Human resource management is concerned with the maintenance of good relations among employees in an organization. It is comprised of four main aspects: acquisition, development, motivation and maintenance.
The analysis of Baldwin Scientific Instruments ascertains that there are various human resource problems in the company. The first problem is discrimination of the Vietnamese assemblers by the Latino supervisors. Secondly, there is an aspect of nepotism because the two Latino supervisors are siblings.
The third problem is the lack of policy in place that restricts communication to only one official language. The two Latino supervisors speak Spanish behind the backs of the Vietnamese assemblers. In addition, there is overdependence on the Vietnamese assemblers, and these issues have led to poor employee relations in the company.
The causes of the problems experienced at Baldwin Scientific Instruments are several. The first one is lack of stern management policies. The top level management in a company should formulate the following policies in the organization like coming up with the official language of communication at the workplace.
The second cause is the lack of a proper recruitment process and teamwork among the employees. Moreover, there is a lack of communication between the supervisors and the assemblers since this organization has not put up measures to deal with matters of human resources (Muchinsky 66).
The problems mentioned above have their solutions, such as enactment of a policy that restricts communication to official language. The advantages of this include more effective communication between the employees. Equality is enhanced in the company, and it curbs the problem of ethnicity or racism in the given organization. The disadvantages of enacting only one official language of communication are that some employees might view the policy as biased, hence reducing their morale.
The second solution to the problems at Baldwin Scientific Instruments is engaging employees in team building activities. The advantages of team building include enhanced employee relationships, more effective communication between the employees. It also enhances coordination of activities in the organization, thus increasing the efficiency of the employees.
The disadvantages of team building comprise the following, it is time consuming and might be very costly to the organization, especially if conducted out of the organization’s premises. Furthermore, it requires to be done regularly and might be very involving for the company (Ulrich 90).
The third solution is engaging employees in training activities. The advantages of training include such outcomes. The efficiency of the employees is increased, they understand their set job descriptions well and learn more about the policies of the organization. The disadvantages of training are that it is very costly to conduct as well as it is time consuming to train all the employees in the organization since engaging the employees in training activities might not be feasible in some organizations.
The fourth solution is the establishment of a human resource department in the business entity. The advantages of establishing a human resource department is that it will ensure that the issues concerning employees are addressed on time, the workers get incentives as recommended by their departments and those who are hardworking are rewarded. The disadvantages of a human resource department include the next facts. It is very expensive to establish a department as it might not be feasible for small enterprises.
The best alternative that will solve the problems at Baldwin Scientific Instruments is to establish a human resource department in the organization. This will solve most of the problems that the company has been experiencing. The positive impacts of establishing a human resource department are many as compared to the negative.
The first one is that the recruitment and selection department will be present at the company. This will enable a fair process in hiring of employees since interviews will be conducted and the coordination of activities will be improved. The second benefit will be the establishment of an employee relations department.
This will assist in various ways by ensuring labor law compliance, provision of employee handbooks and relocation of outplacement of services. The third benefit would be an improvement in personnel policies. The various benefits of personnel policies include improved policy communication, improved record keeping of employees and improved human resources information systems (Armstrong 67).
The fourth advantage of a human resource department is the establishment of a compensation and benefits department. This will assist in the administration of salaries and wages, as well as provision of incentive pay, insurance to employees, retirement plans and vacation leave administration.
The fifth outcome is that it will lead to the establishment of a training and development department. The benefits of this department are the provision of orientation to the employees, provision of skills training and provision of career development programs.
Implementation of this solution should be done at Baldwin Scientific Instruments. Bill Baldwin as the founder of the company should not be dealing with Tran’s grievance, which is an assembler of the company. The role of Bill is to formulate the policies of the organization.
The grievances of the assemblers should be addressed by the human resources department and not the founder of the company. In addition, the Latino supervisors should be vetted and if their hiring procedure was unfair, they should have been dismissed. The policy of the company should restrict nepotism and encourage an employment process that is free and fair (Rhonda 44).
Were I Mr. Baldwin, I would have inquired about the situation from both the Latino supervisors and the Vietnamese assemblers as this would provide me with the insides of the both sides of the story.
As a short term solution, I will transfer one of the Latino managers to another department to curb the problem of speaking mother tongue while on duty. More so, I would try to employ personnel from various backgrounds not just Vietnamese and Latinos. It is of utmost importance for an organization to be neutral and not biased in terms of ethnicity.
The hiring policy of the firm should be amended to include advertisements of vacancies, shortlisting followed by interviewing of candidates and then finally hiring and conducting training activities for the employees. The workforce of Baldwin Scientific Instruments is diverse since it is constituted of various nationalities.
The problem of diversity is experienced when the employees from different backgrounds are placed to work together. This is not a disadvantage because it can be dealt with by transferring some of the employees to other departments within the company (Wright 40).
Mr. Baldwin should fill up staff vacancies in a human resource department in the company as soon as possible. This will enable him to delegate duties, and in the process, he will be able to hold each and every employee accountable for their actions. In addition, the efficiency, morale and skills of the employees will be overwhelmingly improved since the problems facing the company’s employees will be addressed, and in turn, this will improve the employee relations at Baldwin Scientific Instruments.
Works Cited
Armstrong, Michael. A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. London: Kogan Publishing, 2011. Print.
Muchinsky, Paul. Psychology Applied to Work. Summerfield, NC: Hypergraphic Press, 2012. Print.
Rhonda, Byrne. The Secret. New Jersey, NY: Erlbaum, 2009. Print.
Ulrich, David. Human Resource Champions, The next agenda for adding value and delivering results. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2006. Print.
Wright, Patrick. The Chief HR Officer: Defining the New Role of Human Resource Leaders. San Francisco, SF: Jossey-Bass, 2002. Print.