The Significant Roles of the Human Resource Management at City of Southbridge - Term Paper Example

ASSESSMENT NUMBER: ASSESSMENT TITLE: A SHORT REPORT ON TRANSFORMING HR COURSE CODE: COURSE NAME: HR IN ORGANISATIONS STUDENT NAME: STUDENT NUMBER: ASSESSMENT DUE DATE: WORD COUNT: 1518 Executive Summary This report examines the significant roles of the human resource management (HRM) within an organization. The arguments provided outline a case analysis of the City of Southbridge. The report discusses the role of a human resource department at the City of Southbridge. Further, it explores the arguments for a strategic human resource management within the organization. The report also makes recommendations in relation to how the HRM should respond to challenges faced in employment matters at the City of Southbridge. Constant references to journal articles are used to support key arguments in the report. Finally, the report concludes that the City of Southbridge needs to reform HRM into one that links employment matters with the strategic objective of the organization. Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 Conceptualizing the Role of HRM at the City of Southbridge 4 Arguments for a strategic HRM within the City of Southbridge 6 Recommendations 9 Conclusion 9 References 10 Introduction The role and functions of the Human Resource Management (HRM) have not been fully integrated and exploited at the City of Southbridge. An investigation into the HRM of the organization by Brian, the new HR manager, shows that the HR at City of Southbridge is practiced in a traditional way with focus on administrative and transactional functions. Indeed, the structure is functionally-based as the payroll and recruitment are observed as the largest functions. Towards this end, HR has been largely viewed as a support function. However, there are more beneficial aspects of the HRM that the organization should consider. Conceptualizing the Role of HRM at the City of Southbridge From the case study, it can be viewed that recruitment has been the standard HR function at City of Southbridge. The HR manager should however be involved in training of the employees. The members of staff therefore are provided with an opportunity to sharpen their professional skills or develop proficiencies targeted at meeting the goals and objective of the City of Southbridge. The HR manager is an integral part of the organization that ensures it meets its overall objectives by coming up with strategies and plans for hiring the right kind of people, designing criteria for the most suitable job description and creating the obligations of the workforce and the range of tasks assigned to them (Farndale, Scullion & Sparrow 2010). The HR manager should also appraise the performances of the personnel. This has however not been the case at City of Southbridge. The role can encourage the members of staff to realize as well as work to their full potential. Particular emphasis is on evaluating the performances of the personnel recurrently and providing information on how they can improve their performances. Indeed, when this is done on a regular basis, it helps to motivate the workers (Kondrasuk 2011; Wagner 2010). The HR manager should be involved in keeping work atmosphere in order by ensuring compliance and protection. Within this role, the HR manager should develop enforcement of standards governing how the employees interact at the workplace. These set of guidelines can ensure the organization is not associated with discrimination, unfair practices or harassment of workers, hence is protected from legal liability. Through this role, the HR manager can instill or develop constructive organizational culture (Farndale, Scullion & Sparrow 2010). The HR manager plays a key role in the internal communication processes in an organization. The HR department communicates the goals and expectations of the organization to the employees. In addition, he manages disputes within the organization. In situations where conflicts arise between the members of staff or the organization and its workforce, then it’s the responsibility of the HR manager to act as a mediator or a consultant to listen to the grievances and come up with appropriate solutions (Tridel & Reio 2011). Arguments for a strategic HRM within the City of Southbridge From the case study, it is evident that there has been lack of strategic human resource management within the City of Southbridge. Strategic human resource management basically involves the process of linking the functions of the human resource department with the organization’s strategies to improve performance. Strategic human resource management has four implications to the City of Southbridge. First, it is effective in overall organization planning. Next, it is a logical approach to the design and management of effective personnel system that is anchored in workforce strategy and employment policy underpinned within organization’s philosophy. It also views the people in the organization as a strategic resource that can be utilized to attain competitive advantage and lastly, it matches the policies and activities of the human resource department towards some precise organizational strategy (Caliskan 2010). Based on the implications, it can be observed that the strategic HRM should be allowed to be concerned with building a relationship between the strategic management of the organization and the employees. Indeed, strategic human resource management can align the workforce with the overall direction that the organization looks to pursue to attain its goals through the employees. It can be argued that since intellectual capital is a key motivator of competitive advantage, it is the people in the organization who implement an organization’s strategy. Therefore, the City of Southbridge’s executive must take these considerations into account when developing the organization’s strategies (Calder 2012). Strategic HRM can therefore address broad issues at the City of Southbridge related to; organizational performance and effectiveness, organizational culture management, management of change, development of distinguishing capabilities, aligning resources to future expectations and information and knowledge management. Towards this end, Human resource management is concerned with meeting requirements of human capital and developing process capabilities. In this way, the HRM has the capacity to get this done in the organization effectively. On the whole, the HR department considers any major problems faced by the employees that have the capacity to affect City of Southbridge’s strategic plans (Wagner 2010). Strategic approach to human resource management therefore correlates with high performance management. Within the context of City of Southbridge, high performance management constitutes developing a range of interrelated processes that combine in making an impact on the organization’s performance through its workforce. The areas in question involve productivity from the workforce, high levels customer service, improved revenue collection and the delivery of increased stakeholder values. The HRM can achieve this through improving the skills of the employees and motivating them to drive their ambitions towards meeting the specified areas. At the City of Southbridge, the starting point is HMR providing leadership, benchmarking and vision to cause some level of direction and momentum. The main support systems, drivers and culture include providing a devolved or decentralized decision-making of the employees. Next, developing employee capacities through promoting a learning organization to promote performance improvement and City of Southbridge’s potential. Third, through aligning operational, performance and people management processes with the objectives of the organization to promote commitment, trust and enthusiasm of the workers to the organizational direction. Engagement with the community outside the organization or the community that the organization serves is also an integral constituent of developing community-based relationships and trust outside or within the organization (Caliskan 2010). Scope for significant reform of HRM From analysis of City of Southbridge’s case scenario, there is a scope for significant reform at the organization. First, the HR has originally operated traditionally as a support function, with significant emphasis on payment of employee salaries and wages and recruitment. Indeed, City of Southbridge has around 700 workers engaged in a range of professional, blue collar roles and community service. The multicultural setting means that the organization is a potential ground for conflict. This implies that there is a need for the HRM to come up with a set of guidelines and policies that protect the ideals of the organization otherwise the work atmosphere would be chaotic. The set guidelines or standards should govern how the employees interact at the workplace (Tridel & Reio 2011). An interview with the HR staff revealed that not one of them had relevant HR qualifications. This is an indication that the organization has lacked a proper recruitment policy where the staff is recruitment based on academic qualifications and work experience. In order for the organization to meet its objectives, the HRM will need to come up with strategies and plans for hiring the right kind of people, designing criteria for the most suitable job description and creating the obligations of the workforce and the range of tasks assigned to them (Yussof 2009). An investigation into the professional development criteria at the City of Southbridge shows that apart from computer applications and systems training, there has not been any human resource development strategy. This means the HRM will need to develop criteria for training of employees in order to align them with the overall objectives of the organization (Hameed, A & Waheed 2011). Additionally, despite the City of Southbridge having a decent HR information system in place, the organization has no workforce data in place other than basic information such as the payroll costs and the number of employees. The HRM will need to come up with an effective employee records management system, including on employee performance appraisal to identify the areas that are not aligned to the overall strategy of the organization (Yussof 2009). Recommendations In the reform agenda, the HRM should assume more functions such as training and development of employees, building employment relationship and conflict resolutions within the organization. Other functions the HRM should be involved in include setting up employee rewards and motivation schemes, appraising performances of employees, laying out policies and practices to promote constructive organizational culture and matching employee relations strategy with the strategic objective of the organization. Conclusion From the report, it can be concluded that the City of Southbridge had initially failed to fully integrate the roles of HRM into its operation. To overcome underlying challenges in employment matters, the City of Southbridge needs to reform the HRM to into one that links the employment relationship, training and development, employee rewards, performance appraisal, recruitment, policies and practices and employee relations strategy with the strategic objective of the organization. References Calder, A 2012, 'Recruitment and Selection in Small and Medium Sized Enterprises,' Otago Management Graduate Review, Vol. 10, Viewed, http://www.business.otago.ac.nz/mgmt/publications/omgr/2012/12calder.pdf Caliskan, E 2010, 'The Impact of Strategic Human Resource Management On Organizational Performance.' Journal of Naval Science and Engineering, Vol. 6 , No.2, pp.100-116 Farndale, E, Scullion, H & Sparrow, P 2010, 'The role of the corporate HR function in global talent management,’ Journal of World Business, 45, pp.161–168 Hameed, A & Waheed, A 2011, 'Employee Development and Its Affect on Employee Performance: A Conceptual Framework,' International Journal of Business and Social Science, Vol. 2 No.3, p.224-228 Kondrasuk, J 2011, 'So What Would An Ideal Performance Appraisal Look Like?,' Journal of Applied Business and Economics, Vol. 12 No.1, pp.57-70 Tridel, J. & Reio, T 2011, ‘Managing Workplace Incivility: The Role of Conflict Management Styles—Antecedent or Antidote?’ Human Resource Development Quarterly, 22(1) 395-406 Wagner, M 2010, ‘The role of corporate sustainability performance for economic performance: A firm-level analysis of moderation effects,’ Ecological Economics, Vol.69(7), pp.1553-1560] Yussof, M 2009, 'HR Roles Effectiveness and HR Contributions Effectiveness: Comparing Evidence from HR and Line Managers,' International Journal of Business Managemet, Vol. 4, No. 2. pp.158-162 Read More