Effective Leadership: Retaining Qualified Employees - Research Paper Example

Leadership Introduction In the cut throat competition of today’s business scenario qualified people are the best assets and they cannot be replaced. So the effective weapon to drive the business successfully is retention of the employees. The entire research paper is based on the theme of employee retention and the important role played by the leaders of the organization in the process of retaining the expert and intelligent people. When the organization becomes successful, it happens because of its effective retention strategy. Employee retention is very difficult, rather very challenging task. Around $200 billion are spent by the US businesses on the process of recruiting and replacing their staff. According to the Harvard Business Review, not paying attention to the retention of employees puts the company in a position to lose people with talents they need, often inadvertently retaining people with outdated or ordinary skills.  It is a strategic issue for every business organization to retain the valuable and talented employee. Just throwing money cannot be the solution and the employees cannot be retained just by giving them money. ? “Rather Finnegan found that people cared more about their job situation than the money itself.”[1] The people who enter into the business firm as the employees of course aims at getting financial settlement but this is the gateway. When they actually start working there they expect some other things from the organization which are the source of their satisfaction. For example they wish to feel that they are the important part of the company and they are treated there like that. The managers should bring the team spirit among the people and to motivate them for their work. If they are not on the right track then it is again the role of a manager to guide them to go on proper track. Marks Urnsberger in his article “Leadership development leads to employee retention," opines that very few leadership gives the top priority to the effective implementation of employee retention. Actually this should be the top priority of any leaders. And this is the source of the problem. “Retention can be a salary and career advancement issue; it also can be closely linked to an organization’s leadership development efforts.”[2] Knowledge Management is very important concept and it is the need of the company. Managing and cherishing the talents of the company is very important for the fast growth of the organization. And managing talents is not only the function of HR department but it is the job of every leader of the organization. The focus of this research paper is basically the role of the leaders in creating new model in the process of retaining the skilled and expert employees. Research Question: While doing the research on retention of the employees some questions are taken into consideration The first research question is what are the measures currently being implemented by the leaders of the organization to enhance the employee retention? Effective leadership is very important for enhancing the employee retention and of course the organizational performance. In this context Mark Emsberger in his article writes, “What do employees worry about? Job security. Money. A good work environment. And who controls all this? The boss.” [3] Of course, this is no secret. Most people agree that salary, career growth, benefits and job fit are leading reasons employees stay or leave an organization. But if you ask employees what it would take to improve employee retention, they cite manager-related behaviors: They want more involvement in decision making, more appreciation, better communication, more team building, flexible work conditions, more autonomy and better coaching.” The second question associated with the research paper is how can the HR department be improved in the organization? HR department means the leaders of HR department who are directly or indirectly associated in the process of retaining the employees. For the effective retention of the employee the first thing the organization has to do is to improve the HR department which plays important role in employee satisfaction. It is the HR department which provides the things to the employees which can be the reasons of their satisfaction. The leaders should consider the employees’ efforts and thus appreciate them by giving him raise in the salary, bonus, commission and other monetary rewards. The fair monetary reward is the indication of the respect the leaders give their skilled employees. Besides this, the non monetary rewards are also essential. For this the leaders should be flexible as much as possible in their policies so that the people can work in a healthy and tension free environment. It will definitely reduce employees’ turnover because if the turnover of the employees increases the rate of growth naturally decreases. Again the motivation factor is related to the effective leadership. Motivation is the factors which bring energy and enthusiasm among the employees. It is directly related to the customer services. If the staff of the company are de-motivated it will not help the organization to satisfy the customers. For this the article in Express Computer, Business Weekly is very apt. According to it, “Face to face formal and informal meetings, newsletters and interaction forums, mentoring, 360 degree feedback processes and the creation of a friendly climate where every employee feels free to walk up to any high level executive and voice an opinion or concern – all this and more is what makes an organization truly a motivating place to work in.”[4] Objectives: The objective of this research paper is again the leaders’ role improving the employee commitment. This research paper focuses on the role of the leaders in satisfying the employees, and thus making them committed with the organization. In this research paper the main focus is put on the motivation factor and one of the effective weapons the leaders can use to retain the employees is to motivate them properly. For this each leader needs to know the different motivation theories such as Douglas McGregor’s theory Y, Fredrick Herzberg’s two factor motivation hygiene theory, Abraham Maslow’s theory of hierarchical needs, Elton Mayo Hawthorne Experiments, Chris Argyris Rensis Likert and David McClelland’s achievement motivation. The employee needs to get motivated. Ann Bruce and James S. Pepitone suggest to “encourage each employee to establish his or her own parameters for measuring performance based on what he or she considers to be realistic.” [5] Scope of this research paper is to find out whether the HR leaders are providing adequate services to the skilled employees of the organization. This is very important as the HR policies and services plays key role in the satisfaction of the employees and the satisfied employee is always motivated. Limitations of this research paper are the sampling taken are very limited. Sampling means selection of particular samples from the entire population. So findings of the research paper will be limited and it might happen that it won’t be possible to apply the measures in each and every company in a same manner. So the study of the leadership cannot be discussed thoroughly. Secondly the HR leaders have minimum of five years experience have been taken into consideration. So what about the other leaders? Those who have experience less than five years but are imparting some new ideas to the organizations are not taken into consideration so this research paper is inadequate to explain the creativity and new ideas of leadership. Peter Senge, C. Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski, and Betty Sue Flowers – co – authors consider why it is so difficult for people to effect change. Interviews with over 150 leading scientists, social leaders, and entrepreneurs contributed to the authors’ conclusion that we need the ability to view familiar problems from a new perspective in order to better understand how parts and wholes are related. Senge and the others discusswhy it is essential to step back to get a much larger perspective of the whole. “When the experience of the past isn’t helpful …. A new kind of learning is needed.” [6] The research paper focuses upon the worldwide problem of employee turnover for example, British employees change employers an average of seven times during their lifetimes, with employees taking about 12 months to settle into their new jobs and become fully productive, which further shortens the effective working span of the average employee. The research paper thus gives proper information of the employee turnover to the leaders of the organization and thus focuses upon the challenging role of the leaders to retain the employees. The research paper gives us the detail information about the Middle East scenario and it can be a guide for the leaders and managers who are facing problems in employee retention. The paper has focused the culture of the Middle East which will be helpful for the leaders to implement different policies. The organizations or the companies which want to settle the business in Middle East; this research will definitely help them to make the leadership that will be suitable in this environment. The objective of this study is to examine the factors that could help the leaders and managers of IT organizations in Doha in promoting the retention of employees by motivating them effectively. The article “Information Technology Leadership & Alignment,” it is stated that “In order to “lead IT”, organizations need to look for leaders on both the IT side and business side who can bridge the gap between the two worlds and help fold IT into every aspect of the business.” [7] Motivation is one of the major qualities of the leaders of the organization. The research paper has focused on the concept of motivation thoroughly. “Sun Tzu tells us that esteemed leadership is found in the “consistent treatment of men.” Such leadership improves productivity because subordinates want to put forth extra efforts and work harder for their authentic situational and transformational leaders.” [8] An ideal leader is the motivator. Just getting the monetary benefits is not enough for the employees to be satisfied. Along with that the self esteem is very important factor and the leaders should be confident and stick to their decisions. They should have the ability to convince their subordinate about some problems, like if there is any requirement from the employees which is technically and practically not possible for the organization to fulfill then in that case it is the duty of the leaders to stick with their decision and to convince the employees about the practical problems in fulfilling the requirement. But for this the self esteem should be built in the leader. In this research paper the Japanese HRM practice is considered the most professional and flexible one to adopt. The leadership style of Japanese management is really worth and should be adopted by the organizations of the world. The major quality shown by the Japanese leadership is the flexibility. The managers need to be flexible. The organization is a very complex system. The retention role in such case becomes more and more challenging. The leaders should be flexible in making some policies and rules. The leaders should implement flexible employment strategies wherever possible. “the high flex manager tends to get involved with people as individuals, not just as subordinates or co workers [9] For example if the official timing of the company is 9.30 to 5.30 and if any employee is not flexible with this timing then the HR managers should adjust the timing if possible. This will make the employee satisfied and being cared by the organization. Actually it is a very small thing but it works big as far as retention is concerned. The research paper informs about the various leadership styles of different countries like United States, United Kingdom and the other European countries, and Japan. With the help of this research paper the organization can adopt the leadership style which will be suitable for its culture and environment. In this paper various theories of motivation are mentioned for example Maslow’s theory of hierarchy. The leaders are expected to study those theories for the effective functioning of the organization and for retaining their employees. The main factor which the research focuses again and again is the motivation. For motivating the employees the leaders also need to be energetic and enthusiastic Job security is one of the major motivational factors to increase employee retention. The business scenario today is very affected by the recession and the IT and BPO companies especially are affected by it. In such circumstances it is not possible for any business to give job security to the employees. The employees are expected to show consistent performance and for this they are motivated constantly and thus it is the skillful and challenging job for the leaders of the organization. In United States the government offers full job security and it is not affected by the economic meltdown. So here the government employees are insulated from being laid off. Here the Government plays the role of the leader and provides its employees attractive benefits, pension plans, health care and flexible work hours. But some private companies also are there which provide the job security to their employees. “South West Airlines has not laid off one employee in its 31years history, AFLAC Insurance has had no lay offs in its 47-year history.” (Benjamin 2002) Thus if the organization is not able to give job security at least the leaders should take efforts to increase the employee loyalty by constantly supporting their employees. The leaders have a major responsibility of implementing the management decisions in their team but at the same time it is also a great challenge before the leaders to make prepare the team to accept the management decision because the team members believe their leaders and they should always feel as if their leader stands behind them in every trouble. This feeling create a sense of security, respect and attachment towards the leaders and this makes them to stick in the organization. The leaders of the organization can retain the employees by giving them extra responsibility. This makes the employees feel that they can also be considered and the organization trusts their ability. This reason is sufficient for them to be loyal to the organization. Employment retention process starts right from the process of selection and recruitment. In this process the leaders have to find out the calibre and most suitable candidate for the particular post. Right candidate very well knows what the exact responsibility of his or her job is. So it is the major task of the leaders of the organization to choose the right candidates and then the second step is to woo them through attractive package and the best opportunities. The organization has its specific strategy to find the talents. It includes hiring eligible candidates and placing them in the right position. As Lyle Spencer states, “Why try to teach a chicken to climb a tree, when you can hire a squirrel?” (Spencer 1990)” [10] The placement process is the best solution for finding right candidate for right job. “Placement approaches to having the right talent in the right jobs in the organization include recruiting and hiring for the specific talent, promoting people into those jobs who are proven ready to use their right talent, and performance appraisal and management techniques to coax, cajole, motivate, or manipulate a person into using his or her talents.” [11] “The higher the retention rate, the lower the workforce turnover rate. With lower turnover come a greater opportunity for productivity and/or profits and the potential for rewards and bonuses. The less time and dollars spent on a continuous cycle of recruiting, selecting and training, the more time and dollars available for investing in existing workforce development initiatives. So, again, an employee gains personally from a healthy rate of retention.” [12] Conclusion: Thus this research paper will help the organization in its retention process. In the present global competitive environment, the demand of the skilled workers has increased and at any cost the organization cannot afford to lose the skilled employees. This research paper has suggested many measures for the retention of the employees and the leaders’ role in this context. Sources: 1. the Institute of Management and Administration, (2006) “People Leave their Bosses, “Cost Reduction and Control Best Practices,” ( Pg 159), by Wiley Publications 2. Ram Charan, Stephen Drotter, and James Noel (2001) “The Leadership Pipeline: How to Build the Leadership-Powered Company,” (Pg 162), by Wiley Publications 3. Mark Ernsberger “Expert Option Leadership Development Leads to Employee Retention Washington Business Journal” Friday, January 17, 2003, Website: http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2003/01/20/focus7.html 4. “Building high performance organizations” Express Computer, Business Weekly 19th July 2004, website: http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20040719/opinion01.shtml 5. Anne Bruce, James S. Pepitone (1999) Motivating Employees) (Pg41,) by McGraw-Hill Professional 6. Kevin Cashman (2008) “Leadership from the Inside Out: Becoming a Leader for Life,” Pg 150 ,Berrett-Koehler Publishers 7. Information Technology Leadership & Alignment, Eric D Brown, by on June 2, 2008,website:http://ericbrown.com/information-technology-leadership-alignment.htm 8. George W. Anderson, Charles D. Nelson (2009) SAP Implementation Unleashed: A Business and Technical Roadmap to Deploying Sap Pg. 243, Sams Publishing 9. W. J. Reddin, “The Flexible Manager” website: http://library1.nida.ac.th/nida_jour0/NJv19n1_09.pdf 10. , 11. Ganesh Natrajan, Building High Performance Organizations, Express Computer, 19th July 2004, website: http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20040719/opinion01.shtml 12. Employee Retention – Is it a front-line responsibility? The Wright Group, website: http://www.wright-group.ca/employeeretention.htm Read More