Human Resource Management and the Importance of Leadership - Essay Example

Human Resources Total Number of Words: 5,045 Introduction A total of six tasks will be addressed in this study. First, the importance of getting the right people in position, strategic approach in analyzing the labour market, potential of temporary or contract employees within an industry, the best recruitment approaches, selection method like reviewing and completing job, person specification, interviewing, testing and assessing will be thoroughly discussed followed by tackling issues related to implementing flexible hiring approaches and stress management to improve the work experience and motivation of the employees. After exploring the salary structure and job performance evaluation, the best ways to increase employees’ salary in accordance to the company’s profit earnings will be explained. Upon exploring the significance of behavioural competencies with the skill development of each employee, decision of organizational study and hr development strategy particularly with the importance of trainings as well as learning and development through an open distance learning will be tackled followed by discussing the importance and impact of employee recognition in the context of employee relation. With regards to trade union issues, the differences between multi-union, single table, single union and partnership will be discussed followed by explaining the benefits and advantages of conducting a collective consultation like redundancy, transform of under takings, health safety, pension, and work place agreement. Task I – Getting the Right People in Position Getting the Right People in Position According to Roy Ballentine of Ballentine Finn & Co.; “Getting the right people in the right jobs is important because we are running a business that depends on human capital” (Alexander, 2009). It simply means that employing a person with sufficient skills and knowledge to perform a task could enable the organization meet the business objectives. A common problem that most HR managers are experiencing today is that hiring new employees who are capable of performing the job does not literally mean that the newly employed individuals would stay with the company for a long period of time. One of the most common reasons why newly hired employees would decide to leave the company is due to the fact that they could not fit in the organizational culture or the existing team within the department. For this reason, it is a challenge for HR managers to get the right people in position. Organizational culture is a paradigm developed by individuals within the organization which over time forms a strong pattern of behaviour and belief that could significantly affect the employees’ perception towards the organizational goals and success (Willcoxson & Millett, 2000). In line with developing a strong organizational culture, the HR manager plays an important role in shaping the organizational culture which is designed to promote work diversity, the loyalty of its employees and persuade them to participate in supporting the attainability of the organizational goal within the heirarchy (DuBrin 2002, p. 298; Hampden-Turner, 1990: p. 7 & 9). Since the attitude and standards of behaviour of the HR manager is a significant factor that shapes the organizational culture (Aspinwall & Slaudinger, 2003), HR manager should focus on establishing service culture that will increase the organizational profitability and success of the business organization. Emotional intelligence is basically testing how a person could relate to other people with the use of good judgement. In line with this, there are several strategies wherein HR managers could get the right people in position for a long period of time. One of the effective ways in putting the right people on track is to use of emotional intelligence while conducting the personal job interview with each applicants. Hiring does not necessarily mean that the HR manager would be able to retain employees. To do so, HR managers should be able not only to understand the requirements for each available position but also assess the attributes of each individual being considered for the job followed by matching these factors as closely as possible (Alexander, 2009). Motivate Employees to Achieve Organizational Goals Once the applicant has already been hired, keeping employees motivated in doing their job is important. This can be done by instilling with employees a sense of job responsibility. As part of increasing employees’ job satisfaction, another way to motivate them is to reward them for their good work performance. Basically, the type of company rewards offered by any organization contributes a lot in the work performance of its employees. Task II – Strategic Approach in Analyzing the Labour Market, Potential of Temporary or Contract Employees within an Organization Approach in Analyzing the Labour Market The offer-curve approach to labour market is often used as a strategic method in analyzing the labour market. Alfred Marshall (1879) first introduced the offer-curve approach in analyzing the industrial disputes between the trade unions (employees) and the employers. Eventually, Pigou (1906) adopted Marshall’s offer-curve model in analyzing the interaction between employees and employers such that employers are considered the negotiators in the process of wage bargaining. Back in 1930, the works of Pigou was criticized by Lionel Robbins as he introduced to the public the concept of “elasticity of demand for income in terms of effort” (Lionel, 2009). In 1936, the introduction of Keynes’ General Theory of Employment became widely used in economic analysis of labour market today. Disagreeing with the idea that competitive market is assumed to have a long-term full employment; the Keynes’ Theory of Employment suggests that the spending of money which is represented by the aggregate demand curve determines the level of employment. Between Keynes’ and Classical General Theory of Employment, Keynes theory of employment is more realistic. Under the classical theory of employment, it is assumed that “the wage is equal to the marginal product of labour” and “the unity of the wage when given volume of labour is employed is equal to the marginal disutility of that amount of employment” (Keynes, 1997). Unlike in Keynes’ theory of employment, the classical theory of employment is based on “the supply and demand schedule for employment such that the amount of employment is fixed at a point wherein the utility marginal product is equal to the disutility of marginal employment” (ibid). Since the classical theory of employment is applicable only in the case of full employment, the use of this theory is limited in analyzing the labour market wherein the available employees are underemployed. Therefore, it is safe to conclude that the use of classical theory of employment can be “misleading and disastrous” (Keynes, 1997, p. 3). Strategies in Recruiting Temporary or Contract Employees Because of the continuously changing business environment, the need to recruit contingent employees has significantly increased since 2000. Based on a research survey that was conducted by the American Staffing Association (2006), most of the survey respondents consider temporary or contract jobs as either an opportunity for them to find a permanent job (49%), improve their existing skills, or earn extra income (Berchem, 2006). Asife from giving the local businesses the flexibility to meet the changing business needs, this type of employment strategy is beneficial on the part of the employers in the sense that it is more cost-effective for them to hire extra manpower to run the business. There are several effective strategies that can make HR managers successful in recruiting temporary or contract workers. With regards to hiring process, HR manager should carefully select and treat this group of employees equally with those who were hired as permanent employees. It is also advisable to interview applicants for contractual jobs to enable the HR manager determine whether or not the applicant has no problem with having temporary assignments. In terms of retaining contractual employees, employers could still motivate contractual or freelance employees by awarding them extra bonus or continuing education (Borchardt, 2007). Likewise, it is also necessary on the part of the HR manager to establish an organizational culture that promotes equal treatment to permanent and contractual employees. Recruiting the right employee is important since the company’s overall performance would somehow depend on the newly hired employees’ skills, knowledge, and expertise. This can be done through new advertisements or online job recruitment. Although the use of in print advertisements could capture a small pool of target employees within a particular industry, this method can be advantageous in terms of capturing only those who are living within a specific country or geographic area. With the use of online recruitment approach, HR manager could effectively reach out for more employees who are more inclined and well-versed with the use of the Internet technology. Aside from the fact that online job advertisement is cheaper than in print job advertisements, the HR manager could easily hire competitive employees around the world. The use of the internet is not limited in posting available job positions, HR managers also has the option to browse through resume databases such as in Monster.com, CareerBuilder, and Yahoo HotJobs list (All Business, 2009). In search for a qualified temporary employee for a particular job position, this technology will also enables the HR managers to have an access over the social networking sites. Importance of Selection Process in Recruiting Temporary or Contract Employees When selecting for temporary employee, HR manager should conduct effective screening since it is expensive to recruit and hire ineffective employees. Aside from examining employees’ knowledge and skills that are relevant with the available job position by administering test and conducting a one-on-one interview, it is equally important to cross validate and revalidate the test whenever necessary (Dessler, 2001, pp. 173 – 178). Through cross validation and revalidation, the HR manager can be more confident that the set of test he or she will administer to the applicant is related to the kind of job available for hiring. Task III – Strategic Approaches in Auditing Staff Auditing Staff Evaluating employees’ current or past job performance is necessary in terms of ensuring that each employee maintains the quality of their work performance delivered to each client. In general, auditing staff should be appraised based on the following conditions: (1) setting work standards; (2) assessing employees’ actual work performance relative to these standards; and (3) providing feedback to employee with the purpose of motivating them to continue working with their best attitude and behaviour (Dessler, 2001, p. 321). Through the process of auditing staff, HR managers will be able to accurately determine the specific needs of each employee. For instance: The number of jobs being completed each month by a used-to-be promising contractual employee who is working as a regular freelance writer in a company suddenly dropped. Through assessment process, HR manager could eventually know if the reasons behind the writer’s failure to complete the usual number of jobs per month are due to the fact that the writer has recently been employed by another similar company, taking a further study, or the writer simply needed time off from work. As a strategic way of appraising or auditing the performance of staff, the use of feedback form can be utilized by the HR managers. Among the common appraisal methods used in managing human resources include the following: (1) graphic rating scale method; (2) alternation ranking method; (3) paired comparison method; (4) forced distribution method; (5) critical incident method; (6) narrative format; (7) behaviourally anchored rating scales; (8) the management by objectives (MBO) method; or (9) mixing of appraisal methods (Dessler, 2001, pp. 323 – 335). Being the simplest performance appraisal technique, the graphic rating scale method list down the positive traits and performance values which are scored by employees using a five-point Likert scale or rating identification like O for ‘outstanding; G for ‘good’; I for ‘improvement needed’; and U for ‘unsatisfactory’ (Dessler, 2001, pp. 321 – 325). Basically, the alternation ranking method ranks employees from best to worst on their personal traits (p. 325). For more precise ranking on employees’ quality of work or quantity of work, the use of paired comparison method is more appropriate (p. 327). In reality, there are so many work performance appraisal methods that can be used in assessing staff. In the case of the writer whose number of jobs per month has significantly declined, the use of paired comparison method is the best since this type of appraisal method would enable the HR manager to compare not only the writer’s past and present work performance but also the writer’s quality of work. In exploring the cause of employees’ sickness and absences, HR manager should be more focused on determining the work-and-life balance of each employee. In case an employee has been frequently ill the past few months, it is necessary on the part of the HR manager to personally confront the employee whether or not he or she needs some time to rest. Flexible Approach like Part-time Job, Flexy Time, Job Share, and Unpaid Leave Flexibility is the process wherein employees within an organization could immediately respond to the changing circumstances within the work place. There are several ways on how the HR manager could effectively implement the concept of flexibility at work. First, offering employees the option to have a part-time job, flexy time at work, job sharing, and unpaid leave are among the common ways of offering them flexibility at work. Among the flexible type of work, part-time job is the most commonly used in all types of businesses particularly for low-salary positions (Secord, 2003, p. 173). As part of implementing part-time job, HR managers should consider providing employees with fixed weekly scheduled hours to ensure that part-time employees would be available to do their jobs at a given time frame. To ensure that HR managers will be able to properly manage the presence of part-time employees, HR manager should make it a point that each part-time employee should inform the HR manager in advance in case an employee has a plan not to work during his/her shift. In case of emergency, HR manager should also develop an organizational culture that accepts on-call work option given that a part-time employee is not available for some reasons. Flexy hours simply means that an employee has the benefit to work on flexible hours as long as he/she can deliver his/her job on time. For flexy time at work, HR managers should implement strict rules and regulation that could effectively motivate an employee to submit their job before or on a specified period of time. For instance: Employees who failed to complete a job within the given time frame can be penalized by the company for a specific sum of money given that a client would intentionally withdraw his/her payment due to late submission of work. Although case-to-case basis can be applied on flexible hours, HR managers should make it a point that each employee is clear with this particular rules and regulations to avoid breaking a good business relationship between the employer (the company) and employee. Job sharing between two or three employees is possible. When implementing job sharing option, HR manager should be specific in terms of assigning the work schedule for each members of the group who are sharing a common job. For instance: To ensure that each member would work for specific number of hours within a given week, a sum of 40 hours per week should be equally divided to three employees who are sharing the same project (Dessler, 2001, p. 312). By doing so, HR managers could be assured that none of the three employees would complain for not being given an equal work opportunity. With regards to unpaid leave in UK, HR managers should take not that the existing legislation on maternal and parental leave which was amended back in 2001 under the Council Directive 96/34/EC grant each father up to 13 weeks unpaid parental leave or 18 weeks in case the child has been diagnosed with disabilities (Chandler, 2000, p. 431). This legilation applies to all parents who are currently employed and has children below the age of five (5) years old including the adoptive parents with children below the age of 18 years of age provided that the parents has been continously employed for at least a period of one year or more (ibid). To prevent any legal problems concerning employees’ complaints, HR manager should see to it that the company comply with the said legislation on unpaid leave. Stress Management Training and Support for Face-to-Face and Online Reorganization at Work Reorganization at work, regardless of whether the changes is being applied face-to-face with employees or through online online communication process, the existence of work-related stress becomes inevitable. Stressors, regardless of whether the stress occurs over a short- or long-term period, could negatively affect people physically, mentally, and emotionally. Regardless of age, several studies show that a stressful condition could cause a person to experience a significant decrease in the performance of their declarative memory (Lupien et al., 1997) aside from the fact that it could increase a person’s risk of developing type II diabetes (Harris & White, 2007). Stress has also a huge impact on a person’s heart and circulation system especially among postmenopausal women. (Kivimäki et al., 2002) In some cases, stress causes a person to experience irregular heart beats (Cooper, 2005) or cause the human body to release inflammatory markers (Giannessi et al., 2007) which worsens the heart and circulatory diseases which may result to heart attack or stroke. Sometimes, stress could also result to inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis (Walker et al., 1999), difficulty in getting sufficient sleep (Leskin et al., 2002); learning difficulty (Wenz-Gross and Siperstein, 1998); chronic fatigue (Kang et al., 2003); and alopecia areata or the unexplained hair loss (Hadshiew et al., 2004). To alleviate the health consequences of work-related stress, HR management should implement stress management. Stress management is referring to the process of identying and analyzing the root cause of stress followed by applying various therapeutic techniques that could alter the source of stress or the experience of stress. (Cotton, 1990, p. 4) One of the best approach to stress management is through the implementation of cognitive-behavioral approach. Before implementing this particular approach, HR manager should be able to carefully plan the selected intervention based on the type of stressor that impedes the work potential of each employee (Cotton, 1990, p. 112). Only then could the HR manager be able to integrate effective stress management. For example: Given that the work-related stressor is related to poor lifestyle habits such as smoking and drinking every night, HR manager should develop problem-focused physiological strategies like providing employees with health-related trainings or seminars (Cotton, 1990, p. 114). This particular approach is effective in terms of directly addressing the main cause of work-related stress. In the case wherein work-related stress is caused by emotion-focused physiological problem like work overload, HR manager may suggest the need to incorporate proper relaxation technique in trainings (Cotton, 1990, p. 126). Task IV – Pay-related Issues Importance of Industry Pay Standards With regards to compensating the work of employees through payment of salary, HR manager should review the industry pay standard to prevent possible problems caused by labor unions. Aside from preventing the need to negotiate with each employee about the salary for a particular job, the use of the standard industry-wide rates could save the HR manager a lot of time since each of the specified rates served as the minimum pay that each employee should be receiving within a particular industry (Gospel & Palmer, 1983, p. 88). Consulting Staff with Complaints about the Compensation Scheme of the Company Another factor that detemine tha pay rates is the internal and/or external equity. Internal equity is based on employee’s view of his or her pay as equitable given other pay rates within the organization whereas external equity compares the rate given by other similar organizations. Considering that these factors could significantly affect the work motivation of each employee, HR manager should conduct internal salary surveys to accurately determine employees’ perception or feelings about the compensation system of the company before even increasing the pay of each employee based on the company’s annual profit (Dessler, 2001, p. 399). This is practically on of the best ways for the HR managers to retain employees. Significance of Salary Structure, Job Evaluation, and Broad Banding Written either by the HR manager or the agreed payment scheme among the members of the top management, the salary structure can be based on the compensation policies within an organization (Dessler, 2001, p. 399). There are negative consequences with offering low salary to the applicants in the sense that the HR manager may have difficulty attracting competitive employees to work for the company. In line with this, a business organization could develop a salary structure which is 20% more on top of the standard industry-wide rates for newly hired employees. It is equally important on the part of the HR manager to accurate evaluate the worth of each job since this information can be used as a basis in dteriming the salary hierarchy offered to each employee. Using either intuitive approach or analyzing the compesable factors, the worth of each job is evaluated based on the skill requirements, effort, working condition, and responsibility associated with the job (Dessler, 2001, pp. 403 – 404). For instance: A more technical job like website development should receive a higher pay as compared to low-skilled jobs like factory workers. A dangerous working condition or a workplace that has a high risk to health detriments such as mining should be compensated more as compared to low-risk jobs like sales work inside a mall. Broadbankding is referring to “the act of collapsing salary grades and rangesi nto a few wide levels or bankd which corresponds to a job and salary levels” (Dessler, 2001, p. 413). Basically, the use of braodbanding could enable the HR manager to easily eliminate the need to maintain narrow salary grades. Rather than basing the salary scheme on a salary structure or job evaluation, broadbanding provides the HR manager to have the option to pay a variety of salary range and a way of rewarding employees who are capable of fulfilling the organization’s mission (Pynes, 1997, p. 242). Insentive Options like Basic Salary and Payment by Result of Performance Basic salary or fixed monthly pay that employee is expecting to receive whereas insentive options like payment for extraordinary performance is similar to bonus which could be given to employees as either spot bonus or a variable pay. When we talk about spot bonus, is actually “a spontaneous incentive awarded to individuals for accomplishments not readily measured by a standard” whereas variable pay is referring to “any plan that ties pay to productivity or profitability which normally takes place as a one-time lump payment” (Dessler, 2001, p. 440). For example: Employee A is expecting to receive £500 each week. Since he was able to close a contract worth £5 million, the company awarded him a spot bonus of £5,000 for job well done. The difference between spot bonus and variable pay is clear in the sense that spot bonus can be given to an individual employee who was able to deliver outstanding performance at work whereas variable pay is normally given to a group of employees for outstanding teamwork (Dessler, 2001, p. 440). For this reason, HR manager should carefully analyze the case of each employee before deciding which among the type of pay is most reasonable. Task V – Organizational Study and HR Development Strategy Importance of Establishing Learning Culture Organizational studies in human resources is focused not only on analyzing how the organizations are structured but also how each employee could fit into the organizational structure. Considering that the understanding of organizational studies is highly dependent on knowledge-based approach, HR managers should examine all factors that may increase the competitive advantage of a business organization. Schwandt (1997) defines organizational learning as “a system of actions, actors, symbols and processes that enables an organization to transform information into valued knowledge which in turn increases its long-run adaptive capacity” (p. 343). Automatically, when the organization continuously expands its capacity to create its future, organizational learning happens (Senge, 1990; p. 14). Organizational learning is vital to the growth and success of an organization. To increase the organization’s competitive advantage over the a similar organization within a particular industry, HR managers should incorporate the importance of establishing a long-term learning culture either through formal or informal trainings like lecture or programmed learning when designing the HR development strategy. Due to the increase in global corporate and organizational competition, HR managers are aiming to maximize the use of available human resources rather than expanding the value of its shareholders (Gutpa, 2002). However, it is possible for an organizational politics to set boundaries within an organization when it comes to effective learning. To solve this issue, HR manager should promote the importance of narrowing the ‘knowing-doing gap’. Organizations could benefit from adopting the practice of ‘learning by doing’ (Angehrn, 2005). As a result, the organization could easily grows and absorb new people into the group. Aside from the need to include learning in organizational practice, HR managers should also incorporate reward strategies into the HR development strategies. Basically, the use of effective rewards strategies could motivate employees to work better. Relationship between Behavioural Competencies and Skill Development With regards to skill development, behavioural competencies can be used in enabling the HR manager to fully understand interpersonal skills and how it fits into a particular job (Clarkson, 2001, p. 131). Basically, behavioural competencies and skill development are interrelated with one another in the sense that employees with competitive skills are often more confident as compared to those individuals who do not possess the necessary skills to complete a task. For this reason, highly skilled individuals have positive behaviour which increases their competency as an employee as compared to others. Nature of Learning and Identifying the Training Needs of Employees Learning can be achieved by actual doing or through formal and informal trainings like lecture, on-the-job training, programmed learning, job instruction training, vestibule or simulated training, and/or computer-based training. (Dessler, 2001, pp. 257 – 265) In case an employee is in another town or country, specifically the use of open distance learning is necessary. With regards to identifying the specific training needs of each employee, HR manager should first determine the type of training required in terms of improving the knowledge and skills of each employee. This can be done through the use of task analysis or performance analysis method. Basically, the task analysis is “a detailed study of a job to identify the skills required to allow the HR managers to develop and implement appropriate training program” whereas peformance analysis involves the act of “verifying that there is a performance deficiency and determining wheter such deficiency should be rectified through training…” (Dessler, 2001, p. 254). Task VI – Recognition in the Context of Employee Relation Forms of Trade Union Among the forms of trade union includes: (1) multi-union partnership; (2) single-table; and (3) single union. A single union arrangement is referring to only one union for collective bargaining purposes whereas the top management recognises the trade union through a single team representative in a single-table bargaining arrangement (Gennard & Judge, 2007, pp. 222 – 223). As compared to single table and single union partnership, multi-union partnership is composed of a large number of union members (Gennard & Judge, 2007, p. 223). Therefore, a multi-union partnership has a higher chance of winning against the employer (Kerrissey, 2007). Recognition in the Context of Employee Relation Recognition in the context of employee relation simply means that complaints coming from the trade unions have been successfully dealt with through the process of going through a bargaining collection. Under the law, “both the management and labor are required by the law to enter into a negotiation process n terms of wages, working hours, as well as the terms and conditions of employment” (Dessler, 2001, p. 338). Issue on Collective Redundancy As required by the Codetermination at Work Act, the issue behind collective consultation redundancy is about “giving not only the employee a notice of termination of employment but also the relevant trade union with the purpose of proposing redundancies before entering into further negotiations” (van Kempen et al., 2008, p. 241). Basically, collective redundancy is a procedure that employers need to follow when terminating employees such that 90 days is considered when terminating employee given that the company is employing lesser than 100 workers (p. 232). Issue on Health Safety Occupational Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 is the legislation made in UK in terms of ensuring the health and safety of each employee within the workplace. The Act was eventually underpinned by the Management of Health and Safety Regulations 1992. (Barrett & Howells, 1998, p. 1057) The issue behind health and safety is focused on securing the health, safety, and welfare of each employee by protecting them against the health-related risks or safety which may arise within the workplace. The Act is not limited to requiring employers to properly handle potentially hazardous items like chemicals but also the provision of proper lighting and ventilation within the workplace. Issue on Pension Under the UK employment law, each employer is required to contribute a fixed percentage of employees’ salary as his/her future occupational pension. Up to a limit of 15% of employees’ remuneration (Chatterson, 1998), p. 127, the said amount is basically deductible for income tax purposes. Failure to comply with the UK pension legislation is punishable under the law. Occupational pension is important since it will enable each employee to have a choice for early retirement which normally occurs at the age of 65 and above. Issue on Work Place Agreement Work place agreement is a contract agreed upon by the employer and employee at the time the application was hired for employment. In other words, a work place agreement is a written agreement which includes the terms and conditions of employment. As part of the terms and conditions, employees’ compensation and pay aside from the grounds of termination is stipulated. Conclusion Human resource management is not only focused on the proper screening and hiring of competitive job applicants, this study also includes the importance of leadership, establishing learning and diverse work culture aside from knowing the proper way of dealing with trade unions. In line with this, HR managers should always keep themselves updated to effectively develop and find solution to problems related to human resources. *** End *** References Alexander, M. (2009, August 3). The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 15, 2009, from PRACTICE MANAGEMENT: Stop Getting Soft On Human Resources : http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090803-710836.html All Business. (2009). Retrieved August 16, 2009, from How to Start Recruiting Employees Online: http://www.allbusiness.com/labor-employment/human-resources-personnel-management/7907418-1.html Angehrn, A. (2005). 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