Equal Employment Opportunity - Case Study Example

Human resource management Customer Inserts His/her Name Customer Inserts Grade Course Customer Inserts Tutor’s Name 29, 01, 2011 Outline Introduction Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and Affirmative Action Human resources planning Recruitment Selection Compensation Benefit Safety and Health Reflective review Introduction Human resource management is a strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organization most valued asset. That is its employees who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of its goals and objectives. It is therefore the process that consists of acquisition, development, motivation and maintenance of human resources. HRM main focus is to deal with individual related issues such as hiring, training, recruitment, performance management, employee motivation, safety and compensation. The Human Resource Management aims at creating a climate of harmony, productivity and trust between the employer and the employee. However, its main function is to increase the effectiveness and contribution of employees, in the attainment of goals and objectives set by the organization. To achieve this main function, HR managers must consider the following areas of HRM (Sumner, 2005). Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and Affirmative Action Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) refers to the employment practices that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, religion, race, color, physical or mental ability, age and national origin. EEO ensures that all applicants whether male or female regardless of their race, have a fair opportunity in the hiring process, promotion and equal access to training. In all hiring situations, human resource managers should employ EEO practices to every vacancy that is being filled. On the other hand, Affirmative action is a remedy that tries to address past discrimination practices. It overcomes the effects of actions done in the past or present and all barriers to EEO. Affirmative action programs promote fairness and ensure equal employment opportunity. The two collaborates with the HRM to increase efficiency of employees in their organizational goals attainment. This is done by encouraging and attracting underutilized individuals with disabilities and minorities (Mathis & Jackson, 2007). Human resources planning This is the process by which the management of a company ensures that it has the right staffs to do the job. It involves analyzing and identifying the need for and the availability of human resources, so that the organization can meet its objectives. HRP addresses the needs of human resources both in quantities and qualitative. That is, the management strives to have and maintain the right number and the right kind of people at the right places and at the right time. HRP aims at attracting and retaining the required number of people with the right skills and competencies. It also helps to anticipate the problems of surpluses or deficits of manpower. Through HRP, the management can improve the utilization of people by introducing more flexible systems of work. The process of human resource planning involves; deciding goals of the organization, estimating future organizational manpower requirements, auditing human resources, job descriptions and development of human resource plan. HRP helps the HRM to achieve its primary function by providing the right number and quality of personnel. Through the availability of enough and competent staffs, HRM is able to easily attain its goals and objectives (Mathis & Jackson, 2007). Recruitment Recruitment is the process that begins by identifying the need of an organization to hire new staffs up to the time that the application letters and forms for the vacant post reaches the organization. It may also be described as the process of generating a pool of qualified and highly competent applicants for the organization jobs. It involves locating potential applicants and encouraging them to apply for the available or anticipated jobs openings. During recruitment period, an organization searches for and obtains qualified applicants in reasonable numbers. From all the applications made, they select the appropriate person to fill the job. Recruitment of candidates to fill the posts available within the organization can be conducted either internally or externally. This means that there are both internal and external sources of recruitment. Internal recruitment is the process of developing a pool of qualified candidates from people who are already working in the organization. This source is preferred because it improves morale within the organization as well as being cost effective. External recruitment on the other hand involves developing people from outside the organization. External recruitment benefits the organization by introducing new people who can bring about creativity and innovation. Recruitment is the most important aspect of HRM since it helps to tap in potential employees who contribute in the achievement of its goals and objectives (Mathis & Jackson, 2007). Selection Selection is the process of choosing or picking an individual who have relevant qualifications to fill the jobs available in the organization. It involves gathering true and legally defensible information about the job applicants. This is done in order to determine who should be hired for the positions available. The selection methods that are normally used to conduct the selection process include interviews, tests, application forms and assessment centers. Factors considered while choosing a selection method include time focus, accuracy and validity, cost and the ability of the staff in the selection process. Human resource managers must conduct the selection process through qualified interviewers. The results of the selection process determine whether the organization will achieve its objectives in future. This is because the capability and competence of the candidates selected and hired will determine whether the organization goals will be achieved. Right selection of applicants means right quality of manpower and their contribution to the organization (Torrington, Hall & Taylor, 2008). Human resources development Human Resource Development is an integrated approach to the development of human resources. It is an organized learning experience whose main objective is to match the organization needs for human resource with the individual needs for career growth and development. HRD aims at generating systematic information about human resources for the purpose of manpower planning, placement and succession. It also increases the capability of the organization to recruit, retain and motivate highly talented staffs. HRD works together with he HRM to help the employees to acquire, sharpen and develop their capabilities so as to help the organization achieve its goals and objectives. HRD also promote the development of organization culture, teamwork and motivation of employees. The objective of HRD is organizational goal attainment alongside individual development. That is, HRD bring about organizational goals and objectives by helping to increase the effectiveness of employees through career development and motivation (Werner &DeSimone, 2008). Compensation Compensation is the reward of the services rendered. The reward can either be financial or non-financial. Financial rewards are monetary and it comes in terms of wages, salary, bonus and commission. Non-financial on the other hand is non-monetary and it comes in terms of spacious office, responsibility, annual leave and recognition. Compensation plays a fundamental role in determining the performance of the employees. A good package of compensation motivates employees to offer the best of their ability to the organization. Most of the employers uses compensation package to attract and retain competent employees in the organization. Compensation is also used to appraise the performance of competent employees. The productivity of employees is boosted when they are well compensated. The public image of the organization is improved once the employees are satisfied both internally and externally. Organizations have realized that rapid changing environment call for strategically designed compensation that gives them a competitive edge over the competitor. Professionalism has continued to mature and it is increasingly becoming clear that the battle for talent involves much more than highly effective, strategically designed compensation. While these programs remain critical, the most successful companies have realized that they must take a broader look at the factor involved in attraction, motivation and retention (Mathis & Jackson, 2007). Benefit Benefits are programs an employer uses to supplement the cash compensation that employees receive. These benefits include health life insurance, income protection, vacation, employee’s ownership plan, savings, and retirement programs providing security for employees and their families. As much as benefit, it is a tool used by employer to motivate employees. Many organizations are facing challenges over it becoming expensive to provide to employees. Benefit is a value given to employees other than payment in return of their contribution to the organization. Benefits are either intangible or tangible. An example of intangible benefit is appreciation from the boss, nice and spacious office and likelihood for promotion. Tangible benefits are sometimes referred to as fringe benefits and examples are: health, life insurance, income protection, vacation, employee’s ownership plan, savings, and retirement (Sumner, 2005). Safety and Health Every employer owes a duty of care to its employees. Legal framework has forwarded to support the implementation of occupation health and safety. The program is cross-disciplinary and its major concern is health, safety and welfare of the people engaged in an employment. The objective of the program is to encourage a healthy and safe environment in every work place. Competitive organizations have taken a mile ahead and have incorporated safety and health programs as part of their corporate responsibility. They have extended the health and safety to include co-workers, customers, family members, nearby communities, suppliers and other members of public which can be impacted by operation of the organization. The program has been made to incorporate many subjects such as industrial hygiene, occupation, medicine, chemistry and occupational health and safety physics (Torrington, Hall & Taylor, 2008) Reflective review Being a member of JP Morgan chase bank of UK and in a middle level of management I have experience first hand how motivation play a significant role in performance of the organization. My role in the organization is collecting accounting data from transaction personnel and process into useful information for the top management. Without motivation it is not easy to avail all the required information in time for vital decision making in the organization. The success of my department is attributed to motivation. Efficient and effective motivation has given JP Morgan Chase Bank a competitive edge over the competitor. My point of interest in this topic is how the motivation which is allocated more resource can yield return more and above the competitor. I have a feeling that company should regarded motivation as intangible asset because it is an investment in itself and symbol of an organization that can yield a good return. JP Morgan Chase bank is located in the UK. It’s a retail banking industry. It offers a variety of banking related services. It started as broker firm and grew over a short time to become a giant competitor in the banking industry. It started from customer a customer perspective with it mission and vision satisfy the customer more than any other competitor. The company channels its resources to customer care services. The company is famous with its hybrid system of management structure which is a motivation base. The structure facilitates a corporation among its member at a different level of management. The success of the company over it recent past is attributed to vibrant motivation program which is well founded in the organization. The connection in the organization and the study is how the performance is boosted by motivation from the higher level of management. Any initiative from the top management supported with enough resources is prone to succeed. From the study I have learn the significant role that motivation play in an organization. The impact of motivation in an organization is competitive edge. A vibrant motivation places the organization above the competitor. For a future success in career will relate to orientation in motivation among members of the organization. Management structure must be made to reflect motivation. High-breed system which use by JP Morgan Chase bank is feasible. The implementation of the effective motivation must start at the top of the organization. Employees must also be motivated to practice teamwork by availing the resource to them. Many project fails at their early life cycle. Development of team has also experience the same challenge. Research has indicated that even if the group members know each other and having worked together before, the behavior and character of a person is known to fluctuate as per given situation. Building a vibrant team calls for mutual trust among all the member of the team. The members must share mission, vision and be fully aware peer accountability. Conflict commonly arises when the members are not well informed on the goals, rule and procedures. At the beginning of the team, members are likely not to be committed to goals or to the leader yet, and most are unsure of their roles, and what are expected of them. There’s a real team culture of inter-reliance, respect, and trust between members, and the team is largely self-directing and holding itself and its members accountable. References: Mathis, R. Jackson, J. (2007). Human resource management. New York: Cengage Learning. Sumner, M. (2005). Enterprise resource planning. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Torrington, D. Hall, R. & Taylor, S. (2008). Human Resource Management. Financial New Jersey: Times Prentice Hall. Werner, M. DeSimone, L. (2008). Human Resource Development. New York: Cengage Learning. Read More