Human Resources Issues and Solutions in North East Wessex - Essay Example

North East Wessex District Council: Human Resources Issues and Solutions Introduction The North East Wessex District Council has myriad problems related to human resources including recruitment, selection, performance management and reward management. All of these problems must be addressed. They must be addressed in a framework that takes note of three separate but equally important facts. First, two years ago neighbouring Essex County Council launched EssexWorks, a groundbreaking, four year programme to deliver “the best quality of life in Britain for the people of Essex, ” (“2009 Pledge”) A similar commitment must govern the changes. Second, the Centre for Sustainable Development at Simon Fraser University in Canada, states that Sustainable Community Development (SCD) “aims to integrate economic, social and environmental objectives in community development.” (“Why Sustainable Community Development”) All of these factors must be considered in providing the best quality of life for the residents of north east Wessex. Third, the reorganization must take into account the significant changes ongoing in the delivery of social benefits in Britain. (Porter and Winnett, 2010) A service first approach delivering new, integrated services must be established. Findings The majority of the current employees are female. However, they are largely ghettoized in the lower levels of service. The sole female employee in senior management, the deputy head of Finance is young, highly qualified and resented by some of the other senior staff a an outsider with a time is money attitude. Resistance to change permeates the organization. Senior managers resent the idea that education, not merely length of service, should be an important consideration. The employment profiles of the employees at all levels also make resistance to change inherent in the workforce. Over half of the employees with the district council have been employed for five or more years and almost 30% for ten or more years. Further, many employees joined the district council as school leavers and have never worked for any other employer or in any other environment. Simply put, they have no experience with any other organizational culture, notably the private-sector where budget constraints and real world concerns are a driving force in organizational culture. (Bach, 2002) The current system of evaluation, advancement and remuneration does not take into account enough performance based evaluation and incentive. This can be a difficult task in the public sector as productivity must be balanced with quality of service. However, Dixit (2002) identifies a variety of manners in which performance evaluation that focuses on productivity while also acknowledging the importance of quality of service in the public sector can be integrated in a meaningful way. In this case there is organizational memory of a past attempt to institute performance evaluation that was marred by allegations of favoritism and ultimately abandoned. The belief that the past is present and that performance evaluation is doomed to failure if it is introduced again must be acknowledged, addressed and overcome. The local branch of the major union, UNISON, is fearful of the impact of change and resistant to strenuous performance evaluation that may alter the culture of staid, low-paying and undemanding employment with a secure position and pension that is the historic culture of the organization. That said UNISONs power and influence has been fading in recent decades, as the power of all unions in Britain has been for at least forty years. This means that persuading the union to support change would be helpful, but its support is not essential. Indeed, reorganization must be undertaken with or without the support of UNISON. Fear of outsourcing is prevalent for the same reasons as it is seen as a threat to jobs, tenure and the culture of lax performance evaluation. It might also reduce the number of employees in UNISON and, therefore, may represent a threat to the unions already diminished influence. In the face of these issues there is also the pressure of the simple realization that it is estimated that staffing reductions of up to 20% could be undertaken without negative impacts on service if alternatives from outsourcing to reorganization were undertaken. In other words, empirical evidence indicates that reorganization is essential if services are to be maintained as budgets are reduced. Similarly, recruitment techniques need to be expanded and modernized. At present the district council post openings internally (a practice that must continue if the glass ceiling is to be eliminated and employees are to buy into the idea that performance evaluation is fair and meaningful). However, greater use needs to be made of the Internet if young, tech-savvy job-seekers are to be brought into the organization. (Cober et al., n.d.) Conclusions The entire culture of the organization must be revolutionized. The service first, contribution to the community attitude that many employees hold needs to be universalized. The denigration of formal education must be eliminated and rational, transparent performance evaluation instituted. Conflict is not inherently bad and managed properly it can be productive. (Tjosvold, 2008) Employees cannot be shepherded through change they must embrace it. (1997) Gender stereotypes and the glass ceiling must be eliminated. (Korabik, Galen and Watson, 1993) Recommendations IT services must be outsourced, but kept on site, immediately. The employees in this department support that move and keeping them on site will provide other employees with a model for the positive nature of change. All employees must be required to undertake gender stereotyping and sexual harassment training immediately. All employees must feel empowered and all qualified employees must be assured that they can and will be promoted. All employees, especially upper management must be required to undertake educational programmes regardless of workload or other excuses. This will be a key step in rationalizing promotion and job category expectations. Rational performance evaluation must be initiated. Senior levels of management should be evaluated on the performance of their units and middle- and lower-level employees must be evaluated on their individual performance rates. If a department falls short senior management will be held responsible, if individual employees fall short they will have to improve their performance or race sanctions up to and including dismissal. Performance based evaluation is key to program delivery. References Bach, Stephen. (2002). “Public-sector Employment Relations Reform under Labour: Muddling Through on Modernization?” British Journal of Industrial Relations 40 (2), 319–339 Centre for Sustainable Development (2009) “Why Sustainable Community Development” Web. http://www.sfu.ca/cscd/. Accessed October 31, 2010. Cober, Richard T., Douglas J. Brown, Alana J. Blumental, Dennis Doverspike and Paul Levy. (n.d.). “The Quest for the Qualified Job Surfer: It’s Time the Public Sector Catches the Wave”. United Nations Public Administration Network. http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/UN/UNPAN021821.pdf. Dixit, Avinash. (Autumn, 2002). “Incentives and Organizations in the Public Sector: An Interpretative Review”. The Journal of Human Resources, 37 (4), 696-727. Essex County Council. (2009) “2009 Pledge”. http://www.essexcc.gov.uk/vip8/ecc/ECCWebsite/dis/gui.jsp?channelOid=120888&guideOid=152024. Good, Brian. (2010). “Assignment:North East Wessex District Council”. Heifetz, Ronald A. and Laurie, Donald L. “The Work of Leadership”. (1997) Harvard Business Review. http://afptoronto.org/media/Fundraising%20Day/Haldane_Scott_1-6b.pdf. Korabik, Karen, Baril, Baril, Galen L., and Watson, Karen. (1993) Managers conflict management style and leadership effectiveness: The moderating effects of gender. Sex Roles. 29 (5-6), 405-420. Porter, Andrew and Winnett, Robert (November 13, 2010). Benefits shake-up: work-shy to lose benefits for three years. The Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/conservative/8124769/Benefits-shake-up-work-shy-to-lose-benefits-for-three-years.html. Retrieved November 13, 2010. Tjosvold, Dean. (January 2008). “The conflict-positive organization: it depends upon us” Journal of Organizational Behavior. 29: (1), 19–28. Read More