Managing Human Resources - Case Study Example

Managing Human Resources Name Institution Course Date Introduction In an international economy, organizations ought to enroll and retain their most creative, talented and knowledgeable individuals. Therefore, workforce is the greatest organizational asset and therefore without them, activities such as handling customers, communication, taking care of cash flows as well as ascertaining business transactions cannot be completed (Gangani, McLean and Branden, 2006). His entirely because individuals are ones that drive the organization. Changes within the organization affect both the business and its employees therefore with the purpose of maximizing the effectiveness of the organization, aspects such as time, talent as well as individual’s capabilities ought to be well managed (Martin and Woldring, 2001). In other words, human resource management aims at ascertaining that staff members within an organization are able to conform to the goals of the organization. In addition, human resource management is accountable for the treatment of individuals within an organization. It is responsible for inducing individuals into the organization, assisting them in executing their tasks, rewarding them for their work and also solving matters that come up (Gangani, McLean and Branden, 2006). Therefore, human resource management has derived quick and far-flung acceptance as a new word form managing employment. This case study will identify the corporate strategies in BBD Inc. linked with human resource functions. Furthermore, it will discuss various strategies that can be used to enhance employer branding. Finally, the case study will highlight how corporate culture can make an attractive workplace citing relevant examples from BBD Inc. BBD Inc. Corporate Strategies For corporate strategies to be integrated well with the human resource functions, it is obvious that the top level management of BBD Inc, the departmental heads and the human resource professionals need to work in harmony with one another. In the company above, the philosophy and the lead stem from the vision and the beliefs of the management and the human resource practitioners in a crucial but essentially complementary role (Krishnan, 2005). The company needs to spend more of their time and efforts in understanding the corporate environment and the strategic issues faced by the company before integrating the corporate strategies and the human resource functions in the company’s subsidiaries (Krishnan, 2005). The HR department needs to have the ability to anticipate issues that are of great concern to the management before they actually carry out the integration. With the dynamic nature of the business environment, and the volatile nature of the Australian market, the organization the organization has to make decisions at short notice (Krishnan, 2005). The human resource professionals within the organization need to move towards having an integrated look at the individuals in the company and going ahead to bridge the gap between the human resource function and the industrial relations (Krishnan, 2005). This presents the human resource managers with an opportunity to have a single human resource perspective to the company and doing away with the frequent confrontational mentality that often characterizes the human resource functions in an organization. In many companies, line managers have taken over the responsibilities of the human resource managers and reports have indicated that they are doing a good job. The human resource practitioners too need to be encouraged to venture into the other functions within the organization and get an understanding of the operational issues. A good understanding of the operational roles will assist the human resource function and its professionals in integrating well with the goals and the aspirations of the organization both in the short term and in the long run (Krishnan, 2005).. The company needs to change the human resource function from a support function to a valuable function with a central role to play in achieving organizational objectives. The function needs to be recognized as a crucial contributor to the performance of the organization. In this way, the human resource professionals will have a bigger role to play and will be conscious of the need to achieve the goals of the organization (Krishnan, 2005). Improving Employer’s branding Offer a Consumer-Quality Career Site For numerous applicants, the instance they get to cooperate with a company, they get to visit the career site. Therefore, current job seekers anticipate to come upon a website that is responsive to their requests whenever they apply for jobs through their mobile devices (Subeliani and Tsogas, 2005). In order to enhance the employer branding, the HR director should ensure that BBD Inc. has a career site that is consumer quality since it will offer an appropriate opportunity to exhibit their culture which is considered a fundamental element of employer branding. This can be done through employee testimonial and therefore team activity pictures can be put in the career site, improving their employer brand (Subeliani and Tsogas, 2005). Integrating your Technology Numerous organizations resort to technology as well as social media so as to successfully communicate the branding of the employer. Therefore, the HR director of BDD Inc. should coordinate capacity as well as efforts in social media in order to increase their effects (Mandhanya and Shah, 2010). In addition, the HR director should both incorporate and coordinate channels of social media and technology, which has the capability of replicating the progressive culture of the organization. This would be both convenient and effective in promoting the employer brand. Monitoring your Employer Brand The brand of an employer will progressively develop over a period of time and therefore needs continuing attention. The best employer brand identifies the variation in needs within their staff members as well as the change in view and at the same time consequently adapt (Mandhanya and Shah, 2010). The HR director of BBD Inc. should utilize tools, for example: employee satisfaction surveys, exit interviews as well as expose their staff members to workshops. All these mentioned tools when put to good use may offer invaluable insight. Furthermore, failure to monitor the employer brand may bring about a disadvantage in the long-run. Therefore, if the HR director ensures that high degrees of talent is attracted to BBD Inc., the reality of how the brand of the employer is focused on within the company will eventually define the capability of the company to adequately preserve its talent (Mandhanya and Shah, 2010). Define and Align Employer Brand with Corporate Brand Coming up with an employer brand which represents ones corporate brand is vital for promoting consistency within the organization and ascertaining that your workforce is fully committed with the brand experience (Heneman et al., 2004). The HR director should have a wider perspective of how she wants the corporate culture of BBD Inc. to be like and therefore ascertain that it meets the brand image of the company. For instance, when the corporate brand of the company is pioneering, the HR director should ensure that a progressive branding approach is conducted throughout the company. Therefore, if the employees of the company can live with the brand, the company is considered more authentic. This is primarily because they anticipate honesty at all times from their superiors. Therefore, if the HR director ensures that the employer brand is aligned with the corporate culture of the company, it will build trust throughout the company which results in an increase in loyalty, pride as well as productivity which eventually encourages a strong employer brand (Wright et al., 2005). Support Words with Actions In order to create a strong employer brand, it takes more than documentation to get the job done. Therefore, the HR director should ensure that the management practices what it advocates so as to gain trust as well as support from their fellow employees (Stahl et al., 2012). For instance, if one encourages a culture of promising career development, but fails to provide opportunities regarding employee training, they will eventually be labelled inappropriately for not living up to their words which would result to the decrease in morale amongst the employees (Stahl et al., 2012). Therefore, it is very important for the HR director to ensure that her management lives up to their words which may encourage the employees thus building a stronger employer brand. Corporate Culture in Workplace Burbach and Royle (2010) describe organizational culture as the unspoken code of communication between various members of a certain organization. Various managerial literatures view organizational culture as a rule that brings about coordination within an organization like which side of road we drive on. Therefore, corporate culture always plays a major role in promoting and creating an attractive workplace. This can be done in a number of ways which are as follows. Impeccable Customer Service An organization that has a proper corporate culture most at times has a high reputation of impeccable customer care. Managers as well as staff members are always allured into offering the best services (Lewis and Heckman, 2006). Offering the best customer service is not as easy as it seems and it may be quite costly and the possibility of it being noticed is very small and it only comes about due to a healthy corporate culture of an organization. Furthermore, with a proper corporate culture that is fair to every individual within the organization, in case of a single bad episode, it can barely destroy an established reputation of excellence (Lewis and Heckman, 2006). Therefore, with a strong corporate culture, it is easy to raise the perfect services to the degree of a “value” which ought to be respected at all times. This will give an organization a likelihood of attracting as well as retaining individuals who take part in similar values. This in turn creates a healthy working environment which is attractive and which encourages healthy culture (Lewis and Heckman, 2006). For instance, BBD Inc. was listed on both the New York Stock as well as the Hong Kong Stock exchanges which indicated that it had a good reputation within the market indicating great corporate culture. Employee Motivation Corporate culture is considered a formula that directs a team while at the same time motivates and encourages employees within an organization (Odden, Allan and Archibald, 2007). Furthermore, it also attracts and retains great talent within an organization. It also creates an interesting and attractive working environment. Furthermore, an organization with a proper corporate culture appeals to great partners, which in turn brings great success to the organization. Numerous individuals will always want to be associated with your organization and at the same time do business with you. This is primarily because of what the organization stand for and represents (Wright et al., 2001). This creates an environment that nurtures talent among its employees, therefore creating an attractive workplace environment. For instance, BBD Inc. corporate culture encourages career advancement through training programs which is normally seen with most natural resource sectors. Quality Furthermore, a healthy corporate culture recommends for its employees to offer proper and quality products as well as services (Roselie, Dietz and Boon, 2005). Therefore, organizations with great corporate cultures exhibiting higher standards develop a working environment that is comfortable for employees to deliver products as well as services that meet the higher standards. This eventually promotes a healthy working environment that is attractive. Productivity Additionally, great corporate culture within an organization enhances the morale of the employees which also is a major contributor of productivity. When employees within an organization enhances their level of productivity, the overall financial characteristics of the organization also improves as well as its profits (Ragir and Brooks, 2012). An increase in productivity level is a clear indicator of efficiencies as well as effectiveness within the organization. Then again, employees also benefit immensely from the high rates of productivity within an organization which is accompanied with higher pay rise which in turn encourages an attractive workplace environment that encourages employee and talent retention (Lewis and Heckman, 2006). For instance, BBD Inc. encourages good employee practices in order to secure both the employee’s efficiency as well as their loyalty through employee retention. Conclusion To sum up, the workforce is considered to be the greatest asset an organization can ever have and therefore without them, an organization cannot be able to handle cash flows, customers as well as communication. Therefore, human resource management comes about to help ensure that every individual within an organization has the capability of conforming to the goals of the organization. Additionally, human resource management is also responsible for inducing individuals into the organization, assisting them in executing their tasks, rewarding them for their work and also solving matters that come up amongst employees within an organization. Therefore, in order to improve the brand of the employer, the HR director should have offered a consumer-quality career site which can offer the proper opportunity of promoting their culture. Furthermore, integrating technology is another way of promoting the brand of the employer through the utilization of social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn among others which makes it more visible within the market. Also, the HR director should monitor the brand carefully using tools such as employee satisfaction surveys as well as employee workshops in order to give an invaluable insight of how the employees relate to the brand. Moreover, the HR director should define and align the employer brand with a corporate brand by developing an employer brand which directly represents the corporate brand of the entire organization. Additionally, in order to improve their employer brand, the HR director should support words with appropriate actions which is a huge influence to the morale of the employees building the brand. On the other hand, corporate culture can make an attractive workplace through motivating employees, giving quality products and services, increasing productivity of the organization and also offering impeccable customer service. References Boselie, P., Dietz, G and Boon, C 2005, ‘Commonalities and Contradictions in Research on Human Resource Management and Performance,’ Human Resource Management Journal, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 67–94. Burbach, R & Royle, T 2010, Talent on demand? Talent management in the German and Irish subsidiaries of a US multinational corporation. Personnel Review, vol. 39, no. 4, pp. 414-431. Gangani, N., McLean, G. N & Braden, R. A 2006, A Competency‐Based Human Resource Development Strategy. Performance Improvement Quarterly, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 127-139. Heneman III, Herbert G., & Anthony T. Milanowski 2004, Alignment of Human Resource Practices and Teacher Performance Competency. Peabody Journal of Education, vol. 79, no. 4, pp. 108-125. Lewis, R. E & Heckman, R. 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