Human Resources Management - The Ideal Worker - Case Study Example

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Research Paper Student’s Name Instructor’s Name Course Title Date Executive Summary Work and family life have for a long time now been interdependent. With the entry of the women into the workplace, the total number of family hours of work has risen significantly. The service-intensive economy that exists today has rendered this interdependence more problematic creating strains that did not exist before. The changes that have occurred in the institutions recently have not been well catered for in the organizational policies that exists in the work place. This because the policies that are in place were designed based on an “ideal worker” who was a man and used to enjoy the benefit of having a spouse at home who would take care of his family as he devoted himself to his work. The “ideal worker ” was also breadwinner, making him more dedicated to his job. Changes in institutional policies are now necessary in order to ensure sustained growth of the organization. This will include the introduction of various amenities at the workplace so as ease the life of the employee. The organizations need to collaborate with other players in the sector to ensure the establishment of workplace policies that ensure high performance and fulfillment of family and social responsibility among the employees. Other changes include the reorganization of the work design to suit the modern worker. Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 The “Ideal Worker” in the Case Study 4 1.Works Full Time 4 2.Male Character Model 5 3.Curtailed Women Development 6 Effectiveness of the Organization 7 Changing the Current Thinking 8 Proposed New Policies and their Benefits 8 1.Introduction of Concierge Services 8 2.Change of Work Design 9 3.Collaborative Approach 9 Conclusion 10 References 11 Introduction In the world, the workplace is one of the most dynamic places since it is affected by many factors. This has made the workplace evolve in the past years. Sadly though, institutional policies have not been modified to keep up with the new emerging trends. While the work environment has changed, both public and private policies that govern employment practices are still embedded in the past era. Today, according to Bertrand and Antoinette (2006, p. 87) most workers regardless of their gender, have family responsibility and a spouse whose is employed. Sadly though, jobs and the workplace environment are still modeled in an era when most workers had no family problems. This has led to unnecessary pressure and disharmony in the workplace, hindering the institutions and organizations from achieving their objectives fully. However, this could be corrected by changing the workplace and institutional policies, to suit the situation on the ground. The “Ideal Worker” in the Case Study 1. Works Full Time In this particular case study, the notion of an “ideal worker” is clearly evident. The worker is available to work full time. This is so since based on the culture and the organization of paid work, the workers were mainly men and had no other responsibilities to take cater for. This makes an assumption that the worker has a spouse (mostly the wife) is always available while the “ideal worker” is at their job place, to do other chores at home, take other family members to the hospital or fix any broken stuff at home (Bennesden et al 2007, p. 658). This disregards the fact that unlike in the past when most families lived together, today that sister, mother or grandmother relied on in the past by workers to assist with domestic issues, lives in another city far away or are themselves in the work force too. The expected 24/7 availability of the worker hence is based on an assumption that the workers have neither personal interests in life nor any domestic issues to be catered for. In the statistics of the employees, the average service years is 16 years. For one to have worked in an organization for that long, it requires of them to have been working full time without taking time off to do other things or focus on other areas of life. 2. Male Character Model The ideal worker is also portrayed as a male worker. Given the statistics of the organization, it is evident that the male employee is much more preferred. Of the 3000 workers in this organization, 80% are men and with an average age of 44 years. This is structured around the ideal worker who is supposed to be have male traits (Foster et al 2009, p.410). This means that he takes no time off for child bearing and does not need to leave the workplace to be able to rear his children in case he has any. This is because the ideal worker had a spouse at home who would take care of all that. The ideal worker is supposed to be in their highly productive age as portrayed by the fact that most of these workers, have an average age of 44 years. In the culture of the paid work, and ideal worker was supposed to begin working early in their adult life and continue working uninterruptedly for a period of nearly 40 years. This is evident in that the male employees in this organization who are mainly of the age 55 years and above constitute a huge number of the employees. This is a clear indication that they have been retained in the organization for a long period of time and could be the ones responsible in raising the average length of service for 16 years, a figure that is relatively for an organization with 3000 employees. The notion of an ideal worker is also evident since the worker is regarded as a reliable one as they are the breadwinner. Being bread winner places a heavy responsibility on the shoulders of any worker since the life of the family members is solely dependent on him or her. This makes such a worker to strive to work harder to ensure that they keep their job and they do not jeopardize the lives of their dependants. Such a worker will be available to do overtime or even work for longer hours given with only a slight increase on their remuneration. Reliability of the worker emanates from the fact that someone who's is dedicated to keeping their job, will hardly involve themselves in any fraudulent activities. Such a worker can even bear the thought of loosing their job hence they will do all that is in their power to keep the job. In the culture of paid work, such characteristics were mainly meant to enhance the worker’s commitment to the organization. 3. Curtailed Women Development In an organization which expects to have ideal workers, most women end up not rising through the ranks to reach policy making levels. The organization in this case study, has reports of female employees who complain that after they had left for their maternity leave, they came back to do jobs that of lower position compared to what they held before. This would ideally make it difficult to rise through the ranks as they may not be able to replicate the energy of their male counterparts who posses equal experience to them. The managerial posts in the organization are mainly preserving for the people who have a “can-do attitude” and those who are “go-getters.” For one to be able to get into the managerial position, one has to commit long hours to the company which is referred to as “face value” by one of the managers. Bloom (2009, p. 1) argues that such high expectations make it very difficult for women to rise through the rank to achieve managerial posts. The organization also puts it clearly that those holding such posts are “genderless” hence indicating that no one including the women, will be considered unless they perfectly fit into the template of an ideal worker, a template modeled on the male character who had no family, domestic or any other social responsibility. Effectiveness of the Organization The policies in place put a lot of pressure on the employees, demanding of them to neglect their social and family aspects of life in favour of their jobs. Such a situation cannot work in real life since some needs are so basic that they cannot be ignored. This leads to increased absenteeism and tardiness among the workers. In extreme caseworkers may even result in the misuse of such provisions as sick leave so as to meet their other needs in life. On the other hand, workers that choose to remain in their jobs, may be shrunk and hence their output falling below their level. This in turn will have negative effects on the organization for the performance of the organization is solely dependent on the employees output. Therefore neglect of the human capital is detrimental to the end productivity of the organization. With a non-flexible working policy in place, the organization's budgetary allocation in the areas of employee supervision will have to be increased. This is because the workers will have a decreased morale to do their job. This is because it is not easy to separate the employee’s social and family life from their job. For example a female worker who left a sick child at home, is very much unlikely to concentrate while they are doing their job. To counter such, the organization tends to result in increasing the number of supervisors so as to try and monitor the employees and offer them motivation. This impacts negatively on the organization which loses out on the benefits of having employees who are self motivated and self driven, characteristics which make employees have increased productivity and with it an improvement in the organization effectively (Bloom & John 2007, p. 1398). Changing the Current Thinking It is agreed that it will take a lot of effort to change the current thinking of the organization in the case study. The best way to achieve this is to bridge the gap existing between the employer and the employee. This can be enhanced by encouraging and facilitating more employee representation and participation in the matters that concern employment, work place policies and administrative issues. This would make it easier for the employees and the employer to work together and consult each other freely on matters that concern the work place. This creates an environment in which both parties are tolerant to each other without fear of violating the organizational policies. Proposed New Policies and their Benefits 1. Introduction of Concierge Services The organization should organize to have concierge services such as on-site meals, medical services, child day care and sick-child treatment services. According to Boning (2007, P.1), this makes it easy for the employees to take care of their pressing needs at convenient place and hence do not have to put their job in jeopardy. The organization should introduce work-family benefits for the employees. This will grant the employees more flexibility in their working conditions. This allows the employees to be able to take care of their family needs without making up an excuse for their absence or even forfeiting their vacation. 2. Change of Work Design The organization also needs to change the work design so as allow more work-family integration and serve as leverage for opportunities to ensure progress. This involves the shift from policies that are designed to ensure that there are high performance systems to policies that are focused on having a high performance and ensuring that the employees also have a satisfying family and personal life. This is more relaxing and wins the cooperation of the employees who doesn’t have to work and the same time worry about their sick child at home (Bryson 2009, p. 70). This is what will put an end to lousy excuses being forwarded by employees so as to be allowed time off to take care of their social and family life. 3. Collaborative Approach The organization should engage other players so as to ensure a more harmonized approach to solve the issue once and for all. The managers need to switch from the notion that they need to protect the organization’s autonomy. This involves constructively participating in dialogues with the surrounding communities, their state agencies, the labor unions, the worker advocates, the family advocates and government agencies. The dialogues should not be like the ones that take place today where the organization seeks to keep these groups at bay and minimize their effects on the business. Cahuc (2006, p.337) says that when engaging in the dialogue, the organization should seek to negotiate and come up with good arrangements that will enable the other players come up with policies that will help to harmonise work and family life without either side being neglected. Conclusion The notion of an ideal worker plagues many organizations today given the changes that have occurred in the work place. The organizations have been caught between a rock and a hard place since it is not easy to maintain the balance between ensuring that the employees can work effectively and at the same time have a rich family and social life. The notion does hinder the organization from achieving its full potential. All is not lost though since with changes in the organizational policies, the ideal worker can be dispelled and the organization put on the path of tremendous growth and increased productivity. References Bertrand, M & Antoinette, S 2006. ‘The Role of Family in Family Firms’, Journal of Economic Perspectives 20(2), p. 73-96. Bennesden, M., et al., 2007. ‘Inside the Family Firm: The Role of Families in Succession Decisions and Performance’, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 122(2), p. 647-691. Bloom, N 2009. ‘The impact of uncertainty shocks’, Econometrica, 77(3), May, 623-685. Bloom, N & John, V 2007. ‘Measuring and Explaining Management Practices Across Firms and Countries’, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 122(4), p. 1341-1408. Boning, B., et al., 2007. ‘Opportunity Counts: Teams and the Effectiveness of Production Incentives’, Journal of Labor Economics, 25(4), p. 613-650. Bryson, A & Richard, F 2009. ‘Work and Wellbeing’, National Institute Economic Review, 209, 70-71. Cahuc, P., et al., 2006. “Wage Bargaining and On-The-Job Search” Econometrica, 323-364 Foster, L., et al., 2009. ‘Reallocation, Firm Turnover and Efficiency: Selection on Productivity or Profitability’, American Economic Review, 98(1), p. 394-425. Read More