Human Resources - Compare and Contrast Interview Paper - Essay Example

? Human Resources - Compare and Contrast Interview Paper Table of Contents Introduction 3 Comparison and Contrast of Interviews 3 Conclusion 7 Reference 8 Appendix 9 Questionnaire: 9 Introduction The project makes a comparison of the interviews conducted on two Human Resource Managers in two separate organizations which differ in terms of the organization size. The first organization has been established for 25 years while the latter is comparatively new with 10 years of operations. The individuals have been chosen for the study based on the fact that they have been involved in the core human resource activities for a significant number of years and have gained substantial knowledge and expertise on the subject too. The topic chosen for the study is compensation and the problems that employees face with regards to the same. The interview questions are prepared with the aim to bring forth the opinion of the two managers with regards to the effectiveness of the compensation policies in their organizations in terms of employee and organizational performance. The questionnaire is designed to help the two organizations make analysis of their respective human resource practices. Also the compensation package of employees is perceived as the value organization assign to their employees. An analysis of the same would reveal the employees’ worth in the organization as valuable assets. Comparison and Contrast of Interviews Various factors came forth with regards to the compensation structures of the two organizations and how satisfied were the employees with the compensation structure and policies of the organization. From the first two questions it is revealed that there has been a gradual up rise in the basic salaries for the position of Human Resource Manager. This gets revealed from the fact that five years back, the starting salary for the position of a Human Resource Manager was 5.4L p.a. while it was raised to 6L p.a. after two years. Thus it is apparent that the second organization provides greater consideration towards the prevailing rates of inflation at the place and sets its salary accordingly. It is important to ensure that the compensation structures are fixed in such a way which considers the market and economic conditions. It seems that the minimum salaries of employees have undergone a hike due to inflationary pressures and general improvement of the economic conditions. Also considering the improvements in then labor markets, organizations have been driven towards the upliftment of the salaries of employees. Employers failing to do so confront with various human resource problems, such as dissatisfied and de-motivated employees, employees’ resistance towards work and their jobs. From the responses that follow, it is apparent that the former organization considers the industrial standards at the prevailing time before setting the salaries of employees. However, the latter sets its salary independent of the industry standards. The responses demonstrate that the former organization would face fewer problems in attracting and retaining human resource in comparison to the latter. With the upward inflationary pressures in most nations and rapid technological advancement organizations have been increasingly confronting with the problem of upward revision of the basic salaries of employees in terms of their dearness allowances. In such a condition organizations not considering the industrial standards would be faced with the problem of high employee attrition rates. Employees would be more tempted towards organizations offering higher salaries as salaries are the prerequisites of attracting and retaining talents in organizations. With the intense competition existing in the market, the compensation packages are the only and most important alternative left with the companies to motivate employees and attract them from the labor market. The increment system in the former organizations is found to be better and profound in comparison to the latter. Employees remain concerned about their career advancement in the organization. From the responses that followed it is seen that even though the starting pay package in the former organization might be lower, it has a proper system of salary increment. Thus it is in a better position to motivate its employees towards performing their jobs. However lack of a proper system of increment would act as a hurdle towards attaining the loyalty and commitment of employees. Employees always look forward to making advancement in their career and knowledge domain. A stagnating salary would necessarily mean a stagnating career for the employee. Organizations must ensure that the level of salary must be enough to motivate their employees attain a desired level of performance. Regular salary increment must be coupled with the growth in career prospects for the employees. A stagnating career leads to employees looking for other similar jobs in other organizations and finally results in high attritions (Lax & Sebenius, 1986, p.158). From the responses that followed, it shows that in the former organization there is a direct relationship between the performance of employees and the compensation they receive. It must be understood that a part of the entire compensation, called variable pay linked with performance helps to motivate employees to enhance productivity. However, linking the entire compensation package with employee productivity ruins the same. This instigates insecurity among employees which hampers their performance too. The optimum compensation structure would comprise of a fixed base salary for employees coupled with an incentive structure on achievement of a set target. Regarding the system of incentives in both the organizations, responses demonstrates that employees consider a uniform and unbiased incentive system which is equal for all as the most lucrative for performance. As per the statement of the manager of the former organization, the system of incentive is considered to be fair because it is based on performance and is also the same for all. However, in the latter case the system remains biased towards employees at the upper level and is not uniform for all which is perceived by employees as a major drawback in the system (Burton, 1988, p.78). Also incentives can be effective only if they are set against targets which are attainable. Targets must not be set at such levels which cannot be achieved by most employees. The possibility that the target can be attained and would yield lucrative results drives the employees to put extra efforts to enhance performance and productivity. The fact that incentives and bonuses are linked with organizational performance de-motivates employees. Rather incentives must be directly linked with the individual performance of employees. This would make every employee accountable for their performance. Management must also consider the nature of service that the employees provide and set the incentives scheme accordingly. The salary increment may also be based on the position of the individual in the organizational hierarchy. The professional and technical skills may be offered higher incentives as they are directly linked with productivity of the organization. However, linking the performance of the organization with the incentives might not yield the maximum results from the employees as they would not be tempted to work more when the organizational productivity would be low. It is seen that employees prefer flexibility with regards to the number of hours of work in the organization. Fixing the working hours limits the performance of employees and has little to do with his productivity. On the other hand flexible working hours provides the allowance to the employees of scheduling activities as per the requirement. In such a situation he might put additional efforts because of the flexible timing he receives. Moreover, he also gets the liberty to schedule activities as per his will according to the needs of the situation. On the other hand making the number of hours fixed creates pressure on employees and makes him bound to perform his activities within a stipulated time interval. Moreover he lacks the liberty of performing his job in the way he deems fit. Most importantly it must be ensured that the salaries are not linked with the working hours, rather must be linked with performance. Conclusion Based on the comparison and contrast of the responses provided by the Human Resource Managers of the two organizations, it is revealed that the former organization has a more favorable compensation structure which is effective in yielding better results from the employees in terms of attainment of organizational goals and objectives. It would in a better position to attract and retain talents from the industry as it considers the industrial standards while formulating its salary structure. Also the organization designs a proper scheme of salary increment of employees along with career advancement possibilities. This helps employees to be motivated to perform their jobs better and faster. Also the system of incentives is based on performance and is free of biasness towards particular employees. Employees are also provided with flexible working hours to perform their jobs. Moreover, lack of any direct link with the working hours and compensation helps them to perform their job in the best possible way and without any unnecessary pressure. The organization uses the present position of employees and the targets set at that position to design their incentive structure. This also helps to remove any kind of biasness or drawback in the system. Reference Burton, J. F. (1988). New perspectives in workers' compensation. Cornell University Press. Lax, D. A. & Sebenius, J. K. (1986). The manager as negotiator: bargaining for cooperation and competitive gain. Simon and Schuster. Appendix Questionnaire: 1. How long have you been working in your organization? Response A: 5 years Response B: 3 years 2. What was your starting salary when you had joined the organization as a Human Resource Manager? Response A: 5.4 L per annum Response B: 6.00 L per annum 3. Do you conduct any survey to compare your compensation policies with that of your competitors? Response A: Yes Response B: No 4. Does your organization offer salary increment on a regular basis? Response A: Yes Response B: No 5. Please rate the relationship between the amounts of compensation that you receive with that of your performance? Response A: Fair Response B: Poor/Low 6. Is your organization’s incentive/bonus system satisfactory? State Reasons Response A: Yes. Fair and Performance based Response B: No. Biased towards the upper level employees, based on targets unattainable 7. What are the criteria that the human resource department in your organization use for arriving at providing allowances and benefits to employees? Response A: Targets and Performance of employees, Position in the organization Response B: Targets and Organizational Performance 8. Please state your opinion with regards to the relationship between the number of hours of work and the compensation policy of the organization Response A: Flexible working hours based on urgency of projects, Salary independent of number of hours worked. Response B: Fixed working hours and extra payments for extra number of hours worked Read More