Human Resource Management and Productivity, Essay Example

Human Resource Management Measures

Measuring performance of human resource management (HRM) is a challenging task, according to Lengnick-Hall et al. (2009). The authors define the major themes of HRM: micro, strategic, international. Micro HRM is related to HR policies, legislation: managing individuals and small groups, and managing employee voice systems: including communication, labor relations, and other integrative issues. The below paper is designed to take a closer look at the challenges associated with the major micro HR functions: recruitment, selection, legislation, labor relations, learning and development, talent management.

Human resource related regulations

According to Matthews & Hartman (2011), several organizations fail to fully understand the regulatory requirements of HR functions. One of the major problems, according to the authors, is that employers (and HR professionals) do not understand “employment-at-will”. They do not consider that regulations, such as the Federal Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities, and the Family and Medical Leave Acts override the employment contract’s section related to “employment-at-will”. This results in organizations failing to fully document recruitment and termination decisions, clearly lay out rules, selection, promotion, performance evaluation, and disciplinary procedures that would protect the organization from potential law-suits’ negative consequences. The authors Matthews & Hartman, 2011 also state that poor documentation practices of the management and human resource departments can increase the risk of failing to comply with regulations. When selecting applicants for the position (created or vacated), the organization needs to ensure that the description of roles, obligations, and responsibilities are clearly communicated. Several guidelines exist for hiring procedures, and they need to be implemented in the human resources policy, including: Fair Labor Standards Act and New Hire Reporting Act. Further, performance evaluation, disciplinary action, and other employment-related records need to be kept in a manner that it can be retrieved, but is protected from unauthorized access.

Performance and accountability

Robertson 2009) stated that performance management and accountability should not be restricted to the written agreements, evaluation matrices and materials. The author concluded that performance management can be used to effectively communicate the organization’s goals towards employees, finding agreements, identifying training needs, creating measurable, objective outputs to work towards, reinforcing positive behavior, and developing talent. Communicating responsibilities related to the role is not enough, either. There is a need for constant reinforcement of positive behaviors, goals, on a personal, divisional, and organizational level. According to the author (Robertson, 2009), performance management and accountability development of employees is closely related to talent development and management. Further, talent management can have a positive impact on behavior of employees, as they would achieve a higher level of job satisfaction, sense of respect, openness, and see the organization as one that looks after employees and creates opportunities (CIPD Factsheet, 2009). Through a detailed evaluation, development, and rewards system, organizations are able to manage and motivate employees.
Performance management is described as a tool that enables individuals within the organization to better understand what is expected from them and supports line managers in helping employees improve, according to a recent study created by CIPD (2009).

Labor union and labor relations

When working with people, organizations need to consider not only legislation related to labor rights to speech and representation, but ethical issues related to two-way communication within the unit. Working on conflict resolution, creating policies that provide equal and fair treatment for all employees is crucial. Labor relations need to be regulated through collective bargaining agreements, rights to be represented by a union, and an effective negotiation/conflict resolution system needs to be in place. Margolies (2011) determined some serious weaknesses related to communication between leaders of the organization and union representatives. Examining the hiring and accountability practices within unions, the author stated that while these labor representation organizations are created to provide fair treatment for members, they often failed to create the same conditions in-house. This has a great impact on employees relying on unions to represent their interest and increase their bargaining power.

Bloom & Van Reenen (2010) found that the management, and in particular human resource management has a great responsibility for building positive, reinforcing relationships with workers. The most common mistakes identified by the author’s research are: over-confidence of managers, procrastination, and ineffective communication. Working with and around employees, developing policies, incentives, initiatives, reward and recognition systems that are a “good fit” for workers is the responsibility of the managers and human resource management staff. Without collaboration and effective communication, power struggle between employees, their representing unions, and the organization can exist, however, no HR performance improvement can be achieved. Therefore, it is important that employees are involved in decision-making, policy development, and recognition schemes.

Budd and Bhave (2009, p. 1) describes employee relations as a connection between employees and employers to work towards a common goal. However, finding the common grounds is a question of communication, understanding, inclusive approach, and negotiation. The authors describe several elements of employment relationship: buyer and seller or labor, negotiation, self-interest, belonging. States, markets, and unions are also present when creating these relationships, and they can influence the quality of communication, negotiation. The company or non-profit organization needs to find ways to fulfill employees’ needs in a way that the workers provide the highest possible level of benefit for them. This involves compensation, working conditions, job security, career development, organizational culture. Without understanding the needs of employees, and making sure that workers understand clearly what the organization’s mission, vision, and values are, it is impossible to maintain positive employee relations.

Employees’ learning and development

Learning and development, as it has already been mentioned, has a great impact on performance, motivation level of employees, and talent management. Saad, Mat & Awadh (2013) reviewed the theories related to human resource management development and learning practices. Starting with the motivational theory, the authors concluded that there are three different types of adult learners, based on their motivation: goal oriented, learning oriented, and activity oriented. In order to create a learning and development strategy that improves retention, successfully manages talent, and empowers individuals, it is important to set a goal for each employee that will lead to recognition, promotion, or incentive. The conceptual framework created by Saad, Mat & Awadh (2013) describes two influences of individual participation in learning and development programs: learning process clusters and organizational factors clusters. Further, individual factors influence learning motivation and behavior as well. One important aspect of learning and development determined by the authors is perceived benefits. These need to be carefully developed, communicated, and studied by the human resource management in order to make them effective. The potential perceived benefits of training and development programs, described by the authors (Saad, Mat & Awadh, 2013, p. 5) can be: desire to learn, career development, self-actualization (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs), and promotion.

While human resource managers are responsible for creating the strategy for learning and development programs, it is important that they work alongside immediate managers to execute the projects and understand the needs of employees. Hutchinson (2013) confirms that there is a need for understanding the people and performance link within the organization, and that is where line managers can help human resource professionals. Quoting related statistics, the author also states that there is a positive correlation between employees’ level of satisfaction with HR practices and their commitment, motivation.

Concluding statements

Tiwari and Saxena (2012) Found that the seven main practices of human resources management can all influence organizational performance. These have been covered by the above review and were identified as follows, using different categories, by Tiwari and Saxena (2012, p. 62): employment security, selective hiring, self-managed/team working, compensation, extensive training, status difference reduction, and information sharing. Further, the authors concluded that the goal of all the above HRM practices should be improving organizational performance through effective utilization of employees. Creating a positive culture, increasing commitment should be the methods of increasing performance on the individual and organizational level. By making adjustments according to employees’ needs, measurable improvements can be achieved. The authors also found research evidence that there is a positive correlation between HRM organizational performance and workplace climate. This indicates that employee participation and engagement can be increased by making HRM more effective.

References

Bloom, N., Van Reenen, J. (2010) Human resource management and productivity. NBER Working Papers. Retrieved from http://www.stanford.edu/~nbloom/w16019.pdf

Budd, J., Bhave, D. (2009) The employment relationship. Chapter 6. In: SAGE Handbook of Human Resource Management. Minneapolis, 2009.

CIPD. (2009) Performance management: an overview [online]. Factsheet. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Available at: http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/perfmangmt/general/
perfman.htm [Accessed 22 October 2009].

CIPD. (2009) Performance management in action. Current trends and practice. Hot Topics. Retrieved from http://www.cipd.co.uk/nr/rdonlyres/ac5b3f1d-ca83-4cb2-ad97-9b2333411133/0/performance_management_in_action.pdf

Hutchinson, S. (2013) Learning and the line. The role of line managers in training, learning, and development. Change Agenda. Retrieved from http://www.cipd.co.uk/nr/rdonlyres/45b74613-3157-4064-93cd-7ea30aa8a172/0/learnline.pdf

Lengnick-Hall, M., Lengnick-Hall, C., Andrade, L., Drake, B. (2009) Strategic human resource management: The evolution of the field. Human Resource Management Review. 19. (2009) 64-85.

Margolies, K. A. (2011). Human resource strategy for labor unions: Oxymoron, chimera or contributor to revival [Electronic version]. Retrieved from Cornell University, ILR School site: http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/monograph/4/

Robertson, J. (2009) Performance management. HR Study, No 886. London: Incomes Data Services.

Saad, A., Mat, N., & Awadh, A. (2013) Review of theory of human resources development training (learning) participation. WEI International Academic Conference Proceedings. January 14-16 2013.

Tiwari, P. & Saxena, K. (2012) Human resource management practices: A comprehensive review. Pakistan Business Review January 2012