Introduction
High commitment practices are employed in human resource management to create a positive impact on employees of an organization that lasts for long. High commitment practices have now become the most important assets for an organization to become successful. The more a company performs high commitment practices, the higher it performs (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart & Wright, 2010).
These managements make sure that the company is maintained during crisis times such that there is high commitment from all stakeholders of the company. Commitment practices focus on increasing productivity and effectiveness by encouraging conditions that make the employees realize the goals of the organization through hard work and commitment (Guest, Michie, Conway & Sheehan, 2003).
High commitment practices in the human resource management have been linked with organizational performance in the past studies (Guest., Michie., Conway and Metochi, 2000).. The studies focuses more on the extent high commitment practices improve workers and organizational performances.
These studies have been conducted in various countries in the world (Godard, 2004). There are those practices by the human resources that improve the attitude of the employees as well as their behavior. These practices also decrease levels of absenteeism thereby increasing productivity and customer services in the organization (Ramsay, Scholarios & Harley, 2000).
The UAE, GCC, Middle East, Arab Countries and the world (COMM) have interest in high commitment practices in their businesses. The interest is propelled by the desire for the organizations to improve their performances. Human resource management has been linked to performance by various studies. However, these studies have not been able to give substantial conclusions due to the differences in the human resource practices in the studies, performance measurements data collection methods and the sampling of the respondents.
All over the world, employers would wish to implement high commitment practices in their firms. These high performance practices include security of employment and internal labor market, hiring selectively, development of the employees through trainings and learning, involvement of the employees/ sharing of information and employee voice, team working, compensation based on performances and harmonization (Holman, Wall, Clegg, Sparrow & Howard, 2003).
The different high commitment practices are performed strategically to achieve the objective of achieving highly committed employees who work best and comfortably in the organizations where they belong. Security of employment is a fundamental requirement among other high commitment practices in business (Pfeffer, 1998).
Employees should be sure of the employment security for them to comfortably offer their services to the organization. Employees need to be sure of the careers they will have in future. The management should be at a position to guarantee the security of employment for employees to support the operations of an organization fully. Practices should be employed that make sure that all operations in the organization are intact to avoid the possibility of reducing the about force since this would affect the employees.
Employment should maintain their employment without any sort of interference caused by the failures of the management. This therefore means that an organization needs to be structured nicely to be flexible for it to secure employment of its employees. Employees in turn gain loyalty and tend to stay for long in the organization where they are assured of the job security (Purcell, Kinnie, Hutchinson, Rayton & Swart, 2003).
Companies in the world and in this region have always wanted to achieve competitive advantage in the markets they operate in. This is achieved through recruitment and retaining high caliber staff with exceptional talents (Boxall & Purcell, 2003). Companies nowadays use sophisticated selection techniques to get the best employees in their companies.
Employers focus not only to the technical ability of the employees but also to the interpersonal and team working skills among others. These skills are very important since they indicate how an individual is able to be trained. As long as an individual has excellent social skills, employers can readily train them on the technical requirements of the job. Recruitment is therefore very important to the organization and organizations adopt various programs that help them recruit effectively to have the best work force.
Once employers recruit their staff, their development is always done to make sure that the employees work well in their jobs. Employees are trained on how to work in teams. This way, the managers synergizes the employees’ contributions. Organizational learning is a practice that the management holds so dear in improving organization’s productivity.
Training of employees is done skillfully. Employers make sure the employees learn to place them in a situation where the employees are able to cover long-term problems in the organization. By developing employees, employers are sure that they have the best people for the jobs in the company and that employee will be inclined to remaining in the organization where their capabilities are nurtured.
Employee involvement is considered a high commitment practice that human resource management does (Marchington & Wilkinson, 2005). Workers are always informed of the performance of the company, strategy and the different operations to know the issues of the organization. Through information sharing, employees feel trusted. Employees also teamwork efficiently and improve the performance of the organization.
The management also ensures that there are self-managed teams in the organizations to improve the processes of work for the organization to be successful. Employers always admire those candidates who can team work as they recruit them. Through team working decisions are made effectively to solve problems quickly and easily. Employees are rewarded depending on how they perform in their jobs. This helps retain employees who work best and those that have the required capabilities.
In their human resource management, companies have practiced harmonization of employees to make sure that the employees are given the same treatment with their seniors. This encourages employees to feel free when giving out their ideas. For example, uniforms may be similar or employees may share the same parking facilities. This strategy reduces status differences between the junior and senior employees.
High commitment practices have been considered important in the management of human resources for an organization to perform highly. Organizations in the world should involve in high commitment practices to manage people in an effective manner. However, it is important to note that not all organization involve in high commitment practices.
The efforts of the employees are affected by high commitment practices thereby affecting the performance of organizations. Through high commitment strategy, a very effective relationship is created between the employees and the employers. The employees are motivated to perform better beyond their job specifications. Employees are more committed when the human resource involves in high commitment practices effectively.
UAE involves in high commitment practices to recover from the international financial crisis. Through these practices, the UAE is able to understand cultural diversity and acted appropriately. This has enabled the firm to gain recognition from others who seek unbiased advice concerning human resource management. The gulf cooperation council (GCC) countries also adhere to high commitment practices in its objective to strengthen stability.
References
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Guest, D., Michie, J., Conway, N. and Sheehan, M. (2003). “Human resource management and Performance”. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 41(2), 291–314.
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