Role of HR Department in the Success of an Organisation - Essay Example

Role of HR Department in the Success of an Organisation Introduction Today, we are living in a globalised world which is highly competitive and challenging for employers and employees. The growth of media, developments and advancements in information technology followed by improvements in communication networks have forced the companies to change their business strategies and to focus more on product development, market development and diversification in addition to orthodox market penetration policy / strategy / tactic. Without any doubt, the emergence of mass media has greatly affected / influenced the attitudes, perceptions, behaviours, beliefs and lifestyles of people all across the globe, thereby compelling the people (who are also potential customers of business enterprises) to consider themselves a part of this globalised world. The entrance of new enterprises in corporate arena has intensified the competition among firms; hence every entity is more focused towards cost leadership so that it could ensure business survival and expansion. Indeed, the old workplace rules, regulations, requirements and criteria have been replaced by new workplace standards and roles so that the organisations could flourish in an absolutely uncertain, unpredictable, unclear, unstructured and unexpected business environment. The new workplace demands greater emphasis on open communication, information sharing and team building that, in turn, leads to greater coordination, collaboration and cooperation among employees – employers. Unequivocally, Human Resource Management plays its vital role in goal accomplishment and organisational success because HR managers are solely responsible for recruitment, selection, training and skills development, employee compensation, placement, performance evaluation and retrenchment. For instance, the aforementioned functions are also a part of employee resourcing, which sometimes also known as strategic resourcing (Kato, 2009); (Alcazar et al, 2005). It is worthwhile to mention that the debate on employee (strategic) resourcing has been intensified because of increasingly vital role of HR department in the success of an organisation. Nevertheless, HR professionals are also aware of the fact that employees tend to face work – family conflicts when they are bombarded with excessive tasks and job requirements coupled with unrealistic goals and targets that are unachievable. For instance, employment discrimination and glass ceiling restricts the entry and progress of many deserving workers, which comes under unfair behaviour. Next, employers tend to force employees to work for additional hours without any extra disbursements / payments for overtime (Webster, 2011). Therefore, the employee resourcing task becomes complicated and challenging for enterprises of 21st century, which could not assimilate excessive business costs as an outcome of low productivity (due to employee dissatisfaction and low job morale) and higher employee turnover rate (Morrell et al, 2001). The paper will remain specific to discussion of issues faced by organisations in employee resourcing and their implications. The researcher will critically evaluate and analyse the core issues with reference to existing literature as well as provide practical examples to comprehend this topic. The researcher will then demonstrate the procedures that could facilitate in employee resourcing. Finally, the researcher will present conclusions and discuss some useful recommendations based on his practical exposure and working experience in today’s corporate arena. 1. Analysis Employee Resourcing is a concept that refers to techniques, instruments and procedures used by employers and HR professionals in organizing / resourcing their business units in a manner that could facilitate in target setting and goal accomplishment. Employee resourcing is an extensive process that covers almost all Human Resource Management functions such as staffing, administration, change management, organisational control and performance standards. In other words, Raiden et al (2009) has pointed out that Employee resourcing is beneficial for a enterprise because it leads to creation of best pool of employees who could adjust themselves in operational environment and could efficiently utilise organisational resources to meet strategic goals and assigned objectives. The researcher would first throw light over staffing function that consists of recruitment and selection process. Indeed, it should be noted that recruitment and selection comprises of policies / strategies (internal and external) that affect organisational members as well as candidates / job hunters with an inclination to apply for a firm. For instance, the selection of top quality workforce is directly related with firm’s performance because SMART employees with greater normative and affective commitment, vision, critical thinking skills and leadership qualities showcase their best and contribute significantly in goal accomplishment. Rynes et al (1990) revealed from his research study that “recruiters, recruitment timing and other steps during job hunting stage have substantial effects on the allocation of applicants to vacancies”. According to Arvey et al (1975), the recruitment / selection process should be conducted in the planned time period because postponement, discontinuation and delays may force applicants to apply to new organisations. Employers of 21st century should acknowledge the fact that every applicant expects and waits for prompt communication from HR departments of their chosen firms because he or she has applied in, at least, 2-4 different organisations simultaneously for jobs. Hence, lack of timely communication gives negative message to many potential (talented) applicants and compels to switch to other companies (Scholarios et al, 2003). In this way, delays in recruitment process may deprive a firm from many SMART workers and directly sabotages the employee resourcing efforts of top management. Morrell et al (2001) has emphasised that most of the 21st entities have high employee turnover rates because of inconsistency in retention policies of employers such as absence of motivational tools, mentoring, counseling, need fulfillment, financial incentives etc. Obviously, retention of top quality workers would become challenging because they would switch to other companies with better working environment. Heaton et al (2008) have summarised the findings of Institute of Employment Studies which revealed that over 85% fresh graduate workers in 2nd or 3rd year of their careers abandon their jobs offered by initial hirers and switch to different companies that offer better pay, promotion, fringe benefits and career advancement opportunities. Nevertheless, the change in perceptions about job market has also affected the psychological contract with entities. HR managers, therefore, feel this pinch because they express worries over high turnovers. Consequently, they design their recruitment process (approaches), job description and payroll structure in a judicious manner so that they could induct employees who are penchant to work for relatively greater time period. Indeed, organisations invest on candidates for long – term benefits because employee resourcing is not possible in absence of smart workers. Finally, dismissals are also an important part of staffing function, which refers to getting rid of workers who does not follow code of conduct, performance standards and organisational policies as a whole. Nonetheless, dismissals of negative / criminal mind set workers are an attempt to maintain discipline / decorum within a corporate setting as they set impression for those with negative work behaviours and attitudes towards employers, subordinates, team members and co-workers. Becker & Gerhart (1996) have emphasised that employers and HR business partners collaborate to facilitate Organisational Restructuring / Reengineering. Nonetheless, another part of strategic employee resourcing is known as Change Management - a technique adopted by strategic planners and top managers to improve organisational efficiency, productivity and environment. The strategy is widely used as a part of Restructuring and Reengineering Program within an organisational context to ensure open information sharing, shared value culture, continuous learning, benchmarking, automation, quality circles, experimentation and greater adaptability to innovations in external environment. It is worthwhile to mention that businesses are changing their internal management systems and managerial hierarchy to become competitive and enhance their ability to meet new challenges. Most of the enterprises tended to use authoritarian culture in which all decision-making powers were enjoyed by top management and workers at middle and lower management levels were only responsible for their implementation. However, the developments in communication technology and media at one extreme resulted in creating business opportunities because of emergence of global markets, suppliers, customers and a unique global culture; whereas on the other hand, this resulted in stiff competition among firms. In short, today information about all the above mentioned actors plays a key role in success of any business unit and this information has to be shared with middle and low level managers. HR partners, therefore, could assist restructuring initiatives that aim to change organisational culture (basically a shift from authoritarian to adaptability culture), to adjust managerial hierarchy (from vertical to horizontal / matrix / network approach) and to promote leadership role within an organisational setting (Mayo, 2001). In other words, the change is initiated so that employees could enhance their knowledge, skills and abilities, thereby fulfilling organisational needs and contributing extensively in goal accomplishment and financial gains. Quite unequivocally, an organisation could not survive if it does not adapt to changing new workplace rules, industry standards, business practices and consumer demands. Employee resourcing process proves successful when changes are planned and implemented step by step because organisational members consume time to understand changes and switch from old standards and procedures to new ones (Davis & Scull, 2008). The HR strategic partners could play their leading role in employee resourcing process since they work closely with other employees and are responsible for their on-the-job training and performance evaluation / appraisal (Brown et al, 2009). It should be noted that HR executives define individual employee goals to assess field performance. Therefore, when a worker successfully complete all assignments then he / she receives positive evaluation, which then serve as a basis of promotion and career advancement. Performance appraisal is mandatory not only to ensure that organisation has been moving in the right direction but also evaluation is imperative for strategic employee resourcing. In fact, performance reports facilitate in deciding who to be hired from outside to meet additional business needs, who to be provided additional training, who to be retained or dismissed, who to be rotated for different jobs and who should be chosen for strategic planning and decision – making. Finally, the last part of employee resourcing process is administration that comprises of strategy formulation followed by development of methods and instruments that could meet administrative needs of an organisation. For instance, administrative staff is also responsible for documentation, which refers to maintaining employees’ personal records, company’s information resources, bills etc. (for legal formalities) (Rowley, 2001). 1.1 – Examples The proponents of globalization and new workplace practices have been focusing on a new debate towards employee resourcing because of significant importance in 21st century enterprises. Indeed, Raiden et al (2008) argue that most of the modern researchers on employee resourcing emphasise the use of ‘strategic approach’, which refers to greater role of an employee in business decision making process. For instance, Raiden et al (2008) also pinpoints that ‘needs-based approach’ (which refers to deploying employees according to organisational needs) should be replaced with strategic approach to shape continuous learning, participatory and experimentation based internal culture. However, the authors’ work on construction industry enable them to conclude that strategic approach is not an appropriate choice because of complexities and sophistications involved in construction project management. Nonetheless, this industry observes continuous changes (due to project to project differences); therefore, the needs-based approach would be the right option to make right decision at the right time in the right situations. The researcher would now like to provide a famous example of change management process in Marks & Spencer – a UK based textile tycoon. Indeed, the company hired CEO Mr. Stuart Rose to grapple with issues like employee – employer conflicts, management and administrative inefficiencies (failure in effectively running operations, weaknesses in inventory management systems etc.) through his charismatic personality / leadership qualities, relationship building and interpersonal communication skills. CEO Stuart Rose initially made changes in managerial hierarchy during 2007 - 2008 as well as introduced a new idea regarding delegation of tasks and authority to employees at middle management (Mackinnon, 2007). This, in turn, resulted in building employees’ trust over Marks & Spencer and improved their job satisfaction level. In short, turnover rates were reduced as employees were inclined to work in our company. In addition, Mr. Rose announced new employee benefits program that was aimed to restore instrumental and socio-emotional cohesiveness - we-feeling within an organisational setting. Promotions, pension schemes, bonuses and other extrinsic rewards for top performers were used as weapons to ensure greater normative commitment and need fulfillment of employees (Financial Report, 2009). Nevertheless, the core purpose of this exercise was to retain talented employees and attract young blood, rather depending upon senior but rigid mind set experienced managers. Rose was aware of challenges and demands of new workplace; therefore, he also introduced team based, work group and open information sharing culture to enhance collaboration among bosses and their subordinates. For this purpose, Mr. Rose organised meetings and discussion sessions with middle level executives to eradicate barriers and to encourage participation and informal communication. The research would argue that Rose adopted the perfect strategy for restoration of organisational harmony, discrimination-free culture, shared values and unity among human capital. For instance, the policy-makers also minimised the probability of retaliation from senior employees who would resisted changes against greater authority to juniors. In addition, Rose initiated employee resourcing programme when he gave contracts to outside professional consultants so that they could assist HR department in reorganisation and reengineering. On the last note, it is worthwhile to mention that training and motivational programmes were also initiated for personality and career development of employees. These short courses were an attempt to instill team building skills for greater productivity and to enhance tolerance level of workers at Marks & Spencer to reduce employee – employee conflicts (MS News, 2008) ; (MS Report, 2010). 2. Implications Effective employee resourcing becomes difficult when the turnover rates increase due to core employee – organisational value conflicts. Such disputes occur when instrumental values (honesty, broadminded, social responsibility and morality) of a worker do not match with organisational standards / practices (misleading customers, unethical and irresponsible production methods, unhygienic products, tax evasion through creation of fake financial statements and others etc). Nevertheless, employees are compelled to endorse such practices during work tenure else they are requested to find a new job (Beer, 1997). The ethical lapses become evident when a jobless person finds work in a recessionary cycle but then forced to obey even unethical orders from employers (Kato, 2009). In simple words, workers could not resist in uncertain and bleak economic environment and job market because they fear job losses. It has been rightly argued by theorists, academicians and practitioners that employee resourcing is a process full of obstacles, issues and impediments at numerous managerial levels. Indeed, the proponents argue that Change Management is one of the major tools through which business opt to enhance their work productivity thereby gaining cost efficiency, optimal performance and desirable outcomes. However, it has been observed that when strategic planners opt to implement this process without any mutual consensus and agreement with their human capital, they face stiff resistance and retaliation, which in turn led to negative organisational politics and consequences. Workers at Marks and Spencer also recorded their protests and showcased retaliation in late 2003 when their bosses came up with new policies and employee agreements without considering the needs of their workers. In short, structural problems arose from this bilateral implementation (Mackinnon, 2007). In later years, a new policy for workers’ benefits and employee delegation / participation, however, eradicated these structural and managerial issues that in turn resulted in favourable outcomes such as business expansion, growth and sustainability of Marks and Spencer. Hence, the organisations have drawn this inference that successful employee resourcing is not possible without collaboration, participation, volunteerism and contribution from workers. Nevertheless, the entrepreneurs infer that employee resourcing is a problematic task in highly technical and labour – intensive businesses (property construction, factory establishment, plant installation etc.) because they are usually project-based; therefore, the owners are responsible to take into account both organisational and employee perspectives. Raiden et al (2009) have highlighted that employers and HR experts mutually handle such complexities and components of employee resourcing because they could not afford delays, time lapses, resource misallocation and non-utilisation. Indeed, the project based organisations do not buttress the idea of trial and error; rather only professionals are employed and allocated tasks for accomplishment. 3. Conclusions and Recommendations In conclusion, the debate on employee resourcing has been intensifying and gaining momentum among 21st century entrepreneurs, industry analysts and theorists due to rising vulnerability of organisations to external economic shocks, uncertainty and unpredictability. Nevertheless, the firms have been grappling with grave issue of high costs of doing business, which further escalate in the course of internal inefficiencies and underlying structural weaknesses. In order to rectify such loop holes, the employers focus on strategic resourcing so that they could innovate / differentiate their process, thereby gaining productive efficiency (through resource utilisation). For instance, employee resourcing also benefits in expanding into existing markets and entering into new markets because HR managers make use of relevant information from a diversified workforce with unique experiences, business ideas, cultural know-how and attributes. It should be recommended to employers that HR executives fulfill their vital role in employee resourcing when they become strategic partners; therefore, every medium and large scale enterprise should persuade HR executives to become strategists as well as employee advocates. For instance, the professionals must offer a balanced arrangement of ‘monetary or transactional-related services’ and a pool of workers who could help in meeting organisational needs, financial targets and objectives. Furthermore, it is worthwhile to mention the fact that these partners must enhance the use of information and communication technology (ICT) to develop ‘HR Systems’ that would facilitate in formulating and implementing HR strategic policies. Indeed, employee resourcing components are an inevitable part of HR function. However, the highly capital intensive organisations (automated processes) do not extensively depend on Human Resources to gain competitive advantage. Instead, businesses that are mostly labour intensive and that rely on productivity, skills and proficiency of their human assets need HR function to be highly organised on firm grounds. In short, these labour intensive firms usually require efficient ‘HR systems’ the most as they solely rely on the strength of their human resources in comparison of capital intensive businesses with economies of large scale operations. The second recommendation to employers is to use external management consultants to initiate an impeccable employee resourcing process. It should be recalled that these ‘managerial therapists’ provide all sort of technical, operational, functional, economic and strategic support to their clients that may eradicate their business issues and enhance organisational effectiveness and performance. In addition, the consultants tend to introduce new ‘perspectives’ and angles that are previously not considered and adopted by a firm. The consultants are involved in transfer of knowledge, education, skills and attributes in the money - knowledge exchange process. They identify how to use highly valuable tangible and intangible resources in an efficient and effective manner to ensure survival, growth and sustainability. Moreover, they focus on instilling flexibility and cost leadership. Nevertheless, they communicate the importance of change management practices to reduce resistance from workers who fear job losses, decline of position power, obsolescence or career plateaus if new policies and systems are implemented. Finally, the last role of consultants is to provide feasibility reports about the scope of specific projects followed by their support for completion of existing projects in pipeline. References Morrell, K., J. LoanClarke and A. Wilkinson (2001). “Unweaving Leaving: The Use of Models in the Management of Employee Turnover” University of Loughborough, Research Series Paper 1 Rowley, Chris (2001). 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