Human Resource Management Problems, Term Paper Example

Human resource management is an intricate part of any organizational environment. Human resource managers do not have an easy task. A successful human resource management program requires continuous planning and organization. A human resource manager is responsible for recruitment and selection, training and development, compensation and benefits, ensuring fair treatment and legal compliance, using job analysis and performance management, employee fit and retention, and promoting workplace safety and health. With so many job duties, at times some aspects of the job description may fall through the cracks. There are many businesses that suffer from a poor human resource management department.

This can especially be witnessed when working for small businesses. Many times the human resource manager within a small business may have a different title, though they are responsible for human resource activities. Human resource activities may fall to an owner, a general manager, or even at times an assistant manager. Two specific incidents that I have been involved with are a poor selection process, as well as a poor compensation system.

Both incidents occurred while working for a small business, an independently owned restaurant. This business had many poor business practices, human resources activities being the most neglected aspect of the job. This aspect of the business being ignored led to many of the employees having a morale issue. Once this type of feeling is apparent to employees it starts to infect other employees and is very difficult to correct.

The first incident was a poor selection process. At the time when I was hired, there were so few employees that all employees were working seven days per week. The employees that were present were poorly trained and overworked. This also effected to new hires due to being a lack of a sufficient labor force.

Apparently, the management had the bad habit of waiting until they were desperately in need of help before hiring new employees. When the new employees were hired out of desperation, there were basically no qualifications to become a new hire. If someone had little to no experience they were hired on the spot to have available bodies to work the business.

This affected employee morale, employee training, and also employee development. Due to the insufficient selection process, employees with little to no experience were barely trained. This would frustrate the more seasoned employees and overall lower employee morale.

This was a very poor selection process which was very detrimental to the business. Due to the poor selection process many other human resource areas suffered, such as training, development, and employee retention. The consumers also suffered due to the lack of knowledge of the employees. The consumers would leave unhappy never to return. This was also frustrating to employees because they were not trained well enough to be empowered to handle a negative situation. The poor selection process led to overall bad business practices.

In order to rectify a situation such as this it is important to train management to effectively use a proper selection process. An employee selection process is very valuable to any business. Rather there is a specific human resource manager or these duties are placed on a different type of manager who must fill the role, it is important they understand the importance of selecting employees.

As I have learned from course lecture and the text, the selection process is obtaining information about job applicants in order to determine who should be hired. There are many steps to this process. These steps include obtaining a capable workforce through the design of a selection process which encompasses the needs of the businesses. The end objective of the selection process is to hire qualified employees who are capable of high productivity, are motivated to stay with the business, are able to ensure customer satisfaction, and are able to implement the strategy of the company.

In order to design a proper selection process there are many decisions which must be made. The criteria of interest must be established. Predictors and assessment techniques must be used. How will the predictors be measured must be determined. It must also be decided as to how the information collected will be used to make a final decision.

Regarding the situation above, the criteria that would be important is what type of customer service experience has the candidate have as well as how long were they able to stay at previous jobs. These two aspects that would be questioned on the application could help determine the predictors associated with the selection process design. After the predictors from the application are considered adequate, the interview process could begin. The face-to-face interview will help decide if the predictors of selection such as attitude, personality, knowledge, agreeableness, and conscientiousness are present within the applicant. This may take a minimum of two interviews to conclude a proper evaluation.

If the job candidate is nominated for a second interview, a job simulation could be used as a reliable predictor. Because in this instance we are referring to restaurant employees, the employee would either be asked to service a table or to prepare a dish in the kitchen depending on the applicant’s job preference. This information that this predictor would elicit would be knowledge of the job duties and also the ability to perform specific job duties. Each predictor from application questions as well as interview questions and answers would be measured on a scale of 1-5. Once the predictors are measured and an average score is maintained, the candidates with the highest scores will be hired and trained.

Of course the score would also be dependent upon references checks and background verification. There is a wealth of knowledge when considering these two aspects of the selection process. Much can be learned about a person through these assessment practices.

It is important to keep in mind during the selection process that all content involved is fair. It is very important to avoid any questions, predictors, or assessment practices that may be considered illegal, discriminatory, or offensive. All criteria used must be valid and relevant to the job being applied for.

This selection process would take place when the need arises or is predicted, rather than waiting until the business faces desperation. This will help to control employee morale, training and development, and customer satisfaction. This process is essential to having a successful business and a successful team of employees.

This course has taught me the importance of the selection process. If a faulty selection process exists, it could be a major detriment to the business. A faulty selection process can affect employee motivation, employee morale, employee training, employee retention, and employee and customer satisfaction. An understanding of this information is very important to my future objectives.

The second issue that was very common within this work environment that pertained to human resource management was an unfair compensation system. The restaurant was a family owned business. They had a habit of hiring family members that included grandchildren, cousins, or nieces and nephews. These employees always seemed to be granted preferential treatment in the aspect of the best shifts, time off requests, and poor work ethic.

It also became apparent that many of these employees were paid more hourly than other employees. Pay was restricted from being discussed among employees per the employee hand book. Unfortunately when employees spend numerous hours together, they tend to discuss many things, including their paychecks.

It seemed however that compensation was very different from person to person even if they performed the same job duties. It was not only a matter of family members, but the entire staff. It came to the attention of many employees that the general manger made less than the cooks, and that certain line cooks made more per hour than the kitchen manager. It seemed to be a rather odd system or a system in which the owners did not understand at all.

Managers were allowed to choose candidates who were then introduced to the owners. The owners would do quick interviews in which they get to know a little about the job candidate, give them a tour, a pay was discussed between the owner and new hire only. This seemed to be the best process in their eyes.

The only compensation available was hourly pay. There were no other benefits involved. The business was very small and could not afford to offer an employee benefits package.

Through the course material I have come to better understand the issue of compensation within a business. Compensation can be used to attract, motivate, and retain quality employees. These are very important aspects of a business. Every business wants to have great employees who work hard and want to come to work every day.

To definitions that need to be considered here are pay fairness which is what people feel they should be paid in respect to others and pay satisfaction which the level that employees are actually satisfied with their pay. It is important that qualified employees are satisfied because it is often essential that these employees are retained.

If it were my own business pay structure would be fair and equal. There would be a base pay amount implemented dependent upon the position. This pay is the agreed upon pay when the candidate is hired. Each person would start out at that positions starting pay.

Raises would be based upon performance measures. These measures would include level of motivation, work ethic, overall customer satisfaction, reliability, dependability, attitude, and behavior. A performance evaluation would be given first at the 90 day probationary period and every six months thereafter.

Along with each employee’s hourly pay there would also be incentive bonuses offered. For example if an employee has perfect attendance for 6 months then this employee would receive a monetary bonus within their paycheck. Incentives help to motivate employees.

If the businesses started to prosper based on the work ethic of the employees nonmonetary compensation such as health insurance would eventually be an option. A pay mix would be an objective as business improves. Because the business is doing so poorly due to poor human resources practices, it would be impossible to offer this type of compensation before the business improved.

It is also important to consider laws and regulations when putting together a compensation package. It is imperative to consider the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Equal Pay act, and Minimum Wage laws when deciding on pay and compensation packages for employees. If compensation is distributed unfairly in ways that support discrimination or other fair practices, a business could face dire consequences.

This course has helped me to understand that compensation is very important to employee motivation, training and retention; All very important aspects to human resource manager. It has also helped to recognize unfair compensation practices. Along with this recognization, I am also able to map out specific solutions to these problems and successfully manage human resource related activities. This will be extremely useful in any future endeavors that I may have.

I have a much better understanding of the issues mentioned above thanks to this Human Resource Management Course. I better understand the concepts, positive and negative, associated with these human resource issues. Without this understanding my future goals may suffer.

This course was very informative as a whole. There were many valuable aspects of human resources covered within this time period that I can use in the future. Human resource management is essential to the success of any business. Understanding the business environment from a human resource perspectives helps to understand the decision making process in prior endeavors and why there are so many rules and regulations regarding employees.

It is very important to understand that human resources covers many different facets within a business. It starts with planning and organizing the business in all areas to include fair treatment and legal compliance, job analysis, recruiting and retaining qualified employees, employee selection, training and development of the employees, performance management, developing a total compensation package, and workplace safety and health promotion. Each aspect of this class is very important.

Without human resource management it would be very difficult to find, develop and retain qualified employees. It would be extremely difficult to ensure employee satisfaction which the business would suffer for. Organizational environments would be more prone to be unfair, unequal, and overall unsatisfactory for the people involved.

Human resource management keeps the organization or business on the right track for treating people with a basic decency and respect in regard to fair labor practices. It ensures that all rules and regulations are followed so that employees enjoy their work and benefit from their careers. When employees are satisfied with their work environment the business operates more successfully as a whole. Human resource management ensures that this happens when used properly.

This course has given me true insight to the ins and outs of human resource management. Though prior activities have shown me improper ways for dealing with certain situations, this course has made me understand why these practices were incorrect. This course has taught me to understand poor human resource practices and how to develop and implement action plans which will allow me to correct these poor practices in the future. The knowledge gained through this course will follow throughout my life and career.