Role of Human Resource Management in Teamwork - Coursework Example

Role of Human Resource Management in team work Chapter 1: Introduction and Thesis The role of HRM particularly HR Manager is to provide workers an “optimum environment” in the work place, and make them work in unison as teams, and thus accentuate team work Chapter 2: Literature Review Before delving into the discussion, the views of eminent personalities, thinkers, experts about the role of HRM and HR Manager in the management of organization and optimizing team work will be reviewed or discussed in this part of the paper. Chapter 3: Role of HR Managers The success or failure of an organization depends on the role; the manager plays particularly the HR managers Chapter 4: HRM and Organizational Culture HR Manager will formulate or re-modify, and establish a feasible and importantly common organizational culture to accentuate team performance or team work Chapter 5: HR Manager’s proactive approach HRM will be an initiator with proactive approach, imbuing it in the team as well Chapter 6: Conclusions and Suggestions Functions of HR manager has to be of strategic nature with teamwork inbuilt in it Role of Human Resource Management in team work Any collective act of humans done with a well thought out process more often than not converges into what is called as an organization. In such a structure, the work done by the people belonging to that structure is well organized with a definitive purpose. It is collectively headed by a top management that aims for the betterment of the organization as well as of the workers. Such a management has innumerous responsibilities. One of the major functions is to select the right people for the right work through keenly conducted recruitment drives. Once they are selected, the responsibility of providing a healthy and peaceful work environment for them, once again lies in the hands of the managers. Providing the employees with adequate facilities, equal distribution of work load, timely incentives so that their efficacy levels are always at the peak and assigning achievable targets are the key factors involved in constituting on what can be called as a perfect working environment. So, the key persons involved in creating such an atmosphere are the Human Resource Managers (HRM). Workers are the integral part of any successful organization. Hence, these managers, with their primary role concentrated towards the management of workers, and therefore, have to keep the operations of an organization, running in a smooth, well lubricated manner. Irrespective of the number of advancements in employing scientific technology towards automation of processes in industries, no one could deny the fact that the physical and mental abilities of the workers can never be counted out. So, workers have to be taken care of in all aspects for maintaining quality in production as well as for consistent growth of an organization. Thesis The role of HRM particularly HR Manager is to provide workers an “optimum environment” in the work place, and make them work in unison as teams, and thus accentuate team work Literature Review Before delving into the discussion about the role of HRM in the management of organization, the views of eminent personalities, thinkers, experts, will be reviewed or discussed in this part of the paper. According to Redman and Wilkinson (2001) Human Resource Management is concerned with the way in which organizations manage their people. So, it is the human resources department or the HR manger by constituting the vital parts of the organization, who should spell out or should help the employees to find out the benefits, opportunities, growth, etc, they may get, if they continue working in the same organization. So, HRM’s by managing employees’ careers are actually managing the employees’ future and in a way the company’s future as well. Sparrow (1999) argues that HR managers must be proactive, willing to take risks, action oriented, able to delegate and trust staff, etc (qtd. by Joynt and Morton, 1999). That is, they should not allow others to manage them or dictate them, but should manage others like a leader. With strong mental attitude and high physical energy, they should get into the problem the employee or teams of employees faces, and solve it in a beneficial way, both to the employees and to the organization. HRM should also be the harbinger of change inside the organization. After the management in discussion with the HRM decides to go for a change, it will be the duty of the HRMs to prepare or train the employees to adapt to the change. It is a crucial job because, the employees may find the new working environment to be hostile and hence their output levels may get reduced. If training becomes a lacking point, they become circumspective and may fail in a big way, even jeopardizing the working of the whole organization. And this is what explained by the website, Training zone. “In order to remain competitive, change is an inevitable part of organisational life. But resistance to change can trigger productivity paralysis through low morale and reduced output.” (Training zone). According to Maby, Skinner and Clark, HRM will have to put in extra efforts if the some groups of workers are not in favor of the change in the organization. “…groups of employees towards the lower end of the organizational hierarchy, who are arguably the least likely to be responsive to the attempt to produce an organizational culture.” (Maby, Skinner and Clark, 1998). These groups of workers have to be given extra attention by the HRM, and be made part of the change, taking place inside the organization. One of the important functions of HRMs is to provide the employees, the optimal working environment, so they can work optimally. That is, if they work in an environment which is very intimidating, dangerous, unfavorable, etc, it sure runs in the back of their mind every time they work. This may hamper their motivation levels and reduces their indulgence to work, both on a physical as well as mental perspective. “…low levels of worker motivation and commitment result in poor quality work... and poor balance of the flow of work” (Mabey, Salaman and Storey, 1998). So, motivation levels play a major part in determining the optimum output obtained from employees and therefore the profit of the organization. The first step that can be carried out by the HRMs to increase the motivational level of the employees and thereby teamwork, is to involve them in all the important process that take place inside the organization, including the decision making process. “…give them a clear sense of purpose, an accurate explanation of their personal importance in the running of the organisation, and regular communication about the direction and performance of the business” (HR zone). The other option that can be tried by HRMs, which could surely increase the employees’ motivation level and thereby productivity, is by giving rewards for the successful workers. That is, appropriate and timely recognition of an employee’s efforts would help in a big way for an organization to achieve its goals. At the same time, reprimanding any mistakes committed by employees would also help in sustaining the stronghold of the management on the functioning of the organization. So, in a way HRM should focus on building resilient people who are able to gain rewards from existing jobs (HRM guide). Team formation can also be improved by optimizing the communication channels between the different departments and also at the basic level between different workers. Here also, the role of HRMs is crucial, because they only have to build the ‘channels’. And if there is a barrier free communication channels between the different sectors of the organization, workers can air their views, ideas, grievances etc. “Good two-way communication can help to build the psychological contract, in which employees feel valued by their employer, and the employer values (and is seen to value) employees’ contributions” (cipd) Research Methodology Aim The methodology used to analyze the HRM function in team management involves analysis of 12 sources, including books, journals and websites. Using these sources and the common concepts about Human Resource management, the structure of the paper was formalized. Limitation HRM’s role in the management of organization and also in the building of team cannot be limited and defined in an enclosing manner; it is an evolving process, with new thoughts, happenings, etc, happening regularly. Objective Research the wide topic of HRM and team building, under certain contexts related to the organizational culture, pro-activeness, etc. Role of HR Managers HR managers perform a critical role among all other managers in determining the success of an organization. With an efficient display of their managerial skills, the managers also play a subordinate role in improving the overall productivity of the employees. Any effective use of such skills would send a strong signal across the workers and thus enabling the manager to create a robust working group. Such groups can be employed and at the same time disintegrated by the managers depending on the skills sets of the workers and the necessity of those skills sets in completing the needed tasks. Accordingly, the managers can go ahead in recruiting people who suffice such requirements. Such a group when formed could set up the managers in running an effective organization, provided the required materials and funds are intact. Such cases of starting at scratch are a rarity and more often than not, the managers wound up in managing groups in an already existing, well assembled and adequately funded organization. Despite that, the true functionality of an HR’s work comes into the limelight only under an environment where the challenges to face are aplenty. HRM and Organizational Culture The most difficult challenge to counter in an organization is to bring uniformity and order among the employees who are as variegated in characters and culture as that of a blended mixture of colors. It is important to unify them and bring about a sense of uniformity among the workers. They are vastly different in their skills, talent, attitude and their work ethics. Segregating them in such a way that their individual harmony does not get disturbed and at the same time harmonizing the entire group is a tedious task. In such a situation, a formation of either a self-managed or a self-directed team cannot reap success at any level. Unless the variable nature of the environment is withered and a uniform, peaceful and a winning culture is created and put into action, no organization can bear fruits of success. Such a culture, if established would help in creation of teams that promote itself to the realm of success and thereby its organization. Such a culture can only come into existence through the potential and purposeful managers. An HR manager, when empowered to create the above said atmosphere, would ideally modify and alter the team culture, identifying the faults and its sources and rectifying them appropriately and effectively. An organizations culture moves along the lines of the assumptions and beliefs of the HR manager in the beginning of its creation. It will spread across the employees and other partners, making them comfortable while coping with the subsequent challenges. As the common culture spreads out, uniformity among the employees sets in and they have a stronghold of some nature to hold on to, by default. This in turn allows such commonly bonded people to get together and work as a team and improve on the success of their efforts. And so, such an adoption allows for development of self-managed teams, as the “common goal is defined outside the team” (Chatfield). There are certain brick walls to break through in some organizations, presented to them in the form of experienced employees. They reject the notion of common culture and follow their own path and thus endangering the formation of a common organizational culture. That is, when majority of the workers form into self-directed teams and are working on a target, these experienced workers “could throw the spanner”, affecting the team’s or organization’s ability to reach its targets. And changing them to accept the new effective assumptions and work culture will be difficult. They may be slow to respond. It is in the hands of the HR manager to act as the middle person and bring them into the line of control, so that a self-directed team could fall soon enough into a self-controlled team. So, here too, a working culture of this caliber can be brought into existence only through the skills of a HRM. “HRM highlights responsibility for managing organization culture and leadership issues. HRM concerns with setting consistent HR policies which reflect and communicate “core values” of the company. It is through building culture and sharing common values among people that companies are trying to ensure that their acts and decision are based on best interest of the company rather than stressing on conventional rules and procedures, thus achieving the element of speed” (Alagse.com). HRM will be an initiator with proactive approach, imbuing it in the team as well The HR managers always try to experiment with unconventional yet prudential methods combined with pro-active approaches to solve problems. They also encourage their subordinates to follow the same. “HRM is proactive rather than reactive, system-wide rather than piecemeal, treats labour as social capital” (Blyton and Turnbull 1992, p.5). They travel to new places, research on new organizations and understand evolving and future business trends in order to have an eye on the better perspective of every decision making process. That is, by this action, the HRMs will get a fair idea about the market, the organization’s competitors and importantly the changing mindset of the workers, who will be working in different organization and different countries. When they become equipped, by these important aspects of management, they can easily plan out on how to aid the formation of team working culture and actualize both self-managed and self directed teams. This trait of HRM to go to different places and thereby enriching themselves, is also intertwined with another good trait – they will always be in search of new avenues. That is, their thirst for gathering and educating themselves would not freeze over time and they will continue to search for answers for the continuously evolving questions of an organization. This proactive approach of getting involved or participating in all the processes, when the need arises and giving their fullest effort will elevate the status of leaders inside the organization. With this elevated status, getting the employees to work in a team would be an easy affair. Such a manager would make sure to keep nurturing the physical as well as the mental aspects of employees and even in the formation of self-damaged teams. On a guiding role- the secondary role of HR managers, they have to keep on pushing the limits for their subordinates to improve their efforts and also encouraging the workers to put more effort in self-management. “Good management consists in showing average people how to do the work of superior people” (Rockefeller). Functions of HR manager will be of strategic nature with teamwork inbuilt in it The human resources manager will play a major role in all the process of the organization. “The HRM perspective stresses that each activity should form part of the whole process of people management.” (Price 2002, p.17). All the important targets and strategies will be formulated during the decision making process, and HR manager’s contribution or inputs about the employees’ performance, skills, problems, etc will help a lot in formulating effective strategies and importantly in the formation of self- managed teams. That is, the HR managers while formulating the strategies can involve the workers productively and importantly as a team in the decision making process. So, during the process of decision-making, one of the approaches the HR manager will try is, putting for discussion his/ hers thoughts among the workers, and will involve them productively as a form of teamwork. This strategy may turn out to be fruitful or may produce some unexpected results because an idea is something that does not know a time or place to prop itself up. So, presenting such a strategy is an excellent trait of an HR manager as it allows the other workers to get involved in decision making but at the same time confronting into matters when it is required. The HRM’s also get into teamwork when there is information available from expert quarters that could help in their decision process. Expert quarters refer to the areas of knowledge where the HR may be lacking a bit or not up to date and hence, they bring in experts on those areas into the process so as to get their inputs. This is as important as any other teamwork in an organization as the wealth of experience that the expert brings in is invaluable for a strategic work. Ken Olsen, mentioned by Fortune magazine in 1986 as the 'most successful entrepreneur in the history of American business’, who incorporated all the important aspects of Human Resource Management, always set up a number of committees and groups and insisted that all ideas be discussed and debated before they were acted on. “I’m not that smart; if I really knew what to do I would say so. But when I get into a group of smart people and listen to them discuss the idea, I get smart very fast” (Olsen). For Ken Olsen, groups were a kind of extension of his own intelligence and he often used them to think out loud and get his own ideas straight in his head. (Schein 2004, p.235). Conclusion There can be a no ‘end of the day’ or any dead block for a manager or an organization. Schein (2004, p.418) pushes forward this idea by stating “that the leader of the future must be a perpetual learner”. What Schein proposes is that learning about the concepts and the keenness to know the insights of an organization is an everlasting process for a manager, one that could lead him and his organization to the peak of glory. The discussions handled in the paper so far stress out the fact that developing a healthy work culture and promoting the formation of teams that can manage itself are the important features of the role to be done by every HR manager. On donning that role, the HR manager has to motivate the workers and also other managers to perform at their optimum level. Every decision making step has to involve the appropriate people whose valuable inputs could lead to better decisions being made. So, the efficient execution of such a role would greatly enhance the unity of the organization and its employees and thereby creating itself to be a successful enterprise. To conclude, it could be said that, if the HR managers performs his work in a professional manner, exhibiting all his skills and, with the management demanding optimum performance from all its employees, the organization can consider itself to be a consistent winner of all occasions in an ever changing world. Bibliography alagse.com, Human resource management and personnel management - shift in focus, viewed on January 10, 2011 http://www.alagse.com/hr/hr2.php Blyton, P and Turnbull, P 1992, Reassessing Human Resource Management, Sage. Chatfield, M, Self-Directed and Self-Managed Teams, viewed on January 10, 2011 http://www.irism.com/selfteam.htm cipd. Employee communication, viewed on January 10, 2011 http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/empreltns/comconslt/empcomm.htm?IsSrchRes= 1 HRM Guide, Developing yourself, viewed on January 10, 2011 http://www.hrmguide.co.uk/hrm/chap11/ch11-links4.htm HR zone. HR tip: Controlling absence, viewed on January 10, 2011 http://www.hrzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=176289&d=1063 Joynt, P, and Morton, B. (1999), The Global HR Manager – Creating the Seamless Organisation, CIPD, London Mabey, C, Skinner, D, and Clark, T (1998), Experiencing Human Resource Management, Sage, London Mabey, C, Salaman, G, and Storey, J (1998), Strategic Human Resource Management – A Reader, Sage, London Price, A (2002), Principles of Human Resource Management: An Active Learning Approach, Blackwell Publishing Redman, T, and Wilkinson, R (2001), Contemporary Human Resource Management, Financial Times Prentice Hall, Harlow Rockefeller, J. D. Church Champions Update, Mar 13, 2001 Schein, E. H. (2004). Organizational Culture and Leadership, 3rd. ed. Jossey-Bass Training zone, On The Couch: Counselling at Work, viewed on January 10, 2011 http://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=177537 Read More