Human Resources of Good Dog Day Care - Coursework Example

Good Dog Day Care Human resource is one of the most critical componentsof an organization as it represents the labor input factor. The management of labor is critical in any firm for better output and growth. Managers have a duty to safeguard employee interests so as reduce or alleviate employee turnover altogether. This can be achieved through employment of proper motivation strategies to ensure retention of workers. The strategies incorporate the use of proper rewards systems and the use of benefits. However, some sectors believe that they reward their employees relatively better than others and still there arises complains. The management should realize that employee motivation is not composed of the proper pay packages alone, but also includes checking on the welfare of the employees and the working conditions (Mayo 29). Leaders in the various units of a firm should monitor employee complains and make sure they are to faster and conveniently. Where the welfare of the workers is not for and looked into, a firm stands to lose a lot based on profit margins and output. This is because of the large worker turnover rates which are costly to the organization. Notable costs of the firms arising as a result of employee turnover rates relate to recruitment and replacement costs, costs due to lack of motivation, training costs, hiring costs, costs related to public relations and costs of trade secrets shared when an employee leaves the organization (Branham 71). It is, therefore, vital for the management to develop strategies to maintain and retain employees. Employee Motivation Good dog day care is a firm that is in the training dogs to nature happy, polite mannered and well- structured dogs for companionship. The facility is based in Hayward, California and provides a fun sport for all dog sizes and ensures that dogs are up in friendly and safe environment. The need to motivate workers in this setting is high so as to reduce the turnover rates. Workers may leave an organization and seek employment elsewhere because of various reasons ranging from voluntary to involuntary reasons. Voluntary causes of turnover include a poor match between the skill of an employee and the job, lack of growth, internal pay equity, management and workload. Other reasons why employees in the day care can leave relate to poor and ineffective management, conflicts with supervisors, low job satisfaction, relocation of spouse, unfair treatment, health issues, non-competitive motivation, career advancement, equity issues, feelings unappreciated and conflicts with the mission and values of the company. In order to enhance motivation in workers, human resource managers have come up with strategies where the employees are in designing, conceiving and implementing institutional processes. This set of systematic processes fosters high-performance work systems, and they provide an environment where a worker gets more involved and responsible for meeting the objectives of a firm. The components of high-performance work systems that should be incorporated in the management of the Good Dog Day Care so as to sustain employees and motivate them include team work and rewards, empowerment, rewarding work, share of information, fair and transparent pay systems, training, formal performance feedback, interaction amongst employees and assistance by employees on planned change (McGregor 118). Training and care of dogs can be a tedious job and workers in the care center may face job dissatisfaction. Dissatisfaction is progressive, and a worker may begin by first experiencing behavior change such as whistle –blowing, applying for other job vacancies or even increased grievances. The next phase relates to the physical withdrawal by leaving the job, being absent, tardiness, and asking for internal transfers. The final phase is psychological withdrawal, which is through disengagement with other team members, less commitment, and less productivity. Some theories advanced in relation to employee motivation include the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Herzberg Two-Factor Theory, McGregor X-Y Theory and Carrot and Stick approach. Maslow provides a hierarchy of needs including self- actualization needs, esteem needs, social needs, safety needs and psychological needs and proposes that when a level of need is, it ceases to be a motivator. In this case, satisfying the psychological need of the workers in the Good Dog Day Care means that good pay is no longer a motivator and thus the managers should consider another level. Herzberg developed a motivation-hygiene theory relating satisfiers as motivators and hygiene factors as leading to dissatisfaction (Maslow 47). The six motivational factors included achievement, recognition, work, responsibility, advancement and growth. The hygiene factors related to company policies, supervision, relations with management, work conditions, salary and relationships with peers. Based on this information, the dog care center should vie the factors to consider more when implementing motivation strategies. Carrot and stick involve poking and prodding so as to get employees to do something and may not be a brilliant idea for use by management in enhancing motivation. McGregor shows that Theory X managers are authoritative while Theory Y mangers are responsible (Rose 102). In this case, the dog care should try to adopt theory Y at work to ensure maximum retention of employees. Retention Strategies Staff retention is critically essential in a strong organization. There are several strategies which may be used in an organization to foster employee retention. The major strategy that good dog day care is to deploy is the compensation plan that does not only consider the salaries or wages but also the one which will put into consideration benefits like, paid time off and healthy benefits. This type of strategy is beneficial because it will help in the recruitment of employees as well as retaining them. In order to have fairness in the payment, department-paying band system should be utilized having compensation for all jobs defined. The organization should also consider the following in pay as a factor for staff retaining: establishment of a standard process, payment of time off and a payment communication method. Establishment of a standard process should be fair and defensible in order to avoid discrimination. It should allow employees to have any discussion so solve their issues of compensation. Lack of set pay plans may lead to unfairness during the payment of the increases. These processes should be well formulated so that it may be as an incentive to retain the employees. The organization should also have a well laid strategy of communicating to the employees informing them about their pay. All employees have the right to know how their rates are. Through this, transparency will be and subsequently enhance retention of employees. Lastly the organization should implement a system on how to compensate their workers based on the extra hours they have worked. This method will lead to high productivity as well as retention of workers. Another strategy is through the provision of development and training. The workers will be able to meet their needs and understand self-growth only if they are with training programs. The employer should pay for his or her workers for them to attend career trainings and programs. Also, they should reimburse tuition programs. The human resource manager at the good dog day care should also use performance appraisal strategy as one of the ways of retaining employees. This may also enhance the relationship between the manager and the employees. Positive feedback on job performance will give a chance to the manager to work his or her employees in setting organizational goals. This process will make the employee meet his/her needs to self- actualization. It may also address motivational factors like responsibility, recognition and achievement. The organization should have a clear succession plan that is to the workers. Succession planning is the act of recognizing and building up the employees who have the ability to fill these positions (Branham 94). This strategy will enhance employee retention. They should also provide management training which will enhance the retention because most employees may leave the organization due to poor communication and being bullied by the managers. In order to cater for this, managers training will work up and provide for better management skills which enable better communication and motivate employees. Conflict management and fairness will encourage employee retention in the organization. There are so many perceptions of the way of handling conflict in the organization. There should be procedural justice in the process of addressing a conflict. There should be consistency, information accuracy, and bias suppression on addressing this issue for this strategy to work out effectively and efficiently (Mayo 59). Good dog day care should implement pay for performance strategy, which will act as a motivational factor to the employees. They should be rewarded in accordance to their merit or achievement of the objectives of the organization. Also, those who exceed the performance within the set time frame should be accredited. A gain sharing program is also essential to retaining of employees in this organization. They should also consider the working life balance, for instance single mother has different work life balance to a person without children. This strategy encompasses procedures and policies that allow employee flexibility. This culture influences immensely the work-life balance. The organization should provide different ways of communicating with its employees. Works Cited Branham, Leigh. Keeping the People Who Keep You in Business. New York: American Management Association, 2000. Print. Maslow, Abraham. Towards a Psychology of Being (3rd Ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2009. Print. Mayo, Elton. The Social Problems of an Industrial Civilization. New York: Arno Press, 2007. Print. McGregor, Douglas. The Human Side of Enterprise. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006. Print. Rose, Karol. Work-life Effectiveness: Bottom-line Strategies for Today’s Workplace. Scottsdale, AZ: World at Work Press, 2006. Print. Read More