Responses to Human Resource Management Questions - Assignment Example

Answer Present trends in HRM consider human resources as the best assets of a company because skills and techniques of employees are very hard to replicate. If a company has capable and motivated human resource, it is bound to become a market leader. Obviously, HR practices will differ from company to company and from industry to industry because of their inherently distinct characteristics but Pfeffer had originally identified sixteen best practices which he later pruned down to seven (also known as Soft HRM) which are; unbiased selection process, secured employment, liberal financial incentive based on performance, scope for continuous training and development, employee empowerment, harmonization of human resources and transparency in sharing financial and performance data (Pathak, Budhwar, Singh, & Hannas, 2005). Answer 2 Best fit approach to human resource management aim at making the workforce efficient and effective rather than simply concentrating on hard work. The emphasis is on doing right things at the right time instead of the earlier concept of sweating it out at the workplace without considering whether an effort is channelized in the right direction so that overall corporate goal is achieved at minimum effort. This approach is also known as Hard HRM where human resource is considered as another resource that has to be acquired at lowest expense, used sparingly and trained in such a manner that they become maximum productive (Daily News (Colombo, Sri Lanka), 2011). Answer 3 The first problem with soft approach to human resource management is that it is rather difficult to quantify the tenets of such an approach as all the aspects are more descriptive rather than quantitative. The second problem is it does not specify the exact actions that need to be taken to achieve the stated objectives thus managers tend to get confused about the desired course of action. The third problem is that this model by excessively adopting a ‘collectivist approach’ dilutes the basic decision making activity of management which might result in loss of direction and chaos in an organization. The first problem with hard approach to human resource management is that it is not concerned with the societal and psychological issues of human resource. This results in a strictly regimented workplace where employees do as they are told which thwarts innovativeness and imagination among employees. The second problem is that if such an approach is adopted in a knowledge based organization it would surely face increased labor turnover. The third problem is organizations adopting hard approach are seldom able to adapt to a rapidly changing marketplace which has become the trend in modern days (Bratton & Gold, 2001). Answer 4 In modern day cutthroat competition in marketplace it is imperative for every organization to have an effective human resource management policy in place to continually stave off competitors while retaining cost sensitive and efficient operations. HRM plays a significant role in this effort of an organization by extracting the best out of employees. It must be admitted that human resource happens to be costliest asset of every organization as human resource is capable of not only self improvement and development but is also gifted with innovative capabilities, and, who can deny that in present day market scenario where every other competitor has nearly similar access to resources, innovation is the only way to stay ahead. This also raises another very important issue. An effectively administered human resource management policy reduces conflicts in workplace and builds up an ambience of harmony that is again conducive to fostering commitment by workers to their workplace. Such a committed team of workers can be motivated without much effort on the part of the human resource managers. And, a motivated workforce goes out of their way to ensure that the organization they love, adore and are proud to be a part of becomes a market leader (Chung, Jung, Baek, & Lee, 2008). Answer 5 The biggest impact of globalization and liberalization has possibly been felt in the market for skilled labor which has become the scarcest resource of production that every organization is desperate to acquire and retain. In such a scenario it is imperative that organizations develop robust human resource management policies that would assist them in teaching this primary organizational objective. One of the techniques adopted by organizations is to portray themselves as employers of choice and this can be done only if the adopt proper employer branding techniques. This can be achieved through standard marketing practices that attempt to build a brand value that has certain unique propositions that set it apart from other competing brands and presents a unique value proposition to prospective customers. Organizations should also present a unique value proposition to prospective employees through creation of a unique brand value so that prospective employees feel inclined to join a particular organization. Such a unique brand value can be created by an organization through creation of a niche for itself in the industry and by following progressive human resource management practices that include a transparent and unbiased selection process and a conflict less harmonious working atmosphere. An organization must also adopt an inclusive style of management where workforce is sufficiently empowered and has the scope of sustained training and development. The organization must also give proper emphasis on the societal and emotional needs of employees by designing a work schedule that effectively balance personal and professional lives of employees who are liberally compensated for their professional achievements in workplace. When an organization is able to genuinely create a brand value for itself it quite logically leads to what is known as psychological contract between the employer and the employee. This, as the name implies is not a legally enforceable contract but a set of unwritten and non-codified set of values and expectation that employees and their employer expect from each other. It stems from the employees’ impression about the organization they have voluntarily chosen to be employed in and goes a very long way in shaping the future relationship between them. This contract is socio-emotional in form and automatically fosters an attempt on the part of both the employer and the employed to suppress personal interest in favor of collective interest which leads to harmonious existence of both the management and the managed (ODonohue & Wickham, 2008). Answer 6 In every organization the performance of workers need to measured and monitored if for no other reason than simply to ensure that budgeted targets are met without much delay or hiccups. This is also necessary for making plans for improving performance as an organization needs to know where there workers stand before it can set in motion processes for improving performances of its employees. But it must be understood that well designed performance management system requires careful planning and it cannot be put in place within a day. The main objective of a performance management system is to increase performance of employees and it must provide employees the following basic benefits: 1. Employees must clearly understand what is expected of them 2. Employees must be briefed at regular intervals about management evaluation of their performance and it should not come as an unpleasant surprise to them at the end of the year 3. Employees must be given advice about ways they can improve their performance and they must be suitably motivated by the management as they attempt to improve their efficiency 4. Employees must also be suitably rewarded when they perform well A performance management system should have the following critical components to make it a resounding success (The Malay Mail , 2001): It must have updated job descriptions that clearly describe the requirements of the job in unambiguous terms so that the worker is fully aware of what he is expected to do. These job descriptions must be continually updated, especially in times of organizational change so as to reduce the levels of confusion in the minds of employees to the maximum extent possible. Proper measures and standards of performance measurement should be in place and it is not sufficient that evaluators understand those. It is also equally necessary for the workers also to understand the nuances of those standards so that they are completely aware of what would constitute an above average, average or a below average performance. This serves two-fold purpose. The first is the worker knows his areas strengths and weaknesses and the second is there would be no misunderstanding about the working and transparency of performance management system. There should be in place a proper training program for managers too as it has often been observed that poor communication and man management skills of managers lead to tensions in workplace and misgivings in the minds of workers. There should be in place proper (if possible codified) guidelines for ensuring employee development that must be scrupulously adhered to by managers. Such guidelines must also mentions what steps to be initiated if an employee fails to show signs of improvement in spite of the best efforts of the evaluator. There must be proper channels and forums where employees can put forward their suggestions for making the performance management system more effective and higher management should encourage the employees to come forward with more suggestions. There must be system of equitably rewarding above average performance. Answer 7 It is natural that pay should be related to performance but there are at least three strong reasons as to why performance should not be the only criterion for deciding remuneration. 1. The first reason is all workers are not capable of working at above average levels of performance all the time and there will always be workers that will not excel at workplace. But every worker needs to be motivated and if remuneration and reward is linked with only performance, all those that are not exceptional will start feeling de-motivated. It would be well for the management to remember that only a small percentage of workers are actually above average and a vast majority of them are either average or slightly below average. So if only the super efficient ones always get rewarded it might create tensions and misgivings in the workplace. 2. The second reason is that every worker needs a basic wage to survive and this must be guaranteed to them else, in an effort to reach the minimum level that would result in reward or remuneration, the less efficient workers would either turn out substandard output or mishandle or overwork machines and equipments and cause heavy damage to those. Further, in a mad rush to produce the minimum required amount a worker might risk his life or limb that could put the organization in a tight corner. 3. The third reason as to why pay should not be linked totally with performance is some jobs are such that they depend on teamwork and the final output depends on how efficiently or otherwise the entire team has performed. In such situations it is practically impossible to identify and evaluate individual performances. If the entire team is remunerated on the basis of team performance then also it is unfair because efficient team members get unjustly penalized for the inefficiencies of other members. Most modern factories work on product line or conveyor belt concepts and thus output is the result of the efforts and expertise of the entire teams. So, individual performance related pay can hardly be implemented in such situations. There are equally strong arguments that support the pay per performance system. 1. It acts as a strong motivator for an individual employee to improve their level of efficiency. 2. The basic objective of an organization is to maximize profits and the basic objective of every individual employee is to maximize their remuneration package. Pay per performance system actually causes a convergence of employee objective and organizational goals thus reducing any scope of possible friction between the two. 3. Pay per performance system is a strong motivator for efficient employees and once the news that a particular organization suitably rewards efficiency gets widely known by prospective employees, the organization would never face a dearth of skilled and expert workers (Chartered Management Institute, 2000). Therefore what transpires from the above arguments is that the best solution for an organization would be to implement a pay structure where there will be a basic pay that will not vary and another part which will essentially be in the form of an incentive or bonus and will solely depend on performance and efficiency. Answer 8 Following Rosemary Harrison’s training cycle, the three priorities in setting up a recruitment team would be: 1. To get in place a highly efficient team of interviewers who would be able to make right choices from a large number of applicants. 2. Ensure that the team of recruiters has the requisite level of expertise to make the right choice. 3. To ensure that team can add value to the organization by making minimum misjudgments in recruitment as labor turnover or a mismatch between employee and the organization is always a very costly affair. The strategy to achieve these goals would be: 1. To provide requisite training to the six managers that have been selected to become future recruiters so that they are able to carry out their responsibilities in an efficient and effective manner. 2. To ensure that all others that are interested in this activity but have not been selected this year get adequate exposure and training in this activity so that any future vacancy in the team of recruiters can be filled up without any difficulty. Top management must ensure that there is a commensurate enhancement in remuneration for those that take up this responsibility and also those that get adequate training for it. 3. To foster a team spirit among the batch of recruiters so that they work in conjunction with each other thereby producing synergy and not work at cross purposes and stifle the chances of efficient recruitment. Therefore the training activity will have four specific characteristics: It will have a clear perspective of what would be considered as productive output and what would be considered as wastage of scarce resources of the organization from the perspective of recruitment. It would be consistent with the business philosophy and practices of the organization and the recruiters should become well versed with those so that during recruitment they are able to clearly articulate those to the applicants. Moreover, while recruiting, the team would look for those attributes and qualities that the company rewards among prospective employees. Some amount of philosophical and ethical alignment between the company and its employees is necessary for successful running of an enterprise. The recruiting team should look for those similarities before offering employment to any applicant. It will infuse a sense of commitment to each member of the team so that they are prepared to work hard and long and would not make any compromise or take short cuts in recruitment process that might harm the company in future through introduction of wrong type of individuals within the company. It will infuse a sense of becoming proactive among the team members so that they are able to anticipate a question or a query from a prospective employee and are able to answer it to the full satisfaction of the applicant. This capability of becoming proactive will also enable the team members to spot the best fit candidate at the shortest possible time (Harrison, 2005). References Bratton, J., & Gold, J. (2001). Human Resource Management: Theory And Practice. LEA, Inc. Chartered Management Institute. (2000). Setting up a performance-related pay scheme. Checklists . Chung, D. S., Jung, H. W., Baek, S. J., & Lee, H. O. (2008). The impacts of strategic orientation and HRM systems on firm performance. International Journal of Business Strategy . Daily News (Colombo, Sri Lanka). (2011, January 25). HRM of modern times. Daily News (Colombo, Sri Lanka) . Harrison, R. (2005). Learning And Development . Chartered Institute Of Personnel & Development . ODonohue, W., & Wickham, M. (2008). Managing the Psychological Contract in Competitive Labor-Market Conditions . Journal of Global Business Issues . Pathak, R. D., Budhwar, P. S., Singh, V., & Hannas, P. (2005). Best HRM Practices and Employees Psychological Outcomes: A Study of Shipping Companies in Cyprus . South Asian Journal of Management . The Malay Mail . (2001). Setting up a performance management system . The Malay Mail . Read More