Human Resource Management and Managerial Strategies - Case Study Example

? What Might Be Going on Here, and, Consequently, What Might Be Some Appropriate Managerial Strategies? Table of Contents Introduction 3 Problems Identified 4 Managerial strategies recommended 6 Conclusion 9 References 9 Bibliography 11 Introduction Looking into employee welfare and satisfaction accounts for one of the prime responsibilities of HR professionals in organizations as the workforce is the key competitive strength that organizations hold today. Dissatisfaction among the workforce and creeping frustrations can mount to glaring problems of low productivity and performance in the organization. This can subsequently end up with attritions or high employee turnovers. Cut throat competition and rivalry plays a pivotal role in robbing talents from one organization and placing them in another. High attrition levels have emerged as one of the growing menaces in almost all organizations, which seem to be finding it hard to retain their own employees. It is difficult to find loyal employees and organizations must try and treasure those that they possess. The project seeks to identify the emerging HR problems in Sambian Partners, which is stricken by the problem of employee attritions. Unable to retain some of the crucial talents in the organization, the organization works hard to trace out the root of the problem in the organization. The surprising fact is that the company provides fair compensations, which are at par with industry standards, comfortable working conditions, recognizes employee works and contributions of employees and values them. Yet, it is deeply struck with the problem of losing its valued employees to a close competitor. The project seeks to identify the problems which are responsible for the same, and proposes suitable management strategies for controlling the same too. Problems Identified The main problem identified is poor HR skills on the part of the HR department. Helen, being the CEO of the company, shows poor skills to manage the workforce. Though she seems to be a great architectural talent and has inherited the firm from her father, she does not display enough HR talent to be able to retain or even develop existing talents in the organization. The first instance when one of the reputed employees belonging to a senior level of the organization leaves the organization shows lack of motivational capability on part of the CEO and the human resource department of the organization at large. The conversation between Mary and Bob does not enlighten the organization on anything about the cause of frustration or dissatisfaction which drove his actions towards leaving the organization and joining its major rival organization. Despite being at a high position and blessed with appreciation and recognition of senior level employees in the organization, Bob’s decision to leave the company and move forth demonstrated very poor motivational characteristics of the management to keep him content with his present responsibilities and position. Bob is seen to have immense creative talent and his innovative skills employed at work fetch him good results. However, it is crucial for an organization for backing its critical and rare talents in the organization with the required support structure so as to ensure that he is able to deliver to the best of his ability. Bob finds a void when it comes to handling challenges at the workplace. This phenomenon can be compared to Maslow’s motivational hierarchy in which BOB has reached the second highest level in the hierarchy, i.e. self esteem, achievement, confidence and respect of others. He is seeking to get to the next level of self-actualization, but cannot find adequate opportunities to do so. In this case, it is seen that Bob does not have first class sales men, or marketing behind him to support his work. Thus his dream of attaining the level of self-actualization remains unfulfilled (Arredondo, 1996, p.139). One of the other crucial shortcomings displayed by the organization and the CEO, Helen, is to recognise the importance of employee loyalty in the organization. It is seen that in order to avoid an employee leaving the organization; she decides to give him a promotion to a position which is much beyond his capacity or ability. This is not appreciated by employees at the same level who find it hard to accept an unfair promotion without any reason. This sends a wrong message from the management showing disrespect for loyal and capable employees. Promotional schemes and rewards systems must be free from discrimination and biasness. Otherwise the system fails to achieve both employee motivation and satisfaction at the workplace, and improvement of performance at work. Strategies to retain a single employee end up in the loss of several employees on account of improper promotional standards and biasness in the system too (Pravin, 2010, p.123). Employees are also seen to show discontentment with the fact that certain positions were filled by candidates unsuited for the position or responsibility. This was primarily apparent in the project manager rank and the respective departments were also seen to be performing under the desired standards. This shows that the employer welfare schemes were not well framed. They were loose and failed to achieve the best performance from employees. Too much concern for employees only ended up neglecting their performance and productivity at work which subsequently reflected through underperformance of the department on the whole. Mismanagement reflects through inadequate attention to monitoring of employees performance and more attention towards rewards at the workplace, which seems to cross the budget. It is also seen that employees at the higher level are given more value than those at lower levels. The perks and rewards schemes are also seen to be biased towards the higher level employees (Zuckerman, 2010, p.137). Finally, the survey conducted in the organization also brings forth major shortcomings on the part of the CEO. Employees are seen to be concerned about the fact their voices are not heard. The survey reveals several concerns of the workforce which have not been addressed in the past. This includes promotions and perks, improper selection of candidates at the managerial level, choice of food items in the kitchen, etc. Employees are of the opinion that the management and CEO have no knowledge of their growing concerns in the organization. Mary, who seems to be the main face of the HR department, shows ignorance and lack of knowledge of the concerns of the people. She lacks decision making powers and is the only follower of instructions of the CEO. That is why employees do not quite allocate special significance for her. Helen is the actual decision maker but her decisions seem to lack rationality or reason. Her decisions seem inconsistent, unpredictable and short-sighted, which only helps to solve problems in the short term but fails to yield long-term results. Managerial strategies recommended The first recommendation in favour of Sambian is to create a culture and organization mission through which employees and high performers in the organization feel connected and committed. One of the most crucial components of an employee’s emotional commitment at the workplace is the extent to which he is connected with the mission and vision of the firm. In this case, it is seen that some of the most crucial talents in the company fail to attain this connection. Tom, who is one of the important talents of the workforce, loses a project bid and gets highly disappointed. In such a condition he finds a misalignment between the firm’s mission and his own goals, objectives and aspirations (Kecskemeti, 1958, p.5). The inability of the management to identify the cause of this frustration and discontentment is reflected through the loss of crucial employees from the workplace. Thus, it is important that management consider their responsibility to understand the individual aspirations of employees, and then align their activities with the present goals and objectives of the organization. Misalignment between the two can neither accomplish organizational results nor attain the satisfaction of employees and their loyalty and devotion either. It is possible that employees would prefer to remain and not disclose their reasons for dissatisfaction to the management, but management must have the right strategies of attaining the proper reasons of their exit from the organization through exit interviews (Sullivan, 2012, p.118). It is crucial to learn the early signs of employee attritions rather than trying to hold them back after employees have decided to leave. Employees must be communicated clearly about the organizational mission and objectives and their respective roles and activities in realising those missions. In the absence of a clearly defined roles and responsibilities, their work cannot be directed in the right way and consequently dissatisfaction would mount, subsequently causing low productivity. Employees must not feel that their work and contribution towards the organization are futile. Rather, they must be made to believe that their contributions are valued and that each one of them makes a difference to the organization in a positive way. They must also be provided with as much support from the management as possible. Very often employees are to remain loyal to their organization and stick around it when they have everything that they need. This includes tools, resources and support of the management. Employees find it essential to have the support of the management in order to go up the organizational ladder. Young employees are particularly fond of remaining in a place which culture they enjoy. The more the company is able to create a culture where employees feel connected, the more productive would be the workplace (Mehmood & Vanie, n.d., p.2-5). It is seen that human resource professionals at Sambian do not really act as the voice of the employees. That is why employees do not prefer to disclose their feelings and views towards the management. The most important role of the HR department should be to understand the exact requirements and needs of employees and whether they were getting all their needs in order to perform to the best of their ability. HR must act as their voice and take up their concerns to the management. Apparently the self-conducted survey at the workplace did not attain enough details about the views and concerns of employees. It is important for the HR managers to listen to the people’s concerns individually. This task must not be delegated to anyone else in the organization, and must be done by the HR only. Feedback must be collected from each of the company departments in order to catch the organization’s pulse. This includes making regular visits to the departments, attaining and gathering feedback from the supervisors and staff through small and open discussions. Small meetings and get-togethers must be held in the form of breakfasts and coffee meetings. The information collected in such a way would bring in a number of facts crucial for the organization. However, the problems faced by employees can be eliminated by the true intervention and initiative of the management. This would not only help to control attrition rates by attaining greater participation and loyalty of the employees towards the organization, but also enhance their performance and productivity in the organization (Raman, 2006, p.5-9). Conclusion The study reveals some very crucial and unknown facts about causes of frustrations and discontentment of employees at the workplace, which subsequently causes them to quit the organization. This can happen despite of providing with appealing compensations, comfortable working environment and competitive work cultures. Organizations find it hard to retain talented workmen in the organization, which makes a big difference to the company's output and profitability. The condition in Sambian is quite the same. The main reason which is identified that caused some of the most crucial employees to leave the organization is a mismatch between the organizations and employees’ goals and objectives. They are found to be remaining frustrated because some of the greatest initiatives and achievements go futile, leaving the employees dissatisfied and frustrated. Moreover, it is seen that the management starts to react to the situation only when a major damage has been done rather than focussing on crucial employees aspects from the beginning. The first recommendation which is presented is to align employee activities to the missions and goals of the organization. Moreover, the exact requirements of the employees must be explained to them right from the beginning so that no communication gaps exist. The HR department also plays an important role of attaining the views and concerns of employees through open and small discussions other than the regular self-conducted surveys. This would be effective in knowing about their concerns and devising strategies to eliminate the same more accurately. References Arredondo, P. M. (1996). Successful diversity management initiatives: A blueprint for planning and implementation. SAGE. Kecskemeti, P. (1958). Strategic surrender: The politics of victory and defeat. Stanford University Press. Mehmood, A., & Vanie, J. (n.d.). Evaluating strategies for controlling attrition rate of Canadian Air Force members. Retrieved on June 04, 2012 from http://www.systemdynamics.org/conferences/2008/proceed/papers/MEHMO350.pdf. Pravin, D. (2010). Human resource management. Human Resource Management. Raman, R. (2006). Strategies to retain human capital in business process outsourcing (BPO) industry. Retrieved on June 04, 2012 from http://www.kohinoor.ac.in/pdf/Working_Paper_2-Raman.pdf. Sullivan, P. (2012). Who wins?: Predicting strategic success and failure in armed conflict. Oxford University Press. Zuckerman, E. L. (2010). Clinician's thesaurus: The guide to conducting interviews and writing psychological reports. Guilford Press. Bibliography Alderfer, C. P. (1971). Human needs in organizational settings. Free Press. Bruce, A., & Pepitone, J. S. (1998). Motivating employees. McGraw-Hill Professional. Pride,W. M., Hughes, R.J., & Kapoor, J. R. (2011). Business. Cengage Learning. Vroom, V. H. (1990). Manage people, not personnel: Motivation and performance appraisal. Harvard Business Press. Read More