Comparative Employee System in Human Resource - Research Paper Example

Professional Human Resource Management is a critical component when looking at the different strategies in which service delivery to the public should be accorded in regard to the understanding of the present human resources and what makes them productive. The value of these professionals is either misunderstood or either unappreciated within bureaucratic structures. Practices and policies in an organisation form the structure and the culture of that particular organisation which shapes the behaviours of the people working in there. The main function of the human resource managers is to recruit and select the labour force that will be accountable to the people working in that organisation. They are also meant to train and develop the workforce they have inducted in to the organisation. The policies and practices that are usually practiced and upheld in one country may be very different when it comes to the running of the whole system which implies that the people in one particular country may not work well with the policies that are considered to be the best in the another part of the world. Currently, there is mounting business competitiveness. This is placing great challenges on organisations to improve company-customer relationship, sustainability, staff welfare schemes, quality, flexibility, variety, responsiveness to customers, and reducing costs (Vries & Conradie 2006). Many businesses have responded to these issues by introduction of policies that are meant to align the management of the available resources to handle the increasing challenges and also to meet the needs of the future customers (Holdsworth 2003). It has been noted that the competitiveness in the companies depend on the ability to adopt the best and the most qualitative requirements (Holleran, Bredahi & Zaibet 1999). In developing countries however, proper rescheduling of staff workers is advisable in order to meet the challenges experienced meaning that the company will have personnel cost minimisation. Those in advanced HRM countries have very different systems of handling in the generation of the services that drive the business to the quest for excellence in performance (Claggett, Hollas & Stansell 1995). Te main aim of this paper is to show that the policies and the practices of the HRM industry are of considerable interest to practitioners and researchers who are in the advanced countries using different systems. Nigeria: Nigeria has one of the most vibrant economies in the African continent. This implies that the people in the country try to come of age in terms of the economic and resource management where the people enhance their activities to move with the current trends witnessed in the world. These technologies are very hard to keep with and this implies that the country has to devote part of its personnel to look into ways of dealing with cost minimisation given the fact that corruption is a hindering factor in the growth of the organisations in the country. With the enormous power outage experienced in Nigeria, the generation of business services is profitable and this in turn attracts a lot of investor power into the country. This is important for the struggling economy as they are bound to come up with ideal measures to handle their respective weaknesses and ways in which the can minimise corruption in the industry that they are trying hard to build and improve. The only biggest challenge they have apart from corruption is the rising wages and competition in the generator industry has motivated investors to look keenly into the activities of the organisations they are keen on investing and ensure that the personnel cost is minimised. This means that the mangers and other leaders in an organization seek to optimally allocate the human and non-human resources in organisations to also minimise idleness through proper scheduling. The other issue with Nigeria is that in some parts of the country, power supply is unreliable, erratic and does not often support manufacturing and service activities. This could further lead in to the employees wasting time and man hours due to the black outs. This leads to huge losses that are all directed to the organisations. The use of alternative means of power supply is on the increase due to the fact that the people in the organisation are found to be wasting a lot of time calling the service providers which means that time and money have all gone to waste over matters that could as well have been attended to had there been the alternative measures. These alternative sources of power are viewed as boosters in the economic sector given the fact that they are reliable unless there is some technical problem and the problem persists for long before it is attended to. The main issue that all the managers in the sector are looking at is the personnel rescheduling that requires the managers to look into ways of minimising labour costs (Mathirajan & Ramanathan 2007). The best way that the mangers in this region have come up with the rescheduling processes is through the use of linear programming based on heuristics to estimate the required workforce size necessary to satisfy the forecasted demand (Brusco & Johnss 1995). This is however tasking to come up with as tone is desired to come up with the code that will generate the required results. This may require specialised skills but the much research that has been done in this area has resulted in the generation of easier ways of handling the employee program. Kim, Park, and Chun (2005) came up with a game theoretic program that analysed the behaviours of generating companies with maintenance scheduling under competitive market environments. This is the current program that most of the people in the country and the world at large are using to manage their employees and minimise the costs of running their companies. The only way to survive in the Nigerian system is to come up with the most comprehensive manner in which one needs to handle the employees to come up with the most cost effective way of running an organization without running into debts or without incurring losses that could destabilise the company. The United Kingdom: The United Kingdom on the other hand is an advanced economy altogether. The internal and external competition is making the human resource managers to be agile and consumer focused in order to come up with strategic means of solving these challenges. The HR professionals are hence expected to be very creative in coming up with the strategies that enable them to become strategic planners, the employee sponsors and also change mentors in the organization through thorough understanding of the organization and also the influence in decision making. In U.K, HRM are meant to come up with strategic personnel retention and talent development by becoming a coach, counsellor, mentor and succession planners to come up with the required motivation and maintain the loyalty of the workers. They are meant to promote and fight for beliefs and ethics within their organisations especially in one of the most resilient challenges in the U.K economy and business industry. The U.K faces these challenges especially in the multinational companies and this has to be outdone by the same HRM professional who is required to harness the resources and come up with a united workforce despite their ethnical, religious or cultural backgrounds. Jonsson (2001) quotes that the HR professional should be mindful of these factors n should likely employ a “think Global, Act Local” approach without having to discriminate against the workers. Cox further suggests that the HR should change his views from an ethnocentric view to a culturally relative perspective (Jonsson 2001). This means that they should move from the view of our way is the best to the view that they need to take the best of a variety of ways for the sake of the company. In this view, Source People (2008) suggests that the HR should initiate a diversity Mentoring program amongst them to come up with the required workforce that entails the use of cooperation and uniqueness from the individual to come up with ideas that are meant to handle the required workload. Source People (2008) also suggests that these changes should start from a departmental stage where the HR can first teach the managers on how to handle the workers and also seek help from trained consultants to come up with a successful training program. The other issue that the HR is tasked with is the organisation of talents to strategically come up with the best strategic ways in which one can open up the organization perspective and end up with a company that is achieving its goal in a unique way. Many companies are enjoying the benefits of the diverse workplace and this implies that their expansion globally is right on course given the fact that there is a need to employ diverse talents in a bid to understand the various roles in the market they are trying to venture into. The HR is also expected to be a motivator in the work place. Peterson (2003) noted that the main purpose of motivating the employees is to enhance the survival of the company. It has been also noted that the contributions of the employees are a necessary currency for an organization’s survival and also for the success of the company given the changing workplace and the competitive market environment. Transferability: The two countries differ in the technology advancement sector and this implies that the major problem brought about by this is the derailment of the intended progress by the parent company. It should be noted from the start that the UK ha s an integrated system of handling its employees whereas Nigeria is on the verge of looking for a way to handle the challenges that are eminent in the work place. They are yet to come of age for the mare fact that they have to be at par with those other organizations in the UK. The UK has major layers of complexity that might make it impossible for the other organisations in a different country to come at par with the complex standards. These are some of the areas that require to be reviewed to save on costs. They are giving the HR managers a stake in the decision making processes and if the HR managers are not influential then the organisation would stumble (Source People 2008). Many of the HR managers are used to operating on other people’s strategies and hence can not work independently on rigorous strategic decisions to come up with their own ideas. Nigeria on the other hand is one of the few struggling countries that have yet to find a way of personnel cost minimisation and the country is yet to deal effectively with the issue of corruption. The cost of the corrupt deals that are carried out by the officials in the human resource management are set to cripple the efficiency of the diversity in the workplace implying that it might take a longer time to come up with strategies to link the two organizations and hence read from the same script. They need to integrate the policies and practices from each country to come up with a standard work program and to ensure that they are coherent and cohesive. The application model that is set to come up with the number of workers that should be in the organization at a definite time should be well improvised to come up with the ideal way in which they can integrate the two systems and come up with an international way of working. It is to be noted that the companies have to be on the same level for them to work efficiently. However, the advance statistical integral ability of the organizations in the UK makes it the most preferred place for transferability of workers and also the transferability of skills. It is evident that the skills required in the labour market make it difficult for the Nigerian workers to find a place that they can fit and be comfortable to utilize their skills for to the maximise on the way that they can contribute to the economy of the country (Source People 2009). We have noted that the people in the UK are using advanced methods of handling diversity rather than the way the professionals in Nigeria are struggling to handle the populous work force. Conversely, the best place for the policies and practices to be transferred to is Nigeria. The market there is looking for the best way in which it can come up with ideal strategies of handling their workforce and also the way in which they can manage their personnel to cut costs on the production of cost effective labour force plus minimised costs in implementing decisions. Handling the Transferability concept: Understanding and accepting cultural differences is the first and the foremost essential aspect that needs to be cultivated among the few professionals that have been taken from the UK. It is important to be aware of how the new and the existing staff will coexist and how their interaction will be hastened to avoid wasting the resources that we are trying hard to harness. It is clear that the HR needs to utilize the global pool of talent to maximise profits and reduce costs for the organization to be accredited. He needs to re-dynamite and re-engineer the work force to fit the environment by making it more responsible and accountable for the actions they take or for the results that they come up with (Balogun 2003). The need to create competent working personnel is the most inherent purpose of the HR and this can only be resolved through proper guidelines created in conjunction with the employees to come up with achievable goals and customer oriented services. The best way to achieve this is through proper understanding of the cultural activities that are inherent in the local people that are to work with others. It is important for the HR to note that the faster he understands the locals, the faster he will create a good rapport with the people. It is important to create good business relationships with the locality before one shape out the image that the company is going to market itself through. Culture also plays a great role in the recruitment of the workers as the background will help the HR stipulate the required expectations considering what their culture terms as accepted or otherwise. This will also give the person interviewing the trainees a chance to know to what extent they can go in terms of asking personal questions and also what is legal and what is illegal. Research will offer ideal ways in which one gets to learn more about the community and also gets to ask for clarification should anything be unclear (Source People 2008). We can therefore hope that the rate at which the transferability will take place is only dependent on the way the HR handles the diverse workforce at his disposal. Now after the integration of the two cultures, the HR can go along with the idea of working with them to raise the status of the company in this new territory. Are they Convergent or Divergent ideas? The fact that the world is becoming more competitive is a complete cause for the global organizations to be more volatile and gain the competitive advantage whenever and wherever possible. From the many experiences that people have witnessed with the increased competition and the need to seek for the other alternatives, there is a need to use convergent means to come up with the desired objective. However, it is clear that there are divergent issues will come along the way and this will shape the way the other themes like cultural, performance management and the way that the work structure will be defined. These patterns are the basic determinants of how HR professionals around the world will handle the growth of the company (BERR 2008). Convergence is that process that brings about the combination of different factors that are inline with the production and offering of services and goods of the said company. There has always been the urge from the rapid market competition for the organizations to incorporate other features in a bid to come up with what the customers want. Convergence allows the consumer to have greater control over the types of how and when they want to access the services (BERR 2008). Divergence on the other hand warrants complete moving astray of an organization from the habitual mode of thinking to the way that the people in the locality conceptualise things. This is meant to sort out the customer in accordance to new regulations rather than an integration of the two cultures to come up with a distinct and unique way of working. These are brought about by the different cultures and working structures that are inherent in the country of specialisation and that which the locals term as their own. From the two, we can conclude that the best to use in the context of UK and Nigeria is the convergence theory where we bring about the two cultures and then form a unique way in which we can bring a bout change in the organization without causing much a do. The company needs to give the consumer free access to al their goals and visions and a way to access their brands without feeling that they are being dictated on the way that they should be carrying out their transactions with the company (BERR 2008). This will in turn allow the company to come up with new and creative ideas to come up with products that suite the consumer more. The consumer will be able to state the kind of services that they need and the type of services that should be discarded. The process is meant to challenge the existing business models in the line of the organization and also a change in the consumer production which will in the end lead to changes in the policies and regulatory framework guiding the company (BERR 2008). The organization will also have the opportunity to promote the growth and innovation of the services as the demand for the services grows. This is another way in which the people will be protected from harm and have the assurance of accessing whatever they want, where they want it and when they want it. It is meant to give the consumer the power to dictate what they want and a chance for the HR to take advantage of the sentiments to come up with the required services. The organisation also yearns to bring together all the people in the workforce in to terms with company’s way of handling issues and also to come up with ways in which the company intends to respond to different issues that are as a result of the merger between the two cultures. It is the role of the HR to make sure that the way in which he brings the two cultures in to agreement solely determines the way that people view the workplace and how they work towards the acquisition of the required objectives. It is to the advantage of the company that the people in the company be the first to be brought on board to ensure that all the people in company read fro the same script. By the virtue of the workers being in agreement with the policies created to come up with a smooth transition from the habitual form of doing things to the new way of handling clients, the people have will be able to form a bases in which to interact with the locals and also among themselves. This also gives the HR ample time to apply the policies, evaluate them in regard to the response of the clients and the workers and also choose those that are to be adapted by the organization (Balogun 2003). This is one simple way for the HR to know the knowledgeable people in the company and for the people to come up with innovative ways to save the company from its rivals. Convergence is such a good way to integrate the cultural and the ideological ways in which the person will be able to venture out in the market and improve his products by analysing the way the consumers respond to it. He will also be able to reduce the rework that is common when errors are done. With the reduction in errors it is easier for any given company to improve on its efficiency and focus as they will narrow down their products to the required consumer and the required work group. This leaves room for the company to know whether some of the tasks will have to be eliminated or have been accomplished automatically through the acquisition of the effective ways of dealing with voluminous workloads. Conclusion: It is clear that the employment systems, as much as they are different, are the determinants of how an organization will run. We found out that the Nigerian system of employment uses the quota system to come up with the criteria for employing people. There have been many complaints from the people concerned with vetting of the employment system as they say that the way that people are employed leaves room for fraudulent employment where unqualified personnel give out wrong qualifications. The only way that the UK Company can handle this lapse in the economic sector is by the virtue of people having to come up with policies and codes that are meant to govern the way employment is carried out. The convergence of the two cultures is also a welcome initiative towards the achievement of a growing and an accredited organization. The companies also have to join hands to come up with the best way in which they can be assisted in coming up with policies that are effective and those that are efficient in a company setting. References: Balogun M.J 2003, Nigeria’s Public Service Reform Process: Human Resource Issues viewed on 14th May, 2009, http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/CAFRAD/UNPAN0110 2.pdf BERR 2008, “what is convergence?” Convergence Think Tank, viewed on 14th May, 2009, http://www.culture.gov.uk/Convergence/what.html Brusco, M. J., & Johnss, T. R. (1995). Improving the dispersion of labour in personnel scheduling solutions in an Organisation: Computers and Industrial Engineering, 28(4), 745-754. Claggett, E. T., Hollas, D. R., & Stansell, S. R. (1995). The effects of ownership on profit maximisation and cost minimisation. 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Source People 2009, Labour Market Statistics, UK unemployment viewed on 14th May, 2009, http://www.hrmguide.co.uk/jobmarket/unemployment.htm Source People 2008, Cultural Challenges in a Global Work place, HR Releases, viewed on 14th May, 2009, http://www.hr-topics.com/wire-uk/global-challenge.htm Vries, M., & Conradie, P. J. (2006). A new move on the improvement of the approach for management consultancy organizations. South African Journal of Engineering, 17(2), 1-18. Read More