A New HR Strategy for CCD Construction - Essay Example

?Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 2- Introduction 2 3- Human Resource Strategy for CCDC 3 a) Organizational Structure and Culture 4 b) Job Design and Resourcing 5 c) Performance Management and Reward Structure 7 d) Employee Relation 9 4- Conclusion 10 5- Works Cited Page 12 Customer Inserts His/her Name Customer Inserts Tutor’s Name Customer Inserts Grade Course (25, 08, 2011) A New HR Strategy for CCD Construction Executive Summary The company should revamp its HR policy because the current policy is insufficient to cater to the needs of the organization. Also the current strategies do not blend with the business of the company. The new HR strategy should focus on team based structures that will empower the employees. Vertical structure should be implemented so that proper vigilance is possible. The company should also promote a participative culture instead of coaching style management in the company. CCDC should design jobs keeping in mind the team based structure of the company. Jobs should be such that keep the interest of the employees alive. Also resourcing should be given importance so that turnover issue cannot hurt the performance of the company. Non monetary rewards are also important alongside with monetary rewards. Employee relation should also be included in the HR strategy and discussion forums should be made. Introduction CCDC is a construction company that was formed in 2007 after the merger of two construction companies. After the merger the company made many changes in the human resource policy. Around 3,000 employees were laid off in 4 years and the company tried to flatten its organizational structure. CCDC was formed by the merger of two firms. One of those firms catered to small clients and other catered to large clients. This main difference had repercussions on the human resource management policies of the company. The current HR policy of the company focuses on flattening of structures and constant feedbacks from employees. The policy is also aiming for employee training and coaching style management. All these strategies cannot go well for the company because they contradict the organization and business strategy. In this report a new HR policy is suggested to the top management of the company. The HR strategy will include the organizational structure and culture, reward management system, job design and employee relation. The new HR strategy will be discussed keeping in mind the aims and objectives of the business of CCDC. Human Resource Strategy for CCDC When devising a human resource strategy it is important to keep in mind the dynamics of the company. Employees of CCDC were previously working for a different company and therefore they had a different understanding of company’s policy. The new HR strategy should be focused on giving the employees a proper direction. The organizational culture of the two companies (which were merged to form CCDC) was also not similar. This must be tackled in the new HR strategy for the company. The structure of the company should also fit the business operations of the company and the same is true for organizational culture. It is also important to motivate employees through different types of rewards. Employee relation is also essential in operating a construction company as big as CCDC. Organizational Structure and Culture Organizational structure of CCDC should be vertical so that employees can report to their superiors in a proper and orderly fashion. The current HR policy of the company is aiming for a flatter organizational structure. This is not good for a company like CCDC because it is a huge organization. Flatter structures are also appropriate for small organization or they are applicable in innovation oriented businesses. Construction business is all about controlling employees so that they can complete the work that is assigned to them. For this purpose a tall organizational structure should be used. The company should also form a team based structure at the project level. Evidence suggests that team based structure is appropriate for the construction industry (Anumba, Baugh, & Khalfan, 2011). CCDC can form a team based structure and can at the same time implement a vertical structure. By doing this employee can be structured in groups and different groups should work on different projects. These teams should also be required to report to superiors and in hierarchies should exist in all teams as well. This will allow the workers to work in a free environment but at the same time their work will be under scrutiny by the superiors. The HR department of CCDC is currently trying to implement coaching management style in the company. This should be replaced by a participative style of management. Firms that have a participative culture are found to give nearly twice as high return on investment than companies that follow less efficient cultures (Denison, 1984). Participative culture will be a bit different from coaching management style as it will require employees to take part in the decision making process. This can help CCDC at all levels because construction companies are often characterized by disgruntled employees and highly bureaucratic cultures. This reduces the performance of the company because employees are not powerful enough and there word does not matter. A participative culture would empower employees and will motivate them to work harder in the interest of the company. If employees have a sense of control over their actions than they can better do their jobs. Construction companies often deal with less productive employees. This problem will be resolved by participative style of management in the company. After a merger employees sometimes experience a cultural shock as two different groups of employees are asked to work together. There is also a sense of agitation in employees after mergers because they are not sure whether their jobs are safe or not. This causes problems for the company and HR strategy should deal with this problem. A participative culture in the organization will help CCDC overcome the ‘cultural shock’ after the merger and will induce employees to perform their work with devotion. Participative culture alongside with team based structure will allow employees to work at their full potential. It will also internalize the locus of control of the employees and this will yield better results from employees. Team based structures will also be easy to assess and evaluate. Managers will have no difficulty in measuring the performance of these groups. Vertical structure will also allow the company to move in the direction desired by the top management of the company. Job Design and Resourcing The new human resource strategy of the company should aim to design jobs that are better suited with the organizational structure and culture. Job design is an important element of human resource management because interesting jobs can increase the performance of the employees and boring and dull jobs can have the opposite result. Design of a job should also e such that it should contribute to the overall corporate goals of the organization. Job design is also important because it can reduce the stress level of employees (Smith & Saintfort, 2003). The HR strategy of CCDC should design jobs in a way that can make team based work possible. An employee should be made to work in a group and jobs should be designed to promote team work. Also in the company it is required to give levy to teams as much as possible. Jobs should be designed broadly but team leaders should be allowed to design jobs within the teams. This can increase the productivity of the company because a team leader is in close contact with his team members and he or she is in the best position to design jobs according to the team members. Ideal design of a job is such that takes into account the abilities of the employee. If jobs are designed according to the ability of the employees then performance of employees can be enhanced. Job design should also competitive so that employees are always pushed to work harder. Jobs should also be such that employee should be required to interact with other employees. This will strengthen the participative culture of the organization. Resourcing is another important element of human resource management. It is vital for CCDC in today’s tough times to connect the right people with the right jobs within the organization. Employees have different talents and these talents should be explored so that HR can move employees within organization if need arises. For this the company should have a record of performance of the employees at all levels. This will make the company aware about the talents of an employee and he or she can be given new jobs when need comes. Construction industry is characterized by high employee turnover especially the lower level employees are quick to change jobs. This makes resourcing extremely important for the company as CCDC should be able to replace employees that have left with similar skill employees. For this the HR department should have full knowledge of the pool of employees they have at their disposal. CCDC is a large organization therefore it is not easy for the company to have knowledge of skill level of all employees. In order to solve this issue the company should divide the employees in different groups. In this way gathering and storing information will be easy. The use of information technology can help a lot in resourcing and HR department should be well versed with the technology available to them. Performance Management and Reward Structure As discussed before, construction industry face problem of employee turnover. In such a scenario it is important to motivate employees with monetary and non monetary rewards so as to convince them not to leave the company. The current HR strategy of the company is focusing on collecting feedback from employees at all levels. This strategy is good but it should be made sure that the feedback that the HR people are getting is reflected in the payment structure and in the organization generally. This is lacking in CCDC because HR is getting so much feedback that they are not able to make changes accordingly. Also change is not something bad but too much change can be counterproductive. The company should try to use monetary and non monetary rewards to motivate employees. Monetary and non monetary rewards are known to increase the performance of employees (Luthans & Stajkovic, 1999). In team based structure non monetary rewards can work because employees are working with each other. If in a team an employee has done something good and all team members know about it then it can increase the self esteem and self efficacy of the employee. It should be noted that social rewards and recognition can also have a positive effect on work performance. Non monetary rewards will also cost nothing to the company therefore they should be preferred to monetary reward. Monetary reward should also be given to employees on a regular basis because they can also play a great role in enhancing the performance of the employees. In hope of better income and rewards employees can be motivated to work harder. Monetary reward should be set for teams and not for employees individually. This is very important because offering rewards to individual can corrupt the teams with unhealthy competition and leg pulling. Intra group competition can damage the collaborative nature of teams (Fine, 2003) and this can be damaging for CCDC. Therefore reward system should be team based only in the company. Promotions should also be used effectively as rewards. Employees who are working hard should know that they will be promoted to higher positions. It is important for employees to grow within a company from lower to higher positions as it enhances their self esteem and improves their social recognition. Promotions also guide other employees and motivate them to work hard for promotion. It is essential therefore that promotion is done on a merit only basis with no bias what so ever. The company is currently taking regular feedbacks from all employees and this is good but too much feedback can also give diverging results. Therefore feedbacks should be taken after a fixed period of time (ideally 4 months). Also feedbacks should be made available to the team leaders so that they can enhance the performance of themselves and their teams. Team leaders should be evaluated by a higher authority so that it can be made sure that the teams are going in the right direction. Performance management will be easy in the new team based structure as teams are easy to manage and evaluate. Employee Relation It should be accepted that the company is still coming out of the effects of the merger. Things are still not back to normal and each year many employees are laid off. In such a situation employee relation in the company can be major problem. Laying people off can create a rift between employees and managers, and this is not good for the overall productivity of everyone. Bad employee relations can also cause work delays and can invite an expensive lawsuit. It is therefore important to handle employee relation as a separate issue (this issue is not given attention to in the current HR strategy). Cordial relationship can only be maintained between employees by increasing communication within the organization. The company should start monthly discussion programs where people of a team should sit and talk their issues out. These discussions should be compulsory and should have no more than 20 people at a time. This will ensure that the concerns of everyone in the organization are heard and proper actions are taken to rectify any issues. Employee relation can only remain cordial if employees are allowed to speak out their troubles to the relevant authorities. Employee relations are also of particular important in CCDC because the company is still not completely out of the effects of the merger. Mergers usually have a toll on stress levels of the employees (Cartwright & Cooper, 1993). This is why employee relation management is important in CCDC. The HR strategy should focus on employee relation separately so that work productivity can be increased and stress levels can be reduced all over the organization. Employees also come from different background and have different idea about the strategy and goals of the organization. It is therefore important to reconcile the thinking and perception of employees with the new organizational goals and objectives. Discussion forums can also be used to solve this problem and top level management should actively take part in these discussion forums. In team based structures employee relations become more important because any disagreement within a team can create many problems for the company. Team based structures are particularly prone to problems in the lower level employees (Cross, Yan & Louis, 2000). This happens because lower level employees are not involved in the process of team making and they have limited control on their work. Employee relation management can reduce this dissatisfaction of lower level employees. Human resource department should also implement an open door complain policy, where employees should be allowed to discuss their problems with the HR department. Confidentiality should be maintained at all costs so that employees are not afraid to come up and discuss their problems. These complaints should be given attention and by doing so the company can give the impression that it cares about the employees at all level. Conclusion The new HR strategy will complement the changes occurring in the organization and will blend well with the business of the company. Flat structures are not possible in construction industry because vigilance is very important. This is why a team based structure is suggested that can help the company by increasing performance of employees at all levels. Also participative style of management alongside with discussion groups for improving employee relations will help the company in its post merger problems. Reward system should be revamped and more attention should be given to non monetary rewards. Job design and resourcing should also constitute a significant part of the HR strategy. The company should focus on team based structure and HR policy should also be designed keeping in mind the team structure of the company. Works Cited Page Anumba, Baugh, & Khalfan. Organizational structures to support concurrent engineering in construction. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 102(5): 260-270, 2002 Cartwright & Copper. The Psychological Impact of Merger and Acquisition on the Individual: A Study of Building Society Managers. Human Relations, 46(3): 327-347, March 1993 Cross, Yan, & Louis. Boundary Activities in `Boundaryless' Organizations: A Case Study of a Transformation to a Team-Based Structure. Human Relations, 53(6): 841-868, June 2000 Denison, Daniel, R. Bringing corporate culture to the Bottom Line. Organizational Dynamics, 5-22, 1984. Print Fine, Marshall. Reflections on the intersection of power and competition in reflecting teams as applied to academic settings. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 29(3): 339-351, July 2003 Luthans & Stajkovic. Reinforce for Performance: The Need to Go beyond Pay and Even Rewards. The Academy of Management Executive, 13(2): 49-57, 1999 Smith & Saintfort. A balance theory of job design for stress reduction. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, 4(1): 67-79, 1989 Read More