The Benefits that Effective HR Practices Can Bring to an Organization - Essay Example

Critically examination of the benefits that effective HR practices can bring to an organization. The benefits that effective HR practices can bring to an organization Business organizations set up a value in the marketplace that provides profit to the enterprise. The business needs to have an overall competitive advantage in the marketplace in which the Human Resource (HR) has a large role to play; it affects all employees, in the same way. Human resources play a strategic role in an organization; it builds the human capital that drives the organization’s activities to success (Inyang, 2011, pg. 141). It focuses on employment relationships such as developing, attracting, motivating, and maintaining a vibrant workforce (Inyang, 2011, pg. 141).  The relevance of human resources as a competitive advantage has greater acknowledgment over the last decade (Innocenti, Profili & Sammarra, 2012, pg. 725).  Organizations are increasingly investing time and money adopting high and sophisticated human resource (HR) practices to boost their competitiveness and employees’ development and engagement (Innocenti, Profili & Sammarra, pg. 725). The benefits that effective human resource practices bring to an organization can be identified from the roles it plays. One of them is to maintain healthy relationships between employees in an organization. The Human Resource ensures that management deal effectively with everything concerning employment and development of people, as well as employment relationships between people and the workforce (Inyang, 2011, pg. 141).  It ensures benefit to both the organization and employment by creating a conducive environment, where people can use the best of their abilities and realize their potential. In conjunction with senior and line managers, the human resource management creates business strategy plus help to improve planning from the boardroom to the marketplace.  The HR organizes and executes work, plus deliver administrative efficiency to ensure cost reduction and quality of services and products (Inyang, 2011, pg. 142). Another benefit is to increase employee contribution and commitment to the organization by representing their interests to senior management. It also plays the role of a change agent where it shapes processes and culture that improves the organization’s capacity for change. The emergence of human resource came as the need for companies to employ appropriately skilled people so that they can expand.  Adoption of human resource practices in areas of training and development helps to maximize employees’ positive work attitudes (Innocenti, Profili & Sammarra, 2012, pg. 724). Experience of HR development practices changes with age.  Human Resource (HR) practices changing goals and motives of the company, which leads to better and efficient practices for the company. This increases positive relationship between the human resource and employee’s attitude towards the organization. Training and development-targeting employees enhance their perceptions of organizational support and their willingness to remain in the organization (Innocenti, Profili, & Sammarra, pg. 726). The impact of age on employees’ attitudes focussing on their on the moderation effect that age plays in the relationship between HR development practices, job satisfaction (JS) and affective commitment (Innocenti, Profili, & Sammarra, pg. 726).  A research done over 37 companies concluded that human resource practices are positively related to job satisfaction. Self-determination theory creates the hypothesis that individual employee has three basic needs, autonomy, competence, and relatedness, which are meant to be satisfied to promote human growth (Winnie & Sels, 2013, pg. 5). They also promote well-being and performance in diverse life domains including work.  Treating employees as human with a personal touch draws attention to their capability and productivity henceforth providing an advantage to the organization. Paying attention to the employee’s individual interests, talents and expectations towards in the implementation of HR practices is essential merely above the practice (Winnie & Sels, 2013, pg. 5). According to the employee’s perception, the human resource (HR) implementation is more important than their presence of the practice.  Soft human resource practices are favourable to human resource management. Consequently, soft human resource management hypothesize in fulfilling employees’ needs hence improving human resource management outcomes (Winnie & Sels, 2013, pg. 5). This eventually leads to the organization’s performance.  An individual’s autonomy entails experiencing the choice, acting from interest and integrated values, and feeling like the initiator of one’s own values (Winnie & Sels, 2013, pg. 7).  These are satisfied by making personal choices or externally induced requests.  Relatedness refers to as a sense of mutual respect and reliance with others (Winnie & Sels, 2013, pg. 7). It involves a person reacting frequently and effectively with other people and believes they care for his or her welfare. Last but not the least; competence involves feeling effective and skilful in a person’s actions and belief that he or she can influence important outcomes.  Companies have realized the key to success is to employ appropriately skilful people. Human Resource Planning (HRP) refers to as a process of ensuring that the correct numbers of human resources are available in the right place and at the right time (Parker & Caine, 1996, pg. 30). Companies look at their human resource requirements in reference to long term and their ability to achieve their forecast levels. The need for human resource planning increases the need for appropriate and usable tools. Effort was built to develop tools that would help managers with their planning. Many of these techniques were based from stochastic processes or Markov’s chains. Large organizations with human resource planning systems are trying to use the emerging body of human resource techniques based on Markov chain theory (Parker, & Caine, 1996, pg. 30). The original techniques were highly mathematical requiring deep understanding of complex mathematics (Parker & Caine, 1996, pg. 30). Development of these techniques made it difficult for the common layman to understand thus requiring the need of a formal mathematician.  Implementation of these techniques did not mean associated employees would become personal managers. At the same time, few managers could understand this mathematics. However, the availability of skilled labour requires less Human Resource Planning (HRP) systems; little evidence that the mathematical theories successfully converted into meaningful practice (Parker & Caine, 1996, pg. 31).  Human Resource Planning (HRP) is still being used by many organizations today; but less than in the 1970s. Human resource (HR) practices are related to organization’s productivity and firm’s financial performance (Rynes, Colbrt & Brown, 2013, pg. 149). An example is Weslbourne and Andrews realised that new companies placed a high value on human resource; this was assessed by content of their prospectuses. It also included high levels of organizationally based pay-for-performance had a five-year survival rate of 92% as compared with 34% for companies that were low on both dimensions (Rynes, Colbrt & Brown, 2013, pg. 150). Human Resource practices such as regular attitude surveying, formal communication programs, use of employment tests and paying for performance are associated with 23% profit in accounting profits and 8% increase in economic value (Rynes, Colbrt & Brown, 2013, pg. 150).  Additionally, companies with HR professionals who have read academic research literature have a higher performance compared to those who have not. However, organizations fail to converge to such research practices that are already known to be effective. This may be due to lack of practitioner awareness of these research findings. In such a case, the human resource (HR) professionals are faced with new legislative requirements, dual-career families and increased competition, which leave no time for reading. Managers may be also unaware of recent human resource practices (Rynes, Colbrt & Brown, 2013, pg. 150). However, leadership abilities can be improved by training. Consequently, the most important for competency of human resource managers is the ability to manage change (Rynes, Colbrt & Brown, 2013, pg. 158). Human resource management audits assess employment management arrangements, and current human resources that contribute to the aims and purpose of the organization. Additionally, they examine how these arrangements manage the obligations and expectations and support the activities of the organization (Cannings and Hills, 2012, pg. 139). Traditionally, audits were approached internally assessing the compliance of the HR function ito regulatory requirements, efficiency of staff and processes, effectiveness of processed when measured against ratios, e.g. staff turnover, and service levels to the organization (Cannings & Hills, 2012, pg. 139). In the 21st Century, it is more about how chief executives require a person who can translate the organizational needs back to business language and help executives with what must be done to people if the business strategies are to be achieved (Cannings & Hills, 2012, pg. 140). This means that HR propositions produce value to the organisation within the prevailing culture. Human resource (HR) practices, departments, professionals produce positive outcomes to key stakeholders of an organization. These are the employees, customers, line managers, and investors. According to Ultrich’s four principles of HR, which are line management friendly systems, line management legal compliance, effective procedures and implementing HR strategy to increase workforce, are internally focussed on the human resources environment (Cannings & Hills, 2012, pg. 140). The four roles, functional, service, compliance and strategic roles of an HR professional help to meet the organizational needs (Cannings & Hills, 2012, pg. 140). These include the HR management and provision of information, responsiveness, customer service, legal workforce development and increasing its value. This has helped to build wider definitions of the human resource. At the same time, human resource management (HRM) has become an important focus of top management’s attention, especially in multinational enterprises (Choo, Halim & Keng-Howe, 2010, pg. 101).   References Cannings A. and Hills T. 2012. Traditional Approach to HR Auditing. A framework for auditing HR: strengthening the role of HR in the organisation, Vol. 44, No. 3, pg. 139-149 Choo S. S., Halim H. & Keng-Howe I. C. 2010. The Mediating Role of CEO in HR. The Impact Of Globalisation On Strategic Human Resources Management, Vol. 18, No. 1, pg. 101-124 Innocenti L., Profili S., & Sammarra A. 2012. Theoretical Background and Hypothesis. Age as Moderator in the Relationship between HR Development Practices and Employees’ Positive Attitudes, Vol. 42, No. 6, pg. 724-744. Inyang B. J. 2011. Best Human Resource Practices in Nigeria. International Business and Management, Vol. 2 No. 1, pg. 141-150. Marescaux E., De Winne S. & Sels L. 2013. The Role of Basic Need Satisfaction. HR Practices and HRM Outcomes, Vol. 42, No. 1, pg. 4-27. Parker B. and Caine D. 1996. Human Resource Planning and the Two Faces of Janus, Holonic Modelling, Vol. 17 No. 8 pg. 30-45 Rynes L. S., Colbert A. E., & Brown K. G. 2013. Correspondence Between Research and Practice. HR Professionals’ Beliefs about Effective Human Resource Practices, Vol. 41, No. 2 pg. 149-174. Read More