Leading and Managing People - Report Example

Leading and Managing People s Submitted by s: Executive summary The main idea behind high performance working is important to a lot of discussion concerning boosting competitiveness as well as growth in the economy. High performance working can be defined as a general method of managing firms which seeks to stimulate increased efficacy in the involvement of employees along with their commitment in order to maintain high levels of performance (Ashton and Sung, 2002, p. 86). This approach is designed in a way that will improve the discretionary efforts the workers will put into their jobs and utilize the skills that they have to the maximum. It takes time to come up with an infrastructure of expertise that promotes the building of awareness, understanding and support from the shareholders for high performance working. In Finland, a long duration and articulate tactic has been unequivocally embraced connecting HPW to the national innovation system with political leadership. In the same manner, the HPW initiatives in Germany’s workplaces are integrated with those that encourage innovation (Rainbird, Fuller and Munro, 2004, p. 35). Germany and Finland have both come up with networks of research as well as partners that are tasked with promoting enterprises. Through this, they have acknowledged that to maintain momentum with the increase in HPW, the fundamental notions need to be appreciated at the organizational level and also by the associations and unions that are linked with the employers. With the growth of the industry forum, it has been realized that effective process management needs to have the support of management and leadership development in order to have the capability to endure worldwide competitiveness. Table of contents Table of Contents Executive summary 2 Table of contents 3 Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 Literature review 5 Discussion 8 Conclusion 11 Recommendations 12 Reference list 12 Appendix: the action plan 13 Introduction The issue of whether the manner in which individuals are managed and the treatment they go through at work affects the overall performance of the organization has been a subject of a lot of debate. The focal point of this debate has been on the formal processes as well as measures that exist within the said firms. These high performance working practices have been addressed by numerous studies that have sought to evaluate their effects. Various literature has demonstrated that these practices are usually integrated in an approach that stress high quality products, along with engaged and enabled employees. The practices are considered to be additive and they work more effectively when they are blended together into articulate bundles of practices which work together to improve the skills and involvement of the employees. There is significant proof that exists across a range of studies demonstrating that adoption of these practices is connected with successful business performance (Jones and Beyerlein, 1999, 2). Understanding of the magnitude of the effect is intricate as varied studies connect varying blends of practices and different processes of performance. They also imply that between twenty and forty percent of the differences in productivity existing between organizations may be attributed to the differences in the human resource practices. Regardless of these strong connections with performance, approximations to uptake imply that less than a twenty five percent of the firms embrace these practices to any considerable extent. This report will seek to unearth the meaning of high performance working and how it affects organizations in various ways. It will also consider the extent to which various high performance working areas are evident in different organizations. Finally, it will make recommendations and develop an action plan that will assist in the improvement of the organization that is being studied and how value can be added to the practices that are already in existence. Literature review High performance work areas have been previous defined in different forms but there is a universal focus on involved and vested employees as well as on products of superior value. For instance, the OECD considers them as the firms that are moving in the direction of a less hierarchical structure that is characterized by people who work as teams that have a greater anatomy that is based on increased degrees of trust and communication. High performance working includes component parts such as visions that are based on enhancing the value of the customers through differentiating the products associated with an organization and moving in the direction of customization or what it offers to the requirements of the customers (Harzing and Pinnington, 2011, p. 295). Other components include: leadership from the top so that momentum can be created, and devolution of decision making by the people who are closer to the consumers to regularly renew and make better offers to customers, develop the capabilities of individuals while emphasizing self-management and improve the capabilities of the entire team (Martin, 2010, p. 101). In regard to a high performance working environment, the people who leave the firm are supposed to be fairly treated and the firm should consider the community’s needs outside its functioning. Support systems and culture that encompass performance operations as well as the management of processes that are associated with people are also part of the components associated with the high performance working settings. High performance work places are unique, in that the production is organized depending on the notion that competition is based on the costs as well as the additional enhancements in the value of the products that are produced (Barker and Christensen, 1998, p. 146). It also depends on the organization of how labour is divided to make sure that all the workers have the ability to contribute towards general functions of the firm. Therefore, management become more than a sole source of knowledge, meaning that the employees must attain skills that will allow them to deal with problems along with technical know-how that is needed for the tasks they need to deal with in the workplace. This creates conditions that are favorable for both increased levels of learning and the creation of skills making learning a progressive process. Focus on the involvement of human resource practices as well as the performance of the workers and the organization has been noted in a variety of studies. For instance, a number of studies conducted earlier with the aim of evaluating skills identified a relationship between the degree of training and other human resource practices. These studies have recommended that the full benefits associated with workforce development and increase in skill levels can be achieved only when blended together in a broader array of changes in the work environment, re-organization and HR practices to create systems. These systems that are associated with human resource practices have been accorded a variety of terms that include good people management systems and high involvement management practices. High performance working can be viewed as an upcoming organizational model and the debate in literature in regard to competing perspective of how it functions in practice is still lively (Godwyn and Gittell, 2012, p. 217). There has been argument that particular practices always provide benefits while other have recommended that they need to be tailored to the needs of the organization and these represent universalist and contingent perceptions respectively. From the Universalist point of view various human resource practices if embraced, will always result in better performances regardless of the context. On the other hand, the contingency model considers a discrete mixture will work only when the specified conditions or particular groups of staff are present. Other concepts such as the views that are based on resources of the firm complement the contingency view and argue that resources that are within the organization are a basis of competitive advantage to the point that they are infrequent, unmatched and hard to create alternatives. High performance work practices have two characteristics that are related to exclusivity; path dependency that is developed over time instead of being acquired over the shelf, and casual ambiguity which is easy to understand in concept but needing delicate inter-relationships which are not easy to spot in practice. This perspective is considered well-matched with the concept of core competence that entails the exclusive capabilities that distinguish a firm from its competitors. A component of the contingency model supports interior contingency while suggesting that activities should be blended to become meaningful clusters of events (Clegg and Hardy, 1999, p. 55). Some level of evidence that supports the blending view stating that it is not the practices that create the difference, but the level to which they are able to support each other to come up with significant blends of practice. Different studies have discovered that adoption of solitary practices do not provide the same improvement of results. For instance, plants that embrace team-based working but do not execute other changes perform worse than those which do not. Adoption of solitary practices does not improve productivity and is in some situations connected with failures. Even though there are differences concerning the blend of practices that constitute a perfect system and the manner in which it is supposed to be defined, the evidence usually pays attention to positive improvements to the performance of the organization. The benefits earned by employees affect high performance working in various different modes. When paired with other employees who are in high performance teams, it becomes easier to the workers to share their duties, and with the assistance of others in the team, there are no employees that are forced to shoulder an entire project by themselves. High performance working practices give workers the opportunities to develop relationships with other employees and to strengthen the ties that are already existing thus allowing them to enjoy their jobs better. When the workers are part of high performance teams, the customers get access to their requested products in a quicker manner as the different teams can cater for these needs more rapidly. The customers also benefit since all the members of the organization share the same ideas instead of them working separately. Therefore, the workforce is supposed be well-informed concerning the fine points of the organization. The customers also get a chance to face a more inviting setting as the members of the workforce often exhibits an atmosphere of amity. On the other hand, managers regularly have to put less emphasis into dealing with their employees when they belong in high performance teams since most of these teams easily govern themselves. The managers can also avoid having to make decisions on the ideals associated with the employees that are the best since the employees will function in their teams to come up with the best ideas. The management also benefits from having employees who are more satisfied as they have likelihood of not having to deal with issues that include employee discords on a regular basis. Discussion Regardless of the popularity associated with work-life conflicts as a subject of academic debate, as well as the increasing prevalence in work-life balance practices in firms all over the globe, research on the effects on the organization regarding such practices is not well incorporated. Competing demands concerning work and home have resulted in increased relevance for employees in the recent years due to changes in demography and the workplace such escalating numbers of women who are in the labor force among others (Jones, Burke and Westman, 2013, p. 1). Interloping between the job and tasks that are not related to the job has various undesirable consequences that have been well recognised. In relation to job attitudes, the employees that report increased levels of conflicts that are linked to work and life tend to display decreased levels degrees of job satisfaction as well as commitment to the organization. Behavior outcomes on these forms of conflict include decreased work efforts, decreased performances as well as increased absenteeism and employee turnover. These conflicts have also been linked with higher occurrences of stress on the employees, cognitive difficulties, decreased attentiveness as well as lower levels of general health. The business case in regard to work life balance practices depend on their ability to improve recruitment and retention as well as decrease the conflict associated with the workers. It thus makes sense that offering work life balance activities attracts people to an organization and the use of these practices results in better attitudes and conduct within the organization. Having employees who take advantage of work life practices that are available may be beneficial to the organizations as they will be able to save costs through longer working hours and increased productivity. Employees will have no problems working longer hours as there will be flexible arrangements that will increase their availability in the workplace and considerably decrease the time they need to commute. The employees may also decide to work during the peak hours in regard to their personal productivity or put in additional hours during the organizations peak time so that they can be afforded flexibility at a later time. The employees may settle on an increase of their work effort to ensure that their jobs are secure so that they can continue having the flexibility the desire. Employers usually experience problems stimulating behaviors from workers when the behaviors are not easily achieved through direct control and supervision. The behaviors range from comparatively forthright compliance with regulations to more extensive involvements that may include participating in suggestion systems as well as quality efforts. A lot of research concerning the benefits can be identified from economic literature that emphasizes how increased income escalates the demand for benefits and the manner in which tax policies are skewed in favor on compensation that is not associated with their wages. These arguments are useful in appreciating marginal changes in policies like health care as well as pensions, but it remains critical to consider it in a broader framework the benefits that increase the scope of the responsibility of the employer. Employment security essentially reinforces the other human resource practices particularly because it is viewed as impractical to ask the workers to offer their ideas, hard work as well as their commitment without them expecting employment security and being worried about their career futures. A constructive psychological bond increases open and faithful engagement relationships as well as the perception of support that is viewed as a core attribute in organization arrangements. There are obvious restrictions as to how much employment security can be guaranteed but this does not mean that workers are able to remain in the same jobs for the rest of their lives and it does not prevent any dismissal of the workers who fail to perform to the needed levels. In the same way, a key downfall in the manufactured goods market that demands diminutions in the employees is not supposed to be considered as destabilising the belief. The most important point about including the security of employment as one of the high commitment human resource practices is that it emphasizes that job reductions will be avoided whenever it is possible and the workers are supposed to expect to maintain their engagement with the organization. Employment security may be employed by well devised systems in regard to human resource planning and appreciating the manner in which firms are to become flexible. It can be perfectly concluded by the notion that the employees should be treated not as variable costs but as critical assets in the long-term success of the firm (Paauwe, Guest and Wright, 2013, p. 2). There is also a business case that can be considered in regard to employment security and laying off people regularly leads to costs for organizations that have put emphasis on having a commendable job selection and training program as lay-offs get rid of important organizational assets. There two dimensions that are associated with performance: the acquisition and improvement of the skills of the workers and the design of the jobs they are supposed to do. These variations represent almost twenty percent of the variation in regard to changes in productivity and about eighteen percent of the productivity itself. There are regular strong connections between the existence of high performance work practices and the activities of the organization. Determining wages is critical to labor economics and a long-standing tradition puts emphasis on the wage policy of the organization. Conclusion Researchers in the human resource management field have claimed that human resources are supposed to be managed in a strategic manner and that some particular practices are important to the enhancement of organizational performance. The strategic role of HRM particularly the influence of the HRM systems that are associated with an organizations financial performance, has created considerable interest in the academic community. When the effect of the presence of high performance work systems and its efficiency with the competitive strategy of the firm is considered, it can be concluded that the nature and pace of the changes that have taken place recently in the economic environment have stimulated managers and scholars to consider more sources of profitability. Since most of the conventional sources of competitive advantage have decreased in value, the part that is played by a skilled and motivated workforce has developed more prominence. In the same context, widely defined high performance work systems can be considered as a tactical lever in the development and sustenance of key competencies as a prerequisite for the implementation of different strategies. This report focused on the recurring themes and the extent to which human resource organizational performance depends on the level to which these systems have been efficiently implemented. It also focusses on how the human resource policies fit in the larger strategic goals that are associated with the firm. Recommendations High performance working develops an organization whereby the employees are not agents of principles nor controlled by motivations that are structured, but have become owners in their personal outlooks. The employees that are associated with this kind of connection in the organization have the ability to fulfil their requirements for self-actualization and go through a thorough owner stimulus. Since the workers are identified with and committed to total participation in in the organization, their efforts can much higher and more efficient than the ones that are associated with the employees who work in environments that are heavily controlled and experience agent motivation. To get a clear appreciation of the productivity of high performance working and general organizational excellence, the firms will need to go past simple motivation of their workers and integrate into their theoretical structures the concept of deep ownership motivation. To achieve the full potential of the high performance working environments, the organization will need to go past the imitation of other companies managerial practices and requires an installation of systems that are internally cohesive. The payoffs to these kind of investments in firm capital can be a good but since it regularly involves intense change past practices, the managers should stop being hesitant in making steps it its direction. Reference list Ashton, D. and Sung, J. (2002). Supporting workplace learning for high performance working. 1st ed. Geneva: ILO. Barker, K. and Christensen, K. (1998). Contingent work. 1st ed. Ithaca: ILR Press. Clegg, S. and Hardy, C. (1999). Studying organization. 1st ed. London: Sage Publications. Godwyn, M. and Gittell, J. (2012). Sociology of organizations. 1st ed. Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press. Harzing, A. and Pinnington, A. (2011). International human resource management. 1st ed. London: SAGE. Jones, F., Burke, R. and Westman, M. (2013). Work-Life Balance. 1st ed. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. Jones, S. and Beyerlein, M. (1999). Developing high-performance work teams. 1st ed. Alexandria, VA: American Society for Training & Development. Martin, J. (2010). Measuring and improving performance. 1st ed. Boca Raton: CRC Press. Paauwe, J., Guest, D. and Wright, P. (2013). HRM and performance. 1st ed. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley. Rainbird, H., Fuller, A. and Munro, A. (2004). Workplace learning in context. 1st ed. London: Routledge. Appendix: the action plan Priority Action Business Justification Benefits Specific Intervention Time Frame Who Cost Method of monitoring 1 Motivate the employees To improve productivity More work can be done efficiently Provision of incentive Long-term management Percentage of the profits of the organization Yearly basis 2 provision of skills to enhance efficiency To enhance productivity Training and seminars Short-term Human resource department workshops Monthly basis 3 Hiring skilled staff To improve the quality of the workforce Make the organization more profitable Hiring and recruitment Medium-term Human resource department Organizations revenues Yearly basis Read More