Performance Management Strategies - Case Study Example

Student’s name: Name of the tutor: University Date:   Black Coalition for Aids Prevention (Black CAP) is a non profit based organization geared towards reducing the prevalence of H.I.V especially among the blacks. Was started in 1987 and has tremendously grown to reasonable size. It gives priority to HIV infected victims in blacks living in Toronto. Funding is through grants and other like-minded individuals and organizations. The organization gives opportunity to higher learning students doing their projects where they learn and acquire experience. Due to its initiative and focus, there is recorded improvement in quality of life in HIV prone area. Works in hand with likeminded groups and the ministry of health where it provides indicators for HIV prevention measures. The ministry of health has been its main mentor. It was formed with a mission of improving health and reducing stigma in the black HIV victims. It works strictly under policies formulated by the board of management. Like any other organization, it has work force under the umbrella of human resource management. This is critical position in any organization. The position is entitled with responsibility of planning, staffing, job analysis, attracting, selection, training and retaining staff, and linking employees and the top management. The position has numerous challenges. As human resource manager, analyzing and providing solutions for this challenges is so important. Recruitment challenges For any organization to grow, staffing is critical. As human Resource Manager (HRM), there are a number of challenges faced during staffing. Recruiting of staff in an organization should not be overlooked. Maintaining a steady number of suitable candidates from which recruitment of the qualified employees was done, was quite demanding1. This was to ensure an established and dynamic workforce, which is the basis of the organization. Could he fail to meet its recruitment purposes then all other funds in the Black CAP could become nothing. This is because operations could have fallen to a great confusion. He knew too well the important role of recruitment that has to do with securing the best talent, make strong the organization’s workforce. Used this foundation to improve the quality of life of people under Black CAP organization2. Recruitment This is a process of attracting a significant number of individuals, with the required skills and at suitable times to apply for available positions in the organization. There were two categories: internal and external. For External, strong economy could poses difficulty in hiring. Weak economy caused too many applicants with difficulty in selection. If the position was critical, there was need to temporarily cover the space with an alternative part time employee. Outsourcing part-time employee, paying overtime and recruitment and selection process, and training was costly. In the case where there was no qualified personnel for the position, repeat of the process was done at a cost. Planning The process of reviewing human resource requirement systematically to make sure that the necessary number of staffs with the essential knowledge, skills and abilities are present when needed. It assists the HRM to match the organization and its objective with its people requirement. In the study, just like the requirements of any organization change, so do its recruitment goals. This was not an easy task since it involved enough time and knowledge. The Black CAP HRM department was charged with strategic forward planning. It was not only filling recent vacancies but forestalling future needs based on the analysis of human resource requirements3. Recruiting options This is choosing the appropriate means of advertisement in the vacancy announcement. There are many recruiting options for HR to consider, among them are: human resource agencies, internet and local paper advertisement. In addition, we have internal advertisement. Organizing all this requires resources of which the HR needs to choose for the most effective one. In Black CAP, being young growing and non profit making organization, there was the need to minimize cost to enhance growth of the of the organization. To avoid blame, this was not an easy task as it required enough consultation4. Health care benefit A health-care benefit is another good section that requires consideration. Used to offset hospital bills. The more the number of employees the higher the cost incurred. Reduction in the number of personnel will reduce cost incurred on health and other benefits. In most organizations today, human resource is the most likely place for cuts when the economy is facing challenges. Every modality must be put in place to alleviate high cost of staffing. The trick is to know how much, how many, or how often benefits should be given, without interfering with the employee motivation. An organization can reduce costs by not giving benefits. If it’s aiming at hiring the best personnel, an employment package without these items will not invite the best applicants. For example, there are three means to reduce costs related to health care: Move some of the health care cost to employees. Cut the benefits given to cut expenses5. Negotiate the plan to reduce health-care overheads. This is what the Black CAP HR has been practicing in away to cut down overheads due to heath care benefits. Employer of Choice Designation An employer of choice is the company people want to work for. It is the duty of HR to uplift the organization to a reasonable level. Black CAP HR has raised this organization to a standard coveted level. That’s the reason why it has had easy time in hiring the best professional. Despite the achievement, it faced hurdles i.e. funding and employee cooperation. Organizations with good names are the ones that make the best of employers year after year because they treat their employees well. Employers of choice have low turnover, coveted positions, excellent benefits and a sound reputation based on the organization’s success and how they treat their customers. Consequently, employers of choice usually get an overwhelming response to their advertisements. Becoming an employer of choice also is a recruiting and retention issue; however, it's an issue that every department in the set up works to achieve6. Employee retention This is the ability of the organization to keep its employees for long and in good working spirits. Recruiting employees every time requires a lot of resources. The HRM introduced ways of retaining employees. It doesn't mean hiring an employee who's going to stay in the same position until she retires. Employees need challenges to keep them motivated, so, provided the employer offers work that continually challenges employees' skills and aptitude. It was done through encouraging employees to aspire for roles with more responsibility instead of looking for advancement opportunities outside the company is a retention strategy7. A good human resource manager must give as much as he or she can to entice and maintain employees. Still, he did not pay too much, as this could strain the organization. He created a good working environment i.e. Promotion as a reward for good work. Being in the digital century, motivational tool for other employees like internet and other internet enabled gadgets were available. Promoted employee gains the speed must faster in his or her new job. The challenges are: the position vacated must be filled by promoting another employee.8. Internal Environment Nepotism This involves hiring relatives. It is more of discrimination and unfair stand against qualified relatives. On the other hand, it’s hard to supervise your own relatives as it may create issues of favoritism leading to inefficiency hence low productivity. Keeping up with technology/trends HR must keep up with ever-changing technology and trends so as to know all the recruiting options. This might involve going back to classes where harmonizing classes and job duties becomes difficult. It also involves in hiring tutors where monitory expenses are incurred. Besides, during training of the new employee a lot of time and resources are used which cost the organization9. Employee referral The use of this referral program is to find employees for the organization’s assembly plant. The program is quite effective, but no candidates from protected groups are referred or hired. This brings in the question if the organization could be guilty of discrimination and if it should abandon its referral program?10. Communication It's no secret that communication is necessary for employers to achieve recruiting and retention goals. However, communication between HR and line managers is critical for talent acquisition and talent management. Talent acquisition and talent management refer to the life cycle of recruiting qualified applicants, selecting candidates deemed suitable in terms of qualifications and company culture, and sustaining an engaged workforce. HR -- and, particularly, recruiters -- need a constant and open communication path with hiring managers throughout the recruitment process as well as throughout the employee's career. Therefore, line managers, supervisors and HR together are responsible for recruiting and retention11. Recommendations 1. Internal Recruitment Job Posting: This is the process of announcing job openings to employees by ensuring that the job information is made available to all employees. It also makes sure that the minority workers and disadvantaged persons are aware of the opportunities. Employee cynicism happens when there is not “equal” chance for available positions. Good working relationship must always be embraced to achieve the organization’s goals and objective12. 2. External Recruitment Employment agencies and Executive search firms. Local advertising i.e. newspaper and multimedia must be used appropriately. Internships positions to be created. This attracts enough, specific and qualified applicants for selection. 3. Internet recruiting has the greatest advantages as they are cheap, quick and easy to post announcement. Responses are received faster and in greater number and applicants can be separated by computer. Some selection tests can also be administered by computer. 4. Recruitment for Diversity An ethnically diverse workforce enhances creativity and may facilitate expansion into global markets. Recruiting must generate applicants from a wide variety of individuals and must be transparent to avoid suspicion. 5. Train recruiters to use unbiased values. Pictures of minority and disabled employees should be included on the recruitment flyers. Ensure advertisements and interviews are bi-lingual. 6. The Employment application which must include: applicant information and applicant signature confirming the truth of the information. Statement of employment at will, if permitted. Discriminatory information like disability information, past salary levels, birth date or education dates should be avoided. This is to get the best and avoid biasness. 7. Screening interview usually conducted by telephone but it is not done in all organizations. A few straight-forward questions can be asked. This will eliminate the less qualified early in the selection process. This saves time and resources. 8. Selection tests: any instrument that is used to make a decision about a potential employee: a. standardization: uniformity of procedures and conditions related to administering tests . b. reliability: the extent to which a selection test provides consistent results for all candidates. c. validity: The extent to which a test measures what it claims to measure to provide accuracy. d. Do higher test scores related to higher success on the job. 9. Interviewing Candidates Team or individual interviewer? Here Pre-set questions are asked of all candidates. Interviewer follows the candidate’s lead. Situational and problem-solving interview: Candidate describes how he or she would resolve a problem. Behavioral interview: Candidate describes how he or she reacted to a particular situation. 10. Training employees and management to work within the law, hence reducing legal exposure is a great way for HR to minimize the costs for the whole organization. 11. 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