Strategic Administration of Human Resources Essay Example

Since ABC is small company the centralized decision maker will be the founder or the owner of the organisation. But this structure is not good for ABC company because employees are not given a chance to participate in the decision making process and they won’t be given a chance to innovate.

Another organisational structure that ABC can adopt is a functional structure where the organisation will divide into segments based on the functions. Each department will focus more on their work done so there will be specialize workers and because of that process of the organisation can be done with a good quality. As per Johnson (2008:p.398) this structure will give the employees and each departments a clear idea about the goals and the objectives of them.

As an example HR department knows that their job is human resource management and they will focus more on improving their HR skills and specialize in a specific area of HR. But since ABC is looking to expand into new markets it will be hard to keep an effective communication between each function. Because of that this structure will not be useful to ABC. So the organisation can adopt a decentralized version of the functional structure which is known as the Divisional Structure. According to Jones (2008:p.155) in this structure also functions do exist but they have been separated by products and regions. This will help the company to influence its employees from a proper leadership by each functional manager and there will be clear objectives so the company has a better view about the future as well.

HOW TO OVERCOME RESISTANCE WHEN IMPLEMENTING CHANGE

While applying changes to the strategy and

structure of the organisation it needs to be considered that employees might resist this change process due to many reasons. Some employees might used to the current structure so does not support any changes, while some may concerned about their jobs, and etc. As explained by Dawson (2003:p.19) ABC needs to concern all these possibilities and implement change in a best effective manner which minimize resistance. It is vital for the organisation to implement change in a way that won’t reduce employee motivation. Also after the change employees must be confident that the new structure will be beneficial for them as well as for the company.

The company should also consider strategic changes that the company will experience. Strategic human resource management provides a strategic and a long term framework for the human resource so that the company can look into a long term planning process. As per David (2009:p.12) ABC should consider long term people issues such as rewards, salaries and also macro environmental factors such as future labour needs of the company, the culture of the company, value and etc. Also the company should consider how employee evaluation is done under the new system. How performance measures are set and how rewards are given should be planned out and explained to the employees. The employees should be well aware of the future organizational environment and situation and there should be no surprises in the change process.

The company needs to understand that a rapid change is vital for the company to be competitive. So there will be substantial resistance from the employees in this change process. So the company needs to appoint a change manager,

who is respected and trusted by the employees. According to Goodrich (2008:p.21) the change manager will act as an agent who links the management with the employees, also will give advices to the employees and who will also solve issues arising from the change process. It is the change manager’s responsibility to make sure that the change process is implementing smooth and in a way that employees can understand. Also the change manager must convince employees that the change will be as beneficial to them as it is to the company.

As the human resource function of the company, it is their responsibility to make sure that the employees are ready for the new organizational strategies and structure. First the organisation should explain the need for the change. ABC should educate employees on how the current system works and how it should be and what are the benefits the change process will bring.

As per Kusluvan (2003:p.254) it is also important that the employees are able to work more efficiently in the new environment without feeling uncomfortable. So it is important to train employees and educate them on the new strategies. Also it is important to get employee involvement in the change process. Employees should feel that their opinion is also considered and the change will be as for their betterment. The fear of job losses must be reduced through education and the organisation should look forward to enhance the job security.

COMPANY’S HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING PROCESS

Human resource planning considers about right people available at the right time at the right position in an organisation and it is the process of deciding what positions that the organisation will

have to fill and how will they fill it. Since ABC company is going to expand into new countries they will need more labour force for their new branches. As they are going to introduce new products and services they will need new employees for that as well.

According to Deb (2006:p.87) by following a human resource planning process they will be able to identify the exact number of employees who are needed for the new markets and for the new products and services. This will ensure that the required human resource is available at the right time. And HR planning focus to provide the data on when, where and how many employees will be needed in the future. They can match the future demand for the new workforce by doing recruitment process, training and development programmes, promotion programmes and transfer plans.

RECRUITMENT PROCESS

At the recruitment process ABC should attract the suitable candidates for the organisation. The recruitment process begins when the new recruits are sought and it ends when applications are received. After analysing the need of the new labour force for the organisation, it has a proper idea about how many employees should they recruit and for what positions and for what branches should they be recruited.

As explained by Wilton (2010:p.169) the ABC company can recruit some employees who are in the organisation. For an example they can give a particular employee a new job position at a foreign branch and fill that vacancy. But the job should be given to a person who will be eligible for that position. Also in the recruitment process they can put newspaper advertisements to attract suitable candidates and

they do campus visits, walk-ins and etc.

SELECTION PROCESS

The most important process which ABC should must get right is the selection process. They have recruited people without an application of formal assessment methods. It will have a negative impact on the organisation as they do not know how well will the employees work in their position and sometimes employees might end up working in a position that they are not capable of. So the selection process which is to choose the best candidate who is meeting up the criteria of the job is important.

As per Schmitt (2012:p.204) employees should be selected according to the job and they can be selected from Application blank, references, Psychometric tests, performance tests, structured and unstructured interviews and etc. ABC does not have a proper induction process so the employees will be demotivated and that will lead them to leave the organisation. So after the selection process the employees should be familiarized with the job and the organisation in other words there should a proper induction being carried out.

CONTRIBUTION THAT HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT COULD MAKE TO ENHANCING OVERALL PERFORMANCE AND TO ALLEVIATE THE ISSUES

Human resource development and knowledge management involve linking management and development of human resources to achieve the company’s strategy, objectives and goals. According to Kleynhans (2006:p.144) ABC can develop their available man power by giving them suitable training, transfers, promotions and opportunities for career development. A major issue for ABC is that their employees have been recruited without an application of formal assessment methods.

So by giving those employees proper training they will be motivated to work and they will be good at their jobs since

they know what their task is. Also another main issue for them is the mistakes and reduction in quality and output. By having a proper human resource development they can overcome this issue as well. Training is the main factor in this issue as well. ABC should train their employees to supply their service in a good quality and also to complete the tasks given at the time.As explained by Noe (2007:p.316) this will improve the skills of employees and they will be motivated to do the tasks in good quality. Then the company will get an advantage over the competitors as they give the top quality service to the customers in time.

Promoting a particular employee will motivate that employee to work hard for the company so that will help to gain the best service from the employees. But the promotions should be given to performance so that will help to reduce the number of disciplinary and grievance procedures being conducted. Those kind of decisions should be fair for all. Motivation among the employees is too low at the current situation so they should be given bonuses and opportunities to career development to motivate. Also there are more complaints related to HR activities and processes.

As per Baum (2006:p.67) by having a human resource development strategy they can give the employees to work in different places where they will need multi skills. That will motivate the employee as their job is interesting and that will help the company to cover up two jobs only from one person. And also the person should be given freedom to work on a particular project after delegating the work.

Also the

ABC company should have a knowledge management system to overcome the issues that they currently face. It is where to keep the knowledge within the organisation which they learnt from the past and from the industry. Not providing a particular job at time is an issue that ABC faces currently. According to Lucas (2004:p.202) if they have an effective knowledge management system they will be able to dramatically increase their speed and also to reduce the costs. Because of an effective knowledge management they can reduce their tendency to repeat the same mistakes. Therefor effective knowledge management will help to improve the quality of the products and services which is now lack of the ABC company.

A RECOMMENDED PERFORMANCE AND REWARD STRATEGY

As an IT company, the main activities will be knowledge based activities where employees need to be up to date. ABC needs to identify the tasks that an employee should perform and based on which a proper reward system should be created. A main reason for the employee turnover can be seen as the fact that the employees are not recruited after proper assessing them. As per Catano (2009:p.176) this could lead to a point where employees are no longer capable of doing the tasks which they are given. Pressuring employees have created a reduction in quality but also it could be due to the recruitment of unsuitable employees. However for the employees to work in a better environment the company needs to motivate employees to work better.

Employees first need to be trained for them to gain more knowledge on latest IT improvements. These trained employees need to be evaluated using different measures. Usually employees

work in groups in projects, client satisfaction can be taken as a performance measure to reward employees. The time a team takes to complete the project and how successful the project is also needs to be considered. As explained by Drury (2007:p.402) employees should be given possible targets to be achieved and those who achieve those targets should be rewarded. The hardest working employee should be rewarded and should be displayed as an example for others. If the company exceeds the budgeted profit or targets for the year, employees should be given bonuses in order to reward their hard work.

Rewards simply cannot be salary increments, it needs to motivate employees. The company can conduct a survey and see the interests of employees before determining rewards. Sometimes in such industries such as IT simply given leave for employees could be a reward since employees need to work harder during deadlines. According to Torkildsen (2005:p.187) company sponsoring employees on leisure events of employees could also be a motivation since employees need to be relaxed after the hard work. Giving salary increments will also motivate employees to a level but more than money rewards company should focus on other rewards where employees might be more motivated by.

HOW TO BUILD A HARMONIOUS AND TRUSTING EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP

In order for ABC to develop a better employment relationship, the company needs to first assess and evaluate any person before recruiting to see if that person is eligible to do the tasks and the responsibilities allocated. This will ensure that the employee can handle pressure and carry out the tasks so there won’t be any demotivation in a period of deadlines. As explained

by Sabbag (2009:p.165) the company must look forward to give intensives for their hard work to keep them motivated. All employees must be treated equally and must be given the opportunity to obtain the intensive.

Employees should be trained as necessary in order to ensure they have the required knowledge and also different events should be organized in the organisation itself in order to ensure the employees are loyal. Sports days, parties should be organized and all level employees should be brought together to ensure that the company remains as one family. As per Messmer (2011:p.212) employees should be given mentors to guide them throughout, not only matters of work but also on their personal matters, since employees should be stress free and focus when working.

RECOMMENDATIONS

First the organisation needs a proper organisational structure. A functional structure will be more appropriate for ABC since the company can be separated and managed. When expanding, ABC needs new employees. When recruiting new employees ABC should have a proper recruitment process which will ensure proper people are chosen for the positions and also a proper contract should be signed so the employee turnover can be reduced When evaluating employee performance, ABC should have a proper system that collects all employee data so a proper evaluation can be done.

The system must emphasize the tasks the employee had completed, the time the employee took and etc
When rewarding employees, the organisation should focus on proper rewards that actually will motivate employees to work harder to achieve them. This can be done by conducting a survey for the employees to understand what they prefer. It can be done as a questionnaire.
Employees should be given

a mentor to guide them through their work so they will be more motivated to work harder.

CONCLUSION

Human resource is one of the most important and most valuable assets in an organisation. Specially a company such as the ABC which is a knowledge driven company human resource becomes even more valuable. A company should always motivate the employees and deliver a good working environment for the employees to work. Employees should be regularly trained so that they will be up to date with the knowledge.

A company structure and values should represent a better and efficient working environment for the employees. Changing the company structure is more like changing the whole company which will not be supported by the employees. Such an event should be managed with personnel management, human resource management and strategic human resource management. These three aspects will ensure that the employees are well prepared for the change and will perform well in the new environment.

A company should have a proper recruitment process and after recruitment employees should be given proper tasks for them to work on. Employees should be evaluated and rewarded so that they will always be motivated.

REFERENCES

1. Baum, T. (2006), Human Resource Management for the Tourism, Hospitality And Leisure Industries: An International Perspective, Illustrated, Cengage Learning EMEA, p 67
2. Catano, V.M. (2009), Recruitment and Selection in Canada, 4Th Edition, Cengage Learning, p 176
3. David, L. (2009), Human Resource Management, Pearson Education India, p 12
4. Dawson, P. (2003), Understanding Organizational Change: The Contemporary Experience of People at Work, Illustrated, SAGE, p 19
5. Deb, T. (2006), Strategic Approach to Human Resource Management, Atlantic Publishers & Dist, p 87
6. Drury, C. (2007), Management and Cost Accounting, 7th Edition, Illustrated, Cengage Learning EMEA, p 402