How HR Specialists Drive Performance in Company - Literature review Example

How HR specialists drive individual and organizational performance in a MNC Name Institution Introduction Human resource management may be an under-appreciated department in many organizations but their worth is imminent and tangible especially in the contemporary society today (Shapiro et al 2013, p.11). However, there is more to the human resource management practices that just hiring and firing employees (Gibb 2003, p. 283). Huselid (1995, p. 646) argues that today, the roles and obligations that have been placed on this department have increasingly become diversified to encompass the action of employee motivation to lower turnover ratio and increase the production scale. Because of this and other numerous roles, the specialists in the human have found themselves in circumstances that have forced them to re-evaluate their designations in various organizations. Zeutinoglu (2008, p. 6) states that there are numerous challenges that result from the management of people in an organization. This is more so because nowadays organizations have diversified in their recruitment patterns and exercises to incorporate people of different ethnical and cultural diversities. Because of these differences, there exists new set of challenges at the workplace that often becomes the prerogative of the human resource specialists to solve. The key is to drive performance in the organization through providing drives for the individual employee (Grossman et al 2011, p. 110). This paper delves into this concept and provides an analysis into the various challenges that the human resource specialists face in their workplaces and the various intervention mechanisms that they use to handle these challenges. The analysis will be tied to the various human resource management theories and models that exist in the market. The various challenges that will be discussed here include Culture tolerance in the workplace, Communication at the workplace, Complaint handling and management, Training and team work as well as Employee Motivation and appraisal. Culture tolerance at the workplace This is perhaps one of the largest issues in the human resource management (HRM) practices in the contemporary society. The concept of culture tolerance (or intolerance in this case) is a concept that has been highly rated in its capacity to drive individual performance of many organizations today Parker (2000, p. 3). The kind of performance and the zeal that a specific employee applies towards his or the work is sometimes directly related to the interaction that this employee has with others at the workplace. In other words, the perception and the kind of treatment that one receives at his workplace determines how hard or how determined one works. Most times, employees in the workplace are discriminated against based on their gender, ethnical or even cultural grounds Willmott (1993, p. 516). In essence, the various organizations in the modern society have succeeded well in embracing this concept in their workplaces. Jonnergard et al (2010, p. 20) argues that the cultural tolerance concept is especially vibrant and versatile in many multinational corporations (MNC). For instance, an MNC may set base of its operations in a foreign nation. It is common practice for most of these large organizations to hire people both from the local station and nations and from other countries. These people come together to work for a common cause and a common goal. It is vital in this case to comprehend that these individuals come from different ethnical and geographical approaches and as such, they have different outlooks into different issues (Dipboye & Halverson 2004, p. 6). Because of this reason, what may be termed as a likeable activity to one person may be a real insult to the other person. When interacting, it is important to respect the culture of the fellow employees. So how does the human resource specialist facilitate culture tolerance in the organization? It is the duty of the HR specialist to recruit people into the organization. Since this is the entrance point into a particular organization, it forms the most suitable point theoretically for correction of any form of cultural intolerance. It is at the recruitment stage that the HR specialist will be able to identify the candidates who would advocate for culture tolerance and those who would not (Ackroyd & Crowdy 1990, p. 4). Jackall (1988, p. 3) agrees with (Ackroyd & Crowdy 1990, p. 4) on this concept and continues to state that it is important for employees who are joining a company to understand from the very start that any forms of culture intolerance would not be allowed. Employees should not feel discriminated against by others in the performance of their duties (Brewis et al 2007, p. 10). Gender stereotyping is also a form of discrimination at the workplace (Jonnergard et al 2010, p. 17). In some companies, some occupations are still tagged to the gender nature of an individual. For instance, in some countries, it is hard to find a fire fighter who is female in gender because the nature of the occupation is considered dangerous. It would also be hard to find a baby sitter who is male because of the stereotyping that these jobs are meant for the female gender. The HR specialist becomes responsible for changing the mindset of new people joining the organization as well as the employees who are already existing in the organization. Employees’ recruitment, Training and teamwork Callaghan and Thompson (2002, p. 235; Shiryan et al 2012, p. 47) argues that for employees to be able to achieve the goals and objectives of the organization, they must be knowledgeable in the way these organizations operate. This knowledge is impacted into them through the Hr department and through a HR specialist. HR specialists are very knowledgeable in the overall operations of an organization. HR specialists are instrumental in imparting into new employees the goals, objectives, vision and the mission of the organization. This is usually conducted through a training session especially when the employees are joining the organization for the first time (Francois 2011, p.86). The HR department is responsible for ensuring that every individual in the organization plays an individual role towards the attainment of the overall objectives of the organization (Chidambaram and Ramachandran 2012, p. 278). They are capable of isolating the goals of an individual and that of the organization. The trick in this case lies in assisting people to manage the two so that they may be able to achieve both goals concurrently. However, it is to be established here that the attainment of the organization goal is of prime importance. The attainment of the goals of the employees is a secondary cause (Ugah and Arua 2011, p.2). However, it is important to understand that attaining the organization goals requires a sense of teamwork. The HR specialist is responsible for the creation of teamwork among these employees. Teamwork in an organization is created from the interaction of all the employees on the same level. To be able to have a sense of teamwork, these organizations train their employees in such a way that they value the productivity achieved by the teamwork essence (Konrad 2003, p. 4). Training facilitates the employee performance through giving them the necessary knowledge they require to work in the organization. The process of inducting new employees in the workplace is a common trend in many companies. Retraining programs are also the role of the HR specialist so that the organization ensures that all the employees working for this company are updated and they have what it takes to work competitively in the dynamic business environment. The recruitment process of an organization also reflects the kind of organization it is. People tend to learn much about how an organization conducts its affairs through the recruitment process. For instance, if an organization has an elaborate system of recruitment that entails a lot of requirements and levels before one is hired, then one realizes that this organization is bureaucratic in nature (Morgan & Spicer 2009, p.6). Other organizations use technological forms such as video conferencing to conduct interviews (Chapman and Webster 2003, p. 114). The HR specialist in this case has a role that is to ensure that there is absolute fairness in the recruitment process (Peters & Waterman, 1982, p. 5). When an organization has a reputation of fairness and transparency in its process of recruitment, the potential employees consider this organization more attractive. The challenge lies in the protection of the company’s image through employing people based on their merit alone as compared to favoritism. As a HR specialist, it is during the recruitment process that one determines whether the potential employee is suitable for a certain post or not. for example, if the post is a sales post that requires outspoken and aggressive people, it becomes important for the HR specialist to look at the attitude of the potential employee (Callaghan and Thompson 2002, p. 236; Konrad 2003, p. 5). Communication at the workplace Communication in life is the key to achieve success in the form of stating what one has in their minds. Communication in the workplace is even more important. Lawler and Suttle (1973, p. 84; Jackall 1988, p. 3) state that without the concept of openness and good communication channels in an organization, it becomes difficult to pass policies and execute orders. For instance, in a bureaucratic organization, the top- level management possesses all the power and all the information that pertains to the organization and provides this information to the employees on a need to know basis (Lunenburg, 2011, p.4). This becomes very difficult for these employees to have cohesion with their seniors as they just do what they are told to do without questioning. In an organization, the channels of communication should be open either way. This means vertically across the job hierarchy and horizontally across various departments. When an organization has the communication channels open, it is easy to pass information along (Huo, Huang and Napier 2002, p. 34). When the channels of communication are closed, particularly in a bureaucratic system, employees do not feel the need or the motivation to become innovative. As such, they do not perform well and their productivity scales decline. When an employee is given the chance and the capacity to be outspoken, it is highly likely that this employee will be more innovative and more productive when compared to the one who does not have a similar chance (Martins and Meyer 2012, p. 78; Svyantek 2003, p. 167). Organizations should find a way to allow their employees to have the capacity and the opportunity to come up with new ideas. In the contemporary world today, most MNCs encourage creativity and innovativeness in their employees as a way of staying ahead of the game. For instance, a company like Google has a very open policy of how workers interact and relate. The company encourages people to be creative and innovative on company time. This has continuously enabled the company to come up with new products all the time and maintain their competitive advantage in a very competitive market. Complaint management at the workplace Because of the diversity of the workers in a specific organization, sometimes you find that conflicts between workers occur (Anderson 2005, p. 567). It is important to note here that employees of an organization form the internal consumer fraction and as such, it is also equally important to keep this consumer happy. When conflicts occur in an organization, it is the responsibility of a dispute resolution person, most probably taken from the HR department who is tasked with the onus of resolving these disputes. When resolving a dispute between the two employees, it is of paramount importance to make them understand that the business and the goals of the organization cannot be overridden by the conflict. The process of a conflict resolution between two employees involves taking a neutral stance in the case and hearing out both sides before making a decision (Isaac, Zerbe, and Pitt 2001, p. 213). In many circumstances, the specialist should struggle to come up with a resolution to the conflict that is a win-win basis for all the parties involved. When employees have conflicts within themselves at the workplace, the flow of work and subsequently the production capacity is interrupted. Interruption of the production leads to declined sales and failure to hit the goals of the company. Employee motivation and appraisal When somebody does something of value, it is worth noting. The same applies when employees perform exemplarily. Recognizing the efforts of the employees is a very positive step in the right direction (Iqbal 2012, p. 694). Tan (2007, p. 338) agrees with (Iqbal 2012, p. 694) on this issue and adds that when the efforts of an employee are recognized, the employee feels the urge to work even harder. There are various ways in which employees can be motivated and appraised in a certain organization. The prerogative of doing so ultimately lies on the HR department. Promotion of an employee is a very handy way of recognizing the efforts of a certain employee. When an employee gets a promotion, it gives him the courage to work even harder to achieve even more promotions in their employment in the company (Sullivan 1989, p. 346). When a promotion is not in the offing, some organizations offer their employees other forms of rewards. Examples of these rewards include cash rewards, trips and holidays as well as trophies in other cases. Sometimes, even the basic action of recognizing and congratulating an employee is enough to have them feel motivated. Other avenues of motivating employees is through offering them good packages. When an employee is paid well, he is likely to work even harder for the organization’s cause. When an employee feels underpaid, his motivation to work harder is usually low and diminished. In addition, providing the employees with good working conditions is always a motivating factor to them. People feel good about themselves when they work in good places and often this is translated into their work. The confidence people have in the ability and capacity of their organization to provide them with good working conditions makes them work faster and better. Conclusion The above discourse has looked at a number of parameters and challenges that HR personnel deal with in their workplaces. The HR personnel has been seen to be a key person in the determination of whether employees will achieve their individual and with extension, the company goals. The specialist is the person who ensures that all employees in this organization are comfortable and working towards the attainment of the goals of the organization. This essay has looked in a deeper perspective at various potential challenges Culture tolerance in the workplace, Communication at the workplace, Complaint handling and management, Training and team work and Employee Motivation and appraisal. Through this discussion, the role of the HR specialist has been revealed as the person responsible for handling all the affairs that pertains to employees. Therefore, as a conclusion, this paper shows that HR specialist play a major role in the attempt to drive individual and organizational performance in a multinational company. References Ackroyd & Crowdy, 1990, ‘Can culture be managed? Working with “raw” materials: the case of the English slaughter men,’ Personal review journal, Vol. 19, No.5, pp. 3-15. 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