How to Become a Good Employer - Research Proposal Example

Running Head: Research Project Outcome: How to Become a Good Employer Student’s name Institution Course Professor Date Introduction The general topic I have chosen for my research project is on business management. The actual research question is ‘How to become a good employer’. I am very interested in creating and managing my own enterprise and hope to study business management at the University. This research project will help me to identify the core values, principles an employer should have in order to have a successful workforce. The project will aim at finding out what things every employer ought to do to maintain and attract a good workforce. In this research project, I identified five important things that make a good employer; Employee should be treated like in a family, there should be no (noticeable) nepotism, employer should have clear goals for herself and her business, know what kind of work is suitable for the employee and employer’s ability to delegate. Employee Should Be Treated Like Family The greatest asset of any organization is employees. An employer is like a parent providing for her children and therefore employer provide for employees, provide advice when needed (both personally and professionally), oversee internal disputes and ensure that promised benefits are fulfilled. Through reading and studying human resources books, I found out three basic family principles that an employer can use to lead her team. They are open communication, “family time” and care (Liau, 2006). Employees need to feel that they are part of a team and achieving this involves open communication. Regular staff meetings and other communication forums are needed to be conducted for purposes of conveying and sharing both the good and bad pieces of information. During tough times, a lot of opportunities for answering questions are important in alleviating concerns of employees. In good times, sharing wins with all employees boost their morale and feel that they are part of a big family. Conducting retreats, off-site meetings and occasional happy hours boost morale and at times mend fractured relationships. This “family time” is very important and should be conducted occasionally. Listening to employees, understanding their career objectives and showing a lot of care towards them by employers result in better employee engagement hence retention rates. Engaged employees increase chances of success and they become innovative. Employees are human beings and social beings in that matter. They should be listen to, talk to and given advice and directions when they need them. No Noticeable Nepotism Nepotism is unfairly giving jobs to relatives and members of one family. A good employer should not be seen as practising nepotism. Through my research on different companies, I realise that nepotism is a major issue. In the United States Southwest Airlines company for example, seven percent of the company workforce are employees married to each other (Goldfinch and Wallis, 2009). According to Bangor Daily news, there are 1100 married couples at the company. The practice has had negative effects on the company. According to the newspaper (Bangor Daily news, 2010) nepotism often produces hard feelings among employees who feel passed over in promoting them because they have no connections to management. Becoming a good employer involves hiring and promoting employees based on justifiable grounds and not because of one related status. I research on different newspapers and articles to find out how nepotism impacts on being a good employer. There is disruption of workforce caused by perceived favouritism by other employees. This creates dissatisfaction among workers and results in low employee morale. A good employer avoids nepotism because employees have less incentive undertaking their duties diligently and proficiently when they feel the way to promotion is eroded by nepotism. A good employer practises no nepotism in managing the affairs of his or her business entity. There is also an increased lawsuit for people practicing nepotism for hostile work environment or discrimination. A number of organisations I studied practise nepotism hence tainting their public image. The University of Queensland offered the daughter of then vice chancellor Professor Paul Greenfield a publicly funded scholarship even though there were other students rank above her. This nepotism row has tainted the image of the University and its senior officers. A good way of dealing with nepotism and become a good employer is by having anti-fraternization and anti-nepotism policies in an employee handbook (Goldfinch and Wallis 2009, 176). The policies could include prohibiting hiring of relatives of an employee under any circumstances or prohibiting only if there would be reporting relationship between them. Filling out annual conflict-of-interest form disclosing whether an employee has participated in making decisions benefiting a relative is another way. Nepotism can cripple the functions of any business or an organization and therefore consulting an attorney in developing appropriate anti-nepotism policies helps in avoiding many problems that comes with nepotism. Having Clear Goals Every employer should have clear goals for herself and her business. A good manager decides goals for herself and the group he or she leads. The goals set for the team should be align with those of the whole organization. A good employer involves the employees in setting goals for the group and themselves and this makes them committed to the set goals. A committed manager encourage a team of employees to write down their goals and revisit the targets on regular basis to measure if said goals have been achieved. There are key things to keep in mind when writing these goals: goals must be clear and easy to understand, must be accepted and recognized as important by everyone who will have to implement them, goals must align with the organization’s mission and strategy, progress towards goals must be measurable, goals must be framed in time, with clear beginning and ending times, goals should be supported by rewards, and most importantly, goals should be challenging but achievable (Chaturvedi, 2009). Knowing Suitable Work for the Employees A good manager must match employee job skills with the right job. According to my research, matching employee skills is the most important thing any manager should undertake. Job fit has positive impacts to an organisation as it eliminates mistakes in hiring, positive effect on performance, can be used in attracting talent and less turnover. A good manager evaluates his or her employees regularly to assess their job fit. This skill is so important in becoming a good and successful manager as poor job fit has detrimental effects to an employer. I conducted a survey on different companies and talk to different employees about how they feel about their job. Interestingly, no one was satisfied with his or her job. The respective managers have failed to successfully match their abilities with the jobs they do. Poor job fit results in job dissatisfaction, higher levels of turnover and job related stress. Conversely, when management matches employees with their suitable jobs; turnover is significantly reduced; satisfaction increases and people become productive (Burrow and Kieindl, 2013). A new employee adjust more quickly, works for the organization for a longer time and feel more satisfied when his values matches with that of the organization and its culture. A good manager should also have sufficient information on the industry he or she is in. This helps in facilitating better relationship building and networking. The personnel that he hires will be people with skills matching the job. Implementing training programmes is essential in becoming a good manager. The training will improve the workforce by increasing employees’ skills to handle workplace relevant problems, cohesion, boosts morale and leads to a better and more skilled workforce. Different companies worldwide are finding hard to retain employees. It goes down to poor management practices. According to Australian Human Resources Institute survey, the last twelve (12) months has seen a turnover rate of thirteen (13) per cent in the country. A good manager understands various components of job fit and leveraging emotional competencies including interpersonal skills, motivation, empathy and discipline. Knowing what kind of work is suitable for an employee is a valuable skill in becoming a top manager and evaluation of emotional competencies, leadership skills, soft skills, interpersonal skills and motivation are the things making one individual succeeding in his or her job. A manager therefore, should make sure his or her employees can perform their work competently to ensure optimal performance. Ability to Delegate Effectively Employer should be able to effectively delegate duties to his or her employees. An effective and efficient employer knows about the strengths and weaknesses of his workers and therefore delegate duties accordingly. Delegation is entrusting others with responsibilities. According to my research, being a good employer entails having delegation instruments such as being specific, ethical, realistic, time bound, measurable and agreeing before delegating a responsibility to an employee. It is an art and a good manager should be able to understand his or her employees very well to enable delegating effectively. In delegating, a good manager should understand what can be and what cannot be delegated. The tasks which are appropriate to delegate are those boosting employee’s skills and challenges them, non-management tasks which can be completed without management knowledge (Lussier and Achua 2010, pp.265). Tasks that are paired with training or skill appropriate should be delegated to ensure employees get needed skills and feel supported. Lastly, a good employer delegates a task along with authority. This authority is crucial as it helps an employee in accessing sources required to undertake the delegated responsibility. In delegating responsibilities to employees, in my research, I found out that becoming a good employer, certain tasks cannot be delegated. It is deemed as a punishment to ask an employee to undertake a given job which he or she cannot handle. The employee must have the required skills to complete the assigned responsibility. An employer should also not delegate duties that are involving. The employee will feel that the manager is dumping him work which he or she cannot handle satisfactory. In becoming a good employer, a manager should not constantly delegate work to the same person. This may lead to resentment from other employees who would feel they are missing chances which could otherwise be theirs. The employee would also be overloaded with work and therefore perform poorly. A good employer therefore knows how much to delegate and to whom. Lastly, tasks involving personal issues should not be delegated. Examples of these tasks are duties involving monitoring co-workers productivity, reprimands and performance appraisals among others. These are considered responsibilities of the leader. Delegation is an important function in any organisation. In becoming a very good and responsible manager, delegating work to employees is paramount. I consulted human resources books in coming up with issues that should be considered before delegating. There are various ethic issues that a good employer should be aware of before delegating responsibilities to employees. The key ethical concerns in delegation process are: a fair selection process, the scope of responsibility, accountability, feedback and support, failure and recognition (Lussier and Achua 2010). A responsible employer should monitor quality and number of delegated tasks assigned to each employee. This helps in assuring tasks were challenging hence stimulated growth for every employee. The scope of responsibility should be made clear and the authority to access information including employee information should be made clear. A good employer should also establish checkpoints for measuring progress, checking and monitoring any violations of law or policy. An employer should also, provide regular feedback, communicate clearly consequences for failure in the beginning and distribute recognition fairly where delegation was successful. These keep employees committed. Conclusion The focus of my research outcome was to research and answer the question “How to become a good employer”. I was investigating how one can become a good employer and have a successful, balanced and committed workforce. The main issues investigated were: employee should be like in a family, there should be no noticeable nepotism in the workplace, employer should have clear goals for herself and her business, employer should know what kind of work is suitable for the employee, and employer’s ability to delegate a task to an employee. The research was successfully done and no follow up is required for the research project. The situations, employee tastes and preferences and the type of industry one is in might change what constitutes a good employer. References Burrow, J. L., & Kleindl, B. 2013. Business Management. Mason, US, Cengage Learning. Chaturvedi, P. D., & Chaturvedi, M. 2011. Business communication: concepts, cases and applications. Delhi, Dorling Kindersley. Goldfinch, S., & Wallis, J. 2009. International handbook of public management reform. Cheltenham, Edward Elgar. Grossman, J. H., & Parkinson, J. R. 2002. Becoming a successful manager: how to make a smooth transition from managing yourself to managing others. Chicago, Contemporary Books. Liau, B. 2006. True leaders: moral guide for modern living. Bloomington, Ind, Authorhouse. Lussier, R. N., & Achua, C. F. 2010. Leadership: theory, application, skill development. Australia, South-western/Cengage Learning. Read More