Introduction
Currently, Human Resource Management is taken to be a contemporary development that has reshaped employment relationship. This perspective has come out to replace the traditional approaches like industrial relations and personnel management in order to better the practices of employment.
Nonetheless, Human Resource Management remains a modern science that is constantly evolving in complex environment and organizations. However, its direct connection with strategic management has resulted to its division into two major approaches called soft and hard Human Resource Management.
In the ancient and recent past, it was understood that personnel management aimed at efficiency, organizational development and justice through bringing together employees in the organization by enhancing their collective and individual contribution to its success. For that matter, a personnel manager was a person who was in charge of employees’ welfare at work place, loyal to the organization, abiding to internal and external cultures as well as responsible for adjusting to organizational challenges and its environment.
On the other hand, Human Resource Management is considered to be a strategic approach in management of employment relations that seeks to leverage employees’ capabilities in attaining competitive advantage. For that matter, this paper covers different perspectives of human resource management.
Nevertheless, it also covers several ways of developing flexibility within the workplace. It also looks at several ways of creating equal opportunities in a working environment as applied by British Sugar; a United Kingdom Company that deals with supply of sugar in the market. Moreover, several topical human resource practices and issues are also explored.
Types of Flexibility in the work processes and how it can be applied in British Sugar Company
Flexibility in the work processes usually requires strategy that is responsible for hiring, managing, assessing and rewarding these employees. However, for this to be effective, it is imperative that the strategy adopted must be geared towards improvement of employees’ engagement, job satisfaction, job retention and their overall well being. British Sugar appreciates flexibility in its work processes since it is believed that it helps to reduce stress and achieve job satisfaction.
For that matter, British Sugar is applying several ways of achieving flexibility in its work processes. The traditional flexi time is one of the mechanisms that the company is applying. According to Luis and others (2011) affirmed that this approach allows employees in the organization to select their appropriate starting and quitting sessions. This is done within a reasonable time that surrounds their hours of operations.
Moreover, the company also applies this approach through having a compressed work that enables employees to allocate themselves hours such as ten hours per day for four days in a week. Therefore, this means that employees usually have the remaining three days of the week as their off days which brings forth flexibility in the work processes. According to Stephen (2005), this is important since it helps to reduce work related stress during these elongated off periods.
Nonetheless, there exist several advantages and disadvantages that are accrued from application of flexi time approach in the concept of flexibility in the work processes of British Sugar. The arrangement benefits both the employer and the employee. For instance, working parents are helped by the arrangement to balance their family and work responsibilities. Moreover, it also helps employees to avoid stressful traffic and provision of longer leisure time.
On the part of the employer, the arrangement is beneficial since it helps build motivation amongst its employees. Moreover, it is acknowledged by Stephen (2005) that flexi time helps to increase efficiency since it permits scheduling of activities to concur with the flow and ebb of the workload. For that matter, work processes in the organization are made to be flexible to both employee and the employer hence increasing productivity.
Nevertheless, under flexi time arrangement, it is difficult for the managers to ensure completion of critical functions and optimum work flow. This is so since they encounter the problem of supervision. Moreover, flexi time also is a source of additional overhead costs since facilities are strained by the elongated working hours.
Furthermore, British Sugar is applying induction exercise to its new recruits as one of its approach to flexibility in the work process. Induction according to Susan and Stephen (2005) is opined to be one of the ways of achieving flexibility in the work processes. This is so since it enables new recruits to learn work processes of the company thus enabling them to accomplish given tasks with flexibility.
On the other hand, Jenkins and Ambrosini (2002) provided that once an individual talent has been attracted to the organisation and recruited, it is relatively important to undergo an induction process. This process has several crucial purposes in the organization. These include;
- Acting as an avenue through which new recruits are able to learn expectations of the organization.
- Being the process through which the organization’s culture is inculcated in the new recruit.
- Acting as a platform through which the new recruit is able to learn both the internal and external environment of the organization
Therefore, in elaboration, it acts as an avenue through which new recruits are able to learn expectations of the organisation. Through learning of the business processes, they are in a better position to learn how business is conducted in order to achieve the set goals and objectives. This brings forth the desired flexibility in work processes.
Moreover, through the induction process, the organisation’s culture is able to be inculcated in the new recruit. New staff is able to cope with the culture of the organisation. This is important since it helps one to become part of the wider community of the organization.
Thirdly, Jenkins and Ambrosini (2002) opined that an induction programme also plays an important role of helping the new recruit to learn both the internal and external environment of the British Sugar. Mostly, these recruits are people who are new in the environment both internally and externally.
The induction process helps them to adapt to these new environment by familiarizing with it before settling down for meaningful engagement. This helps them to adapt smoothly thus being flexible in the work processes of the company.
Consequently, these three purposes of induction have benefits to an individual and to the organization as a whole. To begin with, it is evident that the induction process acts as an orientation process to the new recruit. This is a benefit since it enables him or her to learn the operation of the organization and to adapt to the new environment.
Moreover, it also benefits the new recruit by providing on job training before he or she is left to perform these duties on his or her own. On the other hand, it is beneficial to the organization since it advances the culture of the organisation to the new recruit. In addition, it also acts as a platform through which the organization advances its expectations to new recruit. This promotes flexibility of work processes in the company.
Labor market trends and flexibility
Labor market shapes the approach that an organization takes to its human resource management. For that matter, it should be appreciated that development in social, political, economical and technological sphere of life has significantly affected labor supply in the society. Therefore, knowledge of labor market is important to appreciate trends and flexibility in organizations.
Nonetheless, labor market can be divided into two broad categories; internal and external labor market. Changing trends in these two categories have effects to its supply.
Classical theorists believed that it was prudent to apply a structured approach to employee management. This means that the labor market was limited from outside the organization where by people entered organizations at very lower levels but proceeded to senior positions through internal promotions.
However, this was after a successful in house training. This was beneficial to both employer and the employee in that it encouraged career advancement of these people while at the same time limiting transfer of skills to other competing organization.
Contrary to the classical theorists, contemporary approaches to human resource management appreciate a liberal market where labor market appreciates transfer of skills from one organization to another. For that matter, the labor market is influenced by external forces that determine its supply and demand on the market.
These forces include changes in societal attitudes to education and work. For instance, in the current labor market, there is high appreciation of female workers as opposed in the traditional approaches. Moreover, there is desire to balance work and family life.
In addition, economic factors are also part of the external forces that determines labor market trends in the contemporary times. Both national and international economic conditions such as inflation, interest and exchange rates determine the cost of living. For that matter, incase of high rates, it implies that more members of the family should work to meet rising expenses.
Moreover, globalization process is another key factor that determines labor market trends in the contemporary society. Forces such as global financial performance, international migrations and production systems are some of the factors that affect labor market in the current times.
For that matter, an organization needs to put these factors into consideration in management of its human resource. Therefore, flexibility in work processes such as flexi time also needs to put factors of globalization into consideration. Additionally, contemporary labor market has tremendously changed in such a way that a supply of a given form of labor in a given region can create demand of that particular labor in another regional market.
Flexible working methods and issues related to flexibility
Flexible working applies different approaches. However, according to Jenkins and Ambrosini (2002), an approach that may appear flexible to an employee may not be flexible to the employer and vice versa.
For that matter, it is necessary to adopt an approach that tries to satisfy both the employer and the employee. Therefore, it is important to apply organizational and labor market flexible practices in order for all stakeholders to be comfortable. In connection to this, the organization may decide to apply the following approaches or in their combination.
Labor Market Flexibility
Labor market flexibility is an approach where employees and the employer respond to ever changing labor conditions in the market. Labor supply can be applied in various ways, for instance, the supply of hours of work by an employee. This kind of approach puts two major considerations in terms of labor costs.
The consideration includes sacrifice of working extra time and any kind of disadvantages associated with that kind of work. In that connection, it is important that any extra hour worked should be accompanied by a higher hourly compensation due to the high disutility incurred during the working processes.
Moreover, in terms of increased wage rate due to extra working hours, there are also positive effects associated with the process. For instance, it facilitates improved childcare support which in turn helps to increase conditions of other people in the labor market.
Flexible Firm Flexibility
In relation to this approach, it is propounded by Johnson and Scholes (2008) that that there are two major categories of workers in a flexible firm. These include the core and peripheral workers. In relation to core workers, they are believed to be employees who are on permanent employment in the organization.
These permanent employees enable the organization to deliver functional flexibility since they are involved in accomplishing a wide variety of tasks. On the other hand, peripheral employees provide the organization with flexibility in terms of numbers since they may increase or reduce given the current labor market. For that matter, the flexible firm flexibility entails reorganization of organization’s internal labor into various categories basing on the employer’s expectations and employees’ experiences.
However, in terms of human resource management policies such training and other general employee development, core workers are the only ones who are involved in the program. However, the peripheral workers are only exposed to raw policy forces. In addition, in an event of economic turmoil such as recession, the peripheral employees are the ones who are more susceptible.
Advantages of flexible working practices to both employer and the employee
Advancers of flexible working practices points out several advantages that attracts organizations to move towards that direction. These include competitive advantages that are accrued from these programs. Competitiveness is however attained though achieving high rate of employee retention.
Thus, high employee retention means that organizations end up spending fewer resources on training employees as compared to the instance when there is high rate of employee turnover. Moreover, it should also be noted that due to employee retention, valued employees’ skills, knowledge and experience are retained in the organization hence giving it the vigor in work processes.
Moreover, according to Johnson and Scholes (2008), it is believed that flexibility working practices reduces undesirable behaviors in the work place such as absenteeism. This is so since it provides flexible options which strengthen employees’ commitment while giving ample time that result to absenteeism in other work practices.
In addition, proponents of flexible working practices hold that flexibility in work processes enables organizations to increase their employee loyalty by not necessarily making major changes in their work processes. In most cases, work flexibility entails little or completely no changes in the work processes. For example, compressed weeks of work and flexi time only need similar number of hours using the same work arrangements.
Importantly, it is also worthy to note that flexible work practices have positive impact on employee productivity. This is so since employees are able to meet their family needs through approaches such as flexi time hence they are likely to be contented with both work processes and their family life. Moreover, flexibility practices such as application of telecommuting helps employees to be more productive since they are freed by headaches such as office interruptions.
Disadvantages of flexible working practices to both employer and the employee
Despite having several advantages accrued from flexible working practices, it is imperative to acknowledge several disadvantages that are connected to this kind of arrangement. These disadvantages actually have negative consequences to organizations.
To begin with, flexibility arrangement such as telecommuting can be at times disastrous since other processes such as customer services which usually needs physical attention of personnel suffers in the long run.
On the other hand, it is also imperative to note that in such kind of arrangement, interpersonal relationship that employees develop through physical interaction with different stakeholders in the organization is largely affected which in the long run ruin with their personality.
Moreover, it is also opined by Lynch (2006) that flexibility working arrangements have issues with supervisory tasks since employees are never around to be answerable to their task performance especially in the event of telecommuting. In addition, in terms of employees working from their homes, it becomes a problem for them to keep balance between their office work and family activities.
Forms of discrimination that take place
There are several forms of description that takes place at the work place. Nonetheless, these forms of discrimination vary from one environment to another and from one organization to the next. To begin with, age in some circumstances is used to discriminate people in the organization.
This kind of discrimination takes place in different forms. For instance, an organization may downsize an older employee in order to keep a young employee who can be paid less. Moreover, some organizations may set age limit in their staff development programs such as training in favor of young ones.
Nevertheless, gender is another form of discrimination that occurs in work places. In most cases, gender discrimination is usually accompanied by sexual harassment. For instance, some employers discriminate women in their recruitment process since they believe that they will impact the organization negatively during their elongated maternity leave.
Moreover, in some organizations, gender is closely associated with some departments. For instance, some will consider women candidates for marketing function than compared to men while in engineering department, men will be considered more than women candidates.
In addition, discrimination based on religion is also a common practice that is exhibited in some organizations. Recruiting or promotion of employees in these organizations is based on ones faith. For instance, in the United States, people who professed Muslim faith started being discriminated after the terror event of 9th September, 2001. This was so since all Muslims were believed to have terror links hence being a threat to the stability of the country.
Additionally, it is also imperative to note that in countries that experience racism, there is high rate of racial discrimination in work places. For instance, if the top management is of a certain race, he or she will likely to recruit people of his or her race in an environment that is multi racial.
For that matter, it is prudent to acknowledge that all types of discrimination at the work place can have disastrous effects to the organization. This includes heavy fines to organization which in turn results to financial hardships. For instance, in some countries, an organization that is found guilty of practicing racism is liable for some fines which in the long run can result to the demise of the firm.
Types of appraisal and feedback methods in performance management
There exist several types of appraisal and performance management in human resource management. All these provide feedback on performance of employees in the organizations. The feedback informs the management on decisions such as training needs of its staff, promotions, transfers, terminations and increase in remuneration. Some of these appraisal methods include;
Management by Objectives
In this approach, the management examines tangible and measurable goals after every stipulated period of time such as a year. At the onset of each year, the management usually sets objectives to be attained by employees during that period.
Then, at the end of that year, the performance measurement of any employee is compared to his or her peers and in comparison to the set objectives to determine those achieved.
Employees who achieve the bigger percentage of the objectives set are considered to have performed to the expectations of the organization. On the other hand, employees who tend to have achieved little in comparison to the set objectives are deemed to have performed poorly in that particular year. Therefore, the management is at the discretion to take any appropriate measures.
360 Degree
This approach of employee appraisal is an all round technique that involves evaluation during the entire working processes. For instance, the employee is assessed all through by all stakeholders.
For example, one is evaluated by the immediate boss, the top management, the subordinates and all other people including clients that the employee interact with during his or her working process. These stakeholders provide feedback concerning the working style of this employee which serves as a measure in determining other processes such as employee training, promotion or termination.
Behavioral Observation Technique
By using this method, the management is able to identify strengths and weaknesses of its employees based on their behavior at the work place. The method entails the manager observing specific conducts and actions of the employee in his or her daily activities. Therefore, the manager is in a position to review the performance of the employee.
It is imperative to note that it is easier to accomplish this kind of appraisal since it only involves observation of behaviors displayed by the employee. However, it is also important to note that for the exercise to be successful, it is necessary for the manager to have a good knowledge of how particular behavior affects work performance. In addition, it is a must that the manager should have time to be able to observe a particular employee.
Teams Evaluations
Evaluation of teams within an organization is just like individual evaluation process that is intended to meet continuous improvement in organizational processes. Therefore, the standards that guide evaluation of teams must focus on customer satisfaction. For that matter, teams must be rated based on customer satisfaction and the ambitious goals of the organization.
For instance, to be an outstanding team, customers must continuously provide positive feedback. Moreover, these teams must consistently be working towards improvement of processes in order to improve efficiency and effectiveness of their operations. Therefore, Lynch (2006) postulated that in order to attain an outstanding performance, the team must significantly boost effectiveness and efficiency that are paramount to clients’ satisfaction.
Therefore, in evaluating teams in the organization, there is need to develop an appraisal scheme that entails organization’s standards of excellence. These standards include skills and knowledge of the job, interpersonal relationships and teamwork, reliability and dependability, flexibility and adaptability in the working environment and most importantly, work performance.
For that matter, assessing team performance should therefore keep in mind these key standards. In addition, processes that are critical to the team must be evaluated to establish their performance.
Moreover, Mintzberg and Quinn (2003) opined that when assessing team performance, it is relatively important to check for the role fit in the team. Ideally, every member in the team has a role. For that matter, every role of the team member must be evaluated to gauge whether it fits their skills and knowledge and whether they are capable of performing these roles.
In addition, performance reviews of the team must be regularly conducted to ensure that organizational goals and objectives are being met in the team. Moreover, in the team assessment, every member must be given an opportunity to contribute towards teamwork. This is an important aspect of group evaluation since it gives a sense of belonging to members which is a critical ingredient in promoting continuous improvement in the organization.
Therefore, it should be a strategy for the company to regularly perform team evaluation exercise. However, this process should encompass a multifaceted programme that is appropriate for effectiveness and efficiency appraisal program for the organization. For that matter, the appraiser should enable the team members to personally identify the outcomes of their own work and not rely on the second or third party for providing results of their work.
Secondly, the evaluation programme must be based on performance measures of the team members. This should put into consideration what has happened, what has changed, what has advanced and what has improved in a team for a specific period of time. This approach is intended to make sure that there is a continued improvement in the team in respect to the changing needs of the organization.
Thirdly, it is also important that the appraiser identifies what every individual member contributes in the team. The success of teamwork is usually dependant on the contributions of each individual member thus their individual efforts are relatively important. However, when assessing individual efforts in the group, the outcomes of all members must be accumulated to come up with teamwork results.
Fourthly, regular reviews of teamwork must be undertaken after a specific period of time. These reviews must be undertaken regularly to ensure that the team’s performance remains on course. The review must focus on the results of the teamwork in order to identify problems and successes. This provides a benchmark for grading performance of the team.
However, according to Mintzberg and Quinn (2003), there are differences that exist between evaluating team performance and individual performance. To begin with, these two processes are different in terms of parameters that are used in evaluation. For individual evaluation, job description becomes the basis of assessment. This is contrary to team evaluation since it is the goals that were set to be attained by the team that becomes the basis for assessment.
Secondly, another difference in evaluation relates to the outcomes. The outcome of the team is determined by all members of the team. For instance, a competent individual in the team might be affected by non-functional team. This is common in instances where a team is comprised by incompetent members.
However, an incompetent team member may be evaluated as a good performer as a result of functional and competent team members (Stephen, 2005). Nevertheless, on individual evaluation, an individual takes full responsibility of his or her own performance.
Lastly, individual assessment has a direct correlation to compensation. For instance, an individual who performs well in the performance appraisal is likely to benefit from benefits such as salary increase, bonuses and promotion. On the other hand, it is relatively impossible to provide these benefits to all team members based on team evaluation. Moreover, team members will complain whenever some of the team members are selectively rewarded as a result of teamwork evaluation.
Concept of Succession Planning within an Organization
Additionally, it is relatively important to develop a succession plan within an organization to facilitate performance appraisal. This process of succession planning ensures that there is competent workforce in the organization so that no vacuum is created when some of the personnel leave the organization (Lynch, 2006). For that matter, there are several reasons as to why an organization should adopt a succession plan in their operations.
To begin with, one of the major reasons for adopting this plan is to forecast the future needs of the organization. Succession planning helps to identify future needs and requirements of the organization and as a result prepares for these needs. For instance, the organization can benefit from the plan when they lose an incumbent of a certain line since the replacement is automatically done.
In addition, the plan ensures that the organization is better placed in terms of its human resource management since balanced scorecards are well planned for. These balanced scorecards are critical in ensuring management effectiveness in the organization which is key for continuous improvement. For that matter, the key reason for adopting succession planning is to guarantee service delivery to clients.
Therefore, for the succession planning to be successfully used in the company, it is relatively important to incorporate it in the company’s strategic plans. Moreover, it is also advisable to incorporate it in succession plans of the employees training programee.
For that reasons a succession planning process for the company should take a strategic planning approach (Mintzberg & Quinn, 2003). These succession plans should therefore be incorporated in the strategic goals of the organization.
In addition, the planning process must adopt an inclusive approach such that it must incorporate all stakeholders in crafting these plans. Moreover, the top management must actively be involved in order to win their support in the entire process. Lastly, the formulated plan must be communicated effectively in the organization to bring about awareness of the programme.
Human resource practices in the workplace related to occupational health, accidents at work, ill health at work, costs and absenteeism
Human resource practices in the workplace related to occupational health, accidents at work place, ill health at work and absenteeism are determined by several factors. These factors can be categorized into two major categories that relates to hereditary factors, health practices of an employee, personal resources, values and attitudes that employees posses when joining the organization.
Secondly, apart from factors that relates to the employee, there are also other factors that are related to the work place in the organization. These are factors that have effects on the employee once he or she joins the organization in terms of their psychological and physical sense. For that matter, the organization has control over these factors and therefore, can help to control them in order to help combat these factors from adversely affecting productivity of employees.
However, there are several human resource practices that an organization can employ in the workplace that are related to occupational health, accidents at work, ill health at work and absenteeism in order to reduce their occurrence. These practices include;
Organizational Culture
Organization culture consists of values, attitudes and beliefs that are practiced in the organization on a regular basis. These affect employees physical and mental well being. The psychosocial environment affects employees’ health. Therefore, it should be friendly to them in order to maintain their health.
This is so since it creates two times greater injury risks, conflict at the workplace and violence, mental illness and back pain. For that matter, in order to avoid all these risks, it is important that an organization adopts a friendly organizational culture that is healthy to its employees. A good organizational culture promotes sound health conditions amongst organizational employees.
Physical environment of the workplace
Physical environment at the workplace should be healthy and safe. Therefore, it should be free from hazards such as machine and electricity, musculoskeletal and chemical dangers. For that matter, these hazards should be regularly assessed in the organization to make sure that they are hazard free. In a physical environment that is characterized by prevalence of these hazards, occurrences of accidents become a common thing in the organization which in itself is counterproductive.
Personal Health Practices
Organizational management need to provide resources that relates to personal health of their employees. Every organization should be on the forefront to provide support to their employees in improvement of their personal health. For instance, organization should not be an inhibitor to employees in making lifestyle choices that are healthy to their well being. The employer should not in any way impose employees’ lifestyle choices.
Therefore, the employer should help to eliminate these barriers to personal health by promoting flexible work practices to their workforces. For instance, the organization can provide training on stress management, programs on smoking cessation, fitness club and flexi time working arrangement among others. All these approaches are geared towards promoting employees’ healthy being hence helping in solving of related problems such as ill health and accidents at the workplaces.
Impact of globalization on human resource planning such as workplace counseling, ergonomics, alcohol and drug abuse and stress management
Globalization has impacted differently on human resource management in the current times. The effects have therefore affected the way organizations undertake their human resource planning functions at the work place. In addition, it has also led to adverse effects on work place practices such as counseling, ergonomics, handling of issues such as alcohol and drug abuse and stress management.
To begin with, globalization has resulted to transformation of traditional workforce composition to new arrangements. For instance, the traditional employment of human resource on permanent basis is quickly fading off as new forms of employment are being adopted on a widespread scale. Working arrangements such as outsourcing are becoming common practices in modern organization and globalization takes the center stage. In most organizations, their workforce is currently composed of the temporary, part time and freelance workers as opposed to the traditional permanent employment. Moreover, global outsourcing is also a practice that is currently being applied by most organization as it has even encroached into core functions of the organizations such as customer service.
For that matter, it becomes practically impossible for the organization to partake practices such as workplace counseling, ergonomics, alcohol and drug abuse and stress management since most of these employees are considered to be seasonal. Therefore, it becomes difficult for the organization to adequately plan for seasonal employees whose continued presence is not predicted.
As a result, these human resource management practices are therefore left to be handled by other auxiliary players who may not provide the desired standards especially in the case of outsourcing. For that matter, work place counseling, ergonomics, alcohol and drug abuse and stress management are therefore mismanaged in the organization. In most cases, this impacts negatively to the well being of these employees in the organization.
Practices that HR Professionals can employ to manage culturally diverse workforce through multi-culturalism
Organizational performance is determined by several factors. Some of these factors include management of cultural diversity at the work place. In terms of human resource management practices, there are a wide variety of measures that human resource personnel can implement in order to promote cultural diversity in the organization.
Nevertheless, multi culturalism at the work place can be promoted through practices such as equal treatment of all employees irrespective of their cultural affiliations. Therefore, it means there should be no discrimination in the work place either by the management or by employees themselves.
Treating of employees differently in the workplaces normally erodes morale while at the same time creating resentment. For that matter, it is important that preferential treatment of employees be discouraged. Moreover, the organization should put in place some efforts that help to break down insensitivities and stereotypes towards minority groups.
Furthermore, organizations have become increasingly concerned with disparities that exist in the work places which are highly attributed to ethnicity, race and the socio-economic class that exist in our societies. Therefore, in relation to this, it is important for any organization to craft effective and efficient human resource approaches that aim to help in creating awareness amongst its employees against practices that promote discrimination in the work place.
For that matter, competent and proactive practices in a diversity awareness program need to be crafted and implemented in the organization. Moreover, various activities and roles of stakeholders around and within the organization need to take center stage in preaching against cultural discrimination (Mintzberg & Quinn, 2003). Therefore, the diversity awareness system should prioritize the organizational cultural diversity in order to have culturally competent practices that address these disparities.
Therefore, British Sugar which is the employer in this case should develop a blue print that seeks to address all forms of disparity in its business processes. Nevertheless, the blue print should have structures which intend to facilitate friendly working environment through allocation of friendly work schedules and equal treatment amongst its employees.
Besides, the human resource management personnel must ensure that senior management is educated on the need of the program to ensure their full participation. This is important since their active input in the approaches can help to minimize cultural discrimination in the work place.
For instance, they can help to implement recruitment using electronic means which is one of the ways disparity in recruitment can be minimized. Nonetheless, it is also imperative to involve senior management since any measures taken need financial support which they have the final word. Therefore, the activities should not be trivialized especially in relation to financial support (Tansley & Newll, 2007).
Conclusion
Human resource management is perceived in different ways. Several literature hold that human resource work involves the technical and rational realities of management functions (planning, organizing, leading and controlling).For instance, according to Jenkins and Ambrosini (2002), the practice of management involves managing power and politics where by one has to exert power to others or being subjected to it.
However, it is always challenging for managers to balance power and politics since according to Johnson and Scholes (2008), the most taunting task for managers is managing how to manage. In this respect, one is said to be a manager when he or she is able to use and balance power and politics in the best manner of his or her management functions. For that matter, it is important to apply human resource management functions in providing flexibility in work processes in order create conducive working environment.
For that matter, human resource management functions should be applied in the organization to bring forth management effectiveness in the human resource practices. Consequently, issues such as discrimination should be addressed using best human resource practices.
In connection to this, it is imperative that organization should develop legislative framework that seeks to guard against forms of discrimination at the work place. In addition, organizational culture should also be reformed in order to accommodate sound human resource practices such as respect to cultural diversity.
This paper has also covered performance appraisal of employees in the organization by looking at various key issues of this exercise. For instance, it has extensively covered the concept of succession planning within an organization where various related issues have been covered.
Likewise, evaluation of teams within an organization has been extensively covered by looking at related elements. To wind up, it should be understood that human resource appraisal in the organization is basically applied to ensure that continuous improvement is attained.
Therefore, the paper recommends that the top management of the company should incorporate this appraisal plan in the organization’s strategic plans in order to ensure that it is in line with the goals and objectives of the organization. Furthermore, flexibility in work processes should also be aligned to strategic plans in order to achieve effectiveness in business operations.
References
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