Changing Human Resource Management Practice - Thesis Proposal Example

? Project Proposal Gibaran Learning Group Michael Glover AIBA ID number: A11035 Project Topic How has Generation Y changed HRM and the futureimpact on the work place Employee retention is a very important objective for organizations driven to consistently maintain competitive advantage and profitability. It is not uncommon to hear HR experts cite a “war for talents” As organizations scramble to deal with the talent shortage and its consequences. Employee retention, as a consequence, probably became as crucial as sales, excellent dispensation of service, achievement quality and safety. It is for this reason why, today, specific personnel are assigned with responsibilities on employee retention. Central to this drive is the human resource department because most people-related activities are based on its policies and processes. (Finnegan 2009, p43) In an organizational attempt for employee retention and turnover, human resource managers have to examine, understand and manage the issue and that an effective management can positively impact the cost on recruitment, training, socialization and disruption, including a number of other indirect costs. (Phillips and Connell, p1) In this respect, a fundamental concern in employee retention is how the so-called Generation Y affects HR practices. This is issue emerged out of the principle that generations of employees differ in their characteristics, and, hence, have different needs, desires, behavior, expectations and requirements needed to be satisfied. Background: The Generation Y Generation Y refers to those people born from the 1980s to the 1990s. Some academics are more specific, placing such births between 1980 and 1995. (Tsui and Lai 2009, p39) They are also known as the “Echo Boomers” “Millenials,” “Netsters” among other names. They are, however, distinguished from Generation X and, more recently, the so-called Generation Z. The former, also called the baby-boomers, are born in the 1960s and the 1970s and are typified by being latchkey kids who grew up in a period of downsizing, reengineering, reorganizations, mergers, layoffs, high divorce rates and parents who are more interested in their own self-fulfillment. (Lloyd 2002, p161) It is for this reason why they are generally seen to have a deep sense of independence as well as an interest in having a balanced family and career lives. Generation Y, meanwhile, are those people born between 1995-2009. (Vaiman and Vance 2008, p66) There are about sixty million Generation Y-ers and that all of these would have entered the workforce by this decade. (Stone 2005, p266) Vaiman and Vance stated that Generation Y employees are in great demand and that they constitute 20 percent of today’s workforce, and poised to reach 40 percent in just five years or less. (p66) The characteristics and values of this group are well documented. For instance, Lamb, Hair and McDaniel (2008) outlined a comprehensive profile, explaining that a Generation Y-er is: Impatient since they have grown up in a world that is always been automated and that they have access to computers; Inquisitive because more than their parents about computers and technology and that this is actually a source of pride; Family-oriented due to their stable childhood as a result of parents that are deeply interested in family life; Opinionated as they have been encouraged to share their opinions at home, at school and the community; Diverse as this generation saw the largest number of races within America and there are a good number who claim to have come from more than one race; and, Time Managers since their entire lives have been scheduled – from playground to soccer cam to Little League. (p76) Put another way, Generation Y is supposedly a product of homes with doting parents, typified as soccer moms, parents who prep their children for the right schools, and parents who typically have a high degree of involvement in their children’s near-term and longer-term activities, plans, and goals. (Lloyd, p161) It is not, hence, surprising to find these people with higher educational attainment, more liberated and open-minded. These are the reasons why these people are often branded as the “me-generation” with their focus on their personal lives. When their parents looked for a balance of family and career, Generation Y-ers are concerned with a balance in their personal life and career. There are other glaring differences in characteristics and values, which have tremendous bearing on their attitude towards work. Research Objectives The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of Generation Y to HR practices. The importance of employee retention has been highlighted previously. As the new breed of workers is increasingly taking over the labor force and that they are prized talents to boot, HR managers have to identify these effects and establish new initiatives and programs in order for the organization to adapt not just in order to recruit the best but also retain them as well. It is in this respect wherein this study can contribute to the industry and the academic investigations on the subject. And so for this research objective, this study will: Define and explain the characteristics and values of the Generation Y; Identify and examine the relationship of such characteristics with their attitude towards work and towards employers; Relate Generation Y to human resource objective of employee retention; Investigate the impact of Generation Y’s characteristics to human resource policy-making and on the over-all organizational environment; Cite and analyze effective examples of changes implemented on HR programs, practices and policies that demonstrate the effect of Generation Y and their work values; and, Identify future trends in the human resource industry as affected by Generation Y. Overview of Literature The extant literature on Generation Y is quite extensive and they would provide great help for this study. They would be cited and that these secondary resources constitute an important part in this study. The body of previous works will be used to outline and depict what Generation Y is, particularly their characteristics and values towards their jobs, careers, the work environment and authorities such as business organizations as a whole and the management. In addition, the existing literature will also be used to identify, corroborate and explain HR policies, including best practices in employee management and retention. The following are just some examples of relevant literature that will be used by this research: Barfield, D, Capture and continue: essentials for maximizing the benefits of business. Barfield’s work is an excellent reference on employee retention. Her explanation on the economics of this strategy is insightful. The idea, for her, is that employees contribute immensely to the way companies not just in acquiring value but also in attaining maximum value. This is helpful in this author’s attempt to establish the importance of Generation Y as employees and why HR policies must be changed in order to accommodate them. CIO, CIO: Special Report. Feb. 1, 2008. vol. 21, 8 p. 42-43. The focus of this special report is the detailed analysis on the Generation Y’s profile. It provided a general background on how they affect HR policies. Particularly, several recommendations and best practices were put forward for managers in order to attract and satisfy their Generation Y employees. This discourse is helpful in establishing not just how organizations today focus in recruiting Generation Y employees but how they are viewed and given importance by employers. Lamb, C, Hair, J and McDaniel, C, Essentials of Marketing. This book is mine of statistics and empirical studies about Generation Y. Of particular interest are the statistics about their habits and attitudes. For example, there were their spending habits, patterns of purchase decisions and choice of careers. These variables are important in establishing and supporting the argument that they are different from anybody that preceded them. Leung, K and Bond, M, Psychological aspects of social axioms: understanding global belief systems. Leung and Bond’s work is a compendium of several empirical studies about HR practices and employee retention. A section here is devoted to Generation Y and their expectations from their and their employers. One of the findings of the research is that the generation is characterized by a degree of social cynicism that can affect their commitment towards work. Phillips, J and Connell, A, Managing employee retention: a strategic accountability approach. Phillips and Connell have cited several statistics that are necessary to underscore the need for HR policy reforms. They highlighted how new breed of employees are changing the work environment and that this often clashes against traditional organizational rules and programs for employees. Stone, D, The brave new world of eHR: human resources management in the digital age. A significant portion of Stone’s investigation of modern HR practices is devoted to Generation Y analysis. Their personal and psychological profiles were excellently depicted. An important finding, for instance, which has important bearing on this study is how an overwhelming majority of Generation Y-ers do not simply want to find jobs but want those that could provide rewards of job satisfaction. Tsui, A and Lai, KT, Professional practices of human resource management in Hong Kong. This work outlined several case studies that provided in-depth insights with regards to talent management policies. In addition, the researchers also identified how such policies enabled higher returns on sales, investments, assets and equity. Vaiman, V and Vance, C 20, Smart talent management: building knowledge assets for competitive advantage. Vaiman and Vance’s contribution to this work is primarily on their description of Generation Y as workers. Of particular interest is how they explained how traditional HY policies fail to maximize the Generation Y’s talents and fail not just in retaining them but even in attracting them to work in the organization in the first place. Research Methodology Both the qualitative and quantitative methodologies are expected to be employed by this research. This is in an effort to be more comprehensive. The methods are expected to compensate for the weakness each other. Put in another way, the two could be used to support one another. According to Flick (2008), in explaining the logic of this strategy, the problem of generality can be addressed for qualitative research through the addition of quantitative findings while qualitative findings can facilitate the relationships of the variables in quantitative data sets. (p89) Some scholars may say that both of these methods could be at odds with each other. (Poggie, DeWalt and Dressler 1992) However, this researcher is of the opinion that besides the previously cited reasons for a mixed method, specific features of each model may be utilized in such a way that the actually models complement each other, resulting to a more effective research framework. And so this proposal plans to employ multiple research tools and techniques, including but not limited to survey, case studies, interviews and secondary research. They will be employed in all stages of the study. Qualitative method explained Denzin and Lincoln’s (1994) is: Multi method in focus, involving an interpretative, naturalistic approach to its subject matter. This means that qualitative research study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of or interpret phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them. Qualitative research involves the studied use and collection of a variety of empirical materials. (p2) Criticisms of the qualitative approach include the argument about authors of secondary sources who are, at times, guilty of errors in the transmission of information. That is, the corpus of literature is sometimes considered as not as reliable or, at least, lacking serious and intense scrutiny. In order to address this, this study has taken pains in collating as much sources as possible on a particular fact, point or argument in order to corroborate or cross-check the validity of information and data presented. This method will particularly be used in the case studies that will be cited. Hence, secondary sources would play an important role. These sources would include books, journals and other texts published on the subject. Internet sources as well as data from corporate websites among other documents released and HR documents published by organizations will be used as well. Then, a survey will also be conducted, which would finally compensate for any other weaknesses. A questionnaire would then be drafted. The target group is composed of HR managers and the survey population can range from 20 to 50 respondents. The low number of respondents is due to the fact that the study would make use of different qualitative methods as well. For this purpose, a simple probability sampling method will be employed. Hall’s design is particularly helpful in this area. A respondent, for example, will be treated as a sampling frame in order to select a sample of volunteers from among a pre-sorted list. According to Hall, “the random sample may be chosen by reference to a table of random numbers or generated by a computer using a random number generator.” (Poggie, DeWalt and Dressler 1992). In addition to the secondary sources and survey, interviews would also be conducted perhaps in a focus-group structure. Here, a structured interview will be devised and would be asked to at least five industry resource persons. The purpose is to gain a significant knowledge and first-hand data on specific issues. Here, participants would be invited as resource persons. As much as possible, this researcher will target industry leaders. Upon the invitations and confirmations, the focus group interview will be scheduled. The interviewees would be asked questions; they will be asked to answer and allowed to respond to each other as well. It is expected the ensuing conversation could yield sufficient data to be qualitatively analyzed afterwards. In an effort to be scientific in the method of research, this study would follow the linear progression of the academic research model. As has been outlined and demonstrated in this proposal, a problem or an issue is identified, research is initiated, and then, a thesis is formulated. Afterwards, the research would finally commence, which would be followed by the analysis and the requisite recommendations/conclusion. Limitations of the Study As previously stated, this is a qualitative research and, therefore, not an empirical investigation. No quantitative method of inquiry, hence, will be utilized that is why quantified evidences – those statistics and figures gained through primary sources – will not be present. This may become problematic when the reliability of second-hand data becomes suspect. In addition, it can also lead to an inability to depict, examine, with precision, the causes of several issues or in failing to accurately measure and quantify the cause-and-effect relationships among several variables. This dilemma may also prove true when it comes to evaluating enforcement performance. This limitation, however, can be addressed, as has been cited earlier, by using several sources in order to corroborate a specific claim, point or argument and present an authoritative finding and description of certain issues. Proposed Table of Contents Abstract Chapter I: Background The section that contains background information of the research subject, which is divided into three: HR practices, Generation Y background and their relationship. In addition, this section also contains the definition and explanation of key terms and concepts. Chapter II: Literature Review This contains the extant literature on the subject, highlighting gaps that this study could fill. Chapter III: Methodology This chapter describes the methods of the study: how the secondary sources were obtained, how the focus group interview was conducted. Chapter IV: Discussion This is the section were the data are analyzed. Case studies are included here as well. Finally, the key learning outcomes and principles are also outlined. Chapter V: Conclusion The concluding section that summarizes the research findings and the recommendations. VI: References References Barfield, D 2006, Capture and continue: essentials for maximizing the benefits of business. The Barfield Group. Denzin, N and Lincoln, Y 1994, Handbook of qualitative research. London: Sage Publications. Finnegan, R 2009, Rethinking Retention in Good Times and Bad: Breakthrough Ideas for Keeping Your Best Workers. Nicholas Brealey Publishing. Flick, U 2008, Managing quality in qualitative research. London: SAGE. CIO (Feb 2008), CIO: Special Report. vol. 21, 8. p. 42-43. Lamb, C, Hair, J and McDaniel, C 2008, Essentials of Marketing. New York: Cengage Learning. Leung, K and Bond, M, Psychological aspects of social axioms: understanding global belief systems. Berlin: Springer, 2008. Lloyd, K 2002, Be the Boss Your Employees Deserve. Phillips, J and Connell, A 2003, Managing employee retention: a strategic accountability approach. Butterworth-Heinemann. Poggie, J, DeWalt, B and Dressler, W 1992, Anthropological research: process and application, New York: SUNY Press. Stone, D 2005, The brave new world of eHR: human resources management in the digital age. John Wiley and Sons. Tsui, A and Lai, KT 2009, Professional practices of human resource management in Hong Kong. HongKong University Press. Vaiman, V and Vance, C 2008, Smart talent management: building knowledge assets for competitive advantage. Edward Elgar Publishing. Read More