Human Resource Management Essential Perspectives - Literature review Example

Human resource management HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT The human resource department is one of the most vital departments in any business venture (Armstrong 2012). This department, which mainly deals with employee welfare, has a lot of effect on the output of business and can determine the success or failure of an organization. Having a hardworking workforce will help a company to achieve high yields, which increase profits while having a less motivated workforce will lead to slowed work, which will lead to increased running costs leading to losses. From this explanation, it is clear that the human resource department has a lot of influence in the success or failure of a business and thus needs a lot of attention (Ehnert 2009). Tharsus manufacturing company is one of the companies embracing good human resource motivation and practices. This company, which was started 50 years ago and is based in Blyth, Northumberland in England, experiences a 20% increase in the number of employees each year. When compared with other companies, this growth rate is high and is a clear indication that the human resource department in the company is doing a great job. From a research conducted on the organization’s activities and policies, it was ascertained that Tharsus employs two employee-training methods: apprenticeship and in-house training. Both of these methods fall in the on-job-training category of employee training and have a great impact on the performance of the employees in the firm (Ehnert 2009). Apprenticeship, which is a type of on-the-job training, involves an employee being taught on one to one with an experienced trainer in the same field (Gold 2013). During his training, an employee is supposed to observe what the trainer is doing and master the processes and activities. He is then supposed to try implementing what he has learned and ask questions in case he is not familiar with some of the steps involved. The main strength of this method is that, the trainee is able to follow the progress while making clarifications from the tutor, which helps him to gain more from the experience. In addition to this, apprenticeship ensures continuity of valuable skills and experience in an organization. New employees are able to learn techniques and skills used by experienced employees thus retaining the skills in the organization even after retirement of the old staff members (McConnell 2013). Another advantage of this system is that it promotes job specialization, which improves performance. Apart from the advantages of this technique, this technique also has disadvantages. The first disadvantage of this system is that it can be time-consuming. Employees under apprenticeship might remain as students for very long periods, which is inefficient for the organization (Stahl, Björkman and Morris 2012). Another disadvantage of this technique is that it limits the output of the tutor. While a tutor is giving instructions and directions to the learner, he wastes a lot of time that could be used in the active execution of business activities. Another disadvantage of this method is that it cannot be delivered to a group of people. This method is more personal and thus only requires one on one teaching as compared to a group teaching strategy. Another training technique used by Tharsus is in-house training or coaching. This technique is also a one to one training and involves close supervision of the trainees by an expert. In this case, the trainees are given tasks to accomplish in which the trainer assesses and tells them the weak areas. The trainees are then supposed to do practice on their weak areas and demonstrate an understanding of the concepts to the tutor before proceeding to the next task. The main advantage of this technique is that it enables the learners to gain a lot of knowledge by asking their tutors questions and clarifications. Another advantage of this technique is that it helps the employees to implement an activity several times thus master their area of specialization in a professional manner. The main disadvantage of this technique is that it wastes the tutor’s time (Gold 2013). The tutor uses a lot of his time that can be used in the execution of other business activities. Another disadvantage of this technique is that it can be time consuming in case the learner is slow to learn. This method involves a series of tasks given to the learner under the observation and guidance of a tutor. In case the learner is not fast in execution of the tasks or understanding of what is supposed to be done, then this process can be very lengthy and time-consuming (Armstrong 2012). According to MilesMiles (Stahl, Björkman and Morris 2012), the main cause of motivation to employees is how the management team will handle the workers. From his observation, different human resource departments have different perspectives of how they view their employees. These perspectives yield the human relations versus the human resources theory. In this theory, organizations that perceive their employees as human resources exhibit low productivity due to poor motivation from the management team. On the other hand, organizations that take good care of their employees are said to be implementing human relations part of the theory and thus will have better-motivated employees (Ehnert 2009). According to the research conducted in Tharsus Company, employee motivation is a core factor in human resource management and determines the level of output of the workers. Motivating employees helps them to have a better company image, which boosts their morale and enthusiasm at work. In general, there are many factors affecting motivation of employees in any organization. The first factor affecting motivation is working on interesting work. Work processes, schedules, and procedures that an employee has to go through during work have a lot of influence on one’s morale. Humans by nature like doing what pleasures their heart. This then makes it necessary that the job processes and procedures be very captivating in order to keep all employees interested in working. In order to improve employee performance through this strategy, companies are supposed to ensure that they identify what each employee likes about production or manufacturing and assign him or her to that section. This will align their natural interests with the job thus delivering their best while working (Gold 2013). Another factor highlighted during the research and affecting motivation is recognition and appreciation (Gold 2013). It is human nature to like recognition in all spheres of their surroundings. This then shows that giving employees recognition due to their performance, morals and attitude at work will encourage them to do a better job. In addition to recognition, humans by nature like appreciation. Even in the little tasks, employees like appreciation. This makes them feel great about what they have done and thus will do a better job next time. Appreciating employees is also a great way of encouraging the low performing employees to do better next time so that they can be the ones receiving the token of appreciation. Although an appreciation by word of mouth is also a form of appreciation, it is advisable that a company prepares special appreciation tokens for their employees in order to give more insight and motivation in their work. Another factor affecting the motivation of employees is involvement is the work process (McConnell 2013). Employees feel part of the organization if they are consulted for the making of certain business decisions and implementations. This makes them feel part and parcel of the organization and thus part of the work process. They will feel treasured when consulted before implementation of major decisions affecting them in their work. According to research, employees are more likely to follow a system if they contributed towards its implementation. This then shows that involving employees in organizational decisions is a key thing in ensuring that the employees are motivated and deliver quality performance in their work. In addition to the above factors, achievement is also another factor affecting employee motivation. By nature, human beings treasure success and would want to be associated with successful people, events, processes, and activities. This then makes it clear that setting milestones that employees are supposed to achieve before promotions, salary increments, and transfers is a great way of initiating motivation. Implementing such milestones will make employees work towards the achievement of the milestones that will deliver to them what they desire. In this manner, employee motivation towards work will be improved to a great deal (Armstrong 2012). From the research, another factor affecting motivation of employees is job security. While working, employees desire to have job security and to know that they are not easily dispensable (Werner and DeSimone 2012). This makes them feel valuable to an organization and thus deliver their best to ensure continuity of the organization. Assuring employees of job security also helps them to focus on the work rather than being worried in case they mess up with work and are fired. Such worries also make them think of other employment opportunities they can grab in the industry, which makes them deliver poor performance. Good wages and salary is also another factor affecting employee motivation in Tharsus Company. According to David Owen, (Mathis and Jackson 2009) employees’ performance could be improved by taking good care of employees’ human needs. In this case, organizations should ensure that the salary given in compensation for service is sufficient for the employees. Apart from the salary, the organization is supposed to plan for meals during lunch hour or in between shifts to give employees more motivation to work. According to Maslow, low salaries to employees cause them psychological problems due to inefficient basic human needs. This then has negative effects on work by causing poor performance of the employees. Another factor affecting motivation as highlighted from the research is working conditions. Good working conditions at an organization improve employee motivation and performance while poor working conditions lead to low motivation and poor performance. Setting favorable working conditions for employees make them feel comfortable while working and thus deliver quality work. On the contrary, poor working conditions make them feel bored with work leading to poor performance. Another employee-motivating factor is responsibility. Although some employee may want to stay in the same position for years, most of them want promotions and advancement in the kind of tasks they undertake. This gives them motivation to do a better job in order to maintain their new position thus ensuring better performance (Werner and DeSimone 2012). There are many causes of conflict and alienation at any workplace. One of the most prevalent causes of conflict is changes in products and payment systems. Sudden changes on payment systems can cause conflicts between employees and the management and require early and clear notifications to the employees stating the cause of the change and a detailed explanation of the new system works. Another cause of conflict in organizations is poor communication. Communication is important in any organization. An organization needs to have both horizontal and vertical communication in order to ensure there is coordination of business activities and processes (Mathis and Jackson 2009). In addition to the above factors, poor performance of some employees is also another major cause of conflicts. Underperformance of an employee gives other employees a lot of work in order to ensure that all business activities are executed as scheduled and thus causes conflicts. This can be solved by ensuring that all employees are well trained in their work and understand the need to finish their tasks on time. Another cause of conflicts in organizations is unclear expectations by employees. Having a good business plan, and schedule is important in any organization. This helps to prepare the employees of all the activities that will be executed during the scheduled plan, which helps to avoid conflicts. Poor work environment is also another major cause of conflicts at work. Poor working environments make employees uncomfortable when working which induces bad work mood, which can easily lead to conflicts. In addition to the above factors, poor business management is also another factor that can lead to conflicts. Poor management causes confusion and slow execution of business activities, which then causes conflicts among employees and managers (Werner and DeSimone 2012). In conclusion, it is evident that human resource department is a vital tool in the development of talent and skills in any organization. It is also evident that the MilesMiles’ theory of human relations versus human resources is a good framework on which to build ones business. This is because it clearly stipulates all the challenges associated with valuing employees as human resources and not considering them in terms of human relations. From the theory, Miles emphasizes that considering one’s employees in terms of human relations is the first step towards ensuring a self-motivated and performing workforce (Armstrong 2012). References Armstrong, M., 2007. A handbook of human resource management practice. London: Kogan Page. Armstrong, M., 2012. Armstrongs handbook of human resource management practice. Philadelphia: Kogan Page. Bratton, J. & Gold, J., 2012. Human resource management: theory and practice. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Condrey, S. E., 2010. 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