Human Resource Management - Essay Example

?Running Head: HRM HRM [Institute’s HRM Introduction As the competition becomes tougher in the marketplace, organisations are realizing that the key to improving productivity lies in motivating their employees for the same. Furthermore, performance management and change management have also emerged as important operational concepts in the field of Human Resource Management during the past few decades (Robbins & Judge, pp. 291-295, 2010). This paper is an attempt to shed some light on these concepts with taking the example of Unilever, which remains as one of largest multinational companies of the world. Discussion Recruitment and Legal Requirements Despite the fact that recruitment and legal requirements of Unilever differ from country to country, however, there are some aspects of the recruitment process, which remain the same. The recruitment process starts with the submission of resume regardless of the fact that the recruitment has started with walk in, employee referrals, advertising or others (Griffin & Moorhead, pp. 14-19, 2009). Shortlisted candidates get a chance to fill the application form, which then leads to a formal interview. Short listed applicants are called for a couple of more interviews (Fisher, Schoenfeldt & Shaw, pp. 301-305, 2005). The last interview, which is a group interview, then leads them to a management assessment centre. This is the point where the person has almost met all the requirements for passing the recruitment process. However, in order for finding out the right match in terms of job for the applicant, the individual has to go appear in several tests. They are Big Five personality tests, MBTI, IQ tests and others. Important here to note is that these are the requirements for new recruits, however, in case of recruitment for executive positions or rehiring, not all steps are followed (Mathis & Jackson, pp. 48-51, 2006). The legal requirements include the fact that the person should have a criminal history, must have the passport or identification of home country, work permit, proof of address, proof of date of birth, proof of educational achievement and certificates and others (Robbins & Judge, pp. 291-295, 2010). Programme for Training and Development Recruitment of the best available talent is never the guarantee of success. It was not only important to tell the employees what to do but at the same time, it is equally important to teach them how to do. Market leaders like Unilever spend more time in comparison to their competitors for training and developing their employees. Following is an example of professional training and development plan at Unilever (Fisher, Schoenfeldt & Shaw, pp. 301-305, 2005). Training and development at UniLever starts with needs assessment. Why training is important? What should be the contents of training? Who should be the target of training? What shall be the expectations in terms of benefits from the training? (Kleynhans, pp. 274-278, 2006) Questions similar to the above mentioned, remain the target of needs assessment. The second step is of instructional design where the focus remains on using the data gained in the first step and with the help of the same, complying, creating and deciding on the program content, exercises, activities, approaches and others (Cummings & Worley, pp. 68-69, 2008). Since this process requires a lot of investment in terms of time and energy, the third step is of validation where a small sample is tested. The fourth step is of the actual implementation of the program and at the fifth stage, the managers and heads of UniLever sit back to evaluate the success of the program (Bratton & Gold, pp. 510-512, 2001). Human Relations School and Motivation of Staff Experts such as ‘Hugo Munsterberg, Mary Parker Follet, Hawthorne Studies, Abraham Maslow, Douglas McGregor’ (Hendry, pp. 84-86, 1995) and others remain as the founder of the human relations school of management. Most of these experts (Hendry, pp. 84-86, 1995) had disagreements with the ideas of Taylor and other advocates of scientific management. Human Relations School believed that in order to improve the productivity of workers, one would have to pay more attention towards the well-being and behaviours of those workers as well (Hendry, pp. 84-86, 1995). The focused remained greatly on motivating the workers by using the tools of soft human resource management. Managers learned that motivating workers is possible through acknowledgement, cooperation, power sharing, self-managing teams, coaching, observation, counselling, good work conditions, training and other factors. This was the first time in the history of management, when managers got a chance to understand that employee motivation is possible with ways other than money and punishment (Cummings & Worley, pp. 68-69, 2008). Human Relations School believes that little ad intangible factors such as trusting employees, appreciating them in public, having confidence in them, empowering them and other can motivate them to greatest extents. Human Relations School stresses on motivating humans as humans and not as other animals. Even animals in the circus receive training and are motivated to perform certain tasks repeatedly but that is due to the hunger of reward (food) and fear of punishment, however, it is important to treat humans differently to explore and channelize their potentials (Mathis & Jackson, pp. 48-51, 2006; Hill & McShane, pp. 374-378, 2006) Motivational factors for Small to Medium Sized Business Without any doubts, motivational factors differ for large companies and small to medium sized companies. When large companies focus more on monetary rewards, promotions, health insurances, overseas trips, vacations, job titles, transfers, trainings and other to motivate their employees, small and medium sized companies find themselves as unable to use most of these tools to motivate their employees (Smith, pp. 19-24, 2007). However, the same does not imply that small and medium sized business cannot motivate their employees at all. Most small businesses use their size of the company to their advantage and motivate their employees with job empowerment and job enlargement from time to time (Koster, pp. 41-48, 2007). Furthermore, small organisation allows the owner to provide flexibility to its employees. In many cases, the owner has many stories to tell about his enthusiasm and journey of life that can be a strong motivational factor. The small size of the organisation also allows the leaders to communicate with their employees more freely, which ultimately leads to more feedback, greater information sharing, strong communication and more training that is informal (Robbins & Judge, pp. 291-295, 2010). Small and medium sized business owners can also motivate their employees with setting a bold and optimistic vision and mission and the rewards, which the old employees would share if the company moves towards success (Bratton & Gold, pp. 510-512, 2001). Classical and Scientific School of Management Frederick Winslow Taylor (Hendry, pp. 84-86, 1995) is known as the father of scientific management. Taylor along with The Gilbreths and Henry L. Gantt, emphasized on using scientific and technical methods for improving the efficiency of workers (Hendry, pp. 84-86, 1995). For example, while working at Midvale steel, Taylor encountered the phenomenon of soldiering by workers, which was deliberately working at less than full capacity for various reasons. Taylor believed that using science could solve this problem (Poole, pp. 419-426, 1999). Managers should study each task and come up with the best method to perform that task, carefully select workers that are suitable for those tasks and train them. In addition, they should corporate with the workers to provide them with guidance and feedback and divide the work responsibility so that managers remain responsible for planning and workers remains responsible for executing the tasks (Williams, pp. 213-214, 2009). Classical school of thought has its basis on the classical works of ‘Max Weber, Henri Fayol, Chester Barnard’ (Torrington, Hall & Taylor, pp. 38-40, 2007) and others, which focused on refining the management principles. For example, Max Weber suggested that rather than creating a family owned organisation where hiring and promotions take place based on whom one knows rather than what one knows creates a serious dent on efficiencies (Torrington, Hall & Taylor, pp. 38-40, 2007). Scientific and Classical school of management both aim at improving the efficiency, however, the differ greatly in the approach for the same since scientific management believes in the use of scientific techniques, whereas classical school of thought focuses more on bureaucratic reforms and reforming the management principles (Foot & Hook, pp. 254-258, 2008). Relevance of Maslow’s theory in today’s workforce It was more than five decades ago when Abraham Maslow presented his theory of hierarchy of needs but it still remains a significant force in understanding motivation in individuals. Abraham Maslow characterized human needs into five different levels or groups and presented them in the form of the pyramid (Kleynhans, pp. 274-278, 2006). Everyone is at some stage of this pyramid and only the related needs of this level have the ability to motivate the individual (Wilson, pp. 65-68, 2005). This hierarchy in increasing order consists of psychological needs, safety and security needs, and social needs, esteem needs and last is the stage of self-actualization. The relevance of Maslow’s theory is understandable by looking at the disparities of human resource management approach, which Unilever takes with white-collar employees and blue-collar employees. In order to motivate their blue-collar workers, Unilever is known for using extensive rewards and benefits, both tangible and intangible to motivate its white-collar workers. Since these people mostly are way past the psychological, security and social needs level, the focus remains on targeting their esteem needs by providing them titles, honours, certificates, recognition, international trips, promotions and others (Maund, pp. 74-78, 2001). However, in case of the blue-collar workers, the prime motivational force does not remain promotions, trainings, honours and certificates but their motivation needs are stuck at the security and social level. Therefore, for motivating blue-collar workers, Unilever uses insurances, employment contracts, bonuses and other means to motivate them and fulfil their security and safety needs (Williams, pp. 213-214, 2009). Autocratic and Democratic ways for implementing change Autocratic method of implementing change in an organisation would refer to taking an approach of forced change with negligible or almost no consensus from the repaints of change. The organisational head or manager do not consult with their employees and assume that there is no need for the same. These changes only make sense in emergencies where there is extremely low less time to take a decision and the change is for a short-term period. Important here to note is that considering the marketplace and organisational environment of today, it is less likely then any autocratic change would make sense for a long term period (Bratton & Gold, pp. 510-512, 2001). Democratic method of implementing change is the approach, which is under utilization by most companies today. This approach believes in mutual and agreed change, where the recipients take an active approach towards constructing that change. Furthermore, various individuals move forward to emerge even as change leaders. This method is reliable and understandable for almost all situations where there is enough time for the consultation and information sharing. Furthermore, it is more likely that democratic method of implementing change would meet with less resistance, higher levels of performance and ultimately the process of organisational change would convert into organisational development (Torrington, Hall & Taylor, pp. 38-40, 2007). Linkage of Management styles with motivational programmes Without any doubts, there is strong linage between the management styles of managers and their approaches to motivate employees. Consider the example of autocratic managers, which are also very close to the picture drawn by Douglas McGregor of Theory X managers. These managers are more likely to reward their employees with the help of their formal and legitimate power (Foot & Hook, pp. 254-258, 2008). These managers would use promotions, bonuses, benefits, rewards and others to motivate their employers. The problem with these managers is that they would always try to quantify everything including motivation and behaviour (Wilson, pp. 65-68, 2005). However, democratic manager or Theory Y managers are more likely to use a diverse range of ways to motivate their employees. Since they enjoy not only legitimate power but also referent and expert power, these managers are more likely to use various soft factors for motivating their employees as well. Formulating self-managing teams and assigning them with crucial tasks, treating people with respect, mutual goal setting, appreciating and acknowledging the efforts or inputs of employees in public, providing regular feedback to employees, empowering them to enjoy greater power and control and others are examples of motivational tools which democratic managers are most likely to use. However, democratic managers also enjoy the authority to use the tools used by most autocratic managers in form of monetary and other rewards (Mathis & Jackson, pp. 48-51, 2006). References Bratton, John, & Gold, Jeffrey. 2001. Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice. Routledge. Cummings, Thomas G. & Worley, Christopher G. 2008. Organization development & change. Cengage Learning. Fisher, C. D., Schoenfeldt, L. F., & Shaw, J. B. 2005. Human resource management. Houghton Mifflin Co. Foot, M. & Hook, C. 2008. Introducing Human Resource Management. Prentice Hall. Griffin, Ricky W. & Moorhead, Gregory. 2009. Organizational Behaviour: Managing People and Organizations. Cengage Learning. Hendry, C. 1995. Human resource management: a strategic approach to employment. Butterworth-Heinemann. Hill, Charles W. L., & McShane, Steven Lattimore. 2006. Principles of Management. McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Kleynhans, R. 2006. Human Resource Management. Pearson South Africa. Koster, Marco. 2007. Human Resource Management versus Personnel Management. GRIN Verlag. Mathis, R. L., & Jackson, J. H. 2006. Human resource management. Thomson/South-western. Maund, L. 2001. Introduction to human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave. Poole, Michael. 1999. Human Resource Management: Critical Perspectives on Business and Management. Routledge. Robbins, Stephen P., & Judge, Timothy A. 2010 Organizational Behaviour. Prentice Hall Smith, Mike. 2007. Fundamentals of management. McGraw-Hill. Torrington, D., Hall, L. & Taylor, S. 2007. Human Resource Management. Prentice Hall. Williams, Chuck. 2009. Principles of management. South-Western/Cengage Learning. Wilson, John P. 2005. Human resource development: learning & training for individuals & organizations. Kogan Page Publishers. Read More