HRM - A STRATEGIC APPROACH

 

The efficiency and performance of staff, and their commitment to the objectives of the organization, are fostered by good human relationships at work. This demands that proper attention be given to HRM and employment relations. The manager needs to understand the importance of good managerial practices and how to make best use of people. The promotion of good human relations is an integral part of the process of management and improved organizational performance.

The human element plays a major part in the overall success of the organization. There must be effective management of human resources. The significance of human resources and people as the most important asset of any organization is emphasized Gratton (1999).

1. There are fundamental differences between people as an asset and the traditional asset of finance or technology

2. An understanding of these fundamental differences creates a whole new way of thinking and working in organizations, a shift in mind-set

3. Business strategies can only be realized through people

4. Creating a strategic approach to people necessitates a strong dialogue across the organization

Business environment has radically changed overtime. Companies are under great pressure to find new strategies to cope with a rapidly changing business environment. When the rate and quality of change exceed a certain threshold, the need for talented people to run the business will become a more critical success factor.

Organizations have come to realize that they must invest in their human resources to release true value. In all services, the competitive edge will come as much from people as from the product. As trends in the business environment reshape organizational life, human resource practitioners must respond with new strategies, competencies and practices.

The strategic use of human resources will help managers to contribute to the release of true value by the optimum use of people’s competencies.

Organization in the future will be different. Information will be at everyone’s fingertips. Because of the complexity of work and the need for autonomy, teams need a certain amount of freedom to accomplish their task.

If the effort to transform human resources practices is done well, HR practitioners can play a strategic role as managers that can leverage human capital and expert knowledge for competitive advantage. If HR practitioners cannot meet this challenge, they will play a more limited role in the future organization.

REFERENCE

ARMSTRONG, M. (2006) Handbook of human resource management practice. 10th edition. London: Kogan Page Limited. [Online] Available at: http://www.academia.edu/9026115/Michael_Armstrong_th_edition_10_HUMAN_RESOURCE_MANAGEMENT_PRACT_ICE [Accessed 14 December 2017]

Gratton, L. (1999) Strategic Human Resource Management: Corporate Rhetoric and Human Reality. 1st Ed, New york: Oxford university press [Online] Available at: http://www.lyndagratton.com/books/48/59/Strategic-Human-Resource-Management.html [Accessed 22 December 2017]

Mullins,L. (2009) Management & Organisational Behavior, 7th Ed, London: Pearson Education Ltd [Online] Available at: https://books.google.lk/books?isbn=8131709272 [Accessed 22 December 2017]

OFF BOARDING - RESIGNATION

Resignation is a process by which an employee gives notice of his or her intention to terminate the employment

The departure of an employee within an organization is a natural process of the employee's work cycle. Managers can react unpredictably when you resign. Some take the matter very personally, others will recognize the opportunity you face and will simply wish you well. Either way, it is critical not to burn any bridges when you resign or undo the good you created during your time with your employer. You never know when your paths might cross again, so make a firm decision, respect the process and leave with grace and professionalism.

For an employee to resign there maybe personal or occupational reasons behind it. Those will relate to organizational culture, management styles and HR policies. It is important for organization to know the real reason of leaving the organization, even though there’s no legal requirement on it. 

HR person should conduct an EXIT Interview, as the need for sensitivity to the human issues involved, compliance with the legal framework on employment protection and for the organization to gather feedback from voluntarily departing employees.

Activities involved of an employee resignation in brief are,

• Employee officially inform his resignation to the immediate boss

• Immediate boss and the HR department communicate information

• Immediate boss will have a discussion with the employee to make the employee stay with the company

• If above is unsuccessful, arrange an Exit interview

• Employee should give minimum notice period as per the employee contract

• Details of departure need to be communicated to other departments and employee will have to complete appropriate paper work procedures.

• The department head need to prepare a complete form of leaving report, issue a service letter to the employee and finalize communications with external parties etc.

Most of the companies ask their employees to serve notice period for 1 to 3 months. Some companies make Full & Final settlement before you leave the company and some after leaving the company.

As an past employee, I have observed many employees just ignore calculating the Leave encashment, gratuity, EPF amount etc., before they leave their companies. It is very important to check about various employee benefits applicable to you, about tax related forms or continuity of health insurance benefits etc., before the move out of the company.

Employment resignation should be managed so the impact of the loss of the employee on work flow and work environment can be minimized. Handled effectively, the exiting employee leaves the organization knowing that he or she has contributed and added value during their time of employment.

Encouraging the employee's departure by holding a recognition and farewell event for the employee before his or her last day, may blossom a feeling of happiness.

REFERENCES

Heathfield,S.M (2016) The Balance, Employment Ending Checklist to Use in a Termination Meeting [Online] Available at: https://www.thebalance.com/employee-termination-checklist-1919340 (Accessed on 22nd December 2017)

Leary,M. (2017) Hrm recruitment, Managing resignations. [Online] Available at: https://www.hrmrecruit.com/blog/managing-resignations/ (Accessed on 21st December 2017)

Reddy,S. (2015) ReLakhs, Resignation : Employee Benefits & Personal Finances [Online] Available at: https://www.relakhs.com/resignation-employee-benefits-personal-finances-checklist/ (Accessed on 22nd December 2017)

ON BOARDING - WHY INDUCTING NEW HIRES' IS IMPORTANT

An alternative definition of induction is ,

"The process of receiving and welcoming employees when they join a company and giving them the basic information they need to settle down quickly and happily and start work" (Armstrong, 2003)

Strong induction procedures are important because the solid integration of new members into an organization leads to mutual benefits such as developing of employee commitment, clarification of the psychological contract, faster progression along the learning curve and a sound socialization process.

Induction training is concerned with introducing recently recruited staff to their work-place and their new job. Key objective of induction is to provide new employees with formal opportunity for meeting existing staff in the organization, including their manager and peers and subordinates. The induction enable staff to acquaint themselves with the detail of their conditions of employment and become familiar with the physical surrounding at work.

Common problems at Induction Programmes include: 

-  Administrative overload

-  Induction activities set aside in favor of day-to-day business by managers

-  ‘HR induction’ disconnected from ‘business induction’

-  Irrelevant or uninteresting induction activities.

How can employers supplement a new hire’s enthusiasm and energy to make Induction a memorable and valuable experience?

Managing admin overload

What many new hires experience in the first few days is chasing certificates and filling in forms.  Admin requirements may be burdensome and may delay their settling in or even the start date.

Technology can go a long way to preventing administrative overload. IT applications can help employers ‘on-board’ new hires in advance of the first day; compiling data and documentation that enable preparation of the employee’s access card, email address and other IT, work equipment and signing up to benefits.

Mobility service providers can also assist with ensuring that an employee prepares all the necessary documentation before making their move. Providing a simple briefing and administrative checklist in advance goes a long way to making an employee’s first days enjoyable and productive.

Nurturing a sense of belonging

The most important relationships of the new hire are those with their manager and their team. Some managers conduct a thorough introduction for their team, provide opportunities for socialization and spend time coaching the new hire.

However, often HR ‘hands over’ the new hire, while busy managers make little time for coaching, offering few guidelines and resources to create a positive experience.

For an example, I could personally relate to similar situation as a fresher, followed by Induction programme when I was placed at a very busy branch, my managers and subordinates had little time to offer during start. Thus, it took time to settle in.

Leaders are key to nurturing a new employee’s sense of belonging. It’s common for induction to be spent going through rules and procedures. But it would be much more engaging if leaders spent time with new employees, explaining the choices they make and the values that guide them.

Summary of the positive results of best practice induction might be:

1. Reduced recruitment costs

2. Motivated new starters

3. Promotion of positive attitudes to training, learning and development

4. Organizations learning from new employees

5. Constructive 'knock on' effect with established employees

6. Recognition of good HR practices through FAS Excellence Through People Award

(Meighan, 2000)

The Induction period soon gives way to everyday working life, and this is where the ideals presented at Induction need to fit with the reality. No vision and values training will sustain new hires’ energy and performance if there is no match between what’s said and what’s done.

REFERENCE

ARMSTRONG, M. (2006) Handbook of human resource management practice. 10th edition. London: Kogan Page Limited. [Online] Available at:
http://www.academia.edu/9026115/Michael_Armstrong_th_edition_10_HUMAN_RESOURCE_MANAGEMENT_PRACT_ICE [Accessed 14 December 2017]


Bradt,G. Vonnegut,M. (2009) Onboarding: How to Get Your New Employees Up to Speed in Half the Time. [Online] USA : John Wiley & Sons. Available at: https://books.google.lk/books?isbn=047052491X (Accessed on 14 December 2017)


Crookall,D. Saunders,D (eds) (1989) Communication and Simulation: From Two Fields to One Theme. Clevedon, Avon, England ; Philadelphia : Multilingual Matters Ltd. [Online] Available at: https://books.google.lk/books?isbn=0905028848 (Accessed on 14 December 2017)


Hewitt,A. (2015) Induction programmes must amount to something. Gulf News. November 6. Available from: http://gulfnews.com/business/sectors/careers/induction-programmes-must-amount-to-so mething-1.1614336 (Accessed on 14 December 2017)

Meighan,M. (2000) Induction Training: Effective Steps for Investing in People. (1st ed) [Online]Kogan Page. Available at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Induction-Training-Effective-Investing.../0749433035 (Accessed on 14 December 2017)

Managing Diversity in an Organization

In this Era of Globalization, where every organization is working towards having an international competitive advantage, the importance of managing diversity which implies the need to be proactive in managing the needs of a diverse workforce under equal opportunities based on gender, age, race, disability, sexual orientation, religious belief etc and also it is a concept that recognizes individual differences beyond equal opportunity and discrimination.

The workforce in advanced industrialized economy is diverse and the management challenge is to match that diversity within the organization. This is both for legal compliance and to gain possible business advantage from this environmental change- there is indeed a business case for diversity. (Boddy, 2008)

Diversity in employment goes further than equal opportunities. The ways in which people meaningfully differ in the work place include not only race and ethnicity, age and gender, but personality, preferred working style, individual needs and goals and so on.

To manage the conditions of a diverse workforce need to be proactive in areas, such as,

• Tolerance of individual differences
• Communicating effectively with ethnically diverse workforce and teams
• Managing the adjustments to be made by increasingly aged workforce
• Dealing with differences in literacy, qualifications in an international workforce
• Managing flexible working, family structures and responsibilities

Gender and ethnic origin are the two most important dimensions of diversity. However it has to be understood that some aspects of equal opportunities can be achieved by legislation while others depend upon practicing fair models of work practice which have no legislative foundation.

Human resource need to make and communicate the business case for diversity. They need to set and sell goals and target, hold managers accountable for these, and change the organizational culture to embrace diversity.

Ingham (2003) suggests the following key steps in implementing a Diversity policy taking into account all equal opportunity requirements.

• Analyze your business environment
• Define diversity and its business benefits
• Introduce diversity policy into corporate strategy
• Embed diversity into core HR processes and system
• Ensure leaders implement policy
• Involve staff at all levels
• Communicate
• Understand your company’s needs
• Evaluate

Managing diversity involves managing cultural differences. Therefore can further analyze the significance of culture, globalization and understanding the National cultural differences using Hofstede’s model. (Hofstede, 1991)

In order to exploit the advantages of diversity; provide an open, supportive and flexible work environment that values the potential differences and uniqueness of each individual employee through its leadership and management, communication strategies, & recruitment and training programs need to be adopted.

This is to promote the understanding of individual differences which covers but are not limited to gender, race, cultural values, religious beliefs, age, disability and sexual orientation. The strategic plan should be able to cover five goals, which are Communication, Education and Training, career development, recruitment hiring and work-life balance. 

 References

Harrell, L. (2016) Diversity Management- A Concept beyond Equal Opportunities and Discrimination. Journal of Business Management & Social Sciences Research (JBM&SSR) ISSN No: 2319-5614 Vol 5, No.5 [Online] Available at : www.borjournals.com/a/index.php/jbmssr/article/download/2278/pdf London

[Accessed 10 December 2017]

Hofstede, G (1991), “Cultures and Organizations”. London: McGraw Hill.

Holbeche, L. (2002) The High Performance Organization. [Online] Available at : https://books.google.lk/books?isbn=1136357696 [Accessed 11 December 2017]

Ingham, j (2003) how to implement a diversity policy. People management, 24th July.

IMPORTANCE OF THE EMPLOYEE VOICE

The say employees have in matters concern to them is expressed as the employee voice. Employee voice can be seen as ‘the ability of employees to influence the actions of the employer’ (Millward et al 2000)

Employees get the opportunity to voice out their opinion, contribute to the improvement of organization by involving and participating in management decision making process. Though employees have a greater part in influencing decision making procedure, management retains the right to manage.

For employers, effective voice contributes toward innovation, productivity and business improvement. For employees, it often results in increased job satisfaction, greater influence and better opportunities for development.

Formulation of employee voice should not be static, but rather should develop

in line with technological and social developments. In recent years, as a result of the continual advance of social media, employee voice is evolving rapidly. The greatest difference is the shifting patterns of communication, from being one-way or two-way to being multi-directional. This has moved voice on from giving employees a say behind closed doors to enabling them to engage in an open forum.

According to Armstrong (2006), employee voice has four purposes:

•  Helps organizations to understand the employee attitudes about work

•  Presents a form of collective organization to management

•  Influences leaders’ decisions on work-related issues

•  Shows the reciprocal nature of the employment relationship.

What encourages employees to voice their opinion?

Senior managers play a significant role in creating the right conditions for employee voice, especially because they typically have the authority to choose which issues are addressed.

People will only speak up when they feel it is safe to do so. Reducing the perceived risk of speaking up is not only important to drive engagement and innovation, but also to ensure that whistle blowers feel protected. One way of making employees feel safe in speaking up through social media is to have platforms that allow anonymous contributions to be made.

There needs to be a clear explanation of what will be done with the comments once they have been submitted. The act of asking employees for their input in the first instance makes it more likely that they will be accepting of the outcome, irrespective of whether it was the decision they wanted.

Simply recognizing someone who has a workable idea that is actually implemented can give a huge morale boost to that individual. Having more channels of open communications and, therefore, more opportunity to put forward an idea will increase the likelihood of lurkers becoming more active members.

Benefits for employers - with a greater voice for employees:

• Employees’ skills and knowledge can be better used, leading to higher productivity, greater innovation and solutions to problems

• Employees feel more valued, so they are more likely to stay and to contribute more

• Conflict is reduced and co-operation between employer and employees is based on interdependence

• Organizational effectiveness can be improved by listening to staff who interact with clients and customers day-to-day.

Benefits for employees - employees benefit from:

• Having more influence over their work

• Higher job satisfaction

• More opportunity to develop skills

• Improved well-being.

References

ARMSTRONG, M. (2006) Handbook of human resource management practice. 10th edition. London: Kogan Page Limited.

Baczor, L. (2017) Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, Employee voice [online] Available at: https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/fundamentals/relations/communication/voice-factsheet London [Accessed 27 November 2017]

Silverman, M. Bakhshalian, E. and Hillman, L. (2013) Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, Social media and employee voice: the current landscape [online] Available at: https://www.cipd.co.uk/Images/social-media-and-employee-voice_2013-current-landscape-sop_tcm18-10327.pdf [Accessed 27 November 2017]

What makes the next generation tick

NEXT GEN-TALENT

TO ATTRACT AND RETAIN YOUNG TALENT, ORGANIZATIONS MUST LEARN WHAT MAKES THE NEXT GENERATION TICK.

Members of the younger generation in the workforce don’t seem to play by the rules. When a boss says "jump," they don’t ask. "how high?" instead, they ask, "why?"

Most millennials are interested in more than just taking orders, earning paychecks and promotions. They want organizations to place more importance on employee well-being, growth and development. While some may disregard these thought as the foresight of youth, they are becoming too numerous to ignore.

Millennials will become the largest generation in the workforce in recent years to come.

Its hard to find and retain these young professionals. As demand for talent increases, the cost of labor will go up. And if organizations can't fill these roles, their ability to deliver successfully will go down.

Many organizations run an effective induction process by bringing in young college grads and providing them with a combination of training, coaching and on-the-job experience. Firms cultivate a sense of loyalty among team members by offering work-study programs, like apprentices working at the company while studying part-time.

Promise of exciting projects and world travel is another big pull for young professionals. To retain staff, having them in charge of small scale, low risk programs which are intellectually stimulating will keep them rooted and will embed learning. Therefore establishing the right learning environment is essential if employees are to be backed by moving from a technical to a strategic role. Providing personalized development opportunities by meeting employee expectations in all career levels, offering competent titles, identifying capabilities and promoting work-life balance may enhance values for employees in the organization.

Employees should be given reviews periodically by managers to ascertain whether they are ready to take the next step and what training and experience they may need to close skill gaps. The combination of development opportunities and the chance to take on leadership roles early in their career might help organizations to keep employee turnover low.

Reference

Fister Gale, S. (2015). PM Network, Who's next? 29(8), 38–43.

Leadership, Then and Now

Financial success still remains the ultimate goal, but the best path to get there has changed. The traditional leadership focus on results and production has now been heavily layered with innovation, disruption, leader as coach, and a heavy dose of emotional intelligence. Plus, the concept of long-term planning has been redefined.

Let's consider the evolution,

Yesterday’s Leadership Imperatives:

• Results trump everything. Finish the project on time, come in under budget, and hit the goals if you want to be recognized. Have the same expectations for your team.
• Follow the stated protocol. Use Best Practice as a guide, and limit coloring outside the lines.
• Data rules. Know your facts, inside and out. Always work in a systematic, methodical manner.
• Visibility is mandatory. Being seen in the office working long hours is the best way to get ahead and set a good example for your team.
• Seniority matters. Understand the org chart, and respect the chain of command.

Today’s Leadership Imperatives:

• Coach and develop others. Look beyond the immediate deadline, and take time to help team members learn and grow.
• Influence with emotion. Inspire people to share the vision. Provide compelling insights using metaphors, personal stories, and moving visuals that touch the head and the heart.
• Foster innovation. Think outside the box. Move past adhering to Best Practice and work on establishing new ones. Balance the pressure to hit short-term goals with creating new opportunities for the future. Take risks when appropriate.
• Allow for disruption. Encourage creativity and questions. Shake it up. Accept that some mistakes may happen on the way to a real breakthrough. Provide options for people to work when and where they are most productive.
• Give back. Weave social consciousness into the fabric of your work by volunteering, organizing a charity event or hosting a fundraiser.
• Communicate generously. Use frequent, clear messages to keep team members at all levels in the loop. Be as transparent as possible, and use social media for anywhere/anytime contact.

Leadership evolution is admirable, and companies that apply these updated strategies are reaping the benefits. When leaders are groomed with this set of leadership competencies, the organizations experience a significant increase in a number of key areas: productivity, employee engagement, loyalty, job satisfaction and most importantly profitability. Companies win. Employees win. Customers and communities win.

Despite evidence that strongly supports this new brand of leadership, some leaders are still operating exclusively under the old set of imperatives. Have you embraced the leadership evolution? If so, how has it changed your impact? If not, what’s holding you back?

Please leave your thoughts!


reference

Canaday,S. (2017). leaders then and now [online] Available at: https://www.saracanaday.com/ [Accessed on 05.11.2017]