Benefits of integrating HRM
Every successful sector in every industry has a strong correlation with the critical service component rendered by human resource personnel as a specialized function. The human resource management component is a definite process that ensures organizational efficiency in hiring, training, appraising, and offering the right compensations packages.
In addition to that, HRM component is critical in overseeing employee labor relations and in ensuring a safe and healthy working environment besides other concerns of fairness. Organizational employees remain the most fundamental asset in driving organizations towards achieving their strategic goals.
Thomson and Hecker (2000) argue that integrating these aspects of human resource management comes with a host of benefits that span an organization. These include strategic workforce planning.
This benefit is achieved by identifying well talented employees and retaining them within the organization to ensure appropriate workforce capacity is maintained. Coupled with this benefit is improved organizational and human resource productivity by optimizing on their talents and abilities.
Improved financial performance has been identified as another benefit of integrating HRM into running an organization. Human capital is an asset most companies have not exploited to give them a financial edge (Thomson & Hecker, 2000).
This is true for most American companies and specifically Fargo Publishing Company that have realized the value of a satisfied employee in a global market where technology is readily available for innovating products at an instant and patents are almost becoming impossible to protect.
Satisfied employees’ reciprocal effects include a satisfied customer who is counted as profit to the company. At Fargo publishing, employees are viewed as costs of production that need to be minimized (Thomson & Hecker, 2000).
An extensive body of knowledge accumulated over time indicates a strong correlation between a satisfied customer, a loyal customer, and a satisfied employee. Employee satisfaction has been identified to have a strong impact on return on investment (ROI), and other aspects of financial performance. Compelling examples abound on the relationship between HRM and a company’s productivity.
Among the examples is the T-Mobile Company in USA. This is one of the fastest growing companies in the world. An analysis of the human resource factors that previously made the company underperform were revised and that saw the company’s human resource critical factor improved making it thrive in profits and gain a worldwide market by becoming a leading seller of mobile devices.
Current problems related to Fargo Publishing
Fargo publishing is a company that deals in publishing of various articles, books, and related products and services. A critical evaluation of the company’s financial performance and market analysis reveals a downward trend in the company’s financial performance.
A market analysis revealed poor customer relationships, high employee turnover, poor communication between management and employees, low employee motivations, a poor human relationship, and lack of employee motivation and development schemes.
A gap between employee satisfaction and productivity was identified to be a major component in the ineffectiveness of the company.
Recommendations to improve Fargo Publishing
The need to develop employees and manage them effectively is a most important critical element with Fargo publishers. Human capital has been identified to be one of the most important elements for success in a company that relies on human capital for its growth.
To establish a human resource link for ensuring employee satisfaction translates to customer satisfaction hence long term commitments by employees to Fargo Publishing, various critical points need to be incorporated into the company.
The recommended areas include of improvement include leadership, management, employee motivation, well defined goals, identifying training needs, better communication strategies, and empowering employees in decision making.
Varey (2001) assert that leadership should emphasize on long term commitments to employee well being and satisfaction and special emphasis laid when times are not good or when Fargo Publishing is underperforming as is the situation currently.
On the other hand, listening was recommended as a key element to be incorporated in running the organization. A listening management is able to make changes within an organization based on employee inputs that happen to be closer to the customer than the management.
Another recommendation is employee motivation and appraisal schemes. A well thought out incentive program that recognizes and reward performing employees and resolves problems with underperforming employees could drive the organization to higher levels of productivity and performance. Each management be should be run with well defined goals.
This is so because satisfied employees know what their jobs contribute or are likely to contribute to the well being and greater good of the organization they work for. These goals are established with well defined procedures fro achieving these.
In addition to these recommendations, employee training should form a fundamental part of Fargo Publishing. The dynamic nature of the global market lays emphasis on the need for employees to be well trained on new changes in technology and other skills.
Employees get energized when trained on relevant skills to keep them abreast with the ever changing needs and innovations and approaches in doing things. Training spans the top level management in becoming better leaders and coaches to the technical staff (Varey, 2001).
Fargo Publishing should further incorporate the element of trust for the internal and external environment in its marketing program to help develop employee faithfulness in executing their duties. Unfaithful employees can disastrously fail a company.
Once all these other recommendations have been implemented, Fargo Publishing should incorporate effective communication within and outside of the organization (Ulrich & Brockbank, 2005).
Efficient communication links remain key elements in establishing a strong link between the management, employees, and customers in achieving the company’s strategic goals. In addition to that, employee and customer satisfaction stem from an understanding between the management, the employee, and the customer through strong and effective communication links.
The last recommendation is that employees should be empowered to make decisions by acting on the best interest of the customer. Employee and customer satisfaction stems from decisions that are made in the best interest of a frustrated customer. Employees should not be bound by rules to make decisions that bar customer satisfaction in view of the money they pay and other related problems.
Measuring the Cost savings of these Recommendations
According to Ulrich and Brockbank (2005) management can measure the cost savings of these recommendations by implementing a key performance indicator whose variables are categorized into quantitative, practical, directional, and financial indicators.
Specifically, the management of Fargo Publishers will evaluate optimum use of organizational machinery as a performance measure for effective and well motivated employees. Skilled employees put into optimum utilization of organizational resources and down time for these machineries are minimal. Thus, the mean time between failures for this publishing company’s could be small (Ulrich & Brockbank, 2005).
Another benchmark for measuring cost benefits from these recommendations is conducting a stock evaluation and customer order waiting time. An increase in customer loyalty leads to an increase in placed orders reducing the time and costs associated with looking for customers and other marketing costs. A satisfied customer always comes back with another customer.
An improvement on employee satisfaction results in tangible and intangible benefits. Some of them include employee commitments to organizational goals, vision, and mission.
Others include higher levels of productivity and innovation besides reduced employee turnover and minimized training costs. Hiring new employees and training them consumes resources in the form of time and money, eating into an organization’s profits.
References
Thomson, K., Hecker, L. (2000). Value-adding communication: Innovation in employee communication and internal marketing, Journal of Communication Management, 5(1): 48-58
Ulrich, D., Brockbank, W. (2005). The HR Value Proposition, Harvard Business School Press, Boston.
Varey, R. J. (2001). Internal marketing communication, in: Marketing communication, Taylor & Francis Ltd., Abingdon