The Concept of Human Resource System - Essay Example

? Human Resource Management Organizational effectiveness is measured through structures that facilitate performance, simplification, flexibility and accountability or transparency. Homecare Housing association is facing numerous organizational challenges. The leadership structure of the organization seems to be dysfunctional. The rapid growth of Homecare housing association was not proportional to structural growth. The organization is suffering from stubborn and ineffective organizational structures. The concept of who has authority over what is ambiguous. This has caused the supervisor to abuse power and practice nepotism. The organizational hierarchy of Homecare Housing Association (HHA) is complex and ineffective. This essay seeks to analyze the organizational issues affecting HHA for the last two years. The essay also seeks to come up with the appropriate recommendations to avert further organizational turmoil. The top management of the organization is entirely out of touch with the employees. Organizational leadership is meant to be inspirational through shared values and goals. The organizational leadership in HHA functions through coercion and instilling fear. Most leaders are obsessed with self preservation. The result is that employees are left with a sense of confusion and lack of direction. The Homecare Housing association is suffering from lethargy and declining organizational commitment. Rampant job quitting and increased staff turnover are a sign of low job satisfaction. The organization is stuck to policies that have been overtaken with time. The organizational policies that led to a strong performance over a decade ago have not been altered. This means the organization unable to adapt to the changing needs. Some of the changes include a large workforce and increased responsibilities. The social climate in the organization is unhealthy. The organization has a weak reward management system. Homecare Housing association has coercive and flat systems. The organization has uniform feedback system which is dysfunctional. This has caused inconsistency and difficulties in the execution of roles. The expressed values and the actual values are not the same. This explains why the policy framework stated in the organizational strategic paper is not implemented when it comes to quality assessment and enforcement. The employees are not involved in the decision making process. The human resource management lacks a clear strategy of getting the employee and the client views of the quality of services delivered by the workers. The conflicts between and values have contributed to uncertainty in the Homecare Housing Association. The customers and employees have conflicts that reveal declining personnel motivation. The organization is suffering from little or no innovation. The organization has no incentives for innovation and risk taking. The value reward system is weak; this has affected the morale of the employees. The human resource management has not established communication between various units or bases. The employees between one unit and another hardly communicate on progressive organizational matters. The high turnover rates in the organization are a clear sign that the organization is losing its competitive edge (Locke and Latham 2002). The organization has been losing its employees to other market players who have better terms and conditions. The human resource management has been accused of favoritism. The subordinates have not voice when it comes to resource allocation. There are concerns that the favoritism is affecting the shift allocation system where supervisors allocate the best shifts to their friends. Homecare is about service delivery and client satisfaction. The clients have expressed concerns of neglect and poor treatment. The organizational culture in Homecare Housing association is bogged down by partisan interest of a religious nature. There is an argument that some of the employees have anti-Jewish sentiments. In a multicultural organization, religious feelings are not part of the organizational policy. The fringe benefits and salaries have affected the employees’ job security. The workforce is de-motivated by the poor salaries since the senior workers have better remuneration than the juniors. Little work motivation and caused the performance to decline considerably. Poor remuneration is linked to high staff turnover and job dissatisfaction. The concept of human resource system has implications in both the effects and characteristics of the organizational system. The human resource system of Homecare Housing Association is a non functional invisible asset. This is manifested by the inability for the human resource management to embed operational systems that facilitate employee empowerment. The use of specialized resources and expertise increases the competitive advantage of an organization. Homecare Housing association has not implemented strategic plans that affect the core competencies of the organization. The information technology department seems to be incapacitated given to the late entry of the organization to internet marketing and social media. The organization lacks a capacity to enforce and oversee its policy implementation. There seems to be a disconnection in the leadership hierarchy. This has resulted in to the promotion of managers who are incompetent. The top down leadership model used in the organization has not helped the situation. Promotion is not based on merit. Homecare Housing Association lacks of training system that leads to promotion. Careers for the HHA are at the risk of diminishing. The company’s competitiveness has declined as evidenced by the recruitment advertisements. The falling levels of application are an indicator that the company rates poorly in the society. The organizational strategy does not reveal any corporate social responsibility initiative. The management is resistance to change especially after the signing of contracts from London Boroughs. The management is openly opposing trade unions. The concept of human resource management must improve efficiency and revenue growth. The organization has not harnessed the human resources as a source of efficiency gains. The organizational behavior is attacked by workforce diversity. In this context, diversity refers to differences in gender, religion, socioeconomic background and capabilities (Rupp & Smith 2003). The complaints on the discrimination based on ethnicity and religion reveals that Homecare Housing association needs to embrace diversity. The minority groups have been rising, and it is commendable that most of the employees are women. Diversity in organizational setup affects demographics and the outlook of the organization. The organization has a poor decision making system since there lacks any system that can harness the opinions from the diversified workforce. Evidently, there is mistrust and anxiety among employees since the managers hardly interacts freely with the workforce (Rupp & Smith 2003). It is apparent that the organization is lacked professionalism and motivational strategies. Resistance to change, poor motivation, ambiguous management structures and disorganization have made Homecare Housing Association degenerate into non-appealing and low revenues organization. With clients complaining of poor treatment and cases of theft from employees, the company is in dire need or radical measures to redeem its brand image. Homecare Housing organization has suffered from little or no motivation. Arguably, motivation is the method used to get people to work. For the last two years, the motivation of the workforce has been of a steady decline. Therefore, the options of dealing with the issue of motivation in both the office and the base unit employees need a comprehensive review. Many organizations are adapting globalization and technology to avoid being marginalized (Pintrich & Schunk 2001). It is vital for organizations to have fundamental changes that shall become sources of motivation and competitive advantage (Locke and Latham 2002). Homecare housing association must invest heavily in levels of employee skill and commitment. Changes have a direct motivational effect to the workforce (Rupp & Smith 2003). The HHA workplace needs to be reorganized to eliminate the ambiguity and distrust seem among the employees. The high staff turnover is reducing the morale among employees (Yeo 2003). The organization should evaluate the needs of the employees carefully. This is vital in fulfilling the requests and needs of the workforce (Yeo 2003). Employees are motivated by diverse needs (Locke and Latham 2002). The management of the organization should consider self actualization and psychological needs of the employees (Pintrich & Schunk 2001). Employees are tremendously motivated by a strong and functional talent reward system (Rupp & Smith 2003). According to Yeo (2003), the best way to improve the working conditions and employee concerns is by focusing on the workforce at every level. This entails opening free and direct communication channels that encourage transparency. Bureaucracy has a negative impact in employee motivation (Pintrich & Schunk 2001). The organization should establish a culture of inclusive decision making processes with an aim of improving the quality of decision making. The Homecare Housing employees have not owned the mission and the vision of the organization. This can be attributed to unclear communication channels. It is clear that payment is one of the key issues when it comes to employee motivation. Pay is viewed as a means of inducing motivation because it empowers employees to do what they want (Rupp & Smith 2003). Pay is known to impact employees with commitment and diligence (Yeo 2003). The employees in Homecare Housing organization feel the disparities in the payment structure have a negative impact in their morale. Salaries and allowances are not based on merit (Rupp & Smith 2003). Employees are leaving to work from organizations which have improved remuneration. The human resource manager needs to ensure the employees can meet their basis needs. Research shows that increasing pay is not a long term motivator for employees (Locke and Latham 2002). However, employees should not go the extent of stealing from clients in the homecare setup. This can have a devastating effect to the credibility of the organization. The bulk of motivating factors must to be built upon sustainable remuneration that meets decent standards (Pintrich & Schunk 2001). Good pay need to be boosted by other factors like a strong talent and rewards system. According to Smith & Rupp (2003), performance feedbacks and social recognition are known to motivate employees. Recommendations However, employee motivation needs to be viewed in light organizational culture aspects (Yeo 2003). The working atmosphere in Homecare Housing association is monotonous and unchallenging. This has caused the bulk of employees to become bored. The turnover rates are highest in the auxiliary and office jobs. Therefore, there is a need for these jobs to humanize. Studies show that employees detest working in isolated environments. The organizational environment should encourage teamwork (Locke and Latham 2002). Research shows that when employees work as a team, they become increasingly motivated and competent. Team work makes employees flexible and sensitive to client needs and quality services. Involving employees in the decision -making process through team participation makes them responsible for their decisions (Locke and Latham 2002). Studies show that workforce that is involved in the decision making process tends to show enthusiastic performance when it comes to service delivery (Locke and Latham 2002). This option is known to minimize work absenteeism as employees are loyal to their duties. The human resource managers must ensure that the employees in the Homecare Housing Association have responsibilities that are challenging, meaningful and engaging. This can only be done through support from the top level management. The organization should have an employee appreciation week. This should be used as an event of reward the best performer as well as bonding. The organization must take deliberate steps to improve the welfare of the employees. One of the ways of enhancing employee career is through training and development. The organization can develop a training schedule that leads to promotion (Rupp & Smith 2003). This shall create a level playing field when it comes to talent reward system. Employees are motivated by transparency in leadership and promotional opportunities. The company must come up with a program that promotes work and life balance. This can go together with on-site child care. This can develop other aspects of employees and minimize staff turnover. Work/life balance is vital for the mental stability of any workforce. This is a deliberate initiative to improve the quality of life of the employees. The organization should have enough day-offs that give employees a sense of social balance. Research shows relaxed employees are likely to deliver better results than overworked staff. Employee-centric organizations are guaranteed of customer-centric services from their workforce. The management of the organization can regulate the shift hours and institute a fair shift-swap system compared to the current system. The organization should come up with systems of building personal confidence. The employees need to be inspired that if they make real commitments and persist in them, then they become more effective and progressive than when they are inconsistent. This should be coupled by incentives that earn employee confident. The organization should come up with a no-sacking policy that boosts the employee security. This should be done with the necessary and professional safeguards in place. The top leadership of the organization might have to conduct fundamental restructuring of the leadership model currently in place (Yeo 2003). This shall eliminate the unqualified leaders and give room for lean and effective employee-friendly management (Locke and Latham 2002). This can boost the morale of employees and lead to immediate organizational productivity. The reshuffle must give room from new ideas and increased interaction between employees and managers. This should be coupled by increased interdepartmental and inter-unit communication. Increased communication eliminates ambiguity and encourages healthy competition (Yeo 2003). Interdepartmental communication should be facilitated by a strong information and communication team (Rupp & Smith 2003). Homecare Housing Association has a weak IT team that is starting internet marketing. The organization needs Smartphone applications software that can customize the organizational services. The organization should develop a contemporary database with interactive websites and social media services like tweeter besides face book. This would give the organization a competitive edge when it comes to global marketing and internet advertising. Conclusion The Homecare Housing Association had a vibrant start for the first decade. This was followed by a deep in organizational performance that is viewed as a consequence of rapid growth. The organization needs to take drastic measures to avert a comprehensive collapse. Motivation influences the employees’ decisions leading to quality service delivery. The organization needs to build the appropriate employee confidence lessen staff turnover. The organization needs to embark on initiatives that restore both client and employee confidence. This shall entail addressing the employee welfare, teambuilding, reward system and the management lapses in the organization. The organization needs to embrace change and accommodate new ideas. The clients need to be regularly assured of the organization’s commitment to service delivery. It shall also involve a comprehensive change in the overall operations of the organizational management. References Locke, E.A. and Latham, G. P. 2002, Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation, American Psychologist. 57,9. 705-717. Pintrich, P., & Schunk, D. 2001, Motivation in education: Theory, research and applications. Second Edition. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Merrill. Rupp, A. D. & Smith, W. T. 2003, An examination of emerging strategy and sales performance: motivation, chaotic change and organizational structure, Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 21, 3, pp. 156-167 Yeo, R. 2003, The tangibles and intangibles of organizational performance, Team Performance Management, 9, 7/8, pp. 199-204 Read More