The Concept of Task Allocation in Management - Coursework Example

ID Number & Human Resource Management 326 - Wages and Benefits Taylorism Fordism Aside from the use of non-incentive wage scheme, taylorism suggests that the concept of task allocation or the process of dividing tasks to each employee is the best way to achieve the organizational goal. In line with this, each employee is required to perform simple and repetitive tasks under the leadership of the managers (Cornelius 6). It means that taylorism is actually challenging the managers on how they can effectively manage and control a group of employees within the work place (Cross 105). By allocating and dividing tasks into smaller units, a large group of employees is expected to easily increase their overall production output (Giddens and Griffiths 745). Similar to taylorism, the concept of fordism also aims to maximize the production output (Cornelius 6; Giddens and Griffiths 745). The only difference between these two concepts is that fordism was established during the time of industrialization. For this reason, the concept of fordism is most commonly applied in production line or mass production of products through the use of machineries (Cornelius 6). Instead of simply focusing on the use of organizational structure to increase employees’ overall production, fordism aims to determine how the company can effectively increase its production output per hour. By establishing a tight control over the unit cost of production, fordism encourages the business organization to earn more money through economies-of-scale (Cornelius 6). Applicable in manufacturing industries, the principles of taylorism strongly suggest that the wage system or salary being awarded to each employee should follow a non-incentive scheme regardless of their actual work performance or productivity and that the company should pay each employee only for the tasks they have completed (Cornelius 6). It means that the failure of each employee to meet the organizational goal could mean no added incentives in terms of each employee’s income. On the other hand, the concept of fordism strongly promotes the need to increase its employees’ wages so that the workers could eventually become a significant part of the company’s customers (De Grazia 4; Sward 53). Aside from offering higher wages, fordism also aims to improve its employees’ fringe benefits on top of providing them with more stable job opportunities. Lean Production Lean production is all about enhancing the production efficiency of the business organization in order to create and offer an added value to the customers. Based on the concept of lean production, the production managers are expected to eliminate work flaws or bottleneck that can make the company unable to deliver its end product to its target customers within the expected time schedule. For example, Just-in-Time (JIT) scheduling and inventory control are two of the most common strategies used in minimizing unnecessary costs associated with inventory and storage whereas manufacturing resources planning (MRP-II) is a computer-based inventory management system that incorporates planning matters related the marketing, sales and order management, finance and accounting, distribution of inventory management, engineering, and human resources into the production operations (Lai and Cheng 89). JIT scheduling is commonly integrated with MRP-II in order to increase the competitive advantage of manufacturing firms. According to Helle, integrating the concept of JIT scheduling with the MRP-II could not only preserve the simplicity of MRP-II design but also enables the end-users to easily understand the purpose of using the MRP-II (100). Even though both the concept of JIT and MRP-II aims to reduce the bottle-necks that could hinder the flow of production, the success of JIT scheduling is still highly dependent on the capabilities of the MRP-II. In general, the application of MRP II can lead to management problems related to inaccurate information entered in MRP II software, the absence of proper skills necessary for the implementation of effective production planning and control system, the absence of top-management support, and the probability wherein the MRP II report will be by-passed by staff (Sheikh 190–192). Since manufacturing and control system is complex by nature, problems related to the use of MRP-II could negatively affect the success of implementing an efficient JIT scheduling. For example: Staff of Manufacturing X does not support the implementation of MRP-II system. Since JIT scheduling and MRP-II has been integrated to improve the flow of production, the lack of employee support over the use of MRP-II system could still result to inefficient JIT scheduling system. Segmented Labor Markets The process of segmenting the labor market is all about dividing the workers into sub- groups. Aside from subdividing the work force based on gender (i.e. male and female), the labor market can be subdivided into blue or white collar jobs (Peterson and Lewis 78). Likewise, it is also possible to sub-divide a large group of employees based on their race and ethnicity (506). In most cases, individuals with better or higher educational attainment are the ones who are able to get access to white collar jobs. Prior to the ongoing global crisis, fordism strongly suggest that employees with under blue or white collar jobs should receive higher wages, better health benefits, job securities, and other employment benefits such as pension plans (Kazin, Edwards and Rothman 271). Within the business organization, employees with white collar jobs can be sub-divided based on organizational hierarchy. On the other hand, the blue collar jobs are pertaining to individuals who do manual labor. Similar to white collar job employees, workers with blue collar jobs can be sub-divided into skilled, semi-skilled or unskilled laborers (Ranis 9). Commonly found in different manufacturing firms, construction companies, and mining industries among others, people with blue collar jobs often receives hourly wages depending on the wage agreement between the employee and the company. In rare cases, blue collar job employees can be paid on a per project basis or the agreed amount of monthly salary. Other than the minimum wage required by the law, the wages and employment benefits offered to both white and blue collar employees is highly dependent on the labor market within the same industry. Depending on the available supply and demand of workers, individuals with exceptional talent and skills can be offered with more attractive salary or wages. Applicable in real-life cases, individuals with risky or life-threatening jobs are the ones who are able to benefit from excessively higher wages as compared to individuals with white collar jobs. This concept is true especially in cases where in the available supply of work force willing to take risky jobs is less than its demand. Financialization of the Economy Financialization of the economy is all about shifting the idea of earning profits out of trading and the manufacturing of products to the use of financial channels (Epstein 3). In general, financialization of the economy plays a significant role behind all the changes that took place with regards to wages and benefits. In relation to globalization, the process of financializing the economy can trigger a negative impact particularly with regards to the long-term economic performance of each country (Epstein 7). Since the era of globalization, a lot of large-scale companies from developed countries have moved most of its business in different developing countries around the world. Since there was a sudden shift from the process of manufacturing goods into outsourcing, a lot of foreign and local investors started investing their money in different and more complex financial channels. For this reason, the unemployment rate in developing countries such as the United States started to increase over time. The problem with having a very high unemployment rate is that most of the local people who are unemployed will have to cut down on their personal savings. When this happen; the overall business performance of companies that are currently operating in different areas in the United States will be adversely affected. As a common knowledge, businesses will always aim at earning higher revenues. In order to sustain the daily operational cost of a business organization, the business owners and managers are left with no other choice but to implement massive lay-offs. Massive lay-offs will further increase the number of unemployed individuals. Eventually, this increases the available supply of workers in the labor market. Since the local employers have higher bargaining power over a large group of job applicants, the company can easily offer the lowest possible wages even without offering fringe benefits to people who are interested in the job offer. This explains why there are so many companies today that are offering casualization of work or part-time jobs in the labor market. Casualization of Work Globalization caused a lot of significant change in HR management. One of these changes includes the shift from recruiting and hiring full-time employees to part-time employees. Considering the fact that it is more economical on the part of the private companies to hire part-time employees, the number of companies that offer work flexibility increases. Concerning this issue, the economic condition caused by the tight competition in the global markets encourages more mothers or single parents to willingly accept and embrace the idea of having a part-time job. Between men and women, it is the women who prefer to have part-time jobs. Not only does having a part-time job gives them the benefit of working from the comfort of their own home, it also provides them the benefit of being able to have more time with their family members and loved ones. Since there is a tight competition in the global markets today, human resource managers carefully plan and offer flexibility at work to avoid serious financial difficulty on the part of the business establishments. In line with this matter, the human resource management is considered to have a significant role to play within each business organization. A competitive human resource management increases a company’s competitive advantages within the global markets as compared with other similar businesses that failed to establish a reliable HR department. For example, in case of economic recession, HR managers should consider offering work flexibility or casualization of work. Doing so will make the company able to save large sum of fixed operational expenses. By choosing the best work flexibility options, HR managers can maximize the work performance of its part-time employees. When offering part-time jobs, HR managers should “consider providing employees with fixed weekly scheduled hours to ensure that part-time employees would be available to do their jobs within a given time frame” (Secord 173). To ensure a successful casualization of work, HR manager should require each of the part-time worker to report in advance in case an employee cannot work during his/her shift. References Cornelius, Nelarine. Human Resource Management: A Managerial Perspective. 2nd Edition. London: Thomson Learning, 2001. Cross, Gary, S. A Quest for Time: The Reduction of Work in Britain and France, 1840-1940. London: University of California Press, 1989. De Grazia, Victoria. Irresistible Empire: Americas Advance Through 20th-Century Europe. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2005. Epstein, Gerald, A. Financialization And The World Economy. Glos: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd., 2005. Giddens, Anthony and Simon Griffiths. Sociology. 5th Edition. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2006. Helle. In Cheng Edwin T.C., Cheng T.C.E., Podolsky Susan, and Jarvis P. (eds) "Just-in-time manufacturing: an introduction". Great Britain: The University Press, Cambridge, 1988. Kazin, Michael, Rebecca Edwards and Adam Rothman. The Princeton Encyclopedia of American Political History, Volume 1. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2010. Lai, Kee-hung and T.C.E. Cheng. Just-in-Time Logistics. Gower Publishing Company, 2009. Peterson, Janice and Margaret Lewis. The Elgar Companion to Feminist Economics. MA: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd., 1999. Ranis, Peter. Argentine Workers: Peronism and Contemporary Class Consciousness. Pittsburgh: University of Pttsburgh Press, 1992. Sheikh, Khalid. Manufacturing resource planning (MRP II): with introduction to ERP, SCM and CRM. McGraw-Hill Companies, 2003. Secord, Hugh. Implementing best practices in human resources management. CCH, 2003. Sward, Keith. The Legend of Henry Ford. New York: Rinehart & Company, 1948. Read More