Human Resources in Organizations - Case Study Example

HUMAN RESOURCES IN ORGANIZTIONS Student Name Tutor Course Institution Date Abstract This report will highlight the importance of employee health and safety to the employee as well as to Ozzie Construction Company. On employee health and safety, the report has highlighted ways that the company can ensure that its working environs are safe and can not pose any danger to its employees. It has also explained the impacts of employees’ illness and the damages that it can do to Ozzie Construction. Specifically the report has mentioned sexual harassment, bullying and their negative effect on the employee and the company at large. The importance of human resource department in an organization specifically in Ozzie Construction Company has also been discussed at length. The roles of human resource department is enhancing the well being of employees and helping the employees in work-life balance. Through out the report, sources from journals and books have been used to support the points. Recommendations have been made on how to improve the work environment and finally, the report has been concluded by highlighting the importance of employee safety and good health. Table of Contents Abstract 2 Table of Contents 3 1.0 Introduction 3 2.0 Employee health and safety 4 2.1 Importance of health and safety to the employees 5 2.2 Importance of health and safety to the organization 5 3.0 Bullying 7 4.0 Sexual harassment 7 5.0 Human Resource 8 6.0 Recommendations 9 7.0 Conclusion 10 8.0 List of References 10 1.0 Introduction Employee health and safety is very essential it today’s organization if the full potential and goals are to be realized. The people in an organization are the strength of the company; they are the ones who are responsible for the everyday running of the company. Human resources department is very important in organizations because it helps in capacity building, maintaining relations between the management and employees. This report will discuss issues concerning employee health and safety, importance of human resource’s department in Ozzie Construction, harassments at work and their effect on employees’ performance. 2.0 Employee health and safety The health and safety of employees is very important in any organization. The well being of employees directly affects the production of Ozzie Construction Company (OCC). The human resource in any organization are the back bone of the OCC, they are the ones who make everything run smoothly and the ones who make sure that all the organization’s goals are achieved. Without a healthy and well knit human resource, the company cannot realize its goals. Work environment should not in any way jeopardize the health and safety of employees (Ferrett, 2012). Employee health in an organization is the well being of an employee’s physically, mentally and socially without it specifically being the absence of disease. Every individual has the right to a safe and healthy environment that will allow them to live in a socially and economically productive life. Both employees and employers have a responsibility to ensure that they do not put themselves at risk health wise (Hirsch & Kornrich, 2008). OCC should provide safe working environment and maintain healthy working conditions that will not pose a risk to its employees. Measurements like rules and policies on health and safety should be put in place by organizations which provide and limit both health and safety risks. Employers should adopt occupational health where the employee’s health is assured and the application of a broad range of rules which are used to investigate conditions that might pose a risk to the employees at the work place. These conditions can be physical, biological, psychological, social or chemical. Employees on the other hand should follow the rules and regulations that guard health and safety without assuming. Anything that is not safe in turn poses a health risk. 2.1 Importance of health and safety to the employees It is a natural thing for every individual to want to feel safe and secure in their work place and their external environment. A healthy employee is a healthy individual. When you keep your working environment clean and secure, you reduce the chances of stress and other work deranging conditions (Jackson, et al, 2008). A healthy and safe environment is a good and conducive environment. Employees are responsible for following the put up rules and policies which enhance and guard health and safe. Every employee has a duty to make the environment in which he works secure and safe for him and the other employees. When you have a safe place then the health risks will also be minimal. When the health risks are few or none, the employee will be at ease and his/her performance level will be high. Sicknesses and illnesses reduce the performance of an individual and the productivity of the organization at large. Healthy employees help in building and establishing a healthy OCC. Unhealthy employees will not be able to achieve their full capabilities and this in turn will hinder the organization from achieving its full potential. 2.2 Importance of health and safety to the organization A healthy and safe organization is very important and there are so many reasons why an organization needs to have measures which safe guard their working environment. Employees are the most important part of an organization; they are the ones responsible for the essential running and productivity of the organization in all aspects. Employees who are sick will either be absent or work below their ability and so their production goes down because they are being hindered by the illness. This in turn will have a negative impact on the organization’s productivity and efficiency. Commercially, this will affect the profits of the company and the services will be affected through poor performance (Reilly & Williams, 2012. Productivity and profits will dwindle. OCC will be at a loss and the recovery will be very costly. Employers who are negligent and do not put measures which protect the health and safety of its employees risk legal suits. If any employee falls sick or is injured as a result of a work related incident and it is determined that it’s the OCC’s fault, the employee has a right to sue OCC. Government and federal organs which protect the rights of employees also have an authority to sue companies for negligence on an employee’s behalf (Rogers, 2009). The employees’ health and safety should be a matter of concern from the time he/she is employed until he/she retires. An organization is supposed to have policy which ensures that an employee is fit before he/she is employed. Fitness is not only limited to the physical aspect only, fitness is about the mental ability of an individual and how it affects his work performance, and is medically related (Stranks, 2008). Fitness has to do with lack of any medical conditions that might pose a health risk and may lead to poor performance or make doing the job be difficult or unsafe. Physical fitness might be a necessity or important in physical related jobs. Employers are expected to provide safe and healthy system of work, provide a safe working environment, provide a secure system of storing, stocking and transportation of materials and substances, provide efficient and adequate maintenance of buildings and facilities within the work environment and provide enough training, supervision, information and instructions that are health and safety related to its employees (Einarsen, et al, 2010). 3.0 Bullying Bullying in the work place is common especially in male dominated organizations (Fox & Lituchy, 2012). It is usually a repeated act by either one or a group of employees on another verbally; the behavior is threatening and makes the target feel scared, humiliated, stressed and intimidated. Bullying messes up the target’s psychology and this might prevent him from doing his work well. OCC should find ways of preventing bullying because it brings down the work performance of the employees. The bully usually puts his needs of control and superiority through controlling other employees and this stops the work of employers from being done. Through bullying, an individual-the target’s health-physical and psychological, social well being, family and career will be put at risk. Bullying is a form of discrimination and can be based on gender, race or employer to employee through cruelty, failed legal systems and institutions (Herring, 2009). Bullying can cost OCC its employees through resignation and others may be fired if found to be on the wrong. Employers should train employees and provide information that discourages bullying because it is a form of harassment and workplace violence. 4.0 Sexual harassment Sexual harassment is an improper behavior which takes a sexual dimension. It is the unwanted sexual advances shown by one individual to another individual at the work place and makes the target feel that the behavior is offensive and threatens her well being. Sexual harassment occurs to both genders (Kalev, 2009). It can be as a form of gender harassment where an individual makes sexist comments to the other, unwanted sexual attention like physical contact and sexual persuasion like rewarding someone so as to get a sexual favor. De Haas (2009) Sexual harassment like bullying makes the target afraid and pre-disposed to do his/her work well. OCC should put in place measures that guard their employees against cases of sexual harassment. Sexual harassment might lead to resignation and employees being fired because of the misconduct and this in turn will lead to the loss of employees by the employer (Lopez, et al, 2009). 5.0 Human Resource A human resource department is essential in any organization. The human resource is the department that is in charge of hiring and firing of employees. It is responsible in taking care of grievances that are put across by employees. The grievances can be financial, poor working conditions or work harassments and violations of employees’ rights. The human resources department acts as a bond between the employer and the employee. They act as the employees’ representative or lawyer (Spellman, 2011). The human resources department has many roles but the main one is to take care of employees’ grievances and to ensure that no individual’s right is violated either by the employer or by another employee. From an organizations perspective, human resource department helps or suggests to the management team strategies on how to manage people as business resources. Human resources are consultants not workers. Through collaborations, human resource department will help OCC in placement of employees in positions that are suitable for and the positions that the employees’ prefer. This reduces amount of stress that an employee can get from being assigned a job that he/she cannot do. Placing employees according to their preferences leads to a harmonious working environment which increases the productivity and performance of an employee. Human resource carries out performance appraisals which help them determine how the employees are performing and helps the organization in awarding the well performed employees as a means of motivating them. They encourage employees to be loyal to their employers through positioning them in jobs that they can handle and enjoy. This increases the commitment that an employee will have to his job and OCC at large (Lunenburg, 2010). Human Resource helps OCC in capacity building which in turn encourages the hiring of the best employees and finding ways of keeping them happy in a way of helping them grow and stay committed over a long period. The human resource department acts as an aid in helping employees strike a balance between their work and life. It acts as a resource for employees in that it acts as a haven for abused or harassed employees who cannot cope any more. Human resource acts as a go between in this cases which involve employee relations (Matiza, 2013). Through offering counseling on stressful issues they help employees in establishing a balance between work and life in general. 6.0 Recommendations According to the case of Ozzie Construction Company, employees are not aware of their rights and duties in safeguarding their health and safety. This means that enough training on employee health and safety should be conducted by Ozzie Construction Company. Counseling sessions for employees should be organized by the human resources department monthly or after two months where employees can talk about the challenges that they encounter at the work place. This will help reduce stress levels. Employees should be given enough tie to spend wit their family and this will increase their concentration level at work and I turn their work will be well done. Ozzie Construction should have a forum where employees are allowed to air their grievances. In cases of sexual harassment and bullying, the perpetuators should be held responsible and be dealt with either through suspension or being fired. This will make the rest of the employees shun away from such intimidating acts of violence and harassment. 7.0 Conclusion In conclusion, employee’s health is essential to every organization and every employer in particular. When an employee is unwell, he/she will either be absent from work and if at work he/she will not give his best because of the illness, as the saying goes “good health is good business”. During absentia of an employee, another employee has to work an extra shift so as to cover for the one ho is absent and this will increase the company’s cost of labor. Organizations should have well knit and effective human resources department. Human resources department are very important because they help the management in capacity building, hiring and firing of employees, they do performance of appraisals on behalf of the company and act as a go between in harassment cases, bullying or discrimination cases between employees. 8.0 List of References De Haas, S., 2009, Sexual harassment in a male dominated workplace, Eburon Uitgeverij B.V., Paris. Einarsen, S., Hoel, H., Zapf, D., & Cooper, C., 2010, Bullying and Harassment in the Workplace: Developments in Theory, Research, and Practice, Second Edition, CRC Press. Boca Raton, Florida. Ferrett, E., 2012, International Health and Safety at Work Revision Guide: For the NEBOSH International General Certificate, Routledge, New York. Fox, S., & Lituchy, T.R., 2012, Gender and the Dysfunctional Workplace, Edward Elgar Publishing, Melbourne. Herring, C., 2009, Does diversity Pay? Race, Gender, and the business case for diversity, American Sociological Review, 74: 208-24. Hughes, P,& Ferrett, E, 2009, Introduction to Health and Safety at Work, Elsevier: NewYork Hirsch, C., E., & Kornrich, S., 2008, The Context of Discrimination: Workplace conditions, Institutional Environments, and Sex and Race discrimination charges, American Journal of Sociology, 113: 1394-432. Jackson, S,E, Sculer, S, R, Werner, S, 2008, Managing Human Resources, Cengage Learning: New York Kalev, A., 2009, Cracking the Glass Cages? Restructuring and ascriptive inequality at work, American Sociology, American Sociological Review, 114: 1591-1643. Lopez, S. H., Randy, H., & Vincent, J.R., 2009, Power, Status, and Abuse at Work: General and Sexual Harassment Compared, The Sociological Quarterly, 50: 3-27. Lunenburg, F.R., 2010, Sexual Harassment: An Abuse of Power, International Journal of Management, Business, and Administration, 13 (1): 1-7. Matiza, L, 2013, Human Resource Management, GRIN Verlang: Montario Spellman, F.R., & Bieber, R.M., 2011, Physical Hazard Control: Preventing Injuries in the Workplace, Government Institutes, Sydney. Stranks, J., 2008, Health and Safety at Work: An Essential Guide for Managers, Kogan Page Publishers, London. Reilly, A.P, Williams, T, 2012, Global HR: Challenges facing the function, Gower Publishing Ltd: New Delhi Rogers, D.W., 2009, Making Capitalism Safe: Work Safety and Health Regulation in America, 1880-1940, University of Illinois Press, Chicago. Read More