Management of Employee Relations: Pendragon-HR Services - Report Example

Management of Employee relations Management of employee relations has become an important aspect of success in business in the present day. Pendragon-HR Services bases its employee relations program on greater focus on the individual employee motivation and communication rather than the workforce as a whole.(www. Pendragon-cs.com). David Ulrich visualizes a multi-aspected role of the Human resource Department in an organization, of which one of them is to function as an employee champion and focus on the interests of the employees (www.cirehr.com). Soaring Eagle Enterprises focuses on several aspects to improve employee relations, of which the introduction of an effective reward system is one (www.soaringeagleent.com). The M&T Bank focuses on enhancing skills of employees in its employee management programs through a management development program to improve their skills (www.mandtbank.com). The Readiness and Community Service Programs of the Marine Services on the other hand are a set of employee management programs geared specifically towards meeting the needs of those in military services. (www.mccshawaii.com/tamp.htm). Pendragon: The purpose of employee relations is to build partnerships between the employer and the employee. The goals of an employee relations management program is to develop a policy program towards employees that is able to address individual employee needs and also organizational objectives at the same time. It focuses on effective communication with employees in order to achieve the desired ends by motivating employees to perform better at their jobs through a sustained employee relations management program. In assessing the success of various motivational strategies, Herzberg has argued that “employees were more likely to be motivated by factors such as achievement and the work itself rather than simply money” (Redman and Wilkinson, 2001 p. 101). Therefore, an organization needs to consider all measures that may introduce independence and flexibility in time allocation and wage calculation, which is likely to have enhanced employee satisfaction and performance. It is important for HR Managers to pay attention not only to financial cutbacks and tightening up measures in enhancing productivity of the organization but also take into account employee well being. By enhancing the level of communication with employees, their needs can be more accurately ascertained and measures taken by the management to ensure that employee needs are met and that flexibility is allowed to them in terms of working arrangements etc, so that workers are better motivated to perform well in the workplace. David Ulrich: David Ulrich proposes four different kinds of roles that HR can play in an organization. They are (a) “strategic partner” role, wherein existing strategy is molded into results (b) “change agent” role, wherein existing systems are revamped (c) “employee champion” or management of employee resources and (d) “administrative role” where the major focus is on improving existing administrative systems. (www.citehr.com). The employee champion role is the one that would be best suited to the HR department of an organization in improving the quality of the organizational relationship with its employees. Some of the measures that may be undertaken under this role of employee champion, to improve employee management would be providing employees the flexibility in banking their work hours in a time account and opting for early retirement on the basis of this. This is a distinctly employee friendly move, especially when working within a global set up, where flexibility in work timings and banking such hours helps employees to enjoy greater independence in work hours. Another such measure to function as an employee champion could be through the introduction of performance oriented bonuses geared towards achieving targeted production levels while maintaining quality. Harnassing employee creativity by requiring them to provide a minimum of three cost savings ideas in order to qualify for annual bonuses, also provides scope for additional savings in production costs and fosters employee engagement in the Company and its decision making. With the new global environment where the focus is on motivating employees, an employee friendly program can also be achieved by hiring more employees, although several may be part time, thereby further aiding achievement of production targets, while also opening up a pool of qualified applicants. These applicants can be less expensively recruited and then promoted into permanent positions with the result that low turnover employee rates are introduced, to save time and effort on training and retaining employees and thereby improving productivity. All of these measures could contribute towards the maintenance of a strongly employee oriented management program. Soaring Eagle Systems: Allan (1966:15) defines motivation as the “force that drives people to do things.” Organizational culture and reward systems affect performance as stated by Hannagan (2003:275): “Organisational culture significantly affects company performance. A culture of concern for employee welfare is by far and away one of the most striking predictors of increased performance.” Gibson (1995) points out that in contrast to organizations existing in the earlier part of the century that adopted highly leveraged incentive plans at 15 to 30% of the base pay as reward strategies, the organizational climate in the present has changed to one that focuses on strategic mission, capital conservation and small workforces, thereby placing more emphasis on other kinds of reward systems that are “more broad-based, including cash flow return on investment, economic value added, and other nonfinancial measures.” New reward systems, which are distinctive, flexible and performance driven are increasingly being adopted by organizations (Reilly, 2003). Luthans And Krieter’s (1975) organizational behavioral model is based on the premise that at most workplaces, the general assumption is that an employee is already being paid to do his job correctly and therefore needs no additional reinforcement. They advocated behavioral modification through positive reinforcement rather than negative feedback to improve performance behaviors. One factor that has always been believed to increase motivation of employees at the workplace is increased salaries or other monetary benefits. Menefee and Murphy (2004) have examined various kinds of reward systems offered for top performers and have highlighted one salient difference in the best rated reward schemes from employee and employer points of view. While employees’ rate cash based incentives highly – a mixture of long term and short term incentives, employers favor short term incentives, being unwilling to invest in the longer run programs with a deferred payout, such as cash based LTI and stock options. M&T Bank: Here, the focus is on improvement in employee relations by demonstrating the organization’s commitment to its employees through its management development program. The focus is on providing specific job related and technical training, while also orienting employees into all functions and business of the bank. It provides these employees an opportunity to interact with senior managers and also provides them with leadership training in order to enhance their skills in all aspects of the job. By improving employee interaction and connectivity through such programs, it is likely that employees will be able to function better and have a good idea of the job expectations, while also enjoying the opportunity to interact effectively with other employees and learn the organizational business. Readiness and Community Support Services: This employee management program comprises a set of programs geared towards providing assistance to the members of the military. One of the aspects of this service is to provide assistance to family members of military personnel on finding employee. Another aspect of this employee Relations program is to provide career and job counseling for those military members who are leaving the military service and seeking civilian employment. Help and assistance is provided to such individuals on building a good resume, interview tips and providing information on federal jobs and how to apply for them. References: * Allan, J. (1996) How to Be Better At Motivating People. London: Kogan Page * Dave Ulrich’s four part functional model [online] available at: www.citehr.com/dave-ulrichs-4part-functional-model-vt1582.html * Employee Relations Management (ERM) [online] available at: http://www.pendragon-cs.com/human_resources/erm.php * Gibson, Virginia, M, 1995. “The new employee reward system” Management review, 84(2): 13-19. * Hannagan, T. (2002) Management: Concepts and Practices (3rd edn.). London: Prentice Hall * “Human resource Management Programs” [online] available at: www.soaringeagleent.com/hrprograms.htm * Luthans, F., & Kreitner, R. (1975). Organizational behavior modification. Glenview: IL: Scott Foresman & Co. * “Management Development Program” [online] available at: http://www.mandtbank.com/employment/management.cfm * Menefee, John A and O’Murphy, Ryan, 2004. “Rewarding and retaining the best: Compensation strategies for top performers.” Benefits Quarterly, 20(3): 13-21. * “Readiness and Community Service Programs” [online] available at: http://www.mccshawaii.com/tamp.htm * Reilly, P, 2003. “New reward I: Team, Skill and Competency based pay” IES (Institute for Employment Studies) Report 403 Read More