The HRM Aspects and Procedures of an Organisation - Assignment Example

?The HRM Aspects and Procedures of an Organisation In general, the existing theories of human resource management tend to focus on organisational aspects concerning the hiring of employees, and their maintenance within the organisation. One model of human resource management, known as the Harvard model, views an organisation’s workers as a valuable asset that has to be included in all decision making if the organisation is to realise its objectives. According to (Tyson, 2006) the Harvard model has six main elements. These include: Stakeholder interests Situational Aspects HR outcomes Human resource policy plans Long term consequences The Harvard theory also covers other areas that are related with employee concerns such as reward systems for hardworking workers, the flow of human resources, and worker’s influence. Such policies address the 4C’s, which is another trait of the Harvard HRM theory. The 4C’s, which stand for the commitment, competence of the workers, and the cost effectiveness and congruence of an organisation’s HRM department, are factors that contribute to the company’s overall effectiveness. Most human resource divisions monitor processes such as the employment, training, and appraisal of their employees. Recruitment An organisation’s recruitment process can either be external or internal. It might consist of functions such as advertisement in elements of the mass media, job application procedures, selection, and finally training. Prior to engaging in hiring, most organisations will do researches on the existing suitable candidates for the available positions and then conduct tests on all applicants so as to find out their areas of competence. Recruitment is a vital stage for all organisations because hiring semi skilled workers can adversely affect a company’s productivity. It is not regarded by corporate heads as a process that is the responsibility of junior heads. Recruitment usually requires the input of management executives and long-term planning to ensure that the best candidates are gotten for the existing vacancies. In the recent past, there has been a lot of competition between different companies for the most talented workers between different companies. Most recruiters wish to employ well rounded workers who will fit in with their corporate cultures and add positive characteristics to it. Recruiters also tend to look for candidates who can work well in teams or groups and will actually motivate others through their contributions. In many cases, even skilled candidates have to undergo a period of training in order to learn more about their new company. Most organisations use rigorous employment methods in order to ensure that they only use their resources to train candidates that will give back to the company. Employee Development and Training There is a different training program for new workers in every organisation. Each company’s training program is concerned with its particular needs. It is not just the new recruits who develop from training programs in most companies, but the existing workers can also learn new skills that might enable them to benefit from promotions. Making new plans for recruitment programs is also a program that helps companies to discover areas where they might need to improve or develop more. To make sure that they have competent training programs, most organisations evaluate the existing programs for shortcomings and then make the needed improvements while incorporating new procedures. In the present, business arena, most organisations use different methods to train new recruits. There are many companies, for instance, that make use of online training when seeking to hire students or employees from far flung locations. Using this kind of distant learning is a cost effective measure as it trains potential workers on all aspects of operations of the company while saving on travelling costs. Students, particularly, are enthusiasts of this method because they may be qualified and apply for a position even while taking their final examinations. This means that even taking a day to travel to the company’s headquarters will waste precious time that might have been used for study purposes. Performance Appraisal Performance appraisal basically entails comparing the performance of workers to the set standards of a company in order to gauge their adeptness. In most organisations, such assessments are conducted sporadically (Korsten, 2003). An organisation’s supervisors will conduct such tests to make sure that each worker’s talents are being used to the maximum capacity while also discovering areas where the workers have to be trained more effectively. Performance appraisals also help corporate executives to know the workers who deserve promotions while also considering the best candidates to occupy the higher positions. It is vital for all such assessments to be conducted in an impartial and transparent manner. This is because appraisals can be the cause of disagreements between the workforce and the management. If the workers, for some reason, feel that there is favouritism, they will become disgruntled and distrustful of the management. Any competent appraisal programme has to have a feedback as well as evaluation system. The feedback structure exists in order to let workers know about how they are performing as well as the areas in which they should improve. The evaluation system, on the other hand, works to inform the management of the existence of any breaks between the company’s standards and the employees’ performance. From the worker’s standpoint, the evaluation system helps in understanding how well he or she has performed, and when rewards are due for exceptional work. For the organisation, such appraisals help them to understand how each worker is functioning, as well as to gauge accountability within the workforce. This is particularly important when there is the overlapping of different work functions (Korsten, 2003). Overlaps can result in workers to hide behind the inscrutability and avoid accountability when mistakes take place. Performance appraisals allow supervisors to check such situations and rectify them. Job Analysis Job analysis is important because it permits the organisation to scrutinise concerns such as upgrading company operations in order to be more competitive, and gauge the progress of equal employment strategies. In the human resource departments, job analysis is used to define the tasks that are ascribed to different jobs. Job specification, which falls under the category of job analysis, is also a grouping that defines the qualifications and skills that a candidate should have. The Kraft Foods Company The Kraft Corporation, which is based in the United States, is one of the world’s leading food companies. It has branches in more than 160 nations worldwide, with billions of revenue being accrued on a yearly basis (ChoiceLevel Books, 2009). The firm was launched in 1903 by James Kraft in Chicago (ChoiceLevel Books, 2009). Kraft slowly developed over the years into an outsized company that is recognised for its products. Kraft has inclusive and open policies that allow it to conduct operations with numerous companies that trust its operations due to this transparency. In the aspect of human resources, Kraft is keen to cater for the needs of its diverse workforce and enable them to meet personal goals while also contributing to organisational objectives. Kraft offers training sessions for all its workers to be able to participate in realising corporate objectives while also functioning well among their co-workers who come from different parts of the world. Kraft aligns its diversity plans for integration with its corporate goals so as to enhance its effectiveness in the corporate scene. The Kraft Corporation uses the Harvard theory in its human resources management process basis (ChoiceLevel Books, 2009). This model is appropriate as Kraft has a diverse workforce that is made up of people from all over the world, and so functions for the betterment of its stakeholders. In the past, Kraft employees who have participated in surveys have supported the claim that the company implements the 4Cs of the Harvard model of human resource management. Kraft employees benefit from a unique type of training programme that caters to their individual needs while also offering opportunities for development and promotion. Kraft’s corporate policies allow for hardworking workers to be able to benefit from promotions, pay incentives, or other rewards. The Kraft management deems that the psychological satisfaction of its workers is vital to their ability to be able to realise corporate objectives. Kraft’s policies show that it considers its employees to be a major asset. It has also ensured that its corporate strategies are aligned with its human resource strategies. In a past research in which Kraft employees were participants, some of the questions that were asked include: Do you have career goals? Do you feel that your company recognises them and is committed to helping you to realise them? Where do you think you will be in the next few years? Do you expect to enter other training programmes availed by the company in order to get a promotion? As a worker, how do you make yourself indispensable to your corporation? (Mulligan) How often do you have to deal with heavy workloads? How are problems or disagreements between workers solved? Do you feel that you benefit from directions that are provided by the company’s supervisors? Do such directions benefit you in achieving your aims? How often do ethical dilemmas take place, and how are they handled by the management? How is communication with workers used to capitalise on commitment to corporate policies? How is employee devolvement accentuated through decentralisation, involvement, and empowerment? Problems of the Harvard Model of HRM The human resource Harvard model has a number of shortcomings. For instance, it does not show how corporate objectives are an important contributor to HRM polices and regulations. In addition, the Harvard model may not work in all scenarios because different workers have different personalities, and therefore their actions cannot be generalised. Any efficient manager should use points from all models of HRM practice in order to have policies that cater for the inclinations of all workers. Recommendations In most of today’s organisations like Kraft, there are workers from different ethnicities and nations. This is advantageous for the companies as they are exposed to different systems of belief, some of which may be constructive. However, there can also be more problems experienced as a result of a diversified workforce. This can be a particular problem for the human resource departments of such organisations because people from different ethnicities have different perceptions of what collaboration or certain rules mean. Such workers may interpret different rules according to their particular cultures. In addition, the psychological needs of such workers differ from those of the rest of the workforce. This means that the aspects that motivate other workers may not seem as exceptional to them (Boxall and Purcell, 2003). There might also be a communication barrier between the management and such workers due to language or cultural barriers. Human resource departments across organisations should look into more effective ways of removing the barriers that exist between them and their increasingly multi-ethnic workforces. Another major factor has to do with solving disputes between multi ethnic workers. Whenever there are workers from different ethnic groups in an organisation, there might be more disagreements than might occur in a more homogenous labour force (Korsten, 2003). The disciplinary measures that ought to be used to solve such problems should first be carefully considered. Inadequate disciplinary measures can result in claims of favouritism or discrimination from other workers, even though the organisation’s administration may simply be attempting to deal with a problem in an unexaggerated manner. Communication is critical when dealing with disciplinary problems for both the errant party as well as the other workers. However, any potential misunderstandings can be dealt with before they happen by directives that are aimed at improving communication between the workers from different ethnicities. Through such constructive approaches, the workers will be more employees will feel that they are held in high esteem by the management, and be more ready to cooperate in other areas of work. In addition, not all problems should be dealt with through dismissals or other penalties without first considering the circumstances that contributed to the situation. In many cases, scuffles between employees become common when there is a lot of work and the workers are somewhat stressed. In such cases, the fight is the result of overflowing stress; and the answer is not to use disciplinary measures but to find new ways of relieving work related stress. Listening to employees and asking for their input can stop such situations from unfolding. Moreover, it takes an exceptionally tolerant supervisor to act effectively in such circumstances. Relieving work related stress may call for the management to allow for changes in work operations or practices. Many times, when scuffles break out among workers in large corporations such as Kraft, the management feels compelled to deal swiftly and strictly with them instead of taking time to understand the underlying causes. This is where the human resource departments of such companies should step in and argue for the importance of maintaining objectivity and searching for the real causes of tension. Other changes that should be implemented to improve human resource departments include the recruitment methods that are used by organisations. It has become hard in the present business world to not only draw skilled workers, but also to maintain them due to the competition that exists between different companies. Not only is it difficult to recruit skilled workers, but also to retain them (Jones, Shultz and Chapman, 2006). To attract skilled personnel and retain them, companies have to be ready to review their past recruitment strategies and learn new ways of energising and motivating their workers in order to keep them interested. In the present business scene, most of the highly-qualified employees cannot be attracted by standard incentives such as benefits and additional compensation packages (Tyson, 2006). To draw skilled workers at present, human resource departments have to first determine if the workers they are looking for have adequate skills that can justify the efforts taken to draw them. It is also vital for human resource specialists to keep learning about the most recent trends in performance appraisals, staffing, training and development, compensation and benefits, safety and health, and workforce relations matters in the present global market. Skilled and talented workers in today’s world want to be given room to develop, and the chance to partake in the objectives of corporations that have consequential goals. The HR divisions of most corporations today are still not proactive, but rather react to problems as they come. This removes true value from the existing HR procedures. Human resource professionals should not be compelled to merely react to the statues of an organisation’s management. In the past, catering to the dictates of the corporate executives on how employees were to be handled was the main function of human resource departments. In addition, employees would have to channel their requests through the HRM division whenever they wished to express any views on different work-related subjects. This, however, is an outmoded style of operations. Today’s HR policies are mainly concerned with playing an active part in developing or enhancing organisations’ performances. Indeed, in some organisations, projections from the human resource department are used to guide decisions on whether to decrease costs or change work practices. Human resource specialists today have to be prepared to play different roles in their organisations in order to serve their interests in the most efficient way. It is important for them to move past the role of the strategic business partner to one which recognises them as big players in business. In such a capacity, human resource divisions will be able to enhance the productivity of organisations more effectively. As business players, human resource professionals can coach, structure, adjust organisational policies where necessary, and inspire followers. In companies with the most advanced roles for human resource professionals, the HRM division is viewed as having innovators, strategic business partners, facilitators, and team members. Therefore, as business partners, HR specialists ought to be able to appreciate their organisation from operational, strategic, and financial points of view. In their capacity as business innovators, HR representatives will not just function in intransigent ways but will have the opportunity to search for ways that will produce value for the business. In addition, when functioning as collaborators with the high ranking executives in organisations, human resource personnel have the opportunity to work with other workers in creating links all through the company (Beardwell and Claydon, 2007). As facilitators, HR personnel can act as the agents of change who explain, reason, and encourage an organisation’s workers to embrace any proposed changes. Conclusion The human resources division is, in the present business scene, a necessity for any organisation. All business organisations at present have to contend with forces that are bringing radical changes to different sectors and which call for continued excellence in the business scene. The only way to remain at the forefront of this move is to ensure that technological improvements are maintained, teamwork is improved upon, the enhancement of quality operations is maintained, and to keep improving relations with the workforce. Human resource divisions in organisations can actually contribute to advancement by assisting the middle managers to market products and thereby learn how to represent the needs of workers to the management and vice versa. In addition, the CEOs of organisations ought to encourage their human resource departments to function independently when seeking to discover new ways of communicating effectively with employees and improving their overall work experiences. Human resource departments, when allowed to, can be of great assistance in ensuring that companies meet challenges like assimilating technological inventions into operations, dealing with globalisation, preserving intellectual capital, and having to deal with constant change. This department can be used as the active sphere of the organisation that manages all organisational operations while capitalising on the contributions and efforts of workers in order to engender the necessary change. References Beardwell, J. & Claydon, T. (2007) Human resource management: a contemporary approach, Prentice Hall, Harlow. Boxall, P. & Purcell, J. (2003) Strategy and human resource management, Palgrave, Basingstoke. ChoiceLevel Books. (2009) Kraft foods inc. business background report, www.ChoiceLevel.com. Dessler, G. (2004) Human resource management, Pearson/Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Jones, D.A., Shultz, J.W. & Chapman, D.S. (2006) ‘Recruiting through job advertisements: the effects of cognitive elaboration on decision making’, International Journal of Selection and Assessment, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 167-179. Korsten, A.D. (2003) ‘Developing a training plan to ensure employees keep up with the dynamics of facility management’, Journal of Facilities Management, vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 365-379. Tyson, S. (2006) Essentials of human resource management, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford. Read More