Midlands Firm: the Nature of Human Resource Management this Organization - Assignment Example

Problems and Probable Solutions of Human Resources Management in Highway Stores Ltd Introduction The human resource department of any organization is of prime importance in the modern era of marketing and management. Keeping this in mind it could be stated that the management section of human resource department holds the success of any organization. It is true that machineries are as important for most industries but still the human elements hold the penultimate key of success. The management principals implemented by organizations in view of human resource management are wide and numerous in accordance to the nature of the business. In this report the focal point of discussion would be based on Midlands firm in United Kingdom. This company is Highway Stores Ltd and we would see the nature of HRM this organization follows. Here in this company the department that handles all the employee related matters is referred to as Personnel Department though it should be noted that the training policies are maintained and looked over by other departments. Analysis The head office in Midlands of Highway Stores Ltd controls the Personnel Function and here the hierarchy is formulated in three fold structures with three Personnel Administrators, one Personnel Officer and one Personnel Manager who is directly responsible for the department. Collaboration sense prevails with the department indulge in looking after different personnel duties that include all issues related to employees. Like training the payroll issue is looked after by the Finance department and the Personnel function is responsible to repot all issues relation to these to the Legal Director of the Highway Stores Ltd. Therefore, it could be stated that the responsibilities of the Personnel Function department of Highway Stores Ltd. is limited in many sense among which the training sector which is so important to the HRM is detached from the overhead. This would lead to substantial problem in future as the training modules are formulated only for the store workers and not for the personnel working at the head office. This would ultimately lead to a sense of discrimination in the context of future communication system. This leads to a situation where there needs to be a problem solving overhead for Personnel Function department of Highway Stores Ltd. The absence of such a department only could add fuel to the probable problems to arise in future. However there is a standardized internal policy that provides a tentative guideline if needed. Absence of a clearly laid down policy as well as lack of contact over the training procedures sets a field of probable problem that could cause trouble in future within Personnel Function department of Highway Stores Ltd. It is also found in Personnel Function department of Highway Stores Ltd. that this lack of needed training proves to be of a huge disadvantage whereas this problem is confronted by only the manager who is blissfully qualified in this sense. But this imbalance of knowledge would ultimately cause further drift within the department; at least theoretically there is the potential within the Personnel Function department of Highway Stores Ltd. Another problem at Personnel Function department of Highway Stores Ltd. is the personnel leave and sickness issue. This is another weak point of the department. This is because the Personnel Function department of Highway Stores Ltd. is responsible of keeping record of personnel leave due to sickness which exceeds more than six weeks but apart form this record the department is not responsible for any other records of employees who remain absent for reasons other than sickness. Moreover, records are not maintained if the employee is absent less than six weeks. This proves to be a fatal disadvantage of records by the Personnel Function department of Highway Stores Ltd. and the basic effectiveness of maintaining a HRM is mostly lost. But the most interesting and wearisome problem of the Personnel Function department of Highway Stores Ltd. is the process involved in recruitment of personnel. Though the basic process of the formulation of this function is related to the Managing Director but in practice this ob is carried out by the Area Manager. The fact that is more worrisome in this case is that the Personnel Function department of Highway Stores Ltd. is rarely informed regarding this recruitment. In fact Personnel Function holds little or no place or role in this process of recruitment. Recommendations The first and foremost requirement of the Personnel Function department of Highway Stores Ltd is to redesign the structural phase of strategic and formularizer area of the company there by have a more effective participation in the field of management sector especially the human resource development sector. If it is not desirable for the administration to be more individualistic in operational sense it should be looked in area where it would be able to take up more responsibilities individually rather than reporting an in flow out flow statement for the company. According to Conner (1996) "to improve its effectiveness and have greater impact, the human resource function must understand how to add value in the organization by helping line managers align HR strategies, processes, and practices with business needs; This will require HR professionals to perform increasingly complex and at times paradoxical roles" (Conner et al., 1996, 38). It is also stated that "it is only through performance measuring that one can really articulate the benefits of HR strategies in achieving the organization's business strategy and in the process enhance the credibility of the HR profession" (Ramlall, 2003, 60). On the other hand, Mathews (1998, 175) accepts that "before diversity strategies are implemented, the organization's cultural environment, management and evaluation systems should be examined to ascertain if existing personnel/human resources processes will support or hinder diversity in the organization; Then, appropriate strategies can be designed to develop and manage diversity based on these findings". Moreover, Brown et al. (1997) refer to the study of Carnevale (1990) according to which "organizations are relying quite heavily on in-house T&D (training and development) services; Sixty-nine percent of T&D is designed and delivered in-house, compared to 31% purchased from outside vendors". From another point of view, it has been proved that "for those organizations seeking a competitive advantage through innovative human resource activity, strategic skills analysis (SSA) represents a means to link business strategy with human resource strategy" (Summers et al., 1997, 18). To enhance the overall performance scenario of the company Highway Stores Ltd and to compete in the market in a more effective manner the company as well as the Personnel Function department should be able to undergo few needed changes. The first and foremost change in the Personnel Function department of Highway Stores Ltd would be in ascertaining and evaluating the personnel involved in the company on a regular basis. For this the Personnel Function department of Highway Stores Ltd should implement static goals for the each individual. These should be maintained by providing regular feedbacks and rectification process if needed should be implemented. Meetings and dissuasions should be held regularly to evaluate the situation on a regular basis too. This method of evaluation once implemented would result in mark differences in the attitude of the employees and at the same time the concept and perception towards the work are sure to change. This method once implemented should be verifies and spread all along the line of the organization resulting a better mode of communication among the departments and it would not just be confined within the perimeter of the Personnel Function department of Highway Stores Ltd. this better means of communication would help the company to develop better and practical view of future strategies. Next, the most important implementation of function should be the measures to be taken in the context of application of a homogenous training program followed by a specified training program that would enable the personnel to realize their individual position within the organization. Alongside the perimeter of individual perception of work would also develop a positive attitude towards individual job within the company with a base result of a better and more involved production approach. Moreover, a formulation should be placed where the employees should be prized in case of better performance or a bonus method should be implemented in specific case where the goal would have been announced earlier or before hand as a target. It could be stated that "such an activity creates greater workforce flexibility by enabling employees to respond rapidly to a changing environment and customer needs; The above initiative should also provide an effective means to broadly address the needs of different segments of the employee population - for example, addressing the needs of minority groups, which are of increasing importance with the growing diversity of the workforce" (Elsdon et al., 1999, 41, 45). Supports should be provided to the employees who need to be nurtured carefully at the initial stages in the company. The Personnel Function department of Highway Stores Ltd should make it a point to be noted that this help in the initial stages would result in a specific form of loyalty within the perception loyalty. Again the matter of payroll is another area of concern of the Personnel Function department of Highway Stores Ltd. more should be offered to the members of the work force who are more productive otherwise it would be meant that there would not be enough motivation for the long run. Lastly, it should be taken into account that all the measures taken within the Personnel Function department of Highway Stores Ltd and beyond its perimeter should be evaluated regularly by the Managing Director. For this and to help the managing director of the Personnel Function department of Highway Stores Ltd appropriate technology should be provided and all necessary helping perceptions should be provided to make the optimum usage of the approach. According to Lawler et al. (2003, 15) who stated that HR "has mainly focused on the administrative aspects of human resource management; however, with the growth of information technology, the hold of the corporate staff of HR on this work is weakening significantly however much administration can be accomplished by self-service information technology solutions that are either hosted by the company or outsourced". Conclusion The Personnel Function department of Highway Stores Ltd. would find these recommendations quite helpful if implemented properly. But to make it possible to follow these instructions closely and implement in a well formulated manner applications should be the combinations of the basic structures of the organization of Highway Stores Ltd. should be changed and in particularly the department of Personnel Function department of Highway Stores Ltd. For this the principals of change management should be implemented successfully within the organizational structure of Highway Stores Ltd and it should not be confined only to Personnel Function department. Alongside it should be kept into mind that each change should be well formulated and evaluated keeping in mind the current market structure and especially the call of the basic organization i.e. Personnel Function department of Highway Stores Ltd. the base ability of the firm is another concern of this proposed change. It would be unlikely proposal for success if change principals are followed blindly without taking into consideration the potential of the firm. It should be remembered that Personnel Function department of Highway Stores Ltd. effectively possess the potential of the basic changes proposed. But it should be maintained all along the administrative lines of communications. At the same time it should be accounted for that the Personnel Function department of Highway Stores Ltd. does lack some parts and not all areas are well capable of withstanding this change. Therefore changes are evitable but should be implemented with care. References Brown, K.G., Durham, C.C., Kristoff, A.L., Kunder, L., Olian, J.D., Pierce, R.M. 1998. Designing Management Training and Development for Competitive Advantage: Lessons from the Best. Human Resource Planning, 21(1): 20-32 Conner, J., Ulrich, D. (1996). Human Resource Roles: Creating Value, Not Rhetoric. Human Resource Planning, 19(3):38-46 Elsdon, R., Iyer, S. (1999). Creating Value and Enhancing Retention through Employee Development: The Sun Microsystems Experience. Human Resource Planning, 22(2):39-47 Lawler, E.E., Mohrman, S.A. (2003). HR as a Strategic Partner: What Does It Take to Make It Happen Human Resource Planning, 26(3): 15-31 Mathews, A. (1998). Diversity: A Principle of Human Resource Management. Public Personnel Management. 27(2): 175-183 Ramlall, S.J. 2003. Measuring Human Resource Management's Effectiveness in Improving Performance. Human Resource Planning, 26(1):51-64 Summers, S.B., Summers, T.P. (1997). Strategic Skills Analysis for Selection and Development. Human Resource Planning, 20(3): 14-19 Read More