As observed, just customers are valuable to firms as are the employees. It is worth noting that firms are not mere offices, factories, trade businesses or service organizations since people or the human resource plays a critical part towards the realization of anticipated goals (Rucci 83-97). In firms, individuals are organized in a manner that promotes the pursuit of organizational goals.
Employees offer both individual and collective effort in task execution. In addition, employees offer insight regarding the strategies that firms use in the pursuit of goals. Employees serve as a link between firms on the one hand and customers on the other hand. It is discernable that a section of employees occupies leadership positions within organizations. The last observed point underscores the notion that employees play a leadership role within firms (Harter 268-69).
In reference to both individual and collective effort, employees are assigned various duties within the firms they are employed. Notably, firms are split into management units or departments. Each unit or department has a leader who organizes the pursuit of departmental or unit objectives. The leader has the duty of organizing the departmental workers into a unit that works collectively towards achieving departmental gains. Towards achieving that, the workers are given individual tasks that they execute towards the main goals. The individual assessment allows for improved effort and facilitates the attainment of departmental goals as well as organizational goals. As an illustration, a restaurant is divided into departments such as cookery, service, etc. Leaders within the divisions ensure that each member works as expected.
Regarding the sharing of important insight, keen business analysts agree that employees are talented differently. When working in firms, employees learn while going about their daily chores. In the process, they learn valuable lessons and develop ideas on how certain aspects could be executed easily. If firms allow such employees to share what they know or want within firms, there is a possibility a firm would benefit from the experiences of the employees. In this regard, the employees help firms to stay relevant and up-to-date in reference to the way of conducting affairs within the firms. Similarly, in a restaurant setting, the cookery department would advise the management regarding customer preferences after getting feedback from the service department.
It is observable that employees serve as an important link between firms and customers. Employees have access to management as well as to customers. The employees in most instances directly engage the customers of a firm. Such engagements allow the employee to learn individual preferences on the part of the customers. After establishing the likes and dislikes of customers, the employees have an opportunity to share the information with the management. In sharing such findings, the managers are empowered to make the right decisions regarding the pursuit of organizational goals while meeting customer expectations.
A section of employees occupies leadership positions in firms. Such employees play a significant role in setting organizational strategies that guide in the pursuit of set targets. In this regard, firms get managerial ideas from employees. The quality of the management determines the level of progress a company makes sense strategizing is instrumental in deciding success within firms.
In most firms, workers spearhead the provision of goods and services. In this regard, employees play an important role in ensuring that the operations of a firm are on course. On this basis, when strikes emerge, any observer easily understands the ramifications such holds on the progress of a firm.
Many firms understand the value of HRM. However, firms fail to invest widely in improving best practices in HR functions. As such, practices including job design, selection and recruitment are left inadequately addressed. Under-funding the HR function is undesirable given the importance that they occupy within firms.
The worth of investing in job designing is indisputable. Job design is a process that entails planning and specifying tasks and work arrangements (Michael 53). In any firm, there are various tasks to be done. Hence, the management needs to plan the tasks that are executed by each department. Having done that, the management should implement the arrangement. The job design should be done based on organizational goals. In addition, job design takes into consideration the different skills that employees possess. This is critical since the goal of the job designers is to ensure that the workers enjoy the various tasks that they are assigned.
In firms, managers should embrace the scientific tools of management (Lawler and Boudreau 75). In so doing, the management teams should simplify jobs, standardize procedures and increase efficiency. In the same breadth, managers should seek to bolster the pursuit of organizational goals by engaging in job enlargement and job enrichment.
Concisely, the idea of job design resonates around creating conditions within which workers thrive. Such conditions would thus allow for improved performance. In improving the performance, the management would have made important steps in the pursuit of organizational objectives. Using a customer contact center to illustrate the point, managers should break down roles in such centers. The management should establish a complaint receipt section, compliment section, feedback section, service section, etc and highlight specific job functions for each section.
The selection of employees to various positions within firms is equally important. Selection involves the identification of the right personnel to occupy different roles in firms (Michael 53). This puts significant pressure on firms, as they need to select individuals who meet expectations. Towards selecting the right candidates, firms must recognize the tasks that are to be done. Further firms must identify the right job qualifications. Based on this, each firm is under an obligation to invest sizeable resources that could help in carrying out the task.
The selection process comes before and after recruitment. Hence, continuous process ties firms’ resources in the long-term. In addition, it is discernable that after recruiting individuals some fail at the workplace while others excel. Since such takes place, the selection department should keep a close watch on the recruited individuals. In this regard, those who excel are selected for promotion while those who fail are corrected or replaced. Such demands imply that investing in HRM functions is highly desirable. Identifying the right personnel in a customer contact center is critical since such a facility influences the views of customers.
Closely tied to the selection function is recruitment. The recruitment process entails selecting the right individuals from the identified list. The individuals who end up being recruited are those that possess the desired skills to do the tasks. In practice, several candidates apply for jobs. Most applicants purport to possess the desired skills. However, in practice, few candidates prove to possess the right skills. As such, recruiting the right people for employment is a difficult task. Such places demand on firms to put in place a recruitment department in firms. The realization that recruitment affects the progress of firms underlies the need to increase investments in the HR function.
HRM philosophy guides organizations in handling employee issues. On the one hand, the soft philosophy lays emphasis on communication, leadership, and motivation (Wright 24). On the other hand, the hard philosophy focuses on the calculative, quantitative and strategic aspects of firms. The latter philosophy underscores the need to use the rational approach in handling issues that affect employees.
The hard philosophy views employees as commodities that organizations utilize to achieve their goals. In business terms, the hard philosophy perceives workers as human capital useful in generating returns. However, the soft philosophy underscores the need to look at individuals as valued assets that help organizations in achieving a competitive advantage in the industry of operation. It is important that organizations clearly spell out the philosophy they use in their mission statements as such guides the treatment the human resources receive.
Changing the HRM practices in firms is difficult. However, for the benefits of an organization, introducing certain changes is important. Encouraging changes is critical as such helps organizations to remain attractive to top-class workers. The HRM should properly define its philosophy regarding the pursuit of future goals. The department should also give room for deliberations on issues that affect workers. In this regard, the opinion of workers should be sought in developing workplace policies. The HRM needs to offer opportunities and a framework that allows employees to express fully their views on organizational issues. The department also needs to provide a platform for the growth of networking skills amongst workers in order to improve chances for better performance.
Changing HR practices is valuable to organizations in different ways. To begin with, organizations need to conduct business using new approaches (Ulrich 56). As an illustration, when certain work arrangements are no longer working, the HR department should establish the problem and adopt new arrangements that promote the pursuit of organizational endeavors. Secondly, the workplace is a dynamic environment that keeps changing from time to time. Since such is the case, the HR department should study the latest developments and alter how it conducts operations to suit emerging trends. It is also necessary that HRM should alter how workers relate within the organizations and offer a platform that empowers both parties in executing organizational tasks.
Conducting performance appraisals would also be desirable in organizations. The appraisals should guide bonuses, promotions, and demotions within firms. Such an act would promote the work ethic of employees and thus promote organizational performance. Additionally, introducing job rotation could prove a pivotal change in organizational endeavors. Job rotation is important as it allows workers to broaden their views of an organization. Based on the points raised above, introducing changes to the HR processes would play a key role in the success of any organization.
Measuring of changes would help in comprehending how far an organization has progressed. Introducing a change that allows workers more freedom in expressing their views is measurable using such measures as the extent to which individual workers raise opinions regarding work. In the second place, to measure involvement, one would look at how the management incorporates the opinions of workers into workplace policies. Using another illustration, measuring a change in policy that organizational philosophies be shared publicly is easier since such is visible on the records of an organization.
Works Cited
Armstrong, Michael. Achieving strategic excellence: an assessment of human resource organizations. London: Kogan Page Publishers, 2006.
Harter, James K. Business-unit-level relationship between employee satisfaction, employee engagement, and business outcomes: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology 87.2 (2002): 268-279.
Lawler, Edward E., and Boudreau, John W. Achieving strategic excellence: an assessment of human resource organizations. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006.
Rucci, Quinn K. The employee-customer profit chain. Harvard Business Review 34 (2004): 83–97.
Ulrich, Dave. Human Resource Champions. The next agenda for adding value and delivering results. Boston, Mass: Harvard Business School Press, 1996.
Wright, Patrick. The 2011 CHRO Challenge: Building Organizational, Functional, and Personal Talent. Cornell: Cornell Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies (CAHRS, 2011).