnover rate is up to 35%.”

▪ “We are growing — in revenue, profitability, and reputation, I just don’t understand why people are leaving us fast,”.

▪ “I need to present these numbers to Mr. Richard Leo (CEO) at the end of the week, and can’t do that without a theory on what’s happening and a solution to propose. That’s why I
called this meeting,”.

▪ “This is even surprising given that our work culture is our biggest selling point.”

Assignment Instructions:

• You can make any appropriate assumptions about the management audit results that will help you complete your research and assignment.

• This assignment is to be done individually. Carefully read the scenario below and write a 1,800-2,000 -word research report In MS Word, double spaced, 12-point font, APA standards.

• Your case analysis must include a minimum of 10 external academic resources.

Assignment Questions:

Part A:

Your task is to carefully design the management audit questionnaire in the light of theories/concepts/Canadian Laws discussed in the class.

• Explain the different sections and elements in your management audit design.

• Explain the purpose and relevance of the different management audit questions and how will the questions help you to know the causes of employee turnover/dissatisfaction.

• Explain the reasoning behind your design using academic research, the course concepts, case information, and critical thinking.

• Helpful tips:

o You can include the actual management audit questions in the appendix section, so you don’t run out of word count.

o Create your own questions from scratch. Copied questions from the internet and other sources will be marked down.

PART B:

• Based on areas of improvement identified through the management audit in part A, design and create an employee engagement/satisfaction plan for AccountingFast that will help them reduce employee turnover and increase employee engagement.

• Explain the reasoning behind your suggested plan using academic research, the course concepts, case facts and critical thinking

Solution

Introduction 

Accounting fast is a midsize company that provides financial services to other companies. It is growing substantially at a high speed; it is generating great revenues also. It is a profitable company. It is planning to open more branches across the country. According to the MBA Assignment experts overview, In spite of these positive sides of the company, it has a very high employee turnover rate of over 35 percent. To mitigate these problems, Sarah, who is the vice president of the human resource department at the company hires a HR consultant. HR consultants will create a management audit. The results of this audit will help Sarah to present a report to the C.E.O of the company incorporating reasons for the issues and the solutions to resolve those. 

Part A

Management Audit 

Accountingfast needs to conduct internal as well as external audits for generating greater insight into the organisation. As stated in the Canadian accounting standards 200,210, 220 this audits are very time-consuming and cumbersome but are very helpful in understanding the internal problems of the organisation. The company can identify the critical problems which are restricting the company from long-standing sustainability (Tsourvakas & Yfantidou, 2018). There are mainly 6 segments in a management audit. These are as follows: 

Planning 

To create a proper management audit pan, internal auditors at first need to set the objectives. After that, a timeframe is to be established (Lennox, Wang, & Wu, 2018).  Then, the auditor needs to schedule meetings with the human resource management of the organisation. Then, they ask for documentation about the problems.

Document review 

According to the CAS 265 for communicating the deficiencies in the internal control system of those incharge of the governance system, the auditors thoroughly examine all the review policies, established controls and procedures (Wahyuandari, 2019). The main thing factors here are the auditors see how the employees get rewarded after doing an excellent job. Then they see on what basis the organisation gives promotions to its employees.  

Field work

In this stage, the management auditors do all the physical jobs. They come to the organisation to examine whether the policies are aligned with the documentation or not. Then, they interact with the employees directly and listen to the problems they are facing. They organised interviews with employees to know why the employees are not satisfied with the company and why they are not engaging with the company (Sohal et al., 2020). They also check whether all the organisations are able to maintain a friendly environment at the workplace or not. 

Followup 

The CAS 450 involves dealing with any msitatstemte identified in the audit work and the CAS 402 relates to Audit consideration resting to an Entity using a service. Thus the management auditor asks for all the missing documents he/she needs to finish this sudit. The auditors should have the right to access the review reports (Milliman, Gatling and Kim, 2018). If there is a contradiction between the employee's answer and management’s justification, then the auditor requests further clarification on that. He/she needs to eliminate all the confusion before submitting the audit to the higher authority of the company. 

Reporting 

In this stage, the auditor reviews the information presented to him/her both from the management side and employee side properly (Iriyadi, 2019). According to the CAS 500 audit evidence needs to be submitted and a kind of draft report will be issued by the auditor. It includes the final outcome of the audit. This report critically evaluates the strength of the organisation's programs. It also incorporates finded weaknesses of the company. Finally, the report gives recommendations to correct the action plans.

Tracking The Issue

The company does not implement any strategy for employee retention while hiring a group of employees. Additionally, as the company's main focus is on earning more money and enhancing brand image, it often does not care about the relationships between its employees. Absence of onboarding culture (Píchová & Raušer, 2018). Employees mainly leave acoountingfast because they do not think that staying in the company will advance his/her career. The work culture of the organization is not diverse, it does not value the opinions of the junior employees. Moreover, the organization is not mobile at all. Without having any chances for growth, employees are leaving the company in search of expanding their knowledge, expertise, and strength.

Another important issue is the salary. The employees are paid less than the employees working in other companies doing the same job The employees are also exhausted with a bust time schedule. So, improper work-life balance is a major issue. 

Moreover, the company does not have a compassionate leadership practice. Which is mainly contributing to this high employee turnover rate. Discrimination in the company between male and female employees (Píchová & Raušer, 2018). Often, male employees get preference during promotion or remuneration over women employees. Lack of proper policies which secure the rights of employees including anti-harassment law. 

Part B 

Identified Employee Engagement Plan 

Implementation of Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory 
By implementing this theory, an organisation can effectively identify its employees' needs for satisfaction. This suggests the needs of the workers should be met in an orderly manner. For increasing productivity in the team, the organisation needs to assure that all its employees get a hundred percent motivated to do the job more efficiently. A better work environment can be fostered by this. Due to the ongoing pandemic, most of the company’s employees are working remotely from their homes (Tsourvakas and Yfantidou 2018). So, Accoutingfast, should make sure that all its employees are mentally fit. Maslow’s hierarchy can be applied to make strategies for this. Furthermore, the employers should feel that their future is totally safe in the company. Sometimes, a regular salary does not give me the feeling of security. As a result, the company should mitigate this problem by giving a full job contract. 
Implementation of Herzberg's two-factor theory 

This theory is best suitable for creating a sense of self-satisfaction amongst the employees. The company needs to recognize the employees who have done tremendous hard work for the benefit of the company. Thus, the employee will feel accomplished as well as appreciated. This will also encourage the employees to continue the hard work and reinforce better performance. The authority should present a precise plan on how the employee will progress within their position in the organization. Thus, it will give a boost to employee productivity.  To maintain a healthy work environment, there should be zero tolerance for anyone who acts inappropriately or disruptively (Siddiqui, 2019).  To improve working conditions, the company should clarify the pay scale, employment contract, and working hours and stick to that. Moreover, an employee's status has to be maintained within the organization. To implement this model. All the factors which are causing dissatisfaction among the employees should be eliminated. Management should check all complaints of the team member whtete they are appropriate or not (Hassan, Zailani & Hasan, 2019). Team members should be allowed for opportunities that assist the team reskill themselves. 

Application of Employee Engagement Theory 

This theory supports and inspires employees. Thus, employee outputs have increased by many folds. The organization needs to give more priority on making its employees loyal to the company. It will result in less absenteeism. The most famous employee engagement theory is “William Kahn”’s engagement theory. It harnesses the organization's members. As a result, employees can express themselves cognitively as well as emotionally in the workplace. It provides the basic roots of team building. The management should be concern about employees, make social ties with employees (Siddiqui, 2019). Thus, employees' motivation can be greatly enhanced. Moreover, the company can increase meaningfulness in its products. When an employee thinks that he/she is contributing to society through the company's products or services, they can work with more dedication.  Thus, they will feel the work is reasonable. Employees should be given tasks according to their capacity. 

Moreover, AccountingFast should give more work-life balance to its employees. They should provide more vacations, leaves to the employees in which they can spend time with their family and friends. Thus, they will be mentally more relaxed. With a fresh mind, they can think more creatively. This will act as a competitive advantage for the coolant over its competitors. This increases job satisfaction as well as productivity which in turn reduces employee turnover rate. 

Based on the Canadian Human Right Act law, the organisation should focus on creating a workplace where every employee feels engaged, fulfilled and happier. The senior, junior and highest paid employee all should be the same enthusiasts for the betterment of the organization (Bušatlić et al. 2018). By applying this theory, accountisgfast will be clear about different segments of the organization and the trend of changing motivation over time. Thus, it will be successful to identify the factors which are demotivating its employees. 

Application of Ulrich Model 

This model suggests that the organization should implement a unified structure. Thus, clear distinctions will be defined for the management. Thus, the company can analyse whether it has performed as per metrics or not. The organization gains a strong benchmark from this which is very helpful in operating business. This model is very effective in maintaining the management functions seamlessly (Hassan, Zailani, and Hasan, 2019). By properly understanding this model, the organization can balance transactions more efficiently with customer expectations. Moreover, it clearly defines the role of management in the company which leaves no scope for any confusion. 

In the past, HR only did the administrative side. But, in today's world a successful organization's HR needs to focus both on the administrative and strategic side. The Ulrich Model effectively helps in this case. It is essential to recognize and constructively appreciate an employee's work. This model makes HR smor competent. As a result, HRs will be able to add more value to a company's business.  Management needs to serve talent beyond customer experience and productivity. The model teaches the management how to embrace competence, contribution as well as commitment (Abraham et al. 2021). The model incorporates morphology, capability, ecosystem capability, and alignment within the organization's culture. In accordance with the Employment equity act, embracing a type of mixed culture, it draws a thin line between transactional work and strategic work. Aligning innovative and improved strategies management will be capable of integrating all the strategies. Now in this technologically advanced age, the theory helps the management in creating business strategies. Thus, management can become faithful strategic partners. 

Action plan 

Conclusion 

“Accounting Fast” has many issues to resolve to improve its business operations. The company should focus more on the right hiring strategy. It should look forward to hiring the appropriate employees. Because 100 people had left the company in recent weeks, this has caused a huge backlash for the company. As it had lost a valuable part of their team.  The company needs a vast change in its work culture. For this they need to implement different theories and models as mentioned above. These will help the company to reduce employee turnover rate which was the main problem to a great extent. In this way, the organisation can achieve its future business goals without any restriction. 

Reference List

Abraham, J. L. S., & Prasetyo, Y. T. (2021, April). Macroergonomics-asedApproach in Job Satisfaction of Senior High School Teachers in a School in Mindoro Using Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory. In 2021 IEEE 8th International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Applications (ICIEA) (pp. 106-109). IEEE. Retrieved From https://www.researchgate.net/profile/YogiPrasetyo/publication/351907261_MacroergonomicsasedApproach_in_Job_Satisfaction_of_Senior_High_School_Teachers_in_a_School_in_Mindoro_Using_Herzberg's_TwoFactor_Theory/links/60b26199a6fdcc1c66f0a098/Macroergonomics-asedApproach-in-Job-Satisfaction-of-Senior-HighSchool-Teachers-in-a-School-in-Mindoro-Using-Herzbergs-Two-Factor-Theory.pdf  

Bušatlić, S. E. N. A. D., & Mujabašić, A. M. R. A. (2018). Herzberg's twofactor theory of job satisfaction. Comparative study between private and public high school teachers in Canton Sarajevo. International Journal of Business Management & Research, 8 (6), 27-48. Retrieved From https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Senad-Busatlic/publication/329417051_HERZBERG'S_TWOFACTOR_THEORY_OF_JOB_SATISFACTIONCOMPARATIVE_STUDY_BETWEEN_PRIVATE_AND_PUBLIC_HIGH_SCHOOL_TEACHERS_IN_CANTON_SARAJEVO/links/5c07b59892851c6ca1ff61a5/HERZBERGS-TWO-FACTOR-THEORY-OF-JOB-SATISFACTION-COMPARATIVE-STUDY-BETWEEN-PRIVATE-AND-PUBLIC-HIGH-SCHOOL-TEACHERS-IN-CANTON-SARAJEVO.pdf 

Hassan, N.A., Zailani, S.H.M. & Hasan, H.A., (2019). Integrated internal audit in management system: A comparative study of manufacturing firms in Malaysia. The TQM Journal. Retrieved From: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Noor-Aishah-Hassan/publication/337302437_Integrated_internal_audit_in_management_system_A_comparative_study_of_manufacturing_firms_in_Malaysia/links/5e3ac2c2a6fdccd965894425/Integrated-internal-audit-in-management-system-A-comparative-study-of-manufacturing-firms-in-Malaysia.pdf

Iriyadi, I. (2019). Prevention of Earnings Management through Audit Committee and Audit Quality in the Award-Winning and Non-Winning Companies. Journal of Accounting Research, Organization and Economics, 2(2), 155-169. Retrieved From: http://e-repository.unsyiah.ac.id/JAROE/article/download/14631/11085 

Lennox, C., Wang, Z. T., & Wu, X. (2018). Earnings management, audit adjustments, and the financing of corporate acquisitions: Evidence from China. Journal of accounting and economics, 65(1), 21-40.Retrieved From:  http://www.ttcenter.ir/ArticleFiles/ENARTICLE/3625.pdf 

Milliman, J., Gatling, A. & Kim, J.S., (2018). The effect of workplace spirituality on hospitality employee engagement, intention to stay, and service delivery. 
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Píchová, R. & Raušer, D., (2018). Principle of using systemic approach to management audit implementation by small and medium-sized enterprises. Scientific papers of the University of Pardubice. Series D, Faculty of Economics and Administration. 44/2018. Retrieved From: https://dk.upce.cz/bitstream/handle/10195/71989/Pichova_Rauser.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=1

Siddiqui, D.A., 2019. Impact of motivation on employees performance in Pakistan. Rida, N. and Siddiqui, DA (2019). Impact of Motivation on Employees Performance in Pakistan. Business Management and Strategy, 10(1), pp.1-22. Retrieved From: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sumra-Shaikh/post/why_use_two_times_ne_objective/attachment/5d5003483843b0b9825ec9e3/AS%3A790682507677696%401565524808888/download/Impact_of_Motivation_on_Employees_Performance_in_P.pdf

Sohal, D., Ragsdell, G., Hislop, D. & Brown, P., (2020), December. Revisiting the knowledge management audit: learning from practice in a high-performance sport organisation. In European Conference on Knowledge Management (pp. 747-XXII). Academic Conferences International. Retrieved From: https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/92915/1/Sohal%20et%20al%202020%20%20ECKM.pdf

Tsourvakas, G. & Yfantidou, I., (2018). Corporate social responsibility influences employee engagement. Social Responsibility Journal. Retrieved From: https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/13722/1/Second%20revision-Corporate%20Social%20Responsibility%20influences%20Employee%20Engagement%20pdf.pdf

Wahyuandari, W., (2019). ANALYSIS OF HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT AUDIT TO IMPROVE ITS PERFORMANCE. In INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR (Vol. 1, pp. 107-117). Retrieved From:  Retrieved From: http://conference.unita.ac.id/index.php/conference/article/download/22/11