Application of Human Resource Management to Work - Essay Example

HRM Practice Application of HRM to work Your grade a) The problem It was a preferred practice at my previous work place to devote at least 25 hours a year to social service. Though the work was voluntary but since it raised the employees perception in the eyes of the employer, it was performed by most employees. One of the employees was chosen to regulate the affairs and I was given this authority for a year. Since most of the people saw this as an unpaid obligation, motivation levels were low. Volunteers would turn up late and leave early and had a great tendency to waste their time talking to each other or chatting on the phone while expectant residents of the childrens home would loiter around them seeking attention. This kind of behavior not only posed a threat to the reputation of the company but the unregulated stream of affairs also affected the children in a negative way. b)The concept. There were a lot of forces into play which contributed to the failure of this scheme of work. The problem was related to both the theories of motivation and the job characteristic model. Motivation theories state that different factors affect why people go to work and their performance and efficiency is determined by these factors. These could be fulfillment of physiological, security, relationship, self esteem or self actualization needs according to Abraham Maslows hierarchy of needs. Other motivational factors would include Expectancy, Instrumentality and Valence according to Victor Vrooms theory of motivation. Absence of these factors of motivation could easily lead to low performance and efficiency. Absenteeism would have been a problem if employees were assigned fixed days but since the job demanded a fixed number of hours therefore employees preferred to report to the institution but work with a lax attitude. The low performance levels at social service could also be directly linked to the job characteristic model. Workers should be enthusiastic about the job they perform. They should have a certain level of intrinsic motivation which is related to the skill variety, task identity and task significance. Feedback from a job and consequences and results of workers activity also result in work effectiveness. Absence of these would decrease performance. Relationship between the concepts and the problem It could be clearly observed that most of the motivational factors were absent from the job. The workers or the employees were not receiving any direct monetary compensation from the job and were ignorant about its true purpose; the betterment of the society. Thus they could not relate to the real intention of the job. There was a pressure to attend but there was no regulator of the quality of work. There was absolutely no job related instrumentality of social work as there were no identifiable outcomes in form of promotions or even praise. It was just a practice which was being followed and though there was a general perception that it was beneficial but the employees could not see any directly linked rewards. Valence was low as employees generally did not value the change in the community that their social work was supposed to bring to the children. Thus it was not considered service but overtime drudgery. Linking the problem to the job characteristics model, it was evident that the employees suffered from low intrinsic motivation and job effectiveness. Since the job structure was vague and the workers were not delegated any tasks there was no sense of responsibility. Since there were no clear instructions about what needed to be done or what was to be accomplished, there was no task identity. Since the workers were not doing anything they could not see the changes they were able to make in the lives of the residents. This also reduced task significance. The lack of direction towards any specific work and accomplishment also led to low feedback from the orphanage. Infact the orphanage administration considered some of the workers a burden as instead of creating a positive impact they just disturbed the environment. This reduced feedback reduced job effectiveness of the already de-motivated workers. c) Solution Since the problem was directly related to motivation it could be solved by using different motivational theories. Using Maslows hierarchy of needs theory, motivational factors could be provided to workers. Both esteem and actualization needs of the workers can be met by social work. Regular praise for workers who devote time to the society was to be done. This would result in instrumentality as they could see the direct materialistic results of what they were doing. Secondly workers would be briefed about the importance of social service and guided about the changes they could bring in the society. Task structure at the childrens home could be regularized and workers were to be given achievable targets. Meeting those targets would then lead to two results. It will be in the form of meeting the self actualization need of the individual and also might result in a reward from the company. To achieve motivation workers could be paired with different children or told to plan specific activities around children. Only if the employees were given concrete guidelines and told what are the positive changes they can expect in children, for example happiness in children at their arrival or teaching a child to read, they will be able to infer the changes they are bringing about. This positive feedback will result in increases motivation. Another thing which is to be ensured is that different activities are planned and clear values are attached with them. When planning a Christmas party at the orphanage, the participating employees must be told that they are helping somebody who does not have a family to celebrate Christmas with and that there is no compulsion to attend so that the workers retain their autonomy. This will result in increased job satisfaction of the workers. d) Web based information The primary website I accessed was http://www.accel-team.com/productivity/approaches_00.html on December 13th 2010. (Employee motivation). Beside this webpage the entire website was accessed. It discussed different causes of motivation and how to bring it baxck to work to increase productivity. The solutions included providing motivator, changing work design, open communication and feedback and application of ergonomics. I found the website useful and trustworthy as the principles were congruent with what I had studied in the book and the solutions provided were practical and sensible. e) Summary Problem I faced as a regulator of voluntary work at the childrens home was inefficiency and ineffectiveness due to poor job design and low motivation. The problem could easily be solved by changing job structure, better monitoring and influx of motivators at the work place. References Employee motivation. 13 December 2010 . Read More