Contribution of HR Strategy to the Overall Business - Essay Example

CIPD, People Management & Development CIPD, People Management & Development Modern society belongs to the world of Globalization and liberalization. Most of the countries changed the rules and regulations to accommodate Globalization and Liberalization. Management methods are changed drastically in the modern century. Globalization and Liberalization opened doors for multinational companies to different countries and they were forced to change their management techniques based on the requirement of current world. Business strategies and implementation also changed a lot. Marketing strategies has changed from simply capturing a job to relationship building. The autocrat approaches of managers gave way to democratic approaches. More and more scientific methods implemented in the employee organization relationships. Modern century witness changes in every aspect of human life. Fast developing technologies and new thoughts developed after cold war changed the complexion of human life. Scientific methods are applied everywhere and the business arena also not an exception. Rapid changes in business strategies is taking place in order to explore the possibilities of new liberal world as well as due to the competition in the market. The Human Resources departments are also no exception. Out of the 4 M’s of an organization, Man, Material, Machine and Money, I think Man or the human resources are the most important entity. Competitive employees will always be an asset to organizations. Even if the other resources of the company are less, still only the smart employees can utilize it to ensure maximum productivity. If the employees are not competent enough then they will always complain about the resources which are not available rather than utilizing the existing ones. CIPD, People Management & Development 2 Contribution of HR strategy to the overall business I have seen some examples in our company itself, in which some smart workers utilizing the available resources to ensure optimum production. Though our company is engaged in construction activities, as you know we don’t have enough resources and modern equipments to explore the available construction market, positively. Our equipments need to be modernized based on the requirements in order to compete in the market with quantity and quality. One of our regular clients has approached me with a job few months before. As soon I seen the specifications, I concluded that this job is not possible by us and at the same time I was not willing to disappoint the customer as he was a regular one giving us around 10% of our annual volume of works. I have discussed this project with our expert people and enquired about the possibilities of executing it. The response of most of them was negative for that we cannot blame them also due to insufficient equipments to do the work. But one of them approached me alone when I was in my cabin and he told me a new idea which I was also doubtful about the execution. But he did a mock up and showed me. I was really surprised to see the perfection of the work and I immediately informed our customer that we can undertake this project. This worker with the help of our conventional equipments and other co-workers has successfully completed the project which raised the image of our company. Even a single smart worker can motivate and guide others. Academic brilliance need not be the criteria for measuring talents. There is lot of cases in which the academic toppers struggling while others excel. In our company itself I have witnessed so many incidents to support this argument. You must be aware of the case in which we forced to CIPD, People Management & Development 3 dismiss a Supervisor who got academic qualifications, but lack of ideas to manage the production. A t the same time you must have noticed the brilliance of the current supervisor who has been promoted from the worker category. Though this fellow does not have enough academic qualifications for the post, he is performing much better than the previous one. The important duty of HR’s is to develop the organizational capability to be a relevant and respected internal consulting organization focused on talent. Locating talented people is one of the main areas of concerns of most of the organizations nowadays. The human resources department in each organization found it extremely difficult to appoint right person at the right place. “Hiring the wrong person is a costly mistake that has far reaching implications for an organization’s success” (Sandra Casey Buford). The hiring manager should think about the skills, knowledge and experience that will be necessary for the job before hiring an employee. He should think about the long term goals along with the short term goals. The HR department was not at all common in earlier functioning of the organizations. But now it became the most important division of every organization. Definitely the talent levels are increased compared to the last century and the talent availability are also there. But most of the organizations found it difficult to identify the talents and also they failed to sustain the existing talents. This is because of the immense competition in the business sector and real talents always getting better opportunities. Most of the companies do not have a well defined HR policy which will help them in recruiting the suitable persons. Though the developed countries like US facing shortage of talents to execute their works, the developing countries like India and China have enough talents and the question is how to utilize them. Out sourcing of jobs is an easy answer to the above question. The challenge of HR professionals is to identify such talents and managing their CIPD, People Management & Development 4 multicultural talents. So we must focus on keeping the existing work force intact and at the same time we must explore for new talents. Companies must address the needs of the employees at all levels. Most of the companies looking for the short term benefits only, by concentrating more on the appointment of smart sales and marketing people. Definitely such smart sales guys required for marketing the product, but at the same time the production sector also should not be avoided. Quality violations while in production make a product of cheap quality which will finally affect badly the sales of the product. Front line staff, technical experts, suppliers and contractors are as critical as other employees. So while exploring the Human Resources our organization should not keep moderate standards to other departments while giving more importance to marketing division. Ways in which HR strategy could be more effectively contribute to our business 1. HR specialists should provide credible and proactive support to the various individual business unit heads. Work force planning is important for the success of any business projects. A competent HR manager can provide useful tips to the project managers regarding the abilities of the employees. I have witnessed in another company, an instance in which their HR Manager was successful in helping the Personnel Manager. The company secretary was on leave and this Personnel Manager find it extremely difficult to handle the secretarial functions alone. The HR manager has witnessed this dilemma of the Personnel Manager, and he called a production worker, who was experienced in secretarial functions and handed over the secretarial responsibilities to him. CIPD, People Management & Development 5 2. HR managers should be trained in all the other departments of our company. At companies like Coca Cola and Procter & Gamble, the HR managers are expected to take training in all the departments of the company. The HR managers will be assigned specific duties in various departments like, Production, Quality, Technical, Marketing etc. which will assist them in learning the requirements of the departments. At the same time the other managers also should be trained in HR functions which will give them an idea about the functions of HR department which will be useful for them in their specific functions. 3. HR manager should interact with all the employees. There are certain companies in which the HR manager reporting directly to the Managing Director. This is not a good practice. This will create an impression among the employees that HR serves only the top layer. The HR should treat the employees as internal customers and they should interact with the employees regularly to identify their needs. After joining the company some workers may attain higher qualifications and they should deserve better positions in the company. Constant touch with the employees will update the knowledge of the HR about the workers and that will definitely help them in identifying the talents and promoting them. Proper recognition at right time will improve the efficiency of the worker and thereby the productivity of the company. “More than eight in ten HR professionals cite identifying and addressing underlying tensions more effectively before things start going wrong as key to helping mangers become more effective in managing conflict at work.”(CIPD Survey report October 2008) As per the The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) survey report October 2008, HR CIPD, People Management & Development 6 professionals spend average 3.4 hours every week managing conflicts at work. In public sector it is around 3.8 hours. In majority of the cases these conflicts will result in employee leaving the organization. So identifying and avoiding the conflict before it occurs is the most important function of an HR professional. For that the HR professional should have the vision and insight. He must identify the needs of the individuals working in the organization. As you know in 2005, one Mason has resigned from our organization without giving proper reasons. I have seen that same Mason working in another unit more efficiently. As I enquired him about the reasons for quitting our company, he has told me that we were not given him enough opportunities to excel. He told me that our Works Manger has given more responsibilities to another Mason without even considering him. About 44% of the clashes are associated with ego and personality clashes. The other reasons were due to poor leadership, due to inadequate management, and due to weak performance management. “Worldwide reports indicate that employees at all levels in organizations are under record levels of stress inside and outside the work place resulting in low employee morale” (Sandra Casey Buford). High tension work environment and increased workloads are the major reasons for the internal stress. The dipping world economy and which results in increased expenditure of family expenses and other political and social challenges are the main reasons for the external stress. The ethics standards of most organizations are below the par. Ethics practices should be integrated and implemented in the business. About 66% of the respondents involved in this survey asked for more involvement of the HR in their conflicts. Most of the HR professionals will approaches the conflicts in a professional CIPD, People Management & Development 7 way as they studied in their MBA. Such tactics may not work in all cases. They should develop their own strategies to identify the conflicts based on the individuals they are dealing with. Conflicts are not confined to a particular division. It occurs at all levels and departments. The least conflicts were reported in HR department followed by, Finance and IT. “People management and development is a compulsory core for all candidates, whether on the Professional Development Scheme or seeking entire Professional Development Scheme and CIPD Standards”(People Management and Development) The most important area of an organization is the people management and development. They should be managed positively without hurting their emotions or feelings. Man is by far the most critical resource of an organisation. No amount of money, materials and machines can produce results by themselves. Men are needed to manage them; Machines can be programmed to take over routine, repetitive jobs, but only a human brain can design the machines. Personality is one of the most complex aspects of what is known as a complex human structure. As everybody knows, no two humans are alike. There may be some similarities, but mostly the personalities and characters, behaviours etc…will differ from person to person. The efficiency of an HR manager lies in, identifying different personalities properly and thereby utilizing maximum capabilities of a person. For this purpose an HR manager should have proper understanding of personalities of each person he is dealing with. Autocratic approaches may be succeeded in managing the people, but that will destroy the confidence of the workers in the organization. Relationship building is the core in every aspects of business as per the modern trends in successful business management. It is required not only in Marketing, but in Production, Planning, Purchasing, Human Resources, and in almost all the divisions of the organization. CIPD, People Management & Development 8 Recommendations for improvement of HR strategy Our HR strategy needs to be revised to cater the needs of the modern trends. The improvement in HR strategy will avoid premature resignations and also at the same time it will attract talents towards our company. The new strategy will improve our brand image and thereby our business as well. I have the following recommendations to improve the HR strategy 1. More career development opportunities should be provided to our employees Career development opportunities are one of the major areas of concerns, the HR departments facing. The modern world has opened up opportunities, in large numbers to the youths. Even if the HR department succeeded in recruiting a talent, the big challenge will be how to sustain him with attractive career opportunities. The HR department should identify the talents and at the same time should identify the ways to keep them in the organizations for a longer period. The resignation of an experienced employee due to lack of perk and salaries from our organization is always a loss to us. It is always better to sanction more perk to an experienced employee rather than spenting more for the training of a fresh employee. Also our organizational structure should be revised to accommodate more career opportunities to the professionals we are recruiting. The present salary structure also needs to be revised. As you know the last revision occurred in a couple of years back. Yearly salary revision policy should be implemented to keep the employees in our organization and also this will help to attract talented workers towards our organization. CIPD, People Management & Development 9 2. Employees should be given overseas assignments whenever possible. Overseas assignments will promote great cultural awareness and diversity among the employees. The interactions with others in different countries will improve the work knowledge also this will make them aware of new strategies in business. I have witnessed the development of our designer after an overseas assignment. He told me that he was immensely benefitted from his overseas assignment as it gave him opportunities to interact with overseas designers. The trends and styles of the other countries can be utilized in our country, which will definitely boost our business activities. New methodologies seen in other countries can help the employees to think differently and that will contribute immensely to our business. In the era of Globalization and Liberalization international exposure for our employees is a must since we can utilize such employees for international assignments in future. If possible we must allow the employees to take their family also along with them for the overseas assignment, as this tactics will make them happier and their confidence and loyalty towards the company will be improved.. 3. Duty time should be fixed and the over time allowances should be revised. Under no circumstances we should ask our employees to go beyond their fixed duty time without over time allowances, as this will create great displeasure among the employees. Wherever possible we must keep the workers informed about the possibility of overtime duty. Asking for overtime at the end of the duty without prior information always make the employees panic, even if they are getting the overtime allowances. Duty leave strategy should be liberalized. Leaves should be granted whether it is casual leave or sick leave, whenever possible as this will improve the employee management relationship. CIPD, People Management & Development 10 4. Recreation activities should be improved. Man and machine, both are different. Though the machine needs some rest and maintenance at times, it does not require any other things like the recreational activities as it does not have feelings, emotions or identity. But human nature is entirely different. A continuous job without having any chances to express his emotions or talents will always make him dull. In between the tight schedules of work, having some fun will always boost the creativity and efficiency of the employees. So we must focus on this issue seriously. We must identify areas in which we can allow the workers to enjoy their recreational activities. Our company should sponsor some recreational activities either monthly or quarterly. 5. The role of the employees should be defined correctly and the managers should motivate the employees “One can predict that an individual will experience role ambiguity in a certain situation. The way in which he will respond to that piece of role stress will depend very largely on his personality”. (Charles Handy - Understanding Organizations (Understanding Organization) In some cases an individual can be confused about his role in an organisation. It is the HR manager’s duty to define his role clearly and correctly. The manager should make him aware that how important he is to the organisation and what is expected of him. Sometimes the worker may be confused with a situation, because of lack of knowledge about his role in the organisation. The duties and responsibilities of the worker should be clearly mentioned to him. This should include what is expected of him and what is not expected from him. This will help the worker in identifying his role in the organisation and he will definitely deliver the goods to the CIPD, People Management & Development 11 organisation. A manager should keep in mind that motivation is individualized and comes from within; it will make his job a lot easier. How? Because then all he has to do is create an environment where people, of their own accord, will want to cooperate, produce the desired results, and optimize their own performance. Motivation is an important factor in an organisation. The methods used for motivation may be different. But once the manager successfully adopted a motivation technique, his job will be much easier. Poor management has been identified as a main reason for poor employee performance. The managers should get timely training and development to polish their skills to meet the demands of the changing world. 6. Termination or firing of employees should be executed carefully Firing an employee without proper reasons is always a risky business. The type of misconducts which may result in termination should be included in the employee handbook. The employees should be informed the type of misconduct that may result in immediate termination. It may be advisable to suspend the employee initially before the investigation rather than going for termination on the spot. I hope the above recommendations will be considered positively and I strongly believe that these recommendations can streamline the activities of our HR department more positively towards the requirements of current business environment. CIPD, People Management & Development 12 Sources 1. People Management and Development) Retrieved on 16/11/08 http://www.cipd.co.uk/NR/rdonlyres/4DECF429-36A9-42F2-9DF6-360C31B5984C/0/people_manag_dev.pdf 2. Charles Handy - Understanding Organizations (Understanding Organization) page 375 Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 4 edition (December 2, 1993). 3. Sandra Casey Buford – International Journal of Public Administration/ Linking Human Resources to Organizational Performance and Employee Relations in Human Service Organizations: Ten HR Essentials for Managers 4. CIPD Survey report October 2008- Leadership and the management of conflict at work WWW.cipd.co.uk Read More