Human Resource Management - Marketing Ethics - Essay Example

Running head: HRM Human Resource Management/ marketing ethics ___________ ________________________ ________________ Human Resource Management/ marketing ethics Link between performance and pay Whether a performance linked pay actually translates into increased performance Or in its operative forms such incentive systems have other adverse repercussions These are two moot questions which have been long open to public scrutiny. Recent hallmark initiatives of Bush administration in Federal services, where performance has always been a critical matter, are under examination. New changes make managers really sit up and take note of performers and incentives systems have been drawn to reward high performances. Managers are accountable for outputs and they have been asked to promote performers. While performance pay sounds like an ideal method to reward top workers and weed out inefficient ones, a system that isn't set up properly can spark divisive competition among colleagues, erode teamwork and alienate employees who view pay for performance as unfair (Zeller, 2004). An additional aspect is lack of bench mark systems for appraisal of performance. The resultant organizational environment can be suspicion ridden and full of unhealthy and politicized competition with generous measures of back biting. Result would be, sooner than later, performance would suffer or would be limited to those who survive such intensely competitive environment. Thus a high performance incentive system has to be more than skin deep. It has to address root problems and issues. A properly defined and implemented performance pay system would include: (1) performance incentives designed at the organizational, team and individual levels; (2) clear indications that incentives are solely and meaningfully linked to the performance with further qualifications that incentives are results-oriented, customer-oriented, realistic, and subject to such measures that link them to various dimensions of performance; (3) robust feedback from managers and employees on the equity, adequacy, and effectiveness of the agency's performance incentives system and periodic revision of such systems based on such feedback ; (4) benchmarking against same industry-line high-performance organizations (Kim,2002).A meaningful high performance culture would require that the organization remolds its habits, hearts and minds." Tools for changing habits are meeting the customers, walking in the customer's shoes, job rotation, internships and externships, cross-walking and cross-talking, institutional sponsors, contests, large-scale real-time strategic planning, workouts (group exercises in barrier-free climates), hands-on organizational experiences, and redesigning work. Tools for touching hearts are utilization of new symbols, new stories, celebrating success, honoring failure, rituals, investing in the workplace, redesigning the workplace, investing in employees, and bonding events. Tools for winning minds are benchmarking performance, site visits, learning groups, creating a sense of mission, building shared vision, articulating organizational values, beliefs, and principles, using new language, in-house schoolhouses, and orienting new members. ... Such a high-performance organization would nurture a work environment that contributes to continuous learning, improvement, and mission accomplishment that provides both accountability and fairness for all employees (Kim, 2002). Who benefits from Training "You are also aware that, in both public and private sectors, there are a growing number of examples of how a better trained workforce correlates with reduced costs, increased profitability, improved services, and increased customer satisfaction. No major, successful corporation fails to invest significantly in its people - the most important resource........ Effective training can help provide the employees with the skills they need while addressing other human resource problems such as turnover. The key is to plan your training strategically"(US, 2000).This appears to be a one sided view from the organizational angle. However it just touches upon the employee dimension when it relates to high employee turnover and promises solution through strategic planning of training needs. The circumstances in which training benefits employee and not the organization and vice versa actually represent situations of misdirected training efforts. Particularly the former case where investment in training has just benefited the employee without any value addition for organizations. Strategic training essentially covers a comprehensive organizational goal analysis. Goals are compared with competencies to identify gaps. Training methods are assessed for their abilities to pin pointedly address these gaps. Non-training methods and devises are assessed, as well, alongside training methods for holistic elimination of gaps. Post training evaluations essentially take the form of measurement of skills enhancement and gaps' reduction or elimination. It is followed by competency based placement of the employee post training. If strategic plan for training has been set up as per above stated blue print then it is unlikely that training could miss the target. An appropriately imparted training would reduce the internal frustration within the employee by handing over new or enhanced skill to him. Thus far he is motivated enough. However if the skill, which the training addresses to nurture, is not the one then which job needs then it would increase the employee frustration. Similarly if a newly acquired skill is not utilized at job and the employee deployed elsewhere then again training effort would be counter productive. Routine assignments for the organizations may require training for newer methods of handling. Though they still remain routine tasks. Without a timely rotation away from such tasks and repeated training in routine tasks may be beneficial for organization as its routine (and bulk) tasks are being handled efficiently; however the same may again demotivate the employee. Thus in any strategic plan of training rotation away from routine jobs and their equitable distribution between eligible candidates must be ensured. The employee who has been shifted from routine tasks to more creative and responsible assignments would attend and gain from training in any such new task areas with double the motivation. Use for Competencies "How is competency different from knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA) most people are familiar with in our merit systems Competencies encompass KSAs but also other characteristics or personal characterstics.Competency can be defined as a characterstic of an employee that contributes to successful job performance and the achievement of organizational results. These include knowledge, skills and abilities plus other characterstics such as values, motivation, initiative, and self-control"(New York).It may be seen that the above definition has specific emphasis of 'successful job performance' which helps achieve 'organizational results'. Thus end results are turning more important as far as employee performances are concerned. It is but natural for an organization to target end results of increased output in a globalized and competitive environment where fast technological changes are making doing the business arduous. To add to the challenge customer expectations of timely deliverance of quality products and services are rising. On the supply side of labor market professionalization of education has reset new standards of quality of labor supply. Skill and knowledge levels are getting upgraded with a very highly defined minima becoming common place. Thus there is now recognition of the fact that a successful employee needs much more than mere technical skills and qualifications in order to deliver the cargo. In particular customer orientation is seen as an added advantage. Additional characterstics like values, motivation, initiative, and self-control are seen as essential inputs for developing customers' orientation. Competencies thus defined are being increasingly used to launch in fresh markets and retain firmly existing markets. Two views in use of competencies have emerged. One is that of a learning organization. In this type of organization competencies are developed through a conscious process of adding to the entire employee characteristics set mentioned in the definition of competency as above. Herein the employee learns and uses learnt material on the job for the benefit of the organization. Soon competency levels transform into holistic dimensions and the employee is upgraded to more responsibility. This pervades entire organization and organization performs while it learns and vice versa. Second view is to use competencies to consciously devise succession planning. Here competencies are built through training to fill in the gap left by retired or retrenched workers. New employees have to assume the mantle of retired or retrenched workers and old employees are trained to develop competencies to assume higher responsibilities. In this manner any change in the number and composition of workforce, whatever may be the reason to occasion it, is not allowed consciously to affect organizations work and objectives. 'Boycotts' versus 'Buycotts' While consumer activisms has mostly assumed the form of consumer boycotts in the past a new term called consumer buycott has emerged as a flipside tool of consumer activism vis a vis much popular consumer boycotts. Boycotts simply meant deliberate stopping of consumption of those goods and services where producers did not either meet with ethical, regulatory standards or played cartel to rig prices or even indulged in anti consumer activities of any other sort. Here natural consumer reaction was to boycott their goods and services in order to discipline producers. Such boycotts were practiced since long and a popular one was beef boycott to protest against sharp rigging of beef prices by the beef trust. "What some consumer activists see as a promising alternative to consumer boycotts is their 'flip side,' namely efforts called 'consumer buycotts' which attempt to induce shoppers to buy the products or services of selected companies in order to reward them for behavior which is consistent with the goals of the activist"(Friedman, 1997).The buycott process takes effect through calls by activists to use particular type of compliant products and services. The calls take the form of publishing listings, mailings or branding with seal of approvals the products subject to buycott.These lists recommend users to buycott products as they meet approval standards set up by the activists. One has Green pages, ecofriendly products and 'cruelty free' cosmetics to site a few examples of listings. Some typical examples of buycott can be seen in RUGMARK seals which certify that carpet manufacturing has not used child labor; dolphin-safe symbol on canned tuna etc.While boycott activism is more practiced as a potent anti corporate activity it is the buycott which has a constructive edge to it. It is an activism tool which supports instilling of discipline by encouraging use of disciplined products. It only indirectly discourages those products which are not compliant. It is a moot question if a buycott and boycott could be combined into a complete tool to ensure discipline from both directions. Works Cited Zeller, Shawn. Performance Pay Perils.govexec.com. February15,2004 Kim, Pan S, CULTURAL CHANGE IN GOVERNMENT: PROMOTING A HIGH-PERFORMANCE CULTURE. A Review of Ten Years of Modernization: The HRM Perspective. Human Resources Management (HRM) Working Party Meeting.OECD Headquarters, Paris. 7-8 October 2002. U. S. Office of Personnel Management. Office of Workforce Relations. A Guide to Strategically Planning Training and Measuring Results. July 2000. New York State. Department of Civil Services/Governor's Office of Employee Relations. Work Force and Succession Planning-Tools and Resources. Friedman,Monroe. Consumer 'Buycotts': Accenting the Positive With Organized Consumer Action. Customer Relationship Management. Issue #1.1997. Read More