Effects of human resource system on manufacturing performance
Fresh Price Accounting Inc.
Abstract.
Human resource management is the strategic approach to the effective management of organization workers so that they help the business gain a competitive advantage. It is a very important tool for organizational success. Commonly referred to as the HR Department, it is designed to maximize employee performance in service of an employer’s strategic. Human resource management has four main functions in any organization. The four functions are staffing, training and development, motivation and maintenance. Fresh price Accounting Inc. being a well known accounting agency, it should provide excellent resource management practices. However, having experienced a couple of issues they consulted me to offer professional advice on how they can their management of human resources. This paper highlights on my findings and recommendations for the company that are based on my findings.
Approach.
To learn more about the problems facing the company I conducted a research by interviewing employees that work at Fresh Price Accounting Inc. In addition I issued questionnaires to some of the employees in a bid to be discreet about all that was to be identified in the organization.
Findings.
Upon interviewing a good number I discovered the following complaints were made on the last one year of the organizations activities.
1. More than 68% of the current employees stated that there is little motivation for them to work than what is expected of them.
2. 87% of the employees identified in a questionnaire felt that they could not take extended leave to care for an illness or the illness of a family member for fear that they would lose their jobs.
3.There were instances of employees being fired shortly after incurring a disability or announcing a pregnancy.
4.91% of the company is comprised of white males with individuals that represent a different race, gender, speak a different language, or are not originally from the United States felt ‘unwelcomed’ and ‘misunderstood’.
5.62% of current employees felt that the company in less than 6 months cited that they felt inadequately trained for the position they were hired for.
Recommendations.
Human resource management involves practices that ensure that employees collective knowledge, skills, and abilities contribute to business outcomes (Huselid, Jackson, and Schuler, 1997).Human resource involves selection, testing, training, performance, measurement and administration of benefit (Whitener, 1997).For the success of any organization, the human resource department in ensuring assigning specific functions to the members of the working team and promoting professional and supportive environment. The following are the recommendations I did outline for successful human resource management for the organization to thrive in its endeavors.
· Strategic staffing. Hiring good staff for all departments is one step to successful human resource management. You can do this by hiring enough as the departmental budget allows depending on the size of the organization you are working for and the kind of task the department is assigned to. In addition hire professionals for each task in the department and in the case of fewer employees, hire versatile employees who can manage multiple functions. As it is according to Obikoya (2002 :6), “human resource management process is that part of management process that specializes in the management of people in the work organization. “ Therefore, choice of human resource is aimed at effective and efficient utilization of the resources that are available in an organization.
· Maintenance of open door policy. This is a good policy because it makes the air between the management and the professionals off any kind of constraints. This means that an employee can approach the managing staff for assistance whenever they have a challenge they cannot handle without fear of being fired. Important findings regarding the relationship between the human resource and business performance show that good relationships n the managerial and work force divisions lead to success in an organization (Arthur, 1994; Huselid, 1995; MacDuffie and Krafcik, 1992).
· Cross training of the human resource team. This helps cover up for days when an employee was off for reasons such as sickness and vacations. Allowing the members of your department to train each other also ensures everyone understands the basics of each person’s job.
· Promoting professionalism in the human resource team. Allowing the staff to take seminars, classes and meetings enables the team to further their knowledge in their separate fields. This will also minimize complaints of the employees complaining that they feel incompetent for the job that they were hired for.
Lay down your objectives with the human resource team. This will ensure all team members understand their responsibilities well and that they will all work towards a common objective. This will also promote team work among the members as they will avoid pointing out to who did this since they will all be working as a team. For significance in human resource measures, a structure is needed to clearly define how human resource can impact business performance. Eastman Kodak, in his experience suggests an integrative framework that builds upon a balanced scorecard framework (Kaplan and Norton, 1992, 1993) and a strategic human resource framework (Ulrich and Lake, 1990). Changes in the human resource department are needed to shift the focus of the HR function to be success oriented instead of being professional driven. HR measures should focus on the future giving their managers chance to determine and evaluate the possibilities and capabilities that can predict the future success of organizations (Kaplan and Norton, 1992).
· Communication of individual responsibilities to the entire organization. The human resource department will run more effectively if the employees’ of the organization knew who to contact in case of any assistance such as payroll questions, benefits enrollments and even leaves.
· Purpose for maximum confidentiality. With all the information present in the human resource department, personal information on all employees being among them, discretion is key. The department also handles sensitive matters such as harassment complaints and labor disputes and hence confidentiality is essential for smooth running of activities in the department.
· Lead as an example. As the head of the department, maintaining a professional and positive demeanor will enable your colleagues to do the same. This will eventually take momentum all over the entire organization thus one should lead as an example when bestowed upon leadership responsibilities.
· Safety and health. The organization should strive to create a working environment that poses the employees to minimum or no risk of accidents or injury. This will reduce cases of employees getting fired as a result of them being disabled while in the work place. The organization should also look into cases of genuine illnesses and offer leave to their employees so that they can recover from the illness fully instead of firing them.
· Performance and reward management. This involves setting criteria, assessing the performance and rewarding the good performers accordingly. For a department to know whether it is meeting the set objectives and to what extent, performance evaluation must be done. Performance agreements are signed by the line manager and the employees who will in turn be used as a basis for performance evaluation among the employees for individual performance appraisal. This motivates the employees to put even more effort in all that they are doing in order for them to fall in the category for appraisal which could include salary increment, renewal of contract, bonus, promotion and even training.
· Equal employment opportunity. The company should focus on giving their employees equal employment regardless of race, gender and where they come from. The focus should instead be channeled towards the employees’ qualifications and their skills and ability in the nature of the work that they have been hired for.
· Quality of working life. The quality of life refers to the scale through which the employees personal needs are met through their work. The personal needs include security, responsibility and self esteem. This improves as ones quality of working life improves. Many organizations consider that producing a good quality work life to employees is both a social and ethical responsibility each firm must uphold to. However there are strong indications that improvement in quality of work life favorably affects the performance of an organization.
Conclusion.
The issue of human of human resource management as a mechanism for the success of the goals and objectives any organization cannot be over stressed. It is an essential tool that for the success of the objectives of the human resource managers of any organization, and the organizations objectives then there must be an agreement from both the organization and the employees with regard to what would benefit both parties. An organization cannot exist in a vacuum and that is the reason as to why the human resource department is available for all organizations to complete the vacuum that could have resulted as a result of lack of human resources. Management is all about realization of an organizations goals and objectives through working with the available human resource. The head of the management is concerned with systematic coordination of affairs. It is aimed at utilizing the available resources effectively so that the goals of the organization can be achieved. Human resource is a very important factor in any organization because without it all other resources remain idle, hence human resources enjoy primacy in any organization. From this study report, it can be clearly seen that the human resource department is the core of any organizations structure and must be seen as a pivotal unit that facilitates competitive advantage in a market scale. It is therefore important that the human resource serves as the communication link between the stakeholders, the management and the employees in each and every business corporation and to ensure that it is successful, it should be managed by well trained qualified and professional human resource managers.
REFERENCES
1. Arthur, J. (1994). Effects of human resource system on manufacturing performance and turn over. Academy of Management Journal, 37, 670-687.
2. Byars and Rues (2000), Human Resource Management, United States of America, New York.
3. Obikoya J. (2002), The Foundations of Human Resource Mnangement, First edition, Ijebu Ode, pius Debo (Nigeria) Press.
4. Whitener, E. M. (1997). The impact of human resource activities on employee trust. Human Resource Management Review, 389-404.
