Neglected Workforce Welfare, Discrimination in Recruitment Processes - Coursework Example

Running Head: STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Strategic Human Resource Management Name Institution Date Resource Management is an entity within an organization whose aim is to effect hiring, giving direction and the function within an organization that deals with the recruitment, management and leadership for employees in a firm. This emphasizes on the approach of managing the employees and viewing the workers as an important asset of the organization by offering incentives that will increase their output through training, sane management and adoption of commitment strategies that increase their loyalty. Strategic Human Resource Management is a systematic move that seeks to illustrate how organizational aspirations are to be accomplished through acquired Human Resource procedures. The key concerns in this approach are the adoption of human resource policies and strategies which are specific to individual organizations. This involves sets of activities that depend on one another. The process follows five steps which include; formulation of goals and objectives, analysis of the environment, strategy formulation, implementation and evaluation which aim at enabling a firm to reap long term benefits, in terms of profits, core competence and other goals. (Miles & Snow, 1984) Fit views strategic human resource as a coordination among various human resource practices and the compatibility of the practice packages and the organizational goals. It aims at increasing the firm’s productivity if accurately executed. Scholarly studies indicate two types of ‘fits’. These are; the horizontal fit and the vertical fit (Baird & Meshoulam, 1988). The vertical and horizontal fits are essential aspects as they ensure the organizations achieved the formulated goals by effective use mobilized resources. Design is the identification and formulation of a plan of action whereas implementation is putting the plan into action. Coherence and consistency are the devotion to a chosen organizational approach. (Pfeffer, 1994) It is debatable that the design and implementation of sets of ‘strategic’ human resource practices continues to lack coherence and consistency, primarily because the concept of ‘fit’ is still so little understood. A well defined organizational design and strategy enhances aggressive gains, however, this continues to be an uphill task for many organizations as the horizontal and vertical fits are not adhered to. This is the case as many organizations do not achieve their set goals and if they do the benefits favor the organization, thus, the firm workers are left in a limbo often overworked and having a feeling of being used. (McMahan, 1992: 298) It is evident that the process of hiring of new staff is not adhered to in many organizations. The process is marred with of canvass and corruption. Advertisements of the various positions are done internally unlike externally where a wide range of skills will be up for grabs. Most of the hired staffs are hired on nepotism. In addition, the advertisements are not standardized as they are designed to meet the qualifications of already identified persons. This clearly indicates that though the fit concept may be well understood by the Human Resource Management, it is not strictly adhered to. Incoherence to the horizontal fit enables infiltration of the less skilled manpower into firms thus, lowering its productivity and relevance to the society. Most nongovernmental organizations funded by developing countries in African states prefer recruiting their own citizens to the positions directors and financial departmental heads at even if they do not meet the qualification at the expense of equally qualified African citizens for fear of embezzlement of funds. Adherence to Strategic Human Management should aim at hiring, development, advancement and maintenance of competency among employees. Uniqueness of a firm can be achieved through the application of resource activities in the sourcing, recruitment of highly skilled staff. Scholarly research into the training needs of all employers need to be conducted and the individual needs prioritized. Most firms do not invest in their firm workers capacity. They place an oversight and rarely set budgets for trainings and teambuilding activities. This clearly indicates that the vertical fit though well understood is not adhered to. It is through trainings that the main implementers of the planned activities attain knowledge, skills, confidence, knowledge and support to fulfill their responsibilities. Human capital deals with recruiting people and managing them so that they are valuable for the organization and make it hard for any other organization to substitute or imitate. Therefore human resources are the source of quality and profits. The societies sustain any given organization since workers are gotten from the society. It’s the duty of every organization to look at the welfare of its workers to enhance the quality of their lives. Strategic human resource cares not only for the economic, efficiency and quality aspects but also the social responsibility aspect as these are the vertical fit determinants. The inconsistency is as a result of the organizations not being allocated resources that aim at increasing the capacity of their workers. A number of firms have lost relevancy to their target group as they do not view public performance as a unique dimension. Many financial institutions in the third world states are losing grip of their consumers who are running away to institutions that meet their financial needs. In addition, they target the rich neglecting the poor who are a majority. Major financial banks network coverage is mainly concentrated in the urban areas leaving the vast majority of the rural areas to small banks and microfinance institutions. This inconsistency is not as a result of little understanding of the fit concept since the managers continuously undergo training and attend seminars aimed at improving their level of understanding of this concept. The inconsistency is as a result of discrimination in employee selection. Existing evaluation tools should be able to measure the strengths and weaknesses of each administration level and define their priorities to enable identify the public policies that need to be prioritized and the problems that need immediate solutions. Coherence to evaluation should ensure checks on; integrity, competency, accountability, sense of public interest and transparency. Development of evaluation tools should be a collective responsibility of the senior management and the junior workers as the tools are expected to assess the impact of the firm to the target group based on verifiable indicators. Inconsistency in this regard is as a result of poor evaluation of the general output of the firm through the use of tools that are of use which have been widely neglected which include; baseline surveys and appraisals. Public service jobs are not attractive and lack the motivation of employees to fully participate and experience high staff mobility who are mostly drained to the private sector. The recruitment structures are centralized and nominations are political in nature. This is as a result of incoherence to professionalism at the human resource level which is not centralized and separate from the regime. The setting lacks clear mechanisms of internal promotions and leading tools of provisional management. A charter and or a public service contract and policy should be in place for accountability of higher management. This also enables the management to identify employee and offer recognition on merit thus boosting teamwork. In addition, a central tool in charge of the Human Resource lacks in some organizations even though the managers understand its importance in career management as this will ensure satisfactory mobility regardless of the recruitment process, offer right allocation to employees’ posts which in turn offers great motivation and increases their performance. This shows clear inconsistency in conformity to the formulated strategy resulting from failure to assess both the internal and external environment that require the formation of bodies that advocate employee participation and a separate entity to spearhead the recruitment process. Deliberate efforts should be made to ensure political interests do not interfere with the running of public office. Politicians on the other hand should respect public offices as they are an entity aimed at the welfare of the people. This can be done by maintaining a free corruption environment and setting up independent parameters to check on the same. Bottom line workers are normally resistant to change. This mainly arises from the fear that the change might precipitate more work for them. On the other hand inability of the management in communicating the vision and mission of the company clearly to the employees could lead to rejection of the proper functioning of an effective Strategic Human Resource Management. The change in the organizational structure sends fear as it is viewed to negatively impact on their ego as some privileges coupled up with the positions could be withdrawn. Variety in workforce also makes it difficult for the management to handle change accordingly as they all have different needs. The inconsistency by the management to align itself to the formulated missions and goals is as a result of poor communication and employee relations and not due to little understanding of the fit concept. Lastly, most organizations lack clear plans of handling diverse issues in the work stations. This result to inconsistency in strategic human resource practices even in organizations where human resource managers clearly understand the fit concept. Clear set avenues for employees to convey their views. Mentoring of junior workers is an activity that is rarely practiced as most positions that arise in various companies are seldom filled by junior employees on motivational grounds. It is viewed as wise to train the managerial staff on the concept. This can be achieved effectively through hiring of technocrats in this area. This include; consultants and sharing of experiences from firms where the strategy has yielded positive verifiable fruits. Though costly, the end results are encouraging as high level of output is achieved when employees are highly motivated. Employees are also able to realize their potential as it offers chances of upward mobility and a best criterion for rewarding employees on merit. Such a strategy is more cost effective and sustainable than financial motivation. Reward systems offer a sense of security as career progression is evident. It should also be noted that motivation plays a major role in the retention of employees. This decreases the hiring costs and saves on time spent orientation. It should however be in mind that motivation is both intrinsic and extrinsic. (McMahan, 1992: 298). From the above it is evident that lack of inconsistency is as a result of neglected workforce welfare, discrimination in recruitment processes and failure to effectively assess the internal and external environmental conditions that aid in creating a conducive environment for employees to fully participate in the implementation of the organizational activities, poor evaluation and lack of availing resources that aid in increasing the capacity of workers and not as a result of the little knowledge of the fit concept. The organizational resources should be exceptional, unique, precious and non-substitutable. It is arguably evident that most organizations rarely invest in their resources. Much of emphasis is always given to attaining of the set goals. Approaches designed by the human resource should have the organization the workers and the beneficiaries of the activities at heart. Human resource practices should be developed to contribute to the achievement of organization’s strategies and for corresponding organizational needs, improving quality and performance and achieving competitive benefit. This is achieved when strategic human resource management is involved in designing policies in the organization and not necessarily through a clear understanding of the fit concept. I therefore disagree with the statement that “the design and implementation of sets of ‘strategic’ human resource practices continues to lack coherence and consistency, primarily because the concept of ‘fit’ is still so little understood.” References Bjorkman, I., & Fan, X. (2002). International Journal of Human Resource Management, 13(6), 853-864. Baird, L., & Meshoulam, I. (1988). Academy of Management Review, 13(1), 110 -128. Wright, P & McMahan (1999), Theoretical perspective of strategic human Resource Management Journal of Management Greenwich, CT: JAI press Mullins, L (2005). Management and organisational behaviour. Edinburgh: Prentice Hall: Pearson Education Pfeffer, J (1998). The human equation building profits by putting people first. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. Barney, J.B. (1986). Academy of Management Review, 11(3), 789-820. Bhattacharya, M., & Wright, P.M. (2005). International Journal of Human Resource Management, 16(6), 929-948. Read More