Human Resource Management - the Combination of the Hard and Soft HR Systems - Term Paper Example

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT RECOMMENDATION I. Introduction A company’s culture has a specific structure in which most of its members comply with. They consists of practices made within the company that does not necessarily mean that they are included in a company’s policies. However, one of the best cultures that are made and developed inside a firm is that of belongingness and the feeling of being at home. This is achieved by the treatment of personnel nearing the same treatment as a member of the family. Personnel are made and trained to believe that the company is their family and everything that they do is for the development of the family. The company is a construction and materials-based corporation that employs architects and engineers working on contracts for clients. The main outputs of the company are building and structures, specializing in the construction of skyscrapers and buildings. The company’s organizational structure consists of the two parts: the upper management and the lower management. The upper management is comprised by chairmen of the different departments, consultants and experts. The chairmen are the leaders of the different units that make up the operations of the whole corporation. On the other hand, the lower management consists of the chairman of the department as the head of a specified unit. The main departments are: Finance, Human Resource; Logistics; Procurement. The Finance department would be the department responsible for the investment and financing purposes of the firm. The Human Resource department would be the one responsible for the recruitment of new members and to ensure that the personnel have a very good working place and everything that may affect the productivity of the workers. Logistics is the department responsible with the transportation of raw materials to the project site. They are also responsible for the noting of the projects taken and the ones accomplished. And lastly, the Procurement department is the department responsible for making sure that the teams in each department would be able to get their additional supplies needed for the completion of their projects. Each department has a chairman, a deputy chairman, team leaders, and members. Each member has his own field of specialization and has underlings that answer to the member. Commonly, the members are those who are fresh recruits of the company. They see it that the team leaders get what they need. They also discuss decisions regarding the time with the team leader. The team leader is the one responsible for all his members. He is also responsible for the acquisition of requirements that the team needs to accomplish. He assigns different tasks to the members and sets deadlines in which every member should comply. The deputy chairman is the one responsible for overseeing the employees at the site of a certain project. He is the one giving orders and the one who makes decisions in the absence of the chairman. The chairman is the one that communicates with the other departments through meetings with the upper management. He is responsible for the accomplishment of the tasks and the assignment of a specific task to each member. He also represents his department in meetings and decision-making gatherings. Qualifications The qualifications by which a personnel may be judged is very important in either hiring or promoting an individual(John Bratton.; Gold 2000). The company must be able to judge whether the employee is able enough and in a very good disposition to be promoted or hired. A member of a team should be the fresh recruit and was one of the applicants that passed the necessary recruitment process. They are more commonly assigned to trouble-shooting, but not decision-making. The team leader should be a member of the same department or a member of another department that showed promising signs of productivity. A recommendation should be approved by the deputy chairman, noted by the immediate team leader. Before the promotion, the member should be able to pass a written and practical examination to prove his knowledge of his workload and to ensure the quality of his work. The promotion to a deputy chairman must be made if the position of the deputy chairman would be vacated. This occurs when the deputy chairman has vacated his position. This occurs in a span of three to five years when the chairman gets to be assigned to a different post. As an additional requirement, the employee has to be a graduate of a Master’s Educational degree. More of this would be discussed later in the training and work relations part. The chairmanship of the department is decided upon by the upper management once the post has been vacated. A list of qualified personnel would be submitted to the upper management and it is up to them to decide who would get the post. Training and Work Relations Maintenance Every four months, personnel undergo training camps in company vacations. This aims to improve the work relationships that thrive within the company employees. The activities include trust enhancement, for deepening of the trust reposed on team mates and team leaders when accomplishing tasks; role identification, to help the members identify which tasks are for their completion; bonding activities, to let the workers identify with each other and making it easier for them to adjust to one another; and task completion approaches, which would help acquaint the members on how the teams accomplish duties and responsibilities for the company. Additional lessons include lectures on company policies and informal parties that would help the lower level personnel get in touch with the upper level personnel in the personal level. The importance of being at a personal level with the upper management makes the lower level personnel understand the thoughts and decision making capabilities of their superiors. These activities are done every four months because it would help the workers reduce their work-related stress and enhance their knowledge of the company. It also helps the employees refresh themselves on the knowledge of the company policies and also help them to be cohesive with their teams, making it easier for the teams to accomplish tasks at a faster rate. The company foots the bill on these occasions and the activities within, including the reservation of the place, are arranged by the human resource department. Furthermore, in the case of promotions, when an employee gets promoted to be a deputy chairman, that employee is required to be a graduate in a masteral degree program. In the case that the employee is not yet a degree holder, he would be forced to file a leave of absence to attend to his academic requirements. The company foots the bill on his studies and will provide the financial needs of the employee while he studies. The same goes for a team member that would be promoted as a team leader. In the case that the employee is a non-degree holder of a college education, he would be forced to attend a course on architecture or engineering that would make the person qualified for such a position. The financial needs of the employee while in school is subsidized on the 50% level, half is on from the pocket of the employee. The tuition fees and other fees related to the academe are answered for by the company. These academic plans are the motivational keys of the company to have quality personnel in their ranks. The company sees that a company would be a good company if they have the degree holders in their key decision making positions. With these, the personnel would be motivated to work harder and increase productivity since in return, the company would see to it that they graduate in key courses. These steps are the manifestation of the key parts of the “hard” and “soft” HR applied by the company: increase productivity with rewards and at the same time, look at the welfare of their employees. Pays, Salaries and Bonuses Each person in the company has a defined list of health care, retirement, and transportation benefits. The difference occurs in the value of the benefits. As an employee gets promoted, the value increases as well. This would motivate workers to try and be promoted to increase their benefits. The pay of the team member would be dependent on the amount of output he would produce. The more work an employee does, the higher is his wage. This would encourage the members to work more in order to get higher wages. It is a form of motivation that is also a form of “hard” HR, pushing the human resource to maximize the productivity of the company and at the same time, being able to meet the desired objectives and goals.(Edwards 2000) Following the theory of “hard” HR according to Edwards again, the salary of a Team leader starts with a regular basic pay, but would also include the commissions dependent on the amount of projects and the value of projects that are accomplished by the team. This would encourage and motivate the Team Leader to watch the team more closely and push the team to accomplish a project in order for the team leader to earn his commission. This is not unfair; however, as the team leader would be responsible for the additional work that may come with additional projects. The deputy chairman has a standard pay with the additional benefits by virtue of the position. This may include vacations paid by the company or commissions earned through the accomplishment of the projects of the department’s team leaders. Benefits may also include company cars or luxury allowances. The chairman enjoys the standard salary of his position together with additional benefits like vacations, retirement funds, cars and even houses built for him paid by the company. He would also earn a share of the commission earned by the team. In addition to that, he would have a holiday getaway complete with luxury allowance twice a year. The general idea of giving benefits was stressed by the “soft” HR(Edwards 2000), but the motivation al theory governing the commissions fall under the category of the “hard” HR as this would push the personnel to the limit in performing their work, therefore increasing productivity and efficiency. With these theories in hand, it would be a lot easier to motivate the personnel and increase productivity at the same time. The combination of the “hard” and soft types of human resource management is explained and given emphasis on this subject of the company HR policy. Furthermore, the additional motivational theory with this is that the employee would see the company as a “parent” since that’s what parents tend to do: raise their kids and pay their way to school in order to make the child ready for the coming years by which the child would be ready to face the world. Motivational Influences Motivation of personnel can be achieved through a variety of things. Rewards can be a good motivational tool for personnel. As stated by the Harvard Model mentioned by Edwards (2000), there are two types of rewards that are currently employed in the industries. Extrinsic rewards are rewards in tangible form, given to personnel with exemplary performance. It can occur in the form of cash incentives, additional benefits or vacation leaves. Another form of reward would be the intrinsic type which focuses more on intangible things like plaques of recognitions and other forms of recognition for one’s work that cannot be valued by money. This occurs when an employee displays exemplary conduct and ethical practice in work. The reason behind the motivational influence of the intrinsic type is that the personnel would have the feeling of being part of the organization, and the feeling of being needed is also included. A person values a place, in this case – the workplace, when he feels that he is indeed part of it and that the company has a level of need of his services. The company activities of motivation including the vacation trainings help them realize that they are part of the organization and that the company values their services. In addition to that, the company makes sure that the employees have a certain feeling of having the company as their home, making sure that the employees treat each other like their own family. The goal of this move is to enhance employee relations from an officemate to a brother, sister, or father and mother figure. Another motivational tool governed by the rewards would be the special awards given to hard-working personnel. This occurs in the year-end celebrations and would occur in both intrinsic and extrinsic varieties. Disciplinary Actions Disciplinary actions occur when an employee breaks a rule or forgot to fulfil an obligation. The actions would be sanctioned by the immediate superior, recommended for approval of the HR department. There would be a classification of disciplinary actions and it would be divided into four types: A, B, C, and D; the D is the lowest form of offence ranging from occasional tardiness to frequent under time. C occurs from frequent absences and conduct unethical practices. B is a bit heavier ranging from conduct unbecoming to insubordination. And the heaviest offence, ranked A would be from crimes committed while in office to dishonesty. This is so because the “hard” type of HR would be practiced because the following was subjected to the context of what would hinder the organization from meeting its desired goals and objectives. II. Proposed System A. Recruitment 1. Recruits would have to be selected in the basis of a. scholastic performance b. work experience c. recommendation/assessment of previous employee 2. The recruitment process would be divided into four parts: a. examination – an applicant would have to pass a written exam testing his logic and intellectual capacity b. initial interview – after passing the examination, the applicant must answer question from an HR officer to test his oral explanation and confidence. c. final interview – after passing the initial interview, the applicant must pass the final interview conducted by the HR manager in order to test his capacity to think under pressure. d. job training – the applicant would then have to undergo training in two weeks, to test his knowledge on the work and his speed of learning, the passing of this would mean acceptance by the company. B. Performance Appraisals 1. A personnel who have worked for two (2) months after the acceptance of the company would have to undergo a performance appraisal. This would be conducted by an HR officer, testing the employee on the basic knowledge of his work, tasks needed to perform and importance of the tasks to the company. This would determine if the employee would be retained, demoted or promoted. 2. Four (4) months after the first performance appraisal, the employee would again undergo this stage. Satisfactory completion of which would mean promotion, failure would mean that the employee would still have another chance or the company would have no choice but to dismiss him/her. 3. The last performance appraisal would occur 6 months after the second appraisal. In this stage, the questions posed by the HR officer are advanced in a way that the employee should now understand and be able to explain the whole company’s strategies and objectives, the systems that are being practiced, the mode of rewards and lastly, personal assessment of his performance. Failure would mean dismissal and satisfactory marks would mean promotion. C. Organizational Policies 1. The employees would have to abide by the regulations decided upon by the upper management and disseminated through the organization. Disobedience would be dealt with by the HR department. 2. Complaints by employees must be addressed first to the HR department, who acts upon the matter as soon as possible. 3. The employee would have the liberty to leave the company if he/she feels to, provided that the employee submit a letter to the HR department, approved and noted by the immediate supervisor of the employee. 4. An employee must meet specified requirements determined by the HR department in order for the personnel to be eligible for promotion. The final decision for promotion of lower level personnel is made by the Chairman of the HR department. 5. An employee must train under the supervision of the HR before being promoted in order to give the employee an idea and lessons on his new duties. Theories at Work The practice of HRM is divided into two working theories: the “hard” HRM and the “soft” HRM.(Edwards 2000) To summarize, the “hard” HRM based its practice with respect to the company’s point of view. This is the human resource management by which the company must meet its desired goals and objectives. The personnel and employees are controlled and directed towards the accomplishment of different goals and objectives by which the company must achieve in a certain time period. It disregards the welfare of the employees as long as the desired goal is met. On the other hand, the “soft” HRM focuses more on the development and welfare of the personnel and employees in the organization. This type of human resource management also focuses on the recognition of employees as vital parts of the organization and that they are the ones that are in need to be developed in order for the company to reach the desired output. It also stresses the important of the development of the workforce as a major gear in the development of the whole organization itself. Also the goal of having the employees to study for their promotion is one of the main objectives of the motivational approaches of the company. It seeks to make the personnel understand that they belong to a family that is willing to wait for them to finish their academic needs throughout their growing years, much like parents are to their children. In addition to that, the special training sessions that are provided by the company seeks to address the same concern. The employees need to understand each other in order for them to understand the main concept by which company has made its goal: to make the employees understand that they are part of a very large company instead of thinking that they are part of a corporation. Making an employee feel like the company is their “second” family makes it easier to motivate the employees further. II. Conclusion The combination of the “hard” and soft HR systems is very much applicable to the company of construction that include architects and engineers. The strategic positioning of people, recruitment and maintenance of the morale of the workers is seen, observed and used by the upper management as data for the next decisions that they would make. Furthermore, the combination of the two schemes of HR gives both the company and the personnel the best of both worlds. The scheme allows the shortcomings of the worker and still allows itself to reward employees of exemplary service to the firm. On the other hand, it also makes the personnel realize the importance of achieving the company’s goals and objectives trough the completion of more projects that would allow the company to realize more profit; and at the same time, making the employees realize that they have earned additional money or benefits by working hard in the attainment of the goals. The theory further employed by the company is that they are being trained to be a part of one big happy family that seeks to attain a certain goal and achievement. The theory emphasizes the fact that personnel look out for the development and welfare of one another since this is a big part of their integrated company culture as a family. The company culture that, although not being part of the policies is made to be part of each individual member’s state of mind. This further stresses the idea that each member of the company is either a father, mother, brother, sister, son or daughter. The main goal of the HR policy is to assure that the company is making profit and at the same time optimizing the firm’s human resource. This model emphasizes the HR policy that would be best suited for the company and that is the combination of the “hard” and “soft” HR theories: combining both the goal of increasing the productivity of the workers and at the same time making the company realize the true value of their employees welfare and morale. Furthermore, the scheme would bring about certain challenges along the way that would test the people that was promoted and trained to their best in decision-making; in which the model would be truly tested. BIBLIOGRAPHIES (2000). Human Resources Management & Development Handbook (2nd Edition). W. R. Tracey. Armstrong, M. (2000). Strategic Human Resource Management: A Guide to Action London Kogan Page. Edwards, A. P. T. (2000). Introduction to Human Resource Management, Oxford University Press. Gratton, L. (1999). Strategic Human Resource Management: Corporate Rhetoric and Human Reality New York Oxford University Press (UK). John Bratton.; Gold, J. (2000). Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, Mahwah, N.J. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.  Read More