Methods of Unbiased Appraisals - Research Proposal Example

Human Resources Management: Methods of Unbiased Appraisals Proposal ID or Number] 2006-03-18 1) Title: Human Resources Management: Methods of Unbiased Appraisals 2) Study rationale: The demands placed by potential employees for companies to meet have become increasingly high. Many of these demands include fair pay, health benefits, monetary compensation, and other incentives before a potential employee will accept a new position within any given organisation. This new level of demand has caused businesses to implement a department whose sole responsibility was to originally act as a portal between management and employees; keeping an objective point of view while trying to balance the needs of the company with the demands of the employees. Since the growth of these new demands, spurred on by increasing competitiveness and globalisation, the level of involvement the human resources departments have had to take has grown. Unfortunately, in many cases, this growth has not yet been matched by the level of competency or unbiased behaviour. Problems also arise when comparing the differing perceptions that international employees may hold in regards to different subjects such as sexual harassment and discrimination (Day, 2). This can present problems in many ways. For example, customs that are acceptable in one cultural group may not be so while interacting with another group. However, these differences may not be readily available as laws may not yet have been established referencing such behaviours. In these times, the human resources department must begin acting as an impartial mediator to resolve these differences fairly between all parties involved. 3) Objectives: Today’s business world appears to be growing smaller and smaller as businesses grow larger and larger. As companies and organisations become more global, they begin entering markets on an international scale. This globalisation requires buildings to be constructed on foreign soils, diversity in ethics, management, and policies. The competition derived from the new global market has sent businesses into a new race to gain a competitive advantage against both local and foreign industries. During this race, companies must begin redefining internal questions such as: management ethics, hiring and training policies, and company diversity. While many of these matters can be resolved quickly within their own local markets, meeting such goals when entering a foreign market is no easy task; human resources departments must conduct research on the new market to see where the advantages and flaws within the existing organisation can fit within a new market (Noe, et al, 534). Additionally, keeping such decisions and appraisals from a human resources department objective and unbiased is becoming immensely important. While most businesses have implemented policies and procedures that will help maintain the department’s objective integrity, the current methodologies may not be enough. This paper will outline several current methods of keeping a human resources department unbiased, any current problems with the currently employed methods, and propose new methods based on such findings. This study will outline the current methodologies of human resource management in various organisations of differing sizes. While this paper will touch on topics such as the importance of unbiased and objective behaviours, the focus will remain on how a human resources department in general can offer unbiased appraisals, enforce such unbiased behaviours, and remain objective despite cultural, legal, and economic differences from each region of business. Although this study must briefly describe the importance of such unbiased behaviours and describe the current levels of such behaviour, much of this paper will focus on global organisations: those businesses that are currently operating in multiple parts of the world. However, in addition to this will be an outline of proposed resolutions for human resources within companies not yet operating globally or looking to enter the global market. The current methodologies of human resources management will be discussed along with potential challenges these methods face and possible resolutions. 4) Contribution of existing literature (mini literature review): The human resources department within a business have very specific responsibilities to fulfil: often they must be sure the company is upholding and following the current laws regarding employee relations, hiring and training procedures, and customer relations. During recent decades, human resources managers and have had to expand their responsibilities to include a global market and growing employee banks of more diverse cultures. Adjustments within current business policies must be made to combat this diversity and allow the new customers and employees a comfortable environment to be in. This becomes more crucial as the business begins expanding further as the laws and traditions vary greatly from country to country. For example, the founding beliefs and cultures as well as the political systems and stability of such systems will vary in character, development, and stability. Fluctuating stability will make enforcing many internal politics difficult. Human resource regulations and laws vary among countries in character and detail. These fluctuations also make adjustments difficult because of differing laws in labour within different nations. For example, many of the countries throughout Western Europe have differing laws regarding labour unions and employment; these differences can often make minimising the number of employees to the original standards of the company trying to expand because some might require high payments to be made to ex-employees. To various degrees, many countries have implemented equal opportunity laws; some countries include all nationalities, religions, and genders while others only watch for one gender over another. Some countries also have implemented policies regarding the treatment of employees to minimise or prevent such things as discrimination for gender or religion and sexual harassment. An important factor to consider when managing a human resources factor is the culture of the country in which the business is operating. Culture is determined by shared beliefs, traditions, and characteristics of a particular group of like-minded people (Mathis & Jackson, 171). Human Resources must watch for and work to control cultural factors that may arise when working with people of differing cultural backgrounds and histories for a number of reasons; however, there is one reason that makes this of high importance: The culture of a given group of people often determines other legal factors within their society such as political decisions, legalities, economic status, and educational standards (Noe, et al, 537). Because the economic status can vary immensely from one country or society to another, economics becomes an important factor for a human resources department to encounter. A financially strained or relatively undeveloped country will be more likely to accept a foreign organisation as this will offer jobs, regular payments, and some economic growth for their citizens. This need for economic growth will make implementing and operating a new business very easy. In contrast to this, the more financially stable and developed countries, such as those throughout Western Europe, find already high levels of unemployed peoples despite the strict employment regulations. In many cases, the growth of a company to an international market has been faster than the growth of its human resources department. Management within an international human resources department will differ from similar departments operating within a domestic marketplace in several ways. The human resources department of a global organisation will pay closer attention to details regarding translation and possible relocation of employees; additionally, human resources must support the company’s employees when regarding lifestyle adjustments and adapting to a new environment and culture than they are accustomed to. A good example of a large global organisation is McDonald’s restaurants. A company of this size requires the use of a full-time staff of human resources managers devoted solely to the globalisation of the company. To accomplish this, McDonald’s has employed a team of human resources directors whose sole responsibilities are to travel around the world keeping each localised McDonald’s management and human resources departments up-to-date on international policies and concerns. (You may wish to double check this with a local McDonald’s from your area and then add the proper citation, I asked a manager at a McDonald’s in my state in Texas). A human resources department that is based in a foreign country to its origin must pay special concern to all political, cultural, and legal issues regarding both countries. Many companies, including Shell, Xerox, and Levi Strauss (Again, please double check these to be sure they match with your area), have begun to implement new codes of conduct that employees must follow whatever store or country they currently work in; these universal codes of conduct help enforce the companies’ work ethics while keeping each employee informed of the standards of legal behaviours (Sherman, et al, 633) Additionally, there are a number of business operators and owners working in only one country beginning to see the potential and benefit of entering the global market. As these organisations begin to grow into international companies must first complete three phases of globalisation to ensure effectiveness of the growth. These stages include: (1) import-export, (2) multinational enterprises, and (3) global organisation. How deeply an international department of human resources becomes involved will directly depend on the stage a company is currently operating under. Organisations that successfully enter the first phase of globalisation are moving their products across international borders (importing and exporting) without the use of international employees other than negotiators. During this phase, the overall responsibilities and duties of the existing human resources department remain relatively unchanged (HR Magazine, 06-01-1995). Those companies in the second phase of globalisation have implemented a few, strategic points of operation in several foreign countries. These points of operation act similarly to a very large assembly line: portions of the company’s goods are produced in one country and then exported to another country for additional work and assembly before being shipped to another country for selling. Often, the human resources department of such organisations must begin adapting to new cultural environments and practises. Additionally, the human resources department must begin training a workforce of foreign peoples; and this department must pay close attention and comply with all foreign laws and labour regulations while helping any domestic workers and their families adjust to the new assignment (HR Magazine, 06-01-1995). The third and final stage of globalisation requires a company to operate several corporate components within multiple countries; each separate component works reciprocally with the company’s headquarters and with each other. People, services, and products are distributed across international borders extensively. Such organisations are those that implement a special team of human resources directors or managers to work solely on the global communications and networking. As a business grows to an international personality, these organisations must begin fulfilling employment requirements to allow things to run smoothly. Several multinational enterprises and global companies begin employing people from around the world to fill these many new positions. Each type of employee, whether national, expatriate, or third-country national, will require a different level of human resources commitment, involvement, and support as each of these people will present the company with unique challenges to its current methods of human resource policies. For example, since each employee is a citizen of a different country working under the umbrella of one organisation, each must still abide by the differing tax laws, labour laws, and other cultural differences. This level of multinational laws will require the human resources department to become knowledgeable of each law and regulation of each country of origin to each employee. Additionally, the human resources department must implement payroll and record-keeping policies and procedures to help assure each of these varying laws is being met by the company. 5) Methodology: Data will be collected through the use of phone interviews and questionnaires. Whenever possible, the managers of human resources department in various types of businesses will be contacted for an appointment and given the choice of filling out a questionnaire or being contacted by phone to answer the interview questions. The interview should take approximately two hours from the starting time. If at all possible, a period of about four to five hours will be dedicated to meeting a manager within the human resources department of at least one organisation willing to be followed for that time so the methods being used can be observed in action. Should this occur, extreme caution will be taken to ensure that the observer will remain an outside, objective onlooker: respecting the decisions and people met that day and merely taking notes. Those people being interviewed will be sent copies of the questions prior to the phone interview; providing them each with the opportunity to read over and ask any questions regarding these questions. Once the data has been collected, it will be reviewed and analyzed: comparing the methodologies used by each business to ensure the unbiased appraisals offered. Additionally, these new methods will be compared to the past methods used, such as those described and researched within the paper, to outline any benefits or repercussions that may come of their implementation. Challenges to performing this study will centre on the time and schedule of the individuals being interviewed to conduct this study. All consideration will be given to protect the interviewee’s personal information and respect will be given to work within their time schedules. 6) Timeframe: Once this study has begun, the background and research information should take approximately three to four days, leaving an additional eight days to conduct the phone interviews. Copies of the questions will be mailed out at the opening of this research, giving many interviewees time to see the questionnaires and decide to answer by filling them out and mailing them back or by setting an interview time to be conducted over the phone. The last eight days of the study will be spent collecting and analyzing the data from these questions. In total, this study should take 12 days of complete time to finish barring any complications or conflicting schedules. Nb. submission details will be advised. Bibliography Day, J. (2000) The problem of perceptions: Reasons for outsourcing the sexual harassment investigation. Employment Relations Today [Internet], 27 (1) pp.101-108. Available from http://proquest.umi.com [Accessed 19 March 2006]. Dessler, G. (2000). Human Resource Management, Eighth Edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. 2000. HR Magazine (1995). International Human Resources Institute Network. [Internet] Last updated on 06-01-1995. Available from http://www.ihrin.org/affiliates/index.cfm. [Accessed 2006-03-17] Mathis, R. L., Jackson, J.H. (1999). Human Resource Management. Essential Perspectives. 1st edition. South-Western College Publishing. Cincinnati, 1999 Noe, R.A., et al. (2000) Resource Management: Gaining a Competitive Adavantage. Third Edition. Irwin McGraw-Hull. Boston, 2000. Salvatore, P., Weitzman, A, and Halem, D. (2005). How the Law Changed HR. HRMagazine [Internet], December, 50 (13), pp. 47-55. Available from http://proquest.umi.com [Accessed 16 March 2006]. Sherman, A. et al. (1998). Managing Human Resources. 11th edition. South-Western College Publishing. Cincinnati, 1998. 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