Introduction to Human Resource Department - Term Paper Example

Human Resources Management Table of Contents Introduction to Human Resource Department 3 Unionization 3 Chevron Corporation: A Brief History 4 Products and Services of the Company 5 Human Resource Issues 5 Human Resource Management Team of the Company 6 Human Resource Strategy/SWOT Analysis 6 Conclusion 7 Recommendations 8 Learning Outcome 10 References 11 Appendix 13 13 Introduction to Human Resource Department Employees play an indispensible role towards the unprecedented growth and success of an organization. The increasing importance of employees has rendered human resource management as one of the crucial functions of the organization (Peng, 2010, p.500). It performs various duties, starting from recruitment, training and development to sort out issues of the employees. In the context of the study Chevron corporation has been chosen to assess issues pertaining to human recourse management. The report will primarily highlight the unionization issues of Chevron Corporation. Furthermore the report will shed light on the strategy adopted by the company in order to cope up with the issue of unionization. The report will also offer some suggestions to the company by which it can effectively curb the unionization. The report will then conclude and finally the learning outcomes of the study will be also highlighted. Unionization Historically the concept of unionization was well acknowledged by several eminent scholars around the globe. However, only a few marked it as illegal practice. The concept of unionization within the organization was developed in the early 18th century. However with the passage of time the system became prominent in different parts of the world. Unionization is a process of forming groups among the workers of an organization. A union is therefore defined as a group of employees who strives to improve the working condition of the employees (O. C. Ferrell, Fraedrich & L. Ferrell, 2010, p.203). Such groups are generally made up of professionals, trainees, students and unemployed persons. Union relies on the fact that joint efforts are better than individual efforts and also helps in achieving the goals more flexibly The principal aims of unions are generally demands for higher pay packages, more leaves, increase in the number of employees for a particular job, to improve the condition of working, demand for additional facilities, rules and regulations pertaining to hiring and firing, promotion of workers, procedures of lodging complaints, safety within the workplace and about the different policies of the organization. Sometime unions also demand for shorter working hours (Beaumont, 1983, p.43). The concept of collective bargaining has led to the formation of unionization. A collective bargaining is therefore defined as a process by which a group of employee’s bargains with the employers regarding different benefits of the job. The phenomenon of collective bargaining has led to the increase in the negotiation power of the employees. Similarly the concept of unionization became a part of Chevron Corporation. The next half of the report will offer insights about the history of Chevron. Chevron Corporation: A Brief History The history of Chevron dates back to early 1870s when Pacific Coast Oil Company was formed. It is the oldest predecessor of the company. It launched the first steel tanker of California. The tanker had the capacity to ship 6,500 barrels. However in the year 1900 Pacific Coast Oil Company was acquired by Standard Oil Co., which was a subsidiary of John D. Rockefellers Standard Oil Company. Although in the year 1906 Coast oil was again reformed as Standard Oil Company, California. Once again in the year 1926 the company changed its name to Standard Oil Co. of California or SoCal. The merger and acquisition process continued till the early 1980s. Finally in 1984 SoCal changed its name to Chevron Corporation. Chevron Corporation is an US multinational company involved in the production and distribution of energy. The company is presently headquartered at San Ramon, California, United States. It was officially founded in the year 1984. It is the second largest oil corporation of the world after ExxonMobil. Chevron has its presence in more than 180 countries of the world. According to the Fortune 2012 global company list Chevron is positioned at the 8th place. As of the 2010 the company had employee strength of around 62,000. The company has total revenue of US $ 253.706 billion during the year 2011. Nevertheless there are some environmental issues with the company. This is the reason why the company was listed among the "The 14 Worst Corporate Evildoers" for the purpose of abusing human rights and for causing extensive environmental degradation. The company is also gripped by a lawsuit in the Ecuador for the purpose of land degradation by dumping crude oil and toxic wastewater for a period of 20 years (Knowmore, 2009). Products and Services of the Company Chevron Corporation has a large number of products in the field of petroleum. Some of the noteworthy brands of the company are Standard oil, Chevron, Texaco, Unocal and Caltex among the others. The products of the company include petroleum, natural gas, and other petrochemical products. The area of specialization includes production & exploration, marketing and distribution, manufacturing of chemicals and its sales. The best sellers for the company are Delo, Revtex, Havoline and Ursa. Fuel addictives such as Techron and Clean System-3 are also significant products of Chevron (Chevron, 2012). Apart from that this company is also active in the field of power generation. Chevron also has some convenience stores namely Star Mart, Redwood Market, Extra Mile and Town Pantry. Chevron spends around $ 35 billion towards the products and services annually. Furthermore the company is also dedicated to help small business ventures (Chevron, 2012). This is being carried out either through educational programs or by offering other business ventures to conduct business with them. Human Resource Issues Companies around the world are struggling to maintain their workforce. A company has to deal with various Human Resource issues. Some of the common matters of concern for an HR department in an organization are conflict among employees, union issues, salary and benefits issues, classification issues, global HR issues, hiring and dismissal issues. Furthermore there are also other issues that arise in the external environment, but the responsibility of resolving these lies with the HR department. In the context of the study that is to identify the HR issues of Chevron, a number of sources have been used. On reviewing the sources it has been found that the company is facing with the issue of unionization within the company. This is also impacting the overall performance and productivity o the company. Nevertheless the history of unionization in the company has been long. The union of the company has been raising issues on various matters. It includes hike in pay packages, more employee benefits, health and safety of workers, employment of foreign workers etc. Recently in Australia the unions attacked the company for not employing locals and preferring foreigners. The unions highlighted that the West Australian workers were not getting the benefit (WAToday, 2011). Therefore the union protested with the intention of forcing Chevron to consider local employees for the job. Likewise a number of other unionization issues have been raised in the company on account of various intentions. Historically Oil Workers International Union (OWIU) a group tried to maintain all the oil company unions under one roof, instead of functioning independently. Some recent example of unionization in Chevron depicts that irrespective of the strong resistances to unionization collective bargaining continues. Human Resource Management Team of the Company Human resource management has always been an important function of the organization. The management team of Chevron includes the following:- Joe W. Laymon, Vice President, Human Resources, Medical and Security. Wesley E. Lohec, Vice President, Health, Environment and Safety. Jodie, Human Resource Associate. Noreen, Human Resource Associate. Quyen, HR Communications Consultant. Rebecca, Personal Development Advisor. Abi, Human Resource Analyst. Justin, Employee Relations Counselor. Human Resource Strategy/SWOT Analysis Chevron Corporation has used several techniques to remain union free. The biggest transformation of the company in terms of labor relation came in the form of change in labor policies. The companies new labor policy reflects a sign of paternalism. The company has also incorporated various policies and taken several measures to reduce the impact of unions on the overall productivity of the company. However the union activities of the company were largely resisted by the Wagner Act. A detailed SWOT analysis of the company will help to serve the purpose. Hence the SWOT analysis of Chevron Corporation in the context of its HR management is presented below:- Strengths Chevron has a strong employment branding strategy. Effective management of turnover rate. Incorporated policies pertaining to employee safety and satisfaction. Opportunities Ensuring employee satisfaction to reduce the impact of various issues such as unionization. Weakness Strong union presence affecting company’s operations. Absence of any proper policy pertains to unions. Threats Presence of strong union groups. Collective bargaining. Off late the company has incorporated certain stringent policies in order to lessen the impact of unions. The company has also tried to reduce the communicating gap between the labors and management, thereby ensuring strong employee relation. Conclusion The report was about the recent human resource issues that are faced by a company. While conducting the study Chevron Corporation was chosen. The primary rationale behind choosing this organization was its rich history. Moreover the company is continuously facing issues pertaining to management of human resource. While consulting the literature and then formulating the study it has been found that the company has been hugely affected by unionization activities. However in order to curb this issue, the company has already taken various initiatives. Yet there are some issues that still impact the overall performance of the company. Therefore it can be concluded that the company is facing strong issues on unionization which is affecting the overall productivity of the company. Hence few suggestions are presented through which the company can remain free of unions. Recommendations Remaining free of unions offers a number of advantages to the organization. Although it is tough job to completely eradicate union from an organization, its impact can be minimized. The advantages for remaining union free are less pressure from employees, there will not be any unnecessary demands from the part of employees. Most importantly the company will be able to perform its operations without any internal as well as external turbulence. In order to cite an example companies such as Walmart have been highly benefitted for remaining union free. Before controlling the activities of union, the company should try to prevent the unionization activities. Therefore it is important to identify the major unions within the area and most importantly to assess the behavior of the employees within the organization who can be potential influencer for undertaking the unionism system. This will act as a preventive tool for the organization. Hence in accordance with the objective of the study few suggestions are presented which may help Chevron to remain free of unions or reduce their impacts of the company’s operation. The report has principally focused on the strategies by which the unionization can be controlled within the organization. In order to protect the employees from getting involved in union activities, few measures such as employee motivation programs can be initiated by Chevron. It can be in the form of rewards and certificates that increases an employee’s dedication towards the job. If the employees feel motivated they will also perform their job better. Through this report it can be proposed that the company should provide competitive wage and benefits the employees. Chevron should consider having an analysis of the industry salary structure and can make necessary revision in their structure (Snell & Bohlander, 2007, p.628). Apart from the analysis of wage structure the company should also make an assessment of the benefits offered by the industry. This will ensure that employees will remain loyal to the organization. Chevron Corporation can also make use of bulletins and newsletters within the organization which will help the employees to remain updated with the happenings of organization. In this context if the employees feel that they are valued by the company, employees will remain more committed towards their task. The act of making the employees notified about the happening ensures recognition of the individuals and facilitates collective importance. It is imperative to increase the communication within the organization. The company should allow all its employees to communicate with the management in a flexible manner. The communication can be about any issues pertaining to complaints, concerns and demands of the employees. The modes of communication that can be adopted by the company includes suggestion boxes, job courses, bulletin boards, and through various form of company proceedings. The next vital task which Chevron should take into account is about the education and proper training of the employees. Proper education, knowing advantages and disadvantages of various factors will increase loyalty of the workers towards the organization. During the study phase the company should consider to point out the effects of having union within the organization and how it will prevent them in directly approaching the management, generate political turbulence and other penal actions which they may have to face if the union goes for a strike. Furthermore employees should be strictly notified about the consequences they will have to face if they remain unionized. Chevron Corporation should also consider providing training to its management staff in order to make them capable of dealing with the issues of unions and other external problems. In this regards the company can study about the fact, whether competitors are also facing the problem of unionization or not. If so the strategy adopted by the competitors can be followed. Furthermore, it is also recommended that the company should reconsider or restructure their promotional policies. A well structured promotional policy will ensure that the employees target a desired position for themselves and put efforts to reach that goal. This will help the employees to focus only on work ((Hall, Jones & Raffo, 2008, p.477). Chevron follows time based promotional system, hence it should also make provisions for promotions based on performance and maintaining the ethical standards of the organization. The next important recommendation is that the company should launch different employee motivational and promotional programs. It can be accomplished by various competitions within the organization. The winners of these competitions can be rewarded with some monetary awards, certificates and different other forms. The competition can be about employee of the month on the basis of performance, attendance award etc. The final recommendation for the company is that, Chevron should try to make the working environment hygienic and safe. Safety is a factor which should be given the highest priority (Hollenback, 2007, p.8). Therefore the company must make sure that there are available beds or dedicated beds for our employees within the hospital. It is also our obligation to provide free treatment to the employees and the medical scheme must also cover their family belongingness as well. Learning Outcome From the study a number of things have been learned. Firstly the various issues that a company faces regarding the management of employees are well understood. The study has also helped to understand the fact that how most of the issues arise within the organization as well as in the external environment is addressed by the human resource department of the organization. Through the study different techniques of human resource management have been learned. Finally the report has made possible to get insights about the concept of unionization and how an organization can control it for the betterment of the organization. References Beaumont, P. B. (1983). Safety at Work and the Unions. London: Routledge. Bender, S., & Fish, A. (1997). The Transfer of Knowledge and the Retention of Expertise: The Continuing Need for Global Assignments. Journal of Knowledge Management, 4, 125-137. doi: 10.1108/13673270010372251. Chevron. ( 2012). Procurement/Supply Chain M.B.A. Development Program. Retrieved from http://careers.chevron.com/brochures/59634_Revise_Procurement_MBA_Bro_v8.pdf. Chevron. (2012). Products & Services. Retrieved from http://www.chevron.com/productsservices/. Ferrell, O. C., Fraedrich, J., & Ferrell, L. (2010). Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases (8th ed.). Connecticut: Cengage Learning. Hall, D., Jones, R., & Raffo, C. (2008). Business Studies (3rd ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Education Ltd. Hollenback, C. (2007). Industrial Hygiene & Safety Auditing: A Manual for Practice (2nd ed.). Virginia: American Industrial Hygiene Association. Knowmore. (2009). Chevron Texaco Corporation. Retrieved from http://www.knowmore.org/wiki/index.php?title=Chevron_Texaco_Corporation. Peng, M. W. (2010). Global Business (2nd ed.). Connecticut: Cengage Learning. Snell, S., & Bohlander, G. W. (2007). Managing Human Resources. Connecticut: Cengage Learning. WAToday. (2011). Unions Attack Chevron Over Foreign Jobs. Retrieved from http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/unions-attack-chevron-over-foreign-jobs-20111129-1o4yt.html. Appendix Appendix 1 – Employee Development Figure 1- Development of Employees (Source: Bender & Fish, 1997, pp.125-137) Read More