Category: HRM

Introduction

Human resource is one of the most important factors in an organisations attempt to develop and maintain sufficient competitive advantage. Human resource plays an important role in the operation of business enterprises.¹

It also enhances an organisations ability to attain its goals and objectives. Findings of previous studies reveal that effective formulation and implementation of HR practices, systems, and policies contribute towards improvement in a firms operational and financial success.

Additionally, the alignment of a firms business strategy and with its HR systems increases the probability of attaining sustainability.

Sustainability refers to a firms ability to attain its goals in addition to maximising its shareholders long-term value. One of the known ways of achieving sustainability is by integrating various social, environmental, and economic aspects within a firms business strategy.²

Managers are currently listing sustainability as one of the core components in a firms operations. Integration of optimal HR practices by organisations in different economic sectors promotes their ability to attain greater sustainability.

In a bid to achieve, sustainability and hence competitive advantage, firms in different economic sectors should adopt effective in managing their employees. Firms can choose from two main HR approaches, viz. the soft and hard HR.

This paper evaluates the role of HR towards attainment of sustainability, and undertakes an analysis of the Australian tourism hospitality industry to illustrate the relationship between HR and sustainability.

Outlook of the tourism hospitality industry in Australia

The tourism hospitality industry is an important component of the Australian economy. The industrys earnings account for more than15 percent of the countrys Gross Domestic Product. It also provides direct employment to more than 500,000 citizens in addition to earning more than 10 per cent of the countrys total export earnings.

The industry ranks as the largest service export industry in Australia. Earnings from the tourism industry go to funding other vital economic infrastructure such as hotels, road networks, and airports.

The Australian tourism industry is characterised by a high-level diversity. A study conducted by Tourism Australia reveals that about 280,000 enterprises promote the industrys operations. The enterprises range from travel agents, casinos, transport companies, cafes, and accommodation.

The industrys success also arises from the fact that Australia has an efficient supply chain that generates high economic multipliers.

The Australian tourism industry is broad in nature, actually, people know it as the visitor economy, which is composed of international and domestic travels, work and study and visiting friends and family.³

The Australian tourism industry has a high competitive advantage compared to other countries. Its competitive advantage arises from its unique landscapes, indigenous heritage and culture, culturally diverse population, and nature-based tourism offering.

The tourism industry faces two major challenges, which include appreciation of the Australian dollar and increase in the intensity of competition. Despite these challenges, the industry has a high potential for growth due to its rich cultural, natural, and artificial attractions.

Approximately, substantial improvement within the industry will result in increment in its contribution to the countrys GDP to 50 per cent.⁴

The industrys future growth will rely on the high rate of economic growth being experienced in emerging economies such as Asia and China. The high rate of technological innovation will promote growth by making it possible for tour operators to interact with their customers.

Approaches that organisations can take in managing employees

Human resource management is a unique approach, which aims at enabling organisations attain competitive advantage by strategically ensuring a motivated workforce.⁵ There are two main perspectives to Human resource management, viz. hard and soft HRM.

Soft HRM

This approach deals with nurturing an organisational environment that is employee-centred. Employees are important contributors in a firms effort to achieve its goals. This approach asserts that employees are more productive if their level of commitment to the organisation is high.

The soft approach to HR management assumes that employees contribute to the creation of value thus leading to a firm attaining sustainable competitive advantage. For a firm to qualify as an employee centred unit, this approach emphasises on a number of aspects.

Some of these aspects relate to job satisfaction, employee motivation, developing employee knowledge and trust to improve employees engagement.

This approach also integrates management aspects aimed at promoting employee autonomy in addition to giving them an opportunity to participate in decision-making processes.

Soft approach to HR management postulates that management teams should allow employees to make decisions on their own regarding certain organisational issues rather than being controlled.

Additionally, the approach assumes that employees are most committed if they have a comprehensive understating of the organisations mission and operational strategies.⁶

In an effort to help organisations attain competitive advantage, soft approach to HRM supports various human resource practices and policies that recognise employees as valuable elements in the success of organisations.

In summary, the soft approach to HR management holds that an organisation can attain sustainable competitive advantage by ensuring effective and efficient employee involvement.

Other aspects that should be nurtured include high-trust, high employee commitment and developing an effective organisational culture.

Hard approach

This approach to HR is more instrumental and economically rational.⁷ The approach perceives employees as other organisational resources.⁸ Therefore, employees are managed in a similar manner like other resources with the objective of maximising returns.

People management strategies, which organisations incorporate in their operations, emphasise on maximising organisational control and attaining minimum labour cost.

This aspect paints the hard approach as a quantitative and calculative approach. Additionally, in this approach, labour is an important resource.

The hard approach to HR takes into account a number of approaches. Firstly, employees are considered as important resources in the operation of an organisation, and thus firms management teams have to use this resource effectively and efficiently to gain a high level of competitive advantage.

Secondly, line managers are assigned the responsibility of controlling employees in their effort to implement competitive and corporate strategies. This move shows that the hard approach is hierarchical and autocratic.

In summary, the hard approach to HR is business-oriented and emphasises more on increasing employee productivity and improving efficiency in the deployment of human resources.

Soft approach to enabling a sustainable competitive advantage for service industries

Hospitality industries such as tourism industries are more inclined to adopting soft approach in their effort to develop sustainable competitive advantage. Sustainable competitive advantage refers to unique sources of competitiveness, which competitors cannot imitate.⁹

Organisations that integrate soft HRM stand a high probability of attaining a high competitive advantage in the market. The soft approach to HRM maintains that employees are unique organisational resources for value can be added to them thus generate sustainable competitive advantage.

One of the factors that promote increased inclination towards soft approach within the service industry is the need for capable, reliable, and service-oriented employees.

The success of firms within the service industry hinges on the quality of service delivered. Managers of service companies cannot measure the performance of employees like in the case of dealing with products. Therefore, they have to trust their employees to offer efficient services.

Considering the competitive nature of the Australian service industry such as the tourism industry, it has become critical for firms in the industry to become service oriented with the objective of ensuring that their customers attain the highest level of satisfaction.

The management of these firms can only achieve this goal by ensuring that employees are highly committed towards service delivery. Additionally, HRM in the service industry incorporates soft approach in an effort to align HR strategies, business strategies, and plans.

Initiatives and enablers that the hospitality industry can take

Management teams of firms within the hospitality industry can adopt a number of human resource initiatives to develop sustainable competitive advantage. These initiatives will contribute towards development of a sustainable enterprise and they include:-

Change management

The tourism industry in Australia is characterised by intense competition and to counter the negative effects of competition, firms in the industry should formulate optimal operational strategies. One of the ways to achieve this objective is by adjusting some of the operational strategies.

In most cases, organisational management teams experience resistance from employees during the process of incorporating change and thus to ensure successful change implementation, firms management teams should adopt effective change strategies, which can be attained by educating the employees regarding the intended change.¹⁰

Additionally, change management will also lead to development of competencies in addition to supporting workforce engagement.

Change management will also enhance a firms ability in managing talent thus increasing the firms capacity to attain sustainable competitive advantage. One of the change initiatives that a firm should consider relates to coaching its employees in a bid to develop strong core competencies.

Developing and inculcating effective values

Firms management teams should develop sustainable values. Sustainable values form the basis of a firm attaining competitive advantage. Inculcating values amongst employees culminates in the creation of a sustainable mindset amongst the employees.

Nurturing good values amongst employees will increase the probability of the organisation attaining its business goals, for the firms management team will manage to incorporate effective leadership style, thus leading to a total transformation of the organisation.¹¹

Facilitate holistic integration and collaboration

The success of an organisation is greatly dependent on the effectiveness with which lower level employees collaborate with the top management. Consequently, tourism firms should nurture a high level of collaboration and teamwork amongst its employees to succeed in the dynamic nature of the tourism industry.

Through collaboration, it will be possible for a firms management team to deal with diversity within its workforce and other business associates.

Incorporation of teamwork and collaboration initiatives will improve the effectiveness with which management teams develop strong relationships within and without their organisations.

Challenges that organisations experience by taking into account soft approach

Despite the benefits that firms within the hotel industry can achieve by incorporating soft HR, a number of challenges come with the adoption of such challenges. Soft HR considers employees as an important resource in the success of the organisation.

Soft HR requires firms management teams to formulate and implement an employee-training program to improve employee job satisfaction.

In addition, an organisation might be required to implement a number of programs in an effort to motivate employees. Implementation of such programs may be expensive to the organisation thus leading to financial constrains.

Soft approach to HR also postulates that firms management teams should give employees an opportunity to participate in decision-making processes. This element might limit the effectiveness and efficiency with which hospitality firms respond to changes in the business environment.

Employee participation may cause the decision making process to take a long duration and thus the organisation may not manage to exploit the opportunities present in the market.

Ways in which HR influences senior management to develop sustainable competitive advantage through soft HR.

Human resource management influences top management teams to develop their human capital in a number of ways, and thus increases the probability of organisations attaining sustainable competitive advantage.

Some of these ways relate to adoption of best HR practices such as leadership and development, incorporation of change management, talent management, ensuring workforce engagement, and promoting ethics and governance.

HR also influences senior management by promoting a high level of cohesiveness in the organisation through adoption of various collaboration and teamwork initiatives.

Discussion

The analysis of soft and hard approaches to human resource management shows that soft approach to HR is more effective in the hospitality industry when compared to hard HR.

The appropriateness of soft HR to tourism hospitality industry is increased by the fact that the industry is service oriented. Hospitality firms are required to become effective and efficient in their service delivery in a bid to ensure a high level of satisfaction.

Adoption of the soft HR approach also contributes towards a firm developing a strong reputation as an employer. Soft HR enhances an organisations ability to incorporate knowledge management in addition to nurturing a more creative workforce.

Conclusion

The tourism hospitality industry is an important component of the Australian economy. However, firms in the industry are facing a number of challenges currently. One of these challenges is the ever-rising competition and appreciation in the value of the Australian dollar.

Therefore, in a bid to counter the intense competition in the market, firms in the industry should consider developing sustainable competitive advantage. One of the ways through which firms can achieve this goal is by incorporating optimal HR management practices.

Given that tourism hospitality is service oriented, firms in the industry should adopt soft HR practices for such a move will contribute towards development of sustainable competitive advantage.

Bibliography

Armstrong, M, Strategic human resource management: a guide to action, Kogan Page, London, 2008.

Hitchcock, DA & MA Willard, The business guide to sustainability: practical strategies and tools for organisation, Earthscan, London, 2009.

Lamb, CW, JF Hair & CD McDaniel, Essentials of marketing, Cengage Learning, Ohio, 2009.

Nickson, D, Human resource management for the hospitality and tourism industries, Butterworth-Heinemann, Amsterdam, 2007.

OFallon, MJ & DG Rutherford, Hotel management operations, John Wiley, New York, 2009.

Page, SN & JC Connell, Tourism: a modern synthesis, Thomson, London, 2007.

Thompson, JL, Understanding corporate strategy, Thomson Learning, London, 2001.

Thompson, JL & FM Martin, Strategic management: awareness and change, Thompson Learning, London, 2005.

Footnotes

¹ M OFallon & D Rutherford, Hotel management operations, John Wiley, New York, 2009, p.86.

² D Hitchcock & M Willard, The business guide to sustainability : practical strategies and tools for organisation, Earthscan, London, 2009, p.109.

³ OFallon & D Rutherford, p. 111.

⁴ Hitchcock & M Willard, p. 97.

⁵ J Thompson & F Martin, Strategic management: awareness and change, Thompson Learning, London, 2005, p. 211.

⁶ J Thompson, Understanding corporate strategy, Thomson Learning, London, 2001, p.47.

⁷ D Nickson, Human resource management for the hospitality and tourism industries, Butterworth-Heinemann, Amsterdam, 2007, p.75.

⁸ M Armstrong, Strategic human resource management: a guide to action, Kogan Page, London, 2008, p.185.

⁹ Hitchcock & Willard, p. 164.

¹⁰ S Page & J Connell, Tourism: a modern synthesis, Thomson, London, 2007, p.99.

¹¹ C Lamb, J Hair & C McDaniel, Essentials of marketing, Cengage Learning, Ohio, 2009, p.57.

Interview

The researcher succeeded to carry out an interview that involved two employees who work at Delta Air Lines, Inc. The two individuals gave different views regarding motivation and leadership approaches practiced by the management of Delta Air Line. The two respondents were referred to as person X and person Y in this research, for purposes of anonymity, which was necessary to gather unbiased information from the two individuals.

In relation to motivation, person X pointed out that Delta Airline was a good company to work with since it recognizes the performance of employees. Specifically, he mentioned the Chairman Club, which was established with an aim of giving recognition to best performing employees.

However, person Y was not happy about the role Delta Air Lines. She argued that Delta Airline benefitted much from recognition in relation to employees. Person Y emphasized that recognition benefited the company through low cost of operations while employees continued to suffer since they were given paltry salaries (Creswell 1998, p. 12).

The two respondents showed similar reactions in relation to leadership approaches. Both person X and Y said that operating manuals provided by the management team enabled Delta Air Lines to attain excellent performance. They claimed that operating manuals issued to every department enabled the company to achieve its predetermined objectives.

This is because operating manuals ensured that each department worked hard to achieve the set operating standards. Person Y accentuated that Passengers Service Manual, which is used by Customer Service department to track services delivered to clients, enabled Delta Air Lines to attain admirable performance.

Introduction

Hospitality industry is classified in the contemporary world as the highest earning industry. A number of scholars and businesspersons refer to it as a billionaire industry. Considering that manufacturing era is gone, it is no doubt that we are living in an era characterized by the service industry.

The service industry is broad and mainly encompasses food, service delivery and accommodation related sectors of the economy. Lodging, transportation, tourism, entertainment and restaurants among other segments fall within hospitality industry.

Hospitality industry chiefly depends on leisure time and disposable income. Although hospitality industry involves several groups that deal with maintenance of company facilities, operations as well as management, it is confirmed beyond reasonable doubt that managing employees remains a key aspect towards improving the level of performance for a range of companies in the hospitality industry.

This has compelled several managements in the service industry to come up with effective leadership approaches that aim at improving performance of employees, with diverse expertise and abilities. Different techniques of motivating employees are devised on daily basis hoping that the level of performance would significantly improve at workplace.

Delta Airlines considers a number of management styles including giving handsome package to its employees, with an intention of improving its airline services as well as revenue. Furthermore, Delta Airlines endeavors to improve the level of returns for its major and minor investors.

In addition, Delta Airlines Company ensures that customers choosing the services of the company experience the most appealing flights that would attract them the second time they would be traveling. Such aspects include best entertainment, executive seats and offering flights at affordable prices (Bratton & Gold 2007, p. 67).

Delta Air Lines, Inc.

Delta Air Lines is amongst the competitive airline companies in the U.S. With its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, Delta operates at domestic and international markets. Due to its aggressive strategies, the company has grown rapidly and today, it claims 11% of the market share. Delta Air Lines is popularly known worldwide for its busiest hub.

Delta Air Lines hub, which is based at the Hart-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, serves an average of 88 million passengers every year. Currently, this airline company has about 716 aircrafts, which operate at local markets as well as international markets.

This makes Delta Air Lines the largest airline company based on the size of its fleet. In total, Delta Air Lines operates in about 247 destinations, which are located in both the U.S. and elsewhere in other foreign countries. Delta Air Lines closed the financial year 2010 with revenue of 31.8 billion. Its assets stood at 43.2 billion at the end of the fiscal year 2010.

This indicated a strong performance for Delta Air Lines as compared to its counterparts at local and foreign markets. Perhaps, its financial strength over and above quality services would be attributed to its effective management team.

Delta Air Lines Management Team and Strategies

Richard Anderson leads delta Air Lines as its Chief Executive Officer. Edward Bastian acts as its president while Michael Campbell is the Executive Vice President and chiefly deals with the Human Resources and Labor Relations.

Other top personalities include Stephen Gorman who is the chief operating officer; Glen Hauestein the network planning and revenue management, Hank Halter the financial officer, Holden Shannon the corporate strategy and real estate leader, John Walker the corporate communications director, and Theresa Wise the chief information officer.

Richard Anderson ensures that Delta Air Lines maintains its competitive edge in the airline industry by embracing aggressive strategies such as those related to reducing fares, commonly referred to as cost leadership strategy. In addition, the management ensures that effectual measures are set, which merely ensures that investors get high returns for their investments.

Employees are as well motivated with diverse incentives such as high salaries and long lasting employment contracts. Strategies are also put in place to ensure that its services are expanded to other emerging markets. Delta Air Line traditional approach of expansion focused on acquisition of other companies at the market. For instance, in 1972, Delta successfully acquired Northeast Airlines.

Later on in 1986, Delta acquired Western Airlines. However, in 1994, Delta realized that airline industry had become increasingly competitive and needed contemporary approaches to maintain its competitive edge in the turbulent market environment. Consequently, Delta Air Lines sought to restructuring and streamlining its operations. The new package involved reducing the costs of operations as well as reducing the flight-fare price.

Leadership

Leadership is defined by a good number of scholars as ability to influence employees in an organization towards attaining predetermined goals and objectives. It is also defined as the ability of an organization to align individuals within the organization in order to achieve set targets.

It also aims at empowering employees with necessary skills and tools to undertake required actions that would meet the common goals set by the management.

Although there are arguments concerning whether leaders are made or born, it has been discovered that managers and leaders depict different characteristics. Leaders are said to be innovate, original, people oriented, inspiring, developing and setting long-range perspectives. Leaders frequently challenge the status quo as well as doing right things always among other characteristics.

This helps them to convene short term and long-term objectives of the organization. On the other hand, managers rely much on the regulations and rules of the organization to administer policies that encourage employees to focus on achieving the set targets (Storey 2007, p. 102).

Managers are perceived as people who are fond of copying, maintaining, focusing on structures and systems, relying much on control and regulations, and more importantly meeting the objectives of an organization.

Their characteristics also include, but not limited to short-range view, eyeing the bottom line, imitating previous approaches of management, accepting status quo and doing things right. What fascinates scholars and perhaps what exactly distinguish managers from leaders relates to how and when questions.

Leaders frequently ask themselves what and whys sort of questions. These are common aspects that distinguish the originality displayed by leadership and imitation aspects characterized by managers. A number of theories have been put forward to explain characteristics of different leaders.

Trait Theory

Trait theory explains that individuals are born either with leadership characteristics or without. Trait theory focuses on several factors that distinguish leaders from non-leaders. The factors include individual personality, socialization process, physical characteristics and intelligence.

Behavioral theory

The behavioral theory relates to the ability to initiate a particular system and coming up with some considerations over an event. This would refer to the orientation of the leader regarding the aims and responsibilities of employees.

Mangers may perhaps be workers oriented, which could mean that they are concerned more about employees. Task orientation could mean that a firm is more concerned about production levels.

Fielder contingency model

Fielder contingency model states that an effective team relies on an effectual match between the approach of a leader interacting with employees and the extent to which the environment gives a leader the authority to control and influence his or her subordinates. According to Fielder, the environment or situation refers to the relationship between leaders and staff members.

Logically, it refers to the confidence and respect built between a leader and his or her followers. The situation refers to the task structure and the power position. Power position refers to the level of authority that is mostly derived from the position of the leader within the organizational system (Winstanley & Woodall 2000, p. 112).

Fielder affirms that good relations between staff members and their leaders characterize a favorable situation, affective structure of tasks and a powerful position of a manager in an organization.

Path Goal Theory

This theory relates environmental and subordinate contingency aspects to leadership traits. Path goal theory argues that performance or outcomes depend on traits associated with leadership behavior such as directives, supportive and perceptive features in relation to subordinate and environmental contingency aspects.

Subordinate contingency features include locus of control, individual experiences and ones perceived ability and competence. On the other hand, situational contingency features include structures of job assignments, formality of systems and policies, as well as team members.

Charismatic leaders

Charismatic leaders portray features that have considerable influence on performance of subordinates. This type of leaders are said to portray different characteristics from those of other leaders. To begin with, charismatic leaders depict self-confidence. Self-confidence is displayed by their total confidence in their policies and competence.

A vision is also another significant feature, which brings about confidence that would lead to a better future rather than relying on an organizations status quo. A leader should ensure that there is a broad margin between the current status quo and the set goals or objectives. Charismatic leaders are also recognized for their outstanding abilities in articulating vision.

They are able to explain and describe vision in a way that employees understand without difficulties. This assists in avoiding issues related to confusions and doubts. However, to articulate vision, a visionary leader should understand his or her employees adequately. Charismatic leader should have high levels of commitment and high personal risk that help organizations in achieving pragmatic goals within a predetermined period.

Charming leaders frequently depict behavior that is different from conventional or normal traits of ordinary managers and employees. Although these behaviors appear different from those of common leaders, followers are easily lured to follow such behaviors, especially in the event that a leader becomes successful with his or her unique style of management (Legge1998, p. 56).

Other major characteristics displayed by appealing leaders include realistic evaluation of business environments in relation to constraints and resources and coming up with pragmatic strategies. Generally, charismatic leaders are perceived as aspects of radical change as opposed to maintaining organizations status quo.

Relationship between transactional and transformational leaders

Several reputable scholars in the field of management have identified distinguishing factors between transactional and transformational leaders. It is believed that old management style was characterized by transactional kind of leadership. However, because of dynamic and competitive business environment, contemporary type of management associates itself with transformational leadership.

Transactional leaders

Transformational leaders recognize achievements that ensure employees are rewarded in accordance to their level of performance. The management should always identify the disparity existing between performance and predetermined policies. This would help in initiating corrective actions and responses. A more contradicting feature as regards to transactional leadership is its passive system.

Passive approach refers to intervening situations when standards tend to fall below or deviate from the track. Transactional leader would assign already laid down tasks and responsibilities to different departments. However, they attempt to avoid making major and minor decisions regarding the operations of the organization.

Transformation leaders

Scholars and managements term transformational leadership as contemporary approach (Beardwell & Claydon 2007, p. 83). Transformational leaders are charismatic and would occasionally provide followers with realistic vision and mission, which eventually earns them respect and trust.

They are too inspiring since they communicate high expectations to their subordinates, use symbols to express directions and targets of organizations. Their level of intelligence is proved by their high level of rationality, as well as extra-ordinary logics mostly expressed in their analytical abilities, especially during problem solving.

Transformational leaders differ from their transactional leaders for the reason that they are able to give personal attention to their employees apart from coaching and advising employees personally.

What it takes to be an effectual and successful leader

What it takes to be an effective leader remains a contentious issue in the contemporary world of business. However, a number of observable studies have distinguished effective leaders from ineffective leaders. Effective leaders are seen communicating routinely. Their communication is associated with exchanging information and frequent handling of paperwork.

Effective managers as well practice traditional management, which is merely known for its controlling, decision-making and planning facets. More importantly, effective management is characterized by networking where leaders are seen often interacting with outsiders in addition to sharing social, economical and political issues with several groups.

Regarding the human resource management, successful leaders are seen motivating and rewarding their subordinates on a continuous basis. Furthermore, training and developing careers ensures that employees meet standards set by the firm. Nevertheless, transformational leaders manage conflicts arising successfully.

Motivation

Motivation is a process that intends to elicit, control, manage or sustain an individuals behavior. Motivation is categorized as either intrinsic or extrinsic. Extrinsic motivation is associated with external factors. For instance, a student who is interested in acquiring certain knowledge in a given field for not only getting good grades but also gaining mastery is most likely motivated by intrinsic factors.

On the other hand, it would be an extrinsic motivation if an employee were encouraged to perform well at work place by increasing salary or providing other incentives. It is therefore true that employee performance depends heavily on motivation. Nevertheless, to realize good performance through motivation, employees should be equipped with necessary skills, equipments, supplies, time and ability (Goleman1998, p. 72).

A motivating agent is principally determined by the needs of an employee. Although money is generally regarded as the main motivator, it is not the only employee motivator. Money would act as a motivator if it were able to meet individuals needs and desires. In addition, an employee should believe that he or she is in a position to achieve monetary rewards offered by the organization.

Generally, financial incentives offered by a range of organizations include production bonus systems, commission, gain sharing, group incentive plans, profit sharing, piecework systems among others. Because financial incentives can be limiting to any business that intends to motivate its employees, other approaches satisfy employees such as good contact with consumers brand, job enlargement and rotations.

In many cases, organizations motivate employees by giving rewards that have value, providing rewards based on individual performance, treating individual staff members personally, encouraging staff participation and providing immediate feedback regarding employees performance.

Since motivation concerns itself with giving incentives to employees with an aim of enforcing compliance, most supervisors frequently use incentives to ensure that employees meet the objectives and goals set by management. With this regard, it would be beneficial if supervisors would have necessary skills regarding employees motivation. Managers influence the behavior of employees using various methods.

However, the commonly used incentives include flextime and job sharing. Flextime is a strategy used in organizations, which allow individuals to choose when to work for 8 hours assigned in a day or 40 hours in a week. Conversely, job sharing refers to an arrangement in which two individuals working part-time choose to share tasks of a full-time job.

Theories of motivation

Maslows Hierarchy of needs

Maslow states that a number of unmet needs motivate individuals. In accordance to Maslows theory, needs which motivates people fall into five categories. They include physiological needs, security, social needs such as love, needs relating to esteem and self-actualization needs.

Physiological needs are basic needs, which an individual requires for survival. Security needs refer to protection and safety. Social needs are those associated with the need for companionship, as well as love. Individuals in the society desire to be respected by their colleagues. This is popularly termed esteem needs. Self-actualization refers to a situation where an individual peruses the full measure of happiness.

McClellands Achievement-Power-Affiliation Theory

This theory states that people develop diverse needs via life experiences. The three needs classified by McClelland include the need for achievement, need for power and the need for affiliation. Need for achievement is ones aspiration to do better.

Need for power is associated to ambition to manage, control and influence people. Need for affiliation is concerned about aspiration to sustain sociable relations. Although people have all the above needs to some degree, strength of various needs depicts what motivates an employee or a worker (Mintzberg, Simons & Basu 2002, p. 88).

Hertzbergs Two-Factor Theory

Hertzberg claims that both dissatisfaction and satisfaction are associated with dissimilar sources. In his argument, dissatisfaction is seen to result from lack of hygiene factors such as companionship and handsome salary package. Satisfaction, on the other hand, results from existence of motivating dynamics such as fortunate prospects.

Vrooms Expectancy-Valence Theory

Vroom proved that individuals do whatever they do in life with an aim of satisfying their needs. His argument was based on explaining the degree of an individuals level of motivation. According to Vrooms theory, motivation depends on both valence and expectancy.

Valence refers to the importance that someone places on result of a specified behavior whereas expectancy is the perception that a certain behavior would lead to a given result. In many circumstances, people are predominantly motivated to seek out outcomes that they value.

They also believe that such outcomes are achievable. Individual members have different perception as regards to rewards, as well as whether they are in a position to attain the set up rewards.

As a result, every employee determines personally the value of rewards and the capability of attaining the results. Since individuals in an organization cannot be generalized, it would be prudent for supervisors to study the needs and abilities of employees within an organization.

Skinners Reinforcement Theory

According to Skinner, people tend to do a particular thing hoping that it would lead to a desirable consequence. The same people would avoid things that may lead to undesirable consequences. For instance, people desire doing things that may give them praises from either fellow colleagues or the management team at work place.

The management may influence the behavior of individuals by responding to traits technically. Skinner says that consequences can be classified as either reinforcement or punishment. Reinforcement is a positive behavioral consequence.

In other words, reinforcement refers to favorable consequences or preferred behavior. Conversely, punishment is also referred to as negative consequence. Most supervisors tend to stop unfavorable behavior using various approaches, such as demotion and firing employees.

Modifying Employees Behavior

Various organizations use either punishment or reinforcement in modifying the behavior of employees. However, ineffectiveness of punishment, many organizations choose reinforcement. Reinforcement tends to result to positive and favorable behavior, which is desired by a firm whereas frequent use of punishment tends to instill a belief of inability among staff members (Nohria, Groysberg & Eling 2008, p. 93).

Since motivating factors are different among employees, the management should learn individual motivating factors at personal level and design rewards as per their demands. In addition, the management should consider policies, regulations and labor contracts guiding the process of rewarding in an organization.

Financial Incentives

The Management assumes that money motivates employees to deliver a quality service. According to theories of motivation, finance is perceived as a motivator if it meets the demands and needs of employees. In particular, an individual earning paltry salary will highly be motivated by its increment.

However, an employee who is comfortable with his or her salary may be motivated by other factors, such as achieving a sense of respect and personal esteem. As for finances, employees would be given financial incentives to make them meet or exceed certain set standards.

Delta Air Lines: Leadership and Motivation

Managements Systems and Procedures

Delta Air Lines has various departments with diverse systems. Delta Air Lines management offers operating manuals that give standards to every department. The operating manual helps departments to monitor the performance of employees, as well as customers on a regular basis (Storey 2001, p. 57).

The most important manual is the Passengers Service Manual, which is used by Customer Service department to track services delivered to clients. This has enabled employees to provide excellent services to their customers. Operating manual, on the other hand, enables the management to access updated performance, as well as easy references that would help in making major decisions concerning the performance of the company.

The most important information provided by Passengers Service Manual includes passengers acceptance, refusal of passenger, ticketing and luggage acceptance.

Delta Air Lines decided to post passengers information online where each employee can access it in a 24 hours clock to increase its efficiency. Moreover, the management has made sure that employees stand a chance to access information at home provided one is connected to Deltas intranet.

Management performance measures

A website that is solely designed by Delta for measuring and controlling performance would help in monitoring and improving services offered by Delta Air Lines. The website categorically provides a section, which indicates standards expected by the management.

The website also provides essential applications for monitoring performance of various departments. In addition, the website provides a section through which the management is able to monitor procedures for giving rewards to subordinates.

The key performance indicators used by Delta include measure of flights take off, lost baggage for every 1000 passengers, airplanes damages and injuries sustained by employees while at work place or during official working hours. This information is to be collected from various airports, combined and analyzed on a yearly basis to estimate the overall performance of the management team.

Performance leaders

Performance leaders are concerned about assigning tasks to different employees and ensuring that operations are covered in entirety. Generally, they normally guide employees on various work processes and allocate diverse resources as per the requirement of the job.

Performance leaders frequently ensure that workers arrive on time at the work place, apart from ensuring that team members complete assigned responsibilities within predetermined time and as per the set standards. In many cases, performance leaders are seen to handle customers conflict either internally or externally.

Training and employees performance improvement

Delta Air Lines provides sufficient training to its employees with an aim of improving its services. The management emphasizes on continuous training with an objective of improving its service delivery. Delta Air Lines has some school training centers for pilots. A stringent policy relating to training pilots is aimed at improving the standards of its flights.

In fact, customer department statement aims at empowering employees with adequate experience and skills in order to provide excellent service. Delta Air Lines offers a reimbursement of $2000 for tuition fee. In addition, the company provides an e-learning technology, which helps to improve employees performance for those present at workplace.

Employees Rewarding

The management concluded that individual recognition is the most effective way of motivating employees. Delta Air Lines recognize that the most important aspect in an individual is his or her attitude. According to Delta Air Lines management, for employees to be instilled with positive attitude, his or her morale should be improved.

During difficult financial times, recognition of employees has helped to reduce operation costs associated with employees rewarding. The management developed Delta Gaining Altitude program, which enables employees to be recognized and rewarded for their services.

Delta Gaining Attitude program helps to instill a positive approach to its employees. This is aimed at motivating employees by influencing their behavior positively. As a strategy, Delta Air Lines management has empowered employees to recognize and comment on the performance of their colleagues.

Currently, Delta Air Lines provides cumulative points for purchasing products, which has been entirely welcomed by all staff members. Delta Air Lines recognizes employee anniversaries where it begins with the first year and then performed at an interval of 5 years.

On completing ten years, an employee would receive a recognition letter from the CEO. Chairman Club was established with an aim of giving recognition to best performing employees. On average, the Chairman Club initiates 102 staff members who have contributed enormously to the success of Delta Air Lines.

Such employees are to be chosen by their workmates and confirmed by the management. However, an individual should be registered at a site provided by Chairman Club in order to receive recommendation for good performance.

Stiff competition at the Airline Industry

Delta Air Lines faces tough competition in the airline industry both at local and international markets. Stiff competition in the market is due to the presence of major airlines that offer excellent services.

Recently, a number of airline companies have come up with cost-leadership strategies, which have forced Delta to respond equally by lowering its initial fare prices. The major foreign rivals of Delta Air Lines include Singapore Airline, Cathay Pacific and Air New Zealand. However, Delta is responding to the competition through increasingly improving its services.

Recommendation

Although policies and structures of an organization are important in determining the performance of an entity, it has been recognized by a number of scholars that human aspect is crucial in determining the effectiveness and efficiency of a firm (Woods & West 2010, p. 75).

Human beings control machines and other physical facilities including computers and therefore, a slight change in human behavior might highly affect results of a particular process or activity.

Any organization should ensure that it has effectual management team, as well as competent employees in ensure that quality services are provided as per the set standards.

Since Delta faces stiff competition in the airline industry, it would be prudent to come up with specific measures that would ensure excellent services are offered to its esteem clients. Such activities would require well laid strategies, which would particularly generate an effective leader. Services improvement, such as fitting aircrafts with executive seats, would help Delta attract a number of customers.

Generally, customers require comfort, such as good entertainment and provision of quality and affordable meals and drinks both inside the aircraft and at the airport waiting lounge. Although cost-leadership strategy has been a major strategy used by airline companies, it would be advisable not to lower prices beyond certain levels. This would lead to losses.

To ensure that excellence is maintained at Delta Air Lines, the management should provide more appealing rewards that would enhance productivity of employees. For instance, employees should be provided with salary increment, though it has to be realistic to avoid exorbitant operational expenses. Delta is embracing recognition as opposed to other rewards approaches.

Although this has an effect of reducing costs associated with rewards, such rewards would have less impact on employees level of performance. Delta should in fact consider other non-financial rewarding techniques such as promotions, job rotation and employee empowerment. Such approaches are likely to facilitate high levels of performance amongst staff members.

Conclusion

This paper has covered a number of issues regarding leadership and motivation. It has solely discussed issues pertaining to leadership and motivation practices at Delta Air Lines.

To understand fully the implication of effective leadership and motivating approaches that would finally help in improving the level of performance at Delta Air Lines, this paper has discussed various types of leaderships, as well as theories that were put forward by different scholars. It has also given more details concerning motivation and related theories.

From various reading materials and various managerial perspectives in different institutions including Delta Air Lines, it is confirmed that effective leadership is one that has routine and effectual communication processes. Leaders should communicate complex aspects in a more simple way. They should understand the proficiency and qualifications of individual employees in order to assign jobs accurately.

Competent leaders ensure that they give pragmatic directions and vision, which assists in attaining the set objectives and standards. Although traditional modes of management are not popular in the contemporary world of business, it is evident that planning, controlling and monitoring remain key factors in improving employees level of performance.

In addition, motivation factors, such as offering financial incentives, are mostly used by a range of entities to increase the level of productivity among its employees. However, it is concluded that non-financial incentives to a large extend help in reducing the cost of operations among various organizations such as Delta Air Line. Delta Air Lines has a number of rewarding approaches.

However, it considerably embraces recognition technique as opposed to rewarding systems. Recognition is initiated by allowing employees to give comments online. Chairman Club helps to identify some individuals who are rewarded after recognizing their great contribution towards the overall performance of the company.

Moreover, Delta Air Line continues to show competent leadership through the websites that are chiefly designed for monitoring performance of various departments. For instance, customer service department is provided with operation manuals where it records all data concerning customers. This helps in keeping track and controlling operations at Delta Air Lines.

List of References

Beardwell, J & Claydon, T 2007, Human Resource Management: A Contemporary Approach, Prentice Hall, Harlow.

Bratton, J & Gold, J 2007, Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, Palgrave, Basingstoke.

Creswell, J 1998, Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Traditions, Sage, California.

Goleman, D 1998, Working with Emotional Intelligence, Bloomsbury, London.

Legge, K 1998, Is HRM ethical? Can HRM be ethical? Sage, London.

Mintzberg, H, Simons, R & Basu, K 2002, Beyond Selfishness, Sloan Management Review, Issue 2, no. 1.

Nohria, N, Groysberg, B & Eling, L 2008, Employee Motivation: A powerful new model, Harvard Business Review, Issue 4, no. 6.

Storey, J 2001, Human Resource Management; A Critical Text, Thomson Learning, Padstow.

Storey, J 2007, Human Resource Management: A critical text, Thomson Learning, Padstow.

Winstanley, D & Woodall, J 2000, Ethical issues in contemporary human resource management, Palgrave, Mendham.

Woods, S & West, M 2010, Organizational Culture, Climate and Change, Cengage, New York.

Introduction

Organizations management teams are increasingly appreciating the importance of human capital in an effort to improve their organizations competitive advantage (Kok 2003). This has led to an increment in the number of studies being conducted with regard to best practices of managing human resources.

There has also been increased recognition of the purpose of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the modern economies. This realization illustrates that, there is a point of convergence between human resource management and small medium enterprises. Human resource management [HRM] deals with management of a firms workforce (Kok 2003). It is composed of a set of different but interrelated processes, activities, and functions that are aimed at attracting, developing, and retaining an organizations workforce.

Some of the activities undertaken in HRM include employee recruitment, selection and formulation of effective appraisal and compensation scheme. Through HRM, organizations can develop and retain talented and energetic workforces that can contribute towards attainment of the formulated organizational strategies, missions, goals and objectives (Transky & Heneman 2006).

Additionally, integration of HRM practices and policies can significantly contribute towards a firm improving its performance. However, integration of HRM in SMEs is relatively low (Cooper & Burke 2011).

Previous studies reveal that, most SMEs do not make optimal use of HRM practices in their operations (Bacon, & Hoque 2005). Some of these studies assert that, most SMEs tend to operate in a more flexible and informal manner compared to large enterprises. For example, Kok (2003) is of the opinion that, a firms size is directly related with its incidence towards HRM practices such as training and planning.

However, small firms are less likely to invest in training for their employees, performance appraisal, and recruitment practices probably due to limited capital and revenues. HRM in SMEs is mostly characterized by administrative tasks whereas the more strategic matters are not perceived with the weight that they deserve.

A study conducted by Hendry and others in 1991 reveals that, SMEs perceive investing in HRM as an additional undertaking beyond the level that is necessary to sustain their operations; a luxury that can only be afforded if the firm makes substantial profits (Kok 2003). However, considering the environmental uncertainty facing firms today, it is paramount for SMEs to evaluate their operational practices in order to remain competitive and HRM optimization is slowly becoming indispensable.

In addition to being characterized as being informal, management teams of SMEs are also considered to be less specialized compared to large enterprises. Employees of SMEs tend to perform different tasks compared to large enterprises, which means that the level of specialization is relatively low.

This aspect is well illustrated by a qualitative study conducted by Berkley and Heneman in 1999. The study took into account a random test on 117 SMEs whose human resource base was less than 100 employees. Findings of the study showed that, 15 of the SMEs considered had a human resource management department (Kok 2003).

There is growing evidence that HRM practices tend to be sophisticated especially for SMEs. On the basis of the above analysis, it is evident that there is a significant level of deficiency with regard to HRM in SMEs. This paper is aimed at critically evaluating whether it is worthwhile for SMEs invest in HRM.

Analysis of the trend of HRM

Previous studies conducted have shown that, development of an effective workforce and organizational culture is one of the ways through which organizations can develop their competitive advantage. Firm and employee culture are considered to be some of the most fundamental aspects in the success of SMES.

An example of such culture includes operating in a social responsible manner (Mankelow 2008). As a result, it is quite unprofessional for SMEs to continue underutilizing their human capital (Cooper & Burke 2011). HRM has over the past decade become one of the most crucial aspects that both small and large organizations have to consider. There are a number of reasons that have contributed to this shift. Some of these reasons are explained in the paper.

Currently, the business environment is increasingly becoming knowledge based. This means that firms are considering knowledge as an important source of competitive advantage. This has arisen from the high rate of globalization that is being experienced today (Knowles, Diamantis & El-Mourhabi 2004).

As a result of globalization, most economies are eliminating trade barriers thus presenting a challenge to firms through increased competition (Tsui & Lai 2009). Therefore, it is paramount for organizational management teams to consider ways of enhancing their organizations performances (Cooper & Burke 2011).

With the development of the education sector in different economies, the workforce is becoming more and more educated. There has also been considerable growth with regard to employees expectations on working environment and quality work. Additionally, staff shortages have made firms experience intense competition for human capital. As a result, SMEs are reconsidering on the best practices that they can retain their talented workforce (Cooper & Burke 2011).

The importance of HRM in both large and SMEs is also being enhanced by the demographic changes occurring within the labour market. One of the demographic changes being witnessed arises from the fact that the workforce is becoming aged. As a result, it has become essential for SMEs to consider incorporating performance incentives and training and development initiatives in order to maximize on their employees working capacity.

Organizations are also experiencing a significant transformation with regard to clients and customer expectations. As a result of customers and clients becoming more knowledgeable, they are demanding effective, efficient and high quality services and products (Cooper & Burke 2011). Analysis of the changes occurring within the business environment reveals that, it is critical for businesses to consider ways of improving their competitive advantage through integration of HRM practices in their management practices.

Theoretical frameworks formulated to explain the importance of HRM in SMEs

A number of theories have been advanced to explicate the relevance of SMEs investing in HRM. One of the theoretical explanations is universalistic in nature. The theory is based on HRM best practices (Cooper & Burke 2011). Through integration of HRM best practices, SMEs can attain considerable improvement in their performance. One of the ways through which this can be attained is by incorporating the concept of employee training and development (Jolly 2003).

Findings of a study conducted in 2002 on the perspective of employee development in SMEs revealed that, training and development is an indispensable component in a firms effort to attain the desired growth. This arises from the fact that training and development contributes towards increased productivity within an organizations workforce. Increase in productivity arises from the fact that employees perceive a higher opportunity for growth within such an organization.

Training and development also enhances the employees level of motivation. Despite the benefits associated with training and development, some parties are of the view that training and development can result into increased employee turnover as a result of poaching (Jolly 2003). However, for training to be successful in SMEs, management teams should ensure that it is well imbedded within the firms workplace, informal and flexible.

The theory also asserts that incorporation of HRM by SMEs would result in adoption of performance based pay. According to Longenecker (2006), it is paramount for SMEs to acknowledge the importance of formulating a compensation plan that will contribute towards attraction and retention of well-qualified personnel.

One of the ways through which SMEs can achieve this goal is through incorporation of HRM best practices. Some of the elements that they should consider when formulating the compensation plan include competitive salary and wage levels, and financial incentives that will improve employee productivity. One of the financial incentives that are most effective in SMEs includes sharing profits. This arises from the fact that it is possible for SMEs to assess individual performance (Longenecker 2006).

The second theoretical framework is behavioural in nature. The theory asserts that human resource management practices and policies have a significant influence on employees behaviour, for example, through organizational commitment, employee creativity and work engagement. These aspects consequently affect productivity, profitability and performance (Cooper & Burke 2011).

The third theoretical framework is economic in nature. This arises from the fact that significant cost is incurred in the process of adopting formal HR practices. According to Phillips (2005), acquisition and maintenance of a strong workforce is quite expensive.

There are numerous cost categories that are involved in the development of a strong workforce. Some of these are related to recruitment, selection, indoctrination, initial training, formulation of competitive compensation and reward systems, socialization and exit costs. This can be a challenge especially to SMEs compared to large enterprises.

How HRM is worthwhile investing by SMEs

There are a number of reasons that illustrate why it is worthwhile for SMEs to invest in HRM. For example, through incorporation of effective training programs, SMES can be able to derive more value from their workforces. This arises from the fact that the business will be able to effectively address the most pertinent issues facing its operation.

Investing in HRM can also improve the employees attitude towards work. One of the ways through which this change of attitude is attained is by integrating effective leadership measures (Cooper & Burke 2011). Findings of a study conducted in the US on leadership training revealed that revenues of firms that incorporate leadership training grow with a margin of more than 25% compared to their training cost (Cooper & Burke 2011). This well illustrates the fact that training can result in improvement of SMEs financial performance.

Additionally, investing in HRM can significantly improve the performance of SMEs through improved employee engagement. There are a number of ways through which organizations can achieve this; some of these include ensuring that the employees have a comprehensive understanding of their performance expectations. Additionally, SMEs should ensure that employees have sufficient resources to support successful completion of tasks.

By investing in HRM, SMEs can be able to contribute towards staff development, improve on employee input, in addition to compelling the employees to be focused towards attainment of organizational goals and mission. Integration of HRM in SMEs can also contribute towards development of a strong workplace culture.

Work within the modern economy is becoming more and more demanding (Ulrich 1997). For example, organizations are demanding more from their employees with few resources.

There has also been a decline in employment security, which is making the employees to reconsider their commitment and contribution to their employers (Ulrich 1997). However, incorporation of HRM by SMEs can significantly improve their performance in a number of ways. For example, HRM contributes towards development of an enabling environment for employees to work in.

One of the reasons why organizations are experiencing a challenge with regard to employee turnover relates to the current global economic changes. Employees are constantly faced with the challenge of ensuring that they provide for their families. To achieve this, employees are considering improving their competitive edge within the labour market. To achieve this, employees are considering going back to school.

The employees work demands coupled with their desire to enhance their competitiveness in the labour market are leading to increased stress levels amongst the employees. This arises from the fact that the employees are not able to balance between work and life. Occurrence of such a phenomenon would have adverse effects on the employees productivity and hence the organizations performance and competitive advantage (Williamson, Lewis & Massey 2011).

Some of the HR practices that organization management teams should consider in order to deal with this challenge include incorporation of work-life balance and stress management policies (Williamson, Lewis & Massey 2011). Effective formulation and implementation of work-life balance can be beneficial to SMEs through achievement of a healthier and happier life for the employees.

One of the ways through which management teams of SMEs can achieve this formulation is by integrating effective HR policies; for example, flexible career options and working hours (Cooper & Burke 2011). Integration of such strategies can significantly improve the employees level of satisfaction and hence their productivity.

Considering the competitive nature of the labour market, it is paramount for SMEs to ensure that they acquire a strong workforce (Michalski 2011). This can only be attained by ensuring an effective employee recruitment process. However, most SMEs do not consider investing their time and money towards developing their human capital. As a result, they do not have a formal employee recruitment process.

Recruitment of a strong workforce in SMEs is also hindered by the fact that they are not well connected in the labour market (Cooper & Burke 2011). Additionally, most SMEs tend to suffer image problem amongst job seekers. To improve on their ability of recruiting a strong work workforce, it is paramount for SMEs to be concerned on becoming more legitimate. To deal with this challenge, it is crucial for SMEs to consider investing in a comprehensive recruitment process.

Through recruitment, an organization can attract a wide range of workforce to select from. SMEs should consider several issues in order to attract high-quality job applicants. For example, they should invest in initiatives aimed at making their organizations recognizable amongst job applicants (Hartman & Spiro 2005).

SMEs should also invest in developing human resource policies such as those used by large enterprises. This can be attained by outsourcing HR consultants to aid in the formulation and implementation of the policies. Such investment in HRM would have significant influence in SMEs operational efficiency.

The recruitment process is followed by selection of the most qualified staff which is a relatively complex process (Harney & Dundon 2006). Due to time and financial constraints, most SMEs conduct reactive selection and recruitment process. Additionally, a substantial proportion of SMEs do not have sufficient understanding on the requirements of a position intended to be filled. However, to ensure that they develop a strong workforce, it is critical for SMEs to invest in HRM practices such as employee selection and recruitment.

Upon acquiring a strong workforce, it is paramount for management teams of SMEs to consider on the most effective ways of motivating and retaining employees. This arises from the fact that underperforming employees can be a threat to the success of SMEs. HRM provides a solution on the best practices of employee motivation. These strategies range from monetary to non-monetary benefits. Some of the non-monetary benefits include recognition of employee performance and promotions.

To deal with underperforming employees, SME managers should ensure that they maintain constant communication with such employees in order to indicate what the firm expects of them.

Currently, SMEs can achieve this more effectively and efficiently considering the growth in information communication technology; for example, by using emerging social communication networks such as Twitter and video conferencing. This means that SMEs should invest in the current technology. Maintaining communication within an organization can significantly contribute towards development of a strong bond between employees and the management team (Cooper & Burke 2011).

SMEs, which have incorporated HRM in their operation, are able to deal with changes occurring in the business environment. This capacity to handle change easily is made possible by the fact that HRM enables organizations to undertake comprehensive human resource planning. As a result, they are able to evaluate and anticipate their current and future human resource needs. Therefore, investing in HRM can enable SMEs to be proactive in dealing with environment changes rather than being reactive.

Conclusion

The above analysis makes it evident that, SMEs do not pay much emphasis on HRM compared to large organizations. For example, studies conducted reveal that only a few SMEs have a functional human resource department. This means that, human resource activities are conducted more informally.

There are a number of reasons that explain this trend. Some of the reasons range from lack of knowledge on HRM by management teams of SMEs to the high cost involved in implementing HRM. However, changes occurring within the business environment such as globalization have increasingly made SMEs to reconsider the role of HRM in an effort to survive in the challenging business environment.

Despite this, the above analysis underscores the importance of HRM in SMEs. For example, despite investing in HRM policies and practices being costly to SMEs with regard to financial and time requirements compared to large organizations, there are numerous benefits that SMEs can achieve. Incorporation of HRM practices can contribute towards improvement of SMEs competitive advantage in a number of ways.

For example, by investing in training and development, SMEs can improve the employees working efficiency and effectiveness. Additionally, organizations that invest in training and development are more efficient with improving employee satisfaction. This arises from the fact that the employees develop a perception that the organization has an interest in their heart.

This will consequently culminate in improvement of their productivity and hence their performance. Considering the dynamic nature of the business environment, it has become necessary for SMEs to shift their operations towards becoming knowledge-based to be competitive. This can only be achieved if SMEs undertake sufficient training and development.

By investing in employee recruitment and selection, there is a high probability of SMEs developing a strong human resource base. The resultant effect is that the firms competitiveness will be enhanced. Additionally, if effectively formulated and implemented, investing in HRM practices and policies can result in the creation of an enabling working environment.

This argument holds because HRM advocates for firms to incorporate strategies, which will contribute towards a high level of employee satisfaction. Some of these strategies relate to ensuring that the employees are well remunerated and their performance recognized by conducting sufficient performance appraisals.

Investing in HRM increases the probability of SMEs to achieve their goals and objectives. One of the ways through which this scenario is made possible arises from the fact that HRM advocates for effective management of employees; for example, by integrating the concept of teamwork.

Effective organizational leadership also plays a critical role with regard to enhancing cohesiveness in an organization. Considering the contribution of HRM towards organizational success, it is vital for SMEs to incorporate the best HRM policies and practices, because as explicated in this paper, HRM is a worthwhile investment for SMEs.

Reference List

Bacon, N & Hoque, K 2005, HRM in the SME sector: valuable employees and coercive networks, International Journal of Human Resource Management, vol. 16 no. 11, pp. 1976-1999.

Cooper, C & Burke, R 2011, Human resource management in small business: Achieving peak performance, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham.

Harney, B & Dundon, T 2006, Capturing complexity: Developing an integrated approach to analyzing HRM in SMEs, Human Resource Management Journal, vol. 16 no.1, pp. 48  73.

Hartman, K & Spiro, R 2005, Recapturing store image in customer-based store equity: A construct conceptualization, Indiana University, Indiana.

Jolly, A 2003, Skills and Training Directory: A Complete Sourcebook of Best Practice and Training Providers, Kogan Page, London.

Knowles, T, Diamantis, D & El-Mourhabi, J 2004, The globalization of tourism and hospitality, Thomson, London.

Kok, J 2003, Human resource management within small and medium-sized enterprises, Rozenberg Publishers, Amsterdam.

Longenecker, J 2006, Small business management: An entrepreneurial emphasis, Thomson, Ohio.

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Michalski, A 2011, Human resource controlling in small and medium enterprises: Components and possible approaches, Berlin, GRIN Verlag.

Phillips, J 2005, Investing in your companys human capital: Strategies to avoid spending too little or too much, AMACOM, New York.

Transky, J & Heneman, R 2006, Human resource strategies for the high growth entrepreneurial firm, Information Age Publishing, Greenwich.

Tsui, A & Lai, K 2009, Professional practices of human resource management in Hong Kong: Linking HRM to organizational success, Hong Kong University, Hong Kong.

Ulrich, D 1997, Human resource champions: The next agenda for adding value and delivering results, Harvard Business School, Boston.

Williamson, A, Lewis, K & Massey, C 2011, Work-life balance in small business: The impact of firm and family milestone, Wellington, New Zealand Centre for SME Research.

Introduction

Human resource management is an organization function that entails all aspects that are associated with the human resource or work force in a particular organization, company or institution. It entails aspects like recruitment, coordination, and control of the people working in an organization.

Some of the issues linked with human resource management include hiring, compensation and benefits, safety and welfare, communication and motivation, employees performance management and administration, training among others.

Human resource management is a very essential function in every organization as it enhances overall efficiency and effectiveness of the organization through smooth running of all the activities and operations that are carried out in the organization. It falls under one of the major components of the management function (that is staffing); the other ones being planning, organizing, coordination, and controlling.

The human resource in an organization is a valuable asset that determines the success or failure of the organization through their efforts towards utilizing other assets in the company. It is however, only through their proper management that maximum efficiency, effectiveness, and profitability can be achieved (Mathis and Jackson 2008).

This paper discusses various aspects associated with human resource management with much emphasis being given to the human resource manager and his or her importance in an organization, in this case, the MechCon Company that serves as the case study.

The value that an HR manager could add to MechCon Company and the complexities involved in managing HR

A human resource manager is a crucial element in any organization as he or she helps in streamlining the activities and performance of the other employees.

The MechCon company which is a multi-task engineering company offering a wide range of services from mechanical engineering to construction services is lacking a very essential personnel, the human resource manager, who coordinates all the other employees to make sure that they perform well and that their needs are well catered for hence motivating them to do better day by day, which results to the overall success of the organization.

The employment of a human resource manager in MechCon Company is of essence as it will add value to the company through the following ways, the overall value being making things happen.

The human resource manager will add value in MechCon Company through foreseeing and facilitating aspects like recruitment and training which entails ensuring that the appropriate and efficient plans and strategies of hiring employees are strictly adhered to, carrying out performance appraisals through encouragement of hard work and maximum output, creating and maintaining a conducive working environment that promotes excellent performance of the employees and job satisfaction, handling and solving disputes that arise among the employees or even between the employees and the management, attracting and retaining talents and capabilities, and establishment of good public relations within the organization that fosters smooth running of the organizations activities hence overall success (Anonymous 2011).

Although there is a lot of values attached to human resource management, it is an aspect that is faced with numerous complexities especially due to the changes that are taking place in the competitive market that necessitates indulgence in more strategic activities to ensure success of the organization through securing of a place in the competitive world.

Most of the challenges involved in the management of human resource touch on the aspect of workplace diversity which encompass things like education background, religious affiliations, age, gender, ethnicity and race, work knowledge and experience, physical and intellectual abilities among other characteristics that could be exhibited by various employees in an organization.

The human resource manager in the MechCon Company should, for example, be able to overcome the challenge of workplace diversity by turning the problem into opportunity and pooling together the talents exhibited by the diverse talents, views, ideas and perspectives and maximizing or capitalizing on the positive sides of everyone while ignoring the negative or weak points of an individual.

Other general challenges faced by human resource managers in their day to day practices and activities include; the health and welfare of the employees, retirement issues, selection and application of human resource technology, outsourcing, leadership development, among other aspects associated with the human resource body (Chan 2002).

The Role That an HR Manager Should Play Within the Executive Group

The human resource manager in any organization should play various roles and responsibilities within the executive group and in the organization as a whole.

Some of the roles that the human resource manager should be linked with in the executive body of the MechCon Company include; balancing the needs of the staff and those of the company, he or she should also be able to act as a strategic partner in the organization and facilitate the development and accomplishment of the companys strategic goals and objectives which could be achieved through the design and implementation of effective work systems that allows for maximum contribution and success, and being a good advocate for the employees by creating a working condition that ensures that the employees are always motivated and happy and hence can put total efforts in their work leading to good performance.

The human resource manager should also act as a tool through which change in the organization can be perpetrated. This could be achieved through the execution of appropriate strategies that are aimed towards bringing positive changes to the organization. The change should, however, be introduced in an appropriate manner that will avoid resistance by the employees (Heathfield: What Does a Human Resources Manager, Generalist, or Director Do? 2011).

Specific Objectives and Recommendations to Guide a New HR Manager in the Way Forward

The human resource manager needs to have some objectives that should act as a guide towards carrying out their duties. Some of the objectives that may help the human resource manager to be focused in his or her undertakings include; the organizational objectives that should always remind the human resource manager that all the efforts of the human resource body should be aimed at facilitating the efficiency, effectiveness and economy of the organization.

The organizational objectives also ensure that the employees do their best to help the organization meet its goals and objectives. Functional objectives are also essential in the practices of a human resource manager as it helps him or her to keep a good pace in contributing to the fulfillment of the organizations needs hence avoiding any chances that may lead to either non-satisfaction of the organizations needs or wastage of its resources.

The society objectives should also be put into consideration by the human resource manager since the society is part and parcel of the company as the members contribute in one way or the other to its success or progress.

The organization should always be responsible in terms of fulfilling the societal needs, for instance, through corporate social responsibility to make sure that the society supports it fully as opposed to where the society could be dissatisfied by the organizations hence gang up against it making its processes fail in some way. The most crucial objective, however, remain to be the personal objectives.

These are the objectives that aim at promoting the achievement of the personal goals of the employees hence contributing to the overall achievement of the company through the combination of the individuals efforts.

The act of establishing and maintaining appropriate personal objectives in an organization ensures that the employees are not only maintained and retained but also motivated, which is a very positive aspect that keeps the organization growing due to job satisfaction among the employees.

The objectives of human resource management should under all cost enhance the productivity of the organization, ensure that the employees work in a conducive atmosphere that fosters growth and prosperity and also that the organization comply fully with the legal requirements and societal expectations (Dundas 2011)

Some of the recommendations that the human resource manager in MechCon Company should adhere to in his or her work include workforce planning processes, HRIS solutions and the development of recruitment processes and strategies for the employees. Workforce planning is a crucial process in any organization and should be carried out in a continuous manner.

This will ensure that the needs and priorities of MechCon Company match with those of the employees and that all the organizational and legal requirements are met at all time without any obstacles. Workforce planning will also ensure that there is the development of appropriate strategies in MechCon Company in regard to the employees.

It also allows for maximum identification, capturing and utilization of a wide range of talents and capabilities in human capital that are useful to the organization at present time and also in the future.

Some of the benefits associated with workforce planning include; there is always the existence of qualified and appropriate employees that could be readily picked and recruited incase of any vacancy, allows for maximization of the available human resource by avoiding either underutilization or over utilization of the employees.

It is also a process that is very helpful in budgetary allocations as it provides for useful projections that could justify the allocation. Workforce planning is also a strategy that could be applied by the human resource manager in an effort to manage a diversified workforce. It generally helps in efficient management of the organizations employees (U. S. Department of Transportation 1999).

Human resource management information system (HRIS) is a useful tool in the management of the employees and the human resource manager in the MechCon Company should embrace its application as it allows for smooth running of the workforce. It assists in processes like data entry and tracking, the information needs of the various employees of the organizations among others.

The human resource management information system should, however, be chosen carefully in a manner that will solve the problems of the particular organization based on the demands of the company that should be matched with the capabilities of the human resource management information system (Heathfield: Human Resources Information System (HRIS) 2011).

The development of recruitment processes and strategies for the employees is also a positive step that should be embraced by the human resource manager in the MechCon Company as it helps in the smooth coordination of the employees. The recruitment processes and strategies help in the selection of qualified human resource that in return contributes positively to the company through the talents and capabilities they possess.

The processes and strategies also ensure that the needs of the employees are adequately catered for to give them a good working atmosphere that facilitates maximum performance and coordination as everybody feels appreciated and needed in the organization.

There is need to identify the time frames for these objectives and recommendations so as to be able to meet the specific goals of the organization. The objectives and recommendations, for instance, should be classified in terms of the time by which they are expected to be met or fulfilled, for example, short term, medium-term, and long term objectives.

Short term objectives are those expected to be met within a short period of time, for instance, a financial year. Medium-term objectives, on the other hand, are much broader than the short term objectives and the time frame may range from one and a half years to three or five years depending on an individual organization.

The long term objectives and recommendations in an organization are expected to be met after a relatively long period of time, like five years and more. The objectives should always be reviewed and amendments made (where necessary) to make sure that they always remain appropriate and relevant to the organization and the society at large.

The objectives and recommendations should always be realistic, timely, specific, measurable and achievable irrespective of whether they are short term, medium-term and long term. These characteristics make the objectives meaningful and keep the organization moving at least with some expected results (Derbyshire, Wicks and Hardy 2007).

A Procedure for Recruiting and Selecting MechCon Employees Once an HR Manager Has Been Appointed

The process of employees recruitment should be procedural to ensure that all considerations are reflected on. Once a human resource manager has been appointed in the MechCon Company, he or she should follow a strategic recruitment and selection process whenever there is need for a new workforce in the company.

The recruitment and selection processes should always be compatible or match with the companys goals and objectives. The purpose of the recruitment and selection should also be kept in mind to enhance focus in the processes.

Some of the aims of a recruitment and selection procedure include; ensuring that there is equal employment opportunities for all the applicants, evaluating the effectiveness of the various techniques and tools applied in the recruitment process, reducing the chances of losing the employees after they have successfully been recruited and selected, minimizing the failure rate in the selection process that could be brought about by various factors, for instance, the existence of numerous inappropriate job applicants who could either be under qualified or overqualified, reduction of the cost incurred in the recruitment and selection process and most importantly assessing of the organizations present and future needs in regard to workforce planning and job analysis and description (Roberts 1997).

There are various procedures that could be employed in the recruitment and selection of employees in an organization depending on suitability and the decision of the human resource manager and other members of the management.

One of the procedures that the human resource manager in MechCon Company and his or her team members could consider applying is as follows; the first step involves assessing the relevance of the recruitment by identifying whether there is need for recruitment or the job could be done by the existing employees.

Job analysis is then done where the requirements of the post holder, for instance, in terms of qualification and experience is determined. Based on the job analysis, a job description and individual specifications are drawn giving clear details on the purpose of the job, the responsibilities involved and the conditions of the job plus the abilities and qualities expected.

The next step entails making a decision on the best methods to be applied in the selection process. Here, a curriculum vitae or an application form could be used as a tool for recruitment and selection with combination of other techniques like interviews or selection examinations.

Attracting candidates is also essential and ways of advertising the vacancy should be decided upon, which is then followed by the practical marketing of the job. The other step entails shortlisting the applications to reduce their number and hence ease the selection process by avoiding the consideration of either too little or too many applicants that could either limit the choice or lead to time wastage respectively.

The selection is then done for instance through interviews after which a decision is made and the successful candidates given the offer. References are also considered after the offer is made. Training is an important part in the recruitment and selection process as it ensures that the new employees are acquainted with the relevant skills and knowledge that will enhance their performance in the organization.

Consistency should be maintained in the entire recruitment and selection process to avoid any confusion. The process of recruitment and selection should be done by the human resource manager in collaboration with other management team members who include the line managers (Elearn 2009).

Conclusion

Human resource in any organization is very essential as no organization could run in the absence of people. It entails aspects like recruitment, coordination, and control of the people working in an organization. Every organization, regardless of nature and size, moves on and succeeds because of the efforts put forth by the employees through the diversity of talents and capabilities exhibited by them.

The human resource in an organization is a valuable asset that determines the success or failure of the organization through their efforts towards utilizing other assets in the company.

The management of the employees is, however, a crucial element that ensures that everything regarding the employees is in order, for instance, through aspects like motivation and rewards that ensure the employees are on their toes in their efforts to better their performance and the performance of the organization in general.

The presence and performance of a human resource manager in an organization should, therefore never be underemphasized as it leads to the growth, development and prosperity of the organization in one way or the other even though the impact could not be immediate.

Reference List

Anonymous. 2011. Benefits of Human Resource Management. Web.

Chan, A. 2002. The Challenges of Human Resource Management. Web.

Derbyshire, W, Wicks, D and Hardy S. 2007. Money and Work: An Essential Guide. England, Spiramus Press Ltd.

Dundas, K. 2011. Human Resource Management MNG00724. New York, Southern Cross University.

Elearn. 2009. Recruitment and Selection. New York, Elsevier publishers.

Heathfield, M.S. 2011. Human Resources Information System (HRIS). Web.

Heathfield, M.S. 2011. What Does a Human Resources Manager, Generalist, or Director Do? Web.

Mathis, R.L and Jackson, H.J. 2008. Human Resource Management. 12th ed. New York, Cengage learning.

Roberts, G. 1997. Recruitment and Selection: A Competency Approach. Britain, CIPD publishing.

U. S. Department of Transportation. 1999. Workforce Planning Guide. Washington, D.C., Department of Transportation.

Whistleblower Activity

It is an offense for an organization to dismiss its employees without following the due process. The residential medical facility terminated the services of Janet Broom and Darla Miller due to their whistleblower activity. The federal Court of Appeals should reverse the decision of the trial court.

Broom and Miller engaged in whistleblower activity for the good of the public and the organization. The Uniform Control Dangerous Substances Act makes it a criminal offense for an individual to steal a controlled dangerous substance. Broom and Miller adhered to this act.

If Broom and Miller were unionized employees, the medical facility would not have terminated them. This is because they would have more bargaining power. It would have ensured fair representation of the employees. The union would have required the medical facility to follow the due process before terminating the employees. Therefore, the medical facility may have issued warnings or suspensions instead of terminations.

Violation of Confidentiality

Companies strive to ensure that they maintain their competitive edge. Confidentiality agreement prevents employees from leaking certain vital information to rivals of the company. ReadyPro Company applied the confidentiality agreement appropriately.

The confidentiality agreement helped in protecting the company from rivals. The terms of employment may provide insights into how a company reduces its operational costs. Therefore, it is vital for an organization to ensure that it maintains the secrecy of the terms of employment.

According to Martinez, the confidentiality agreement was very broad. Therefore, it did not provide a detailed instruction on what is confidential. The confidentiality agreement did not specify how the employee should handle reimbursement issues.

Martinez did not have a formal agreement with ReadyPro on how she would receive reimbursements for use of her personal computer. Instead, she made an agreement with the San Antonio project manager. Since the company did not complain about the agreement with the San Antonio project manager, it would be wrong for it to claim later that she disclosed vital information.

Martinez received reimbursements from the San Antonio project manager. In so doing, she did not deal directly with her employer. Therefore, if there was a reduction in reimbursement it was logical that Martinez would inform the project manager about the reduction. Therefore, her termination was illegal.

Landrum-Griffith Act

Almost half of the members of Local 1 understand only Spanish. Therefore, the union should ensure that it caters for the needs of the members who only understand Spanish. According to Section 101(a) of the Landrum Griffin Act, a labor organization should give its members equal rights. The labor organization should ensure that various factors do not restrict the participation of members in various activities of the organization.

Therefore, using only English during the monthly meetings restricts the participation of Spanish speaking members. Local 1 should correct this by hiring a professional interpreter during the meetings. This would ensure that the interpreter gives the correct interpretation of various words.

It is illegal for local 1 to adopt a rule that requires all candidates for various offices to be proficient in both English and Spanish. This is because this would lock out a sizeable percentage of members of the union from vying for positions. This move would only benefit a few members who are proficient in English and Spanish.

Refusal to provide requested information

The employer may refuse to provide sensitive information that relates to its performance to labor unions. The information may be one of the major factors that determine the competitiveness of the organization. In addition, restricting information access prevents leakage of sensitive information.

The company should provide employees and labor unions with documents relating to the merit pay plan. This would enable the union to ensure that the company does not exploit employees.

The company is under no obligation to provide healthcare information of non-bargaining members. This is because the union does not represent these employees. However, the company should provide information on its current financial situation.

Campaign Threats or Implied Promise of Benefit?

The employers did not violate Section 8(a) (1) of the LMRA. The employer was simply informing the employees about the activities of unions. This enabled the employees to know what is at stake prior to joining the union. In addition, the employers statements do not constitute unlawful benefits, which violate Section 8(a) (1) of the LMRA.

The employer was pointing out the fact that the company has one of the most favorable compensation packages. The company voluntarily offers the employees good working condition.

The employer stated the new programs that the company was making to enable the employees give the company a chance to prove that it had their interest at heart. Supervisors Bates and Lofton did not violate Section 8(a) (1) of LMRA in their interrogation. The supervisors did not offer any threats or promises to the employees.

The NLRB should not consider the totality of conduct doctrine. This is because the employer did not coerce the employees not to join the labor unions. The employer simply stated how the labor unions would affect their activities. The employer used the leaflets that the union had distributed to show the effects of unions. Therefore, the NLRB should not rule against the employer.

Representing Non-Unionized Employees

LMRA prohibits employers from firing their employees without following the due process. The employer should give employees the right to defend themselves prior to firing them. In addition, an employer should offer certain benefits after termination. Therefore, it was wrong for the human resource manager to fire Green and reinstate Swallows.

It is the duty of a labor union to ensure that it represents all employees fairly. This ensures that the labor unions do not take sides in airing grievances of employees of the same company. The duty of fair representation is applicable to all employees who fall under the NLRA. This is regardless of whether the employees are members of unions or not.

Therefore, the labor union was discriminatory. Billie Green and Mary Swallows were involved in a fight in the companys parking lot. Both launched their grievances with the companys labor union.

However, Green was not a member of the labor. On the other hand, Swallows was a union member. The labor union helped in the reinstatement of Swallows. However, the union did not represent Greens grievances to the company. Therefore, the labor union did not have fair representation.

It is the duty of the labor union of the company to represent Green. This is despite the fact that he was not a union member. The union should represent Green since the fight involved another unionized employee of the company. Representing Green would have ensured fair representation.

Arrest and Termination

Companies should ensure that they involve the labor unions when formulating laws that affect employees. This helps in reducing the resistance of the unions towards the laws. Therefore, failure to involve the labor unions in the formation of laws is one of the major factors that make the labor unions oppose the termination of Rokus by UPC due to possession of drugs.

Police usually arrest people due to suspicion. However, not all arrests lead to a conviction. Various technical or legal factors may lead to the dropping of charges by the police. Therefore, the company should give more weight to conviction instead of arrest.

The arbitrator should not consider any statements that the company made after the discharge. This is because the company may look for information that would justify the discharge. This would protect the company in case the employee sues them.

The length of service determines the decision that arbitrators may make. This is because the length of service may be an indication of the loyalty of the individual to the company. Arbitrators should consider the duration of service since it is hard for employees to change their behavior abruptly.

An arrest means that the police suspect an individual has engaged in unlawful activity. On the other hand, a conviction means that the police feel that they have evidence that would enable them to prove the wrongful conduct of an individual. Investigations may prove that the individual is innocent.

The regulations of UPC state that the company may discharge an employee who has an active Decision Making Leave (DML), if the employee engages in serious violations of the companys policy. Police arrested Rokus due to suspicion drug related activities. However, UPC acted wrongly since Rokus may have been innocent.

The arbitrator should rule that the company acted wrongly in dismissing Rokus. Police arrested Rokus due to drug related charges. However, they were unable to prove their case in court. This necessitated them to drop the charges.

Discharge for Off-Duty Conduct

The U.S. Postal Service may discharge an employee who engages in unethical conduct. In addition, the company may discharge an employee who engages in activities that are prejudicial to the company.

Nexus refers to the relationship between two activities. It is vital for the Postal Service to show the relationship between an employees activity and the company before discharging the employee.

A company should ensure that it treats its employees equally. However, one should not use this as an excuse to request reinstatement of an employee if the company reinstated another employee who had a similar mistake. Therefore, equal treatment may be inconsequential in a case.

According to the company, Lee should not receive unemployment compensation. This is because he had attempted to defraud the organization that had hired him. Therefore, the company cannot trust someone who is essentially a thief.

Since Lee was involved in a crime, job performance prior to the crime is of no consequence. He attempted to defraud financial institutions. This may have reduced the confidence that members of the public have on the Postal Service.

The arbitrator should dismiss the unions submissions. This is because Lee pleaded guilty to involvement in fraudulent activities. Lee engaged in the fraudulent activity for many years. Therefore, he was fully aware of the effects of the engaging in the crime.

Arbitrators usually use the decision of previous arbitrators in making a ruling. They usually consider the factors that were prevalent in the previous arbitrations. However, there are significant differences between the current arbitration and previous arbitrations. Therefore, the arbitrators should not use previous arbitrations in making their ruling.

From the case, it is clear that Lee engaged in criminal activity willingly. In addition, he pleaded guilty to the charges of engaging in criminal activity. Therefore, the arbitrators should not rule in his favor. They should uphold the Postal Services decision to discharge him.

One of the clear-cut examples of a company that takes stakes at using other HRM strategies than the modern outsourcing, Baiada Poultry Pty Ltd. is a successful private company that provides the entire continent of Australia with poultry (Baiada, 2012). Thus, the company creates a case for considerable competition in the Australian poultry market and, nevertheless, manages to stay afloat. To address the current HRM policy of the company correctly, a detailed exploration of the current policy, i.e., the internal human resource policy (Beaumont 1993, p. 19), must be conducted.

It is worth mentioning that the market size is rather large, since the company production embraces the entire continent, and, therefore, the stakes are quite high. Speaking of the market itself, one must mention that it presupposes considerable competitiveness since several major companies supply poultry all over Australia, some of them belonging to the sphere of farming, which means that their sources are located near the company. Therefore, several companies have considerable advantages compared to Baiada Poultry Pty Ltd. (IBISWorld 2010).

Also, it is important to add that the target market, i.e., the Australian poultry market, according to what Scoresby and Smith (2011), has always been extremely poor, starting from the earliest stages of the country development up till now:

Poultry, indeed, was not to be had in sufficient quantity in the Melbourne market; Captain Boyce had obtained several dozen fowls from Sydney at a high price. Poultry is dear, and market poultry generally poor, because the rearing of fowls is but moderately remunerating. (p. 235)

Thus, in the light of the above-mentioned, the efficiency of the chosen HRM strategy must be verified for the company to beta the rivals and stay the leading one in the sphere of poultry trade.

Industry and Market

It is essential to mention that the current HRM strategy that the company resorts to is quite a wise decision, since hiring the staff from within the company y will allow preventing information leakage and, thus will help the company to keep its marketing and management decisions secret. Therefore, it is important that Baiada Poultry Pty Ltd. Could continue hiring the staff from its human recourses and develop the specific bonding within the company.

However, it is also essential to admit that the given marketing decision also has its disadvantages, since, rejecting the outsourcing practice, the company might also face the threat of regress. Without the new ideas that the external sources could bring to the enterprise, the latter is highly likely to cease to develop.

Still, according to what Marchington (2005) claims, the chosen way of development can also prove considerably advantageous. As the latter claims, internal human resources will allow the company to achieve a distinctive comparative advantage (p. 74), since the given strategy emphasizes the importance of congruence between human resource policies and organizational objectives rather than, for example, with more general professional or occupational orientations that spread across organizational boundaries (p. 74).

Therefore, the choice of the strategy will help the company to gain more weight in the Australian market, yet will demand more careful research on the current market trends. Once continuing the chosen strategy of the HRM practice, Baiada is bound to win the chase for the most influential Australian poultry company.

Reference List

Baiada 2012, History. Web.

Beaumont, P B 1993, Human resource management: key concepts and skills, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.

IBISWorld 2010, Poultry meat farming in Australia  industry market research report, Reportlinker. Web.

Marchington, M 2005, Fragmenting work: blurring organizational boundaries and disordering hierarchies, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.

Scoresby, W & Smith, 2011, Journal of a voyage to Australia, and round the world for magnetical research, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.

Introduction

Globalisation, technological innovation, expansion of multinational firms, demographic shift in labour market, capital, and increased global competition among firms are phenomena that have transformed HRM practices and policies.

These factors become complex to multinational firms as they consider other factors related to local and country context. Thus, the focus shifts to cultural variables, labour market factors, regulatory factors, the structure of the industry, human resource skills, experiences, and willingness to work as expatriates.

These factors may hinder or facilitate effective roles of HRM department in implementing strategic direction for the multinational firm. Thus, the firm must be:

• Globally competitive
• Responsive to local needs
• Efficient in operation
• Flexible and adaptable
• Encourage learning and knowledge transfer between the parent company and the local subsidiary

Therefore, the HRM department must facilitate flexible work practices and encourage employees commitment to the organisation in order to enhance effective adaptation of the local subsidiary with the parent company.

Multinational organisations face several challenges that influence HRM in the global perspective (Marchington and Grugulis, 2000, p. 1104). This implies that there is a need for integration of various practices and policies in order to ensure effective adaptation and management of human resources in the new subsidiary.

HRM remains crucial for success of multinational organisations. Past studies in multinational organisations have raised significant issues, which multinational companies must address.

First, there is an increasing need to find suitable models and frameworks, which can address various issues affecting the global management of human resources.

Second, there is also a need to develop a systematic model that recognises existing variations in international human resource practices and policies.

Third, the global HRM should rely on theoretical viewpoints for predicting and explaining various characteristics of employees across the globe.

In this research, a focus is on how the HRM department can change its policies and practices in order to accommodate a new subsidiary in a different location.

The focus on a multinational organisation also highlights international human resource management (IHRM) and strategic human resource management (SHRM) (Scullion and Starkey, 2000, p. 1061). This broad focus provides opportunities of making recommendations and suggestions for further studies.

Research Methodology

Purpose of the Study

Theories have emerged in the past few decades as attempts to provide theoretical foundations for HRM practices and policies across global borders. The main purpose of this paper is to identity HRM strategies that a multinational firm can apply in Britain after a takeover of a local insurance firm in London.

Thus, we pay close attention to differences and uniqueness of the local subsidiary. The essay also explores how the multinational firm can apply its influence from the head office to the local firm. In this context, we highlight how such actions can influence strategies, implementation, and performance of the multinational firm in the local context.

Methods

This research makes use of existing literature in the field of HRM across national borders. In this context, the research focuses on best practices in the field of HRM, which multinational firms have applied for effective incorporation of strategic HRM functions in the multinational firm.

The research reviews both theoretical and empirical studies, which account for various factors affecting HRM in multinational, such as costs, skills, recruitment, labour mobility, retention, rewards and compensation, and transfer among other factors (Vaiman, Scullion and Collings, 2012, p. 925).

Given this approach, we can understand why HRM strategies and practices in the local firms differ significantly with practices and strategies in multinational firms. The research makes use of existing studies from various parts of the world in order to show that every local firm may require a different approach to global HRM strategies rather than the standard approach of the parent company.

Thus, it is imperative for the HRM department of the multinational organisation to consider the best local practices and align them with the best HRM practices form the parent company.

Literature Review

HRM Model for a Multinational Firm

There are different views regarding HRM models for multinational firms. Therefore, the research focuses on the Schuler and other authors model in order to provide a clear perspective of what a multinational firm is. This definition states that:

Any enterprise that carries out transactions in or between two sovereign entities, operating under a system of decision-making that permits influence over resources and capabilities, where the transactions are subject to influence by factors exogenous to the home country environment of the enterprise (Schuler, Dowling and De Cieri, 1993, p. 717).

It provides a basis to show that a global HRM involves many aspects of HRM than a domestic HRM (Dowling, Welch and Schuler, 1999, p. 89). Thus, HRM departments must develop policies and practices, and administer those policies and practices across many countries. The HRM department must recognise that every country has its own legal, cultural, social, economic, historical, and political attributes.

After the takeover of Brit Insurance with Apollo Global Management, the HR policies and practices have to change in order to reflect the multinational status of the company. Thus, Brit Insurance policies and practices should reflect various aspects of HRM planning such as staffing, repatriation, performance appraisal, training and development, and compensation.

The HRM policies and practices have been the focus on many studies. However, some studies have limited research to domestic spheres. However, globalisation and the emergence of multinational firms have changed HRM practices and introduced the concept of international human resource management (IHRM).

Human Resource Planning

The HR department at Brit Insurance must address human resource planning in order to reflect multinational features of Apollo Global Management. This is a wide practice that covers staffing, appraisal, and compensation practices in the company.

Thus, IHRM must provide a comprehensive way of addressing the HRM in response to the multinational status of the company, the stage of the company growth, competitive strategies, the global structure, and the stage of organisational growth globally (Bartlett and Ghoshal, 1998, p. 204).

Some of the practices the HRM should consider are identification of crucial factors, which are significant for merger, planning career growth, creating and maintaining career development systems. In addition, the HRM department must also play a strategic role in the formulation of organisational strategic objectives (Mathis and Jackson, 2011, p. 524).

The HRM department must also manage organisational dynamic, which result from decentralisation in business units as the organisation strives to reflect both global and regional characteristics (Stone, 2010, p. 344). The HRM department must also ensure that employees have meaningful duties when appropriate in order to ensure maximum utilisation of human resources both internationally and locally.

Wong also focused on ten areas in which the HRM department should address in multinational organisations (Wong, 2000, pp. 72-74). These include the following:

• Selection of candidates
• Assignment and cost planning
• Preparation of terms and conditions of employees contracts
• Processing of employees relocation and management of vendor
• Cultural and language orientation or training
• Tax administration
• Compensation management and payroll processing
• Career guidance and planning
• Handling spouse and dependants issues
• Immigration affairs

Integrating and promoting these issues to reflect global characteristics have challenged many HRM departments (Evans, 1986, p. 105). This research shall focus on four issues the HRM department at Brits Insurance must address after the takeover.

Human Resources Management Approaches

Staffing remains a significant activity that the HRM department of a multinational organisation must consider carefully for success of the firm. Harvey and fellow authors noted that the HRM department must coordinate and control all their human resources across the globe (Harvey, Novicevic and Speirer, 2000, p. 381).

In the past, organisations used to send senior executives from the head office to ensure that the local company implemented all HR policies and maintained procedures as provided in the organisational HR policies (Brewster and Scullion, 1997, p. 72).

Scholars have concurred that the HRM department must separate various HRM practices in various subsidiaries across the globe. However, as costs of running such practices increase, it is fundamental for the organisation to use staff in the host country to fulfil these needs (Black et al, 1999, p. 178).

Apollo Global Management has its head office in the US. According to Schuler, Budhwar, and Florkowski, the US multinational companies use their employees as expatriates in global subsidiaries to take management positions for several reasons (Schuler, Budhwar, and Florkowski, 2002, p. 41).

• Protect the interest of organisation
• Enhance global perspectives
• Offer functional perspectives
• Enhance global knowledge
• Develop local talent through expatriates training
• Aid career planning
• Manage new ventures

However, Apollo Global Management also has concerns regarding the best approach for selecting expatriates for foreign assignment.

Glinow and Milliman noted that many multinational corporations of the US had trouble in overseas operation. They attributed these difficulties partially to ineffective application of IHRM principles. They applied a product life cycle (PLC) approach and proposed a two-step contingency model of the strategic and operational levels of MNCs (Glinow and Milliman, 2009, p. 4).

These researchers discussed effective IHRM practices based on certain characteristics and needs of multinational organisations in a given environment.

Glinow and Milliman approached IHRM by using the PLC and contingency model in order to develop effective IHRM practices, which the US firms could apply overseas in order to create effective cross-cultural managerial system applicable at every stage of production (Smith, 1992, p. 39).

This shall finally create a global system that will be necessary for a competitive and dynamic global business environment.

The US multinational organisations operate in a highly dynamic and competitive global market. Therefore, there is a need for adaptation in several aspects of the organisation, especially HRM practices.

The two-step contingency model highlights how the US firms can adapt every stage of operation through effective HRM practices (Glinow and Milliman, 2009, p. 21). The two-step contingency model looks at strategic phase where international PLC has effects on both environmental and organisational factors of the firm.

As a result, these factors affect their strategies. Therefore, the management team and HR department have to transform organisational business plan to strategic HRM objectives. They identified both short-term and long-term strategic IHRM objectives as planning, cost versus development and the need for integration and differentiation (Glinow and Milliman, 2009, p. 23).

On the other hand, the models operational phase focused on converting strategic HRM objectives into specific decisions (Glinow and Milliman, 2009, p. 24).

They relied on the study of Tung when developing operational phase criteria that involved nature of job or task, how different the host countrys culture is, the ability of the expatriate to adapt, spouse and family considerations, consideration of the host country nationals and the need for longer term developments of expatriates (Glinow and Milliman, 2009, p. 31).

On this note, Schuler, Budhwar, and Florkowski also observe that it is necessary to consider the following factors among multinational firms.

• Acceptance of foreign assignment
• Foreign language
• Spouse and family support
• Ability to adjust overseas lifestyle
• Technical and cultural competence
• Team spirit

Glinow and Milliman noted that it was necessary for a global firm to conduct continuous assessment of different IHRM practices and change them based on prevailing conditions (Glinow and Milliman, 2009, p. 35).

Glinow and Milliman show that adopting this model may be difficult. However, it is necessary for reducing problems that senior management and executives of global firms experience when they start overseas operation.

They argue that it is best if only highly qualified employees go overseas in order to create interest in the company. This strategy shall result into international thinking and organisational culture that values international assignments (Glinow and Milliman, 2009, p. 35).

Caligiuri and Stroh looked at the connection between the global management practices of multinational firms and the result of IHRM practices from 46 companies. They examined four global strategies, which included ethnocentric, regiocentric, polycentric and geocentric (Caligiuri and Stroh, 1995, p. 1).

They concluded that HR practices, such as recruitment, selection, and socialization or cultural, were different due to global strategies of a firm. Specifically, they found significant differences between ethnocentric and geocentric companies.

They also observed that these two factors influenced the success of multinational firms based on profit margins, returns on capital, sales volumes, and returns on equity.

They concluded that multinational firms operating under ethnocentric strategies had low-levels of success than other firms deploying other three approaches. Therefore, they noted that it was necessary for multinational organisations to incorporate local responses into their global strategies.

Firms tended to align their global strategies with practices, which showed consistency with the overall organisational strategies in order to maintain competitive advantage (Wright and McMahan, 1992, p. 7; Daft, 2010, p. 298; Miner, 2005, p. 126).

Caligiuri and Stroh asked HR executives to explain to what extent their firms preferred to maintain their headquarters cultures in their global subsidiaries. They noted that ethnocentric multinational firms had significant differences from regiocentric, polycentric, and geocentric firms.

Ethnocentric firms believed that promoting the culture of the head office was a form of strategic control. Conversely, the other three types of firms did not have much difference among themselves as they favoured local integration.

According to Caligiuri and Stroh, controls from the head offices reduce the extent of multinational firms involvement in local activities.

Caligiuri and Stroh noted that multinational firms should conduct global recruitment in order to attract the best talents, promote global adaptation and orientation of the firm. They also observed that regiocentric, polycentric, and geocentric firms had flexible processes.

They observed that cultural diversity and foreign laws had significant control over selection processes. They also proposed further studies with large sample to analyse the influence of foreign countries legal, political, and cultural constraints on selection processes among multinational firms.

These authors argue that multinational companies, which promote ethnocentric ideologies in foreign countries, should re-examine their approaches and replace them with local strategies because the parent company may not always be right (Caligiuri and Stroh, 1995, p. 13).

Caligiuri and Stroh conclude that such re-examination can help an organisation recognize that there are other culturally diverse and right ways of running a business.

Mahmood investigated effects of corporate strategies, structures, and international policy orientations on subsidiaries HRM practices (Mahmood, 2009, p. 1). He specifically focused on recruitment and selection practices of global firms in their subsidiaries.

He used four European organisations conducting business in Bangladesh and discovered that multinational firms HRM practices relied on the changing nature of strategies, structures and HQs policy orientation towards the subsidiaries (Mahmood, 2009, p. 1).

Mahmood concluded that standardization processes in subsidiaries do not always depend on decisions of the parent companies, but rather on capabilities and importance of the subsidiary influences on the parent companys decisions on standardization of HRM practices.

Mahmood notes that multinational firms have significant influences on subsidiaries. Attitude of the parent company on the subsidiary influences HRM practices and employees mobility across various subsidiaries. He notes that employee mobility among subsidiaries helps subsidiaries to acquire various skills from training of highly qualified employees.

Some international firms considered employee mobility during selection and recruitment processes of managerial teams as it had significant effects on employees placement and assignment both on the long-term and short-term basis (Mello, 2010, p. 238).

This study also noted that multinational firms had challenges in Bangladesh where HRM practices were chaotic and disorganised. As a result, most multinational firms had to apply their parent companies HRM practices in their local subsidiaries due to lack of HRM practices in their local contexts.

However, the relationship between the subsidiary and the head office, operational issues, and host country societal activities influenced HRM practices at the local level.

Mahmood concluded that activities of the parent company and globalisation of the subsidiary influenced the HRM practices and development of standardized practices at the local level. Mahmood noted that globalisation (internationalisation) processes of the subsidiary followed a sequential pattern with stages.

Therefore, it is necessary for multinational organisations to have various HRM practices for different subsidiaries across the globe. Therefore, it is important for multinational firms to align their corporate structures, strategies, IHRM practices, and policies.

This study presented two observations. First, subsidiaries have capabilities of earning reputations from their head offices based on their performances. Second, in some cases, the head office may trust some elements of responsibilities to subsidiaries due restructuring of the firm.

Plessis and Huntley examined IHRM within the context of South Africa and noted that employees had diverse backgrounds and experiences (Plessis and Huntley, 2009, p. 413). They concentrated on challenges, which emerged in firms due to diverse composition of employees from different parts of the globe.

These researchers argued that HR activities in multinational corporations were complex than in domestic firms as HR departments had to deal with cultural issues, pay issues, laws of the host country, working conditions of the workforce, and aligning HR practices throughout the global subsidiaries of the company.

Plessis and Huntley developed a model applicable in the context of South Africa MNCs during the transitional stage, from domestic local to international global (Plessis and Huntley, 2009, p. 413).

This model can act as a guideline for HR departments for coordination and integration of leadership skills, procedures, policies, training, policies, and structures within the domestic and international firms of South Africa (Plessis and Huntley, 2009, p. 420).

The model consists of HR manager, production manager, service centre and business managers (Plessis and Huntley, 2009, p. 420). However, they also pointed out that the model was flexible and not restricted to these four areas as firms could adjust it to fit their needs as required.

This model puts emphasis on the importance of HRMs functions in developing policies, strategies, and procedures necessary for participation in the global economy. They note the importance of aligning HRs strategies to those of the organisation (Plessis and Huntley, 2009, p. 413).

This model also posits that multinational firms should standardize various aspects of human resources management in order to achieve fairness within organisations. Graham and Trevor observed that such strategies are good, but organisations must use them within the context of a specific multinational firm (Graham and Trevor, 2000, p. 136).

The authors challenge HR managers of South African multinational organisations to understand their employees cultural norms, pay and working conditions expectations before designing any program and set up conditions (Plessis and Huntley, 2009, p. 423).

Domestic and international HRM practices differ. The latter is more complex than domestic HRM. Therefore, it is necessary for HRM departments to consider various aspects HRM practices so that they can develop the best relationships with employees from diverse backgrounds and cultural orientations.

Therefore, they explored the suitability of a global integration strategy of Milkovich and Bloom 1998. They focused on how HRM department could apply it in todays global firms (Milkovich and Bloom, 1998, p. 15).

Retention Plan

Both the parent company and the subsidiary must create a retention plan in order to address cases of potential turnover and ensure that the multinational firm sustains its workforce. The aim of the plan is to retain industrious and engaged employees.

The HRM department must provide exit surveys or interviews in order to determine causes of turnover, what employees like, what they do not like, and what they wish to change about the firm.

The HR department must coordinate with line managers in order to develop the plan. This is because managers allocate roles, targets, and responsibilities that challenge workforce. The manager must be responsible for retention because of job challenges they assign employees. The HRM department must hold managers accountable and provide incentives for high retention of desired employees.

The firm must have retention measures to prevent turnover of desired employees, which include intangible and intangible strategies as follow:

• Professional mentoring, training, and development
• On-the-job training
• Bonus payment and perks
• Telecommuting
• Flexible work schedule
• Reimbursement or education assistance

The company must put these strategies into action. However, it is necessary for the HRM department to protect the company through a retention agreement. This ensures that the employee serves the firm for a specific period before leaving.

Conclusion

The HRM department must extend to strategic needs of the organisation in order to achieve both goals of the organisation and those of employees. This study demonstrates that there are differences, which exist between domestic HRM and global HRM practices and policies.

Staffing of a multinational firm remains a source of major concerns for the HRM department. This requires employees with various skills, experiences, and other attributes (Gratton, Hope-Hailey, Stiles and Truss, 1999, p. 17).

The HRM department must coordinate and control these practices to reflect global characteristics of the company. Compensation and rewards also differ between expatriates and local employees. However, some scholars call for a fair compensation system across the multinational firm (Giammalvo, 2005, p. 18).

Compensation and rewards must also take into performance of employees. Dowling, Welch, and Schuler insist that the HRM department must appraise performance of all employees including expatriates in order to promote fairness in the organisation.

Another area entails the creation of synergy and teamwork among workers of diverse cultural backgrounds. However, scholars note that multinational firms should avoid ethnocentric tendencies in order to identify ability and benefits of cultural synergies in the organisation.

Repatriation of employees also presents significant challenges to HRM department (Mendenhall and Stahl, 2000, p. 251). Studies have focused on activities and qualities of the repatriation as key factors in defining careers. Some scholars have expressed concerns with the turnover of expatriates after returning home from overseas duties (Cappelli, 2008, p. 56).

Finally, training and development of employees in multinational organisations should serve as a tool of developing employees and promoting coordination of diverse aspects of a multinational firm (Li and Scullion, 2010, p. 190).

A lack of proper training has led to failure of many expatriates abroad. Thus, training and development initiatives are fundamental practices for strategic goals of the organisation and employees.

The HRM department must also account for labour relations in the US and the UK. For instance, the HRM department must focus on employees deployment especially in managerial roles. This also focuses on areas of legal, political, and historical characteristics of the country.

The HRM must align legal requirements with the labour laws and employees rights, particularly with attention to compensation, holidays, benefits, legally established insurance standards, and bargains or individual benefits.

Given these challenges, adhocracy in HRM practices and policies may be a suitable starting point for a multinational firm in a foreign land. However, it is difficult to predict the outcome of such an approach.

Reference List

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Introduction

The authors of the article conducted an empirical examination to study what impact human resources management has on organisational performance and the attitude of the employees. The paper stated that the purpose of the study was to examine whether the human resources management system influences the performance of an organisation. And it was assumed that the collective reaction of the employees mediates this relationship. The article was aimed at investigating the content and process aspects of human resources, and it studied their influence on the functioning of an organisation.

To gather empirical data for the analysis, the researchers conducted a survey of 1250 employees working in Greece in both public-sector and private companies, in a total of 133 organisations. The scholars applied statistical methods to study the relationships between the studied measurements. The authors use their findings to prove the two hypotheses regarding the nature of these relationships.

Identifying Relevant Literature

The authors turn to an extended list of literature to explain the theoretical basis of the study and to support their work with data from previous research. The reference list includes books, articles from various academic journals, and online publications. The authors cite seminal works in the field to explain the background of the study and provide a comprehensive review of the material. The existing literature is used to provide the readers with a coherent understanding of the current situation in the field and to justify the necessity for the study. The article also outlines and discusses varies limitations and shortcomings found in previous research and the lack of large-scale studies published in previous years.

Structuring the Review

The researchers use the first part of the paper to provide a discussion of the theoretical foundations of their work. Whereas the second part of the article is dedicated to the description of the study itself. This part of the paper covers information about hypotheses, methodology, and analysis. The authors include different schemes, graphs, and tables to illustrate the material and make it easier to interpret and understand.

The article has an extended introduction and dedicates a substantial part of the paper to the discussion regarding the theories behind the study and prior research. Providing the material that is essential for understanding the background and basis of their work allows the authors making the paper more comprehensive. Clarity of explanation and high readability make the article approachable even to lay audience.

At the same time, writing detailed descriptions of methodology and analytical tools, the scholars open their work for examination and criticism of collogues and reviewers. Thus, the structure and style of the article make it readable for all kinds of audience and ensure clarity and coherence.

Tone

The authors of the article use a professional, scientific tone to discuss previous literature and research. The researchers chose to use the method of empirical examination because it provides a way to contribute to the academic understanding of the topic by providing a primary source of information. Another advantage of this method is that it gives quantitative results that can be studied with the help of mathematical tools such as statistical models (Brannen, 2017).

Such results are verifiable and may be used by other researchers to check the validity of the methodology and the findings. The scientists conducted a survey using a set of specially designed questioners, which allowed them to acquire the necessary information directly from the participants. This approach is appropriate for gathering information regarding the opinions and attitudes of individuals, but it might provide inaccurate information when applied to other subjects (Nardi, 2018). The subjective nature of answers, inherent to this method, might become a source of bias when it comes to measurements of economic or administrative processes that are involved in the study.

Tense

The article discusses both literature from the past and contemporary research to provide a bigger picture of the current understanding of the subject and its evolution. Past tense is used throughout the paper to speculate about findings from previous literature and prior research. The survey and the following analysis are described in the present tense, which suggests that the researchers’ focused on the present as opposed to the past.

Using the present simple tense also allows the authors to reduce the complexity of the text and improves its readability (Patriotta, 2017). In addition to that, the authors widely use passive voice, which is conventional for this type of writing. The tendency to use passive voice also gives the paper a more formal appearance (Hyland & Jiang, 2017). Thus, the authors indicate their focus on the present by turning to use of the present tense and employ other literary devices to create the desired appearance of the text.

Summary

The idea that the work of human resources management impacts financial performance provides theoretical foundations for the study in question. Prior research in the field contributed to the development of this idea. Building their theory upon previous findings, the scholars formulate two hypotheses hat address the character of the relationships among the variables. The authors studied the relationships between the work of the human resources department, the reaction of the employees, and organisational performance using a survey as their primary tool for gathering data. Then, the researchers aggregated the data at three different levels of the organisational hierarchies and studied it using a set of methods of statistical analysis. The research showed a strong correlation between the key variables, indicating close relationships.

Having interpreted the results of the analysis, the scientists concluded that perceived human resources practice influences the performance of companies through employee reactions (Katou, Budhwar, & Patel, 2014). In addition to that, studying the content and process aspects of human resources, the authors suggested that both of these principles are essential and can be used simultaneously. Thus, the authors delineated that human resources show better results when they integrate both content and process.

Limitations

The reliance on the survey as a tool to study the organisational performance is a major limitation of the article. This method does not guaranty a high level of accuracy and may lead to biased results (Queirós, Faria, & Almeida, 2017). The respondents’ perception of productivity, growth, and creativity in the organisation only shows their personal opinion and is not necessarily reflective of the real situation.

For instance, it is possible that having a generally positive opinion about their position and environment in the firm, the participants of the survey might exaggerate the positive tendencies. Whereas, it is reasonable to assume that unsatisfied employees are likely to be more critical towards both the performance of the company and the work of the human resources department. The fact that the personal opinion of the respondents influences their answers in all sections of the questioners creates another source of correlation between the variables (Wallace, Wegener, & Petty, 2019). This aspect is not appropriately taken into account by the authors, which compromises the validity of the entire research and the reliability of the findings.

The scientists describe the measures they take to avoid the common method bias and to address other potential sources of inaccuracies, but it does not illuminate the limitations. Correlation between the variable does not imply the causal effect and can be a result of the influence of other factors (Giri, 2019). General satisfaction of employees might have this effect, influencing their response in all three studied measurements. The shortcomings of the survey method that are inherent to the procedure compromise the validity of the research methodology (Crowder, 2017). Thus, the results of the study should be used with caution, and additional research might be needed to reinvestigate the phenomena in question.

Conclusion

The authors of the paper studied the character of the relationships between human resources management and financial performance of firms, assuming a mediating role of the employees’ reactions in that process. The article provided new empirical data and made a contribution to the theoretical discussion regarding the subject. The results of the research show a strong correlation among the studied variables suggesting close relationships. Although the methodology does not guarantee complete accuracy and may be biased, the gathered statistical data have significance and can be used in future research. The scale of the study and approach that the scholars used to conduct the survey provides a set of valuable statistics that may be further studied.

References

Brannen, J. (2017). Mixing methods: Qualitative and quantitative research. New York, NY: Routledge.

Crowder, M. J. (2017). Statistical analysis of reliability data. New York, NY: Routledge.

Giri, N. C. (2019). Introduction to probability and statistics. New York, NY: Routledge.

Hyland, K., & Jiang, F. K. (2017). Is academic writing becoming more informal? English for Specific Purposes, 45, 40-51.

Katou, A. A., Budhwar, P. S., & Patel, C. (2014). Content vs. process in the HRM‐performance relationship: An empirical examination. Human Resource Management, 53(4), 527-544.

Nardi, P. M. (2018). Doing survey research: A guide to quantitative methods. New York, NY: Routledge.

Patriotta, G. (2017). Crafting papers for publication: Novelty and convention in academic writing. Journal of Management Studies, 54(5), 747-759.

Queirós, A., Faria, D., & Almeida, F. (2017). Strengths and limitations of qualitative and quantitative research methods. European Journal of Education Studies, 3(9), 469-386.

Wallace, L. E., Wegener, D. T., & Petty, R. E. (2019). When Sources Honestly Provide Their Biased Opinion: Bias as a Distinct Source Perception With Independent Effects on Credibility and Persuasion. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 0146167219858654.

Research Topic

To operate in the contemporary competitive business world, companies must encourage their staff members to develop an array of skills associated with decision-making, critical thinking, innovativeness, resourcefulness, etc. (Bocken, Short, Rana & Evans 2014). Therefore, changes must be made to HR strategies on both leadership- and management-related levels. Thus, staff members will develop the required amount of independence and at the same time be easily controlled by managers. For this purpose, the use of social cognitive neuroscience (SCN) will have to be considered (Spreng & Andrews-Hanna 2015).

It is expected that the application of SCN will be compatible with the leadership strategies that are aimed at enhancing employees’ motivation and leading to a steep rise in the levels of corporate loyalty. Thus, SCN can become an integral part of the corporate HRM system.

Literature Review

Although studies of cognitive processes might seem too distant from leadership and management thematically, recent research points to the fact that adopting neuroscience-related strategies in an organizational environment are likely to lead to impressively positive outcomes (Waldman, Balthazard & Peterson, 2011). Deepening the understanding of the subject matter is bound to open a plethora of opportunities for enhancing decision-making processes in a corporate setting (Butler 2017). Particularly, Butler (2017) refers to organizational cognitive processes (OCN) as the tools for introducing the concept of co-production into the organizational design and, therefore, improving the performance of the staff to a considerable extent. The secret to the identified approach lies in the opportunity to acquire the ability to think critically and make decisions based on a quick analysis of extrinsic and intrinsic factors on a cognitive level (Waldman, Balthazard & Peterson 2009).

Furthermore, a cognitive approach as the means of boosting staff’s performance can be combined with an inspirational leadership strategy, according to Waldman, Balthazard, and Peterson (2011). Consequently, a significant obstacle that typically poses a threat to a successful application of changes in an organizational setting can be avoided successfully. Namely, the issue of resistance toward change, which can be observed among employees during a redesign of corporate strategies, can be managed efficiently by increasing motivation, loyalty, and engagement levels among staff members (Dahl 2016).

Research also shows that the emphasis on a collective vision and reinforcement of corporate values, as well as the concept to which Waldman, Balthazard, and Peterson (2009) referred as the “collective ‘we’” (p. 65), also affects the increase in both performance and corporate loyalty levels among employees. Thus, stressing the importance of team building and active endorsement of corporate values must be viewed as a priority when introducing staff members to cognitive neuroscience techniques. Put differently, organization members must define themselves as part and parcel of a company, at the same time realizing their individuality and using their unique assets to contribute to the corporate growth (Hyder, Ansari, Ramish, Yasir & Fasih 2017).

It would be wrong to claim, though, that the subject matter is entirely devoid of controversy. For instance, Butler, O’Broin, Lee, and Senior (2015) point to the fact that the identified strategy is often associated with mind-controlling. Therefore, OCN must be used with caution to respect the rights and independence of staff members (Liu, Jing & Gao 2015).

Gaps in the Literature

Although the effects that strategies based on cognitive neuroscience can have on business performance were considered in recent studies, the connection between using the specified approach in a corporate setting and the efficacy of employees’ performance is yet to be explored (Venturella, Gatti, Vanutelli & Balconi 2017). Furthermore, the link between neuroscience and leadership remains to be proven, according to Waldman, Balthazard, and Peterson (2011). Because of the uniqueness of a human brain, vast studies will have to be carried out to prove that the positive effects that cognitive neuroscience has on corporate performance are not coincidences but, instead, expected results (Uslu 2017).

Methodology

To test the efficacy of the OCN approach, one will have to carry out a case study where the effects of the proposed framework will be documented and analyzed carefully. The use of a case study design is justified by the fact that, apart from defining the effects of the OCN tool, one will also have to explore the nature thereof and how it interacts with a corporate setting. As a result, conclusions about the efficacy of the OCN approach can be made (Dubey, ‎Kothari & Awari 2016).

The case study will have to include a sample size of 20 participants to ensure a comprehensive analysis. The research will be conducted in the environment of a specific organization (Hartas 2015). Although the results of the analysis will have to be generalized to make them applicable to other corporate settings, the use of the identified environment will help explore both positive and negative outcomes of OCN as a tool for performance enhancement. To be more specific, how an OCN-based strategy will interact with external factors such as time pressure, a rise in competition levels, etc., will be explored (Edmonds & Kennedy 2016).

References

Bocken, NM, Short, SW, Rana, P & Evans, S 2014, ‘A literature and practice review to develop sustainable business model archetypes’, Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 65, no, 1, pp. 42-56.

Butler, MJ 2017, ‘Organizational cognitive neuroscience–potential (non-) implications for practice’, Leadership & Organization Development Journal, vol. 38, no. 4, pp. 564-575.

Butler, MJ, O’Broin, HL, Lee, N & Senior, C 2015, ‘How organizational cognitive neuroscience can deepen understanding of managerial decision‐making: a review of the recent literature and future directions’, International Journal of Management Reviews, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 542-559.

Dahl, RE 2016, ‘The developmental neuroscience of adolescence: revisiting, refining, and extending seminal models’, Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, vol. 17, no. 16, pp. 101-102.

Dubey, U, ‎Kothari, DP & Awari, GK 2016, Quantitative techniques in business, management and finance: a case-study approach, CRC Press. Chicago, IL.

Edmonds, WA & Kennedy, TD 2016, An applied guide to research designs: quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods, 2nd edn, SAGE Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA.

Hartas. D 2015, Educational research and inquiry: qualitative and quantitative approaches, Bloomsbury Publishing, Chicago, IL.

Hyder, SI, Ansari, J, Ramish, MS, Yasir, M & Fasih, T 2017, ‘Emerging role of ontology based repository in business management research’, Journal of Organizational Knowledge Management, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 1-17.

Liu, Y, Jing, Y & Gao, M 2015, ‘Transformational leadership: from the perspective of neurological leadership’, Open Journal of Leadership, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 143-152.

Spreng, RN & Andrews-Hanna, JR 2015, ‘The default network and social cognition’, Brain Mapping: An Encyclopedic Reference, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 165-169.

Uslu, T 2017, ‘Studying the decision making mechanism in organizational context through the behavioral game theory according to cognitive psychology’, Journal of Cognitive Science Open Access, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 3-8.

Venturella, I, Gatti, L, Vanutelli, ME & Balconi, M 2017, ‘When brains dialogue by synchronized or unsynchronized languages. Hyperscanning applications to neuromanagement’, Neuropsychological Trends, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 35-52.

Waldman, DA, Balthazard, PA & Peterson, SJ 2009, ‘Can we revolutionize the way that inspirational leaders are identified and developed?’ Information Systems, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 60-75.

Waldman, DA, Balthazard, PA & Peterson, SJ 2011, ‘Social cognitive neuroscience and leadership’, The Leadership Quarterly, vol. 22, no. 6, pp. 1092-1106.

Total compensation is a term used in the practice of human resource management to refer to the aggregate benefits which arise from a person’s employment. It incorporates all the programs, plans, opportunities and benefits accruing from employment. The range of benefits include cash pay in the form of salaries and wages, medical schemes, allowances for different reasons, pension plans as well as a host of other benefits such as training opportunities, free housing and others.

In man careers, the entire package is far more important than the financial remuneration from the employment. Many workers will consider elements of growth as well as work life balance as opposed to narrowing down to the salary they will receive.

Compensation policies and practice are important elements of human resource management practice. They involve a comprehensive evaluation of the human resource requirements and the development of relevant guidelines to direct not only the compensation programs but guide the processes of training and development relevant for the specific occupation.

This is in consideration of the fact that compensation is the one most critical factor which determines the level of motivation and even more importantly the rate of staff turnover. It is therefore important that proper compensation policies and practices are developed to ensure optimal productivity among the workers.

Within the public sector organizations, salaries are mainly based on categories established by experts. Across government institutions, employees earn similar packages but which may be adopted to fit the different operations which fit the different circumstances faced by the different workers.

Performance appraisal

Performance appraisal refers to the process by which the performance of employees is assessed. It looks at elements of effectiveness o an employee in terms of the quality of work produced by the employee in time. The process helps obtain a more accurate valuation of the worth of an employee by recording and analyzing information pertaining to the employee performance in the organization. It is an important element of any meaningful career development.

Performance appraisals are done for a number of reasons. The most important is to enhance career development. Appraisals offer suitable platforms for discussion of issues relating to the development of suitable strategies meant to maximize the potential of careers.

They also offer opportunities for the more experienced and knowledgeable people to share or counsel the upcoming young employees on the correct paths to follow in growing their careers. This ensures that the organization is well able to effectively plan for succession for its different levels of careers.

In addition, career developers are well able to assess the needs existing within the organization in terms of training and upgrading of skills available. This is a basic prerequisite for developing adequate plans for career development which seek to close the knowledge gaps existing in the organization. More importantly, the appraisals offer a platform to improve individual abilities and also make decisions regarding training and development.

The second objective is to acquire feedback. Feedback comes in two ways. Directors may be interested in how the employees feel about their supervisors. On the other hand, the employees should know how they are viewed in the organization.

This gives them the opportunity to accurately identify areas they need to correct in a bid to improve the perception about them in the organization. Again, feedback offers unique opportunities for employees to constructively discuss with their seniors on the best ways possible to improve on their weaknesses and even build more on their strengths.

Thirdly, performance appraisals are meant to reduce grievances among employees. This is mainly in cases where disputes arise due to the manner in which promotions and salary hikes are awarded. This by making clear the criteria used in determining the decisions and also showcasing the evidence for the decisions made. This not only minimizes conflict but also motivates the employees towards achieving the criteria for the promotions hence improving efficiency in the organization.

On the other hand performance appraisals also aid in the achievement of organizational goals. They are useful in clarifying the expectations set by the organization for each employee, Again, the help in developing relevant objectives for the subsequent periods while at the same time giving the employees a clear understanding of their roles in the achievement of the overall goals of the organization.

Still, appraisals enable accurate decision making in cases of the need to lay-off workers. It is much easier to identify the people to easily dismiss given the need to do so if the appraisals are already undertaken. This ensures that the organization does not lose the best performing staff in cases of downsizing or restructuring.

Finally, appraisals give a clear account of the success of career development decisions made in the past. These offer a good basis on which to base the decisions for which future actions will be based. The assessment may necessitate the need to continue with the path already on course or completely depart from this course in search of a better channel.

Trait-based rating is a performance appraisal method common among commercial organizations. The appraisal is based on elements of integrity and other personal traits such as dynamism and aggressiveness. The managers rank the employees in terms of how well their personality traits fit the roles undertaken by the employees. This model has however attracted sharp criticism due to two main reasons. First is the fact that personality traits are largely static.

One may be able to change his/her attitude or behavior to suite the expectations but changing ones personality is not easy. This then defeats the essence of carrying out appraisals which are aimed at improving and not necessarily doing away with employees. Secondly, the method is ambiguous of vague hence is prone to abuse. This is because it is not based on any concrete evidence of performance.

Achievement based appraisals on the other hand are purely based on the ability of an employee to deliver results. It establishes the suitability of an individual to occupy a position on his/her ability to deliver the quality and quantities expected. The method is supported by most human resource experts due to the fact that it is based on tangible evidence and more importantly, it offers opportunities for improvement.

It also seeks to reward achievement and therefore encourages the continuity of achievement. However, not all types of jobs can effectively be assessed using this method. There has to be tangible evidence of performance such as sales volumes for the method to be effective. However, it is still applicable in most job evaluations.

Competency based rating approach to performance appraisal focuses mainly on the perceived abilities of a person to perform tasks as expected. The evaluation relies on achievement of the individual to determine his/her future abilities. Here, a qualified person is considered for promotion as opposed to a more productive but relatively unqualified person. This forms the most visible disadvantage for this approach.

Human Resource Development

Human resources development refers to the deliberate efforts geared towards developing individual skills of the employees as well as the entire organization’s skills. It refers to the entire process of continually up scaling the productivity of the entire workforce in an organization.

Human resources department is charged with the responsibility of ensuring that there is adequate and targeted development of skills and competencies towards the achievement of the goals of the organization. It comprises of a host of activities some of which include recruitment, evaluations as well as training of the employees in full consideration of the present and future labor requirements for the organization.

In the contemporary public and nonprofit organizations human resource development is as necessary as in commercial institutions. This is mainly due to the fact that these organizations also have their goals and targets for which they are formed to achieve.

They may differ from the commercial organizations profit motive but the need for a quality human resource cannot be over emphasized. This being the case, it is equally important that these organizations identify suitable human resource development mechanisms geared towards ensuring that their functions are effectively handled.

There are several strategies for human resource development strategies which seek to accomplish different organizational goals. First is the communication strategy. The strategy focuses on improving the process of educating and training of employees on the upcoming changes as a way of preparing them and enhancing acceptability to change.

Secondly, the quality strategy is directed towards the development of a highly skilled workforce through training and other methods of improving skills. In addition, cost reduction strategy focuses on the need for employees to ensure cost reduction goals are achieved.

Again, ownership and accountability strategy emphasizes on the need for employees to own and appreciate the roles they play in the organization so as to boost their motivation. Still, the systematic training approach focuses on offering avenues to improve and build professionalism and appropriate work cultures which lead to a better organization. As can be seen, all these strategies aim at improving the productivity of the workforce from different approaches.

Training delivery

Training delivery refers to the methods as well as contents of a training program. In the process of training there are several considerations for an organization. The most important is the cost control. Cost control refers to the need for a training program’s cost to fall within the confines of the organizations ability to pay.

This is done through establishing the value of the benefits likely to accrue from the training as a way of establishing the maximum amount to be spent on the training. The second consideration is appropriate training program. Proper and relevant training methods should be adopted for different jobs in full consideration of their nature. Certain jobs may require the need to go back to class and upgrade understanding of certain concepts while others require a more practical approach.

Finally it is always important to give adequate emphasis on the technological considerations in the process of human resource development. This requires that the training body ensures that the recent technologies are adequately understood to improve the impact of the training programs.

Training evaluation is the assessment of the success of the training program already undertaken. Its main objective is to determine the impact of the training program on the individual as well as overall productivity of the workforce. There are several criteria used in training evaluation. First is through observation. The managers can just observe the behavior of employees prior and after the training program and determine whether the program was a success or not.

In cases where the behavior improves, then the program was a success. Questionnaires may also be issued to the employees. The main aim here is to determine their feeling towards the program as this largely determines the level of impact the program has on them. Again, the employees may be subjected to a post training interview which helps determine the level to which concepts taught during the training were fully understood.

Discipline and dismissal

Discipline is an elaborate corrective process used in the human resource practice to continually guide employee behavior. The disciplinary measures are applied in consideration of the gravity of an offence as well as the prevailing circumstances. Various disciplinary measures include: issuance of warnings, suspensions as well as reprimanding.

Dismissal is the last option of the disciplinary action. It is simple termination of employment. It is important to follow a clear disciplinary guideline before jumping to dismissal as this may prove counterproductive for the organization.

For public personnel managers, the process of discipline and dismissal is more complicated than in other organizations. This is mainly due to the fact that the managers have limited powers mainly due to the elaborate process through which the dismissal has to follow before dismissal. This limits the flexibility of the managers.

A disciplinary action is called an adverse action due to the fact that it is a negative action aimed at instilling some level of pain on the employee in a bid to influence his/her behavior. The main dimensions of a disciplinary action are that the measures should seek to correct or influence behavior and that the action should be just. The disciplinary action should not be focused on punishing the victims. It should also not be unjust as these amounts to correcting a wrong with a wrong.

PEER SURVAILLANCE is the process where work mates are accountable to each other as they work in an organization.

VERTICLE SURVAILLANCE on the other hand refers to an accountability process where the junior staff is accountable to their seniors.

HORIZONTAL SURVEILLANCE is an accountability program where one department is accountable to another department on the same level of organization hierarchy.

Progressive discipline is a concept applied in the process of human resource management where the penalty for a wrong increase with repeated wrong doing. The concept seeks to give adequate disincentive for repetition of offences by employees. Through progressive discipline, an employee who is late may escape with a reprimand. On the second day, he receives a warning, on the third day; he receives a second warning and is made to compensate for the lost hours.

On the fourth day, he may be reported to senior officers for further action which may include demotion, or even dismissal. Due process right of an employee is in reference to the fact that even in the administration of disciplinary measures; the employees’ rights should always be upheld. Disciplinary measures are not excuses for abuse.