Human Resource and Management Essay

It is widely accepted that functions involving management include planning goals of the organization, organizing its employees so that efficiency can be achieved, leading involves employee motivation and influence, whereas control function makes sure that all other functions help bring success to the organization . Another viewpoint is that there is a fifth function which is staffing. Staffing involves the HRM department making sure that the appropriate people with valuable skills are placed on jobs (Bartol, 2004). Human resource department has become more important today as it is integrated and much more strategically involved. The HRM department sees it very important in order to be successful as an organization much effort should be put on recruitment of employees, then they should be motivated to perform their task, and trained to execute their responsibilities effectively. To built an efficient work force and maintain it on that level the HRM needs to influence employee behaviour when they seem off track. The few ways in which they can do is by organizing which includes job design/redesign, remuneration and benefits, training and development, and performance management. Job Design Job design is method which involves organizing employee tasks and giving them responsibilities. It also focuses on changing duties of employees so that job satisfaction is gained, which therefore increases efficiency. It focuses on the content of job and effect it has on employee motivation and effectiveness. If job satisfaction is achieved productivity can also be achieved, some people prefer jobs which they feel comfortable at, identifying what makes a good job for the employee can be helpful in improving performance, this can make difference on cost resulting from absenteeism and low turnover. The job fit matches characteristic of people with characteristic of jobs. A person not fitting a job can be disastrous for the company and the employee. By re-designing the job the person/job fit can be may be improved, this can affect employee motivation as the job becomes favourable for employee, catering to their need of job-related satisfaction, for example a person who does not likes to talk much may find it awkward and frustrating at a bank teller job because there he may have to interact with people all day long (Keaton, 2001). Read more:Â  Areas of Human Resources Management Business The ways to re-design a job includes job enlargement and job enrichment, this involves reducing the problems faced by the employee on job. Broadening the scope of the job by expanding the tasks to be performed may reduce the monotonous job experience, as their would be new tasks for the employee to perform, this may help influence behaviour as the employee may achieve job satisfaction and also feel more important as a part of the organization. Job enrichment deals with the employee given more responsibility then before, by adding planning, controlling and evaluating to his job function. Job enrichment may include giving the employee the entire job rather then a part of work, expanding the assignment so that the employee can learn from new tasks, moreover developing new areas of expertise. It may also include giving the employee more autonomy so that he can organize work according to his will, along with giving feedback to higher officials. The more these characteristics are in the job the more motivating it becomes. For the employees motivational value comes from job enrichment due to the feeling of employees that work is now more meaningful, due to the fact that they are more responsible for outcomes. These changes therefore satisfy the employees need for growth, work motivation, work satisfaction, and work effectiveness (Schuler, 2008). Remuneration and Benefits The HR department has also the responsibility of setting employee remuneration, which is the financial payment to employees for their work. This can be used in influencing employee behaviour, it is necessary for the organization to reward employees fairly. If the employee feels he hasn’t been rewarded well he will be de-motivated. Organizations work towards keeping their skilled employee the time, they do not want to lose employee who have worked with them and are good at what they do, also for motivating employees to be more effective and efficient at work HR department tries to best set the wages inline with the expectance of the employees. Well paid employees feel more satisfied with work and are also more willing to give something extra to the organization, in long term this can increase employee commitment and built a trusted relationship between employee and employer. The other option which the HR department uses in influencing behaviour is the benefit system. Employee benefits are does part of the process that reward in addition to cash pay. These benefits may include insurance, medical, pension schemes, a company car or loan, and paid holidays. These benefits care for personal security and needs (Armstrong, 2000). The aim of employee benefits is to contribute to a competitive reward package, also to provide tax-efficient method of remuneration. This is also to provide for the employees need and also for their request for financial help, thus demonstrating that they are part of a caring organization so in turn they can be motivated to carry out work. This also increases the commitment of employee to the organization. The benefit strategy should be directed at the goal of achieving objectives of the business by ensuring it has high quality, committed people in their ranks. A flexible benefit plan helps employee choose between two or more benefits. An employee will be more motivated if he has a say in his benefit package, this way employee can gain better appreciation for the value of benefit he is be being rewarded. Benefits can also be aligned with work, such as giving paid holidays, this can be helpful in achieving short term targets of organization (Robert, 2008). The HR department has therefore the responsibility to work out the best reward system so that employees can benefit and feel satisfied with their work effort (Armstrong, 2000). Training and Development Training and developing employees so that they can deliver their best to the organization is one of the main functions of HR department. The HR department has to continuously work towards perfecting their work force, training them so that they can adapt to the changing business environment. HR department uses training and development to bring about a permanent change in the employees behaviour. Training is defined as helping employee do their current or future work better, where as development involves acquisition of knowledge, skills, personal development, and the right attitude so that the employee is prepared for future opportunities (Bacal, 1998). Training is used in altering the behaviour of the employee in a direction that will help achieve organizational goals. Training helps employees master their present skills or acquire new skill for the execution of another job. Learning is a part of training which brings about a permanent change in employee behaviour. Before training the personal analysis should be conducted so that it could be determined who requires training and their readiness for training. For training to be successful immediate reinforcement is needed so that appropriate behaviour is learned. The learner must be awarded in ways which satisfy needs, such as pay, promotion and recognition. Standards of performance should be set for the employee, as when these standards are met the employee gets a feeling of accomplishment. The training should be meaningful and should also give employee enough time to absorb. The employee should be encouraged to practise the behaviour again and again so that he could perfect his skills. This way a permanent change is brought about in the employee’s behaviour. There are different approaches to training, which includes on-job training and behavioural modelling. On-job training is that an employee is placed in a real work situation and is showed the job and tricks of the trade by a supervisor. This method widely uses the employee’s learning capability to understand and retain the task execution. The other method is behaviour modelling. This is used in increasing interpersonal skills by observing an experienced employee. These methods help bring about a favourable response from the employee. For this training and development procedure to be successful the HR department should ensure that training is linked to business objectives so that everyone is pointed in the same direction. The training should be focused on outcomes and not activities, also allowing employees enough time to adapt. Training should be motivating so that employee expectations could be met, of providing career pathways, increasing job satisfaction and also improving job security. Employee must be shown how to acquire new competencies and what are the benefits of gaining them The HR department should ensure that not only the organizations needs are respected but also the employees and what they want to achieve, so that positive change is brought about in behaviour. Performance Management and Appraisal The HR department knows how much it costs to acquire employees and retain them as a good working unit, they want to be sure that the outlay on staff is achieving an appropriate return. For this HR departments concentrates on performance management and appraisal, which is about creating relationships and ensuring effective communication within the organization. HR department cite as a process which ensures success for everyone, valuing the effort put in by the employees and also influencing and motivating them for their hard work, they feel it helps asses the employees so that they could be rewarded fairly. This is a communication process between employees and their supervisors, which helps built a clear understanding about the job function and what the employee is expected to do. How they can work together to build, improve or sustain employee’s positive conduct. It focuses on employee’s achievement on the preset objectives and how he can bring about a change in his behaviour so that necessary results can be achieved, with continued reviewing of performance against the plans the HR department ensures that objectives are met. The process of discussing work in progress, and how employees can enhance productivity with regular feedback can help determine where the employees stand, and also assess their accomplishments. Appraising an employees job makes them aware of how a task should be executed, also giving them a degree of empowerment which is the ability to make day-to-day decisions. It also helps employees on how to enhance performance, which in turn presents a chance to the employee to develop new skills and appropriate attitude towards work. If the employee understands his duties he can act more freely within the given framework. Performance appraisal is a part of performance management, it is a judgemental process of the performance of the employee on job. It is mainly done for the employees behaviour is moulded according to the companies determined objectives (Bacal, 1999). Performance appraisal brings about favourable attitude of the employee, in the form of commitment and motivation. This is why it important to appraise employees, its importance can be identified as a development to clarify why it is essential to have an effective training program (Banfield, 2008). It is also important for reward purpose as it identifies the deserving employee to receive a reward and who should be trained to achieve high efficiency. Employee motivation is the key behind his compliance to change and this appraisal system stimulates effort to perform better. Employees can be given a legally acceptable reason for promotion or reward and also in case of discharge or transfer so that the employee can’t feel of being treated unfairly. The basic compliance to change of behaviour for an employee comes with monetary incentives, therefore this system helps identify what to pay the employee. This system also encourages communication so that a sense of trust builds between the employee and supervisor, this can be beneficial for the organization as they can work towards carefully shaping the behaviour of the employee so that needs of the organization are catered for, as the employee will respect his supervisor’s decision and will work with commitment and desire. Conclusion The employees are the most important resource of any organization, their commitment and sincerity to the organizations objectives is much sought after. The HR department’s role in this is significant as it sets a benchmark of high standards for the organizations employees. Ensuring that change in behaviour they want is achieved in manner which is acceptable to the employee. The HR department first has to identify the lacking, if it’s concerned with the job they can use job design to influence employee behaviour as an inappropriate person/job fit can be de-motivating for the employee and costly for the organization. If they feel their employees value monetary benefits more they can alter their remuneration and benefit packages according to the need of the employee to generate a feeling of importance in the employee, thus motivating them to achieve organizational goals. The HR department can also analyse the skill level and competence of the employee so that any lacking can then be corrected by employing training and development methods, thus equipping their workforce with new skills and knowledge, readying them to face the challenging business environment. Lastly HR department can use performance management to mould the behaviour of employee according to the need of the organization. With a continuous judgmental system employee motivation and work efficiency can be measured, and then rewarded accordingly. A motivated workforce is the key to any achievement for the organization, so this is what organizations should continuously strive to achieve employing the discussed techniques to influence them.