The Business of Managing Human Resources - Coursework Example

The Business of Managing Human Resources Executive Summary This paper attempts to explain management of human resources in companies. The Human Resource Management (HRM) departments of organizations are beset with major responsibilities in helping out their staff members survive the challenges presented within the work environment. The paper begins with a background of how HRM began as an answer to personnel concerns. It begins with a brief discussion of equal opportunities in organizations and goes on to highlight the roles of HRM. It then goes on to explain the necessary needs and ingredients in making organizations successful in terms of people management. Leadership of people at the top positions of organisation is also discussed along with concern for the health of employees especially in preventing ‘burnout’. Finally, the evaluation and assessment of staff performance is discussed at the end. How efficient and effective are they in their work, and do they contribute much to the company? The Business of Managing Human Resources TABLE OF CONTENTS Brief History of HRM…………………………………………………………………4 Role of HRM…………………………………………………………………………..4 Equal Opportunities………………………………………………………………….5 Essential Needs in the Management of Human Resources……………………..6 Leadership in Organizations………………………………………………………...8 Health Concern of Employees……………………………………………………...9 Performance Assessment………………………………………………………….10 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………...13 References…………………………………………………………………………..13 The Business of Managing Human Resources Brief History Human Resource Management has evolved from its origins to include a wider scope of responsibility and a multitude of functions. A trip down memory lane reveals that it was initially the accounting department which took care of administrative transactions that concerned personnel. However, when recruitment, selection, industrial relations and terms of employment became acquired tasks, special departments were given the responsibility of handling them, usually under the name Personnel Department. (Van Marrewijk & Timmers, 2003). As organizations grew, a need for more knowledgeable, flexible and innovative workers was felt, causing a new trend called Human Resource Management (HRM). Role of HRM HRM has since been ascribed an essential role in achieving the goals of organizations. Its rise had important implications on the recognition of workers. The competencies of employees have been given more notice in recruitment and selection as well as in training and development (Van Marrewijk & Timmers, 2003). Its strategic position as a sounding board for top management and facilitator and change agent in the restructuring and transformation processes of the company is equally balanced with its role as an important partner for employees. “Thus, the HRM function positions itself in two ways: as the architect of new organizational structures and work systems, and as coach in management development processes and companion of employees in turnaround processes” (Van Marrewijk & Timmers, 2003, p.174) Equal Opportunities Each person seeking employment opportunities deserve the same chances as his competitors for the job position he is eyeing. “Equal opportunity” is a means by which a person receives equal access in society. An “equal opportunities approach” is premised on the principle that all people can avail of certain rights or privileges such as education, employment, health care or other welfare services without any discrimination or any preference whatsoever. Due to the significance of equal opportunities to citizens the world over, laws have been passed to ensure that they are available to everyone. These laws have been designed to provide, compensation for those who consider they were discriminated against by reason of sex, marital status, ethnic or national origin, colour, race, nationality, age, disability, religion, and differing terms of employment, including pay for jobs of equal value. In employment, these acts make it unlawful for employers to discriminate on any of these grounds. Legal action can be taken against employers who demonstrate unfair discriminatory practices. In the United Kingdom, three agencies have been established to help ensure that such laws are obeyed, namely, the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) which aims to prevent discrimination on grounds of gender and marital status; the Commission for Racial Equality, which aims to prevent discrimination on grounds of colour, race, nationality, ethnic origin and national origin; and the Disability Rights Commission, which aims to prevent discrimination on grounds of disability. (Equal Opportunities Management Guidelines) In the United States of America, a counterpart agency, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces all of similar laws. EEOC also provides oversight and coordination of all federal equal employment opportunity regulations, practices, and policies. Essential Needs in the Management of Human Resources Within each organization, employees’ values must be aligned to the company’s. Differing values create conflict and will impede goal achievement. According to Mishra and Morrissey (1990), the following factors propagate trust: open communication; giving workers a greater share in decision making; sharing of critical information and true sharing of perceptions and feelings. In every employment, employees consciously or unconsciously expect a kind of “psychological contract” apart from the expectations the job usually presents – benefits and compensation for a particular job description. This psychological contract usually includes open and honest communication, managerial support and challenging and interesting work. Employees are becoming increasingly aware of the non-monetary rewards that companies can provide them. It is generally important that the job not only fulfills their economical needs, but their socio-emotional needs as well. “This implies that recruiters need to go beyond a discussion of compensation and benefits and highlight aspects of their organization that job candidates will find intrinsically satisfying.” (Lester, Clair & Kickul, 2001, n.p.) Employers must be cognizant of and responsive to their employees’ perception of their psychological contracts with the company. Things such as meaningful work, recognition, creative freedom and opportunities for personal growth are desired by all employees. Management must maintain open and honest communication with employees, bearing in mind their socio-emotional needs and concerns, and being encouraging enough to boost their self-esteem. Lack of communication is ultimately problematic because it suggests to employees that management may be susceptible to perceived psychological contract breaches across a variety of areas because the basic issue of communication is not met. Employers must be able to invest more time developing and strengthening healthy relationships with their employees in various districts so they are kept abreast of their progress in both personal and professional areas. In line with understanding employees’ needs and concerns, employers should be ready to invest in their professional and personal development. Regular trainings and participation in seminars or enrollment in courses shouldered by the company (whether partial or full) may be perceived as part of the job, but it should be communicated to the employees that although application of their learnings will highly profit the company, ultimately it will redound to their own benefit. This knowledge from trainings is bound to increase their as well as the company’s market value. Leadership in Organizations Good managers are always open to learning something new, and not haughty enough to claim that they are already “made”. Being human and fallible is one trait that all members of the group share, and what better quality to relate to than that? Group members will even feel important enough to share the burden of thinking up solutions to problems with their leader. The case study portrays management to be resistant in accepting their mistakes in introducing technology that might have been too complicated early on to be used with the sales force and providing erratic data for them to work on. A leader, such as a manager of a service institution, is stereotypically known to possess positive qualities and capabilities. However, in a research reported by French, Simpson and Harvey (2001), a good leader is also equipped with ‘negative capability’. “The underpinning image of leadership is based on knowing and is manifested through activity, work and achievement. There is, however, a quite other dimension of leadership, based on not knowing, on not doing, on being-done-to, and on being no longer in control of one’s own situation.” (French, Simpson & Harvey, 2001). This may be interpreted as being humble enough to admit when one doesn’t really know instead of putting up a façade of being all-knowing. This peculiarly human capacity to live with and tolerate ambiguity, of being content with half knowledge is quite a refreshing concept. “It implies the capacity to engage in a non-defensive way with change, without being overwhelmed by the ever-present pressure merely to react. It also indicates empathy and even a certain flexibility of character, the ability ‘to tolerate a loss of self and a loss of rationality by trusting in the capacity to recreate oneself in another character or another environment’ (Hutter, 1982). Health Concerns of Employees Employees need to contend with the demands of their jobs. They cannot escape paperwork, performance evaluations and a series of meetings. Living a life full of stress in a prolonged period may cause harm to one’s health. It can also dampen his motivation on what used to be something that impassioned him. This is called ‘burnout’. Burnout obviously affects a person’s productivity and quality of life. Losing the flame for something that used to excite and fulfill him may cause depleted physical energy, emotional exhaustion, lowered immunity to illness, less investment in interpersonal relationships, increasingly pessimistic outlook, increased absenteeism and inefficiency at work (Scott, 2007). Burnout may also be the cause of the fast turnover of staff. Management must be able to come up with ways to reduce it like giving people more allowance to work on their own and not being too demanding. Being given enough trust to decide on one’s own in situations that call for one’s expertise like sales may be enough to make one feel fulfilled. Management and employees must have less frequent but more thorough, well-planned meetings that meet its goals. The people in charge of facilitating meetings must draw up a written agenda and estimated time spent for each item. During the meeting each item must be thoroughly discussed and it should be made clear to everyone in the meeting. Opening communication lines for both professional concerns and personal adjustments to changes implemented by management must be encouraged. Performance Assessment For management, the evaluation of organizational and employee performance allows them to check that strategic business objectives are valid, being successfully communicated throughout the organisation and being achieved. Appraising and managing performance are critical management responsibilities and vital part of the organisation strategic management process. Cheatle (2001) sees performance assessment (PA) as an essential tool in Human Resource Management. Traditionally, it has been associated with assessing the performance of individuals against the organization’s set objectives to ensure that they are making the contributions required of them. In recent years, this has evolved to include goals such as systematically developing individuals to make sure their contributions are maximized while being fulfilled in their jobs, that they have adequate skills required to develop in their roles in the organization, and to aid the retention of these individuals in the organization. Stone (2002) defines it as a vital tool for strategy execution by “providing a dynamic link to employee recruitment, selection, training and development, career planning, compensation and benefits, safety and health and industrial relations” (p.264). Further, Stone explains: “It signals to managers and employees what is really important; it provides ways to measure what is important; it fixes accountability for behaviour and results; and it helps in improving performance. Finally, performance appraisal is necessary to defend the organisation against individuals who legally challenge the validity of management decisions relating to promotions, transfers, salary changes ,and, termination” (p. 264) The literature offers a wealth of information that highlights the advantages of PA. Aside from the obvious reason of evaluating the performance of individuals within the organization, and if they are at par with the set standards, Schraeder, Becton and Portis (2007) offer other specific benefits associated with formal performance appraisals. One is to facilitate communication. PA’s are tools that provide feedback to and from employees. Such feedback may guide the employee in his career path and the management in making decisions related to the employee. It has been suggested that performance appraisals can help reduce employee uncertainty while promoting more effective communication between supervisors and subordinates (Spinks, Wells, and Meche, 1999; Wells and Spinks, 1999). On the other hand, failure to provide feedback can have negative implications for employees, and keep them in the dark as to what step to take next. The communication received through PA feedback is important in encouraging employees to continue with the positive things they have been appraised with or to guide them to fill in the gaps in their problem areas. PA enhances employee focus by promoting trust. The existence or lack of trust among the members of an organization affects performance (Argyris, 1964). Distractions such as behaviors, thoughts or issues reduce task performance and ability to focus on activities that contribute to the achievement of organizational goals. Performance appraisals, properly structured and applied, can be used to help minimize environmental distractions (Mayer and Gavin, 2005), promoting an increased level of trust within the organization. Another benefit of PA, according to Schraeder, Becton and Portis (2007) is goal setting/reinforcement of desired behavior or performance. Knowing what the organizational goals are creates certainty on an employee’s job-related expectations (Pettijohn et al, 2001). At the same time, PA helps set goals for the employee himself. Such collaborative effort in goal setting is desirable because it results in greater acceptance and satisfaction with appraisal results (Cawley, Keeping and Levy, 1998). Performance appraisals are essential in communicating with employees about how well their job-related performance meets organizational expectations. Performance improvement is communicated to the employee using well structured appraisal tools. Numerous studies have reported positive relationships between human resource management (HRM) practices, including performance appraisal and organizational performance. PA is key in the determination of training needs. Selden et al (2001) argue that the key to an effective performance appraisal system is providing individuals with an opportunity to pursue training and development directly related to problem areas identified in the appraisal. Most helpful for new employees, appraisal systems can serve as an effective conduit for identifying training needs to help them in establishing and monitoring their career goals. Conclusion Nowadays, maintaining competent and happy employees at work takes a lot of effort on the part of employers. Although unemployment is on the rise, and more and more people are in dire need of jobs, finding an efficient worker that embodies professionalism is indeed a Herculean task and when an employer seems successful in recruiting the best person for a job, it will only be revealed in time when the worker begins performing his tasks. The Human Resource Management department of any company is an essential part of the organisation that is central in maintaining the well-being of the employees as well as their contribution to the company and the maintenance of harmony among all members of the organisation. It truly carries a huge responsibility and the fulfillment of its several tasks for the organisation may determine the success or failure of a whole establishment. References Argyris, C. (1964) Integrating the Individual and the Organization, Wiley Cawley, B.D., Keeping, L.M. and Levy, P.E., "Participation in the Performance Appraisal Process and Employee Reactions: A Meta-Analytic Review of Field Investigations,"Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 83, pp. 615-633. Cheatle, K. (2001). Mastering human resource management. New York: Palgrave. Equal Opportunities. [Online]. Available from: 27 September, 2008 Equal Opportunities. Retrieved on September 26, 2008 from: http:///www.wikipedia.com Equal Opportunities Policy and Statements. Retrieved on Sept. 27, 2008from http://www.careerdevelopmentgroup.org.uk Equal Opportunities Management Guidelines, Retrieved on Sept. 27, 2008 from: http://www.highland.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/8B9E4B30-7483-4919-B78C- 46454D9288A6/0/EqualOpportunitiesManagement.pdf French, R., Simpson, P. & Harvey, C. (2001), ‘Negative capability’: the key to creative leadership. Presented at the International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organizations 2001 Symposium. Retrieved on Sept. 26, 2008 from www.sba.oakland.edu/ispso/html/2001Symposium/french.htm Hutter, A.D. (1982) Poetry in psychoanalysis: Hopkins, Rosetti, Winnicott. International Review of Psycho-Analysis 9, 303-16. Lester, S. Clair, E, Kickul, J. (2001) Psychological Contracts in the 21st Century: What Employees Value Most and How Well Organizations Are Responding to These Expectations. Human Resource Planning. Volume: 24. Issue: 1. Mayer, C.M. and Gavin, M.B. "Trust in Management and Performance: Who Minds the Shop While the Employees Watch the Boss?" Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 48, No. 5, pp. 874-888. Mishra, J., & Morrissey, M. A. (1990). Trust in employee/employer relationships: A survey of West Michigan managers. Public Personnel Management, 19.4, winter 1990, 443-463. Pettijohn, L.S. ,Parker, R.S., Pettijohn, C.E. and Kent, L. "Performance Appraisals: Usage, Criteria, and Observations," The Journal of Management Development, Vol. 20, No. 9/10, pp. 754-771. Schraeder, M. Becton, J.B. and Portis, R. (2007) “A Critical Examination of Performance Appraisals: An Organizations Friend or Foe?”, The Journal For Quality & Participation. Spring2007 Scott, E. (2007) Stress and burnout: burnout symptoms and causes. Retrieved on Sept. 26, 2008 from http://stress.about.com/od/burnout/a/stressnburnout.htm\ Selden, S.C., Ingraham, P.W. and Jacobson W. (2001), "Human Resource Practices in State Government: Findings From a National Survey," Public Administration Review, Vol. 61, No. 5, pp. 598-607. Spinks, N. , Wells, B. and Meche, M. "Appraising Appraisals: Computerized Performance Appraisal Systems," Career Development International, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 94-100. Stone, R. J. (2002). Human resource management (4th ed.). Sydney and Melbourne: John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd. Van Marrewijk, M. & Timmers, J.(2003) Human Capital Management: New Possibilities In People Management. Journal of Business Ethics 44: 171- 184. Wells, B. and Spinks, N. (1999) Organizational Communication: A Strategic Approach, 5th edition. Dame Read More