The practices of Human Resource Management in the organization - Research Paper Example

?Running head: human resources management A Report on the practices of Human Resource Management in the organization Abstract This report studies the core functions of Human resources management team in an IT firm and the impact of HR policies and practices on employees’ performance and motivation. Data and information obtained from interviews and questionnaires are interpreted with respect to HR functions as prescribed in literature. A reflection on the findings is expressed with critical thought. Recommendations are proposed based on current trend in HR function and the nature of the organization. Lastly, conclusions are drawn based on the study. Table of contents Content Page No. 1. Introduction 4 2. Methods of study 4 3. Findings 5 i. Acquisition 5 ii. Salary and compensation 6 iii. Induction, orientation and training 7 iv. Performance appraisals format and plan 7 v. Conflict and grievance management 8 4. Discussion and Reflection 8 5. Affirmative practices and areas of development 10 6. Recommendations 11 7. Conclusions 13 References Appendices 1. Introduction : Human resources management forms the most critical aspect of any organization’s performance because this function deals with human elements that are responsible for keeping the organization running and making profits on a continuous basis. The significance of human resources in organizations was realized many decades ago but only after organizations being thought of as mere systems run by bureaucratic leaders. However, the trend now has shifted to a notion that regards human resources as the quintessential factors for organizational success. Hence, a team, referred to as the human resources (HR) team is formed in almost every organization that focuses on employees’ welfare, wellbeing and needs in order to keep them motivated and committed. This report aims at studying the functions of HR team in an IT firm by delving into the practices adopted by the HR team to execute their core functions. In addition, this report aims at studying various roles performed by HR team in the IT firm towards employee wellbeing. These are accomplished through systematic and planned approaches that involve employees in the HR team as well as management levels. 2. Methods of study For this study, the HR department was explored in detail in terms of understanding its core activities, practices and its position in overall organizational setup. This was done through personal interviews conducted with HR personnel as well as managers in other departments like finance, technology, operations and facilities. These questions were aimed at understanding the goals and objectives of HR team and their relationship with organizational objectives. In a top-down approach the general information related to HR function was gathered in a manner that paved way to put forth questions to assess the effectiveness of these practices as well as the HR function. Interviews: Face-to-face interviews were conducted with managers from core departments within the organization, which included the HR, technology, operations, facilities and finance teams. These interviews were semi-structured to allow further inquiry based on the responses from managers, which was extremely helpful to obtain individual insight and experiences related to contribution and involvement of HR personnel Questionnaire: Based on the responses from the interviews, a small questionnaire was prepared to assess the effectiveness of HR practices and their impact on overall employee wellbeing and progress. The questionnaires were graded on Likert scale, in which respondents graded their experience on a scale from 1 to 5. The responses to these questions will help in eliciting objective as well as subjective information that will highlight overall performance and effectiveness of HR function. 3. Findings: Findings from both interviews and questionnaires were interpreted in terms of basic HR functions. i). Acquisition: Interview with the HR manager highlighted the role of HR in organizational functioning in terms of attracting and selecting the best talent in the industry. Human resource personnel employ various best practices to attract large numbers of candidates for the open positions. For instance, they conduct on-campus interviews at reputed colleges in addition to online and newspaper advertising. They also have a referral program to encourage existing employees to refer their friends and family. Selection of the best candidates is confirmed only after personal interviews with the managers of respective departments. Here, HR function provides a brief discussion about the candidate based on initial round of recruitment process as well as an outline of preferable qualities to the interviewers of respective departments. The HR director is also involved in strategic planning process during a new business or project planning in order to assess manpower required and plan accordingly. ii).Salary and compensation: Interviews with the managers and responses from questionnaires indicate satisfaction in terms of levels of salary and compensation paid to the employees with few exceptions. During the interviews, managers from support functions like the facilities and technology highlighted that they receive complaints from their employees regarding pay package, which is not competitive with employees in other departments like the operations and finance. Secondly, employees from all departments expressed concerns over salary hike post appraisals. Involvement from HR personnel in this matter was lacking. The human resources team has core role to play in formulating employee salary and compensation. The HR manager expressed that employees’ pay packages were decided based on employees’ qualifications, previous salaries, and nature of work. From employee perspective, much dissatisfaction over salary was revealed by employees from all departments. Responses from managers also indicated varying degrees of differences in terms of pay packages of employees at the same level in different departments, which continued even after appraisal process. Other than this, employees seemed satisfied with other compensation benefits such as healthcare benefits, overtime pay, and travel and leave benefits. iii). Induction, orientation and training: Almost all employees at various levels expressed satisfaction over induction program conducted by the HR team upon joining. Information gathered indicated that employees obtained satisfactory understanding of company procedures and policies, which included policies related to company code of ethics, employee benefits, attendance and leave policies, health benefit policies and procedures related to general performance management system, grievance procedures etc. In addition, employees were educated about the company’s vision, mission and values. Interviews with managers indicated need for diversified training programs for their employees, which was presently lacking. Managers felt that training programs have to be customized to suit individual requirements, which the HR team felt was difficult to implement considering cost per head for customized training programs. The HR manager expressed that their trainers were usually consultants from outside. iv). Performance appraisals format and plan: The HR manager explained that performance appraisal format is designed and formulated by the HR team, with key involvement of the HR Director, Chief Operating Officer (COO), Chief Finance Officer (COO), and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). This format is then rolled down across the organization, with space to modify the measurement metrics as per individual departmental goals. The HR manager explained that the overall format included assessment of performance at departmental, team and individual levels; identification of areas of development and career progression plan, however, were not included in the performance appraisal format. Performance assessment was conducted twice in a year, and appraisal was a yearly process. Responses from the questionnaire revealed below average satisfaction among employees for their performance appraisal system. v). Grievance management procedure: According to the HR manager, conflict and grievance procedures are strongly employee oriented, and that they follow these procedures very strictly. All employees have the right to raise their concerns in line with the procedures. However, survey results indicated below average satisfaction over the grievance procedures. The HR manager explained that grievance procedures included a hierarchical structure of escalation, and that most of the grievances are resolved at front line leadership levels and by middle managers; at all levels HR personnel is involved during the grievance resolution process. 4. Discussion and Reflection: At this IT firm, HR function performs core HR activities such as acquisition, development, motivation and maintenance (DeCenzo & Robbins, 2007). Specifically, these include activities related to acquisition of talent, determination of salary and compensation, formulation of performance appraisals, conducting induction and training programs, and handling employee conflicts and grievances. While the HR function is involved in strategic planning process during a business or project startup, which is advantageous to both HR and the respective project perspective, impact of the HR-related decisions taken during the planning process can be experienced only during implementation stages (Bohlander & Snell, 2009). Besides recruitment and selection of the best candidates, strategic involvement of HR function in business planning also helps in planning for facilities, systems, and budgetary requirements. Data and information does not indicate involvement of HR personnel at implementation stages, which means effectiveness of the HR–related planning and strategies are not assessed adequately. Such assessment will actually provide room for continuous improvement for both HR and operations perspectives. The overall satisfaction levels in terms of pay are because the employees in this IT firm are knowledge workers, and that the competitive pay is to attract and retain this group of employees, a proven practice in the HRM (Fey & Bjorkman, 2007). Contrary to this, the employees performing routine tasks, like those in facilities department, were not satisfied with the pay package. Most of the employees’ dissatisfaction over salary hike is a cause for concern because HR’s focus on attracting talented candidates is greater than on retaining the same. This also indicates lack of HR department’s involvement or liaison with the finance and budgeting processes. Another cause for concern is lack of standardization in salary and compensation after employees were hired. The HR department did not have any benchmarking mechanism to bring all employees performing similar job on the same salary platform in order to retain employees’ commitment to the company. Both these indicate HR’s involvement at strategic level but not at tactical levels of business management. Contribution of HR team in terms of inducting and orienting new employees is unquestionable at this firm. However, facilitating employees’ skill enhancement needs serious attention in order to motivate and retain employees in the firm. Facilitating various types of and customized training to employees from different departments through external consultants is expensive. Moreover, external consultants’ contribution to employees’ continued improvement will be very less. Hence, this proposition or model will be of least help to provide customized and continuous improvement opportunities for the employees. Involvement of HR function in formulating performance appraisals format and plan at strategic level is quite helpful, but has some gaps. For instance, identification of areas of development as a part of performance improvement plan was lacking. Even if this is included in the performance appraisals process, the HR function will be required to facilitative improvement practices through training, coaching and mentoring activities. The below average satisfaction indicates presence of gaps in performance management system and/or employees’ lack of understanding about performance appraisal system. Grievance handling is significant for maintaining healthy labor relations, which is possible through strong and well-defined grievance procedure that gives scope for collective bargaining through negotiation, clarification and proper resolution (DeCenzo & Robbins, 2007). Although grievance procedures are well-crafted in this organization, responses related to grievance handling process indicate its ineffectiveness in implementation. This could be because of involvement of too many hierarchical levels, which could manipulate or change besides addressing the grievance leaving the grieving employees unsatisfied. 5. Affirmative practices and areas of development: The positive aspects of HR practices in this IT firm are its strategic relationship and involvement with other departments in terms of planning. Human resource planning is extremely important for firms in terms of manpower planning, forecasting, planning for infrastructure, resources, budget etc. In addition, this planning should also consider employee development through training, coaching, feedback mechanisms, and continuous learning. “Human resource plans should be ‘systematic’, ‘continuing,’ ‘an integral part of corporate planning’ and ‘encompass the widest range of personnel policies’” (Liff, 2000; p.96). This IT firm includes most of the personnel policies while excluding policies and practices related to employee development, learning and improvement. Secondly, its strategy of attracting highly talented knowledge workers through high pay packages is desirable, but this practice does not guarantee long-term commitment from employees. Employee commitment is extremely important for sustaining the organization’s performance and competitive position. The varying degrees of gap between pay packages for employees at similar level is detrimental to their motivation and hence commitment. The HR department’s contribution and involvement in inducting and orienting new employees is commendable; however, its inability to train employees for skill enhancement can result in lowering employee and organizational performance in the long term. The approach followed by HR towards training opportunities is not only expensive but also inappropriate as well as incongruent with organizational and employee requirements. Moreover, performance appraisal format needs revision to include areas of development for employee improvement. Lastly, the presence of grievance procedures is an affirmative practice in terms of establishing positive labor relations; however, the implementation procedures require modifications. 6. Recommendations For the above areas of development, a few practical recommendations can be proposed. Firstly, the HR department’s strategic level involvement needs to be extended to practically day-to-day involvement with other functions within the organization. Many organizations have adopted this practice in the form of HR-business partnering (HRBP), which will facilitate better integration of HR strategies with other organizational practices as well as better implementation. This will also help in surfacing and/or identifying implementation issues and thereby modify or change the HR practices to suit operational requirements and employee needs (Hunter, 2006). Such partnering will practically solve almost all other issues/concerns. For instance, HR personnel can work closely with other departments, understand their issues, identify the gaps and contribute to framing better HR related policies and practices. In order to address issues related to employees’ continuous development and improvement, HR personnel can help other functions to identify skilled and talented individuals to conduct training sessions for other employees. This will not only address budgetary concerns related to external trainers, but also motivate existing employees by identifying their skills and providing opportunities to take up greater responsibilities. This practice will help in creation of internal trainers, talent pool and also knowledge transfer mechanism, which will help in improving employees’ knowledge capabilities as well as motivation and commitment. To address dissatisfaction over pay package and salary hike, HR department needs to benchmark the standards of pay packages in accordance with the market as well as internal budgetary performance. This will reduce differences in pay packages among employees over a period of time, thereby improving the morale and commitment. HR partners can assist managers and supervisors in explaining performance appraisal systems and implications to employees, thereby improving its credibility. Inclusion of employee development plan can be possible upon identification of internal trainers that can help other employees to improve their skills and competencies. Involvement by HR personnel in grievance handling procedures from the beginning will help in deriving better resolutions for employees’ concerns and grievances; this will also improve employees’ morale because of the unbiased or neutral approach and support given by the HR personnel. 7. Conclusions: In conclusion, the human resource management plays a significant role in sustaining organizational performance through acquisition, motivation, maintenance and development of human resources of the organization. These goals are accomplished through specific policies, procedures and practices framed by the HR function. In order to successfully accomplish these goals, the HR function has to be actively involved in strategic planning processes with all other departments, as well as oversee implementation of these policies and procedures. For this, it is important that HR personnel work closely with other departments/functions at the ground level in order to assess the effectiveness of HR-related strategies and identify the issues and gaps. Based on the study conducted in the IT firm explained in present context, HR department plays similar role at strategic level; however, its involvement has to be intensified at implementation level by partnering with each department. The HR department’s role has to be extended from strategic planning level to implementation process in order to accomplish organizational goals with respect to human resources, such as improved employee motivation, commitment, morale and continuous learning and developmental opportunities. Though the HR is already involved in accomplishing these goals, its practices have to be modified to achieve better and long-lasting outcomes related to these goals. References Bohlander, G and Snell, S. (2009). Managing Human Resources. Ed.15. Ohio: Cengage Learning. DeCenzo, D,A and Robbins, S.P. (2007). Fundamentals of Human Resource Management. Ed.9. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Fey, C.F and Bjorkman, I. (2007). The effect of human resource management practices on MNC Subsidiary Performance in Russia. Domsch, M and Lidokhover, T (Eds) Human resource management in Russia. (pp:307-330). Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishign Company. Hunter, I. (2006). Capabilities for Successful Business Partnering. HR Business Partners. (pp:127-135). Burlington, VT: Gower Publishing Company. Liff, S. (2000). Manpower or Human Resource Planning-What’s in a Name? Bach, S and Sisson, K (Eds.) Personnel Management: A Comprehensive Guide to Theory and Practice. (Ed.3; pp:93-110). Massachusetts: Wiley-Blackwell. Appendices 1.1 Interview Questions Interview questions To the HR Manager: 1. What is the role of HR in overall organizational functioning? 2. What functions HR team performs and what are its goals? 3. To what extent does your team collaborate with other departments and for what reasons? 4. How do you measure your performance and progress? To other managers (FINANCE/OPERATIONS/TECHNOLOGY/FACILITIES MANAGERS): 1. What has been your experience with the human resources team? 2. What kind of credit would you give the HR team that has resulted in progress of your departments’ performance and progress? 3. What kind of relationship do you share with the HR team? 4. What feedback would you give to the HR team? 2.1 Questionnaire for Employees Questions 1 2 3 4 5 How satisfied are you with the induction program? To what extent are you aware of your employee benefits? How satisfied are you with the developmental training conducted by the HR team? To what extent are you satisfied with the hiring process and quality? To what extent are you satisfied with the format and process of performance appraisal system? How much sure are you about your goals and how they relate to the organizational goals? Do you think you have a strong grievance procedure system? How would you grade the continuous learning system at your organization? How satisfied are you with your training plan? Do you think you earn a competitive salary and other benefits compared to the nature of your work and skills? 2.2 Questionnaire for managers. Core Function Questions 1 2 3 4 5 Hiring How would you rate the quality of candidates recruited and selected for the specific job? Induction What is the level of information possessed by the new recruits at the time of their entry to the work? Training To what extent are your employees able to continuously improve their skill set? Performance appraisals To what extent are you able to enhance overall performance of your department on a regular basis? Grievance procedures How satisfied are you with the grievance procedure handling process? Read More