Navigating Legal Risks in Hiring a New Sales Manager Assignment Sample

Navigating Legal Risks in Hiring a New Sales Manager Assignment Sample

Introduction

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Q1) Types Of Legal Risks That Xyz Might Face For Selecting A New Employee For The Post Of Manager

XYZ is a good and independent software company employing over 150 staff. Their business role involves the production and maintenance of some specialized software, which were used by car dealerships for accounting and stock control. Their business is a competitive business and over two-three years new versions of their software are been produced. In a large international market, they are a very small player with about a base of 500 customers. They also serve their customer base in an ongoing maintenance and development issue by creating a user group, which usually meets every year.

Currently, XYZ is having a sales team of 10 employees who work and performs really well. The Sales Manager due to some personal problems needs an early retirement. The company wants to appoint a new sales manager from internal recruitment. The company receives mail from 4 of the employees regarding the post. Out of four, the company decided to appoint the fourth member Mike Replica, a 40 years old person with very professional behavior and who has a long future to serve as a sales manager.

Mike is also the spouse of the Finance Director's niece, is very friendly, and plays golf with the chief executive Mr Paul Double-Barrel. Mike has certain ideas which can help in the successful improvement of the sales of the products produced by the business some of his ideas are: 

The payment system is to be observed fully as commission-based. At present, the employees get around 20% commission of the total salary. Mike wants to adopt a new method by risking all the earnings depending upon the sales target to be met. If any employee fails to meet the sales target, his total earnings will not be remunerated. The poor performer in the team is to be fired and new and strong members are to be appointed for the same work which will help in the growth of the business. The poor performers will be fired based on their sales value achieved.

The company should undergo with doctors about the physical fitness of the employees. If any employee weighs more then he should be sent on a diet till the employee meets the targeted weight, similarly, for smokers, a special class will be provided to help them to quit smoking and to work efficiently in the business.

There are certain types of legal risks that a company might face such as compliance risks, operational risks, and regulatory risks

According to the first idea and concept made by Mike, if the payments made to the employees are done on the basis of meeting the sales target. If any employee fails to meet the sales target then that employee will not be getting any salary for the work done (Disemadi, 2019). This will impact the employee's financial position and it will also de-motivate the employee for further tasks to be made. There are many employees in the business. If the maximum of employees somehow fails to meet the sales target, then the majority of them will opt for a new job.

This will result in low performance of the business. Appointing new members and informing them about this kind of salary-paying process will also create a risk and insecurity for the newcomers and it may result in the low appointment of employees. Previously, the company charges around 20% commission to the employees, but accommodating the new concept, it can result in low productivity of software due to the lack of employees presented at work.

 According to the second idea produced by Mike, the business may face the risk of insecurity from the employees if they were fired from their job(Dvorsky et al. 2021). If any employee performs poorly in the business, he will be fired and a new employee will be appointed in place of that person. It will help in good production of the business but it will also affect the job security of the employees. If any employee has been working for more than 10 years in that company and developed a belief in the company, if a new one replaces that employee, the company will fail to rely upon every newcomer.

This will be a high risk for the business as if this news comes out in the market, then their reputation and image might get harmed from the employment point of view (Polinkevych et al. 2021).According to the third method, if the employees of the company are been treated as the weighted person, they might become demotivated and placing them in a diet till the targeted weight is achieved. This will result in low working in the company as the employees will be under treatment and they will not be able to work as effectively as before till they achieve the targeted weight. It will result in low production of the business and also affect its position in the competitive market as they have a small place in it.

The doctors will be appointed for the employees to quit smoking and respective measures will also be adopted to do so. This can be a time-consuming and costly process for the business to adopt, if the business is running at loss, then it will be more difficult to maintain this process. The employees of this company might resign and can get a new job in a similar field and it will result for poor growth of the business. It will be a high risk for the company to get doing it.

Mike is the spouse of the Finance Director's niece. It can be a risk for the management as Mike can make wrong decisions and can create illegitimate rules, which might not be suitable for the company (Zhang et al. 2021.). The company will fail to deny the rules and regulations made by him as he is a respectable and good person in the eyes of the Finance director. This can also be a logical risk for the growth of the company.

Q2) The Defenses, Which Should Be Taken By The Xyz, Company When An Aggrieved Employee Decided To Make A Tribunal Case:

In the case, study, the employees who decided to bring a tribunal case against the company will bring it based on the following points. Julie Keene applied for the sales director post but her application canceled although she had the quality to be a director as she is a good salesperson. The present sales director declined her application, as she is too young for the team. The present sales director also declined her application because she was a woman and the sales team and the customer was mostly man-oriented. Julie can take legal action against the company to decline the application and give gender more priority than her performance. However, to defend this case the company can bring up the point that most of the employees on the team are older than Julie, and most of the customers are male. Therefore, if the company selects Julie as a senior director then the other employees in the team can be demotivated and will not follow the order, which can lead a management failure and the result may not be in the favor of the company. 

 Aldo Viscida the second candidate who had applied for the sales director post was a very good salesperson and well experienced. Although he had a good record in the field as he won many prizes based on his performances and always is the first on the list. The team declined his application; the reason behind the decline of his application for the post is he was not so good at writing English. The company can defend this claim as the sales director has the role of writing reports on a regular base. The sales director must have a connection with the team and the clients of the company, which is mainly done in the mode of writing. Therefore, a well-written practice in English is the most priorities point for the role of this job profile. Ado does not have a good ability in writing in English, so the company can decline his application. 

Derek Constant is the sales employee of the company who serves in the company for a very long period and he is in the position of after Alon who is the present sales director. Derek is also liked by the team and has the all-good quality for this role. However, Derek's application was declined as it assumed that he could retire soon as he is 60, and his wife was ill and needed care, so he would be unable to put in the effort, which is needed for that role. The company should defend this case as the role of a sales director needs mental and physical efforts to achieve the goal of the company (Adams and Prassl, 2018). Derek was near his retirement and the illness of his wife makes his mental stage weak. However, the result, which is come from these points, shows that Derek was unfit for the role.

The case, which can be mounted based on the new rules introduced by the new sales director:

The Company selected Mike Replica as a new sales director, and he has many ideas for the growth of the team as well as for evolving the role. His performance was in the favor of the company. However, the ideas, which were brought by him as a new director, were not so favored by the employees because;

The first point he brought that the commission percentage that was 20% was calculated based on sales made by an employee. Mike wants to make the whole salary as a commission and it also depends on the sales target, which means if an employee fails to meet the target then the earnings for that employee for the entire month will be zero. As per law, the salary of an employee should be the hourly base. The employer must pay the employee at a fixed rate, which fixed by government law. If an employer disagrees to pay the minimum wage, the employee can take a charge against the employer (Berghs and Dyson, 2022). Moreover, the salary of an individual cannot be fully commissionable. Mike wanted the salary as a commission base to increase the sales level by pressurized the employee. Therefore, the employees of the company can take a legal charge against the rule. 

In the last point, Mike said about the medical process of determining the weight and the addiction of someone to smoking. Mike also said that if an employee founded overweight then he/she should go through a diet to lose weight, and a person who is a smoker should attend class. If a person is not treated well as well as faces fat shaming in the working place then as per law the person can take legal action against the company (Smith, 2022). These two points have no direct relationship with the sales employee roles. For this kind of rule in the company, the employees can be demotivate, and feel unsafe working in that kind of environment where other facts get more priority than work performance. 

However for the second point where Mike mentions replacing an employee on the basis of their work performance early, the employee cannot take any action against that rule. The employer has the right to dismiss someone from their job anytime after showing their performance or behavior. The employer must have a valid reason to dismiss or replace an employee(Tassinari and Maccarrone, 2020). However, if the employer terminates an employee without any valid proof or a valid reason and in future, it will prove that the employee has no bad records, then the employee can take legal action. Therefore, it can be said that the employee of the company can take legal action for the matters discussed above, and if the matters prove then the company can face a problem in the future. Therefore, the two points introduced by Mike to improve work performance and to encourage the employee is not too much appropriate for the company. 

Q3) What Advice Would You Give The Senior Management Team When Running An Exercise Of This Kind In The Future? Justify Your Answer

A popular name in software house production is XYZ limited company. It is an independent software production house. This production house usually invented software which helps the dealership of the car for stock control and purposes of accounting. In the large market of software, they are the small players. XYZ companies maintained their 500 bases of strong customers. Upgrading and maintaining their business well they meet a 'user group' every month. The sales team of this software company is very belongings of their work. The team always maintains a great relationship with their initiative customers. In the current situation of XYZ limited company the Sales director Alan McSlick has decided to resign early. The sales director managed the team of sales very effectively and also had a great relationship with clients.

The company needs a replacement for their sales director Alan McSlick. The management decided it will be recruited in an internal exercise. The Senior Executive of the XYZ limited company, Paul Double Barrel announced that if anyone in this company is interested in contemplating this position drop their e-mail at the senior executive's e-mail address. A total of four emails are dropped by the employees of this company. The next day the company secretary, Paul, the Finance director and Alan meet to appoint a capable person for this vital role in the company.  The first job applicant for this required job is Julie Keene. The senior management team fast decide to decline her appointment because Julie is a younger recruiter. Another reason for rejection is that the male customers of this company are mainly used to consider same-aged people.

The second person for this job applicant is Aldo Viscida. The management team also reject this application because written English is below the average of this person and the important role of the sales director is to write the sales report on a regular basis. Derek Constant is the third applicant for this job. Derek is now nearly 60 and his wife is sick so the management team had fear that in future Derek will dedicate himself to spouse care and have less energy given this senior role. The fourth and final candidate for the job is Mike Replica, The management team decided to appoint Mike Replica, Mike is nearly 40 years and look for a future sales director.

Mike has many great ideas to expand the senior role and the sales team but the problem is that Mike is married to the niece of the XYZ Company’s finance director and Mike used to play Golf on a regular basis with Paul the senior executive of the company. The other team members may think that Mike gets to the job for this personal relationship with the senior managers. It will affect the entire employees of this XYZ Company. Employees would probably feel less motivated to do work. They believe that promotions and benefits always go to relatives or friends of the senior managers. There is certain advice that can be given to the senior manager to avoid this kind of problem in future. These are:-

Take responsibility and positivity at the workplace - The senior managers need to understand each employee's contribution to the success of the growth of the company. In other words, managers are accountable for their own behaviour as well as that of their staff (Travers et al. 2020). They seek out methods for empowering their staff members and assisting in their professional growth and autonomy. In the workplace, everyone, even leaders or bosses, occasionally suffers from irritation and criticism. It can be difficult to feel motivated or enthused. Successful managers are aware of the need to set a good example for their staff and do everything in their power to foster a healthy work environment. To check the employees' work and dedication to the company the manager can promote an employee to a senior post. 

Help team development- Another quality of an employee to become a senior manager is how the employee helps the team development. A good employee also does their own work perfectly and the employee identifies who is in need of help and supports the needy employee (Oppong and Pattanayak, 2019). For this purpose, the entire teamwork will be done perfectly in time. The company increased productivity and make more profits over the last year. Entire team members contributed their work which will make a great work culture. When the time of promotion of an employee the chief managers focused on the employee-helping attitude. This attitude helps a company to make larger achievements in further future. 

Good communication in the workplace- The most important quality of an employee is good communication with other co-workers. Clear and good communication helps the employee to do their best at the workplace. When any meeting or planning is done by the manager a to-the-point statement helps the employees to do their job. The employee who has good communication with other co-workers helps the managers to describe their next project (Alhabeeb and Rowley, 2018). Employees easily understand the motive of the next project.  When the motives are clearly known to the employee, the employee sets their goals to do their work. 

These points can help chief managers to find a capable employee for their post because only the managers have the power to change the work environment. Managers can review the company priorities and get the employees more focused on the company goal. The meaningful objectives and motives for the company, need to be clear by all team members or co-workers. A successful manager is always an expert in making the company employees more disciplined (Jumady and Lilla, 2021). The managers are sure that the co-workers of the team know the effort and motive of the project. Success only comes when team members collaborate with their effort. 

Reference

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