Managing People - Literature review Example

Running Header: Managing People Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code: Date of Submission: Managing People Introduction In order to develop and meet the major requirements of an organisation, managers should design an assessment form designed to evaluate employee’s performance regarding their level of understanding and the quality of their work. According to Bradford and Burke (2005) an annual performance appraisal is a management system that enables managers to set management objectives, processes and practices that ensure effective management, motivation and development of every member of the team. People management build effective habits among members such as employees are able to clearly understand the organisational goals and identifying the best way forward to meeting these goals. Managers ensure that they evaluate the best process that will be able to improve the performance of their employees (Jones, 1997). In this process managers should be capable of ensuring that the team members achieve their goals and objectives. Strebler (2004) describes that team members should also be improving constantly and developing in their skills to become in order to become a great asset to the organisation. Managers should ensure that the hindrances to improvement are addresses by having a personal conversation with team members and listening to every issue. The issues and concerns raised should be solved immediately and in the most effective manner in order to avoid major issues in the future. Managers should also be in a position of asking themselves whether their employees are achieving the desired expectations of the business and whether they have the potential to achieve these goals. Finally, managers should be able to gauge how much the employees have improved since the previous appraisal or the value they have added to their development since the manager started supervising. Processes of effective people management Once the above goals are well focused, then managing people will become an easy process. Kate (2011) describes that effective management include assessing the current situation of a team member, setting effective goals and working together to ensure that member achieves those goals. The first step in managing people is to have a clear vision. The managers should be able to be precise on the expected performance by analysing the role of every team member. These expectations should then be communicated to the team members informing them to be accountable of their activities. To have a list of the desired qualities of a team member, the manager should include knowledge, skills and attitudes possessed by a member. The second step of effective people management is to make the expectations clear to the team members. The objectives should be discussed in a positive way to the members and the manager should communicate the ongoing basis for the team member to know exactly what they have achieved and what is remaining to attain their target. The third step involves letting the team members be aware that their work is of value to the entire organisation Richard et al. (2009, pp. 48-56) shows this involves a short brief to everyone reminding them of the purpose of the organisation, the purpose of the team and the benefits to other departments. Managers should make sure that the team members are aware that they play a major part in achieving the entire output of the organisation. This should be a continuous assessment that the supervisor has to show to their members. This makes the employees feel valued therefore making them motivated to performing better. The forth step involves getting to know each team member basing on their abilities, skills and personal behaviour. This will make you understand them well and it also improved mutual respect. Managers should therefore find extra time of bonding and the time should be equally spent because spending more time on someone makes the rest feel undervalued. The fifth step is to set achievable goals for the team and for every member in the team. The long term goals of the organisation should be well known to the employees. Supervisors should also be able to share their thoughts about the next step of development to prepare the members and improve their critical thinking (Richard, 1999). The strategic direction should be clear in a way that team members are aware of where they are from and where they are heading. Setting time checks is also necessary and having detailed goals in that once one goal is achieved it can be ticked out as more concentration is put in achieving the remaining. The other step involves having a frequent performance involving one to one meeting for effective management. The importance of the discussion is to show team members that their work is important and this stimulates growth. The meetings involve reviewing the past performances, the achievements and the employee contribution to improving output of the firm. Learning points are identified as the goals for the next level are formulated. Managers should also be capable of noticing excellent work and have a positive attitude towards each team member. Desired attitude and extra effort put should be praised openly and honestly as some individuals are sensitive to such praises. Managers should be able to understand that all the team members can not perform the same since they have different potentials. Individuals who take time to understand a procedure should be given much concentration and should not be treated as losers. They should be encouraged to instill self confidence and job satisfaction to influence them to grow in skills. Annual appraisal is therefore based on a review of employees’ past performance which is important in creating an opportunity to set objectives for achieving a continued professional development. Ways of better managing people Performance appraisals Various ongoing debates show that employee management has advantages and disadvantages. On one hand people management is effective since it mould individuals to become better and professional people in an organisation. On the other hand, appraisals help in management though they tend to be very sensitive to personal employee issues. Roger (2009) describes that the performance appraisal process evaluates the performance of a particular employee over a given period say six or three months. It may also show an annual report card of how an employee has been performing during that year. There are various reasons why organisations do performance appraisals. Some conduct appraisals in order to fulfill their obligation, some others do it to fill a report in their file but the successful organisations understand the benefits of appraisals which are to strategically manage performance of employees. According to Weisbord (1997) there are many advantages of conducting a performance appraisal as a way of managing people in an organisation. One is that the process provides a record of individual performance recorded over a given period of time. The other one is that managers have an opportunity of meeting with every employee and discussion their issues together. The employees are provides with feedback about their conduct and what they should improve in to achieve their targets. The employees also have an opportunity to present their issues to the manager which may be hindering them from performing better. The process gives every one an opportunity to reflect on future development and how to meet one’s expectations. Appraisals give one an opportunity to focus on future goals through identifying the underlying issues and correcting them to attain better results in the future which benefits both the employee and the organisation. Motivation and satisfaction Appraisals may have a major effect on the level of motivation of an employee since employees are able to recognise their work efforts. They also recognise their social well being and how they re supposed to relate with every members. Generally people would always want to be recognised and would even prefer negative recognition rather than no recognition. Existence of appraisal program indicates that the organisation is interested in every individuals performance and this enables employees to feel valued and of belonging to the entire organisation. The process also reduces absenteeism and turnover rates. The performance appraisals are also motivational since some organisations acknowledge good performance by issuing rewards (Smith, 1998). Training and development Performance appraisal process offers both the supervisor and the employee an opportunity to identify and come at an agreement regarding personal training and development needs. Roger (2009) explains that during performance appraisal meetings, employees are cautioned on the need for training and the supervisors enable them to understand it in order to develop their career aspirations. Training needs can be provided by appraisals once an audit is carried out for the organisation. Recruitment and induction Performance appraisals are effective and can show whether some processes were of help to the organisation such as recruitment process. William and Keith (1998) describes that managers can monitor the success of employees who for example were hired a year ago and this enables to determine the change they have brought to the business. Appraisal data can also be used by managers in monitoring the various changes occurring or that should be implemented in order to achieve successful employees. By analysing the annual appraisal report, managers can determine whether the quality of workforce is improving, reducing or is stable and therefore strategies for improving or maintain the position are able to be determined. Employee evaluation Employee appraisal is also important since management is able to evaluate employees basing on their personal attributes. Though some organisations feel that it is their duty to evaluate and judge their employees, some think the idea is not right for the employees as many of them feel demoralised therefore the whole process seems as a source of anxiety and distress to them. Various researchers state that the appraisal can only serve the needs of either development of employees or evaluation but not both of them though a balance can be set where both needs are satisfied at the same time as illustrated by Wendell & Ceci (2000). Build rapport To effectively manage people it is necessary to try and find out what employees are most interested in and pay attention to it. Talking to employees help to build good relationships in a way that these employees will be free to ask and give ideas about their work. To better manage people it is important to create value. Managers should ensure that while making decisions should examine whether the decisions made will make or create value to the employees. Challenges of managing people As a result of the changing work environment for example through the introduction of outsourcing, international mobility, new labour laws, globalisation and shifting demographics, the way of managing people has also significantly changed. Wendell and Ceci (2000) describes that the human resource function is also changing and leaders are therefore under pressure as they have to demonstrate results from their workforce practices and policies. HR managers are therefore encouraged to implement people strategies as this will support business objectives and increase accountability and transparency. Research has shown that HR services include three issues which are reward, international mobility and HR management. The major human resource challenges include attracting, motivating and retaining employees in the business environment. HR benchmarking and measurement, employee benefits and compensation are also problems faced by HRMs in managing people around the work environment. Other HR challenges include improving executive compensation or challenges relating to transaction issues. Human resource planning is the major key to human resource management therefore HR plan has to be put in place in order to acquire the best staff through critical evaluation and analysis. This is also important in developing effective leaders capable of leading the rest of the team members to achieve objectives of the organisation. HRMs have therefore realised that leaders develop through analysis of competencies and how they balance issues involving their work and their life. HRMs check whether there has been a shortage in specific occupational group for example during recruitment. Organisational behaviour The analysis of the organisational behavior focuses on how members behave around their workplace, the culture of the organisation and how managers ensure that every member agrees with the implemented culture. Organisational behavior generally shows how people conduct themselves within the organisation set up. One of the most important goals that all managers in this industry aim at is caring for their customers who include internal and external customers (Gary and Kenneth 2004). Organisational behavior is described as a field of study that shows how individuals perform their activities around the working environment. Managers should therefore be in a position of reviewing these activities and checking misconducts in order to improve effectiveness. An organisation being a social unit comprising various groups of people needs to have set goals in which every individual aim at achieving. It is therefore important to study the organisational behavior in order to realise the various challenges that face individuals at workplace. Some of these challenges can be grouped into several levels such as the organisational level, the group level and the individual level. The challenges facing the organisational level include productivity where low productivity affects every individual in the entire organisation. The other challenge at the organisational level includes lack of effective employees. Global competition is also included at the organisational level and finally is the management strategies (Smith1998). The challenges facing the group level include individuals who have problems while working with their colleagues. This challenge can be minimised through encouraging interpersonal relationships within the organisation. Workforce diversity also affects individuals as employees have various cultures and values thus would be difficult to adjust to the organisational culture and beliefs. The final level includes the individual level which includes those factors that would hinder an individual from effectively performing their duties. Some of these factors are lack of job satisfaction, lack of individual empowerment and finally the individual ethical behaviors (Wendell and Ceci 2000). Analysing the organisation behavior also helps the employees to adjust to their current environment. This improves corporate culture as well as the financial performance of the organisation. The hospitality industry enables the actors to achieve human relations thus making them successful in their day to day living due to their quality behaviors. However the hospitality industry has some disadvantages caused to the mangers. Some of this includes the lack of necessary training materials for the leaders and the staff members. Managers in this organisation focus on improving the organisational behavior through ensuring job satisfaction, provision of good working conditions, reducing absenteeism and turnover. According to Smith (1998) in the process of analysing the organisation behavior it is also necessary to study the organisational culture and leadership. The organisational culture is built up by the employees attitudes brought about by the motivation they get within the organisation. Leadership shows the impact of the organisational social structure thus indicating how employees relate with one another around the working environment. Fredrick Taylor introduced four ways in which workers can be influenced to perform their roles effectively and efficiently. These ways are in terms of experiments. One of the experiments includes the illumination experiment which described the relationship between quality and quantity of work that would bring about effective productivity. OB application can therefore be integrated in this company in order to manage how people act within the work environment. Recommendations Some of the major practices that international HR employs in people management process include proper recruitment, performance management, development and training of staff members. Proper communication strategies and enhancing labor and industrial relations are also used by human resource department in order to determine effective leaders among the staff members. Human resource planning must involve various strategies necessary to support leaders in achieving the organisational goals. More investment should also be used in human capital and developing social factors that influence performance of a business. Improving the HR planning and evaluation cycle of HR management should be backed up with strategies that merge regular information. According to Roger (2009) the strategies should link up with the strategic planning process of the organisation to manage leadership development. There various tips of managing people for example through giving critique in the right way. Since human beings hate criticisms, it is important that the right way be used and the one being criticised should observe self control. The other way of management is to do something for people in order for them to do something. This involves investing in a relationship and get ideas on peoples interests. Richard et al. (2009) shows it is also necessary to encourage people to be effective team players as this builds harmony among people. Managers should also ensure that they get the task done. They should not be paternal or maternal but should be the domineering boss. These are people who are too soft and caring to inspire hard work and positive energy. Effective people management also include good understanding of reward systems and group influence. This is achieved through behavioural modification, solving principal-agent problem, promotion tournaments and providing more job satisfaction as argued by Bradford & Burke (2005). Conclusion To create ways of motivating employees, it is necessary to first to analyse the nature of the organisation. This is because rewards do not enhance performance in all tasks for example those that need creativity. Extrinsic motivators therefore do not work in workplaces and it shows that the problem is that they are presented as incentives. The study shows that most people are motivated through development and rewarding though this is not usually the case as extrinsic motivators are both ineffective and positively counterproductive. Managers may therefore be described as fundamentalists since one may not overstate believes in power of rewards. Most companies therefore use various programs to motivate employees by combining employees pay to another index of performance. The more closely pay is tied to performance the more are the motivational effects on employees. Employers therefore aim at getting the incentives right in order to achieve productivity. Some of the concepts used in developing people and rewarding them include the use of theories which states that people normally do not like to work and therefore have to be controlled and coerced for example through material rewards. Motivation is therefore said to be a function of external reinforcements. Various systems of motivation have been implemented such as systems to promote teamwork, use of participative management and responsive methods of supervision. Managers have also put more emphasis on continuous improvement. Employee development involves promoting cooperation without necessarily using rewards though competitive rewards may be used in quality management. References Bradford, D & Burke, W 2005, Reinventing organization development, San Francisco, Pfeiffer. Gary, P & Kenneth, N 2004, Increasing productivity through performance appraisal, 2nd ed. MA, Addison-Wesley. Jones, B 1997, How am I Doing? Management Review, State University of New York. Kate, T 2011, People management. Effective tips on managing people. Retrieved July 23, 2011 Richard et al. 2009, Measuring organizational performance: Towards methodological best practice. Journal of Management, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 49-56. Richard, B 1999, Organization development, Strategies and models, Massachutes, Addison- Wesley, pp. pp. 114. Roger, L 2009, Quick guide to employee performance management, Managing performance through planning, appraisal and development, London, Goodyear Publication Company. Smith, A 1998, Training and development in Australia, 2nd ed. Sydney, Butterworths. Strebler, M 2004, Tackling poor performance, New York, Institute for Employment Studies. Weisbord, M 1997, Productive workplace, Organizing and managing for dignity, meaning and community, San Francisco, Jossey-Bass Publishers. Wendell, L & Ceci, B 2000, Organization development, Behavioral science interventions for organization improvement, Englewood Cliffs, N.J, Prentice-Hall.  William, B & Keith, D 1998, Human resources and personnel management, 3rd ed. New York, McGraw-Hill. Read More